New Years Resolutions

2010 will be the beginning of the 3rd year of my Diet/Life Style Change. As I started this journey 2 years ago, I really did not know it would take this long, and how many ups and downs I needed to conquer. I still have not reached my goal of weighing 150 pounds, and not only that because I have been off track for about 6 months now, by not going to the gym 5 -6 days a week, I have gained back some of the weight I had worked so hard to lose. But the biggest realization is my addiction to food! I do have a sort of disease, and this is really the root of the problem. I have to keep my bingeing under control, and this will be with my all of my life! Discipline is the only way! being strong and saying no to that piece of Chocolate, or no to that cracker with French Cheese!

Back in July , my 50th birthday I had set a goal of weighing at first 150 pounds, that didn't happen, and I had to reset it for 200 pounds, and even that didn't happen, it was around 230. Still of course not bad.

I recently met a good friend at Christmas who has gone another diet route of ' Weight Watchers'.. and she now has met her goal! she started at 220 and is now 150. I feel so sad that I have not met my goal yet, and now coming clean, I weighed-in today at 280!

Yes my dear blog friends and followers.. I have let you down, but let my self down! I have gained 50 pounds! ... so frustrating.. so crazy that you can gain this weight back so frikk'n fast too!

It takes such hard work, sweat and dedication to lose 1 - 2 pounds a weeks.. and in 6 short months I gain 50 back! CHRIST!

well.. here I am confessing.. coming clean to you all.... this New Year brings on a new challenge and realization... it's not a DIET ... it really is a Life Style Change... because I can, as proven in the last 6 months, fall back into old habits! I love food, and want to gobble up as much as I can all the time! But I have to be strong, strict and true to myself! If you are not following a strict successful diet program like Weight Watchers, then indeed you have to go to the Gym, no if and butts about it!

I will keep on truckin'g , keep smiling.. and keep trying.. this will not conquer me! I will win this quest!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! .....NOW GET TO WORK!

Here are some fun Diet Quotes:

You can't lose weight by talking about it. You have to keep your mouth shut. ~Author Unknown

When we lose twenty pounds... we may be losing the twenty best pounds we have! We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love and honesty. ~Woody Allen


Don't dig your grave with your own knife and fork. ~English Proverb


Your stomach shouldn't be a waist basket. ~Author Unknown


A diet is the penalty we pay for exceeding the feed limit. ~Author Unknown


More die in the United States of too much food than of too little. ~John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society


The cardiologist's diet: If it tastes good, spit it out. ~Author Unknown


One should eat to live, not live to eat. ~Cicero,Rhetoricorum LV


Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake. ~Author Unknown


I've decided that perhaps I'm bulimic and just keep forgetting to purge. ~Paula Poundstone


In the Middle Ages, they had guillotines, stretch racks, whips and cahins. Nowadays, we have a much more effective torture device called the bathroom scale. ~Stephen Phillips


It's okay to be fat. So you're fat. Just be fat and shut up about it. ~Roseanne Barr


I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to me that they are wonderful things for other people to go on. ~Jean Kerr, "Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall," The Snake Has All the Lines, 1958


People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas. ~Author Unknown


Albert Einstein, who discovered that a tiny amount of mass is equal to a huge amount of energy, which explains why, as Einstein himself so eloquently put it in a famous 1939 speech to the Physics Department at Princeton, "You have to exercise for a week to work off the thigh fat from a single Snickers." ~Dave Barry, Dave Barry Turns 50


Reality check: you can never, ever, use weight loss to solve problems that are not related to your weight. At your goal weight or not, you still have to live with yourself and deal with your problems. You will still have the same husband, the same job, the same kids, and the same life. Losing weight is not a cure for life. ~Phillip C. McGraw, The Ultimate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom, 2003


The one way to get thin is to re-establish a purpose in life. ~Cyril Connolly, The Unquiet Grave


If nature had intended our skeletons to be visible it would have put them on the outside of our bodies. ~Elmer Rice


Avoid any diet that discourages the use of hot fudge. ~Don Kardong


I keep trying to lose weight... but it keeps finding me! ~Author Unknown


I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond. ~Mae West


I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is fourteen days. ~Totie Fields


Rich, fatty foods are like destiny: they too, shape our ends. ~Author Unknown


I'm on a seafood diet. I see food and I eat it. ~Author Unknown


The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat are really good friends. ~Author Unknown


Forget love - I'd rather fall in chocolate! ~Attributed to Sandra J. Dykes


Stressed spelled backwards is desserts. Coincidence? I think not! ~Author Unknown

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Boot Camp - Day 4

Boot Camp - day 3

Boot Camp- Day 2

bodybugg results - Boot camp day 1

DAY 1 - Wendy Boot Camp

As you all know, on February 12, 2010 will be the day the Vancouver Olympics open. Toronto has had the honour of welcoming the Olympic flame, as it makes its way all the way to Vancouver. In this picture I am posing with one of the Olympic flame runners, John Staton, owner of ' The Running Room'

I am a strong believer in 'signs'... and this 'sign' of me posing with John Staton, is to remind me of not letting go of my weight loss goals!

