When I was young I remember my mom always talking about how she was a pear and her friend was an apple. I looked at her quizzically and asked why she was comparing herself and her friend to fruit. She explained that she had a body shape like a pear and her friend had a body shape like an apple. My mom carried more weight on the lower half of her body while her friend carried more weight in her belly or torso. At the time I was shaped more like an asparagus so I dismissed the idea entirely. As … Continue reading →

I have made it known that I am no friend to fake sugar. I check labels for high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, and artificial sweeteners, before buying any food item. If a food contains any of the three, a combination or frightfully all three, I put it back on the shelf. I cannot sit idly by while I or my family eats what I consider to be poison. There are times when I or even my kids consume yogurt. I made exception for some brands of yogurt that contained fake sugar because it was a source of calcium, … Continue reading →

When to Eat What: Eat the Right Foods at the Right Time for Maximum Weight Loss! By: Heidi Reichenberger McIndoo, MS, RD, LDN You can purchase this book for approximately $9.99 to $12.99 at your favorite book seller. My rating: 3.5 out of 5 carrot sticks Let me start out by saying that diet books are not my choice of literature. If you are a diet book and want to remain on myself you must be visually appealing, easy to read, and easy to quickly reference. After all, who wants to sit and read about food? Food is for eating … Continue reading →

Another month has passed and this year is quickly coming to a close. I am certain I was cheated out of a few months this year as I am finding it hard to believe November is coming to a close. If you asked me I would say we were still in September. Time goes by so fast! November presented a special challenge as anyone dieting has just made it through Thanksgiving. How was your Thanksgiving? Did you overindulge or simply enjoy a slice of pie? Did you focus more on the spirit of the holiday and not the state of … Continue reading →

It’s time to close out October and reflect if our time spent has put us closer to our weight loss goals. So how are you doing? Have you lost weight? Have you decided to get a new attitude? Have you taken the time to laugh at yourself and brush off setbacks and keep trekking? This month we have tried to find fun and humor in weight loss and body image. I do hope a laugh, if in fact it was funny, made your day brighter. We also covered plenty of recipes for that fall beauty the pumpkin. I hope the … Continue reading →

Not only am I a diet struggler extraordinaire, I am a homeschooling mom. As such, I write unit studies and have my children engage in vocabulary exercises and teach dictionary skills. While my kids were looking up several words and their origins, I decided to look up diet. I thought it would be a fun exercise and maybe a bit eye opening as any connotation I have of the word is in a negative light. So, I looked up DIET in Webster’s online dictionary and this was the result. Definition of DIET 1 a : food and drink regularly provided … Continue reading →

Dear Cookie, Although it pains me, I will have to bid you a fond farewell. I can no longer be tempted by your witchy ways. You can be chocolate chip one day, peanut butter the next and so on. The temptations never cease so I can no longer flirt with danger. Sadly, The Struggling Dieter Dear Ice Cream, Smooth and creamy…though it calls my name I must not reply. Forgive me for ignoring your sweet advances but the time has come to set aside my desire. My taste buds say “yes” but my hips say “can take one more inch!” … Continue reading →

Don’t all diets start on Monday? Mondays are famous for ruining your week when it barely began so why not add a diet to that? If Tuesday morning I eat too much cream cheese on my bagel I immediately console myself by saying that my diet will begin again on Monday. Not unlike Scarlet O’Hara’s philosophy that there is always another day, I say there is always another Monday. Messing up on diets is a very forgiving thing if you think in terms of how many Mondays there are in a year. Let’s face it you have 52 times to … Continue reading →

Wow, that sounds like fun! Let’s all go up a size in our clothing without gaining any weight. That’s exactly what has happened with many major clothing retailers. They have taken the sizes and shifted them a little bit. Where 18-20W used to be 1X, it’s now 2X. Where 22-24W used to be 2X, it’s now 3X. Where 26-28W used to be 3X, it’s now 4X. That’s right—I’m now a whole X bigger without lifting a finger. It’s humiliating enough to be a plus-sized woman without having this extra pressure. It’s really hard to walk into the store and find … Continue reading →