Cost of Treating Obesity Soars

Yes it does.

Top snacks consumed by children under 6:

I thought this was an interesting list. My top snacks when I was 6? Probably ice cream followed by chocolate peanut clusters.

Top snacks consumed by children under 6:

	In 1987	In 2007
1.	Cookies	Fruit
2.	Fruit	Cookies
3.	Milk	Milk
4.	Juice	Crackers
5.	Candy	Juice
6.	Carbonated soft drinks	Popcorn
7.	Ice cream	Candy
8.	Crackers	Ice cream
9.	Cake	Chips
10.	Chips	Fruit rolls/bars/pieces

Change of taste

The five foods/beverages that have increased the most in the snack diet of young children today compared with young children 20 years ago:

1. Fruit rolls/bars/pieces
2. Yogurt
3. Crackers
4. Bars
5. Bottled water

The five foods/beverages that have decreased the most in the snack diet of young children today compared with young children 20 years ago:

1. Carbonated soft drinks
2. Ice cream
3. Candy
4. Cake
5. Fruit juice

Source: NPD Group

Mississippi Gains

I just read that Mississippi is at the top of the list of the most obese states in the U.S. at 32.5%. Eight of the 10 states with the highest rates of obesity are in the South.

I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure that one out. All of my ex-favorite foods are all southern dishes and they are all fattening: Chicken fried steak, Tex-Mex, hush puppies.

Now I'm getting hungry.

Staying Focused For The Long Haul

I thought this was a great blog post by a lady by the name of Lynn Haraldson-Bering. Here is an excerpt from an entry titled, "Staying focused for the long haul."

I had so many feelings floating around in my head when I weighed 300 pounds – inadequacy, anger, and overall helplessness. I vacillated for months between accepting my body as it was and choosing to lose weight. I journaled tough questions: How did I feel about my body. How much did I love myself? Was I worth changing for? It was difficult and often uncomfortable work, I won’t lie, but once I was honest with myself and became better acquainted with the emotions that bothered me most, I was ready to lose weight.

Read it here.

1 more pound

One more pound and I'll hit a total of 70lbs lost since January 21. That's quite a milestone for me. The ability to walk further and move around easier is really pretty noticeable to me. It gives me the motivation to keep going to reach my goal weight (which is a ways off yet).

I see overweight people on the street and in stores and I just want to grab them and tell them that there is a way to take it off. It's not easy but it can be done and that they will feel so much better physically and mentally. Literally a weight off their minds.

64

Weigh in this morning: 64lbs lost.

Obesity reaches down to youngest years

Nationwide, about 17 percent of U.S. children are overweight. American teens have higher rates of obesity than their peers in 14 other industrialized countries. The culprits are no surprise: fast food, snacks and sugary sodas. U.S. children also tend to lead sedentary lifestyles, spending hours in front of a TV or computer screen.

Good article here.

53 pounds and a new website

Weigh in this morning: 261 ....can you say, "whoopee!" ?!

My new website is up: www.weightoffmymind.org and here's my personal Take Shape For Life site: www.weightoffmymind.tsfl.com.

Onwards and downwards!

"Very obese fliers on United may have to buy 2nd seat"

That was one of today's headlines in USA Today.

I remember the feeling well, when a ticket taker at an airline counter told me that I may have to buy two seats. You don't know humiliation until something like that has happened to you.

In other news, I am down to 262 as of this morning. That totals 52 pounds since January 21.

www.weightoffmymind.tsfl.com

The great wait

I shuffled into the bathroom this morning for my morning weigh in and shower.

Does anyone else feel a twinge of fear when you step on the scale and wait for the answer to pop up?

Back before the digital era, you'd step on the scale and the little dial would almost immediately point to your weight. Now that it's all digital, I first have to tap the scale with my foot to zero it out and then step on it and then...wait.

It's just a few seconds, but they are incredibly long seconds before the amount you weigh flashes on the little screen.

My number this morning was 264 lbs. That 50lbs in 10 weeks. Congratulations to me.

I'm going down....

I love it when the scale greets me with a weightloss (who wouldn't!?).

This morning, weigh in was 271 lbs.

I will soon be in my 260's.

I keep waiting to wake up and find out that this was all some kind of wild dream.

Down three pounds in one week

Weighed in this morning...guess what? 274.2
That's a three pound loss since last Saturday morning.

So I'm back to where I was on Tuesday when I was celebrating, but it's a little bit lower.

I think I will increase my water intake and see if that makes any difference in the speed of the weight loss.

Going up

OK...what's this all about? Weigh in today: 279
My body must be changing around the rigging inside...you know, balancing the water and the other stuff and making sure I'm not starving to death.

I'm not starving to death! Get over it!

Now, on with the weightloss.

Just 3 more pounds.

I weighed in this morning: 293

Just three more pounds until I reach my 280's which I haven't seen in a month of Sundays.

I can do it!

Medifast To The Rescue

Well, here I am back at the starting line again.

A good friend of mine suggested I check out the Medifast Plan. I thought, "why not?" Then I started reading up on it on the internet. It was created by John Hopkins University. That was a big plus. The last thing I want to do is start on another trendy diet.

I've been on them all. Weight Watchers, Atkins (twice - back in the 70s and in the 90s)...the list could go on.

I've also seriously thought about getting a gastric bypass operation except that it is dangerous and the weight can jump back on you if you don't have your act together.

No, I'm going to go full guns (full gums?) into Medifast and watch what happens. No cheating. If all goes according to plan (theirs) the weight should start dropping off of me.

Yesterday I was supposed to get the Medifast box of joy but didn't receive it until the end of the day. I went on an improvised Medifast plan just because I didn't want to wait anymore. I weighed in at 314 lbs.

This morning I weighed in at 310. Not sure why there was such a drop, but oh well.
I've been on the Medifast plan all day today and so far, I've lived through it.

The food I tried was borderline nasty, but I ate it anyway, because this is going to work. It all tasted like hospital food. Maybe the next choices won't be as bad.