I have to get back on track! Therefor this post is labeled - ' DAY 1- Wendy Boot Camp' .... I am off on vacation from work for 2 weeks, and starting today I am going to make my Gym my office for 2 weeks. I am planning to go and workout for 6 -8 hours a day for the coming 2 weeks....

If the contestants on the BIGGEST LOSER can do it! ....

...So can I!

I will post my Bodybugg results here on my blog for the next two weeks, as well as my facebook!

Wish me luck!

links:

The Running Room

Vancouver Olympics

the Bodybugg

The Biggest Loser Resort! Wow.. now this would be great!

I sure would like to win the lottery and go to THIS resort one day!!

http://www.biggestloserresort.com/

The Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge

The Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge provides the most affordable, calorie-controlled, structured program in the weight loss resort industry. Selected to be the exclusive weight loss destination to NBC's television show "The Biggest Loser", The Resort offers a boot camp style program for men and women of any fitness level. Our program is aligned with The Biggest Loser lifestyle and features incredible hiking, stimulating cardio and stretch classes, delectable spa cuisine, and practical education to help you succeed.

Whether your goal is to lose substantial weight or to enjoy a fitness getaway, the personal attention that our program, experienced trainers, and supportive group atmosphere provide will help achieve your goals. Join us for the perfect place to start or maintain your healthy lifestyle..

90% gain the weight back

Here's an article I found on weight gain... so many sources out there on the web... who's advice are you suppose to follow... eat protein, don't eat protein.... only eat vegan, cut down on carbs, only exercise,eat what ever you want.... so frustrating... who has the right answer??

