Comments on 2000 Dollar Budget Wedding: Preparation for Bikini Season

have you heard about Dr. Beck's Diet Solution?...

2009-06-17T00:46:05.918-04:00

have you heard about Dr. Beck's Diet Solution? It's about about how to retrain your thoughts about food and your behavors. It's pretty cool - because it doesn't tell you what to eat - it retrains you how to think in regards to dieting - to promote success. I really like it - it's a good book - because I think most diets work - but it's about whether or not you can stick to it and this book gives some great tools to do exactly that. :)

I think you'd love chickpea salad! It's ch...

2009-06-16T02:06:51.177-04:00

I think you'd love chickpea salad! It's cheap & healthy with mostly fresh ingredients.
http://www.sheknows.com/recipes/recipe/special-chana-chaat-1

You can add more fresh ingredients (I've added roasted peppers to this recipe) and it's soooo good!

great post. absolutely agree about lifestyle chan...

2009-06-15T20:19:12.296-04:00

great post. absolutely agree about lifestyle change vs. diet. been thinking about ww as well, thanks for the heads up on the recipes...

Bravo to you for focusing on a healthy lifestyle r...

2009-06-15T18:21:25.718-04:00

Bravo to you for focusing on a healthy lifestyle rather than weight loss diet. One thing that I just discovered (probably everyone else in the world knew about it, but sometimes I'm a little behind...) was the calorie tracker on My Plate through livestrong.com. I've been inputting everything I eat, and it's really helped me be honest with myself about what I consume. I tend to make excuses for my eating--I have a headache; ergo, I can eat a bowl of ice cream when I get home from work--which I haven't wanted to do since I've been keeping track of everything. I actually feel accountable to myself about my food, which I never have before. Also, I'm pretty ignorant about what has cholesterol, sodium, fat, etc, so it's helped me understand that too. I highly recommend it.

Hm, sounds like you over-indulge sometimes. Not n...

2009-06-15T16:33:55.808-04:00

Hm, sounds like you over-indulge sometimes. Not necessarily a bad thing (unless it's junk food and it's all the time) but perhaps you are not compensating for it later.

My favorite diet/lifestyle book is Frenchwomen Don't Get Fat. It's been criticized (what hasn't) because it's not scientific, but the concepts really work for me.

If you eat too much one day, or eat too much desert one meal, you pass on other things the next time. Especially like a previous commenter said - cutting things out of your diet that you don't need or aren't attached to. For me it's bread. I cut way back on bread a few years ago. And if I overeat one day, I listen to my body and am able to honor its need for less food the next day, and will simply eat less. And of course, adding in cardiovascular exercise will do wonders for you.

I haven't been able to jog for the past 2 years (and that's what I did for exercise the for over a decade) nor have I been able to go to a gym, so unfortunately I am exercise-free at the moment. But by paying attention to portion, content, and frequency, I have maintained a healthy weight level over the past two years, and I think only anorexics would call me overweight!

Oh, and I was emotionally ready to finally cut sugar completely out of my diet about 9 months ago, and I have had great overall success with that. All that excess sugar = fat. So that's helped a lot. If you can reduce or remove your sugar intake you'll probably find areas on your body slimming down.

Good luck!

i don't do weight watchers, but their ice crea...

2009-06-15T15:43:48.601-04:00

i don't do weight watchers, but their ice cream sandwiches (in the freezer section of my grocery stores) are AMAZING & huge!

Ditto Alaina on Sparkpeople.com--they have a lot o...

2009-06-15T12:56:27.832-04:00

Ditto Alaina on Sparkpeople.com--they have a lot of good resources for exactly what you were saying about "lifestyle change" rather than dieting. I've been finding that just using their nutrition tracker helps me eat way better. It both helps me plan meals in advance ("Hm, I've already eaten 1000 calories today and a lot of those were from protein and fat, I should have spaghetti for dinner") and keeps me from filling up on the stuff that's yummy but not so healthy in large doses. Knowing that 1oz of goat cheese is the equivalent of what, something like a third of a meal? reminds me to have enough to enjoy the taste but not to fill up on it.

I've been on Weight Watchers for about 6 weeks...

2009-06-15T12:41:21.284-04:00

I've been on Weight Watchers for about 6 weeks now and have lost 7 pounds. It's been a lifesaver, because I truly think that I've been successful in changing my eating habits (and those of my fiance!)

And to Marissa, while healthier food can be more expensive initially, I've found that its actually cheaper in the long run. Buy a freezer full of chicken when its .99/lb and you've got dinners for weeks.

