Maria's Last Diet

Eating Out and Ordering Calorie Counts with Your Meal

by Maria's Last Diet

Sometimes it's hard to face facts. Sometimes it's hard to even get real facts.

In terms of food - did you know that most people significantly underestimate the number of calories in food? And - believe it or not - it's not just lay people who do this. Registered dieticians don't get it right either. When dieticians were shown photographs of certain portions of foods like hamburgers, tuna salad sandwiches, lasagna, etc., they estimated the calories as being lower than they actually were - up to 600 calories lower.

So there is a trend afoot, according to a report in the July issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, to require restaurants to post the number of calories in their meals. This might really help, because people eat a lot more calories when they eat out as opposed to when they eat at home. Maybe it's worth taking a good look at what you are eating and specifically how many calories you are taking in - perhaps even without your knowledge or consent.

The more you know...

A Good Weight Loss Plan Looks Like This

by Maria's Last Diet

Here are the most important aspects of a good weight loss plan:

• It needs to be healthy for you
• It needs to be accessible to you
• It needs to be effective for you
• It needs to have a built-in support system
• It needs to lay out a series of concrete steps
• It needs to include rewards for the steps along the way
• It needs to have strategies ready to use in high-risk eating situations
• It needs to provide you with enough to eat
• It needs to be flexible enough to fit into your life

If you can construct a weight loss plan that includes all of the above, you can have great confidence that your plan will lead to weight loss.

Ways to Lose Weight. Avoid These Myth-Steps.

by Maria's Last Diet

Here are 5 myths about losing weight.

There is only one approach, and that is to go on a good diet.
This is a myth because there are many more variables that affect a person's ability to lose weight: personal habits, social influences, and how much hope a person has - to name only a few.

You must join a group or follow a book in order to diet successfully.
This is a myth because research shows that people can change behaviors all on their own. Self-changers often use their own resources and their own plans.

The hardest part is losing the weight.
This is a myth because it has been shown that maintaining a weight loss is just as hard - if not harder - than losing is in the first place.

When you are on a diet, you must never cheat.
This is a myth because people learn best when they make mistakes and then use these mistakes to make corrections in what they do. This is always the way a success path goes.

Past failures imply future failure.
This is a myth because you can use past failures as a tool for future success. If you see the failures in this light, it actually enhances your chance of future success.

Don't get stuck in your old ways of thinking. See what other ideas about losing weight you may have in mind, and think about whether they really hold up or not.

Get Your Red Hot Diet Reviews and See Which Diet is for You

by Maria's Last Diet

Have you ever been on DietsInReview.com?  They research hundreds of diets, weight-loss programs, pills and more. They even reviewed MariasLastDiet.com. Here are some excerpts from reviews on their site, thanks to Brandi Koskie, Senior Editor at DietsInReview.com.

Weight Watchers
More than 45 years ago, this weight-loss program started as a small support group. Today, people access Weight Watchers in those same meetings, along with a comprehensive online program and a plan designed specifically for men. It works because of its flexibility. By encouraging a regular exercise program with detailed guidance and educating clients about healthy eating, you are able to eat nearly anything you want in moderation. The Weight Watchers Points is what they’re famous for. Each food has a point value based on its fat, calorie and fiber content. Clients are given a daily point target to stay within based on their weight and goals. You’ll have access to support groups, counselors, thousands of recipes and dozens of interactive tools. Once you’ve accomplished your goal, Weight Watchers provides a maintenance plan.

South Beach Diet
While the low-carb craze has settled to a faint murmur, South Beach Diet survived and still stands as a healthy weight-loss approach. The diet was created by cardiologist Dr. Arthur Agatston, and focuses more on heart-health, by reducing saturated fats, than it does on eliminating carbs. By reducing fats and carbs, you’ll get over your addiction to sugar and see weight loss and better health. The original South Beach Diet plan was criticized for its lack of exercise guidance; the recently published South Beach Diet Supercharged corrects that. Dr. Agatston published his newest research, revised the diet and it now includes generous attention to fitness, including a workout-DVD. While the diet has its food restrictions- the benefits are weight loss, healthy heart, stabilized blood sugar and lower cholesterol. South Beach Diet also provides its dieters with an on-going maintenance plan.

NutriSystem
One of the most trying parts of a diet is the planning and preparation of health-conscious meals. NutriSystem is one of the original meal-delivery providers. Your monthly fee pays for pre-packaged meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Just heat and eat- and focus on losing weight. The meals are designed with the glycemic index in mind, and have a carb/protein/fat combination. This means you’ll maintain a healthy blood sugar level, your body will digest the food more easily and absorb the nutrients. The NutriSystem meals are shelf-stable, meaning they can have a high sodium content for preservation. Reviews are often mixed on the quality and taste of the food, which is something each dieter has to determine themselves. They do offer a broad menu of more than 100 food items, so it’s unlikely you’ll become bored. NutriSystem does not provide a maintenance plan and they do not provide exercise guidance.
diet-plan-reviews

For more information. go to DietsInReview.com.