Weight gain and Weight loss

There’s nothing worse than to be watching your calories and exercising, but the scale just doesn’t budge…. You just feel like, ‘My efforts are for naught.’ That’s when people tend to give up." - Thomas Wadden Most nutritionists would have you believe that counting calories is the best way to lose fat. Here’s their theory, in a nutshell: · Calories in vs. calories out determine your weight. · Consume more calories than you burn and the rest turns to fat. · To lose weight, you either consume fewer calories or burn more with aerobic exercise. But have you ever noticed that the people who frantically count calories are forever overweight? Here’s the problem: Your body is not a simple machine. It’s a living, sentient system with its own "intelligence." It decides how to use the calories you consume. In fact, over the long run, what your body decides to do with calories appears to be more consequential than how many you consume. Of course, some people just eat way too much. But for people making a serious attempt to lose weight, excess calories are not their problem (although most are made to believe it is). Conventional diets just don’t work. Five out of six people who try to lose weight fail. And more than 90% of those who do succeed in losing weight gain all the weight back within two years. When you consider the flawed strategy these diets use, this is no surprise. You can’t achieve and maintain your ideal weight by starving yourself thin. Even if you could, it would be bad for your health. Losing weight has been hard because you have the wrong tool for the job. If you drop your calories and go hungry - forcing your body to lose weight - your body will fight back. This is your body’s built in "intelligence." It reacts as if you are starving and will do everything it can to preserve your fat. And when you lose weight by starving yourself, you lose important muscle, bone, fluids, and even vital organ mass. Your body has mechanisms for setting your weight where it wants it to be. It is similar to the way you set the temperature of your house with a thermostat. So the right tool for the job of losing weight is one that changes your body’s set point. Said another way, you need to change your metabolism. Changing your metabolism is the key to - NOT counting calories. The good news is that you can change your metabolism with food or exercise or both. But not with the kind of diet and exercise you’re used to. It involves eating differently, not less - and exercising differently, not more. You see here are the two most important principles of healthy fat loss: You must (1) over-consume protein and (2) train your body to store energy, not fat. Why should you eat more protein than your body is going to use? Because it throws the "metabolic switch" and changes the way your body decides to store and use the excess calories. You see, your body has choices. It can use that energy in a nearly infinite number of ways. It could, for example, decide to use extra calories for something like building bone or repairing damaged tissues. Doctors, nutritionists, and the media all miss this point. They still cling to the idea that your body always stores excess calories as fat. Surprisingly, this has rarely been considered in clinical research. Yet when studied, the results back me up. For instance, a study published in Obesity Research found that people could lose weight independent of calories consumed when the ratio of protein and carbohydrate changed. The trick is to change your metabolism. By throwing your metabolic switch, you can accomplish these two important goals of sustained fat loss: · Increase the calories you use for maintenance and repair. · Decrease the calories you shunt toward fat deposition. Your body makes its decisions about its energy reserves for the sake of survival. It’s an instinct that goes back to caveman days, when a drop in protein and calories signalled the body "These are bad times. So to survive this famine/plague/winter, we’d better store as much energy as possible." And when protein and calories were up, the signal was "Times are good, so we can burn that energy." During good times, your body "invests" in procreation and fat loss. It uses the extra protein to boost levels of growth hormone and sex hormones and burn fat stores by lowering insulin. Having sex and babies requires lots of energy, and your body makes these adjustments only when "times are good." If your body senses that times are bad, it decides that this is not a good time to have children. So the production of growth hormone and sex hormones is suppressed. And to protect itself against the threat of starvation, it boosts insulin to promote fat gain. In our modern environment, excessive stress and a nutrient-poor diet can cause your body to think times are bad. This puts your metabolism in a perpetual state of preparing for the worst. The result? You not only gain weight, you also feel sluggish and tired. If you want to burn fat, you have to stop starving your body. Forget about the burgers and whole-grain breads. The good news is you can start eating the hearty foods you’ve been denying yourself - like steak and eggs. These are the foods we used to think were healthy. (My father said they would "put hair on your chest.") With a little planning, you get naturally lean by eating the foods you enjoy. Start by eating at least one gram of protein per day for every half a kilo of lean body mass. You can find your lean body mass by having your body composition measured. (Ask your doctor or the trainer at your gym for help with this.) Here’s an example: If you weigh 90 kilos and have 30 kilos of body fat, your lean body mass is 60 kilos. That means you should get at least 120 grams of protein a day. When you consider that an egg has about 6 grams of protein and a 100 gram of T-bone steak has about 20 grams, 120 grams is far more than you get from the standard diet. To further shift your metabolism away from storing fat, cut your carbs. Your ancient ancestors never ate grains, and you should keep yours to a minimum. Take a scientific approach to this by using the glycaemic index to determine how much insulin various foods will stimulate based on the carbs they contain. Lastly, to maximise your fat loss and boost your lean body mass, exercise in ways that burn lots of energy fast. This is important because fat is a slow-burn fuel. So if you ask your body for higher energy output than it can get from fat, it will get the message to stop shunting calories to fat. Instead, it will store more energy as glycogen in the muscles. The kind of exercises that burn lots of energy fast will feel like a short sprint and leave you panting after you finish. You can do this with calisthenics, weight training, or routines that focus on your legs, like running or biking uphill. (Start off easy and gradually increase the intensity of the exercise as you become conditioned.) (Source: National Geographic)

What is the power of Christmas?

So what does Christmas mean to me? and why does it make me feel so warm and fuzzy? FAMILY! and especially my sisters...

I have the most wonderful memories of my family get-togethers at Christmas. From being a little kid in Don Mills and waking up Christmas morning to not only seeing our Christmas Tree for the very first time, but it was also full of presents. You see my mom and dad were great at keeping us kids in suspense and making a big production of Christmas. Christmas morning we were aloud to sneek out of our ' bunk beds' and get our stocking that was hung on the staircase banister.

It was full to the brim of all sort of small toys,games, and candy ( pez) . Then when my parents finally woke up, around 9am, we would get our ' best' dressed and come downstairs to see the wonderful surprise of the Christmas tree and presents. The tradition was that we were aloud to open one present before our breakfast. The traditional Christmas breakfast was a boiled egg with some toast, and a slice of Dutch Christmas bread. So after breakfast was done, we helped clean up, then we all sat on the floor in the living room in front of the tree waiting to open the packages. We were only aloud to open them one at a time. Stretching out the excitement of the gifts for as long as possible.

By the time all the gifts were open, it was 3 hours later. We happily played with our new toys, and games the rest of the day! My sisters and I were real ' Games' lovers.

This year at the Santa Claus parade, which rolled into Toronto yesterday, there was a float from ' Hasbro' , a very old long standing games company.

