I know that the harder challenge for me will be the point when I have reached my goal weight and move into maintenance. But I’m not there yet so will worry about that challenge when I get there.

Ultimately, I think I can make it work because I love the food on the Sonoma Diet.

Wish me luck!

We start with an entry of weight and target weight along with gender, height, and age. Should I give my short term target or a longer goal? Hmm, I think I’ll go for the longer goal which is a 20 pound loss. The next page is some more history about dieting. I like their slogan, “Food, Wine, and Weight Loss!”. There are a number of free newsletters to subscribe to. I will try several of them, I am sure that there will be an unsubscribe option if they turn out to be too much. Now we have a quick calculation of Body Mass Index (BMI). Yes, mine is high. Now it’s time for “Sign Up Now!” and we find out that the cost is $5 a week. That really isn’t bad, in some ways, it might be too low, not enough to say “I paid so much money I better stick with it.” But money isn’t my motivation, I need to loose the weight and I love to eat healthy food and drink wine so let’s go. I am told that for my $5 I will receive a customized daily plan, recipes, meal planner, registered dieticians online and onlinecommunity and support. There is a note that there is a 5 week minimum, that seems fair to me. After joining, there are now 3 more special offers. The first is an upgrade for a very minimal amount of $ for personalized diet coaching and a recipe book. I decide to take it. The next option is for customized vitamins, I decide to pass on that one. The next offer is for the Sonoma Diet Cookbook, although it’s a good price, I can get a great price on Amazon as well so I pass on it.

Finally, “Welcome to The Sonoma Diet online program, where meals are meant to be celebrated.” Yes! The diet author, Connie Guttersen, has great credentials and a welcoming introduction! The next step is to set up my profile. Most of the information is already filled in from the original weight and height entered. I get the option to enjoy a glass of wine with meals on Wave 2 (guess that means I can’t have any to start).

Now we get to the tools. There is a checklist and pledge. There’s a hint about the food here: whole grains, fresh produce, lean meats, and low-fat dairy products. That’s all good to me! There is a meal planner and yes it allows changes, that’s good! My meals start tomorrow and they look fabulous! There is a shopping list, I can uncheck everything that I have and print the list. I am very excited!

Gotta go now and pick up my produce – cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, eggplant, green beans and lots of herbs!

P.S. To find out more about The Sonoma Diet, visit their website:

Or, if you’re not interested in joining a program, find The Sonoma Diet book at Amazon for a great price:

The Sonoma Diet: Trimmer Waist, Better Health in Just 10 Days!

If for whatever reason, we don’t follow this wisdom and eat way too much, it can make us feel bloated, stuffed, and sometimes even nauseated. It’s best then to give the stomach a break for a day. Wait till you feel hungry, eat smaller high fiber meals, and drink lots of fluids (preferrably good old plain water).

I have a very clear short term goal. Loose the pounds I gained in December. It was only about 5 and I think most of it is bloating and will drop pretty fast. If I do that quickly, it will be easier to focus on my long term weight loss and health goals.

My longer term goal is to get back to the main reason I started this blog, to write about weight loss. My intention has been to evaluate online weight loss programs. What should be the criteria to evaluate a weight loss program? Success rate is always important but it’s probably not possible to get accurate data. My belief is that almost any of the weight loss programs will work if you stick with it. It’s important then to find a program that you can stick with and that is an individual decision.

Weight Loss Program Evaluation Criteria

The Diet Programs

This initial list was selected because they are well known programs with a large online presence. The list is in alphabetical order and gives some highlights of the program. More in depth reviews will come later.

The Biggest Loser – Based on the popular TV show, the online program provides meal plans and work out routines used in the show. The fitness trainer from the Biggest Loser is available for consultation in the message boards.

Diet.com – This program provides a customized plan based on a profile that is filled out. Online forums provide support.

Dr. Weil’s My Optimum Health Plan – Not strictly a weight loss program, this is a program for good health! Dr. Weil helps you address your health goals and provides an online weight tracker and message board with supportive community.

eDiets.com – eDiets is known for their flexibility and variety! They provide customized diet programs based on personal goals, food preferences, and lifestyles. With this program you can do the Mayo Clinic diet, Atkins, Cholesterol Lowering diets and many more options. eDiets is one of the biggest programs out there with a huge online community.

Medifast – Provides low calorie, pre-measured Medifast Meals which are vitamin fortified and nutrionally balanced. Medifast Meals are clinically proven and recommended by physicians!

Sonoma Diet – The most flavorful weight loss plan, online and customized! Wine is encouraged but not required and helps dieters maintain a healthy heart while boosting enjoyment during a meal.

Zone Chefs (formerly Zone Diet at Home) – Provides nationwide delivery of fresh and frozen meals making it a convenient, results oriented, and unique program.

