Sonja in Maui, Hawaii

There is a huge increase in advertising for weight loss, fitness clubs, diet products and deliver-straight-to-your-door diet food this time of year. Why? Because people are motivated with new year’s resolutions to once and for all lose weight, get in shape and most importantly — open their wallets and spend money on this multi-billion-dollar industry.  How do I know? Because I’ve spent thousands of dollars on diet plans and diet foods, and probably lost the weight equivalent to at least two human beings in the process.

Now, since losing 50 pounds in 2001, I simply “Live Thin,” and stay the same weight. It’s much cheaper, more sane, and my clothes are all the same size in my closet.  However, if you have read my “Living Thin” blogs, you know that I don’t care how people lose weight, I think it’s more about living the thin lifestyle when you reach your “Happy Weight,” that’s the most important thing of all.

Here are some of my favorite blogs of the year, and some that you may find helpful if you are making a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight:

Life After Dieting; What Now, That the Pounds Are Gone?  For ideas on how to keep that hard-earned weight loss off once it’s gone.

Diet Redemption: Red Dead or Not, You Always Get Another Chance, if you are discouraged from past dieting failures.

Yo-Yo Dieting; Stop the Insanity! if you want to get off that particular treadmill this year.

Breaking the Deprivation / Binge Cycle – sometimes a set-up during strict dieting.

And finally, always remember: Nothing Tastes as Good as Thin Feels.  That says it all!

Have a wonderful new year, my friends!

Take care, and live well,

Sonja Rose

Sonja, wishing you a Merry Christmas!

It’s not alway easy to lose or maintain weight over the holidays!  After losing 50 pounds in 2001, and keeping it off by “living thin,” I discovered a few things have changed over the years — things that I don’t miss anymore, and things that help maintain my weight during a time of year when there is a huge concentration on food. 

1) I used to make Christmas cookies for all my neighbors, co-workers and family — including myself, eating a bunch of cookies in the process! Now I pass…and it’s okay. I don’t miss them, and I save a lot on calories.

2)  I think outside the box when preparing a traditional Christmas dinner.  This year, we are having chicken and fish, rice and vegetables.  Many people where I live serve Christmas tamales.  Make up your own rules for Christmas dinner!

3)  Go ahead and let yourself have some treats, then let it be over with.  Treats don’t have to last for days and days and days and days! Some treats are good, but not 10 pounds worth — you get my drift.

4) Concentrate on other things during the holidays, like walks, bike rides, movies, “optional excursions” in your town, fun internet websites, social networking on the computer, family & friends — not food.

5) Remember that “Nothing Tastes as Good as Thin Feels”, and you will love waking up after the holidays, fitting into your jeans in the morning instead of dreading the prospect of having to lose ten pounds over the next month or two.

The holidays are fun, but they will be over soon, and life goes on. Happy holidays to you and yours.  Live thin, and live well, my friends!

Eat Only Tasty Food!

Becoming a picky eater may take a little practice.   In two of my past blogs, “Think like a Thin Person,” and “Act Like a Thin Person” I touch on this topic — now I want to give you specific tips on how to replace old thinking with new.

Old thought:

Since I put the food on my plate (at home, at the buffet, at somebody else’s house, etc), I have to eat it.

New thought:

No you don’t. At home, if you don’t like it, throw it in the trash or down the garbage disposal — it’s okay, really.  At the buffet, leave it on your plate — that’s the beauty of a buffet.  Go try something else that you might like better — be picky!  Quit caring so much what others might think. At somebody else’s house, if you really don’t like something, scoot it around on the plate a little, casually place a napkin over it, or take care of throwing it away yourself and remember – not eating somebody’s food does not mean you don’t like them, it simply means you don’t like the food.  Big difference.

Old thought:

It is wasteful to leave food on my plate (see: Cancel Your Membership in the “Clean Your Plate” Club).

Sonja, having fun in Maui, Hawaii

It is more wasteful to stuff your body full of food it does not need, and have it be stored as fat and make you overweight.  It does not make sense to eat food that you don’t like, simply because you would feel guilty for leaving it behind on your plate.  From now on, you can eat two tiny little bites of things you really like, and if you want to leave the rest behind, you can — it’s okay.

Old thought:

Even if I don’t really like what I’m eating, I better eat it anyway.  Who knows where my next meal is coming from?

New thought:

I think people are scared of the “hungry” feeling in this country today.  I am here to assure you that within a few hours your next meal will probably arrive, and hopefully it will be something more to your liking.  Having a strong appetite will make most food taste better anyway, so try letting yourself get a little hungry and see how that goes.

Old thought:

I ordered it so I have to eat it, even if I don’t like it.

New thought:

No you don’t.  You have choices: Send what you ordered back and order something else.  Or you can just pick out the things that you like (my husband says sometimes it looks like a hurricane hit my plate).  Or, you can just confess that you ordered poorly and hope that you like your next meal better (sometimes when that happens my husband will take mercy on me and give me a few bites of his meal).

Old thought:

My mom says it’s bad to be a picky eater.

New thought:

That’s just because that’s what her mom told her. It’s not true anymore. From now on, I want you to savor every bite of food you place in your mouth, and only eat food you absolutely love. Read:  “Calories: Like Money in the Bank, How Are you Going to Spend them Each Day?” and learn how to spend your calories wisely each day.

Become a picky eater today!