The true test for me, however, was this: how does it taste in my morning coffee?

On my diet – there is just one thing I cannot.. .no matter HOW BAD I want to lose the weight, I just cannot, for the life of me, compromise and that is my coffee. I know there are a lot of people out there who feel the same.

Splenda in coffee just is not the same – - neither are any of the other substitutes I’ve found.

I came across Stevia quite by accident one day while searching for organic foods online. I even recommended it to my mother, who is a diabetic and struggles with sugar substitute issues, as well. She is even more picky than I am – - and she’s a faithful Stevia user now!

Here’s the low-down for you on the product (which you can usually find at your local health food store, or in the health/organic section of your grocery):

• Stevia has ZERO calories. Yep – you heard it… ZERO.. as in NONE
• Stevia has a glycemic index of… yea, you guessed it… ZERO
• It is all natural and 100% organic
• Stevia is a naturally sweet plant native to Paraguay
• Stevia is 30 times sweeter than sugar in its unprocessed form
• The pure glycosides that are extracted from the Stevia leaves are 250-400 times sweeter than sugar
• For those of Jewish faith, Stevia is 100% kosher
• You can use Stevia not only for sweetening drinks like tea and coffee and quick meals like on grapefruit or cereal – but you can bake with Stevia, as well. There are hundreds of recipes – - below, I reference a Stevia cookbook with some great recipe ideas
• Be aware of the Stevia/Sugar conversion when using it, though – - remember, it is 30 TIMES SWEETER THAN SUGAR! Dont’ make the mistake of using the same volume of Stevia as you would with regular sugar. Below is a conversion table

What are Stevia’s equivilancies to sugar?

Some Great Stevia Recipe Books:

Stevia Sweet Recipes: Sugar-Free-Naturally
A review from Amazon.com says:Of the 3 Stevia cookbooks I own, this is my favorite. I would think that most people who want to use stevia, are looking for healthy too, and lower carb, not just how to replace sugar with stevia. He uses whole grains in his recipies, which are much lower on the glycemic index than their refined counter parts, making them good for diabetics and some less restrictive low carb diets. I was looking for a recipe for zucchini bread and none of the books had one, so I took his Oatmeal Banana Bread recipe and replaced the fruit with zucchini and it came out fantastic! I could do that because the basic recipe is sound. He gives a lot of info on stevia including the fact that you have to adjust it to your taste. He covers pretty much all the bases in this book, except as one person pointed out, the use of liquid stevia, other than to say that he prefers to use the powders to the liquid.

Sensational Stevia Desserts
A review from Amazon.com says:This is a good book. It gives you the nutritional breakdowns which is nice, and compares them to the same products made with sugar. She uses healthy ingredients, but not much in the way of whole grains. It’s definitely low-carb friendly, as you can easily see how many carbs each recipe will set you back. None of the recipies include other sugar sources which is nice to see in a stevia cookbook.

Stevia: Naturally Sweet Recipes for Desserts, Drinks, and More
A review from Amazon.com says: I have been using stevia as my SOLE sugar replacement for just about a year now with the aid of several cookbooks to keep me going. I find it hard to use many recipes that ask for non-nutritive sweeteners because they usually happen to be low-carb, high-protein/fat, and animal products abound. My first breath of fresh air to this dilema was this book. It uses whole grain flours and provides many purely vegetarian (vegan) alternative recipes.

Because the world has almost as many diet plans as it has e-mail spammers, you’d think that just about all of us would know everything there is to know about dieting, about fat, and about the reasons why our bellies have grown so large. YOU: On a Diet is much more than a diet plan or a series of instructions and guidelines or a faddish berries-only eating plan. It’s a complete manual for waist management. It will show you how to achieve and maintain an ideal and healthy body size by providing a lexicon according to which any weight-loss system can be explained. YOU: On a Diet will serve as the operating system that facilitates future evolution in our dieting software. After you learn about the biology of your body and the biology and psychology of fat, you’ll be given the YOU Diet and YOU Workout. Both are easy to learn, follow, and maintain. Following a two-week rebooting program will help you lose up to two inches from your waist right from the start.

With Roizen and Oz’s signature accessibility, wit, and humor, YOU: On a Diet–The Owner’s Manual for Waist Management will revolutionize the way you think about yourself and the food you consume, so that you’ll diet smart, not hard. Welcome to your body on a diet.

Without any further hesitation – here’s my Saturday Syndication list for today – I hope you enjoy!

