How to Make Your Children BEG for Vegetables

I have admitted repeatedly (hoping confession is good for the soul) that I am not the world’s best cook.

Or even the world’s second best cook.

Really, the world screams “uncle” when I cook.

Aware of my one fault, I have attempted to make up for it in other ways so my family isn’t completely malnourished.

I watch what the boys have for snacks.

I pack healthy lunches.

I do what I can.

The boys like all those little packets of drink mix that you add to water bottles. As a treat once in awhile we choose a flavor…peach tea, pink lemonade, grape, etc. and shake, shake, shake for fun.

I was happy to find pink lemonade with added protein made by Special K that the boys drink with gusto. A little extra protein mid-morning seems to help dispositions.

I then found a drink with a full serving of vegetables! It is called “Veggies To Go”!

Be still my malnourished heart. What could be better than that? The boys are always a little light on the vegetables.

So we added it to the water.

We stirred.

And stirred.

And stirred.

It tastes as bad as it looks.

Using a goldfish glass might have been a little pond-water foreshadowing…

Weight Loss Is Only Math…I Hate Math.

Repeat after me…Eat Less, Exercise More.

Portion sizes in this country have continued to grow, as have the waistlines at Luby’s and The Golden Corral. The southern US has become Canada’s fat, dragging behind. Every time we turn around, some guru with a book is trying to sell us on low fat, low sugar, low salt, low carb…and every time we buy what they are selling, the only things we end up with are lower accounts and lower IQs.

Forget every fad, and go back to the science with me. Back to the numbers. To the…gulp…MATH. Wanna lose weight? Put down the Chipotle Burrito and follow me to the chalkboard.

One Pound = 3500 Calories. It’s that simple.

Think you gained 5 lbs of fat this weekend from the hedonistic binging you did? You might be carrying 5 extra pounds this morning, but it’s not necessarily fat…yet. It’s food, water, waste, and fat. But I guarantee you probably did not consume 17,500 calories in 48 hours. If you did, take a bow…I’m impressed. Need help getting up now?

Back to the math. One Pound = 3500 Calories. That’s the first component. Now, how many calories do you need to consume per day to simply maintain your current weight?? Five parts will figure into this: your height, your weight, your gender, your age, and your sedentary or active lifestyle. You will need a Calorie Calculator, and there is a great one found at My-Calorie-Counter.com.

I’m 6 foot, 194 pounds, male, 41 years old, and am lightly active (and I am being generous with that characterization)…that means that I need 2636 calories to simply maintain my current weight. If I eat less than 2600 calories, I lose weight. If I eat more, I gain.

So now, if you are remotely competitive, you can really get into this. My-Calorie-Counter.com (it’s free, by the way) has a HUGE database of foods and all their nutritional info, even if they are from a restaurant. So every day, you can enter into your profile your daily weight, and exactly what you consume, food and drink. Make a game of it.

When I was really intent on losing the weight, I would see how low I could go calorically, because the fewer I ingested, the faster my weight dropped. If I consumed only 1636 calories each day, I lost a pound every 3.5 days. Plus, in the process of entering all my foods into the database, I learned what everything “cost me”, and could sub other foods in future that maybe were more substantive, and made me feel “fuller” for the same calorie total. Still today, I make a game every day of how few calories I can ingest, or what I can sub for what, etc…eating a lot of fruit, yogurt, wheat bread, and tracking it all.

Also, try a book called “Eat This, Not That” by David Zinczenko…great for fast food junkies like me, it has a total breakdown of what you should order rather than what you normally order.

One mood killer, however, the Chipotle Burrito with all the fixins…drumroll…1100 calories. A true, delicious gut bomb. Try TWO turkey sandwiches instead on wheat bread with lite miracle whip, avocado, mustard and and lettuce…only 550 calories…and filling…

And look at this: One whole large apple, 110 cals. One large banana, 110 cals. One lite vanilla yogurt, 110 cals. Cut up the fruit, mix in the yogurt, you have a big, filling lunch or breakfast for 330 calories. One large bowl of granola and raisins with skim milk instead, 600 cals..see the difference?

A recent study showed that people who tracked their diet were more successful at weight loss than those who did not…it’s about first making a game, and then keeping yourself in it.

Now is it EASY? No. The human motivational component will always be there. But the one thing I have really taken from this process is learning what my body needs, what is “too much”, and finally balance… in place of ritualistic gluttony.

Jay Lessons is a novice ‘burb daddy, a husband-in-training, and a sarcasm specialist. You can find more of his reflective rants at HalftimeLessons.com, and Twitter @HalftimeLessons.

She’s Losing It: The History

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate everyone’s encouragement on this project (and on the swimsuit pictures). It has meant more than you will ever know!

This first week has been really good. And I will be writing a update for you.

But, I feel like it is important to give you some history and tell you how I got here. Here are the basics:

• I grew up competing in gymnastics and cheerleading. I was in pretty good shape…I have never really been thin…more of a stalky build.  In high school, I weighed around 130 lbs.  Very average, in my opinion.
• I went to college and gained the freshman 15.  Yes, high school seniors, that is real.
• Lost that in my sophomore year.
• I got pregnant with my first child when I was 20 years old and gave birth at 21.  A few months after Mackenzie was born, I started getting in prime physical shape.  I worked out 5 days a week and I loved it.  My husband is very active so it has always been a good fit for both of us!
• A year later…pregnant with baby #2.  I gained about 50 pounds with Chase!  Ick.  I was nearing the 200lb mark.
• Exercise didn’t come quite as easily with 2 kids and a full time job.   I don’t think I have ever quite shaken off my Chase baby-weight.
• Pregnant another year or so later with baby #3.  I didn’t gain quite as much weight with Macy but – who cares – I still had my Chase weight!
• Exercise REALLY didn’t happen with 3 kids and a full-time job!
• I worked Full-Time out of the house until September 2007.  When I left my job to stay at home with my kids, I thought…ok, now is the time.  I can go to the gym every day.  It is going to be great!  It didn’t happen.

So, here I am.  I am 29 years old.  5’2″ and 160lbs.  I have lived on fast food, Dr. Pepper, coffee & anti-depressants for the past two years.  I rarely get a full night of sleep.  My kids are 7, 5 & 3 – very active and challenging at times.

I have a reputation for being brutally honest about the stress in my life.  But, what that means for me is that women feel comfortable telling me about the stresses in their lives as well. Based on the information that I have gathered, I am the typical mom.  Or as Chaka Khan would say, “I’m Every Woman.”

But I want to be better.

I want to be the best that I have ever been!

Shauna writes rambles on about life stuff on her personal blog: Blah Blah Blog.