Whoohoo! I just put up the new version of the FitWatch Fitness Tracker! I know some people are put off when a website changes things (helloooo Facebook!), but I think you’ll agree this was a necessary change.

I’ve kept things simple and haven’t moved things around too much — but you’ll notice a lot of new features, whether you’re a Premium Member or have a free account.

Here are a few of the new features:
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When you look at your diet, do you only look at the food you’re eating? Are you scratching your head wondering why you’ve been gaining weight when you’re so sure you’ve been eating better?

One thing you may need to look into is how many calories you’re drinking. No matter how healthy you think milk or juice is, it doesn’t mean you can drink them all day long. Add in soda, alcoholic drinks, sports drinks or specialty coffees and you may be drinking yourself fat.

Take a long, hard look at the calories you drink and see where you can whittle down the calories. It could make a big difference in your weight loss plan!

Here are six ways you can reduce liquid calories:

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It’s not only your diet and exercise routine that helps you to lose weight. While your cardio program does burn a lot of calories, making other small changes to your lifestyle adds up to a big difference.

Check out these little things that burn more calories:

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When you’re trying to lose weight and you cut calories to create a calorie deficit, it can be hard not to feel hungry all the time. In fact, you may find yourself obsessing over food, constantly thinking about what you have eaten that day and what you will be able to eat later in the day. Dieting doesn’t have to be such a big deal. By making small changes to your eating patterns, you’ll find that you’re cutting calories without the pain.

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When you’re trying to lose weight, what’s the first round of advice you usually receive? Lower your calorie intake. Great idea, right? It depends on how you do it. Lowering your calorie intake and eating all of the foods we consider diet fare, such as lettuce, carrots, and celery (sometimes referred to as rabbit food) can actually bite you back if you get hungry.

By not getting enough fiber or protein in your meals, you can sabotage your own weight loss endeavors. Sure, that salad is good for you, but is it enough to keep the hunger pangs on a leash?

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It seems I’m lapsing back into some bad blogging habits! I only logged 2 days of food for Week 8. Now, I’m pretty sure I did okay food-wise — but the thing is, I know myself: it’s so easy to stop logging but then old habits might creep back. I find I do so much better when I log the majority of time. One week might not make a big difference, but I know, for myself, if I were to go several weeks without logging in my fitness tracker, I’ll most likely start underestimating how much food I’m eating.

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This one’s going to be short and sweet! I did very well on Friday during the day — and then had two bowls of pasta, plus some wine on Friday night. I didn’t even bother to log it! Ha! Saturday was a catered supper (fancy food!), so there was no way I was going to pooh-pooh any of the courses. But what I did was go for a 1 hour bike ride Saturday morning and I made sure I ate healthy, small meals more frequently during the day so that I wouldn’t be ravenous by suppertime. Luckily, the portions were small for supper, but the dessert did me in!

Sunday was a recovery day after the night before, but we did go to my in-laws who ordered pizza — and bought a rhubarb/strawberry pie. They insisted we take it home, but I’m glad to say I haven’t touched it.

Just a quick aside: if you have problems with week-end weight gain, read this - Weekend Weight Gain: How to Avoid It.

After this week-end, I almost moved my Monday weigh-in to Tuesday. But I’m glad I didn’t. You can see why here: End of Week 7 - Weigh-in & Measurements.

In so many ways, it’s been a really good week. But I’m not eating 100% clean and I seem to have forgotten that there are such things as vegetables! And I seem to be paying for it, unfortunately…

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The beginning of the week went pretty well, even though I didn’t post any updates. (Sorry about that!) But I just kept putting some things off and then by mid-week things got pretty busy up until the end of the week. Problem is, when I’m feeling stressed, I stop eating properly — usually by eating larger meals less frequently and/or by grabbing some unhealthy snacks. And then, by the end of the day, wine or beer seems like such a “right.” A “right” as in, “Heck, yes, I deserve some wine after the day I’ve had!” Why can’t I just say, “Heck, yes, I’ll take a protein smoothie after the day I’ve had!” LOL!

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Sometimes it feels like you have to work hard to lose weight. And don’t get me wrong — I know that fat loss takes effort. But sometimes we make it more complicated than necessary, don’t you think? If you’ve got bad food habits, you can shed 10 pounds easily just by making small changes in your daily diet regimen. Make some of these small changes and watch the weight peel off.

Change #1: When cooking, quit using fatty oils to flavor up and moisten your dish. Instead, steam your food or use a pressure cooker. Cook it in broth and you’ll still get the flavor without all of the calories. Oil can house 39 calories teaspoon. Steam or pressure-cook your food and you save 273 calories a week (and this is if you only use one tsp, which most people actually use much more)!

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