Cabbage Soup to the Rescue!

I must begin by saying "kudos" to Lady Gaga for standing up to the media against vicious attacks about her weight gain.  I'll bet a hundred bucks that none of her critics are the poster children for supernaturally perfect physiques.  I'll bet another hundred that none of them would dare say anything to her face.  This Internet we know, love & cannot live without, has its drawbacks, doesn't it?  People can be so cruel.

I heard a radio interview Miss Gaga did and said she really wasn't bothered by her twenty-five pound weight gain, blaming it on eating at her father's restaurant. Her attitude alone made me feel better about my own four pound gain.  Now, let's first say that Lady Gaga is on tour and will, most likely, burn the extra calories off as she dances on stage every night.  I predict the weight will fall off her in no time.  Let's be clear. Any substantial amount of weight increase is something to be taken seriously for sure.
And it isn't always easy, is it?

For most of my teenage years through my mid-twenties, I was about twenty pounds heavier than I am now.  I worried about every single calorie I ate, tried every diet imaginable and I still was no where near the svelte young woman I imagined I could be.  It wasn't until I STOPPED worrying about every morsel of food I consumed and began to focus on my health, that I lost the weight and kept it off.

Here's my secret.

Yes, teaching Zumba fitness classes allows me to burn 500-800 calories an hour, have fun and share my passion for healthy living with others.  And it allosw me to have my cake and eat it too, in moderation.  Exercise is the key, people.  But when I've simply eaten more calories than I burn and the numbers on the scale rise, I take notice.  Decades ago, I promised my self that no matter what, I would never ever ever let myself bloat beyond a certain magic number. This morning I weighed myself and I was six ounces from that number.  Laugh if you must, but I WILL shed those few extra pounds within a week or two.  I promised myself.

While it's important to live life and not get so caught up in every little gram of fat, I sternly believe in keeping a few hard boundaries.  One of those boundaries is not to do the stuff written about in Fifty Shades of Grey, the other is to stay UNDER a certain weight. That way, I'll never have to worry about whip marks, or watch the scale tip beyond a point of no return.

The other secret I have is a special Cabbage Soup I make that really helps get me back on track and lose a couple pounds quickly.  I make a huge pot and eat it for lunch and dinner. It's great for using up ALL the veggies in your fridge that you wanted to eat but hadn't. The broth fills you up and satisfies you more quickly than, say a plate of Fettuccine Alfredo.

The ingredients vary, depending on whatever vegetables I have on hand.   The base always stays the same: Organic Chicken Broth, Cabbage, Organic Stewed Tomatoes. Organic Sea Salt & fresh ground pepper.  Today I added the following;  carrots, onions, celery, spinach and I even cut corn off a cob - which really added to texture of the soup.  Sorry, I don't measure.  Salt and pepper to taste.

So thanks again to Lady Gaga for putting things in perspective for me.  A few pounds isn't a big deal.  We are meant to enjoy food, in moderation of course, and enjoy life...chocolate cake and all!