10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman’s Diet

UhOh! I think I identify with way too many of those items. Might need to pick up this book and see what I can do to get myself off the 'excuse train' and back on the right track.

Thanks for sharing this!
~Pam

Taste-testing - that's me!! The chef has to taste for seasoning, you know!

I know I'm #s 3 and 9 .... not too honest with myself about food choices and I am an emotional eater

I see some similarity here to my philosophy and my blog. You know you have to use whatever means works for you. I think I have the jest of the book. Just what I need is another way to fail at trying to lose weight. I only use most of my diet books for references. I try to change off every now and then with different programs to fool my body and not get bored or feel too limited. I don't deal well with having too many restraints. One of my many personal games is to tally count every good action I do towards a healthier life style. It becomes like a notch in my belt and I feel powerful and want to try to surge on to raising the level of count. We all have some kind of bad habit, so trade up a bad one and replace it with a good one. I become aware of myself more and more each time I make a list of what I want to change, how I plan to do it, and what are the benefits if I do? I know no one will heed what I suggest until they see the results on me. But I have a hard time relating to a thin former fat person. I feel some respond in an intolerant manner and are a little judgemental. How quickly they forget how hard is was with constant ups and downs along the diet road. Oops, I got off track, sorry!

I'm not a big drinker, so the Happy Hour thing doesn't affect me as much as it could. Too many women get the frou-frou drinks like margaritas, pina coladas, mai-tais, etc. Those drinks do have lots of calories. I usually stick to a light beer or diet soda mixed with vodka or rum. I'm going to have to disagree with the statement that diet sodas can pack on the pounds at happy hour though. A diet soda is a much better bet than a 700 calorie jumbo margarita.

Most of these apply to men too.

http://www.antiagingatlanta.com

Actually, food combining and low-carb (together) work absolutely fabulously for long-term weight loss. I know because I personally used it to lose weight. Not only that, but food combining actually stops digestion problems, and low carb eating is healthy (if not done to the extreme- 80 or so carbs a day is fine) and gives LOTS of natural energy. Once your body gets used to not eating refined sugar and processed food, it adjusts quite well and cravings really do go away.

I don't like how she lumped in thyroid problems with making excuses. It is a real condition and until you have it under control, there is nothing you can do that is gonna make you lose weight.

Also, diet sodas will give you as many calories as a cheeseburger? Aren't diet sodas like 5 calories each tops? You'd have to drink gallons to get to a cheeseburger.

I have this book and it is one of the best "how to" weight loss books EVER.......I have had them all believe me.....Lots of help on what, when, and how to eat too...

I don't see what this book tells us that we didn't already know....

Yep, much of what the author is saying is common sense.

I agree YD and tulip. It sounds like all this info could be on a little article on Self magazine - is it really enough to write a book?

Actually I DO have thyroid disease and its horrible to try to lose weight. Not only can I not lose, I have gained 60 lbs since being put on the meds. I was tiny when I developed the disease. I have tried many diets and none seem to help. Her comment is typical of how the majority of people, even doctors, view the disease- "Just another excuse that I'm not buying".

sassy dont give up i was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid in 1994 i knew i had a problem just not what i had put on 5 1/2 stone in 6 months i went from 8 stone 2lbs to 13 stone 9lbs i now weight 15stone ,i take 200 microgrames of thyrozine and have told myself for years i cant help my weight its because im ill , but this year im changing all that ,for the first time in 12 years im in control ive started taking hoodia an appertite supressant something ive never done before , and ive put myself on a diet ive lost 6 1/2lbs since the 2nd of jan and im feeling possitive im not saying its easy , my endocryologist told me its very hard to lose weight with an under active thyroid , but not impossibe . i know that its much harder for us to lose weight with our problem but the problem will just get worse and belive me it does as i know going from a size 10 to a size 16 english sizes over a period of 6 months and then because i made excuses for my weight i am now a size 20 very unfit and worried for my health ,i keep telling my self i can do it i will do it .

sassy, I gained 110lb with thyroid disease, and lost them. Had another crisis and gained 30lb in 2 months, with no change in eating habits. Lost 20lb, still considering whether I want to lose the last 10lb or live with them.

