By: Monica Gupta,
on 7/30/2016
डाइट – वजन नियंत्रित करने की टिप्स डाइट – वजन नियंत्रित करने की टिप्स How to Maintain our weight.. some helpful tips हम जिम जाकर या अन्य तरीके अपना कर अपना वजन कम तो कर लेते है पर उसे नियंत्रण में नही रख पाते और जिम छोडते ही या सैर करना छोडते ही दुबारा अपने […]
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By: Monica Gupta,
on 4/11/2016
डाईट चाट – वजन कम करना ये वजन कम करना नही आसान… मोटू, गोलू मोलू , गोल मटोल नाम भले ही हमें बचपन में प्यारे लगते हो पर बडे होते होते हम अपनी सेहत पर ध्यान देना शुरु कर देते हैं जहां लडकिया अपनी साईज जीरो पर ध्यान देने लगती हैं वही लडके भी स्मार्ट […]
The post डाईट चाट – वजन कम करना appeared first on Monica Gupta.
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By: Robin Brande,
on 10/1/2015
A lot of you have written to me in the past few days thanking me for sharing my own struggles with sugar addiction (a.k.a. my kryptonite), and also for sharing Dr. Susan Thompson’s videos about what she’s learned as both a neuropsychologist and as a formerly obese woman about how to rewire our brains and finally get rid of cravings once and for all. Yes, please, now!
(And by the way, thank you for all your emails and comments! I really do love the solidarity we can have about this topic. It’s not something any of us are particularly proud of, but it feels good to be able to talk about it with each other!)
The third video in Susan’s series is now out, and it’s the best so far: about the 5 critical ways we can rewire our brains so that eating the right foods, and not eating the wrong foods, becomes completely automatic.
If you haven’t already watched videos one and two yet, I highly recommend them, since each is chock full of all sorts of cool science about why we crave what we do, why willpower fails us (it’s not the right tool), and other answers to questions you’ve probably had as you dive into that fourth serving of cookies, candy, cake, or ice cream. I know because I have been there, my friend. As recently as last week!
Hope you love this last video as much as I did! LEARNING! Love it!
~Robin
(Photo credit: Alex Jones, via Unsplash.com)
By: Robin Brande,
on 9/26/2015
Read fast, because I have the feeling I’ll be deleting this in a few days. It’s not usually the kind of thing I enjoy talking about in public. But I’m doing it for the same reason I posted about my experience of having horrible acne when I was in high school and college: I actually think I can help people. So here goes:
I have, at various times in my life, been merely overweight, then obese, then heavy, then down to slim and trim, then up a little to what I considered “sturdy,” rather than fat, then down a little, up … a lot of you can relate to the pattern.
And right now, coming off multiple months in a row of writing for sometimes 18 hours a day, not getting as much exercise as I usually love, and powering my books and screenplays with WAY too much sugar, I feel pretty gross. I still love myself and want to be nothing but kind to myself no matter what, but I know my “kindness” of feeding myself a whole bunch of chocolate to keep up my energy and creativity during this time of intense work has actually not been a kindness at all.
Sometimes information comes to you at just the right time. Or maybe it’s always out there, but you’re not ready for it until you are.
A week or so ago, a friend of mine sent me a link to an interview with Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson. She’s both a psychology professor and a formerly obese woman. And I just loved her energy. I loved her sincerity and her passion for teaching what she knows about finally breaking free of food addictions and finding our individual bodies’ own natural weight. It was a theme I explored in my novel FAT CAT, and it’s definitely something that speaks to me personally.
(And by the way, when I was researching and writing FAT CAT, I completely gave up sugar. Weight melted off me. I felt great. My brain was clear, I had incredible energy … and yet here I am again.)
What drew me in was Susan’s own story about appearing to be very accomplished in some respects — highly educated, very successful in her career as a professor — but at the same time feeling like a failure because she was always overweight. How could she be so smart in other areas of her life — how could she know so much about science and psychology — and yet still look like … that?
Then one day she was finally ready to turn her years of research and knowledge on herself and figure this out once and for all. And to her utter delight, she discovered it wasn’t an issue of willpower or weakness or laziness, it was actually just a matter of brain chemistry. Some people are more susceptible to certain foods than others are. It’s not a moral issue, it’s just biology. And we can work with biology.
