Never go to a party hungry–instead, eat sensible small meals throughout the day so that you don’t feel ravenous when you arrive at the party. I’ve often fasted the day of holiday parties knowing full well that I would over eat–this, evidently was a bad idea.

I’m terrible at parties, eating just about everything, even after I feel full. At least I know it is something I need to work on.

4. Drink Water
Almost every food craving can be physically diluted immediately by ingesting water. Cravings are calling for your body to go to some extreme, whether it’s sweet, salty, hot, or cold. Water, being the most balancing substance for the human body, will bring you right back to center.

Moderate exercise may not do much to help you lose weight, research shows. But even intense exercise is no guarantee of weight loss, according to a new study from the University of Leeds in Britain.

I can concur with these findings. As I’m trying to lose my last 10 pounds, I had increased my running for the marathon to averaging over 40 miles a week. Even after 4 weeks at that pace, my weight stayed the same. I’ve come to the realization that my body has adapted to long distance running, and that just running will not get me to where I want to go. Seven weeks ago I added weight lifting to my regiment, and although I haven’t lost any weight (Halloween didn’t help!) I am building up some muscle mass, and my clothes fit better. I have some 30″ jeans that I can now wear comfortably even though My weight has stayed right around 157.

Here is a selection of meals that are in the 300-400 Calorie range. The visual representation gives an idea of portion size.

Common dieting advice suggests that as long as ‘bad’ foods are eaten in moderation and tempered with a host of healthy choices, they are not terribly bad for you. A new study published in this month’s edition of the Journal of Nutrition demonstrates that a single high-fat meal in an otherwise healthy lifestyle causes a person to have a stronger adverse physiological reaction to stress than when eating a balanced diet.

The participants were fed a low fat and high fat meal, and then subjected to several tests to measure stress level. The high fat group found the tests to be more stressful then the low fat group.

I’ve still been running, completing 31 miles last week and 37 miles the week before. My schedule is 40 miles this week, so I’m hoping to really get my average weight back down by this weekend.

However, when I was challenged to make a documentary about what it takes to attain the distinctive anticurves of the size zero, I said yes.

The author weaves a tale on the powerful allure of being skinny, and how she traveled from 140 pounds down to approximately 126 in 6 weeks, practicing anorexiaism, bulimism, and basically every single unhealthy thing you can do. This is NOT RECOMMENDED FOR ANYONE!

I’ve been feeling guilty for all the Easter candy I’ve been eating, and realize that I should still write posts.

I’m back on my diet starting today, and hope to bring my average weight to 150 in time for the marathon (today my average weight is 154.1) by May 20th.

p.s. More info on how I’m calculating my average weight with The Google 15 is available here.

One thing that bothers me a lot is when I read posts from people just like you and me who are disappointed because of a scale reading.

I wouldn’t throw out the scale yet, just use it differently. What I do is way myself at the same time every day, so I get come consistency. The other thing I do is use a gadget from Google called the Google 15. It averages your weight over the past 15 days, showing you your weight movement. And since it is an average, it is less susceptible to drastic changes. You know what I’m talking about, when your weight goes up 3 pounds in 24 hours because you decided to enjoy a nice dinner the night before.

I’m thinking of making my own version of the Google gadget for Weight Loss is Hard, but who knows when I’ll have time for that.