10 new rules

1) Set your goals early, both in pounds to lose and the date by which you want to achieve this loss. Keep a daily log or scorecard of your weight loss.

2) Find a high-protein breakfast and lunch that you can live with each day.  Routine actually helps maintain weight loss, constantly changing foods can make it more difficult to stay within limits

3) Concentrate on changing your daily eating habits from three large meals per day, plus snacks, to five to six small meals.

4) Stay hydrated! It's very important that you avoid getting dehydrated, so avoid intake of caffeine, carbonated sodas, beer and alcohol.

5) Move more while you are eating less. Start out walking 30 minutes, four to five days a week. Build up to walking farther and faster, and more often, while adding weight lifting two to three days per week. You will be amazed how fast the weight will start dropping once you get into this routine, plus your dog will love it even more than you!

6) Start rewarding your new body with activities instead of food. Reward yourself by replacing your "going out to eat" time with activities will  be the best move you will make during this whole journey.

7) It's OK to leave food on your plate! Regardless of what your mother said growing up, children in Africa, India or China aren't going to be affected if you leave food on your plate.

8) Order an appetizer as your main meal  or share a meal when eating out. You will be amazed how full you will be after eating the smaller servings and your pocketbook will also thank you.Or share a meal, most meals are portion- sized for two people anyhow

9)Welcome and embrace your support network, be it a wife, friend, business colleague, etc. You will have good days and  bad ones and the unconditional support these people will show you will help you push through the bad and be there to help celebrate the good!

10) This will NEVER be over It is not a diet, so you cannot assume you can go back to poor eating habits in a few months.You will always be evaluating 

NPO counts of common foods- or Nutrition per ounce

 NPO

 not for public offering ? what?

Nutrition per ounce- yes I know its my own "terminology" but it works for me 

ok, the NPO for Commercial white bread is this ( based on a single ounce)

• 74 calories
• 1g fat
• 191mg sodium
• 14g carbohydrate
• 1g sugar
• 1g fiber
• 2 g protein
• 0% vitamin A
• 2%Calcium
• 0% Vitamin C
• 6% Iron  

 whole wheat bread is

• 69 Calories
• 1g fat
• 118g sodium 
• 12 g carbohydrates
• 2g fiber
• 2 g sugar
• 4g protein
• 0% vitamin A
• 3% calcium
• o% vitamin C
• 4% Iron 

 ok , so I know bread is not the basis of life, but since both are pretty much just carrier foods, in  other words , they carry  other stuff  to your mouth.There is nothing wrong with limiting your intake of them in favor of more nutrient dense foods, like  vegeatbles such as broccoli spinach or carrots.

 Comparing white potatoes, without the skin to sweet potatoes without the skin ends up with an even larger disparity.  again this is based on a 1 oz portion

white potato baked, no skin

• 26 calories
• 0 fat
• 1mg sodium
• 6g carbohydrate
• 0 fiber
• 0 sugar
• 1g protein
• 0 vitamin A
• 6% Vitamin C
• 0% Calcium
• 1% Iron

 Sweet potato , no skin

• 21 calories
• 0g fat
• 8mg sodium
•  5g carbohydrate
• 1g fiber
• 2g sugar
• 0g protein
• 88% vitamin A
• 6% Vitamin C
• 1% Calcium
• 1% Iron 

SO lets move on to egg noodles, they are  in thier white form SLIGHTLY better than plain spaeghetti or macoroni noodles, so here goes the comparison

Egg noodles-dry-uncooked 1 oz(28g)

• 108 Calories
• 1g fat
• 24 mg cholesterol
• 6mg sodium
• 20g carbohydrate
• 1 g fiber
• 1g sugar
• 4g protein
• 0% vitamin A
• 1% Calcium
• o% Vitamin C
• 3% Iron

 Egg noodles -spinach- dry uncooked

• 107 calories
• 1 g fat
• 27 mg cholesterol
• 20 mg sodium
• 20g carbohydrate
• 2 g fiber
• 0 g sugar
• 4g protein
• 2%Vitamin A
• 2% Calcium
• 0% Vitamin C
• 7% Iron 

Truthfully, no one would ( i hope) debate that  these foods should be in your diet every single day, but its relatively simple to look at the foods and realize that the  "healthier" choices are somewhat higher in nutrients and overall nutrition.

The white/plain versions of these products are not bad.  the alternate version packs more nutritents, thats all, and if you're limiting calories and trying to get the most nutrients out of those limited calories, the alternate versions become the best option.

