Happy to see a steady loss.

After having a bad week (grieving for our poor cat) I got back on track and stepped up my workout program at the gym. I added some extra weight on some of the machines and speeded up on the walking machine. I also started using the cross trainer and am going to try to build up to about 20 minutes on it, replacing some of the time I do on the walking machine.

Today I weighed in at 97.2 and am just about back to my pre-birthday-and-christmas weight. My determination is back......yeah!!!!!!

I am allowing myself a daily treat of 1 square of dark chocolate - the higher the cocoa content the better. It works as an anit-oxidant as well as taking care of those chocolate cravings! And another surprise I got was finding some Irish Sausages in the freezer.....bliss!! Spanish sausages are just not the same.

So I am starting this week on a high and hope that next weeks report will be just as good as this one.

When life sucks.....

Our beautiful kitten Susi went missing on Sunday night and when she wasn´t back on Monday morning I knew something was wrong. She had been hit by a car and I found her by the side of the road. This is the second cat we have lost this way in less than a year. The loss is hard to take and I am considering whether it is worth it or not to get a new kitten and hope it is a bit more afraid of the road.

This led to a real test of my willpower yesterday as I was so sad I just wanted to cuddle up on the settee and comfort eat. I did well most of the day by keeping busy (I work freelance as a website designer), but I succumbed to temptation later in the day - waffles!

If we get another kitten we will probably go to one of the animal shelters and pick one out from there. We had rescued Susi from the vet as she was going to be put down, and out last cat Pinky was rescued also. There was a woman giving away kittens at La Trocha Sunday Market and we picked him out. He was killed on the road in September last year.

One week in........

Now that we are one week into 2009 I am really getting back into some kind of routine! I´ve managed to get to the Gym three times this week and have stuck to my diet fairly well. Here´s how I got on this week.

I started on Monday at 100.3 kilos, having put on 3 kilos over Chirstmas (well, for the whole of December actually as my birthday was on 11th and you can´t diet when it´s your birthday month......). I go to the Gym at Aqua Wellness in Coín which opened in November last year. They have all the usual torture machines - but there is also a beautiful Spa area that is included in the membership, with Sauna, Hammam, Roman Therapy and Igloo, along with a swimming pool with a current you can swim against and another pool section with jacuzzi, water massage spouts and relaxing massage beds.

As I am doing some web design work I am spending a lot of time on the computer so I need to work hard when I go to the Gym!!

I weighed in this morning at 98.3 - not bad considering the week I´ve had. I am trying to stick to an Atkins-esque diet with no carbs. I find this the easiest diet I have ever been on and am sorry I didn´t try it years ago!! Having lost 25 kilos in 2008 - my goal for 2009 is to lose another 20 kilos (sounds easy when you say it fast!!).

I keep getting asked to write my diet down, but that´s not feasible as I don´t follow a strict plan. I found early on that I couldn´t face cooked food (that wasn´t toast) first thing in the morning, so I gradually gave up breakfast and started having brunch. I have my cup of tea when I get up but don´t generally eat until around 1pm when I will usually have either an omelette with cheese or cheesy sausages.

As I write more here I will try to give some recipes and tips for sticking to this diet. It gets easier the longer you are on it, and of course when the weight is falling off, you are really encouraged to stick to it!!

Anyway, good luck to all dieters in 2009 :)

Here we go again for 2009!

Here we are at the start of yet another year and a whole new batch of New Year´s Resolutions. This year my resolution is to really keep this blog updated. It has been difficult for the past year as we moved house and are in a kind of No Man´s Land as far as phone and internet are concerned.

Anyway, over the past year I have lost 25 kilos - about 4 stones - and still have more to lose. I am going to try to post at least once a week with my diet tips and maybe add some photos of my progress.

I will start with a photo of me taken early last year when I weighed in at 121 kilos!! Any wonder I look grumpy..............

Proactol - new Fat Binding Pills will be available online in January

I just heard that there is a new Fat Binding Pill called Proactol which will be available to buy online in January. It is clinically proven to bind 28% of dietary fat.

Proactol™ is clinically proven to bind approximately 28% of dietary fats if it is taken straight after a meal. Therefore if you are taking Proactol™ you will consume approximately 28% less dietary fats from each meal than you would without taking Proactol™. This is a significant amount of fat reduction in your daily diet. This has been clinically proven to help reduce excess body weight and to help to reduce blood cholesterol levels.

I´ll be looking into this more over the coming weeks to see if this is something I would be interested in trying.

I nearly forgot.......

