This Grandma “forgot” her bathing suit when she visited her grandchildren last week. We never did take the grandchildren swimming. I really thought about this. Did my brain intentionally forget for me as I am concerned about putting on a bathing suit again? Contrary to what tourists do, locals in Florida usually do not swim in the winter. We wear wool. We are cold. Summer arriving is psychologically the same for we Grandmas in Florida—are we or are we not ready to suit up!
When the Today Show had a segment on the “Summer Shape-Up,” this Grandma paid attention, especially when the ad was to lose five pounds in five days. I can have willpower for five days!
Joy Bauer, TODAY nutritionist introduced me to the 5,4,3,2,1 diet plan:
“These are fun; they’re effective; and they’re delicious,” Bauer said as she counted down the five tips.
Bauer’s program is easy to remember because it links each tip number with the actual tip content. So, for example, tip five is to consume five cups of veggies each day.
It seems they cannot make it easier for us! So we count backwards and start with vegetables. I wish we could substitute some fruit for this amount of vegetables!
5. Eat five cups of veggies every day.
“Vegetables are high volume; they’re low calorie; and they fill you up and not out,” Bauer said. “However you want to divvy these [five cups] up during the day is really up to you. I think the easiest thing is to have two cups with lunch, two cups with dinner and one cup as an afternoon snack. Or you could set your smart phone and every couple of hours: bing bing bing!”
While there might be value in varying the veggies, Bauer suggests you stick with ones you enjoy eating.
“If you only like carrots and green beans then you can repeat, repeat, repeat, and it works,” she said.
So next, Joy Bauer recommends Zumba at home. Grab Grandpa and:
4. Dance to four of your favorite songs.
Pick four high intensity dance songs that you really like and during the day play them and “boogie it up.”
“For every song, it’s about 40 calories,” Bauer said. That means 160 calories at the end of the day. “That’s pretty good.”
There does not seem to be any “cool down” in the dancing recommendation. This Grandma suggests REALLY make like you are in a party, and end with a few slow dances to rev up the romance. After all, why not take off an additional 350 calories with sex?
This Grandma learned that one should eat a protein with any carb. Aha! So this was good advice:
3. Have three protein rich meals.
“Protein revs your metabolism,” she said. “It suppresses appetite. And it keeps you feeling full.”
As examples, Bauer suggested an egg sandwich for breakfast, a tuna vegetable salad for lunch and turkey sausage served with veggies for dinner.
“To make [the egg sandwich] a little more interesting I spread a small amount of light cream cheese or part skim ricotta,” Bauer said.
This Grandma always heard drink a glass of water before a meal to eat less. Joy Bauer DOUBLES it:
2. Drink two glasses of water before each meal.
“It’s going to fill you up and you’re going to eat less,” Bauer said of what might be the simplest tip of all.
Only one! Only one treat! I know. We tend to reward ourselves for being good by having something we should not have. This diet lets us reward ourselves. This Grandma suggests that the reward come at night, after dinner. For me, that is the most difficult time to not cheat:
1.Once a day, indulge in one 150-calorie treat.
“It can be a glass of wine, a small froyo with some fresh fruit, four cups of light popcorn, two tablespoons of semi-sweet dark chocolate chips,” Bauer says.
I CAN DO THIS! So can you!
Next week, I will try on my bathing suit with.
Joy,
Mema
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