Seeing the games on the float brought back a flood of memories to me. Operation, Clue, Monopoly, Twister, Kerplunk, Jenga, Masterpeice, Life, Mousetrap, Mastermind, Battleship and of course Scrabble where all our top loved games. I especially loved Masterpeice, but that was always a bit ' artsy fartsy' for my siblings!

So the answer to the question for me, ' what is the power of Christmas'... I guess when I think about it, is the time I spent with my sisters playing hours and hours of games together on Christmas Day . My sister Melinda was the most powerful Monolpoly player, and my older sister Ineke always won hands down in Scrabble. My talents were always with Clue, Battleship, Mastermind and Masterpeice, the more logic games.

I only wish now that I could find that same enthusiastic game playing attitude with my present family and friends... no one seems to want to take the time to play a game now a days ! Sad really, you create the best laughing memories in those game moments!

TORONTO WINS PAN-AM GAMES BID!

Jubilation as Toronto gets Pan Am shot

November 07, 2009

Canadian athletes prepare for the final hour-long pitch to the Pan American Sports Organization in Guadalajara on Friday as Mounties stand by.

ALEJANDRO ACOSTA/REUTERS

GUADALAJARA, MEXICO–It started with cocktails in an Annex backyard, in a city desperate to shed its loser label.

It was the fall of 2005, and Bob Richardson, a key organizer in the failed 2008 Olympic bid, wanted to help out his old Carleton University roommate, Jim Watson, who had just been appointed Ontario's health promotion minister.

Ontario had fallen behind with its sports facilities. Our pools, rinks, running tracks and arenas were failing future athletes.

A decision was made. The gathering of 20, several Olympians among them, realized the only way to secure the money needed to transform the sports scene was to win a major international event.

On Friday, the idea conceived four years earlier at Richardson's house became a reality when Toronto was awarded the 2015 Pan Am Games.

When Pan American Sports Organization president Mario Vazquez Rana announced Toronto was the winner, the bid team jumped, cheered and screamed for joy. The relief was palpable. Toronto was no longer a loser.

Now, "People can say, `We got something," said bid chair David Peterson.

"Now we can turn this into something big. If you think big and you have big dreams, this can be a mood changer for Hamilton, a mood changer for Toronto, and a mood changer for Ontario."

It was all done with a $2.4 billion bid involving venues from Welland to Oshawa and calling for new aquatic centres and stadiums, plus an athletes' village – later to be turned into affordable housing – near Toronto's eastern waterfront.

The vote wasn't close: Toronto's 33 votes blew away the competition in the first ballot. Lima, Peru, got 11 votes, and Bogota, Colombia, had seven.

After nearly 18 months of lobbying that sent them criss-crossing the hemisphere for votes from the 42 members of the Pan American Sports Organization, the bid team arrived in Mexico this week both hopeful and optimistic.

While arguing the city had the best technical bid, organizers were reluctant to talk about a win, fearing it might jinx our chances or even backfire if the city seemed too confident. Toronto had been down this road before, with two failed Olympic bids.

"You have to be very circumspect," said bid chair David Peterson.

But when it became clear there would only be one round of voting, Toronto's organizers became more confident, letting out some expectant hope that a win was finally within their grasp.

As the ballots were being sorted into three piles at the front of an enormous hotel ballroom, one pile was clearly much bigger.

"I was trying to follow the pen as (an official) was writing the name of city beside the pile and the number 31," said Jagoda Pike, the bid's chief operating officer.

"When they announced, my heart stopped."

It was actually 33. Bid chair David Peterson and Premier Dalton McGuinty were among the first on stage to celebrate.

The room was electric, just as it had been earlier in the day when Toronto made its final sales pitch, a crucial hour-long presentation that can sometimes knock a city out of contention.

After rehearsing over and over, the team of athletes and politicians hit it out of the park, with a passion. It opened with gymnasts, volleyball players and a tennis player bouncing into the ballroom, followed by a 60-strong delegation dressed in smart black blazers with the bid crest.

Interspersed through the show were videos from athletes across the hemisphere extolling Toronto's benefits, including the world's fastest man, Jamaica's Usain Bolt, who was in town last summer.

The final video offered a moving tale of what the Games might be: youngsters from across the Americas and Caribbean training and growing up to compete in Toronto in 2015.

"It makes me cry every time I see it," said Peterson, adding he told staff that if it didn't make him weep, the team wouldn't show it.

