A Reasonable Portion Control Test?

Palm of the hand test helps control weight -- this article is for kids, but I like the idea - Adults could use this or some variation of this for easy portion-control testing too. Obviously it wouldn't always work, for example, a salad that would only fit in your hand would not be very filling at all. But, for full-calorie dishes it makes sense to have some sort of a constant, always-with-you measurement.

comments post for busymeals.com

Kitchen supplies, cooking, dieting, home organizing, or basically anything - leave me a comment, post a review, share a tip, or ask a question. -- Lisa

Why your weight lifting may not be working

This Weight-Loss and Weight Lifting - New York Times article may not be accessible unless you register, so I'll paraphrase as much as possible. It's a little disheartening, but not as much as I originally thought.

The article says that almost every weight loss book available says something about lifting weights/strength training as a way to lose weight easier and faster because lifting weights build muscle, and muscle burns more calories than fat. Ok, yes, we have all heard that one.

The article then goes on to say that this actually doesn't work for most women for two big reasons:

1. Because women who lift weights for weght loss also cut calories, and it's very hard to increase muscle while dieting.
2. Women who lift weights fail to use heavy enough weights or progress to heavier weights. This makes perfect sense. If you aren't lifting a heavy enough weight to challenge your muscle, all you are really doing is really, really light cardio. About the only advantage of ultra-light cardio is that you aren't on the couch with a bag of potato chips!! The article actually shows a picture of a woman's had with a weight in it that an infant could lift - yeah, no wonder that's not doing her any good.

Ok, these make perfect sense, so if we are progressively lifting heavier weights and lifting enough to make us sweat and breathe hard is that going to help? Well, here's the disheartening part.

The article says that "studies show that even women who do what it takes to get stronger develop only two to four pounds of muscle after six months of progressive lifting. Given that one pound of muscle burns between 7 to 13 calories a day .. snip explanation .. that means the average boost in metabolism is only 14 to 52 calories a day."

Well, that sucks. And it gets worse ... they also did a study of 59 women with all woman walking 5 days a week and only eating 1200 to 1500 calories a day (egad, can you really live on that?!?) and some also did strength training and some also did yoga. The ones who did the strengh training and the yoga lost no more than the other ones.

Well, I say that how do we know these women were really working the weights? How do we know they weren't doing the 1/2 pound dumbells only? Plus, how do we know they weren't slimmer, even if they didn't lose the weight?

EFT for Weight Loss

I first learned about EFT from mercola.com. I think Dr. Mercola is way too extreme when it comes to most things, but I read his newsletter to keep up-to-date on organic and natural health ways and methods. I came across the manual, downloaded and read it, and hence, know how to do EFT.

I used it with incredible success to conquer nervousness before teaching a class (something I don't normally do) and again to conquer fear and nervousness before testifying in a jury trial against a former employer. Both times, I tapped (EFT is basically tapping on certain trigger points on your body while saying a statement to yourself about the issue you are dealing with) a few times a day during the days before and then tapped continuously during the car ride over. Both times I surprised myself at how cool and collected I was. I was able to maintain a calm facade and even a calm interior. My heart didn't pound, I could think clearly - it was amazing. During the questioning at the trial, the lawyer tried to make me out to be a liar, and I didn't even get mad (something I ordinarily would have done). I stayed cool and just repeated my side, and the newpaper story the next day made it clear that I was extremely believable and the lawyer was the one who looked like a liar. Those two incidents have made me a great believer in EFT.

However, when it comes to weight loss, I have had less success, because I don't tap consistently. I am very busy, and I just forget. I have other priorities that take hold of my daily actions, and it just doesn't get done. I believe it would work if I could stick with it. I know, excuses - excuses. That's something I will work on. A fantastic resource for getting started with EFT for weight loss is One More Bite - weight loss. I have found the email newsletter to be especially inspiring.

Xenadrine works worse than a placebo?!

The last line in this story about Xenadrine EFX (you know, the weight loss pill that you see commercials for during Judge Judy and Friends reruns .. well, one of them anyway, plus everyone including the stars seems to be popping it) says that people taking a placebo drug (probably just a sugar pill) lost 1 pound more than the people taking Xenadrine. Well Xenadrine? What do you have to say for yourself?

if you are sick of apples ...

Try some strawberries ... of course I always thought it was blueberries that were supposed to be exceptionally good for you. I put ground-up, frozen blueberries in most of our ground beef meals, but maybe I'll start using that berry medley that includes strawberries and a few other berries.