Moms at home

Why dieting fails

Every year it is the same, we try to eat healthier and lose a few pounds but we eventually get on what psychologists call a forgetting curve and revert back to our old habits. There are many reasons that keeping up with our diets can be extremely challenging. Aside from getting derailed with our busy schedules, diets can make us feel deprived usually starting on the third day resulting in craving foods we are trying to avoid such as high sugar products.

There is little support for the notion that diets lead to lasting weight loss or health benefits. As UCLA researchers pointed out, diets often cause more harm than good, creating disordered eating habits and providing few or no long-term health benefits. One common argument is that diets are short-term fixes to long-term problems because being overweight does not occur overnight. When you have struggled with your weight for some time it is unfair to expect drastic changes in a month of dieting. Extreme calorie counting makes it difficult to sustain those eating habits long-term.

Diets also do not address the emotional factors of overeating. In some cases many people who are significantly overweight are emotional eaters using food for comfort, to deal with stress or boredom.
We also react poorly to any foods being forbidden. Telling ourself that we are not certain foods may lead into a binge. In cases like these, diets are an attempt to fix the symptoms rather than the problem.

Ways To Successful Weight Loss

Individuals who do reach and maintain a healthy weight make sustainable lifestyle changes, rather than going on a quick-fix diet. Some of these changes include

- exercising a little bit every day
- resolving the emotional issues of uneasiness or boredom
- spending time outside (Vitamin D, Improves attention span, Release stress, Sense of exploration)

Although it’s possible to lose weight without exercising, it is important to be active in order to get your metabolism going and help burn a few extra calories. Even taking a stroll will help because every extra step you take is one in the right direction. If possible add in thirty minutes of moderate activity five times a week such as cycling or going for a thirty minute jog every weekday morning.

Addressing the emotional factors that affect your behavior is also important step. If you overeat due to stress, unhappiness, boredom or other emotional factors, you need to address these in order to make permanent changes. By introducing new habits such as exercising or eating healthier, it is important to introduce the changes slowly in order to get your body accustomed to the new routine rather than changing everything all at once.

Restaurant.com serves as the community matchmaker, introducing great restaurants to great people. From appetizers to dessert, from wine to dinner, Restaurant.com helps restaurant owners promote the new and unique aspects of their restaurants while providing diners with great value in a fun, new and cost effective way. I have used restaurants.com on several occasions and have been impressed with the simplicity of the service. The idea is that you pay 10 dollars for a 25 dollar certificate . I rarely eat out but I sometimes visit a Thai bowl place down the street and just recently found out that they offer the cheaper certificates when purchased online. Many of the participating restaurants have different offers, so pick the place that suits you best.

Although I have not had an opportunity to review Idine.com apparently it has a similar service as restaurants.com.

Got Time?

If your like most moms, then time is a commodity you wish you could buy! Alas, it isn’t. Time keeps on ticking even as we race against it.

Organization and routines go a long way in helping control lost minutes. Looking for a pair of your son’s tennis shoes or your daughters ballet tights can steal 15 minutes if your not careful.

But where do you start?

For me the most logical place was the kids rooms. Keeping their things organized went a long way to helping prevent those 15-minute time zapping searches. Running late and then having to “find” something on top of it causes stress for everyone.

Doesn’t matter of you have a 10 year old son or a 4 year old daughter. Get their rooms organized. This doesn’t mean picking up after them every day or doing it all for them. Make them a part of your organization plan, so that they understand it will help them as well.

Under the bed storage bins: These are great and can be purchased inexpensively at home improvement stores and discount stores. I got the kind with wheels so they roll in and out from under the bed easily. Throw the legos, blocks, train sets, Barbie dolls and their clothes and more in these bins. Tell the kids what they take out, goes back in when they are finished.

Dresser drawers: Instead of throwing the shirts in one drawer, the pants in another and so on — match up the outfits BEFORE you put them in the drawer. This is especially great for the younger kids. Having the shirt, shorts and socks bundled together makes for fabulous time saving! Even my 10 year old son appreciates not having to “hunt” up an outfit. Because boys typically don’t care what they are wearing — this time saving trick works for the older kids too. The older girls get, well….it can get tricky because they like to pick out their own clothes, which is fine. You can still have a dress with matching tights hanging in the closet together to snip off those tight hunting minutes. Laying out outfits the night before for school is a absolute rule at our house. The kids have their outfits, backpacks, snack — all of it ready to go!

Plastic storage boxes with lids: This might seems a bit like overkill (which is what I thought at first too), but trust me, it’s been incredible at saving time and energy. I bought about 12 of these for each kid. ON the outside I label it say….”Polly Pockets”. All the Polly Pocket items go in there. When she wants to play with them, I get out that one box and when she wants to play with something else, we put the Polly Pocket box away and get out the “My Little Pony” box and so on. Your kids will enjoy themselves more by having all the pieces to something. And you won’t have to do those bi-annual room clean up sessions that take all day! You know the ones? You dump everything out in the toy boxes and in the closets, match it all up and clean the room only to have it a disaster within a week!

More tips…

!. Keep snacks and juice boxes in the car.

2. Have special bags or totes or backpacks for things like ballet, Boy Scouts etc. Keep the necessities for those activities packed and ready each week so you’re not up at midnight washing a dirty dance leotard for the next day.

3. Keep a day timer or some type of organizer ON YOU. Doesn’t have to be fancy, just something you can check daily and have daily to write down new appts.

Being a mom is hard enough. Carving out quality time with your family is getting exceedingly harder. You don’t need more distractions , frustrations and lost minutes. Make time saving an important goal. The pay off is priceless. The pay off is…..time!

Great deals from slick deals After reviewing the website I have found a few great deals that are rated on and vetted by the users. A few interesting parts about the website is that only the best deals are posted because they are hand-picked. They do not sell ads or paid placements there.
Only reputable merchants will get listed.
They do research the deal and the price for you.