DietHobby's One-Year Progress Report - POSTED ON: Feb 18, 2012
I started DietHobby in February 2011, so it has now been in existence for 1 year.
Today, I'm taking a step back from the day-to-day involvement, to look at the big picture, re-assess my progress, and perhaps make adjustments to the project.
I began the DietHobby website as an extension of my diet forum involvement in order to provide a place of my own that was under my own management and control, to store my Thoughts about dieting and related subjects, as it applies to my own Maintenance Progress.
I purchased my own Domain, DietHobby.com. My web-genius-son wrote the code for this DietHobby website. He brought it into existence and taught me how to use it.
People can easily learn about me and my dieting history by reading the About Me page.
I've written frequent articles and stored them in the Archives for easy accessibility for anyone interested.
I've made many recipe videos and put them in the Recipe section to easily share them with others.
I've included some personal pictures in the Gallery section, for those who would like to see my family or my stained glass projects.
I've completed a thorough summary of a best selling diet-book and placed it in the BookTalk section.
I've organized and provided links to helpful sites, and relevant videos in the Resources section, including a Playlist of my Words of Wisdom video series which is intended to be used as a positive motivational tool.
DietHobby's companion channel on YouTube began as a place to store the Recipe videos, and the 30 second Inspirational videos that I made for this website.
However, YouTube also has a community of its own who view videos, make comments, and subscribe to be notified of future videos.
This YouTube community includes all ages, from children through the elderly. These are people of different tastes, interests, cultural backgrounds, education, nationality, religion, race, sex, and political affiliations.
Although the YouTube DietHobby's primary viewers are in the United States, there are also DietHobby viewers in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, India, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and the Philippines, as well as other countries.
My web-genius-son suggested that I begin a third video series, to better address the many needs and interests of the YouTube Community. This video series is entitled "Ask Grandma", which answers questions from viewers.
Overcoming Perfectionism - POSTED ON: Feb 17, 2012
Today, while I was (...finally...) doing my laundry, I was thinking about the fact that no matter what task I'm engaged in, I find a voice inside of me telling me that I should be doing more, or that I should be doing something else.
So, I started thinking about the fact that I was thinking that, and about the definition of that type of thinking.
Perfectionism… I've never thought of myself as a perfectionist, think of myself as more of a pragmatist, my solution is "whatever works".
Still, I went searching for the definition of perfectionism, which resulted in the following:
Perfectionism includes:
The irrational belief that you and/or your environment must be perfectly as you wish it to be. The striving to be the best, to reach the ideal and it is unacceptable to make mistakes. A habit developed from youth that keeps you constantly alert to the imperfections, failings, and weakness in yourself and others. A level of consciousness that keeps you ever vigilant to any deviations from the norm, the guidelines or the way things are "supposed to be". The belief that no matter what you attempt it is never "good enough" to meet your own or others' expectations.
This led me to see that although, I'm not exactly a perfectionist, there are elements of perfectionism in my character. So, what rational behaviors are needed to overcome perfectionist tendencies? To overcome perfectionism, one needs to:
Accept self as a human being.
Forgive self for mistakes or failings.
Accept that the ideal is only a guideline or goal to be worked toward, not to be achieved 100 percent.
Set realistic and flexible time frames for the achievement of a goal.
Develop a sense of patience and to reduce the need to "get it done yesterday".
Be easier on oneself; setting unrealistic or unreasonable goals or deadlines sets you up for failure.
Recognize that the human condition is one of failings, weakness, deviations, imperfections and mistakes; it is acceptable to be human.
Taking Responsibility - POSTED ON: Feb 15, 2012
Today I'm taking responsibility for myself. Yesterday, I ate "too much" from the heart-shaped box of candy that I received from my husband for Valentine's Day. He wasn't sabotaging my maintenance efforts. This was a gift that I wanted, and one that he knew I wanted. Each chocolate that I ate was my own choice, and my personal responsibility. I knew that one chocolate was between 80 and 100 calories. I knew that keeping the box in plain sight on the kitchen table would make me return to it again and again. Despite this knowledge I made this personal choice for myself.
