I started this blog on Sept. 25, 2011 and, like the rest of my life, the time has come to change things up a bit. I'm going to change the page layout/design, but before I do, I want to ask all of you a few questions about the direction you'd like to see this blog go in the year ahead. I'm also share a few blog statistics. Meanwhile, I'm working on a piece that I've been chewing on all week and hope to post tonight.

09/18/12 Friends of the Key Hypnosis Blog Pageviews (hits)

Questions for You
I would love your comments on these questions or additional feedback that will help make this blog work for everyone.

1. How often do you want to see new posts?
2. What topics do you want to hear more about?
3. What would motivate you to post more comments to this blog?
4. Would you become a blog contributor, which allows you to create posts (all other members may only comment on posts)?

 Statistics

• Members: 58  
• First Blog entry: 09/25/11 What's this Blog All About?
• Pageviews today (09/18/12): 165
• Pageviews yesterday: 349
• Pageviews last month: 7,587
• Pageviews all time history: 57,167

Most Popular Posts

1. FAQ
2. Meat Crust Pizza
3. Cauliflower Pizza
4. Health question
5. Maintenance
6. Before Your First Session
7. Down Another Size
8. Newcomer

September 18, 2012

Anonymous asked: 

What about shirataki noodles? Can we have those? They are made from the konjac root.....

September 15, 2012

I found this video online today. It claims to be Julie Anne Kibe, but I can't confirm that is the Julie we see. Do any of you know? Perhaps someone at the office can tell us.



This video is definitely Julie (Dec. 2011)

September 12, 2012

Here is another laugh at me if you want to post, but I bet this has happened to some of you.

I am LOVING going to bed at night! Oh yes, I so look forward to it! Want to know why?!!! (hey, get your minds out of the gutter!!! LOL)

I'll tell you why: because I dream about food.

Ok, Ok, here is the scoop:

I have been having some VERY vivid realistic dreams where I am eating something totally forbidden. I can actually taste it and feel the high I used to get from it when I used to eat it. This is fun!

Then the BEST part: When I wake up, it takes me a few minutes to become oriented and gather my thoughts, I get that first panic that OH NO!! I cheated!! Then comes the most wonderful HIGH when I realize I DIDN'T CHEAT!! I AM STILL ON PROGRAM!!! Oh wow does that ever feel good!!!

Right now I am having the best of both worlds and totally enjoying my 'cheating dreams'!!!!!!!!

September 11, 2012

In regards to my plateau, it's time for me to mend some fences and dig up some truths. I've been asking myself a lot of questions. Am I doing something wrong? Are their foods I'm eating that are not on program or out of proportion? Do I need to kick up the exercise some more?

Sand Hill Cove, RI. Photo by Theresa.

As I think about all of these questions, I've been relating to what Linda talks about: why does it feel like nothing seems to be happening (plateau). I don't obsess on the answer to these question, but I must consider them from time to time and when I dig deep enough, I usually find the answer is yes.

For starters, I'm eating too much cheese. This is a show stopper. Julie gets pretty graphic about how cheese gets stored in our bodies. I've been in denial, as cheese has been an issue for some time now and I need to face it head on. How? I'm not going to buy cheese for the rest of this month. Last night, I started saying "I want to not want cheese".

I've been going to the gym only once or twice a week, I used to go 4-5 days. I've had pain in my ankles and it was a valid excuse for a while, but I have left it untreated far too long. I'm giving myself a month to be on board with stretching exercises to resolve it, or I go back to the doctor for more help. I remember Julie telling a woman if she doesn't exercise, it will take a really long time to lose weight. Hmmm....

On the flip side, Friday night I had a really big dinner, lots of protein with veggies and then Saturday I wasn't hungry all day. This kind of behavior usually signals a weight loss is on the horizon, as does my frustration point ("I'm at a plateau" boo hoo....). Another sign is how much I wanted to get on the scale last weekend at my brother's house. It's one of those full size scales like doctors used to have; all alone in the bathroom and no one else would know. I pushed the thought away and did not step on the scale.

Julie tells us to push away thoughts when we crave sugar or have urges to get on the scale, because when we have these cravings, we're on the cusp of another weight loss. My appetite has been big for the past few days. When I'm hungry like, this I like to have lots of protein in the house. I went to Trader Joe's this weekend and bought organic beef and chicken, and a couple freezer meats (Korean ribs, shrimp stir-fry), so I'm ready. Bring it on.

Some of you have written about your frustration with plateaus. How do you deal with your plateaus?

Thanks Jennifer and Mellisa for your words of support from my recent post The Truth About Sizes. Yes, I have come a long way. This been a long journey (19 months) and sometimes it feels like it's all happening in slow motion for me.

September 10, 2012

This week I've been looking back at my past and thinking about the changes in my life since I started this program. My biggest change: I don't obsess about food. What I ate in the past left me hungry for more because my choices lacked the nutrition my body needed.

Present: I choose to eat in a way that is sustainable for the rest of my life.
Past: I ate for the moment and was in denial of the future consequences.

It's a great relief for me that I no longer spend energy obsessing with food. I want to remember how different my life is now that the food obsession is at bay, so I made a list of my present attitude about food compared to my past:  

Present: The way I eat is my way of life.  

Past: I was either on a diet or off; way, way, way off. 
  
Present: I don't obsess about food.  
Past: I obsessed about food. 

Present: Food no longer knows my name.  
Past: It called out to me. It even knew my middle name.

