Friend of Julie: What's in Your Way?

Milk: is it the final frontier? Are you mindful of the amount of fats you take in a day? How often do you eat chicken wings, bacon, or cold cuts? Are you eating more cheese and yogurt than we're allowed? How much milk do you drink in a day? Seriously--stop and think about this--do you eat more fat than you should in a day or a week? How much is too much? You know how much is too much, but okay, let's go there...if Julie spent the entire day with you, would you change your food choices?

Up until recently, I drank 3 cups of coffee every morning, but in early March I increased my coffee consumption to 7-8 cups a day. Coffee wasn't my concern, because my mug is only half filled with coffee. My concern was the amount of hot foamy milk I added to each cup of coffee.

I put a half cup of milk in my frother and after it foams up I add it to my coffee. This equals 1½ cups of milk, which isn't a problem. That is unless I'm drinking 7-8 cups of coffee, which adds up to 3½-4 cups of milk per day. That's a whole lot of fat and that's a problem, especially considering I was also eating too much cheese and yogurt, and I wasn't exercising. Now we're talking about a big fat problem.

In addition to the amount of fat in milk–milk turns to sugar*, which is probably why I started drinking so much milk. I was using hot and foamy milk as a way to deal with stress. No amount of milk, cheese, or yogurt will resolve stress. I know this, but for nearly a month, I battled with myself and continued on with my milk, cheese, and yogurt party.

As my clothes began to feel tight I had an epiphany: Milk is the thing between me and my size 8's. I can't let a little thing like milk get in my way. It's all about the math:

No exercise + extra fat = no weight loss or weight gain.

Wait, wait, back up. Did I just say out loud that my clothes were feeling tight? Yes, I did. It was a frightful feeling that I walked around with for about a week. I freaked out. I pondered. I freaked out.

I didn't talk about it because I didn't dare. I've been doing this program for over four years and I have never had this happen: my clothes have always become loser–never tighter! I was following the program, so why were my clothes getting tighter? I had to work out the answer by myself, which is precisely what I did.

I realized I could no longer drink that much milk, and that I had to stop eating cheese and yogurt. I realized I had not been following the program.

On March 28^th I decided the party was over. The next morning I cut back to 5 cups of coffee a day and five days later I cut back to two cups a day. I also broke up with yogurt and cheese. I have Parmesan in the house for meatballs and meatloaf only. When I eat out I ask them to hold the cheese. If an item comes with cheese, I will eat it, but I don't ask for it.

I looked to see where else I was eating too much fat in my diet. I don't eat chicken wings often, perhaps once a month or less. If you're eating wings several times a week, you may want to reconsider, as there isn't much chicken on them and there's a whole lot of fat. I haven't bought bacon in a long time, but I decided to no longer order bacon on my burgers. I was eating a lot of fatty meats and mystery meats. I'm stepping away from the deli counter, as I was eating bologna and salami far too often. I'm also pulling back on deli coleslaw and focusing on green veggies. I sauté kale with onions and garlic a couple times a week. It's really yummy and my new favorite vegetable.

I made one more change: I started walking again. I joined a 7am Saturday morning walking group last Saturday. I walked by myself on Sunday and Monday. On Wednesday I discovered I had lost my FitBit and by Friday I realized I had also lost my motivation to walk. Yesterday morning when I joined my walking group, I used an iPhone app to track my distance. I used the app again later that morning when I walked another 45 minutes with my friend and her dog and again when I mall walked. By the end of the day I walked a total of 11,373 steps (4.90 miles).

I'm determined nothing is going to get in my way of reaching my goal size eight this year, so on my way home last night, I picked up a FitBit Charge. My FitBit keeps me motivated plus one of the features of the Charge is it cheers you when you reach your daily goal. Who doesn't love getting cheered? It vibrates, so nobody but you knows. LOL!

This morning I walked 12,900 steps (5.56 miles) as I talked with a friend who walked in Long Beach, CA. It feels great to be walking again. Size eight–here I come!

How about you? What's in your way that's keeping you from reaching your goal? If you've been stuck in the same size, it may be time to take stock of what you're eating and how much activity you're doing.

It's time to spring into action and remove any obstacles between you and your goal size.

*Confused about milking turning to sugar in our bodies? Here's a few articles that explain this:

• How Does the Body Metabolize Lactose?
• Lowfat Milk May Not Be As Healthy As We Thought, Says Harvard Expert