Happy New Year

It's time to say Goodbye to 2011 and Hello to 2012. 

2011 is over.

Lets be Thankful for the good of 2011,
then let go of the past and move into the future.

My New Year's message to you is in my latest Ask Grandma video
which I've posted below.

Ordinarily, in our house, the Christmas season
begins the weekend after Thanksgiving.
That's when we start decorating the house,
putting up the tree etc. 

Yesterday I decorated the Christmas tree,
and got out the Christmas candles, etc. 

This unusual behavior has happened this year
because I've been so incredibly busy
with all of my online activity. 

In just 9 days it will be Christmas,
and I have not yet bought ONE present.
Christmas shopping isn't going to happen until next week, 
because the next couple of days
I need to work on getting the videos done
that are supposed to go online on Christmas weekend. 

 Who knew that all of this would take so much time? 
My web-genius son keeps telling me that 
soon I'll become more efficient at maintaining my YouTube channel
and this will all take less energy and effort.

It had Better.
Because there are new diet books out there to read,   
and many other things that I want to do. .
....like write and post articles here in this website
on more interesting topics ....

My Dieting Hobby is a Lifestyle...that means
it continues throughout all of the many changes and activities of my life.  
Every day I log in all my food into my DietPower software.
I keep working to keep my calories down,
...sometimes successfully..and sometimes not...
I keep putting forth the Effort it takes to maintain my weight-loss. 

The Christmas season involves exposure to many additional food treats,
and handling that without an enormous weight gain is just as difficult for me now, 
as it has been in all of my previous Christmas seasons. 
My change body weight hasn't changed 
the food desires of my mind and my emotions.

People don't spent a lot of time telling us that. 
The mindset is..."I'll just take off the weight, and then it won't be a problem"
My own experience, and my observation of others 
tells me that this mindset is just totally wrong. 

It will always take work. 
It takes more work for some than it does for others
but it becomes intuitive for almost no one.

I Accept that, and I am willing to do what it takes
to enjoy myself and my life
while engaging in my Dieting Hobby. 

Sharing the Truth with you today. 

I treat dieting as an ongoing, enjoyable hobby.

Some say that Diets don't work,
but it isn't Diets that are ineffective.
What doesn't work is the common approach to dieting
which treats dieting as a temporary fix,
instead of embracing the process of dieting
as a permanent part of one's life.

Below is a quote from an online forum
that describes this common approach.

"Dieting has made me over weight.
Because  I get all excited and motivated about a new diet,
just to not be able to stick to it for more then a couple days at best,
fall off and eat a bunch of junk for then next few days.
And I better eat it all cause I'm starting the next diet on Sunday!
It's a vicious cycle and it'll make you fat!!!"

For me, dieting is every day,
and starting or ending a different food plan (or new diet)
happens end-to-end…without any "Vacation time".
I am accountable for everything I eat, every day,
no matter what food plan, or what specific diet I'm on at the moment.
I record it all in my computer software program, DietPower.

Recording my food into a computer program is my Habit.
I don't have to decide whether or not to do it,
just like I don't have to decide whether to shower
or brush my teeth, or use the toilet.

I don't have to remember all of my food details,
because as soon as I log them into the computer,
I can put them out of my mind.

The more details a diet requires,
the more of your willpower it will sap,
and a diet in which you can't maintain willpower will fail.

My program remembers the most of the details for me,
all I have to do is look at it.
"How many calories have I eaten so far?"
"Have I eaten enough protein?"
"Have I reached my carb quota?"
My data is there,
no matter what specific diet or food plan I choose to use.

The more the way that I eat becomes a habit,
the less I exhaust my willpower through "decision fatigue".
I don't have to spend a lot of time figuring out what to eat
unless I want to, because if I don't already have something in mind,
all I have to do is look at my computer screen
to see a list of my previously selected favorites
and pick one to eat….all of the detailed info is there
and with just a click or two I've easily recorded it all.

Once this has become a Habit,
food issues become SO much easier to deal with.

For those of you who are following my “Ask Grandma” video series

Click : “Friends Who Lie" to see my latest video,

which is located in DietHobby under RESOURCES, Videos, Ask Grandma.

 
As strange as it may seem
to those of us who suffer from easy weight-gain,
there are those people who have the opposite issue.

Below I share an edited request that I received 
from a young person who has that problem,
along with my response.

"I would like some good tips on how to gain weight. 
I'm "the skinny one" and sometimes get made fun of.
I go to fast food places and put lots of butter in my food
but it doesn't do much...also..do you know of any kind of food
that makes you have an appetite and makes you eat more?
because i lose my appetite easily for some reason"

Your genetics is probably the reason you are thin.

Your body could be extra efficient at burning calories,
which in our modern society of too much fattening food around us,
is a really good thing. 

Many people are very envious of that quality,
and wish that they had it themselves,
this is probably why they make negative comments about it. 

It is probably a bad idea to purposely try to gain weight.
First, because your body is really efficient,
it knows what it needs.

Unfortunately, the plan I suggest that you use doesn't work for fat people,
but in your personal case, if you make certain to eat around 40 grams
of proteins, or more, every day like meat, chicken, fish, eggs, and cheese,
your body will tell you how much of the other kinds of foods to eat along with it. 

The other reason it's a bad idea to TRY to gain weight,
is that you can't choose WHERE on your body that this fat will go.
Genetics also controls that, and all of those marketing claims
about exercising to put weight on or take it off only in certain spots are total lies.
So the fat could go right to your belly, or to your waist or thighs,
instead of being distributed in a way that you would find attractive. 

Finally, you are very young, and time seems to take care of extreme thinness.
..even when we wish that it would not.
There are many older overweight people
who were very thin as children, teenagers, or young adults.