• Every Friday is Health Tip day at Zen Habits. This week, Zen Habits puts a spotlight on Hassle Free Weight Loss – The Zen Habits Meal Plan. …”Notice that it’s not the “Zen Habits Diet”. That’s because to me, diets are intended to be restrictive and temporary. I’ve created an easy way to plan my meals so that I don’t overeat, so that I’m eating fairly healthy, and so that it’s got some leeway for pleasurable eating. And for me, this has to be something I can do for life…. – click the link to read Zen Habits Tips.
• At 101 Reasons I Hate Being Fat – KaraokeKitty discusses Why she loves to hate celebrity weight loss television shows. …”I love them! I hate them! You know the shows, like VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club or NBC’s Biggest Loser, and a host of others. Honestly I do love to watch these shows….
• Find some Daily Health, Nuturition, Weight Loss and Exercise Tips at the Daily Exercise and Fitness Blog.
• Former Fat Guy discusses Alcohol and Weight Loss – Can you drink alcohol on your weight loss program and still lose the weight?
• At Corey’s Fitness and Weight Loss Journal – Corey is All Slimmed Down With Nothing to Wear!

See ya next week!

Without any further hesitation – here’s my Saturday Syndication list for today – I hope you enjoy!

• Would you lose weight for money? That’s Fit says that studies show people will! Even if its just a little bit of money.
• The Biggest Loser (a TV show, in case you’ve never watched it) contestant, Jerry Lisenby, shares his weight loss secrets on BuddyTV.com. Along with working out, He’s sticking to a high fiber diet, with complex carbohydrates and healthy protein like salmon. He eats a lot of fruit as well. He’s given up diet cola, caffeine and alcohol as well.
• Janet Jackson is adding ‘writer’ to the list of things she’s accomplished in her lifetime. She’s writing a book about her journey in weight loss and weight gain.
• Everyone diets for summer – - but what about dieting for winter? The Daily Yummy has some tips
• All Women’s Talk has a nice 3 Step approach to the best weight loss workouts
• Eating salad on your diet? Exactly when is salad unhealthy? The Diet Blog has some answers
• I’m reading all this noise on the internet about Britney Spears’s performance on the MTV Video Music Awards – - how not only was her performance a disaster… but that she was really FAT. I seriously have to wonder about the media. One on hand, the media is applauding a movement in the fashion industry to ban size zero models on the runway – - but on the other hand, you have them calling Britney Spears fat. check out this image of her from the MTV VMA awards show – - I wish I were that fat! Sure she doesn’t look like she did when she was 17 – - after two kids.. who would? Pfft. At least Renee agrees

That does it for me this Saturday evening!

Not really. See, I had a bad year. Not really that bad, all things considered in the grand scheme of things – - but very stressful and somewhat trying – and I let my diet/fitness slip completely! From the end of 2006 until now – - I’ve written a book, dealt with a VERY challenging teenaged son (the details I will not go into – but I damn near lost my mind!) and a business that was booming faster than I could keep up with (it still is, but I’m in a better place now).

Once the book was done, I vowed that I would do whatever it takes to get myself back into shape again. A year ago, I weighed in at 170 (that’s after successfully dieting and losing 30lbs .. down from a high 200!). I completely sabatoged myself and let myself go and gain almost all that weight back. I started dieting two weeks ago and am happy to report that I’ve lost 7lbs so far – - wtih a 6 inch loss overall, as well.

What am I doing? No real program to speak of at all. After trying Nutrisystem, Herbalife and Jenny Craig in the past – I decided that I’m smart enough to develop my own program of dieting and watching what I eat. I didn’t need to throw my money away at these programs that give you food that just isn’t so palatable – - at least not to my sensisitve palate, that is.

I have grabbed some nice low fat, high protein, low carb recipes from various books and I cook every day. I make my own breakfast, lunch and dinner — and snacks! It does require a lot of food prep time most often… but it’s worth it. I also am making sure that I’m using only fresh ingredients..and have gotten into the habit of shopping for organic foods, and definitley NOTHING pre-processed. Zero fast food… lots of water and a daily multivitamin.

One thing that I did add to my daily regime is the Alli Weight-Loss Aid. It was actually a recommendation of a close friend of mine, who also happens to be a physician. Alli contains 60mg of Orlistat, which is the only over the counter, FDA approved weight loss aid. It works by blocking about 25% of your fat intake from absorbing into your system. Combined with an already low fat diet and exercise program – - it helps you lose about 15% of the weight than you normally would on a regular diet. The idea is this: if Alli helps by removing 25% of the fat intake from your diet (it just doesn’t get absorbed).. then when you excercise, instead of burning the easy fat from your diet – your body burns it’s own body fat reserves..helping you lose a little more weight.