Toronto's hour drew hearty applause throughout, unlike Bogota's and Lima's more formal presentations, which featured wrap-up speeches from their national presidents: Colombia's Alvaro Uribe and Peru's Alan Garcia.

The Canadian politicians were all smiles afterward.

"It's a moment of tremendous celebration for us," McGuinty told the delegates. "Our promise is to present you with the best Pan Am Games ever."

Also grinning was Mayor David Miller, who had been initially reluctant to sign on after a previous world's fair bid – ironically also for 2015 – failed to get off the ground because of senior government squabbling over debt guarantees.

"I was always a little nervous. Bitten once, twice shy," said Miller.

But this time, Ottawa and Queen's Park agreed to put up $500 million each, with the province promising to cover any cost overruns. The 14 municipalities with venues are putting up their own shares.

LIST OF COUNTRIES THAT PARTICIPATE IN PAN AM GAMES:

Antigua and Barbuda (ATG)
Argentina (ARG)
Aruba (ARU)
Bahamas (BAH)
Barbados (BAR)
Belize (BIZ)
Bermuda (BER)
Bolivia (BOL)
Brazil (BRA)
British Virgin Islands (IVB)
Canada (CAN)
Cayman Islands (CAY)
Chile (CHI)
Colombia (COL)
Costa Rica (CRC)
Cuba (CUB)
Dominica (DMA)
Dominican Republic (DOM)
Ecuador (ECU)
El Salvador (ESA)
Grenada (GRN)
Guatemala (GUA)
Guyana (GUY)
Haiti (HAI)
Honduras (HON)
Jamaica (JAM)
Mexico (MEX)
Netherlands Antilles (AHO)
Nicaragua (NCA)
Panama (PAN)
Paraguay (PAR)
Peru (PER)
Puerto Rico (PUR)
Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN)
Saint Lucia (LCA)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (VIN)
Suriname (SUR)
Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)
United States (USA)
U.S. Virgin Islands (ISV)
Uruguay (URU)
Venezuela (VEN)

As If I had been Struck by Lighting!

Happy Halloween everyone!

... not so happy for me...

I must say this has been a very scary week! A real awaking for me too!

Why?

On Thursday I received news of getting a new job as project manager at the City of Toronto.. I was real happy! and as a sort of reward to myself.. instead of going to the gym ( as I should have! ) I ended up staying home planning to watch a film and snack on some popcorn!

OMG.. that was such a BAD idea!

Because half way down the bag of popcorn I chomped down .. and CRACK !! .. I heard this terrible sound in my mouth, realizing I just chomped down hard on a popcorn kernel and .. yuup.. I firkin broke my tooth!! AAARRGGGGG!

I broke my "upper right 1st bicuspid" or " First premolar" it broke right down the middle.. split in two.. this was bad !

So I called my dentist (@ 10pm) luckily I had his home phone number.. and he replied.. " well Wendy this doesn't sound good, see you tomorrow morning at 7:30am "

So off to bed I went.. but first throwing out that dam cursed 1/2 bag of popcorn and cursing all the way to the trash!

So next day... 7:30am... my dentist looks at the tooth and with a face of dome and gloom he says.. " sorry, I can't save the tooth , I have to pull it out!"... OMG... shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit !

So in goes the freezing needle... and 1 hour later of prodding and poking and pulling and yanking it was finally removed! with a very difficult extraction I had to have 2 stitches as well.. I have lost my tooth! that tooth has been a part of me for 40 years!

I am soooooo MAD at myself... !!! as you can imagine!

A huge sign has just been really mad clear to me... as if I had been struck by lighting... ' Wendy you can't eat that crap... enough ... is enough... now you really physically can't eat it.. as you well know now.. it will break your teeth! '

So now 24 hours later, I'm on Tylenol 3's and Antibiotics, having to eat only soft food and soup, I have major major major! learned my lesson..

I have to stay on track of my lifestyle change, only eat healthy foods... ( but now I can't even eat nuts... as they will now get stuck in my new gapping hole, and also possibly break other teeth! )

This sucks big time!

Shocking Story!

" Fat Family' Children Taken from Parents" ** See the article below my comments...

If this had happened in Canada, it would have meant that me and my sisters should have been taken away at birth too, as my own mother weighed over 250 pounds when giving birth to us!

The British authorities should keep there f***'ing hands out of private family matters. What the british government should be doing is sending a social worker, dietitian to the home and work with the PARENTS to teach them proper eating habits!

The parents need to set an example...! yes true... but they, the government, should protect the children that are getting sexually abused and or battered... not because they don't know how to eat right!

