Friday, February 20, 2009
Day 52
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1 packet Peaches 'n Cream Instant Oatmeal (140), 1 cup Special K w/1/2 cup skim mkilk (150), 2 bites Raspberry Swirl Coffee Cake (120)
Lunch: PB&J (230), 1/2 serving potato chips (70), 2 T Duncan Hines frosting (120)
Dinner: 2 1/2 slices extra cheese pizza (600), Diet Coke
Day 52 Calorie Count: 1510 adn 57:49:12 minutes walking
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Day 51 Drink Away Stubborn Body Fat
"Wu Long Authentic Premium Chinese Slimming Tea" promises to, among lots of other things, burn 2.5x more calories than authentic green teas and reduce the fattening effects of carbohydrates. "In a new study published in the Journal of Medical Investigation, scientists from Japan's University of Tokushima School of Medicine found that people who regularly consumed Wu Long tea experienced twice the calorie burning results of those who drank the same amount of authentic Japanese green tea. And a new study from the scientists at the Suntory Research Center in Osaka, Japan, shows that drinking Wu Long teas fifteen minutes before eating carbs, will blunt the rise in insulin you normally get after eating carbohydrates. If you order this rare tea now, which is not sold in stores, you'll get 60 full servings for $37. But supplies are extremely limited, only a few hundred units remain in stock and those are expected to move quickly. We cannot guarantee this special low price, tomorrow it may be substantially higher, so order now!"
It's just amazing to me that, not only are there products out there making, what I think, are outrageous statements but there are folks, desperate to loss weight, who are swallowing it, sip, after, green tea sip.
There are no ancient Chinese secrets or certified 100% pure South African grade Hoodia that will ever take the place of what you are doing right now. Counting your calories and ramping up your cardiometer daily is what will get you and keep you at the place you desire to be.
Day 51 Calorie Count: 1320 and 45:58:30 minutes of walking.
It's just amazing to me that, not only are there products out there making, what I think, are outrageous statements but there are folks, desperate to loss weight, who are swallowing it, sip, after, green tea sip.
There are no ancient Chinese secrets or certified 100% pure South African grade Hoodia that will ever take the place of what you are doing right now. Counting your calories and ramping up your cardiometer daily is what will get you and keep you at the place you desire to be.
Day 51 Calorie Count: 1320 and 45:58:30 minutes of walking.
Day 50 Weigh In #7
Remember the excitement Charlie Bucket felt when he tore open the wrapper from his Wonka bar and the corner of a golden ticket shimmered from his shaking hand. That's how I felt this morning after I stepped on the scale. 1.6# loss!
I went back and checked last week's loss to make sure I saw it right. 1.6. It works. It's simple. It's about the math.
I have rendered nearly 49 1/2 sticks of butter in 50 days, an average of 1.8 pounds a week. Maybe 1.8 pounds per week doesn't seem like a large chunk of lard when compared to the 15 pound losses a week on "The Biggest Loser" but, you're not isolated on a fat ranch, working out with a personal trainer 24/7 alongside others who are competing against you to lose pounds and win big money.
If you are reading this far and have followed The Plan to lose 20 pounds by reducing your calories by 500 and pumping your body for 45 minutes daily, then you have lost, in the range of, 1.6# a week. If you're losing more, then you're ahead of the The Plan. If you're Weigh In this week wasn't what you predicted, be patient. If you followed The Plan and did everything you know to do, next week will reflect the losses. There is no way around losing weight the right way. It just doesn't work in the long run. Never has, never will. Now, if you are not seeing a 1.6# loss weekly, for reasons only you know, and you're trying to play catch up each week, then you might as well stop reading now.
Day 50 Calorie Count: 1485 and 47:20:15
I went back and checked last week's loss to make sure I saw it right. 1.6. It works. It's simple. It's about the math.
I have rendered nearly 49 1/2 sticks of butter in 50 days, an average of 1.8 pounds a week. Maybe 1.8 pounds per week doesn't seem like a large chunk of lard when compared to the 15 pound losses a week on "The Biggest Loser" but, you're not isolated on a fat ranch, working out with a personal trainer 24/7 alongside others who are competing against you to lose pounds and win big money.
If you are reading this far and have followed The Plan to lose 20 pounds by reducing your calories by 500 and pumping your body for 45 minutes daily, then you have lost, in the range of, 1.6# a week. If you're losing more, then you're ahead of the The Plan. If you're Weigh In this week wasn't what you predicted, be patient. If you followed The Plan and did everything you know to do, next week will reflect the losses. There is no way around losing weight the right way. It just doesn't work in the long run. Never has, never will. Now, if you are not seeing a 1.6# loss weekly, for reasons only you know, and you're trying to play catch up each week, then you might as well stop reading now.
