Cheese is a condiment and should be used only to compliment or enhance a dish.  Wikipedia defines a condiment as "an edible substance, such as sauce, added to food to impart a particular flavor, enhance its flavor, or in some cultures, to complement the dish." Repeat after me, Cheese is a condiment.
Think about other condiments you use, such as Ketchup. You have Ketchup with something - it is not the main course. You wouldn't eat an entire bottle of Ketchup and if you did then Ketchup is a trigger food for you, which means you should avoid Ketchup completely. Cheese is a condiment.

If you're eating cheese by itself, you're off program. If your cheese portion exceeds your meat portion, you're off program. Think about cheese like you would Ketchup or mustard - they enhance the dish. If cheese is a trigger food for you, you may want to avoid it entirely for a few months, longer if it keeps getting in your way.

Remember, cheese needs an army* to process through your body. Your body only has so many army men available to work off the cheese. When they run out, your body stores the cheese. When your body stores food, instead of processing it through, you don't lose weight.

I have to really get behind this reality myself: cheese is a condiment. I can either treat it as such, or hold onto my weight. If I can't treat it as a condiment, then I have to give it up until I can. It's like a parent punishing me to my room. Until I behave properly, no cheese for me.

When someone asks how much cheese can they have, the answer is a tiny bit; cheese is a condiment.

*Don't hold me to this (army), I can never remember if this analogy is the army or what military branch owns this task.
October 05, 2012
This comment was posted from Eva, on a an August. post Newcomer:

I finished my last group session with Julie about a month ago. During the course, and for the past month, it has been mind boggling....not even primarily because of the weight loss, which there has been (of course I don't know exactly how much), but mainly because for the first time since I was about 10 years old (52 years ago), the obsessing and painful struggling for so much of the day stopped.

The "rules" are so simple that there just isn't much room to obsess. A few days ago things became more difficult. I found myself eating a bit too much cheese (pretty much the only transgression during these months), and obsessing and craving a lot more again. When the cravings hit I eat protein, drink water, etc, but it makes me tense, and so I signed up for a refresher session at the end of the month.

Is this usual? To get hit with strong cravings? I have also thought that maybe the cravings mean that I am coming out of a plateau into a losing time, and this is simply my body freaking out and thinking it is starving and that maybe it is actually a good sign.

Anyway, I would welcome any words of wisdom and experience from others.

Thanks!
Eva
October 03, 2012
What's Your Story? What are you telling yourself that will have a positive impact on your future? Is your story taking where you want to go? Tell you story and tell it often, to help you remember where you're going and to embrace your truth.

Unlike other weight loss programs, key hypnosis has never felt like a roll of the dice, a spin of the wheel of fortune, or a crap shoot. I never find myself thinking I hope it works this time. Instead, I made intentional changes in my life to support my weight loss goals. The stories I tell myself along the way are an essential part of my journey. One story I focus on:
I am going to reach my goal size and maintain that for the rest of my life. 
That is my story and I'm sticking to it. No, really - I am going to reach my goal size and maintain that for the rest of my life. Yes, yes, I repeated myself - and that's my point! I repeat this story because in doing so it has become a part of my life plan.

In a recent blog post by Michael Hyatt, We Are What We Remember, Michael says this in a more poetic way:
We live up to the narratives we tell ourselves. We make decisions and act in certain ways because it fits into our story. If we change that story, we can change our lives.
There are times when I look back to review what worked and what didn't work. I cannot change my past, but I can learn from my past and make new choices today. Once in a while, I look for new ways to support my weight loss goals, try new recipes or new physical activities, or stop to look ahead to where I'm going and ask myself if there's anything I'm doing that doesn't support my goal that I need to stop doing and then figure out how to get out of my own way so I can reach my goal.

The latter usually has to do with realizing I'm beating up on myself in non-productive ways, such as feeling bad for not making a better choice or not losing more weight. The solution there is not to focus on that story, but to instead focus on the story that will take me where I want to go: I am going to reach my goal size and maintain that for the rest of my life.

No matter where I am in my journey, disappointed I'm at a plateau or happy I've dropped another size, I have never lost the optimism I embraced at my first session with Julie: I am going to reach my goal size and maintain that for the rest of my life.

What's your story? Will it take you where you want to go? Please tell!
October 02, 2012
As many of you know from the FaceBook page, I "ran" the Warrier Dash yesterday. 45 years old, never ran "anything" in my life, and I choose this to be my first one? What, am I crazy? You bet. For sure. BUT GUESS WHAT? I did it!