What Does Dieting and Losing the Weight Have to do with Self-Control?

by Maria's Last Diet

So many women say that in all other areas of their lives they do fine. But when it comes to dieting and losing weight, they have no self-control.

Here's a good way to look at it. Think of self-control as a store of energy supply, like gas in a gas tank - very, very valuable. So, if you use the gas to go shopping several times in a week, and you drive the kids all around, and then back and forth to work, when it comes to - let's say, an emergency run to the doctor - you might not have enough gas in your tank when you really need it.

Save up that crucial self-control energy! Don't squander it. Don't overload yourself with obligations. Don't be too duty-bound while you are trying to lose weight. That stash of self-control needs to be guarded. Even if some other areas of your life don't go perfectly for a while, it's OK. It can really be worth it.

Nobody can do it all. So don't try to be superwoman. Something has got to give, and very often it's the diet. You can change that.

Losing Weight for That Special Occasion (the wedding, the summer, the reunion)

by Maria's Last Diet

Summer vacation is something wonderful - no work, just play. What's not to like?

So many women say they want to lose weight before vacation. The reasons are many and varied: Being able to wear a two-piece, shorts, go sleeveless, feeling light enough to be very active, not having to worry about what to eat and what not to eat, feeling good about yourself, being admired, having confidence.

Believe it or not, losing weight for the summer, for a cruise, or a wedding, or any particular event or occasion can be too much pressure. Have you ever experienced this? The date of that wedding or trip or reunion looms ahead and says in effect, "you must lose weight for me". Well, it's much better to lose weight for "you". No special date, or circumstance or party or season or anything outside of yourself - just do it for you, in your own time, and your own speed, for your own very personal and deepest of reasons. Yes, of course, you want to look good and feel good, be admired, have confidence. Those are fine reasons for losing weight.

But let it take as long as it takes. Let the vacation, the wedding, the party, come and go, if you can. There will always be other vacations, parties, special occasions. Losing weight takes effort, patience, focus, and persistence. Try not to put any added time pressure on yourself while you are doing it.

For the Best Diets, Click Here

by Maria's Last Diet

Dear Maria...

Question: Of all the diets, which do you think are the best?

Answer: Here at Maria's Last Diet we don't evaluate diet plans per se. We only help with the psychological side of dieting. There is a good website - dietsinreview.com - that does review diets. You may find it a helpful resource.

Diet and Weight Loss Facts About "Apples" and "Pears"

by Maria's Last Diet

For women with the "apple" shape, one more reason to lose weight: 

A recent Kaiser Permanente study showed that people in the upper twenty per cent of belly size in middle age had a significant increase in the likelihood of Alzheimer's, or some other kind of dementia, compared with those in the lowest twenty per cent in terms of belly size. Those with the most belly fat in middle age were shown to be three times more likely to develop some form of dementia.

Research has previously shown that the incidence of stroke, heart disease, and diabetes is higher too in people with larger bellies.

You can see it's where you carry the extra weight that is significant here. People with fat on their hips or legs are not running such a risk. It is the "apple" shapes and not the "pear" shapes who need to take heed.

The Fourth of July Diet

by Maria's Last Diet

HAPPY FOURTH!

Freedom, fireworks, flags, and food - glorious food

What happened to my diet? Gone on the Fourth of July. It's another one of those get-together food holidays.

Picnics. Barbecues. Family. Friends. There all here, and there goes my diet. You have to celebrate, don't you? Social influence. What's that? It's a diet buster on the 4th. Let's eat what everyone else is eating.

Hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob, ribs, salad (Oh, there's my diet again), watermelon (not too bad for a diet)

What about the other kind of salads (macaroni and potato)?

Ketchup, mustard, and then comes mayonnaise

Lobster (fair game)...with oodles of butter (scratch that), clam roll, lobster roll (mmmm, but no thanks)

Pie (Uh, oh), ice cream (double uh,oh)

Aunt Celia brought the most delicious brownies you ever tasted (Yes, I did),

The relatives down south called to wish us all a Happy Fourth. They were having barbecued chicken, sausages, cornbread, lots of those other kinds of salads, baked beans (I forgot. We're having them too.), What's for dessert, I asked them? Pecan pie was one. Yes, and whipped cream was the topper. And that wasn't all. They were having at least four other desserts that people had brought. But they didn't top us.

So how did you celebrate our independence? I celebrated by taking the day off from my diet?

In the Mirror - Hey You, Is This Me?

by Maria's Last Diet

Who is this gargantuan woman in the mirror?

Am I her?

Is she me?

I have no idea how it happened. Was I abducted by an alien and then dropped off again?

Did someone inject me with sugar when I was sleeping - night after night - and the calories stuck to my body like glue?

Did my friend Marci who's jealous of me in some ways wish this on me and it came true?

Did my mother's worst fears come true - that I would be ugly and fat?

Did my husband make me like this so other men won't look at me?

Who is this greedy b_ _ _ _ I see before me whose reflection takes up the whole mirror?

Where are my beautiful blue eyes - when did they disappear into this pudgy face?

On what day did my size 6's become size 14's?

What kind of curse is this and who put it on me?

I don't know this woman in the mirror.

It's just not me.

It can't be.