Weight can easily become an obsession.

Living a healthy life and losing weight is something that takes time and energy as you count calories, plan out healthy meals, and exercise daily . . . and that is ok. But what most people don’t realize is that losing weight to live a healthy life can soon be tossed out the window and the numbers on the scale can start to define you.

It amazes me how a scale can dictate the mood someone is in or consume the mind day in and day out. The scale starts to define one for who you are… one day they are thin and beautiful because they lose a few pounds. The next day you are fat and ugly because you went up 1 pound.

A piece of metal has so much power and control in one’s life… Don’t let the scale define you!

I challenge you to copy this picture for one week and seek out what defines your life. Living a health life is so much more than numbers… it’s about feeling great, living longer, being able to run around with your children or grandchildren, or gaining confidence in your self.

What defines you?

You hit the gym every day. Avoid the donuts your boss brought in on Monday. You deny the birthday cake on Saturday. Here comes weight-in day. You step onto the scale… -1lb

The disappointment of it all comes raining down on you. Looking back on the week you know you did so well, but you start to think about how you could have stayed an extra hour at the gym. Denied that one cookie at night. Drank more water throughout the week… etc.

Can anyone relate to this story?

Why is it that this 1lb is never enough?

Instead of looking at it as success for that one week, we see it as failure. We beat ourselves up inside and as if it is all worth it in the end.

Hello! You lost weight. Haven’t you been gaining weight this whole time and now you have finally lost weight and you aren’t happy with it.

Ok, I know… I am being hypocritical because I have beat myself up as well. I guess it comes from our world of instant gratification.

But we need to start looking at weight loss in a different perspective. Did you know that research has proven that those who lose about 1-2 lbs a week are more opt to keep it off permanently? I don’t know about you, but I would hate to go through a year of hard core dieting to only gain everything back and more!

Yes, we can always do more each week to lose weight, but we need to start celebrating the small successes throughout the journey!

It’s crazy how a piece of metal can have so much control over our lives, isn’t it ? ! ? !

A scale doesn’t talk but it sure can say a million things at once. Some days the scale is uplifting and motivating while other days it’s our worst enemy that stabs us in the back and puts a damper on the rest of our day.

I just wonder why a piece of mental has that much power over our lives that we can become so consumed with a number that it takes up our everyday thoughts and moods. If you don’t watch it, the scale can determine our self-worth and our confidence.

Weighing in can be a very helpful tool in weight loss, but like all things, it is only good in moderation. So how to we prevent the scale from becoming an obsession over our lives that sucks the energy out of us?

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Self-worth should never be found in a piece of metal and or number. May times our primary goal of weight loss is lost in the hype of numbers. You need to get back to the basis of why you are losing weight… to live a healthy lifestyle, to be able to have kids one day, to prevent a heart attack, to fit into your favorite pair of jeans. Whatever it may be, your reasoning for losing weight should not be focused on a number.

You also should never weight yourself several times a day. Our weight fluctuates on a daily bases, so why put your emotions through that rollercoaster? I suggest only weighting in once a week.

For those of you that can relate to this article, I want to challenge you to put away the scale for whole month of August and focus in on how you feel as well as how your clothing fits.

Why is it that when we mess up once on our diet during the day, we allow ourselves to mess up not just once but for the rest of the day… or months if that?

I have had those days where I end up eating a few cookies for a mid-morning snack and then find yourself at the end of the day allowing myself to have eaten a few bags of chips at lunch, a slice of cake, a burger with fries for dinner, and a huge bowl of ice cream for a late night snack . . . just from that one cookie!!!!

I like to call this the snowball effect. One bad decision leads to a multitude of bad decisions. Have you ever experienced those snowball days in your diet? If so, do you end up throwing the diet out the window for the day or do you find yourself working harder towards your diet?

When times like these hit, don’t freak out! One mistake is not going to make or break your diet. IMMEDIATELY pick yourself up and start over. Don’t allow one mistake of eating an extra 300 to 400 calories lead to an extra 2,000 calories by the end of the day. Why let everything your worked so hard for fly out the window because of that one mistake? If you find that you gave into temptation throughout your day, forgive yourself and continue to stick with the game plan you already mapped out!

The reality is, we are humans and it’s easy to make mistakes, but it’s how we respond to those mistakes that will determine our success.

Why is it that we are never confident with out own body… constantly comparing ourselves to theirs and wanting what they have? If we have brown hair, we want blonde hair… if we have curly hair we want straight hair… if we are big we want to be thin… if we are short we want to be tall… if we have light colored skin we want dark skinned… if we have brown eyes we want blue eyes.

The reality is, we will never be content with what we have. I have always wanted blonde hair, but if I have blonde hair I probably would want brown hair. I think this stems from always comparing myself to other people… If only I had a smaller waistline like her, if only my legs weren’t as big as hers… if only, if only, if only…

Can anyone relate?

What if we started living our lives focused on what we DO have  instead of living our lives always comparing ourselves to others and what we do NOT have?!?!

… to thank God every moment for the things he has blessed us with.

* Eyes to see a miraculous sunset

* Hair to comb and style

* A nose to breath the fresh crisp air during a morning jog

* A mouth to enjoy the vast array of flavors the world has to offer

* A stomach to hold food or for the future of hold a baby in one day

* Legs to run and feel the ground beneath my tennis shoes

For the month of August I challenge you to focus on what you do have and be content with who you are. Every time you look in the mirror and start to think, “Man, my butt is big” stop yourself and thank God for the butt you do have.

So what do you think, are you with me?