It’s not a supplement that curbs the appetite.. and it doesn’t increase metabolism – as it doesn’t contain any appetite suppresants or any metabolism boosting supplements like Hoodia. Orlistat is actually a prescription med that doctors have been prescribing to very overweight patients for years. Alli is a lower dose than the prescription strength, and as such, has been approved by the FDA to sell over the counter.

I’ve been taking it three times a day with meals (just one small capsule) for almost three weeks now. I have lost 7lbs total, so far – and just recently started combining my low fat diet and Alli capsules with a moderate exercise program this past week.

Which brings me to the title of this post: Why did I hire a personal trainer?

To motivate me and to get me into a program that works for me. I purchased only 15 hours of time with the personal trainer. She, Luanne – the trainer – told me that after 15 hours, if I felt I needed more time, I could purchase more. But that after 15 hours, I should have myself into a pretty decent routine that I can follow myself and only consult with her occassionaly if I have a question.

So far, I’ve had three sessions with her – combining cardio with strength training and I work out about 3-4 hours a week, at this point (that’s 1 – 1.5 hours on Monday, Wed and Friday). I also have been doing some low-impact walking on the days in between my workouts with Luanne. My goal here is to not only lose pounds and inches.. but to tone up, as well.

The gym has a great system where everything is computerized using a system called FitLinxx. When I get to the gym, I login to the FitLinxx system and it tracks and records my cardio and strength training workouts. When I get home, I can also login and view my progress and keep track of what I’m doing. Here’s an example of my workout for the week of October 1 (no laughing!! This was my first week!):

In the report columns from left to right, it tells me:

• My visit date
• My fit points (these are points you recieve when you work out.. the higher your points, the higher your status at the gym…if you’re into that kind of thing..I’m not, really.)
• Total weight lifted – this combines all weight stations and every rep you do
• How may reps completed for weight lifting
• How many sets of weight lifting you completed
• How many minutes of cardio you completed
• How many calories your cardio exercise burned off (it does not track the calories burned for weight lifting, though – which is kindof a bummer. But, according to my Calorie King software – 30 minutes of weight lifiting on circuit weight machines burns about 265 calories..and I’ve been doing about 30 mins each time I go)

It’s a nice way to keep track of things — and I can review my progress with my trainer who will make recommendations and suggestions for additional exercise of change out my program if it’s not working for me after a few weeks. Luanne is also a nutritionist, so she’s making lots of recommendations for my diet and things that I can do during my days to take away the hunger pangs while still staying within my daily caloric intake needs – including protein, fats and carbs.

Some may thing that a trainer is a needless expense – - but considering my past year – I need all the positive affirmations and reinforcement that I can get. So far, I’m extremely motivated and feeling really good about the program that I’m on. Since I started working out – I’ve been feeling like a million bucks! (ok, maybe minus that muscle ache and burn I’m feeling when I get up in the morning these days lol

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Editorial Reviews

Book Description
“Since applying the tools I learned in Brooke’s program to my everyday life, I have already released 35 pounds of fat from my body. I no longer struggle with food and exercising has become a joy that I look forward to doing every day. Shopping in the stores I once used to walk by fills me with great delight, because I can finally wear the kinds of cute clothes that better fit my personality. Once I was able to create a new mind set that I am worth taking great care of myself, I experienced more happiness than I have ever known. For me, freedom from the weight struggle has been worth taking the risk to try again just one more time.” Suyin N. Client San Mateo, CA

About the Author
Innovative and inspiring, Brooke Castillo has been studying weight loss for over fifteen years. Always interested in helping people and in understanding what makes them tick, she studied psychology at Santa Clara University. Her own struggles and frustration with losing seventy-five pounds guided her into putting together her unique weight-loss program, which quickly showed astonishing results. A certified North Star Coach, trained by Dr. Martha Beck and her associates, Brooke has a thriving coaching practice where she works one-on-one with clients. Brooke Castillo also offers seminars and online weight loss packages. Brooke, her husband and her two children live in Folsom, California.

This week’s Thirteen covers some various diet tools that I’ve found through my travels, readings and researching – some of them are pretty helpful too!