...........that I had this blog going!! It´s been such a long time since I posted, you are probably wondering what has been happening. Well, life is never dull around here.

There have been some great family moments! My daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby girl called Angel, my son and his new wife are expecting a baby in May next year and we have found the house of our dreams! Of course, living in Spain means that things take a bit longer to accomplish, so the house buying has been dragging out.

My other half also got very sick and was in hospital for two weeks, which was all very worrying and stressful. I turned to chocolate for comfort!! Because I was out most of the time visiting him in hospital, the last thing I thought about was taking the Hoodia tablets, so I had to stop at the Petrol Station on my way home every night (feeling very sorry for myself ) to stock up on junk food!

I was also back in Dublin to see my new Grandaughter! She is so beautiful! She was only 6 lbs 2 ozs so she is tiny!

So now, that´s my news! Oh, and today is my birthday! Happy Birthday to me!

Back from the wedding

Well, the wedding day was beautiful. The sun shone, everyone looked beautiful - especially the bride of course and the day went off very well.

I was amazed how well the grooms-men looked. My other 2 sons, my grandson and my nephew wore dress suits and I was really surprised that they actually loved being dressed up like that. They didn´t want to change at the end of the day!



The bride and groom went off on their Carribean Honeymoon. All the stress of the last few months was worth it to see them so happy.

Weight loss, lose weight, slimming ...

...weight loss, lose weight, slimming , diet , and all those other words that mean exactly the same thing..........starvation!! This is what it used to be like for me, just the mention of one of those words made me instantly crave chocolate!

But not any more!! Here I am, just a few days from my sons wedding and for the first time ever I have lost weight without having to suffer :) I have to say here that I still have a way to go before I reach my Ideal Weight, but now I know how easy it can be I am not worried about having to diet for months on end.

Todays job is to sort out the clothes we will be bringing to Ireland and start packing.......I really love travelling, and the airport (any airport) is my most favourite place to hang out, so I don´t mind having to be there 2 hours before the flight leaves. It means I have plenty of time for people watching and trying to guess where people are going and why.

Too Many Calories

Too Many Calories

by Bassy

How many calories do you need? Well, that depends on a lot of things. Your age, sex, type of work, physical activity, all come into play. There is no one answer for this type of thing. I have to warn you, I don't believe the general ideas on how many calories a person should have. If you have a 2,000 calorie diet, you are starving yourself. I know that some people live and die by this number, but I just throw it to the wind. Wny don't I pay attention to a number such as 2,000? Only because it is stupid. Yes, you heard me right, stupid.How is a person who is very active going to live off of 2,000 calories? I mean, you would end up looking like those dying skinny kids in the 3rd world countries. I think you get the drift though. I think those numbers are put in place by people who are so focused on health, that they are blinded by it. I mean, if you have 3,000 calories in one day, it won't kill you. Though, they might want to make you believe that it will.

I'm not saying that you should throw all of this stuff to the wind. That would be foolish. What I am saying is, you should take it with a grain of salt. There is no reason why you should get bent out of shape if you go a few hundred or even a thousand over this limit. I mean, if you are going over by 5,000 then you should be worried. Some people do need to be concerned with such a thing. For example, people who are on a diet because of heart problems. You should be very focused on your diet. Also people with sugar problems would fall into this category as well.

If you don't have some sort of health problem, I wouldn't get too bent out of shape. Though, if you are eating from the drive through lane every day, then you might have a problem. What am I saying? Use common sense. Understand where your calories are coming from. If you are eating 3,500 calories and they are mostly from things that are good for you, don't go ape shit on yourself. If on the other hand if it is all from candy and deep fried foods, I would be concerned.
You should be more concerned about where the calories are coming from. Ahhh, now I think you see what I mean. If you are eating 1,500 calories alone of fruits and veggies, that is better than eating that in fat. Isn't it all the same? Not really. I would say that it isn't the same. I know that some of you will argue with that. It isn't the same because the calories are coming from a good source. They are coming from things that are good for you. The fruits and veggies will help you out in many ways. They will also help you fight off cancer and heart disease. This isn't true if you are over eating on fats and sweets.

What to do? Well, all I know is what I have stated above. If you are eating over 2,000 calories and you are eating things that are good for you, I wouldn't be too concerned. As always, you should talk to your doctor. That is the best advice I can give you. You should always talk to him before you go and do something new. You might have a health condition that will require you to go on a diet that he tells you to go on.

If you are healthy, base most of your diet on raw fruits and veggies. That is where the action is. That is where you will get the most bang for your calorie. Happy eating.

