The Shoe Diet!
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| Tue, 04-17-2007 - 4:45pm |
Well if this doesn't beat all. I think I've found the answer to my prayers! A weight loss plan where you reward yourself with shoes! LOL At any rate, I've read the excerpt found here on iVillage, and it actually seems to make sense!
The Shoe Diet
The shoe-lovers weight-loss plan
by Isabelle R Shaw, PhD
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The Shoe Diet is based on the principle that any obstacle, such as losing weight, should be viewed as a challenge. Knowing that there will be a positive reward once a goal is accomplished will shape your happiness, health and well-being. One of the crucial points of the Shoe Diet is that you must allow yourself to enjoy a reward for hard work, and enjoy feeling good about yourself. The happiness that shoes produce will not only effectively reduce stress, but it will also help to promote a positive attitude and healthy decisions that will make you stronger throughout the weight loss process.
Let's face it, losing weight is not going to be easy, but it can be a very realistic ambition. And doesn't the idea of using shoes to motivate you even sound a little bit like fun? What on earth can be more motivating than an amazing pair of Giuseppe Zanotti ankle strap jewel encrusted heels?
The First Step
In order to reward yourself with your first pair of shoes, you must take the first step toward good behavior: Begin a food journal. This is simply a notebook where you write down everything that you ingest for the next two weeks. That's right: everything. Everything you eat, everything you drink, and everything you put on what you eat or drink. This includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, lattes, candy, smoothies-- everything. Just because you don't chew doesn't mean it doesn't count. Statistics show that you may be drinking 20 percent of your daily calorie intake. That's actually double what it should be. So write it all down.
That's how you start. Pretty easy, isn't it? Well, okay, there is a little more you need to do, but it's really not so bad. Here's a list of all you need to write down in your food journal:
1. The time
2. The type of food
3. The quantity and the calories
4. The location
5. Your mood
6. Was it worth it?
Most of these categories are self-explanatory, but you may be wondering about a few of them. First, let's talk about location. Remember when I was talking about how we're creatures of habit, and we do things throughout the day without even thinking about them? That's what I was doing, every time I went to the mall and had a smoothie without even thinking about it. More importantly, I didn't even question whether I was hungry or not! I just knew that I was at the mall, so it must be time for a smoothie. Writing down where you eat or drink will actually help you to realize that you may have developed some location-related habits that need to be broken.
The same idea applies to writing down your mood. Remember my bad hair day? When my first comforting thought was about food? A big bucket of fried chicken, no less. Pay attention to your mood and it will help you identify why you're eating or what mood triggers you to eat. I said it before, and I'll say it again--to know yourself is to be successful. So every time you eat or drink, write down whether you are happy, sad, stressed, tired, bored, anxious, or whatever. You may be shocked by how much your emotions can make you eat when you really don't need to.
Okay, now for the "Was it worth it?" question. It should be no surprise that sometimes you probably eat mindlessly, or eat when you're not every time I went to the mall and had a smoothie without even thinking about it. More importantly, I didn't even question whether I was hungry or not! I just knew that I was at the mall, so it must be time for a smoothie. Writing down where you eat or drink will actually help you to realize that you may have developed some location-related habits that need to be broken.
The same idea applies to writing down your mood. Remember my bad hair day? When my first comforting thought was about food? A big bucket of fried chicken, no less. Pay attention to your mood and it will help you identify why you're eating or what mood triggers you to eat. I said it before, and I'll say it again--to know yourself is to be successful. So every time you eat or drink, write down whether you are happy, sad, stressed, tired, bored, anxious, or whatever. You may be shocked by how much your emotions can make you eat when you really don't need to.
Okay, now for the "Was it worth it?" question. It should be no surprise that sometimes you probably eat mindlessly, or eat when you're not enjoying or even tasting anything anymore. Yet, you keep on eating. For example, you're in a great restaurant and you order an enormous piece of chocolate cake for dessert. It's absolutely delicious but after several good bites, you're full and don't really want anymore, but you eat it all anyways. Or again, it could be that the cake is quite horrible tasting, but again you eat it because after all, you are paying for it. Honestly, in hindsight, was it really worth it?
So here's what you do: Anything you eat, rate how gratifying it was on a scale of one to five, using a shoe rating system. Think of it just like a hotel star system, with one shoe corresponding to "not really worth it" and five shoes meaning "it was so worth it!" When you rate each item, keep in mind the number of calories it contained, and based on that, decide whether it was still worth it overall. Do you think you could be as satisfied with half?
Reality Bites
Throughout the next two weeks, as you fill in your food journal, you will start noticing certain patterns or unhealthy eating habits that you've developed over time. For example, you may realize that when you walk past the vending machine after work, you always buy a chocolate bar to eat in the car on the way home. Or, you may notice that when you go on a break with your colleagues, you always need a caramel latte. But these are eating patterns that can be modified -- knowing that you even have them is the first step to making that change.
Don't get discouraged if all this seems hard at first. It would be somewhat naive to think that you can improve your eating habits right away. You can't change overnight, and like I told you before, don't set yourself up for failure. Give yourself a chance by setting realistic goals, and rewarding yourself often.
Speaking of a realistic goal, how about starting like this? Once you identify those items with the one-shoe rating, begin cutting them out of your diet. This is a great way to start because chances are, these are items you eat just because they're there, and not because they're really "worth it." You will not miss them at all! For the following week, maybe try cutting back on those five-shoe items you love. Eat them less often or only eat half of what you're used to. Better yet, try to find a healthier version that you actually like. When you take pleasure in the healthy foods you eat, it's definitely a lot easier to make a change.
You need to remember that the idea is not to eliminate everything that you enjoy in your diet, but to make you realize what, when and why you are eating. The food journal will also help you learn about the foods you're eating and just how many calories you're consuming every day.
Of course, you want to be able to enjoy everything you eat, but you want to eat everything in moderation as well. For now, though, you should just concentrate on your current eating habits and focus on filling out your food journal. We'll talk about the concept of moderation in more detail in Chapter 5.
Each week, make a plan for yourself. Be inventive, but again, be realistic. And when you find yourself longing for a double portion of your five-shoe favorite, focus on the gorgeous heels you've had your eyes on. They will be yours at the end of the week.
Now you have a plan, so get going, be creative and be realistic. You are well on your way to a fabulous new pair of shoes.

