Obesity Free Forever Blog™

Hi Everyone,

One of the effects of childhood obesity is high cholesterol.  In a recent study I read, children as young as 2 years old were needing cholesterol lowering drugs.  As a registered nurse I know that all drugs have side effects.  Starting a child as young as 2 on a cholesterol lowering drug can be harmful.

One way to combat the effects of childhood obesity is to introduce healthy foods into your child’s diet.  My son and I tried two new products this weekend that can help counter the effects of childhood obesity. 

I tried a vegetarian product called the Boca Burger.  It was absolutely scrumptious!  I recently learned of all the great benefits of soy and the Boca Burger is made of soy protein.  The Boca Burger comes frozen and you cook it in the microwave for about two minutes.  It really was delicious.  The Boca Burger tastes like a real hamburger but without the cholesterol.  I am confident any child would like the Boca Burger.

The other product that my son tried was the Fiber One Banana Nut muffins.  I baked them early this morning and he said they were delicious!  My son enjoys anything with bananas and he was surprised to learn that each muffin contained 5 grams of fiber!  Fiber can help lower cholesterol levels.  I used egg substitute which eliminates the cholesterol from the whole egg.  My son said little kids might like a sweeter muffin but you can make them sweeter and healthier by substituting apple sauce for oil.  The recipe is on the box. 

After losing over 140 pounds and now keeping it off since 2005, it is important to add variety to my healthy eating plan.  The Boca Burger was a nice treat.  I’ll try the Fiber One Banana muffins too!

Take care,

Georgene

Hi Everyone,

 I wanted to take a moment and share with everyone the importance of activity and your activity tracker.  To lose over 140 pounds, I learned I needed to increase my activity so I could eat nutritiously.  Sure, in my struggle to learn how to lose weight, I tried high protein diets, low carb diets and even very low calorie diets and what were my results?  Failure for over 25 years!

Your weight loss strategy must include a healthy eating plan along with a weight loss exercise plan.  I found this to be the most effective way to lose weight and feel good.  With all we have to do in a day, don’t we need the most energy possible to get it all done?  What I found on those fad diets was just a lot of quick water loss and then miserable side effects–low energy, hair loss, dry skin, etc.

Exercise plays a vital role in weight loss and weight management.  In truth, as a registered nurse, I knew of the many benefits of exercise all along.  My problem is that I rarely did the right exercises and when I did, I didn’t do them long enough. 

How did I overcome this?  I tracked my activity.  I found an activity tracker to be vital to my plan.  I purchased an inexpensive pedometer from a discount store, I input my weight, clipped it on my waist and forgot about it.  At the end of the day, I had a better understanding of how many steps I took.  I can tell you at 280 pounds, I did not meet the surgeon general’s recommendation for 10,000 steps.  No, at 280 pounds, I thought more about exercise than I moved!  Too bad you can’t burn a lot of calories for just thinking!

Here’s the weight loss tip, MOVE!  And do it often.  I still enjoy eating and as long as I use my activity tracker and I move more, I burn more calories.  When I burn more calories, I can eat more!  Remember if you have health problems you need to check with your doctor to make sure you can increase your activity.  Don’t do what I used to do, go full blast when my diet motivation was high for one day and then stop for months because I had sore muscles or shortness of breath!  Work up gradually.  In fact, the current recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control are to do 10 minutes of activity at a time and accumulate these until we reach the recommended 30 minutes total.  Not a bad deal!  Park a little farther from the grocery store or at work, walk in place or on your treadmill during television viewing or take the stairs rather than the elevator.  These are great ways to add 10 minutes of activity to your day.  Remember to use your activity tracker so you know how many calories you’re burning.

Take care,

Georgene

Hi Everyone,

While losing 140 pounds, I learned the hardest part of losing weight was finding the balance between eating healthy food and having some junk food every so often. 

As a registered nurse I knew the benefits of healthy eating but my experience with diets never allowed me to splurge.  Following a high protein diet, low fat diet plan or no carb diet left little room for me to treat myself to foods I loved. 

Here are some tips I used to transition to eating healthy food and lose, and keep off, over 140 pounds.

Learn the Basics

Understanding the macronutrients of carbohydrates, protein and fats, and how they are used in the body can help you make better choices for eating healthy food.  The healthy eating pyramid at the My Pyramid website is a great resource to use to learn the basics.

Start Slow

Turning bad eating habits into healthy ones is easy if you take it one step at a time.  Try to eliminate one high calorie food weekly from your diet rather than go cold turkey!  Eliminating or reducing one high calorie food while introducing a low calorie one will help you stick to a healthy eating plan. 

These are a couple of tips I used to help me lose over 140 pounds and keep it off since 2005.

Take care,

Georgene

Hi Everyone,

I recently shared some easy weight loss tips that I used to lose over 140 pounds.  One easy weight loss tip is jello!  Yes, sugar free Jello is one of the best ways I found to add pleasure to my healthy eating plan.  In fact, I still eat sugar free Jello with each meal during the maintenance stage today.  It is a refreshing dessert that contains less than 10 calories.  Also, it is considered a free food which means you don’t have to count it in your calorie intake (provided you keep your free foods below 50 calories daily).  

I purchase the multipak of Jello found in the dairy department of my local grocery store.  I even add fruit and Fiber One to it with a little artificial sweetner.  This makes a great dessert and adds variety and very little calories. 

When I travel, I purchase the Hunt’s brand.  Unlike the Jello brand, Hunt’s does not need refrigeration.  Hunt’s also contains Sucralose which may upset your stomach.

Stop back frequently.  I’ll share more easy weight loss tips in the future.  Feel free to post your tips to help others.