For some of us, sugar is as addictive as cocaine or heroine. If you’ve felt as enslaved by sugar as I have at times, you know it absolutely feels like a drug.
By the end of watching that interview, I knew I wanted to hear more of what Susan could teach. So I actually contacted her to find out when her next course was. Turns out it starts in just a few weeks. PERFECT.
A lot of you have written to me over the years after reading FAT CAT to share with me your own struggles or journeys about food and weight loss. I’ve read them all, I’ve answered them all, because I know what you’re going through and I want to try to help where I can. I’ve passed along resources I relied on in writing the novel, such as websites and books and cookbooks. I hope all of you who have written to me have gotten great value out of that information.
So now I’m passing along Susan’s free video series, too. I’m also including a link to her Susceptibility Quiz, which will evaluate how high or low you are on the scale of being susceptible to certain foods. I’m a 7 out of 10. Just saying.
The first video is out now, and the second and third will be released over the next few days. I’ll add those links then.
Good luck, fellow foodies! Hope this information helps. Pass it along to other foodies if you think they’ll like it, too.
And here’s to freedom. ‘Bout time!
xoxo
Robin
By: Robin Brande,
on 9/24/2015
Some writers rely on drugs and alcohol. Not me. I just finished writing a screenplay fueled mostly by coffee and Reese's peanut butter cups. Soooo much better, right? *cough*
One of the reasons I wrote my novel FAT CAT was that I was an overweight teen (and adult, at times), and I wanted to sit down and research everything I could find about food, weight loss, and healthy eating. Then I came up with the science project plan for my heroine, Cat, to put herself through. I even did it myself while I wrote the book so I could accurately depict what Cat was feeling from day to day.
And the hardest things for both Cat and me to give up were -- you guessed it -- sugar and caffeine. Cat's withdrawal struggle in the novel was mine. But once I got passed that, boy, did I feel great! But then after I finished writing it, I eventually slipped right back into my old habits. And to be honest, I'm still struggling with that today.
Which is why I'm so excited about this free video series from Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson. She's a tenured psychology professor with a Ph.D. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences (and you know how much I love SCIENCE!). She also used to be obese. I always love to learn from someone who's been on the front lines and has figured out how to do something better.
For years now Susan has been teaching her findings in her college course on the Psychology of Eating. But last year she realized she should make that same information available to more people. She decided to create her free video series to share the truth about the psychology and neuroscience of weight loss and food freedom.
I'm glad she has! I've already listened to some of her presentations, and WOW. So much of what she had to say really hit home.
So here's the first video in her new series. If you're like me, I know you're going to love it!
Good luck to all of us who love our comfort food a little too much!
~Robin
By: Linda S. Wingerter,
on 2/15/2013
By: Linda S. Wingerter,
on 4/19/2011
By: Lauren,
on 7/12/2010
Bonnie Spring is a Professor of Preventive Medicine, Psychology, and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Director of Behavioral Medicine, and Co-Program Leader for Cancer Prevention at Northwestern University. A Past President of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, she is board-certified in clinical health psychology. Dr. Spring’s most recent book is Smoking Cessation with Weight Gain Prevention, and in the original post below, she reflects on her own struggle with giving up cigarettes and maintaining her weight.
“You’ve given me new hope.” So read the e-mail that arrived shortly after Parade Magazine published a story about my research showing that trying to manage weight gain while stopping smoking can help rather than hurt successful quitting. A steady stream of similar messages flowed in, taking my mind back to the days when I first started to study weight gain after quitting smoking. I still flinch at the memories. Faculty colleagues asked when I would switch to studying a real health problem – one with serious medical consequences. The reception was about as chilly at the National Institutes of Health. The words of a usually supportive program officer float back to me, “Oh come on…There’s only an average six to eight pound weight gain after quitting. That’s not a health problem – that’s a cosmetic problem. We’re in the business of studying threats to health – not insults to personal vanity!”
