The Miracle Weight Loss Drink

It's cheap.  It's guilt-free, no fat, no sodium, no calories.  It's better for you than any other liquid on the planet.  It fills you up.  It makes your skin glow.  It lubricates your joints. It cools your system.  It clears your head.  It freshens your breath.  It doesn't stain your teeth.  It's your body's favorite beverage choice.  It's the liquid from the fountain of youth.

Water.  Drink as much as you want.  Never mind that a big glass can weigh a pound.  It's a pound that may eventually release another half a pound of stale water and toxins from your body.  So for every pound of water you drink when you are retaining water, you can expect to lose more than that when it all washes out soon after.  It may take a day or a few.  But pumping water into your system is the best thing you can do to get extra water out of your system.

If you're not already in the habit of drinking all the water you can each day, start by finding a water bottle or container you absolutely love.  My favorite is a clear green insulated plastic glass I won at a dog agility trial.  It has a snap-on lid and a rigid plastic straw.  Because the glass is clear, I can see how much water I'm drinking.  That's important.  Because it has a rigid straw, I can mainline that water right down my throat in big, refreshing pulls.

Don't ever let your water container sit empty.  Don't let it remain full for long either.  Every time you get up to go to the bathroom, fill your water bottle at the same time.

Water.  It's not just for goblets anymore

November 2012, my 60th birthday

Why it's important that YOU are satisfied

We live in a society that now pressures us to be mediocre...to conform to ever-lowering standards.  Some of it comes from government, some comes from psychologists who want us to believe "everyone is a winner," and some of it comes from friends who'd rather we all stayed  chubby like them.

"Why do you need to lose ten more pounds?" someone will ask.  "You look fine."

That's like asking someone, "Why do you need to have another baby?"   Or, "Why do you you need to have such a fast sports car?"  Or "Why do you you need to own that kind of gun?"  or "Why do you need to make that much money?"

All those questions are answerable, but they don't need lengthy justifications.  Simply saying, "Because I  want to" should  suffice.  Yet the best answer is probably just a polite smile and a change of subject.

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark. In the hopeless swamps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all, do not let the hero in your soul perish and leave only frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours. --Ayn Rand

Order Bucket List Weight Loss, an e-book, at Amazon.com.  Immediate download to your e-reader or computer.  $2.99.

My new hero

Her names is Ernestine ("Ernie") Shepherd.  She lives in Maryland.  She's 76 years old.

When she was 56 years old, she was a sedentary, well padded, school secretary.  She and her sister went bathing suit shopping one day and got inspired to improve their physiques.  Unfortunately, Ernie's sister died of a brain aneurism soon after, but Ernie went on to fulfill the dream for the two of them.
 
Ernie "changed," all right.  At age 56 she took up weightlifting for the first time, got a personal trainer, shed pounds, gained muscle, and became the world's oldest female champion bodybuilder.  Just a few years ago she took up running.  She's completed eight marathons, and she's still going strong.

What an inspirational figure of grace, femininity, strength and accomplishment!  Read her bio here:
http://ernestineshepherd.net/?page_id=2

and look forward to hearing more about--and from--Ernie, my new hero and role model!

It's all relative

One person's "fat" is another person's "skinny."

If you have fifty pounds or more to lose, you probably get a bit miffed when you hear a willowy woman say, "I'm too fat."

Yet everything is relative.  Her reality is not yours.  If she doesn't like her five extra pounds, she has just as much right to be dissatisfied with them as you do with your fifty.  You may think she looks fantastic.  But it's really not what you think that is important to her.  It's what she feels about herself. 

I used to look a bit disdainfully at thin women who complained about being "fat."   Now I can empathize with them. We all still have our secret rolls, pockets and folds of fat we'd like to shed before we cross the finish line.  Why drop out of the race when you can see the checkered flags just ahead of you?  Whether your goal is to reach a certain size, make a million dollars, or sell 10,000 books, stay the course and attain the goals you set for yourself.  Don't sell yourself short in any category.  Expect excellence from yourself, and know you have the power to achieve it.

Why this ad is actually fattening

It sounds so easy and quick.  We see the ad.  We just know it will work for us too.  In fact, if it works that fast and effectively (which we're convinced it will), we might as well put off this diet until tomorrow or the next day.  Once we start it, we'll be ten pounds thinner in ten days.  So what's the rush?  Let's have one more box of cookies before we start the diet.  If we don't quite get started tomorrow, that's probably okay too, because, after all, we'll be down ten pounds in ten days...whenever that starts....

And suddenly it's ten days from when you first saw the ad, and you realize you've not accomplished your weight loss goal because you haven't even started yet.  After all....it's only going to take us ten days, so we might as well put if off for a while longer.

Meanwhile, you're eating in denial, packing on a few more pounds just because you know it will be easy to take them off in just ten days......and on and on you go. You're getting fatter, not thinner.

The ten days must start now...not tomorrow or the next day....not this evening....it starts now.  It will take you at least that long to lose ten pounds, and even longer if you expect it to stay off.  Permanent weight loss doesn't happen in fast chunks.  The process of bucket list weight loss is slow, like watching ice cubes melt in a glass of frigid water. 

Got the book?  Download Bucket List Weight Loss today, still just $2.99.  Available at Amazon.com and other on-line book retailers.

The dangerous lag-time syndrome

It's the "lag time" phenomenon of weight gain.  You've experienced it.  You quit weighing yourself for a few days (or weeks), but your clothes still seem to fit the same.  When you finally do weigh yourself, you find out you've gained nine pounds since you last stepped on the scale.  For a few fleeting moments, or even days, you can live in blissful denial again, thinking, "I gained weight but my small clothes still fit me.  Hmmm... Maybe I don't need to be so careful after all."

Then you wash your jeans.  When you put them back on, you find they don't fit like before.  They don't slip on easily like they used to.  The waist is tighter, your thighs are bigger, and the pants are shorter.  You can still wear this size....but not comfortably.  You blame the dryer, until you realize the problem isn't clothing shrinkage.  It's the weight you gained back.  It doesn't show up in your clothing fit right away.  By the time it does, you may be in real trouble.

There's one sure way to prevent this from happening.  Weigh every day.  Same time.  Same clothes.  As soon as you become accountable to yourself via the scale, your urge to eat will decrease, almost like magic.

Today, think ahead four hours....

The very first concept in my book, Bucket List Weight Loss:  think ahead to how you'll feel four hours from now if you eat or drink "X."

Got plans for tonight? At 5:00 tonight, when you're tempted to stuff a bowl of goldfish crackers down your throat as you sip your second cocktail before dinner, think about where you'll be at 9:00.  What will you be doing?  Will your 5:00 indulgences get in the way?  Will you feel sexy, relaxed and celebratory if your stomach is bloated because you ate or drank too much of the wrong thing four hours earlier?

Plan ahead when you're eating.  You'll have a better time later if you do.

Bucket List Weight Loss, an e-book.  $2.99.