Take care,

Georgene

Hi Everyone,

Many women fear aging because of the possibility of menopause and weight gain.  I actually experienced just the opposite.  In fact, one of the benefits of healthy eating at that stage in my life was menopause weight loss.  Why?  I’m no expert on the endocrine system (hormones) but it seemed that by balancing the nutrients my body needed, many of the annoying symptoms such as hot flashes and irritability were less noticeable while I experienced menopause weight loss.

I remember when I was 280 pounds and I would binge eat on carbohydrates, that the hot flashes seemed worst.  As I experienced weight loss during menopause and my healthy eating plan became nutritionally balanced, these symptoms subsided and were more manageable by waiting them out. 

Menopause and weight gain do not necessarily go together, contrary to popular belief.  While aging may cause our metabolism to slow down which could lead to weight gain, my experience was menopause and weight loss with less symptoms! 

Check with your doctor or a nutritionist to see if nutrition can reduce your symptoms and you can avoid menopause and weight gain.

Have a great day!

Georgene

Hi Everyone,

Work, school, family and a business can get stressful at times.  This week was an exception as many deadlines came to a close and the pressure was on to meet them.  In fact, it reminded me of stress and weight loss when I set out to become obese free in 2004. 

Stress and weight loss can really derail you and test your healthy eating plan.  Worse, stress and weight loss can put a negative slant on your diet motivation and weight loss inspiration!

Here is what I did to manage stress and weight loss.

First, I made a list of every task I needed to do.  Once I saw on paper what was expected of me, I was  able to deal with the challenges.

Second, I placed a completion date next to each task.

Third, I checked to see if I could postpone any task or whether the task was even necessary.  Anything that was not a priority for the day was placed on the bottom of the list.

Fourth, I watched what I said to myself.  When I weighed 280 pounds, I was so very negative!  My communication to myself was full of gloom and doom.  As I lost over 140 pounds, I stopped myself from thinking and speaking negatively.  I immediately corrected myself and replaced the conversation with the bright side of the situation.  My problems are little compared to what other people face.  It is important for me to remind myself of my blessings when I feel stressed.

Fifth, I stayed true to my healthy eating plan.  Mindless eating is so common with stress and weight loss.  As you mentally make lists of everything you need to do, it is easy to eat and forget what you consumed.  When you know you are under stress, take a moment and write down what you will eat for your meals and snacks.  Then make sure you follow the plan.  The tasks will get done, they always do.  And it is important to stay true to your healthy eating plan during times of stress and weight loss to avoid relapses and feeling guilty later.

Sixth, I asked for help.  When things really spiraled out of control, I asked for help during times of stress and weight loss.  Each of us has a few people we can rely on to help us out every once in a while.  We always return the favor and then some.

Stress and weight loss can be manageable.  I used these tips to lose over 140 pounds naturally and safely beginning in 2004.  These are the same tips I use today to maintain my weight loss since 2005.

Take care,

Georgene

Hi Everyone,

I was recently asked what the causes of obesity are.  Actually, obesity can be caused by several factors including genetics, environment, social and behavioral.  Here is some background information on each of the causes of obesity.

Obesity due to genetics is very rare.  At 280 pounds, I wanted to believe that genetics was my problem but no dice! 

Environmental and social causes of obesity often go together.  Environmental factors are whether you have access to eating healthy food and exercise for weight loss.  Social factors are those cues or triggers that drive us to eat.  Social causes of obesity can be as subtle as going to a restaurant known for fattening foods every Tuesday with your friends or as blatant as your spouse filling the house with junk food when you start a diet for fear you’ll leave him when you get skinny!

Behavioral causes of obesity are the choices we make.  Whether we pick eating healthy food and a weight loss program or we choose to continue our bad eating habits remains within our control.  Keeping our bad eating habits is an example of a behavioral cause of obesity.

The effects of obesity were devastating for me.  Besides the health problems I developed such as severe shortness of breath and symptoms of GERD and Gastritis, I suffered from depression and social isolation. 

What’s the obesity solution?  Take control today!  Think about the cause and effect of your obesity and make a list of how obesity is holding you back.  Writing down the cause and effect of obesity and looking at the limitations it caused me was the first step I took in 2004 to lose over 140 pounds.  Once I made a decision to accept obesity no more, the path became clear and I’ve kept the weight off ever since.

Georgene Dana Collins, 134 Pounds

Here’s my latest picture as of October 31, 2008. 

Take Care,

Georgene

Hi Everyone,

I am traveling again, this time for work, and once again there are challenges to my healthy eating plan.  Here are the strategies I am using to stick to my healthy eating plan.

I planned my food intake before my trip and shopped for items that stored well without a fridge.  Luckily, though, the hotel I am staying at has an option to use a fridge during my stay for a minimal fee.  I brought items such as salads, fresh fruit and Jello brand diet jello (a staple food of mine!), and stored them in the fridge.

I also brought lots of Fiber One products such as my favorite cereal and bars.  In addition, I brought along some of Aunt Millies high fiber bread.  Fiber is very important to maintaining a healthy eating plan and it is equally important to prevent my symptoms of GERD and Gastritis.  Of course, everyone knows that fiber helps reduce the risk of many cancers, especially colon, which is a family history of mine.

Maintaining my healthy eating plan was easy on this trip because I was able to drive.  However, in the past, I’ve shipped my favorite foods to the location I was traveling to.  I just called ahead and asked for the process to ensure my box would find me once I arrived.

Maintaining a healthy eating plan is easy with proper planning and anticipation of challenges.

These are the tips I continue to use to maintain my weight loss of over 140 pounds, which I have kept off since 2005.

Take Care,

Georgene