Saturday morning, my alarm goes off, and I get up. Kind of putter around the house. What does one wear to the Warrier Dash? What's it like outside? Cool? Warm? Seems a little warm, so, I choose shorts and the neon green shirt that my office chose to wear (so we could keep an eye on each other. We were all Warrier Dash "virgins" and knew to keep close as best as we could. There were HUNDREDS of people there!) Off I go with hubby to meet up with the others, and 1 1/2 hours later, we are in Thompson, CT at the Thompson Motor Speedway, numbers attached, port-a-potty's used, and a little stretching completed.
Me (Jennifer) on the far right with my dental office co-workers and some family members, before the dash.
Next thing we know, BOOM goes the signal for us to start running. 3.2 miles, with 13 obstacles to contend with. Now, I have never run outside, nor have I done rope walls, run in mud, or jumped over fire. One minute into this, I think, what the hell have I done? But, everyone else was running, I guess I might as well keep on going.......

Most of the course is out of view of spectators, so, you will have to use your imagination when I tell you that I ran on the Speedway, up and down a couple of hills, then through tires, over cars, through tires swinging, crawled under barbed wire (yes, it was REAL barbed wire) and rolled under mesh through hay, and then up and over a rope wall. No problem! Easy! OH NO---What is that ahead?!?! A 15 foot (maybe 12) vertical wall with rope to climb up, and slats to climb down. I am DEATHLY afraid of heights. Can't even cross a train tressle over a street if I can see the ground below me. DO I? DON'T I? Hell, I told myself I would TRY every obstacle. I see people fail, succeed, then it's my turn. Do I have the upper body strength? Can I climb up this? Someone I know is at the top of the wall-His name is John-And he is telling me to do it, he will help me. Hand over hand I keep climbing up the wall. By the top of the wall, I am having a good ol fashioned panic attack. DONT LOOK DOWN! John, my guardian angel, is telling me to calm down, take a deep breath, all I have to do is slowly make my way over and then down the back of the wall. Which I do, shaking like a leaf the whole danged way. I DID IT!

I would have stopped then and there, called it a day, but the 3 other ladies I ended up running with (only one of them went up the wall too, I might add!) kept plodding on, so, on I went too. Up a steep hill, over a water obstacle, another vertical rope wall (my angel was waiting there for me-What a gentleman to wait for me!), then mud. Mud, mud mud. Waist deep muddy water. A rope bridge to cross. Is that the finish line? NOT QUITE~~~~
Me coming out of the woods and the mud, mud, mud.
Up and over 3 more walls, each getting progressively higher, then, more barbed wire! This time with 200 feet of mucky muddy water to crawl through, then the fire, then the finish line!!!!!
Me and my office manager emerging from the mud/barbed wire obstacle
1 hour and 22 minutes later, the four of us crossed the finish line, gathered our medals, got some water, sort of rinsed off, and, it was over!!!! I did it! We did it! Out of the 13 obstacles, I did 11. And I survived!!!!!!!!! Battered and bruised, exhausted, adrenaline pumped...And how hilarious to see what they offered to us "Warriers" at the end-A beer and a turkey leg!!!!! (I didn't get either, but the turkey legs did look good-I just wasn't hungry, so, I knew not to get one!)
Warriers after the Dash!!!
The pile of muddy shoes that we donated at the end of the race.
Was I one of the last ones in the heat to cross the finish line? You bet. Did I learn anything new about myself? You bet. Was it a team building experience? You bet. Would I do it again? You bet. Am I hurting today? You bet. Do I have Julie to thank for this? You bet.

Anyone else wanna join me next year? __________ (You fill in the blank)
September 23, 2012
My journey on this program has been full of poetry and prose. It's a beautiful thing. Poetry and prose take time to develop, as does this journey, and along the way unexpected twists and turns may happen. The writing process often turns out different from the first thoughts one had at the start, metaphors and ah ha moments are all part of the process. The same is true for this weight loss journey.
Photo source: English Club.
There are parts of this journey that I didn't plan; that occurred unexpectedly. I hoped sugar cravings would no longer be a part of my daily life, but I could not have known how powerful it would be to not crave sweets; I could not have known how much energy I would have once I was free from sugar (and carbs).

