Hi everyone

I thought it would be fun and helpful to share some of the "little things" we do to help us along on our plan and maybe give each other some ideas. Regardless of whether it pertains to exercise, eating, habits, whatever... why not jump in and share!

Today when I had to take my car in for maintenance, rather than sitting in the waiting room I went walking. Then when I returned and they were preparing to bring my car out for me, rather than standing there I walked up and down in the parking lot! Every little calorie helps!

Also, another thing I often do which sounds flaky but helps. When I am walking or exercising and it gets hard I imagine all the little calories and fat blobs bouncing out of my body and flitting around out there in the air around me... all sparkly little green, pink, red, yellow and purple bits, etc. Sounds silly but it DOES work!!!

Hey, great idea

I do sort of the same thing, yet the opposite. You're imagining the calories and stuff bouncing out and when I sit down and eat healthy food, I imagine the 'health and wealth' and nutrients from what I'm eating entering my body and helping to heal and nourish. I absolutely love eating healthy food. I feel so good about myself and good about what I'm eating. This is why I can no longer sit down and eat deep-fried crud or other things that are bad for me because it literally depresses me and makes me feel like crap. I'm sure that's just a psychological thing, but whatever it is, I'm glad I have that mindset now.

Great idea, Dance4Joy!

Last night, while watching TV, I decided to house-walk during the commercials. So, every time a commercial break came on, I did laps around the staircase (we have a colonial-tsyle house with a central staircase).

First off, I was amazed at how much time is spent in commercials nowadays . Each break contained 3-4 commercials plus a bunch of promos. I was able to get in 14-15 laps during each break!

Secondly, since I now wear a pedometer, I was amazed to see how many steps I took during a 2-hour show. Racked up nearly 800 steps just in laps!

I'm not ambitious or obsessed enough to do that every time I watch TV (sometimes you just want to veg), but it might be nice to do every once in a while. Like you said, every calorie counts!

Foodwise, the best thing I've done is get in a routine for breakfast and lunch during the week. I really don't have to think about it anymore. I have my breakfast and coffee, pack my snacks and my lunch and for the most part know that I'll have space for dinner! Sometimes I have to watch for boredom -- apparently there are only so many yogurts I can eat before needing to try cottage cheese!

These are great responses! Linda, I love your idea about thinking about the "good stuff" going into your body! I am going to do that too. And once I am in the habit of eating healthful stuff that is really what I WANT.

Lena, LOL about the commercials! Wow you could get thin in a hurry doing that! <G> Yeeks my only TV is in my bedroom and I admit I lie in bed to watch it. My niece told me recently though that she bought one of those little hard plastic steps at WalMart to walk in place (she lives in a small place) while she is watching TV.

Wyllen, I agree with you about the food routine. I go to work really early so take a healthful breakfast AND lunch, and always keep fruit on my desk. I know some people are against eating a lot of fruit but it works for me... I have a rule I can eat all the fruit and veggies I want. If I am REALLY hungry I can have an apple... if not I don't eat (usually I'm not).

I do the same thing when I'm cooking. Instead of sitting down in between waiting for the water to boil, I do laps around my big island.

I also do laps at recess (I work at a school) while watching the kids play and supervising. I stop when there is a problem, but otherwise, I let them be.

I wear my pedometer all day. It helps that it doubles as a wallet pouch.

I've learned at school to stand and go from table to table instead of the kids coming to me or just supervising one table. I try to focus on standing more often. This usually ends up with more steps.

I go to Walmart every weekend for about 3 hours. I walk the whole store and look at everything before going to the food and doing my grocery shopping. Great excercise but even better meditation since I leave the kids at home with Dh.

I try to think, on my good days, "does this food have good nutrients?". If so, I don't worry about anything else and eat it. Also when I do my grocery shopping I do try to think about the 5 colors of food. I also try to vary it up from week to week. We are creatures of habit so this can be hard sometimes.

I agree with Lena, Great idea to share tips, Dance4joy!! There are lots of smart chickies out there who I love to learn from!

The best thing I've done for my weight loss is to keep lots of very low calorie snacks around 'cause I am a grazer. I just finished making boiled eggs--I only eat the egg whites which are very low calorie but high protein. I keep the cooked egg whites in a baggie in my refrig for snacking. I also keep things like baby carrots, tons of lettuce, cucumbers, cut up yellow squash, zucchini, and cauliflower. I usually have sugar free jello waiting for a sweet tooth attack.

I also try to keep high calorie, high fat yummy snacks OUT of the house. I can resist these treats for days sometimes , but eventually I will give in to the temptation. When I bring "contraband" treats into the house for dh I make sure that it is a small quantity with no leftovers. Instead of bringing a whole cake "for dh" I buy single servings. That way I don't deprive dh but I don't face the temptation either. Another thing I do is buy snacks for dh that I don't really like---i.e. oreo cookies

This has worked really well for me. If it's not there I can't eat it. Of course, I can get in my car and drive to the store to get goodies. However, by the time I get in my car the craving will be gone!

I will stair step or weight lift with free weights during comericals. It is amazing how long or the amount of comericals that are on between a show or a movie and they are soooo boring most of the time. I had sat there one day and counted any where from 8 to 10 comericals. So I am thinking why not excercise during comericals instead of channel surfing.

I also think about how water washes away the toxins and move nutrients in my body. One of those toxins I'm calling is fat.
I picture the little fat cell drowning
I picture them going up in flames when I excercise

I'm glad to know this *does* make a little bit of a difference. I don't wear a pedometer, but I try to stand up in my cubicle every now and then, or work on a task while standing. It does seem to make me feel a little better (I'm pretty sure it's not burning too many calories) so I guess that's all that matters.

LOL Feisty! I love the picturing the fast cells drowning or burning up! That is GREAT! I find that any mental pictures such as this really do help.

Another thing I do at work... If I have to go the other side of my cubicle to get into a file cabinet or something I stand up and WALK over there rather than rolling my chair over!!! I figure every little bit helps!

I try to find exercise that counts as playing instead of working.

This morning I took my 3 year old ice skating. After lunch we went to the gym and signed up for a raquetball court. We hit balls, played dodge ball, and then went to the basketball court and practiced "dribbling" for awhile. All said and done, we were busy for about 2 hours. He was sweaty and ready for a nap. I won't say that I got a workout out of it, but it was certainly better than sitting on my rump.

It has been very cold here for a week and we have been cooped up inside for 4 or days. Today was just the ticket for getting rid of some energy.

Oh I would say it is a LOT better than sitting on your rump! I need to borrow someone's three year old LOL.

Linda... wow you are getting close to your goal! Congratulations!

You may not be burning mega calories but Standing burns more calories than sitting and walking more than standing. It's a number game. If you burn 10% more than you did yesterday, that's still 10% ahead of the game.

For sure! Just keep moving!!

Yesterday I ate more than I should have for lunch, so for dinner I had just popcorn. I pretended the popcorn bits were little Pac man characters eating up those nasty bad globs of fat and unhealthy stuff. I have found that this type of mental stuff sure beats feeling sorry for myself about what I'm not eating or when I am exercising beats whining to myself about how hard it is!!!!

Dance