Chocolate...it's good for me, right?!

Everyone has different ways for dealing with stress.  My dad rides his bike.  I eat chocolate.  I wonder if that’s why he’s 9 inches taller than I am and 90 pounds lighter….naw….that can’t be it.

Anyway, there is just something about eating a bar of chocolate that makes me feel better.  At least it does temporarily.  Once the initial euphoria wears off there’s the feelings of guilt that take its place because I have once again added unneeded calories to my hips.  I know that somewhere I read that chocolate is good for me.  If it is, then why is it eating a pound of it can make me put on so much weight?

To answer my own question I did some research.  Here’s what I found:

Chocolate has quite a few benefits.  In fact, dark chocolate has almost eight times the antioxidants that strawberries have and has a lot of the health benefits that dark vegetables have.  (Please note that all benefits come from eating dark chocolate.  The milk in milk chocolate inhibits the body’s ability to absorb all of the antioxidants and other good stuff the chocolate has to offer.)

Chocolate’s benefits:

1. It can help fight the signs of aging.
2. It can reduce blood pressure for those suffering from high blood pressure.
3. It can reduce LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) by up to 10%.
4. It stimulates endorphin production, which gives a feeling of pleasure.
5. It contains serotonin, which acts as an antidepressant.
6. It contains theobromine, caffeine, and other substances which are all stimulants.

Nice, right?!  It’s no wonder when I’m stressed chocolate helps!!  The problem I have is I consume too much of it and the wrong kind.  I usually pick up milk chocolate and eat A LOT of it.  According to studies, the maximum dark chocolate a person should eat per day is 3.5 ounces.  That’s a lot less than the pound I like in my diet.  It’s also very important that the chocolate be dark.  Chocolate has a lot of fat and calories in it, and although they might not be the type to impact your cholesterol, they can still impact your waistline.

So, if you’re like me and just need a little bit of chocolate to deal with the little surprises life throws at you, reach for a small 3.5 ounce of dark chocolate.  Savor it.  Then get back on the horse and face what life throws you head on.  Good luck!  I know I need it.

Portion Sizes

Did you know that a cereal bowl will actually hold almost 3 servings of Special K?  It will.  When my weight loss is going well I measure everything.  Lately, I haven't been.  As I filled my cereal bowl I realized I was actually getting a lot more than when I measure it out, so I decided to measure exactly how much more I was getting.  It turned out I was getting A LOT more.  In fact, I was getting almost three times more.  Wow!  Plus, because I'm not measuring my milk, I'm getting more milk, and I usually refill my bowl with enough cereal to use up all of my milk, too.  Who wants to waste milk, right? 

Serving sizes are all bigger now than they used to be.  That's true in restaurants as well as fast food places.  It's no wonder Americans are such chunk-a-monks.  We be hungry!!  Plus, if they give us all that food it would be rude not to eat it all.

The excuses we give ourselves for why we do things is amazing to me.  One of my favorites is how Marilyn Monroe was a size 14, so big women have always been sexy.  HELLO!!  Sizes have changed over the years.  A size 14 in her day would be closer to a size 7 today.  She was far from being a "big" woman.  She was curvy, yes, but she wasn't big. 

That's what I want to be...a curvy size 7 or 10.  I would definitely be happy a curvy size 10.

Maybe I should try out for the Biggest Loser on NBC.  Having a trainer push me and a $250,000 prize dangled in front of me might be the motivation I need to finally achieve my goals.  Hmmm...

The Battle Continues

During a war the wisdom of a military's leaders, the perseverance of the troops, and luck all play into who comes out victorious at the end of each battle.  The battle of the bulge is no different.  Each day is a battle, and each one is fought against ourselves. 

In the beginning, I was pretty even kiltered.  I won some and I lost some.  Recently, I have lost more than I have won.  In order to change the outcome I need to restrategize.  The wisdom I have.  Eating healthy and within a certain given calorie intake is a must.  Exercising vigorously at least 20 minutes everyday is a must.  Knowing is half the battle.  Right?  Wrong.  Knowing is simply preparing for the battle.  The battle begins when the decision is made to get up and do something about my weight. 

For the last couple of weeks I haven't even bothered.  I've simply ignored my body's protests to being so heavy.  Now, I need to make the first steps back into getting healthy.  Every night I worry I'll die of a heart attack in my sleep and my kids will wake up to a dead mommy.  That is my worst fear.  To conquer it I need to wage war with myself.  I need to be the woman I know I can.  So...the strategy...I don't have one yet, but I'm working on it.  I'll let you know once I have any idea how to lose the weight.  What I've done so far obviously hasn't worked, so I need something else.  Hmmm...any ideas?