I have find that the kitchen has become my best friend lately. I guess it might be due to the fact that I am not in school, waiting to hear back from a possible job, and my husband is at work. Boredom… it gets me every time.

Between days of boredom, feeling like a bottomless pit other days, or being full and just desiring every cracker box in the cabinet, I have found the kitchen never lets me down to meet my needs. Can anyone relate?

Here are a few ways to prevent those binge eating kitchen dates:

Water

Sometimes we confuse hunger with thirst. Before you reach for that box of crackers, drink a bottle of ice-cold water and wait a few minutes. Then ask yourself if you are still hungry. If you truly are hungry you will feel it in your stomach, where as if you are thirst you will feel it more in your throat.

Gum

Pop a piece of gum into your mouth busy to prevent mindless munching or right after a meal to prevent further eating. Mint gum has also been known to suppress the your appetite and keep your mouth busy during those slow boring days.

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Blog / Read Blogs

I have found inspiration from other bloggers by simply reading about their  dedication and motivation to lose weight. Blogging is also an outlet to hold  you accountable, knowing that people will be reading your post and giving  your encouragement to say no.

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Get Away

Is the kitchen calling your name? Get away from the kitchen. Either go into another room where the kitchen is not visible or if that isn’t even enough, go window-shopping with a friend.

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Exercise

Did you know that exercise affects two hormones, ghrelin and peptide YY, which suppresses your appetite? Not only are your beating boredom but you are suppressing your appetite and getting in a good workout.

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Hope these 5 tips help during those binge eating times! It’s not easy to say no during those moments… it’s a battle and you just got to push through and not give in!

What do you do to prevent the mindless munchies?

I’ve been noticing that a few great bloggers are having some cool give-aways and I thought I would share them with you.

Jen … aka- Prior Fat Girl is giving away a book called EatingWell Diet and Cookbook as well as a cute apron. I have not read the book myself, but it seems to be really helpful in learning how to eat healthy as well as healthy recipes.

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Megan over at MegaNerd Runs is giving away a load of Chobani Greek Yogurt as well as Eating For England. This yogurt is only 100 calories per container and only 7g of sugar! I’ve never tried Greek Yogurt but I love regular yogurt.

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If you act quickly you can sign up for Feed Me I’m Cranky’s Fitness Magazine Subscription giveaway, which ends TONIGHT!

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Carolyn over at Healthy vs. Skinny is giving away a 1.2 lb. container of Spirutein protein mix. One scoop of this stuff is only 100 calories. You have until July 31st to simply comment on her post!

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I’m pretty sure that there are more out there, but I can’t remember where they are, so if you or someone you know if currently doing a give away, let me know and I will add them to this post.

So what are you waiting for… go check them out!

Many times I grab a hand full of chips or a few M&Ms and figure it don’t count in my food intake, but small amounts can add up to hundreds of calories if you don’t watch it.

Keeping a food diary forces you to be honest with yourself and what you eat. But let’s face it, we don’t have time to sit down every time we pop something into our mouth to pull out our diary and write it down… let alone most of us don’t even have our diary on us and we forget what we ate by the time we do have it. Although the one thing people always have on hand and have time for is their phone. I found this new twitter application called “Tweet What You Eat.” All you need is a Twitter account to use the website, and it’s really easy. Whenever you eat something, you just send a direct private message to @d twye and it logs your food for you. You can also create a “DO NOT EAT” foods list that reminds of you foods to avoid as well as a weight-loss tracker.

Sounds too good to be true?

The only down fall to Tweet What You Eat is that the calorie count on food items are not set. When first setting up my account I noticed that the calorie count would not show up on my food items unless another user had previously entered in a number for that particular food item or I enter a number myself. Maybe I have trust issues, but most people have a skewed concept of how many calories are their foods. If you are planning on using Tweet What You Eat I highly encourage you to look up your own food items on TheDailyPlate.com. This website gives accurate calorie counts and has every food item imaginable.

Find me on twitter… shefit

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Thinking of hitting the snooze button and working out later?

You might just want to do so.

Lack of sleep has been linking to weight gain.

Research has shown that those who received less than seven and  a half hours of sleep a night were more likely to gain weight. Those in the study who got an average of seven and a half hours of sleep lost up to 50 lbs over ten weeks without changing their diet.

What is that sleep/weight connection?

The hormones that control appetite, cravings, and metabolism of fat go haywire when there is a lack of sleep. There is an increase in ghrelin that make you want to eat more and then there is a decrease in leptin, which usually would trigger the brain to stop eating when you are full.

What a deadly combination!

Not only are you hungry and never full, but the body starts craving the junk foods because simple carbohydrates such as chocolate, crackers, and pastries can break down faster for quick energy.

… those tempting snacks just start calling your name!

One would think that sleeping more would be easy to lose weight… but that just not the case for some people. There is always something to do. It takes work to put down the papers or turn off the TV and hit the bed.

Here are just a few tips to get more sleep:

* Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day

* Keep a routine before sleeping so you can fall asleep quicker like bathing, reading, or meditating

* Limit your caffeine after noon and watch your alcohol intake a few hours before bedtime

* Only use your bed and or bedroom for sleeping purposes and not for work / studying / reading

So are you up for the challenge?

I challenge you to get at least seven and a half hours of sleep each night for the rest of this week!

Let me know how you feel at the end… you might be surprised at how well you eat and feel.

With summer in full swing, that means more roadtrips and vacations.

This can be a nightmare for most people that are on a diet and eating healthy.

Here is a short video clip from the Biggest Loser’s Jillian Micheals.

She gives great tips on how to eat healthy while on roadtrips or vacation!