I've written about other things that have happened along the way, things I hadn't given much thought to or that I spent a lot of time focusing on, such as fitting into seats at the movie theater, no longer needing a seat belt extension on the airplane. You've shared some of these experiences (and more) on this blog and the Facebook support group.

Many of these things are no longer an issue; changes have occurred where I no longer even think about things that used to consume me, and tire me without my being aware how much energy such thoughts drained from me. Last week I had an awareness of something I no longer give my energy that is very private, but I know I'm not the only one who spent energy this way. What I didn't know, is that without an conscious awareness I moved beyond the issue. Here's my story...

My nurse practitioner, has been asking me for the past few years to get an updated mammogram and to see an Ob/Gyn and I finally went last month. All is well, as I expected, but it wasn't until I left my dermatologist's office that I had an ah ha moment about all this. 

I've been seeing my dermatologist for over 15 years and I've done some fancy foot work to come up with excuses to get out of a full exam. It's the whole get naked thing that had me doing everything I could to avoid these kinds of exams. 

Sitting in my car outside the doctors office, I realized a major transformation has transpired. I always found excuses to avoid a full body exam, any excuse I could think of to avoid exposing my obese body.  I didn't do that this time. This time, I suited up in the hospital robe as instructed, had the full-body exam, and then proceeded to get on with the rest of my day. Sitting in that parking lot, I realized it was the same at my mammogram and Ob/Gyn appointment. This is a real change! This is liberating!

What about the rest of you? Care to share any naked truths? What kind of changes have you discovered along your weight loss journey that you weren't expecting or hadn't given much thought to until you realized the change?
September 23, 2012
Anonymous posted this on the FAQ page: 
I am almost one week into this journey. I am amazed at how I can walk into Costco and could care LESS what samples are being offered. I walk down near the bakery section of the grocery and I am NOT enticed by the aromas. I feel good!
September 23, 2012
I'm seeing another change in my size this week! Megan gave me some jeans a few months ago and I couldn't zip them up. I remember how bummed out I was that they were so tight. I thought I was a size 18, but not according to those jeans. Now, not only can I zip them up, but they are roomy.
I've been getting compliments all week on my new wardrobe (thank you Megan and Amie). A few people said they noticed another drop in my weight, which is always nice to hear. Yesterday someone complimented me on how professional I looked in my beige outfit on Monday and that I should wear that outfit more often. I have no idea what I wore on Monday!

Every morning this week I opened my "smaller" size closet doors, reached in to see what to wear, and tossed more items into the "too big" closet.  Somehow I managed to find a new outfit to wear every day this week.

I read a question from the Facebook support group a few days ago about whether to keep clothes that are too big or to keep them. Based on previous experiences, she was hesitant to get rid of them, in case she gains the weight back. I have a closet that I've spent the past year filling with clothes as they get too big for me. I'm confident, in a way I never have been before, that I'm never going to need those clothes again. This year they will either get sold on eBay or I'll donate them.

There is no looking back, only forward, and I'm excited to see what's ahead.
September 21, 2012
I said I was going to step up my exercise schedule and the next thing I knew, I was in a kickboxing class.
I wish I looked this good kickboxing.
There are now classes that I can take at the gym during my lunch hour at work and kickboxing came up first so I went. What a blast. It wasn't pretty, but I enjoyed it. I won't be able to go every week, but I'm going to do this every chance I get. We didn't use equipment like you see in the photo above, no head gear, nothing to kick, and we don't fight others. It's definitely a workout and I adjusted parts that I couldn't do.

I also started running again and this feels great. I'm still having stiffness in my ankles and working on stretching more. I do two stretches, every morning and will add one more tomorrow. So far I haven't had any improvement, but I'm hopeful the new addition in the morning will help work out the pain. It doesn't hurt when I'm running or on the elliptical.

I'm loving that Big Y now carrier Siggis yogurt. I even found coconut flavored; yummy. For those of you not fond of the yogurt, it may be something you like after the sugar is completely out of your system. I didn't have yogurt for a long time, so I suspect that's why I like it so much now. I know I wouldn't have liked it before, but I love it now. In fact, I have to be careful I don't eat more than the twice a week quota. Now that I can get it so close to home, I can buy two containers and I'll be good for the week.

You may have noticed, I rolled back the web design. There were a lot of technical issues with the new design. I still want to freshen up the look, but it will be a while. Meanwhile, I'm sorry that it was so difficult to navigate the site.


September 19, 2012