Arrgh.. so wrong of them to take away their children!

Education is this case in this key!

shocking!

*What do you think about this story? please fill free to add your comments here on my blog...

12:01pm UK, Thursday October 22, 2009

Kirsty Donald, Sky News Online

" Fat Family' Children Taken from Parents" - Seven children, including a newborn baby, have been taken from their overweight parents and put into care because of concerns over their welfare.

Some of the children, who cannot be identified, also have weight problems

The family from Dundee was split up by social workers following a meeting of the Children's Panel.

The youngsters include a girl born earlier this week at the city's Ninewells Hospital and taken from the arms of her 322 pound mother shortly afterwards.

The 40-year-old woman and her 53-year-old husband, who weighs around 252 pounds, have not been named to protect the identity of their children.

Two of their kids, aged three and four, were taken into care earlier this year.

Now the other five, including the newborn and a 13-year-old boy who is said to weighs 224 pounds, have been taken from their parents.

The local authority insisted it was not its policy to remove children from their family home solely on the basis of weight problems.

Councils will always act with the welfare and safety of children in mind and there can be many reasons for action being taken.

Dundee City Council spokesman

But the family's solicitor Kathleen Price has previously claimed obesity was the main reason for the children being taken from their parents.

She said the couple had not been given a fair hearing and had been "victimised".

A spokesman for Dundee City Council said: "Any decision about a child's situation is given full and careful consideration.

"In many cases social workers will have been providing a high level of professional and caring support to a family for many years in a bid to keep them together.

"However, the welfare and safety of a child or children is the over-riding priority and in some cases, despite the strenuous efforts of the agencies providing this support, the best option is for them to be looked after away from their home.

"Councils will always act with the welfare and safety of children in mind and there can be many reasons for action being taken."

You know that Chocolate would make a great door stop!

New Weapons in the War Between Willpower and Willy Wonka

By: Tom Jacobs | October 20, 2009 |

If you pictured these chocolates are doorstops, would that curb your temptation to eat them? New research suggests it might.cacaobug / flickr.com

Research suggests certain mental games may help chocolate lovers resist the temptation to overindulge.

Wilhelm Hofmann, like a lot of us, finds certain varieties of fine chocolate virtually irresistible. But the German psychologist, along with colleagues from the Netherlands and the United States, has discovered a creative way of decreasing the temptation to indulge.

Simply gaze at the delectable confection and think to yourself:

Wouldn't this make an excellent doorstop?

In two studies, "participants instructed to imagine a chocolate in a nonconsummatory manner exhibited significantly less automatic positivity with regard to the product," researchers reportin the European Journal of Social Psychology. This suggests certain self-control strategies can affect the "impulsive, automatic pathways of behavior determination" that too often lead us to give into temptation.

The studies — one conducted in a laboratory, another via the Internet — are part of Hofmann's ongoing research on impulsivity and self-control. In an earlier paper, the University of Wurzberg assistant professor noted that many people "are torn between their long-term goals to restrain behavior and their immediate impulses that promote hedonic fulfillment." His work helps explain these competing forces and describes under what circumstances self-control is more likely to succeed.

For his most recent paper, Hofmann focuses on a popular German chocolate product marketed as "the white temptation." He describes the dessert in mouth-watering detail, noting "the chocolate has a spherical shape and can be described as a delicious composition of almonds and smooth milk crème surrounded by a crispy waffle and a fine white coconut coating."

Who could resist something so scrumptious? That was what he and his colleagues tried to ascertain in their first study. Seventy-one undergraduates from the University of Landau were shown samples of the candy and then assigned to one of three groups.

Those in the first group were asked to spend three minutes imagining how the chocolate would taste and feel in their mouths.

In contrast, those in the second group "were asked to imagine, as clearly and concretely as possible, odd or novel settings or uses for the chocolate." Those in the third group (the control group) read an unrelated text about South America.

Afterwards, an Implicit Association Test was used to measure the participants' automatic, impulsive evaluations of the chocolate. To conclude the study, participants offered their explicit opinions, rating the candy in terms of taste and overall enjoyment.

The results: Both the automatic and conscious evaluations of the chocolate were lower among those who were instructed to come up with creative uses for the product.

The second test, conducted via the Internet, featured 506 people, average age 35. While some participants duplicated the first study, others were instructed to visualize times and places where they would be tempted to indulge and then form a "clear intention on how to avoid eating the chocolate in these particular situations."