So the the white versus wheat  and white versus sweet debate will continue to rage on and on, but this is why I tend to avoid white potatoes and white bread.

To me the nutrition  and  VALUE of that nutrition per ounce to me is not worth it on what are empty foods, and as someone who does have them both as "trigger foods" in other words consumption of them tends to lead me to make other poor choices, I choose not to consume them

Why are you doing this to yourself?

I hear from so many people who are trying to diet so hard and they are following all the "rules" of dieting
ad still they are not seeing the weight "slide off" like they think it should

I'm starving!! 
I'm eating 1200 calories and not losing - what should I do? 
I haven't lost in six weeks - help!! 
I'm eating 1200 and exercising 6 days a week for 3 hours a day and not losing??!! 
I want chocolate!! 
Help me - I'm going to binge!! 
I hate veggies!! 

LET me address these one by one

Why set 1200 calories as your goal - and even then under-eat? 

MOST people 1200 calories will not result in optimal weight loss

yes I know this is the "tried and true" weight loss calorie goal, and it fails, because its unrealistic.
you can diet for 2-4 weeks at this level and lose weight, but after that, your body will level out, and hold on to the weight, because for most people this is nearly  starvation
especially if you're a bigger person(like many of my clients) with 50 or more pounds to lose

the normal BMR for a 35 year old woman who is 5 ft 5 inches  and 250 lb is 1880 calories
so to MAINTAIN HER WEIGHT NOT EXERCISE , NOT GET UP OUT OF BED OTHER THAN THE BATHROOM , AND WALK MAYBE 2000 STEPS A DAY IS  1880 CALORIES!!!
 now throw in a normal  "dieter"
because lets face it , at 250 , she is obese that puts her BMI at 41, which is in the EXTREMELY/Morbidly obese category.

so she has a goal of getting down to 140 which would put her in the high end of the "normal" range
so being an "experienced dieter" she sets her calories for 1200 a day, because well she has 100 lbs to lose, and she wants it off in a year or less.
she also starts exercising, but because of life, she is just going to walk, 3x a week for an hour well at her weight thats going to burn almost 500 calories (495) so , if she is only eating 1200 calories , that means 3 days a week , she is ACTUALLY only consuming 700 total calories a day.
now, for most people this will work just fine.
For about a month...
so our dieter has lost 20lbs
and a two and a half  months into it
she is not losing ANYTHING
and she is frustrated.., and she is hungry... and because her metabolism is trying to get her to conserve, she is also tired ... and her healing is slowing down..
 AND get this
SHE IS STILL OBESE!!
but she is frustrated, she is doing all the "right things" according to weight watchers , according to her doctor, according to ALL her friends on facebook...
she is "dieting" properly.. and she is not losing weight....
so she is going to stop dieting, because after all "it didn't work"
all she lost was 20 lbs... not anywhere near the 45 she had expected to lose...

oh and get this, now that she has went back to her normal eating, she has felt deprived, and her body has been deprived during the last 2 and a half months, so she is going to most likely eat 2000-2500 calories a day ... and she is going to gain the 20lbs back, and give it a few more friends...





Why don't you eat your exercise calories? ?
You exercise , and burn off calories,  You have to fuel your body back part of those calories, I know it sounds counter productive, but in reality its not, if i work out and work out and work out,  and stay the same calorie level , my biology says, oh no I am in a race for my life, who knows when the next food is , i better hang on to some more fat..


Why don't you plan ahead? ?

Plan your meals,  I do this kind of intuitively, at breakfast when I sit down with my shake or yogurt or oatbran.
 I plan dinner ahead, I admit I do not always stick with it, but I plan my food for the day.
 I know as well how many calories dinner will be before I cook it, and then  when it is being made I ensure I am staying in the calorie limits imposed and "budgeted" for that meal.


Let me reiterate this , FAT is fairly new, in the levels and amounts of obesity we see in society now.

Our body has developed over THOUSANDS of years, to SURVIVE , and for most of our ancestors, starvation was literally only a day or two away, FAT didn't happen until  more modern agriculture,  and even then it was fairly rare,in the average classes- because agriculture even 70 years ago was much more labor intensive than it is today.


It's not rocket science. 
It's not a race. 
It's not a diet. 


Its a new way of looking at food , activity and life..

its a new smarter mouth
 a well educated way of looking at life... 

What can a Health and Wellness coach do for me?