Present: I appreciate the beauty of a beautifully made dessert without it haunting me for hours or days.  
Past: It haunted me for hours or days because I was either too full, sick to the stomach, or I fell asleep on the couch from so much sugar. 

Present: I feel good after I eat.
Before: I had indigestion on a regular basis. Need a Tums? I always had one. 

Present: I can go to a conference and eat healthy choices when I'm hungry. 
Past: I ate at least one of everything served, especially the snacks. Afternoons were difficult because I would be so sugared out I had a hard time staying awake.

Present: At restaurants I ask for what I want. Yes, I know it's the same price without bread or home fries. Yes, I know extra meat costs more.
Past: I didn't care if it was a "healthy" choice or I felt deprived because there were so many things I wanted to eat but were not on my "diet". I ate those foods all my life and look where that got me.

Present: I blog about my weight loss journey in an open platform that the whole wide world can see and include before and after photos and before and after lists of food habits.
Past: I would never.

What about you? What changes do you see in the way you see food today from how it used to be for you?

September 09, 2012

This recipe comes from Chris, who posted it on the facebook Key Hypnosis Support Group, in response to a question about what to eat when you're sick.

bone broth (photo credit: It's All About the Broth!)

Bone Broth

• Put some bones in a crock pot and fill to within an inch or so of the top. 
• Add 1-2 tbsp raw vinegar (to draw out the minerals) and simmer on low for 24-48 hrs.
• Any sort of bones will do: beef shank (marrow) bones, chicken, fish, or anything else.
• You don't have to thaw them if they're frozen. 
• You can add in an onion, a carrot and three stalks of celery, maybe a bay leaf, or whatever you like. 
• When the broth is done, remove the big solids with a slotted spoon (use a chopstick to push any marrow still in its bone back into the broth). 
•  Use any sort of colander or stainless steel strainer to strain the broth into a large mixing bowl, from which you can then ladle it into wide-mouth quart-size glass canning jars (get the ones without toxins in their lids). 
• Let the broth cool to room temperature before refrigerating or freezing. 
• If you've used beef bones, the beef fat, or tallow, will rise to the top and form a neat disc that you can scoop out almost intact. 
• Save this valuable tallow in a glass jar or bowl and use it for cooking; as a traditional cooking fat, it can stand high heat (unlike the more vulnerable vegetable oils) and lends a lovely mild beef flavor to whatever you're making. 
• As for your broth, you can drink it straight up or use it as a basis for a good, tasty, nutrient-dense soup.

Good to sip on those hungry days also!
  
Comment from Theresa about this recipe:
One of my friends, who has maintained her weight her whole life, has bone broth on a regular basis. After she cooks a chicken, she takes all the meat off and follows the above recipe and uses the chicken carcass.

Additional benefits of this broth: (source: It's All About the Broth!)

• Enhanced sleep
• Reduced injury pain
• Stronger teeth and bones
• Reduced food cravings
• Greatly reduced “shakes” that are attributed to hypoglycemia
• Improved hair, nails and skin

Comment from Jennifer:

When you are sick, you do what you do for when you are sick!!!! When I was in Las Vegas, I got sick (tummy sick, if you know what I mean) and had saltines and Pepsi that night, and toast the next morning. That is what I needed to calm my stomach; there was NO way I could put any meat in my belly!!!!!!!. I didn't do it for anything other than to make myself feel better-I did not eat them because of the taste or "wanting them". She said I did the right thing :-)

September 09, 2012

I've been quiet on the blog because I'm feeling at a loss of words to describe what's going on for me. I'm in another plateau. My last drop in size was late June. I don't track my weight loss or my plateaus, but I recently became aware of a pattern in my thinking after my last plateau: I quickly forget I dropped an entire size.

Following my friend Aime's advice, I read the blog from the first entry backwards, to remember my weight loss journey and where I've been. I was looking for inspiration to shake me out of my "boo hoo I am at a plateau again" mood.

I only read the first and second entry before I realized focusing on size can be just as frustrating as focusing on the scale. Neither is an accurate measure of weight loss. Scales can vary, depending on whose scale you're on, and sizes are all over the place, depending on the brand.

In my 9/25/11 entry, I wrote:

• When I started this journey, I wore size 30/32 tops and pants and I couldn't fit into anything in the women's section of JC Penney or Macy's. 
• Last weekend I bought a Macy's 1X blouse and it fits perfect. 
• Yesterday I wore a size 20W front-zip pants (hand-me-downs)

Those statements were all true, but here's the truth about my size clothes today:

• In June I bought my first dress and it was a size 20.
• In August I bought two dresses at Lane Bryant (yes, I said I would never go back, but if the shoe fits....). One dress was a size 14/16 and the other was a size 22/24. Both fit beautifully.
• The clothing in the women's department in Macy's are mostly too big (yes, I went back there too), but there are a few items that fit.

The moral of my story, and my lesson learned: not all sizes are created equal. This is not like any other diet, including how the weight comes off. This journey has been steady: Drop weight. Hold. Appetite increases. Weight drops. Hold. Repeat. Sometimes I forget that this is the process, that my body is healing when I am a plateau, and that if I just keep doing what I'm doing, I will get to my ideal size. It is working. I sometimes get impatient.

When I look at the photos of me below side by side and a year apart, I have definitely lost a ton of weight. I know this, but in the day to day of things of life, it's easy for me to forget where I was, even just a few weeks ago when I was one size larger.

Sept. 2012 (14/16)

Sept. 2011 (4X)

What about you? Can you relate to any of this?

September 07, 2012