So what is the real reason that I am writing about spam? I am really getting tired of the spam on the Internet. There are the spam emails (we all get them) and there are the spam forms (any website with a contact form gets tons of spam) and now there are the spam blog posts. It’s time consuming, frustrating, and annoying to have to deal with so much spam! It’s caused me to wonder if this blog was such a good idea and to loose some motivation for writing here. So now that I have that off my chest, time to go delete some more spam posts.

Coming soon, New Years Resolutions including writing more here, loosing weight, getting rich, being healthy, the usual stuff.

P.S. Just found a timely article from Computerworld on the Same Subject, Spam: The digital coal in your stocking.

Excuses. Excuses.

Hey the good thing is that I maintained my weight! I am still at 168 which I reached about a month ago!

Sometimes we slow down and loose our determination but if we can at least maintain some control we can stay even! So now I am back blogging and ready for the next round of weight loss.

Social Eating – I survived it by thinking it through and being mindful of everything I ate. I had decided in advance that I was going to eat, choosing the best I could with what was available and if that wasn’t too good, just keeping the quantities reasonable. I did. Saturday afternoon was a gathering in their home for the loss of a husband and father. He was a wonderful, kind, humorous guy and we told stories about his great Halloween costumes. There was also food, buffet style, all afternoon. I graised on the vegetables, I had a chicken on a stick, I ate Chinse chicken salad without the dressing, and I treated myself to a crumb of a cookie left on the platter. I passed on the pizza (normally I would have had some) and the Krispy Kreme donuts (not much of a temptation – too sweet for me). Yikes, does this sound like I was more focused on the food than the people that afternoon (I hope not). I will say though that it is easy to obsess about food when dieting. I think that many people who are naturally thin do not have that obsession with food.

Saturday night was a tri tip dinner and I ate in moderation. I also only drank one glass of wine. Best of all, there was dancing and I danced! I do have to be mindful of injuries. A couple of years ago I danced at a wedding and ended up with a chronic problem in my right heel – a heel spur and plantar fasciitis. It is under control now with orthotics but I think I will always have to be careful with it. I have also ended up with a sore hip and concern about my knees with dancing and thats another reason to loose weight – less strain on the joints!

Sunday my husband and I hosted a Father’s Day Lobster Brunch at the yacht club. And I cooked it the way I wanted to, with butter, hollandaise sauce, the works. I did bring strawberries and asparagus so I had some healthy side dishes. I ate a moderate serving and was fine. Only one glass of champagne too.

The moral of the story is that I can do it if I set my mind to it and keep mindful throughout challenges. Thats something that is emphasized in yoga, always being mindful of the present moment.

I survived the first week with no social life and decided that from here on out I would try to eat and drink in moderation at social functions. Most weight loss tips will recommend bringing your own food to social gatherings however there are times when it just doesn’t seem like the right thing to do. On Sunday this week a couple had prepared a home cooked, full Southern breakfast for all of us to partake of at our yacht club. I decided in advance that there was probably a good chance that she would have fruit and that in any case I would eat everything but in limited quantities. It worked out fine because I thought it through beforehand and followed my plan. Fortunately it was a buffet and a I was able to serve myself small quantities of each food and there was fruit too! I made sure that I had a water bottle in front of me at all times and again was glad that no one encouraged me to drink champagne. Its hard for me to turn down a drink but this diet is important and a little champagne was not what I needed. This upcoming week-end will be a challenge, 3 different eating events. Saturday afternoon, a gathering for a friend that passed away this week. Saturday night tri-tip dinner at the yacht club, and Sunday, our turn to host a Father’s Day lobster brunch at the yacht club (and I will bring fruit).

Key Points for Social Eating:

I participated in a diet program during the 80’s where we had to weigh in daily with a counselor. I would stop by on my way into work. The daily weigh in was to keep us on track and the counselors were motivating when they congratulated us on weight loss. However, I absolutely hated the days when I was even or up in pounds. The counselor would ask , “What did you eat yesterday? What did you do different? Did you exercise?” I didn’t want to have a long conversation at that point, I knew I was on track and would see the weight loss within the upcoming days. Now, when I did get off track too much, that’s when I would go ahead and drop the program and be done with weight loss for a few years. Wonder if that will happen with this blog. Will I get off track and give it up? I am trying to make this a long term commitment. We’ll see if I can do it.

I often have thought that I could eat whatever I want for 11 months out of the year and then diet for one month. Well, almost. In reality what happens is that I eat mostly healthy but as much as I want and about every 5 years I have to loose 15 – 20 pounds. That’s where I am at now, the last time I did a similar weight loss was 2000-2001 and before that it was 1996.

I think I will like the anonymity of joining an online weight lost program. It’ll be part of a “program” but not having to tell my life history to a counselor unless I want to. He he, and that’s what I am doing in this blog. I have been too busy too start my evaluation of online programs but I will get to it.

Enough rambling.