Kicking the habit – putting an end to fast food and snacks in your diet

It’s always easy to gain weight and damned hard to lose it. Eating is one of the true pleasures in life and refraining from food has huge physical and psychological implications that cannot be easily discarded. Nobody likes to have to give up a pleasure, which is why many people drift farther and farther into fat without doing anything to stop the process. Moreover, recent data showed that the body does not respond to diets as doctors thought it should. The body has to adapt to changes and diets are seen as lean periods that should be offset by making fat harder to burn. While the body is certainly the most complex instrument we posses in our lives, it cannot discern between actual lean times and diets.

Another problem for the body is the widespread use of fast food, snacks and soft drinks. Fast food is highly powered food that fools the stomach into calling for more, despite the fact that one giant burger is the caloric equivalent of an entire meal. The giant burger is not usually enough to fill the stomach of an adult person, so most people eat more than one and wash it down with soft drinks that are little more than sugared water. This is an unfortunate way of eating, since the body gets far more than it needs from burgers and soft drinks. The largely sedentary lifestyles led by most urban residents mean that the excess calories will certainly be stored as fat.

Snacks are another threat to a healthy life by bringing in too much calories and by being too readily available when hunger strikes. The correct option for between meals snacks is to buy fruit. Sure, it may not taste as good, especially if one is used to chips or other types of snacks, but one or two bananas or some apples are far better for one’s health. A very important point is to remember that habits can be kicked just as easily as they take root. By ignoring the temptation of chips you will gradually lose interest in them and get used to fruit. Once chips are no longer a staple of your diet, you will find yourself wondering what was so good about them anyway.

It´s getting closer!!

Only 2 weeks to go until we travel to Ireland and 2 and a half weeks to the Big Day! And I haven´t even bought anything to wear yet!!!!!! I´m going shopping today and just hope I don´t get too depressed in the process. I hate clothes shopping..................but I can´t turn up in a beach sarong (which is my favourite form of dress right now).

Anyway, here is a testimonial I found for ProshapeRx.......I´m not the only one who is impressed with the way it "turns off" your hunger:

ProShape RX

I’ve always been overweight. Ever since I was a kid, I have always liked food and hated exercising. Staying at home in front of the TV, playing console games, or at the computer always seemed much more fun than going out. I’ve never been able to match the other guys in sports because I could not run fast enough, so I used to keep clear of outdoor games. Because of this, I had few friends and I was always unhappy with my life. I hated school and all those who made fun of me, especially since I could not afford to talk back to boys who could easily hurt me.

As the years passed, I gained more and more weight and spent more and more time indoors. My girlfriend dumped me, probably for a better looking guy, and my friends didn’t like to come around to my place any more than I liked going to theirs. That’s when I started thinking about losing weight through dieting. Despite the loneliness and fear of facing other people, I still refused to admit that something might be wrong with me. Dieting sounded interesting, but the idea of denying myself good food was appalling. One might say that I lived for eating at that time. That’s probably why my early attempts at dieting were complete failures.

When I first read about ProShaperx on the Internet I thought “There’s no way a pill can curb the feeling of hunger”. I was sure that the whole idea was a scam, but it had me thinking. The reason why I had always failed to stick to a diet was the strong feeling of hunger. So I figured that a pill that takes the hunger away could really help me. Later I saw the impressive list of signed testimonials featured on the ProShaperx website and I felt certain that ProShaperx could help me, too. I ordered my first supply of pills and it was a major turning point in my life. I knew that if I defeated my hunger I would really lose weight and I was right.

I have already lost a couple of pounds and I’m not going to quit. I’ve also started going to the gym and I feel ready to try my hand at socializing. I know that my socializing skills are practically zero, but I might as well start sooner than later. I have a long road before me, but I am committed and sure of myself. I think that overweight people should really consider letting ProShaperx help with the dreaded feeling of hunger. It certainly worked for me.



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Weight loss – setting realistic goals

We all want it, we all dream of it. Let’s face it: weight loss is one of the highest and noblest ideals of modern men and women. With a lot of tasty food within easy reach and with a lifestyle split between the office chair and the home couch, putting on weight has never been easier. However, beauty standards have changed since the days of Rubens, a painter famous for his penchant for beautiful buxom ladies. Today’s ideal of beauty tends to borrow some of the traits of Siamese cats; the skinny body and the intense look. And thus, many people voluntarily subject themselves to hard diets hoping to shed some of those pounds separating them from beauty standards.