The physicians I spoke with weren’t much more helpful. They said things like, “Look, there’s no question that the much greater health risk comes from the smoking rather than the weight gain. The average person would have to gain about 100 pounds to offset the health benefit of quitting.” Indeed, medical practice guidelines conveyed a similar message. The U.S. Public Health Service Guideline on Tobacco Treatment encouraged physicians to tell patients not to worry about weight gain until they were fully confident and secure as non-smokers. The fear was that trying to manage both things at once – smoking and weight – would be overwhelming and would undermine the success of the quit attempt. Yet even though that guidance seemed right-minded and conservative, I watched it prompt my friends to make a life-threatening decision. Nor did I watch detachedly, because I was one of the many smokers who responded by making the same bad decision. Having to choose between being smoke-free and being slender felt like being crushed between a rock and a hard place. Yes, I cared about my long-term health and wanted very badly to quit. However, maintaining a slender, attractive appearance felt essential to sustain the social reinforcers that were vital to my quality of life. We can call it vain, irrational or disordered till the cows come home, but my priorities were certainly not unusual then or now. I continued to smoke.
Living out the truism that “research is me-search,” I began a series of treatment studies to test different ways to help smokers quit smoking without gaining weight. We already knew that ex-smokers gain weight especially because they eat more, but al
By: Lara M. Zeises,
on 2/18/2010
I meant to write about the whole Kevin Smith/Southwest Airlines kerfluffle when it first happened, but forgot until today, when I came across a link to this fantastic blog post about fattitude and why it's one of the last socially acceptable forms of bigotry.
The reason I wanted to write about it is because I have had my own personal humiliating experience with Southwest.
In November 2008, I was speaking on a panel at the ALAN conference in San Antonio. The trip marked the first time I'd flown in at least six years, and I was nervous. On my last flight trip, I'd needed seatbelt extenders. And as any overweight person knows, when fellow travelers read their boarding pass and realize they have to sit next to you, they get that unabashed look of disgust that makes you feel oh-so-fantastic about yourself.
So, yeah. It was late November, and I'd had my gastric bypass surgery in early September. I'd lost 80+ pounds at that point, which was significant enough to have at least one person at the conference do a double take and say, "Oh my god, I didn't even recognize you!" That felt pretty good. But in addition to still recovering from surgery, I was also re-learning how to eat. At an author dinner my first night in town, our choices were between filet and salmon. I chose salmon, but discreetly asked the waiter if he could make sure it was moist, even if that meant bringing me extra sauce on the side. He was really confused, and I tried to (also discreetly) explain to him that if the fish is too dry it would make me sick. So what does the chef do? Provide me with salmon that was one step up from raw. I could see that it looked very undercooked, and I had a feeling it wouldn't sit right with me, but I was nervous and picked at it anyway. Within 10 minutes, I had full-blown food poisoning, and didn't stop puking for about six hours straight. Fun!
Anyway, onto Southwest. I'd flown in on American Airlines, who were very nice. When boarding the plane I asked for the seatbelt extender and was slipped one discreetly, which I appreciated. But the flight home had been booked on Southwest. (I should clarify that I didn't book either flight - they were booked for me.) Anyway, when I was checking in the woman from Southwest asked if I was able to put my armrests down - later, I'd find out that this is how Southwest determines if you're big enough to require the purchase of an additional seat, because they really can't make you get on a scale, now can they? - and I said I could but that they were usually a little snug. I thought I was being asked a customer service question, like, "How can we make your flight experience more comfortable?" Instead, I was told immediatly that I needed to purchase a second ticket. Since I hadn't purchased the initial ticket, I panicked. I didn't want this getting back to my publisher. It was humiliating enough.
So I whipped out my personal credit card and bought a second seat. I wanted to cry. Here I was, two and a half months out from having my intestines rerouted, a full 80+ pounds lighter, and experiencing one of the most humiliating incidents of my entire life (including middle school, which was pretty humiliating in and of itself). I was given a blue card, which I was told I needed to place on the empty second seat to let flight attendants know that no one could be seated there. Then the woman told me - and this is really what kills me - that fortunately, my flight was half empty and if it remained that way I could apply to have the cost of the extra ticket refunded.
It gets better.
At the gate, I run into two beautiful, successful, very THIN authors from the conference with whom I was friendly. They were taking the same flight, only they were getting off at an earlier stop. So not only did I have to endure this humiliation, I had to do it in front of people I admired. Perfec
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Posted on 1/4/2010
© Photographer: Piedenero | Agency: Dreamstime.com
Yeah! I got 2 Kilos! Better than last year where I got 5! Wow That was scary!!!