Once again, those who "cognitively transformed" the chocolate displayed less automatic positivity toward the palate-pleasing product. But the largest reduction in automatic positivity occurred among those who had visualized themselves saying "No thanks."

The researchers call these results encouraging, noting they suggest two different mental self-control strategies may be useful in fighting temptation. Of course, they only measured the short-term impact of these strategies; it's impossible to say how long they might continue to work.

Nevertheless, before accepting offers of Halloween candy or Christmas cookies during the upcoming holidays, it might be worth taking a moment to think of these sweets in a different way. This research suggests a tempting treat loses some of its allure when you've pondered its usefulness as a garden tool.

And a Gym Rat is born

Back to the grind... the sweat factory... the gym that is.. !!

Since last sunday I have been going to the gym not once, but twice a day! = 4 hours a day!

Yesterday my bodybugg exploded with a whopping 4000 calories burnt!

I couldn't sleep very well though last night... I was tossing and turning all night. I guess my body is not used to all this working out, and well, I was strangely very hot last night... had my window wide open, but that didn't help. Maybe it was hormones?

Any ways... I am going to try to keep this up, going to the gym twice a day keeps me from eating stuff I shouldn't.

keep on truck'ing as they say!

ps: I still don't dare post today's weight.. I am too embarrassed, and sad about it. When I feel I can say it out loud all you blog followers will be the first to know... deal?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

okay.. bring on the Turkey and Mel's Pumpkin Pie...

so I got on the scale, closed my eyes and prayed...nope.. still not good news! I don't dare post my present weight!

I am disgusted with myself... I had done so well... but you see just like that old habits can creep up on you.. you have to stay on-top of this weight loss, all the time! grrrrh! so frustrating..

my weight today is about the exact same as last year october.. there that's all I'll say!

so... last weekend of food enjoyment.. and back to the gym! promise! I promise myself that is! because, it's all about me! me, me me me me.. I have to do it for ME!

Melinda makes this MOST AMAZING Pumpkin Pie ever! believe me I've tried them all !

I wrote about it on my blog way back in 2004

click on this link to read the recipe!

this picture above, Melinda with her daughter, shows how we love the pie soooo much in our family! ... so tonight is the night.. pumpkin pie for all.. then back to the sweat shop!

I'M BACK!

Pheeew.... thank you...

' BIGGEST LOSER' show!

I watched the first two episodes of the BIGGEST LOSER show last night.. and you know what? I used to compare myself to the biggest contestant in the show, like ... okay she weighs 370 like me, and I can do this too... and now.. I can compare myself to the SMALLEST contender of the show... okay she weighs the least at 245 pounds.. like me... off to races we go!! that itself is great incentive!

So today ... yes... I'm back on track.. this morning I have a private training session with my trainer Sylvie.. I got on the scale.. sad news... but 1 week from now I will post my weight , I promise!

Speaking to some friends and workers at my gym, they all say it's normal that people slack off in the summer months.. August was a dead month.. no one came to the gym and now in the 3rd week of september they are starting to come back again.

I guess with the nicer weather, and being outdoors more, you don't really feel like going to the gym. But like today, it's pouring rain, and feeling like Autumn, and then snow right around the corner, the gym seems and is the perfect place to go to forget about the shitty weather outside!

So to all those of you out there that follow me and my blog... I pledge to now stay on track, with an average of losing at least 2 pounds a week ! promise !

And to those of you that are trying to get started again... watch the BIGGEST LOSER show.. now that's incentive !

Incentive....

A guy calls a company and orders their 5-day, 10 lb. Weight loss program. The next day, there's a knock on the door and there stands before him avoluptuous, athletic, 19 year old babe dressed in nothing but a pair of Nike running shoes and a sign around her neck.

She introduces herself as a representative of the weight loss company. The sign reads,

'If you can catch me, you can have me.'

Without a second thought, he takes off after her. A few miles laterhuffing and puffing, he finally gives up.. The same girl shows up for the next four days and the same thing happens.On the fifth day, he weighs himself and is delighted to find he has lost10 lbs. As promised.

He calls the company and orders their 5-day/20 pound program.

The next day there's a knock at the door and there stands the most stunning, beautiful, sexy woman he has ever seen in his life. She is wearing nothing but Reebok running shoes and a sign around her neck that reads,

'If you catch me you can have me'.

Well, he's out the door after her like a shot. This girl is in excellent shape and he does his best, but no such luck. So for the next four days, the same routine happens with him gradually getting in better and better shape. Much to his delight on the fifth day when he weighs himself, he discovers that he has lost another 20 lbs. As promised.

