We want it “easy,” “without trying,” and we want “tricks”!!

I was astounded to read the cover of my latest AARP magazine for Jan/Feb 2011 to see an article heralded at the top of the page with this title:  “Lose Weight without Trying! 3 easy tricks.”

There you have it in this amazing title about how we Americans approach figure shaping — and almost anything these days.

We want it easy. We want it without trying. And we want tricks to make it happen — yesterday, preferably!

The article, by the way, is full of great tips, many of which are common sense, which are also included in my book on waist training, and perhaps will be found in other books . However there are a few new ones I’ll share with you:

1. Most of us gain weight by eating only 100 to 200 more calories per day than we should. So it’s really not that hard to drop weight after all!

2. Portion size is truly key. Use tall thin glasses, use small zip lock bags to store snacks you carry around (in your purse and car, as I do in case of a hunger attack).

3. Don’t portion overload by keeping food by your computer and noshing all day.

4. Save desserts for weekends. Freeze half of what you make. (We use another technique for the two of us. One cake mix made up is too much for us, even one batch of cookies, and we tend to pig out so as not to waste it! But I cut the completed project in half, put it on a paper plate and cover it with saran wrap, and my partner takes it off as a gift for his favorite colleague at his work location.)

5. It takes about one month to break an old habit and replace it with a good one. (That’s the first time I have read this, but it’s  a reason I knew anyway, and one of the main reasons I choose three months for dedicated waist training).

A few other tips my partner and I have adopted include:

1. When asked if you want more at the end of a dinner at home or with friends, say no, that you prefer to wait a few minutes. Invariably we find we are fully satiated and never get back to seconds.

2. Be the first to start eating and the last to finish (so long as you don’t portion overload or go back for seconds!). This requires you to delay with conversation, chewing well, putting your fork down between bites, and other).

3. Dr. Oz says to not only use smaller dinner plates, but don’t let one food touch another; plate space should show through to help with portion control.

Want to send in your tips to control hunger or portion size, a sweet tooth, or a late night nosher habit?

Imagination and Weight Loss? — I can’t go along with recent news

Maybe you like me were rather astounded to hear about recent research from Carnegie Mellon that imagining food in detail reduces your intake? Allegedly the mental act of eating reduces your interest in eating. That the ladies on the tv talk show “The View” were excitedly talking about it today, tends to prove my continuing point that this society is way too ready to look for and eagerly accept quick fixes, than do the bit of homework it takes to be successful in weight loss or figure reshaping.

I’m inclined to go along with most who think that imagining delicious food in detail raises more, not less, desire to eat. That’s a belief in ‘out of sight, out of mind’. Prevention magazine’s supplement “101 tips to banish belly fat” reports that Dr. Ronettte Kolotkin, a clinical psychologist, has an agreement with her hubby that he should keep sweets hidden from her. I agree! I adore candy corn found only at Halloween, so my partner purchases several bags when they are on the market, but hides them. One by one over the next few months, they come out of hiding and appear on top of my fridge where we keep our treats — if my weight stays down, and I need a reward. It’s a fantastic surprise for me.  Thus, I find it much better advice to clean one’s refrigerator and pantry to remove tempting objects (or push them to the back where they are not so easily seen and remembered) than to allow them to be seen, and hunger pangs to arise from the reminder.

I’d prefer to recommend Brian Wansink, a Cornell University professor’s book, Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. http://www.amazon.com/review/R22FCOWZVIK82A/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R22FCOWZVIK82A

One reviewer of the book on Amazon says: “Dr. Wansink is a food psychologist who specializes in the investigation of the mental and emotional factors that cause us to eat. This book demonstrates that we can lose weight, simply by being more mindful of our eating habits. (It’s one reason I require my waist training students to record every drop and bite during the first two weeks of training). It contains interesting and humorous case studies that highlight those mindless activities that add 200 or 300 calories to our diet each day and which can add up to 20 or 30 excess pounds in the course of a year.
The author provides practical suggestions at the end of each chapter that will help you to make the simple changes that will allow you to lose 2 or 3 pounds per month without resorting to conventional diet techniques that are doomed to failure. Although this book is based upon scientific research and extensively end-noted, it is enjoyable to read, easy to understand and quite funny at times. This book is a great value for the money and the five or six hours that it will take to read it.”

I also like Barbara Roll’s idea of incorporating more water into foods we eat, concentrating on maintaining the weight but not the calories, a concept in the book “The Voumetrics Weight-Control Plan: Feel Full on Fewer Calories. One customer reviewer said: “I mix the water well into the food (e.g., soups, smoothies, etc) then my stomach will attribute the water in the food to the weight it is looking for to determine if I should be satiated or not.”

What do you think?

Blog Time: Lower weight to 186 lbs. from 250 for 5’6″ tall folks, to permit lab band surgery?

What do you think? I tend to err on the policy/political side of fewer regulations and laws is better (knowing for certain that we have too many of each, not enough of the right kind, and not enough lawyers going after wrong-doers to give these laws teeth), but is “enough enough” and will this lowering by the FDA promote quick fixes that I so often rail against when it comes to weight and self-control?

Frankly, 186 lbs. at 5’6″ is less troublesome than waists over 35″ for women and 40″ for men, the known size that correlates well with increased risk of serious heart problems. Dr. Oz has been promoting use of the tape measure first and not the scale and I concur.

I know this has something to do with the lab band lobby and its power, but I suspect it has more to do with our search for quick fixes and instant gratification. I see that search everywhere today, and almost everyday in my email where writers want me to choose a simple corset for them and don’t have time to take to read only a few webpages that outline the choices at ROMANTASY.  We ask 20 critical questions whose answers permit me to guide new customers to the most comfortable, suitable choice of corset for their individual needs and specific budget; see, http://www.romantasyweb.com/Styles/20Questions.html.

It’s as if these ‘hurry-up’ folks don’t care about the product results, and are quite willing to assume the highest risk of disappointment and potential waste of their money. Perhaps they are rich and don’t care?

But I do, and more these days than in the past, I will happily find that they never reply with further requested information, or I end up by trying to politely send them on their way to search for a more suitable business — one that puts sales first, education and potential satisfaction second. I still refuse to do that, but it requires patience to do business with ROMANTASY, a personal virtue that I mention more than once on our business values page, which I will bet these types of folks never take time to read:  http://www.romantasyweb.com/T&P/businessvalues.html

I hope you take your time this holiday season to hold onto real and significant values —  old-fashioned ones that put family, friends, education, art, patience, and pure enjoyment of being alive ahead of quick fixes and material things!