Anyway, what was key for me was getting all my hormones in the optimum zone before even trying to diet. When I gained the 30lb eating the same food I was eating before, the hormones were messed up - that goes to show that when they are bad, there is no amount of dieting that will do anything. It was crazy, I'd be wearing these pants in the evening and leave them on a chair to wear them again the next morning - and they wouldn't fit anymore!

Make sure to find a doctor that tests T4 and T3, total and free, and not just the TSH. TSH proves nothing. Some people can get their levels to optimum just taking thyroxine (Synthroid), but some will need T3 or natural thyroid replacement. I was on the synthetic combo until my crisis and did well, but then it stopped working for me and I had to go on the natural (Armour) to feel good again. Never mind the 30lb, I'd go to my kitchen to get a glass of water and stand there trying to remember where I kept the cups. I had no memory and my whole body ached.

Anyway, if you want a good source of information, go to http://thyroid.about.com And don't let any doctor convince you that it is in your head, or that you are making excuses. If you are so perfect, they should be able to prove it to you by ordering a complete blood panel at least.

I wouldn't buy the book, but then again, I am not spending any more money on diet books. I can read articles in magazines or find information off the internet. I don't think there are any "secrets" for long-term weight loss. I get bored really quickly, so the best approach for me is a "common sense", nutrient-rich diet. I'll vary the specific weight loss approaches I take in my meal planning when I get bored (from mostly vegan/high fruits and veggies, to south beach, mainly- i like to stick with "natural" foods). I get excited about mixing things up. I think the point this book is making is to reverse bad habits and to learn to pinpoint your specific weight-loss blockers. I have heard many women talk about their epiphanies in reading such books- once you have realized what is causing your problems, it's not so easy to overlook!

My mum sums this up quite nicely and it's happened to me too. Cut out the 'man size' portions. It's amazing that, when living with a bloke, your potions can gradually become equal to his. He stays the same weight whereas you've gained some! Also, I've found that since I've stopped following my husband's appetite, I've shed weight. We used to try to eat most of our evening meals together but his shifts led to crazy evening meal times. Almost 9pm! This was maddening for me because depending on what lunch break I was on at work, I sometimes had lunch at 11.30 am! Of course, by 4.30 pm, I had a massive drop in my blood sugar and I was HUNGRY. So, I did something stupid. I headed for the chocolate biscuits. I really should have eated a meal but I was trying to eat with my husband. Never again. I told him we're eating separately if we have to and I have far fewer chocolate biscuits and fewer pounds to show for it!

Another clueless book about thyroid issues ... I dare the author to come on over to www.stopthethyroidmadness.com and present to the group that “just following a healthy diet and exercise will enable thyroid suffers to loose weight”. Then sit back and watch the barrage of posts to the contrary. Hashimotos disease is complex and there are few simple answers to hypothyroidism. Those suffering from the disease have seen weight gains as much as 7 pounds in a day without a shift in diet. I could go on, but until we face the fact that weight is a hormone issue, as well as cellular from DNA, people with weight issues will fight without a permanent solution, thus blaming themselves, and books like this don’t help.

I don't think the author is claiming that thyroid disease doesn't exist, it's just that there are a LOT of women out there who think they have a "thyroid problem" when in fact their levels of thyroid hormones are completely normal. It becomes an easy scapegoat and excuse as to why you are overweight. Probably more than half the women out there who claim to have thyroid disorders would probably get checked out as normal by their doctors if they really did go to get the blood work done.

What ? How does diet soda make you gain weight ?! On the diet soda I drink its zero calories !

I can answer that question about diet soda. Now, it's only theorized that diet sodas can make a person gain weight, so don't fret! But this is the information that attempts to support that theory.

Often times, a person will substitute a diet drink for a sugary alternative, but then eat or drink something else with the mindset of: "Oh, it's okay if i eat this, i had a diet soda with lunch," or similar cases like that when the diet soda indirectly causes weight gain or poor food choices because it serves as a replacement for something else.

Now scientifically, it is being argued that the sugar substitute found in a diet soda creates a reaction in the body that stimulates hunger since we "trick" our bodies into thinking it is getting sugar calories through an artificially sweetened drink when we actually are getting zero. This alleged hunger which can be stimulated as a result of drinking a diet soda can thus lead to more eating.

