Weighty Matters

Currently life at my house is more than a little bit insane!  We seem to have very weighty matters on our minds. Yes, it seems everyone is on a DIET. My youngest daughter is getting married, so she's dieting (but at least she's not getting excessive). Her fiance just had bariatric surgery so he's eating very little (but he's not the one making me crazy!) No, it's my husband. His new name is "Mr. Calorie Counter."


I swear, he chews on his pen cap and asks me how many calories are in it! (Like I have any idea how many calories on in plastic pen caps! Unlike some people I don't EAT them!) Yes, he has gotten a new religion, and it is calorie counting.

Now I have nothing against counting your calories.  Sure, it's not my idea of a good time, but I have no problem with him dieting (or anyone else.) But PLEASE! When your whole conversation revolves around how many calories are in something you become really BORING! I don't even mind an occasional discussion of a new way to cook something that's low cal, I'm not unreasonable! And in fact have indulged in similar conversations myself.

But when every discussion starts with "Do you know how many calories are in that?" or "Can you believe they are out of Splenda!" That's when it's time for an intervention... you really need to get a LIFE. It all came to a head the other night when I heard him talking to Jane. 

Who is Jane? Well Jane is my mom's name, but he wasn't talking to her.  He was talking to our guinea pig who my daughter named Jane.  It seems according to my husband Jane's been eating too much Timothy Hay (OK she is a very fat guinea pig and could use a good exercise program!) and DOES SHE KNOW HOW MANY CALORIES ARE IN THAT!!!

No, this isn't Jane, she's not quite this fat...link here.

OK, I've had it! The guinea pig has NO idea how many calories are in timothy hay, and HE's the one who overfeeds her!

Photo of Timothy Hay

So no, I have no tolerance for people whose new religion is calorie counting--not when they're worse than the Jehovah's Witnesses who knock on my door trying to convert me to their religion.

If you are dieting and have any questions about how many calories are in something, ask Bill. If he eats it, he probably knows! And if he doesn't he'll keep asking someone until he finds out! Even if it's plastic pen caps or timothy hay! And it will be a relief for me not to have to listen to one more STUPID conversation about calories!

On The Road to Cape May

The great race to lose some weight before you hit the Expressway on the road to Cape May this year for bikini season is on! How will you do it? Will you choose Weight Watchers? Calorie Counting? High Carb? High Protein? Medifast? Slimfast? Jennie Craig? Optifast? or any of the other gazillion weight loss programs out there? No matter what you choose the web is here to help you.

Photo from Hungry Girl

My favorite? A web site called Hungry Girl. Hungry Girl gives you tips on ways you may be shooting yourself in the foot while dieting as well as some great recipes that have been re-written to make them great for the calorie conscious. You can sign up to have them email you daily updates. They help you plan meals and keep you on track toward your goal of a slimmer and sleeker you.

Photo from 3 Fat Chicks on a diet

Another favorite slimming site? 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet. Not to be confused with Fatchicks.com (YOU SO DO NOT WANT TO GO THERE, especially if you are at work!) But 3 Fat Chicks On A Diet is a great web site. They offer you all sorts of tips, tricks and recipes to help you lose weight. My daughters both used this site very successfully in conjunction with Weight Watchers a few years ago. We all still use their recipes and tips.

So no matter what weight loss program you decide to embrace, stick with it and don't forget, add some exercise to the mix, it's the only way to keep it off. If you live in the Delaware County area in the Springfield area hit the Springfield Healthplex.  A deluxe gym that has everything you could possibly want to get you in the groove to lose (weight that is).  Pools, fancy equipment, weights, basketball courts, tennis courts, racquet ball, a swimming pool, and every kind of fitness class you can imagine.  Don't want to spend quite that much $$$?  Try the economy Planet Fitness, last I checked it was a basic $10/month, a price a girl on a budget can't resist.

Courtesy of Nike 

(The Shoes/Sneakers/Workout Shoes You WANT to OWN!)

So NO EXCUSES! As the Nike ads say "JUST DO IT!"

I'll Never Understand...Juice Diets

JUICE DIETS.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Smiles Awhile

If you're like me, everywhere you go SOMEONE is on a juice diet. They are drinking green juice, orange (color) juice, red juice, yellow juice... all day long.  Just how much juice can you consume? It seems to me some people are juice-a-holics. They don't just drink at meal times. Juice dieters bring their juice in the elevator, to a business meeting, to a doctor's office, and on mass transit. Juice dieting is literally EVERYWHERE!

I mean I love some orange juice (fresh squeezed is good, but I'll take some good Tropicana) with my breakfast. A small glass of OJ gives me a pleasant way to start the day. Tomato juice or even V-8 isn't too bad at lunch or dinner. But orange and parsley juice? YCH! Carrot-apple juice...pluease!!!!! Spinach juice?

It seems everywhere I go people are whipping out their little 'jars of juice' to consume, grossing out the rest of us who have to watch them consume the stuff. So please, keep your 'cleansing diets' at home. Don't make me watch you drink it while I'm trying to enjoy my lunch! And don't give me the details of how it 'detoxes your body' while I'm eating, in fact I don't want to know about it at all! Don't sit next to me on the bus and offer me a sip (especially when I don't even KNOW you.) Don't drink in the elevator and spill it on my cream colored suit as the elevator lurches to a stop. Just put the stuff away. Be a closet drinker.

Actually, when it comes right down to it, go ahead and drink it. I know, you have your rights (hmmm, though I don't know that drinking juice in public is covered in the Constitution.) Drink it in front of me. Just not out of a see through jar so I have to observe the green glop as you extol it's virtues and how it 'cleanses you.'  TMI... (Too much information). Some things I REALLY don't want to know! So if you're 'juice dieting' suffer in silence, don't tell me about it and put your juice in an opaque jar!