He decides to go for broke and calls the company to order the 7-day/50 pound program 'Are you sure?' asks the representative on the phone. 'This is our most rigorous program.' 'Absolutely,' he replies, 'I haven't felt this good in years.'

The next day there's a knock at the door; and when he opens it he finds ahuge muscular guy standing there wearing nothing but pink running shoes and a sign around his neck that reads,

'If I catch you, your ass is mine.

' He lost 63 pounds that week!!
**************************************

Not to be ashamed!

Couture's new curves

September 4, 2009

Comments on this story (51)

Dave Feschuk
FEATURE WRITER

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In the photo that has made plus-size model Lizzie Miller momentarily famous, her smile is radiant, her blonde hair elegantly pinned back. But the eyes drift to her midriff, where resides a deposit of fatty tissue that is undeniably foreign to a fashion magazine.

Pick up the September issue ofGlamour magazine and you'll see it: Tucked amongst the familiar images of stick-thin posture queens, there, on page 194, is Miller hunching and laughing in her underwear while forgetting to tuck in a charming little paunch.

"The reaction to that one picture – that one little, three inch by three inch picture – has been incredible," Miller said yesterday, speaking over the phone from her fourth-floor apartment in midtown Manhattan.

Miller's career might never be the same. The 20-year-old from San Jose, Calif. – a size 12 or 14 who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs between 175 and 180 pounds – said this month is shaping up to be the busiest of her seven-year career.

And there are those who are hoping the buzz surrounding Miller's belly might spur the fashion business – long criticized for its seemingly insatiable lust for pencil-limbed models of dubious dietary habits – to change for the better, too. One Glamour reader wrote in to call Miller's signature shot "the most amazing photograph I've ever seen in any women's magazine." Another urged the editors: "Put her on the cover."

"I think it's a sign of the times that women are looking for a little bit more authenticity, a little less artifice, in every part of their lives," Cindi Leive, editor of Glamour, said in an interview with the Today show. "Will (Miller's photo) change our approach (as a fashion magazine)? I think it will."

Miller said she has received emails and Facebook messages from hundreds of people, including a woman who said the picture inspired her to throw away her diet pills and laxatives; and from a man who claimed that only now, after Miller's un-self-conscious image hit newsstands, will his similarly proportioned girlfriend believe him when he tells her she's pretty.

"This whole frenzy has shown that people want to see these kinds of photos – of real women in real situations," she said. "So hopefully (the industry) will take notice and they'll say, `Okay, we should do this, too.'"

It's difficult not to be skeptical about the fashion industry's appetite for reimagining its place in the culture. It was only a few years ago that Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died due to complications from anorexia, her 5-foot-8 frame weighing a mere 88 pounds, an event that spurred at least one runway show to institute minimum height-weight ratios for models. And earlier this month the editor of Self magazine defended the retouching of a cover photograph that made singer Kelly Clarkson look decidedly skinnier.

"(Self magazine is) meant to inspire women to want to be their best," Lucy Danziger, the editor, wrote on the magazine's website.

Miller, for her part, said she understands the inspirational aspect of what she calls fashion's "fantasy world."

"But the problem is, a lot of women are trying, but they can't look like a size-two model, and it's a horrible feeling when you don't see anyone else who looks like you (in magazines)," said Miller. "I've been that self-conscious girl."

Miller will not lie: At first, she didn't love her signature photo. And she hasn't always been the picture of plus-sized confidence. In grade school she says her diet veered between stuffings of McDonald's and Ferrero Rocher chocolates. A post-class bag of Doritos – "A big bag," she says – was a daily ritual.

"At the rate I was gaining weight, I was like, `Wow. I am going to be huge by the time I get to high school.' I was like, `I don't want to be the fat girl,'" said Miller.

In Grade 6 she joined Weight Watchers; she dropped 60 pounds. And by the time she was 13, she was 5-foot-11 and existing somewhere in the neighbourhood of her current body weight, which she now maintains playing co-ed softball in Central Park and belly dancing. Even then, she said, she didn't begin to feel good about her body until she saw herself in the silhouettes of entertainers Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé.

"I'm a pear shape. I'm small at the top, but I'm thick on the bottom. I started seeing J-Lo and Beyoncé and saying, `They're curvy. They're sexy. If I get in shape, I could look like them.' If I can be the person that girls are looking at now and saying, `She's beautiful. I can look like her,' then I'll be doing my job. I think it's just something people have really, really wanted to see. Let's hope they'll see more of it."

Toronto Star

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