Weight Watchers is the most sensible approach to e...

2009-06-15T12:33:56.428-04:00

Weight Watchers is the most sensible approach to eating/lifestyle change I've found. However, in the last few months my life has gotten seriously out of balance and I fell right off the healthy eating wagon. I've been trying to get up the motivation to return to meetings and re-address my food issues, so thanks for a little extrinsic motivation this morning. Positive examples/peer pressure are always helpful reinforcement for my internal goals.

Off to search the WW site for those recipes now... mmm...

good luck! it's hard to make a lifestyle chang...

2009-06-15T12:32:22.526-04:00

good luck! it's hard to make a lifestyle change but it sounds like you are ready for the commitment, but don't give up those delicious sounding ice cream sandwiches completely!! they just sound too good :)

Good luck to you!! I'm also trying to lose a ...

2009-06-15T12:16:28.122-04:00

Good luck to you!! I'm also trying to lose a tiny bit—my wedding dress (which I bought on ebay) has always been on the tight side, and I want to be comfortable on that day.

Are there any little things that you can cut out? My colleague did WW, and she cut Coke from her regular diet, and that was worth at least 10 pounds over the course of her weight loss!

Another good idea for the long term is seeing about becoming part of a CSA (community supported agriculture). http://www.localharvest.org/ is a good resource for finding one locally. They are all different, but you pay a certain amount upfront to get a share of fresh vegetables, fruit, etc. (depending on what kind of CSA it is) on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. This can be a really great way to get a LOT of healthy, interesting food for a very affordable amount of money. Usually, you just get whatever the farm has that week, so it can be an exciting challenge to learn to eat new or different vegetables. All while supporting local farming!

Tomorrow will be my 2nd week on WW and I am loving...

2009-06-15T10:49:49.922-04:00

Tomorrow will be my 2nd week on WW and I am loving it! As of this morning I am down 7 pounds. That's right....7 lbs in just 2 weeks!
As they say...it is not a diet, but a lifestyle change. I wish you the best of luck!

I just joined Weight Watchers last week... I'm...

2009-06-15T10:39:58.529-04:00

I just joined Weight Watchers last week... I'm nervous because i LOVE cake, and ice cream, and all that stuff that one of the above posters rightfully acknowledges as junk. for me it's an emotional thing. I've been heavy for forever, and even though I've hated it for so long - I'm kicking it into high gear. I want to be a knockout on my wedding day and beyond. My fiance loves me for who I am, but it's me that I'm unhappy with. You, my friend, Kick A$$! :)

Good for you! I'm struggling with the same thi...

2009-06-15T10:33:57.932-04:00

Good for you! I'm struggling with the same thing right now. My biggest problem is that buying healthy food is so much more pricey than stuff that's bad for you! Which is a problem on my poor-college-student budget. I'm still looking for a way around that, but I'll be rooting for ya!

I love Weight Watchers but need to re-dedicate mys...

2009-06-15T09:32:43.640-04:00

I love Weight Watchers but need to re-dedicate myself. It's great not only to help reduce portion sizes, but also to help you think more deeply about the components of a healthy meal -- you can eat more if you're eating veggies and whole grains than if you're eating refined carbs and processed foods. Now, I just need to get motivated to exercise when it's 99 degrees outside ...

You should check out sparkpeople.com if you haven&...

2009-06-15T09:06:14.829-04:00

You should check out sparkpeople.com if you haven't already. It's a great free resource for losing weight and maintaing you lifestyle change.

Lost 72 pounds with WW, maintained for almost a ye...

2009-06-15T08:46:53.389-04:00

Lost 72 pounds with WW, maintained for almost a year now.

I heart WW and it's real life approach to a healthier you!

Good luck!

fantastic recipes, ideas, and motivation from a real WW leader:
http://thewwchick.blogspot.com/

I used Weight Watchers to lose 18 pounds nine year...

2009-06-15T08:38:07.085-04:00

I used Weight Watchers to lose 18 pounds nine years ago. It taught me portion control and more importantly, it taught me how to treat food - when and where and how to indulge. It's taken me and a few pounds up and down in those nine years to finally get it right. I treat junk food for what it is: junk. I simply don't eat it. Indulging is a lean bison burger with local farm cheese, not McDonald's. It's a milkshake made from homemade ice cream, not a Wendy's Frosty. The less I eat bad stuff, the more I appreciate the good stuff and the less I crave total crap. My point is that I agree with you. It's not about a diet, but how to retrain yourself to feel your best, both inside and out! Thanks for sharing!