Well, Have you been on diet after diet and failed,

Have you tried exercise routine after exercise routine , to "fall off the wagon" and quit after a month or two?

Have you tried losing weight succeeded and then a year or so later find yourself facing the same weight on the scale ?

Have you simply decided it is time for a life change?

Do you "know" with the right support you could get through this ?

Do you want that face to face or virtual "buddy" to really help you power through all this ?

Do you simply lack the support you feel you need from others in your life?


Wellness coaching does several things, I will through one on one sessions with you, help you plan your goals out, and help you write out a roadmap on how to achieve them, and then along the way ,I will act as your friendly GPS directing you to your goals , keeping you on path and helping you become the success you know you want to be.

10 things I have learned so far!

I asked Bonita if I could share what she had written here on the blog,
because it is such a wonderful affirmation from someone who is working Very hard on her health and weight issues,and has been really focused the last 5 months in making those changes in her life

So  without further Ado:


I know there are people who are going to do whatever they want regardless of advice, medical proof, or testimony from other people but hopefully this list will reach someone. 

1. 1200 is NOT the magic number. Without going into too much detail, 1200 is not guaranteed to give you a deficit of 1000 calories a day and make you lose 2 lbs a week. If your TDEE is 2100, to lose 2 lbs a week you'd need to consume a net of 1100. 1200 is just the lowest MFP will allow itself to be set to. So you're essentially starving yourself for no reason. It's not medically possible for someone who's already not too overweight to lose very much weight each week. Lower your expectations and be patient. 

2. You don't have to cut anything completely out of your diet. Unless you have a food allergy or a medical reason not to eat anything, have chocolate! Have french fries! Have a glass of wine! The best way to lose weight is to make sustainable changes, not make yourself miserable. 

3. There are no magic pills or shakes. No green coffee, Slimquick, Hydroxycut, Sensa, Visalus, Herbalife... None of that crap. You don't need it! Your body is a machine and all you have to do is treat it right and it will do whatever it is that you want it to do. Stop mistreating yourselves by drinking a chemical shake for a meal. Stop pumping yourselves full of caffeine pills and just do the work. I promise you'll have better results. 

4. Cardio won't make you "toned". Actually, if you only do cardio, you have a good chance of looking really flabby and gross. Cardio is excellent for heart and cardiovascular health, but it will not give you a ripped, lean body. 

5. Lifting weights will NOT make you "bulky". It's so much fun ladies, seriously. THIS will give you a lean, beautiful body. It will strengthen your bones. It will improve your posture. It will make you feel badass. Stronglifts 5x5 is what I use and I have loved every change that my body has gone through in the past 4 weeks. 

6. Lifting weights should be short and sweet. No more low weight, high rep crap ladies. High weight, low rep is what you need to get you the results you need. 

7. Don't rely completely on the scale. Yes, there is a healthy weight range for every height but weighing yourself every day, or even every week is pointless. Especially if you're lifting, your body will fluctuate in fluid levels by a range of 5 lbs per day. No sense in getting your feelings hurt. Take pictures. Measure your body. 

8. Don't expect everybody to care that you want to get healthier. Nobody should be negative, but your husband doesn't have to go to the gym with you. He can still have donuts and hot wings 5 times a week. Your girlfriends can still drink margaritas. It doesn't make them insensitive. They have different needs and lives than you do. If your friend became pregnant, would you give up alcohol with her? If your husband broke his leg, would you use crutches with him? You can be supportive and loving without changing your whole lifestyle. 

9. Don't become a psycho. Seriously, don't roll your eyes at people when they eat. Don't read the nutritional facts of other people's food. Don't constantly talk about fitness. That's what MFP is for. Not everyone wants or needs to make the changes you are and that's the fastest way to alienate yourself and lose friends. 

10. Don't forget to live! If you find yourself turning down invites to go out for drinks, shying away from a dinner out with your spouse, avoiding family get togethers, or having anxiety attacks over office potlucks, you have gone entirely too far. Isn't the reason you started this so that you would feel more comfortable in social settings? Don't forget to have some fun guys. Life is too short to worry and count constantly. 

Ms Bonita Cash.

SMART MOUTH!!

 What an insult, it generally means someone who makes negative or "smart aleck" remarks without thinking of what they are saying.
 BUT thats not what smart mouth Eats is about
 its about that mouth of yours, being smart,
 about food choices about life choices and about one of the most important things of all
about life choices you make
 and how it all starts right there, with that smart mouth of yours.