So I personally do not support the theory that diet drinks cause weight gain because on their own, they do not. I drink a diet something almost every day because it is more fun than drinking water, and I always choose a low or no-calorie beverage as an alternative for something sugary, not as an excuse to eat something sugary later as studies have shown some people to do. I hope that helps!

Spectra, but it took me 5 years with serious thyroid symptoms (no weight gain yet, that happened 5 years later) where my "thyroid levels were normal" - or rather, the level of the one hormone they do test, TSH, was normal-ish. Normal enough for doctors to call it normal, since "normal" at that time was up 5.5, although healthy people's levels are usually around 1.2. Even when I was in myxedema, which is one stage before *coma*, my TSH was still 5.62, so close enough to "normal". Of course, at that time, I had the other hormones (T3 and T4) tested, and they were so low they were pretty much traces already, values like 0.00035, instead of normal values, but as 99% of doctors will tell you, that is impossible, since TSH is the only valuable measure of thyroid disease, and if it is normal, everything else is normal. So yes, I believe TSH for half the people who think they have thyroid disease may be normal - but TSH is a crappy test for starters. The values can change by as much as 3 points depending on the time of the day you take the test - and for something where the normal value is now 1.0 to 3.3, a shift in 3 whole points means the world! So what a wonderful test, that will give me a result of 1 at 6 am, then 2 at 11 am, and then maybe 4 at 4 pm. So reliable! Not to mention that once people start taking thyroid hormones, to get T3 and T4 to normal values, TSH often has to be suppressed, not present at all, and doctors like to adjust thyroid dosages based on TSH. So they give you a tiny bit of hormone which only makes the functioning parts of your thyroid shut down, thinking "great, now I don't have to work hard anymore", only to bring your TSH to around 5 (most of them don't even know the new value is 3.3), while you remain with virtually no T4 and T3 in your bloodstream. The most popular dosage of thyroid replacement sold is 50mcg. A full replacement dosage is around 162.5mcg at least, up to 200 mcg depending on body weight . Another good thing is most doctors believe in what I call "the miracle cure": they believe Hashimoto's is sort of like a flu on your thyroid, and that eventually, it will go away and you won't need your medication at all. So if they test your TSH and a couple months ago it was 5, and now it is 4.2, they freak out and *lower* your dosage, cause they think your thyroid has started working by itself, by some miracle, and you need to take less medication right now. Yet I've never met anyone that went on replacement for Hashimoto's and ever had this "miracle cure" doctors believe in.

And I'm sure the majority of the people who feel there is something wrong with them hormonally will find that there really is. It could be thyroid, it could be PCOS, it could be adrenal hormones, it could be an early onset of menopause, or improper artificial hormone replacement therapy during menopause, or no hormone replacement at all - but there probably is something wrong. In thyroid disease groups, I've seen the odd case of people who have no other symptoms apart from weight gain and who believe they have thyroid disease when all evidence points otherwise, but that is really rare. Most people who are there seeking for a diagnosis do have thyroid disease, and will get treated once they have the right doctor. I think a few times, proper hormone replacement therapy would take care of "thyroid disease" in menopausal women, but if that action is not taken quickly enough, the thyroid will stop working and thyroid hormones will have to be replaced even if the female hormones are properly replaced later.

I don't like the defeatist attitude of "with thyroid disease, I'm doomed to be fat forever", though. That is not true. It will be harder to control weight, but by no means impossible.

On the road, great post.

Thank you Jan, you do quite well yourself.

well all i have to say is my sister in law is huge and makes all kinds of excuses on why she is fat if u saw what i seen her eat then u know why all the same lousy excuse my thyriod makes me fat honey it like this keep the fork down simple plan right

i read the book and to be honest it made alot of sense , alot of the habits apply to me especially #10. i think people should give it chance and the fact that nowadays, that there are so many diet books out there that i am getting really confused, but i think with this book i can finally break to barrriers and achieve permanent weightloss.to plan ahead, make time for yourself, positve affirmations, plus getting more active are good things especially in these times of dread and despair.