Losing Weight in 2008

It’s New Year’s Eve and millions of people will be celebrating their last hurrah tonight and hitting the gym or the internet tomorrow to begin their weight loss regimen for the new year. It’s a clichè resolution, yes, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad resolution. I think anytime a person puts focus on themselves and their health is a good thing! I’m rooting for each and every person out there (including myself and my DH) resolving to finally “lose their weight in 2008!” Hey- what better year to do it than when it rhymes?

Along those lines, I also hope that everyone carefully researches the weight loss or fitness plan that they choose to follow. Don’t get scammed! Don’t waste your money on a bad product or bad idea, and make sure the plan is safe. Check your local library first, to see if they have the book on the plan you’re looking into.  Google the hell out of the internet to find out everything you can about a plan before you try it. And, as I’ve said before, find a weight loss support group to help keep you focused and motivated. There are quite a few free forums online that are great!

Here are a few books that I’ve found extremely informative about health in general and low carb dieting specifically:

You: On a Diet   by Drs. Mehmet C. Oz and Michael F. Roizen (tons of information on how your body processes food, written in layman’s terms)

Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution by Dr. Robert C. Atkins

Protein Power by Drs. by Michael R. Eades and Mary Dan Eades

Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes (still working my way through this tome, but it is chock full of interesting research!)

And here are some that I plan on reading this year:

Natural Health and Weightloss & Eat Fat Get Thin  by Barry Groves, Ph.D

Living the Low Carb Life by Johnny Bowden, Ph.D

and I’m sure I’ll find more as the year progresses.

It’s becoming an obsession of mine to learn as much as I can about health, nutrition and fitness. It feeds the inner teacher in me. And it seems to be working, too – I’ve lost 20 pounds since August, and have about 40 to go, give or take, so finally losing the rest of my weight in 2008 is an extremely attainable goal.

Cheers to everyone making health, fitness and weight loss one of their resolutions for the new year! I wish you much success!

On Scams and Dieting

As I’ve said before, with desperate times, come desperate measures. However, in the case of your health it is always best to lead with your head rather than your heart.

Take the scam that is kimkins, for example. A soulless huckster named Heidi Diaz (a.k.a. Kimmer) used a low carb weight loss forum, Woman’s World magazine, and eventually her for-a-fee forum to hock extremely unsafe, very low carb, very low calorie diet advice to the unsuspecting and desperate. In fact, she preyed on the desperate with claims of “better than gastric by-pass” and “I lost 198 pounds in 11 months.”

Turns out she lied about pretty much everything – her weight loss “success,” her before and after pictures, her name, and the list goes on.

“But Bufo Dieter,” you may be saying “caveat emptor!” And I’d say, you’re right. But ask yourself this: Have you ever bought something just because you wanted it and it turned out to be not as extraordinary as you thought it would be? Or have you ever tried a diet because you were at-the-end-of-your-frayed-rope-desperate to get the weight off that you’ve been dealing with on and off for most of your life? I know I have – on both accounts. So I can see how a person could get sucked into the scam. As a matter of fact, I did, for 2 weeks. Luckily I didn’t pay for her diet. I found it for free online. But I kept reading and discovered layer upon layer of her fraud being exposed, and continues to be exposed.

As a matter of fact, there is a lawsuit in the works that could (and I believe should) end up having Heidi pay back all of the +/- $2M she scammed through this crazy diet.

So, my point behind this – research, research, research! Be sure what you’re getting ready to plunk down your credit card for and spend your hard-earned money on is worth it’s weight (and can’t be gotten for free elsewhere!). The internet is ripe with scam artists ready to prey on the foolish or the desperate. Be careful out there!

Bottom line: if promises seem too good to be true, they probably are.

To read more about the debacle that is kimkins check out the links in my blogroll. And if you have been scammed by the she-devil in red, be sure to join the lawsuit!

Free Dieting Advice

The new year is just around the corner, and what’s #1 on many, many people’s list of resolutions? Lose weight. So there will be a flood of people on the ‘net on Jan. 1st looking for that magical miracle that will help them shed those unwanted pounds in the blink of an eye. And sure, they’ll find many a huckster out there ready to separate them from their hard-earned money, promising “miracle,” “no exercise,” “eat-what-you-want” diets. And honestly, who hasn’t tried something crazy? Desperate times call for desperate measures.

But with all of the information out there on the internet, why pay money when you can get the information for free? There are many FREE weight loss forums out there offering dieting advice and information, along with a huge community of people on the same journey as you – weightloss.

So before you plunk down that credit card and pay for something that is probably not all it’s cracked up to be, take some time to search the internet and research the product you’re looking into. Better yet, join a weight loss forum (or several) and become a part of a community. Make some friends and learn something too. Plus, there likely will be someone out there who has information on any product you’re looking into and whether or not it is worth the money.

< shameless plug > My personal favorite low carb weight loss forum is Low Carb Eating. It’s full of wonderful, friendly people who will help with all aspects of the weight loss journey. No flaming and no snarkiness. (Not that I don’t enjoy a good bit of snark from time to time…)

Whatever you do and where ever you decide to make your weight loss home, I wish you much success and many visits from the whoosh fairy!

The Bufo Dieter

Swallow a toad in the morning and you will encounter nothing more disgusting the rest of the day.
~ Nicolas de Chamfort

I heard of this phrase about five years ago and it’s stuck with me ever since. Weightloss, and especially exercise, can be like toad swallowing. But, once you do it, the worst is usually over for the day. That’s been my approach with my current weight loss journey, and so far, it’s working. Luckily for me, toad is low-carb.

What follows will be mostly thoughts and information on exercise and low-carb dieting,  but also random musings on what’s important to me at the moment. Hopefully I, and anyone else who happens by, can learn or share something.