Slim People in Progress

Stop Killing Yourself - Read the Labels

Yesterday I had the pleasure of have a tweetup (people who twitter meeting in person!) with Jeff Hopeck who writes the Healthy Habits Blog and is the author of a new book called Stop Killing Yourself: Simple Ways to Eat Healthier...Without Cutting Out the Fun!

That's a pretty dramatic title and it refers to the fact that if you are not paying attention to the food you ingest, you could be killing yourself. Jeff writes clear, concise instructions about how to read the nutrition labels on the food we buy as well as what all those crazy numbers and abbreviations mean to you and your health.

If you're on the Weight Watchers plan, you know that reading nutrition labels is a huge part of the program. Knowing how many calories, fat and fiber are in a product helps you calculate points and make an informed decision about whether or not it's worth it to eat the item.

But there's a whole lot more to nutrition labels than calories, fat and fiber. Consuming too much sodium can contribute to weight gain and high blood pressure. Did you know that one can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup contains a whole day's worth of recommened sodium intake? What if you eat anything else during the day? You're sure to get waaaay too much sodium.

Jeff Hopeck's slim volume is easy to read and filled with common sense that will help you make better decisions about what you consume.

If you use twitter, be sure to follow Jeff to get more healthy habits tips.

How do you set and achieve your goals?

This is a little out of the ordinary for me. Setting and achieving goals is not something I generally address on this blog, at least not lately. However, if you don't set and manage your weight loss and fitness goals, there's a good chance you won't achieve them. Sorry to be blunt, but it's the truth. I know I struggle with this and when I don't have a clear goal, not much shifts for me.

A good friend and colleague of mine, Kathleen Gage, is presenting a teleseminar about how to achieve life transforming goals. She recently set a goal to walk a full marathon and raise $10,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. That's an audacious financial goal and knowing Kathleen, she'll do it.  How? She's got a plan.

She's going to share that plan on a teleseminar on Thursday, June 18 at 3 pm Pacific time. For a tiny $10 donation to her LLS team (it's tax deductible), Kathleen, a popular and VERY successful author, speaker and business woman, is going to share how she has gone from destitute to wild success by setting transformational goals.

I have a small cameo on the call to share how I achieved my goal of losing 30 pounds and running a half marathon (also through LLS) even though I had always been a couch potato. 

I hope you'll join us and regardless, read this inspirational blog post by Kathleen about how she's meeting her goals.

Your Brain Needs Exercise Too

Want yet another reason why you should exercise? Regular cardio exercise, like walking, helps stem the loss of memory functions. This tip from Real Age: Want Bigger Brains? Walk states that our brains shrink with age, but the brain of a physically fit person shrinks more slowly. Who doesn't want that?

Alzheimer's Disease has reared it's ugly head in my family so now I have even more incentive to keep on running. Here's another article on Build Your Brain Bank that talks about the benefits of exercise for your brain.

The CalorieKing

Recently I purchased The CalorieKing Calorie, Fat and Carbohydrate Counter book. It's a small, slim book packed with information about why and how to count calories, lists for over 200 fast food restaurants, a guide for people with diabetes, an alcohol guide, a caffeine guide, counters for fiber, fat, cholesterol, protein and iron, as well as a weight control guide.

You may need a magnifying class to read some of it, but the content is superb. I prefer this over the Weight Watchers guide because there's a heck of a lot more info covered. It's only 9 bucks which is a small investment for me to stay on top and of pay better attention to what I'm putting into my body! It's always kind of shocking to discover how many calories my favorite foods actually have!

You gotta find the motivation where you can

On Saturday I wanted to bail. My week was tough. My eating out of control. Didn't work out much. Felt fat. I didn't want to weigh in at Weight Watchers and was not feeling motivated to work out. Then, when I was surfing around, I went over to The Biggest Loser site and started watching the post-finale interviews with the contestants.

Tara always inspired me. I wanted her to win. She was so strong, competitive and unbelievable in those challenges. She pulled a car and beat all the guys. She ran a marathon with very little training.  That got me off my butt. I did skip WW, but I headed straight to the gym and did a really good cardio and weight workout. And on Sunday I met my running buddies and ran 6 miles - the most I've done in a few weeks and it felt really great. So thank you Tara, for getting me motivated to get back in the exercise groove.