Diane Carbonell

Stress Eating

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I kicked off the new year with a huge life change which has generated plenty of stress good and bad. We sold the house we’d lived in for 20 years and moved out of state. We have been homeless for the last five weeks. Even though we found a home, we couldn’t move in for six weeks after we sold our house. stress Our empty house Now, five weeks after our move, I’ve started to settle in, but in 10 days we move again—the second time in less than two months.

Stress

I’m beginning to feel the stress again. No regular meals, no time to prepare meals, no time to exercise, and a… Read More

Starting Again

startingWeight loss seems to be one of those things I was always starting again until I wasn’t. For most of my adult life I was always on a diet, just finished a diet or starting again.

Losing Stubborn Pounds

startingThis all changed when I read The Checklist Diet by Rebecca Clark two years ago. Suddenly I was dropping off pounds I hadn’t been able to budge for several years. I was afraid I’d hit that over 40 group who just couldn’t lose weight, but when I followed two simple, yet incredibly hard steps the weight fell off—eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full. Read More

Putting Action into Words

Putting action into words

I’ll bet lots and lots of people made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight or get fit. Certainly a worthwhile goal, but I’m tweaking my New Years resolution this year after reading a blog by Diane wordsCarbonell, author of 150 Pounds Gone Forever. She recently blogged about New Years Resolutions. She’s not a fan of them, and instead of making one, she suggests making your words match your actions. Last week I blogged that the Klutzy Athlete had lived up to her name by being klutzy and spraining her ankle. This week I’ve been struggling with a painful ankle and ice baths. I’m not sure which is worse, the injury or… Read More

Setting Weight Loss Goals

I’ve talked a lot about setting weight loss goals, but I just realized my quest is not only about weight loss. It’s about developing a healthy lifestyle.

Goals

So what are my goals for developing a healthy lifestyle?goals
  • Look forward to exercising
  • Exercise with joy in my heart
  • Exercise because I love it
  • Stop obsessing about food
  • Eat when I’m hungry, stop when I’m full
  • Love the foods I eat and savor every bite
That’s a pretty hefty list when I look at it. And while I’ve made progress on every single item, there are days that exercise just feels like work, and all I think about is what’s in the pantry to eat.

Sticky Notes

I’m looking at the list of sticky notes I wrote last week when… Read More

Mental Clutter=Weight Loss

Mental Clutter

I started to blog about mental clutter=weight loss, but my enthusiasm fizzled. Why? Because I feel fat! mental Image courtesy of Okolaa at FreeDigitalPhotos.net My scale is being Sheila (the name I give it when I don’t like what she says). Sheila says I’m several pounds heavier than I want to be. To add insult to injury, my loose jeans feel tight today, and that’s all I can focused on! No matter what I’m doing these thoughts are in the back of my mind circling like a pack of rabid dogs taunting me, tormenting me. It makes me want to jump on the old diet wheel and get rid of that excess weight before I can pile… Read More

Setting Weight Loss Goals

Weight Loss Goals

I’ve always been a goal setter—from work to exercise to weight loss. I recently read a post by Diane Carbonell on are you focused on the right thing when losing weight. goals Crash mountain biking in Bend, Oregon. Good news the bike survived! Her blog was about goal setting, and it made me realize that setting a goal to just lose a certain amount of weight wasn’t enough to be successful. For me, it also included an attitude change. I was no longer just losing weight, but changing my lifestyle by eating when I was hungry, stopping when full and getting plenty of exercise—not just a set amount of exercise, and even challenging myself… Read More

Fighting the Obesity Epidemic

The Klutzy Athlete is out being her Klutzy self and rerunning a blog today.  Will be back soon with more nutrition and exercise. We have an obesity epidemic on our hands, and no one seems to know how to stop it. If you have a loved one who is obese, you’ve probably tried anything and everything to get them to lose weight. Guilt, shame, bribery, badgering, coercion, but nothing works, does it? So what do you do? obesity image courtesy of (c) Jason Stitt/123RF Having recently lost someone I loved to complications from obesity, I want to take on the obesity and knock it into outer space. It’s time we all start fighting. All out cage fighting. No more… Read More

Exercise Tips

exercise Doing Push-ups I’ve been following Rebecca J. Clark's 30 Day Weight Loss Challenge on Facebook, and it is loaded with fabulous exercise tips. Did you know that after just two weeks of being a couch potato you could lose 25 percent of your strength? That made me sit up and take notice, especially with winter on the way.

Exercise Tips

exercise Elbow Planks Rebecca said doing this circuit workout one to two times a week can maintain your strength.
  • Sit and stand from chair—20x
  • Jumping jacks—20-50x (if you can do 50, do 50)
  • Push-ups against the wall/counter/floor—15x
  • Step ups (up, up/down, down on step)—20 each leg
  • Elbow planks—hold as long… Read More

Healthy Eating

Healthy eating can definitely be a challenge, especially after I've worked all day and have nothing planned for dinner. But a recent blog post by Diane Carbonell, author of 150 Pounds Gone Forever reminded me that a nutritious meal doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming. It can even be faster than preparing a TV dinner.

Nutritious and Filling

Chicken and salad or shrimp and salad is standard fare in the in the summer when it’s hot and heating the kitchen isn’t appealing. It's a fast, easy meal that is nutritious nutritious and filling. But now that fall is in the air, I want something heartier—stews, soups, casseroles. These meals are my friend because I don’t just make a single… Read More

Weight Loss Struggles and Successes

I blogged a few weeks ago about how where I eat is directly related to the amount I eat and my ability to judge fullness. I have used the table more, but even with good intentions, I’ve slipped back into old habits and still eat in front of the television a lot.successes

Struggles

The truth is, I like eating in front of the television. It’s a reward after a long day of work, and when I force myself to sit at the table, I feel deprived. I don't have the same reaction eating on the patio or at a restaurant . I also continue to struggle with late evening snacks. Sometimes I’m hungry, sometimes I just want the snack. Last night… Read More