Now I have to survive the 6th and well the winter!
Winter is so sweet with all that chocolate, cakes, candies, nuts and really hot winter food to eat..like lasagna or wait mmm Melanzane alla Parmigiana! Uh I'm getting hungry!!!
Let pay a visit to the fridge!!!
By: Melinda,
on 9/8/2009
By: Lara M. Zeises,
on 9/4/2009
On Sept. 4, 2008, I underwent gastric bypass surgery. I'd already dropped 25 lbs. on my pre-surgery diet; as of today, my one-year "surgiversary," I've lost a sum total of nearly 150 pounds. I'm down 8 sizes (and no, that's not a typo) and am now wearing clothes I haven't been able to fit into for 12 years. My sleep apnea is gone, my Type II diabetes is in remission, and my blood pressure is perfect. If it weren't for the wacky hormonal fluctuations I've been having the past four months, I'd say I feel the best I have in my entire life.
This is all of the good stuff.
There is some not-so-good stuff. Like the fact that good bras are expensive, and right now I'm needing a new size at least every two months. Ditto for panties. Yes, I know there are worse problems to have. But money is tight, and I cycle through clothes so quickly that my wardrobe is very limited at times. Either that, or I end up wearing things that are two to four sizes two big, which just makes me look hulky.
Vanity Gripe #1: The last time I was this size/weight, I did not have a double chin. WHY DO I STILL HAVE A DOUBLE CHIN? I hate the double chin with a fiery and irrational passion.
Vanity Gripe #2: Skiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin. As in, loose skin. As in, crepey skin. As in droopy, saggy, riddled with tiny, nude-colored stretch marks skin (because yes, you get stretch marks when you lose a lot of weight in a relatively short period of time). If I lay on my side and kick my leg straight up, I have athletic-looking thighs. When I stand, loose flesh and the remaining bits of flub droop down around my knees. And don't get me started on my boobs, which look like tube socks with tennis balls at the bottom of them. Joe will kill me for admitting this, but I can smack my own face with the right boob, which cracks me up and makes him shriek "Stop!" like a little girl.
Lastly, after a year of losing weight and inches very, very quickly, all of it has slowed to a crawl. My surgeon says I should be shooting for a 1 lb. a week weight loss. Say wha? I still have 75 I'd like to lose, and about 40 that I should lose before attempting the bun-in-the-oven thing. I'd like to drop two more pants sizes and three more tops sizes. I WANT TO FIND A WAY TO GET RID OF THIS DOUBLE CHIN.
The upside: even though the weight is coming off more slowly, my body composition is still changing pretty frequently. For instance, I've only lost about 10 pounds since early June, but I've dropped an entire clothing size (normally, I have to lose about 20-30 lbs. to switch) and one whole bra size. I can do more physically than I have since I was in middle school - and feel (mostly) good while doing it.
So, yeah. Mostly good things (chin not included).
And oh! Here's a really good thing: to mark the occasion of my first ever surgiversary, Joe got me a little silver scale charm for the bracelet he gave me at Christmas. (He also got me a book charm, as an overdue congratulations gift for SWEET LIFE's pub date.)
Best. Fiance. EVER.
Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend! I'm off to labor right now in our bonus room, which is in desperate need of purging and sorting.
P.S. I posted updated progress pictures on my Facebook page, but they're accessible by friends only. At least, they're supposed to be.
By: Rebecca,
on 10/15/2008
It’s is nice writing this post knowing that most of our readers have no idea what I look like. Please set aside your assumptions about my size, it is irrelevant. Instead, take a look at yourself. Are you satisfied? Most studies say that a majority of women are not happy with the way they look- and that the repercussions from this lack of self-acceptance are serious.
But I’m not here to preach. I was a pudgy little kid, my preferred description is “pleasantly plump,” and while puberty slimmed me out I still remember the trauma of a family friend coming up to me at my high school graduation party (which was 80’s themed and had me decked out in spandex) to tell me that he was so proud of how slim I’d gotten. He was likely trying to give me a compliment but my fragile ego interpreted it as an insult. Similarly, I remember my college graduation when a family member pulled me aside to tell me I looked too slim and that they were concerned. I took it as a compliment. Crazy right?