Have a good one to share? Leave it in the comments

1. Weight Loss Calculators – macro-nutrient ratios, body fat %, etc.
2. Weight Loss Calculator – BMR, BMI, RMR, etc.
3. NutriDiary – Tracks food, calories, and weight.
4. FitDay – An extremely popular on-line diet tracker.
5. Spark People – Diet and exercise program that has now removed its fees
6. ExRx – Animations of hundreds of exercises (by muscle group)
7. NutritionData – Has comprehensive information on most foods.
8. Calorie King – Has comprehensive nutritional info, but their Portion Watch tool is unique – it has photos of different portion sizes of many popular foods. (Note that CalorieKing’s diet program is fee-based).
9. PeerTrainer – Diet and exercise program – where you become part of a group.
10. Diet Facts – As well as the standard foods, has manually-entered data from many restaurants
11. CalorieCount – one of the largest, searchable, organized food nutrition databases (more than 40k items) coupled with a food log, activity log, personal weight loss journals. You can communicate with our more than 70,000 members on the forums and by making friends with similar interests.
12. StartYourDiet – Free online weight tracking diet program
13. Nutrisystem – great online diet diary and weight tracking – Nutrisystem is a fee service

Hmm. Maybe that idea has merit?

Anyways – I started the NutriSystemdiet program…. hmm… when.. oh yea – on Thursday August 3 – a week and two days ago. Combined with daily walking and doing stregth training on my Bowflex every other day… I have lost a solid 7lbs!

That’s 7 one-pound bags of sugar, man! I lost that! I’m thrilled and motivated enough to keep this up for at least another few weeks and see if I can’t just grab onto that target weight of mine once and for all!

I have to put a note in here of thanks to my new hubby – without whose support, I wouldn’t be doing this. He is SO encouraging (umm..sometimes annoying) and I probably wouldn’t have gotten into the daily treadmill habit if it weren’t for him and his encouragement (nagging). He knows how much I really want to drop these last 30 lbs – - he knows how much it bothers me.. and he also knows how much of a procrastinator I am… so he reminds me daily. He does wonderful things.. like today…. “Hey baby – how about I do those two loads of laundry… while you get on the treadmill? Deal?” He’s super!

I also am very happy with the NutriSystemprogram, so far. It’s extremely easy to stick to. I feel full.. I don’t feel like I’m starving. I eat 5 times a day – and the food is really quite good. I’m so pleased with it that I’m going to order another month’s worth when the time comes.

NutriSystem Nourish: The Revolutionary New Weight-Loss Program

Thought I’d would join in the Thursday Thirteen fun this week.

This week’s Thirteen covers the various different diet programs out on the market today. Have any of you tried any of these? How successful (or not?) were you?

1. ChangeOneDiet.comWith ChangeOne, you don’t have to give up the foods you love. You don’t have to learn to like tofu. You don’t have to eat dry, tasteless snacks. And you don’t have to toss out everything in your fridge or pantry. You just have to change one eating habit at a time, starting with breakfast. Then it’s on to lunch, snacks, dinner, and beyond as you watch the weight melt away. Simple. Smart. Sensible. We’ll guide you through it, step by step.
2. NutriSystem – the new weight loss program that’s based on the Glycemic Index and is also rich in good carbohydrates, while still low in fat. It’s the carb answer you’ve been looking for!
3. Weight Watchers – For over 40 years, Weight Watchers has helped millions of people around the world to lose weight! Find out about our history and philosophy.
4. Herbalife – The ShapeWorks™ Program is an exciting new way to lose weight and feel great. Based on cutting-edge weight-loss science, the ShapeWorks™ Program can help you get the results you want.
5. Body For Life – Eat a combination of lean protein and healthy carbohydrates every few hours throughout the day to speed up fat loss and maintain stable energy levels. For best results, eat six times a day.
6. Jenny Craig – Jenny Craig’s programs are tailored to meet your individual needs.
7. The Zone at Home – America’s most convenient food delivery service, bringing a results-oriented, unique and convenient eating experience directly to your doorstep. Whether you are interested in weight loss or improved health, Zone Diet At Home™ is the most convenient and tasty way to achieve your goals.
8. South Beach Diet – Start losing weight, eating delicious foods, and feeling great about your South Beach body
9. Sonoma Diet – From a lush California valley comes the latest and most flavorful version of the health-promoting Mediterranean diet.
10. Detox Diet – This is a sample two week detox diet plan that supports detox by increasing elimination from the body, cleansing the colon, enhancing circulation to clear toxic substances, eliminating foods from the diet that require detoxification or are allergenic, and providing nutrients to support and protect the liver which is the main organ involved in detox.
11. Atkins – The new look of nutrition
12. E-Diets.com – eDiets.com offers a variety of plans for weight management, healthy living, fitness, recipes and support.
13. Other? Have a diet plan that worked for you but isn’t listed here? Please share in the comments!

For me? The first time I lost the most weight ever, 75lbs! I used the Herbalife program. It fit my busy lifestyle, at the time – but not something I can continue for life.

The second time I used Body for Life and lost 25lbs – - this is the plan for me. IT’s a full and entire lifestyle change and has forever changed the way I look at myself, my food and my fitness.