One of the most important parts of a successful weight loss effort is to set a realistic goal. A target weight that is neither too high nor too low. Setting the goal too high is among the biggest mistakes overweight people make. Every diet has a different pace and this pace is modified still forward by the metabolism and genetic makeup of each individual. This means that not all diets will help one shed pounds at the same rate and that not all people following the same diet would lose weight in the same way. Setting the goal too high opens the door to disappointment, loss of motivation and failure when the target weight proves to be still far away after weeks of restrictive dieting.

Setting the goal too low is also a bad idea. If the diet is not a true test of willpower then it’s all for nothing. A lax diet that features all kinds of treats can hardly be called a diet and losing four pounds in four months is hardly a challenge or an achievement. A danger that many occasional dieters ignore is the response of their own bodies to diets. The body learns to see diets as periods of low consumption and makes it harder to shed the fat it sees as crucial for survival. Frequent and half-hearted diets are likely to trigger this response sooner.

One last advice for all people interested in diets is: take care. Health care experts agree that the maximum weight lost in a week’s time should stay around 1 pound (half a kilogram). This is a realistic target for most people and a safe one, too. Losing weight too fast could mean that the body is not getting all the minerals and nutrients it’s supposed to get and will result in too few energy being available for the internal organs. Dieting or not, one should always watch the intake to make sure one is not overeating nor starving oneself.


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Weighed myself this morning :)

Despite having had a bar of chocolate late on Thursday night, icecream yesterday and BBQ last night (including a few glasses of wine!) I have lost a half a kilo - or 1 pound - since Thrusday :)

This makes me very happy as I don´t feel like I am dieting at all. Weight loss made easy is right!! This Hoodia is marvellous. It really does what it says on the packet.

I can´t stop raving about it to all my friends. Well, they keep asking me how I´m losing the weight because my body is dwindling away.....lol

When I think of all the effort I have put over the years..........

..............just to lose a few pounds!!

And now it is so easy. Now I really envy the younger generation. They will never have to worry about going on starvation diets again.

I was very sceptical about taking the Hoodia Pills and really didn´t think they would work. After all, I have been round the diet block a lot of times in my life!! You lose - you gain. It was a never ending battle. But now I just take a couple of pills a day and drink plenty of water and the weight is coming off with no effort.

If you are thinking of trying Hoodia and are not sure if it will work......don´t wait any longer! Try it today - you will NOT be disappointed.

I still allow myself treats. I can keep some chocolate in the fridge for those "special occasions" when the urge is too strong to resist. But I don´t find myself standing in the kitchen wondering if there is "something nice" to have with my coffee. I am just not hungry enough to think about it.

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Correspondent | Sampling the Kalahari cactus diet

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Correspondent | Sampling the Kalahari cactus diet: " Correspondent Friday, 30 May, 2003, 09:56 GMT 10:56 UK
Sampling the Kalahari cactus diet
Kalahari bushmen
The San bushmen have eaten the plant for years
Correspondent's Tom Mangold travelled to Africa and sampled the appetite suppressing Hoodia, a plant which may make Kalahari bushmen millionaires.


By Tom Mangold
BBC Two's Correspondent
Imagine this: an organic pill that kills the appetite and attacks obesity.

It has no known side-effects, and contains a molecule that fools your brain into believing you are full.

Deep inside the African Kalahari desert, grows an ugly cactus called the Hoodia. It thrives in extremely high temperatures, and takes years to mature.

The San Bushmen of the Kalahari, one of the world's oldest and most primitive tribes, had been eating the Hoodia for thousands of years, to stave off hunger during long hunting trips.

When South African scientists were routinely testing it, they discovered the plant contained a previously unknown molecule, which has since been christened P 57.

The license was sold to a Cambridgeshire bio-pharmaceutical company, Phytopharm, who in turn sold the development and marketing rights to the giant Pfizer Corporation.

Fortune cactus

Cactus
A molecule in the cactus makes you feel full

"

I´m glad I´m not a chocaholic anymore!

I´m really glad I´m no longer a chocaholic anymore. I would have been worried about that salmonella thing! Since I came to live in Spain I have gone off chocolate big time. It just doesn´t taste the same here - I don´t know why, I just know it´s true......lol

And it´s very hard to eat chocolate when it´s hot. No matter how long you leave it in the freezer (yum yum) it still melts into a sticky mess before you finish the bar. You´d need to get into the fridge to eat it to stop it from melting.

Oh my aching head!!