My point here is that we all have our self-image issues. Luckily, mine faded with time. I don’t own a scale and I know I eat a healthy diet so I figure there isn’t all that much to worry about. In celebration of Fat Talk Free Week perhaps we should all consider holding our tongue when giving a compliment, complaining about our weight or simply comparing ourselves to others. Instead of talking diets with your girlfriends consider talking about exercise, or the upcoming election or the amazing book you just finished reading.
Take a moment to check out the “Fat Talk Free Week” website sponsored by Delta Delta Delta, Seventeen Magazine, NOW, NEDA, and AED and be sure to watch their video which drives the point home.
By: scriberess,
on 12/12/2007
A Christmas play and story for children and families
By: Amy C. Moreno,
on 6/13/2007
Fugle Flicks....gotta watch them. These are art related videos made my kids. I've only watched one so far, but it was fantastic, fun and hilarious. Make sure to watch Young Sloppy Brush. Check out the Fugle Blog too.
Great post, Robin! Sugar can mess with you in so many ways. When I eat sugar it revs up my appetite so much that I can’t sleep through the night without getting up and eating. It also creates a cycle of low to high blood sugar that leads to migraines for me. I am much happier when I avoid sugar, not to mention well rested, and more energetic, but it’s hard to give up! I find avoiding it takes a lot of commitment, even though sugar makes me feel quite sick, which goes to show how addictive it is.
Hey, Amy, thanks so much for chiming in! (By the way, I’m usually a lurker on your FB posts rather than an actual commenter, just because I don’t always have something to say about them, but this is a great chance to tell you I love what you’re putting out there — very thoughtful and/or entertaining!). Anyway–
The reason I’m so into how Susan is teaching it is because she completely identifies my own embarrassment: just like she says, a lot of us are very well-informed about health and nutrition, we’re smart, we get it… but that doesn’t mean we do it. Yep, raising my hand there, Susan.
Sometimes I just need a guide. Yes, I could figure it all out for myself, but I’m a great student, so putting myself in a class setting really works for me.
Thanks for your sugar testimonial/confession. Solidarity!
I’ve always been overweight and come from a long family history of obesity and attendant health issues. But here’s a thing. In 2012, I joined Weight Watchers. I followed their system religiously and lost 75 pounds in six months. I looked great…but at the same time, my mental health issues (depression, anxiety, undiagnosed Asperger Syndrome) were running amok. I lost 75 pounds and then I tried to take my own life. When I got help, I gained back all that weight.
I feel like a failure in some ways, but at the same time, weight loss is going to be forever tied in my memory to that darkest of hours. I want to be healthier; I don’t ever want to spend another night on the bathroom floor thinking that the world would be better off if my life ended on the business end of a razor blade. Sometimes I wonder where the balance is and I’m still trying to find it. That search isn’t helped by the people who tell me I was “so much prettier when I was thin.”
But all of it–Asperger diagnosis, med change, therapy, more therapy, weight loss, weight gain–all of it needs to come in balance. My writing, too, is often fueled by coffee laced with way too much artificial flavored creamer; my one published story is practically an ode to Wild Mountain Blueberry and amaretto creamer.
All things in balance–caffeine and sugar, too. I deserve to be the best me I can be, right? Here’s to the journey.
This is a good word, Robin! I’m passing it along. I think it’s something all of us struggle with. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks, Jessie!
Elizabeth, this is a very brave and open thing to share, and I appreciate you for doing it. It also makes me so sad because I THINK YOU’RE WONDERFUL! You’re one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, and please know that you’ve added value to my life in the time we’ve spent together in person and online, and I know you’ve been important to other people, too.
But I also know that sometimes hearing that isn’t enough to make you feel happy in dark times. Still, that won’t ever keep me from saying it!
Food issues, weight issues, health issues … they really interfere with us using our wonderful creative minds for better things besides obsessing about what we just ate, what we’re going to eat next, wish I hadn’t eaten that, I should probably eat that …
I think what you said is absolutely the bottom line: we all just want to feel healthy. No matter what size we are, how we look — we just want to feel great. All the time. Every day. And hearing “You used to look so much better!” – ugh. So not helpful.
It’s an internal and personal issue. We want to feel how we feel at our own best. It’s up to us to decide what that is.
I support you, Elizabeth, in being yourself no matter what! That self is a beautiful person!