Confessions of a Peanut Butter Junkie

Greetings and saluations my friends! It is with great regret that I am forced to ban my good friend, Peanut Butter, from my household. I truly love him with all of my heart, and I know that in moderation he is high in protein, low in carbs, and contains 'good' fats. Sadly, my relationship with my Peanut Butter friend, and all of his cousins, the 'other' butters (i.e. Almond Butter, with whom my relationship was even more reckless) is one that I simply must give up. Goodbye my friend...I hope one day our relationship can be one that does not focus on obsession and gluttony.

On a serious note, I know there's a lot of us out there that simply crave certain foods, and time after time, we submit to our cravings too often. Such is the case with me and peanut, almond, and cashew butter. I simply love them. I love them so much that I can put it on celery, in protein shakes, on pretzels, or just eat it straight out of the jar with a spoon, fork, or even a serated knife. In moderation, the 'butters' are great snacks, but when you keep traipsing back into the kitchen for just 'one more spoonful,' something's got to give.

While allowing yourself an indulgence from time to time isn't a bad thing, daily indulgence can wreck your progress towards your goals. If you're like me, and you simply cannot walk past the peanut butter in the cupboard, you've got a choice to make: 1. Get some SERIOUS willpower, 2. Wreck your diet for the day, or 3. Get the food out of your house. I have zero willpower around peanut butter (none, zilch, nada, the big goose egg), I've added too many servings of PB into my diet on too many days, so it's just got to go. It is my goal that with more time, I'll get my Peanut Butter obsession in check. But until then, the temptation won't be there because I just refuse to ruin the hard work I've invested into myself.

Got questions or comments? Send me an e-mail.

The Numbers Game

Greetings and salutations my friends! I've gotten some recent e-mails and messages through Facebook about, you guessed it, that number on the scales: Why is it going up, why have I plateaued, why isn't it dropping as quickly as it should?. Let me tell you...I understand your pain, but we need to look at a few things here.

That number on the scale isn't the end all be all to weight loss. In fact, that number on the scale can oftentimes do more to hurt your efforts at weight loss than it can to help. Oh sure, when the numbers drop each week, we're elated and it helps boost our motivation. But what happens when it doesn't work that way? After a week of busting our butts, do we simply quit when we don't lose a number on the scale? I know of more than one person who simply gave up exercising and eating right after 2, 3, 4, 8 weeks because they didn't meet the 'magic number' that they had in their head. Come on now...you and I both know that there's more to being healthy than a scale, and is that scale SO powerful that it's going to allow you to quit and not meet your goals?

My advice is to ditch the scale. Put it in the linen closet, put it somewhere out of reach so you're not tempted to just take a peak. Instead, look at the other fantastic ways your body is showing you that you're making strides towards your goals. Do your clothes fit loser? Do you look more toned in the mirror? Have you lost the double chin? Do your biceps no longer wave in the breeze when your hands are in the air? How about that muffin top? Gone yet? Take pictures of yourself every 30 days and put them side by side. What changes do you see? If you've been taking your fitness and nutrition seriously, I know without a doubt that you will see progress.

When I first started my cycle of P90X in April, I was elated with the scale. I dropped about 10 pounds that first 30 days, but when I compared my day 1 to day 30 pictures, I wasn't as elated; I really didn't look that different. At day 60, I only lost another 4 pounds, and I'll be honest, got a little discouraged, but when I looked at my side by side pictures from day 30 to 60, the difference was HUGE! The layer of blubber from my middle was gone, the muffin top missing, and arms with definition. HUGE changes, not on the scale, but in inches and pant's sizes (even though I weigh more now than I did when I met my husband, I'm a full pant's size smaller!). Even yesterday, as I was walking the dogs and got caught in a rainstorm, I ran home 3/4 of a mile. Not ONCE did my shorts ride up my inner thighs! Now THAT is progress.

It's time to get to work...keep working hard at it, push the play button (on an exercise DVD, silly), go for a run, push the kids in the stroller, do something to get your body moving and your heartrate up. But do NOT get yourself stuck in the rut of staring at the scale. Need some help? Just join my fitness team here with a free account and I'll be more than happy to help you along the way. If you need me to come over and throw out your scale, I'll be more than happy to do that for you as well!