It seemed like a good idea at the time. It was the yearly "Noche San Juan" celebration last night. The traditional way to celebrate Noche San Juan is to go to the beach, have a barbeque and a few drinks and stay on the beach all night. At midnight you are supposed to walk backwards into the sea and let 3 waves wash over you to wash away bad luck, then you turn around and let 5 waves wash over you to bring good luck, then you fall into the water and have a bit of a swim.

Well, as we live inland we decided to walk backwards into the pool instead........that was the plan. So we chilled a couple of bottles of wine and prepared a bonfire (Norwegian Tradition is to light a bonfire on this night). Our neighbour was a bit worried about the fire bit.......hasn´t been much rain here lately and one spark could do a lot of damage!!

Anyway, it ended up we had some wine, got a bit merry, frolicked in the pool a bit then decided to skip the bbq and go to the Chinese/Japanese/Thai restaurant instead. So I rang a taxi and in my very best Spanish accent gave directions to the house. He said he would be 20 minutes. So we waited and waited......and waited some more. Taxi never came so we decided to walk up the road hoping to meet him on the way down. We never did! And by the time we made it up to the restaurant the kitchen was closed.

Oh well, we said ;) We´ll just have to walk on up to town and find a bar. But this has been a very stressful week for me and I was beginning to feel the effects of it all - I just wanted to put my head down somewhere and go to sleep. We couldn´t get a taxi to get back home again!! So I decided I was going to lie down and go to sleep......my poor hubby has a lot to put up with, bless him!

We eventually got a barman to gat a taxi for us and got home. And I am paying big time today for having too much wine and no food. We definitely should have stuck to our original plan and stayed home for the night!

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I´m cheating today.....though not with food!

It´s a lovely day here today so I am spending as much time as possible outside and in the pool. So here is my lecture for the day......hahahaha.

The causes of obesity

Obesity is caused by unhealthy eating combined with sustained lack of activity. If food gives you more calories than you burn, your body turns on the storage program and puts on fat. This is the basic idea behind obesity.

Disorderly eating habits are the top reason why people becaome obese. With neither the time, nor the inclination to control one’s meals, it’s no wonder people get fat all over the world. Couple that with a sedentary lifestyle where most trips are taken by car and you got a health situation out of control.

Genetics: Obesity can also be inherited from family members who suffered from it. If your family has a history of obesity, then you would do well to watch your weight.

Junk food: We are all busy, but this does not mean that we have to eat everything fast food restaurants put before you. Burgers may look good, but they are fat too highly powered got your health. Thing is, a single burger is worth a whole meal, but your body does not judge the situation this way. Your stomach will never be filled by a regular burger, so it will keep asking for more, despite the fact that your body does not need more burgers.

Do you feel like giving up?
Many people try diets and manage to lose a few pounds. But returning to the old lifestyle and eating habits almost always means that weight lost turns into weight regained. Moreover, as diet follows diet, the body gets used to these “lean times” and makes it harder for you to lose weight.

To all this you may add that following a diet for a longer period of time is hard, because you will always crave the forbidden foods. The fact that certain delicious foods are forbidden makes them that much more attractive. A successful diet means adjusting your lifestyle to your needs, especially by making time for more exercising.


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Visiting Friends

What do you do when you are visiting a friends house and they make food that you wouldn´t normally eat??

We have friends that we visit every couple of weeks and spend a few hours at their house, and Maria usually spends most of that time in the kitchen making us something to eat. So it would seem rude to refuse! But I sit there listening to the food being FRIED ( and smell the greasy smell) and just know I will have to eat some of it at least.........ugh! And they never have any diet drinks so I usually ask for water. But she knows I like lemon sodas so she buys them especially for me and I try to make one can last me for the day - just imagining all those calories heading straight for my hips!!

Oh well, can´t help it.....we have to be sociable.

But on the plus side of life...there is a new Thai/Japanese Restaurant just opened in our town. The menu is great - full of my favourites, and it is a good healthy way to have a meal out without worrying about calories.................until we hit the Wine List.....but that´s another story...lol.




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Cool Weather = More Food...............

Hot Weather = Less Food.

And unfortunately today we are having a cloudy day, I´m not in the best of humours and I want to comfort eat! I´m not hungry at all I just want to have "comfort food". So I´m going to shake myself, get up from this computer and get outside for a bit.

It´s just as well the Hoodia Pills take away the hunger because I know for a fact that if I wasn´t taking them I would be in the kitchen now making a cup of coffee and searching for my "emergency biscuits"..............lol.

So I don´t have much more to talk about right now.........life is boring sometimes, especially when we´re only a few weeks away from the big event (son´s wedding) and have to save like mad to make sure we have a great holiday.

Talk tomorrow.........