During the day, each time I ate from the box, I went over to my computer and entered the food into my DietPower food log. I was aware of what I was doing for all of the time that I did it. I made the choice. It was my own activity. I, alone, am responsible. Now, I must cut back on my food calorie intake for the rest of the week. I engaged in weight-gaining behavior, now I must engage in weight-loss behavior. Bummer .... but so it goes here in Maintenance.
What Love Means - POSTED ON: Feb 12, 2012
Here's my Ask Grandma Valentine's Day video.
Sweets for Breakfast? - POSTED ON: Feb 11, 2012
Yesterday in Facebook, I came across a cite to the following article. I haven't checked out the underlying research, and I don't plan to experiment with this idea, because I've already had a lifetime of unsuccessful experimentation wth it. Still, it's an interesting article, and I see it as one more example of how different each of us can be, and that the same things don't work for everyone.
"10 February 2012 Attempting to avoid sweets entirely can create a psychological addiction to these same foods in the long-term, explains Daniela Jakubowicz, professor at Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, who led the study. Over the course of a 32-week-long study, participants who added dessert to their breakfast - cookies, cake, or chocolate - lost an average of 40 pounds more than a group that avoided such foods, the journal Steroids reports. What’s more, they kept off the pounds longer. A meal in the morning provides energy for the day’s tasks, aids in brain functioning, and kick-starts the body’s metabolism, making it crucial for weight loss and maintenance, according to a Tel Aviv statement. And breakfast is the meal that most successfully regulates ghrelin, the hormone that increases hunger, explains Jakubowicz. While the level of ghrelin rises before every meal, it is suppressed most effectively at breakfast time. These findings were based on 193 clinically obese, non-diabetic adults, who were randomly assigned to one of two diet groups with identical caloric intake - the men consumed 1,600 calories daily and the women 1,400. However, the first group was given a low carbohydrate diet including a small 300 calorie breakfast, and the second was given a 600 calorie breakfast high in protein and carbohydrates, always including a dessert item (i.e. chocolate). Halfway through the study, participants in both groups had lost an average of 33 pounds per person. But in the second half of the study, results differed drastically. The participants in the low-carb group regained an average of 22 pounds each, but participants in the group with a larger breakfast lost another 15 pounds each. At the end of the 32 weeks, those who had consumed a 600 calorie breakfast had lost an average of 40 pounds more per person than their peers. Jakubowicz conducted the study with Julio Wainstein and Mona Boaz from Tel Aviv and Oren Froy of Hebrew University Jerusalem."
"10 February 2012
Attempting to avoid sweets entirely can create a psychological addiction to these same foods in the long-term, explains Daniela Jakubowicz, professor at Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, who led the study. Over the course of a 32-week-long study, participants who added dessert to their breakfast - cookies, cake, or chocolate - lost an average of 40 pounds more than a group that avoided such foods, the journal Steroids reports. What’s more, they kept off the pounds longer. A meal in the morning provides energy for the day’s tasks, aids in brain functioning, and kick-starts the body’s metabolism, making it crucial for weight loss and maintenance, according to a Tel Aviv statement. And breakfast is the meal that most successfully regulates ghrelin, the hormone that increases hunger, explains Jakubowicz. While the level of ghrelin rises before every meal, it is suppressed most effectively at breakfast time. These findings were based on 193 clinically obese, non-diabetic adults, who were randomly assigned to one of two diet groups with identical caloric intake - the men consumed 1,600 calories daily and the women 1,400. However, the first group was given a low carbohydrate diet including a small 300 calorie breakfast, and the second was given a 600 calorie breakfast high in protein and carbohydrates, always including a dessert item (i.e. chocolate). Halfway through the study, participants in both groups had lost an average of 33 pounds per person. But in the second half of the study, results differed drastically. The participants in the low-carb group regained an average of 22 pounds each, but participants in the group with a larger breakfast lost another 15 pounds each. At the end of the 32 weeks, those who had consumed a 600 calorie breakfast had lost an average of 40 pounds more per person than their peers. Jakubowicz conducted the study with Julio Wainstein and Mona Boaz from Tel Aviv and Oren Froy of Hebrew University Jerusalem."
Mar 01, 2021 DietHobby: A Digital Scrapbook. 2000+ Blogs and 500+ Videos in DietHobby reflect my personal experience in weight-loss and maintenance. One-size-doesn't-fit-all, and I address many ways-of-eating whenever they become interesting or applicable to me.
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