Day 50 Calorie Count: 1485 and 47:20:15
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Day 49
Tomorrow is Weigh In #7 and now is the good time to think about Reward #5. What are you planning for yourself?
Clothes? A digital camera? Tickets to a Broadway show? Mario Batali's new cookbook? What is something you've wanted to buy yourself for some time but never felt like you should splurge on it or that you deserved it? You deserve it. If you've come this far and haven't indulged yourself in a small or big way, then now is your moment. Pickup something for you: a moisturizer, earrings, a new sweeper, whatever gives you that slight lift. You may think it's no big deal to plan a treat and then follow through with it, but it's a tiny symbolic step which will transcend itself into other areas of showing how you care for you. Little things mean the most.
My reward is whiter teeth. Years of drinking coffee, of all strengths and blends have stained havoc on them, and has made me self conscious about my smile. My teeth have bothered me for sometime. But I always thought, "I'm not worth it, that's for celebrities. It will be ungodly expensive. It doesn't really matter." But it does matter. And I have probably eaten in ice cream the cost equivalent of the treatment many times over. So, I picked up the phone, dialed my dentist and was surprised the treatment wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought and she could fit me in right after Weigh In #7. Hello pearly whites.
Clothes? A digital camera? Tickets to a Broadway show? Mario Batali's new cookbook? What is something you've wanted to buy yourself for some time but never felt like you should splurge on it or that you deserved it? You deserve it. If you've come this far and haven't indulged yourself in a small or big way, then now is your moment. Pickup something for you: a moisturizer, earrings, a new sweeper, whatever gives you that slight lift. You may think it's no big deal to plan a treat and then follow through with it, but it's a tiny symbolic step which will transcend itself into other areas of showing how you care for you. Little things mean the most.
My reward is whiter teeth. Years of drinking coffee, of all strengths and blends have stained havoc on them, and has made me self conscious about my smile. My teeth have bothered me for sometime. But I always thought, "I'm not worth it, that's for celebrities. It will be ungodly expensive. It doesn't really matter." But it does matter. And I have probably eaten in ice cream the cost equivalent of the treatment many times over. So, I picked up the phone, dialed my dentist and was surprised the treatment wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought and she could fit me in right after Weigh In #7. Hello pearly whites.
Day 48
"Desire is the key to motivation, but it's the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal--a commitment to excellence--that will enable you to attain the success you seek."*
Unrelenting. Not letting up or weakening your vigor or pace. Constant, hard, stern. Not softening. I know you desire to lose weight and wanting so badly to finally do it motivates you to follow this plan, or that plan, or any plan but, wanting to lose weight is not enough. It's a start, but it's not enough. Losing weight is work. Not back breaking-lugging-concrete-blocks-in-a-wheel-barrow-up-a-hill kind of work, but mental work, calculating work, rethinking, changing life style, sacrificing kind of work. You must be relentless when approaching your weight loss. Persistent. Tenacious. Single minded. Losing weight doesn't end until it ends and then it really doesn't end, does it? You can't take your eye off the ball. Even after you've dropped eighty sticks of butter, you still must stay committed to the goal. Only then the goal will change, instead of taking off the weight, the goal will be keeping off the weight.
If, after 90 days of walking your butt off, counting the calories in every Altoid and balancing your ledger at each and every meal, you decide to take a break, what will inevitably happen? Slowly, oh so slowly, the weight will creep back on. Don't let up, don't weaken, be tireless in meeting your goal each day, one day at a time. It's simple: eat until you reach 1500 calories and walk for 45 minutes. We're more than half way there.
Day 48 Calorie Count: 1390 (which included 1 slice of Libby's pumpkin pie w/2 blasts of Reddi Whip) and 49:46:15 minutes of walking
*Mario Andretti
If, after 90 days of walking your butt off, counting the calories in every Altoid and balancing your ledger at each and every meal, you decide to take a break, what will inevitably happen? Slowly, oh so slowly, the weight will creep back on. Don't let up, don't weaken, be tireless in meeting your goal each day, one day at a time. It's simple: eat until you reach 1500 calories and walk for 45 minutes. We're more than half way there.
Day 48 Calorie Count: 1390 (which included 1 slice of Libby's pumpkin pie w/2 blasts of Reddi Whip) and 49:46:15 minutes of walking
*Mario Andretti
Day 47
Day 47 Calorie Count: 1420 and 47:38:22 minutes of walking
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1 packet Quaker Oats Weight Control Oatmeal (160), handful of raspberries (30), 1/4 Eggo Waffle (40) w/1 t. margarine (30)
Lunch: McDonald's Double Hamburger, extra pickle (360), 1/2 serving small fries (125), Diet Coke
Dinner: Healthy Choice General Tso's Chicken (410), 1/2 bagel (105), w 1 t. margarine (30), 4 T. chocolate Cool Whip (50)
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1 packet Quaker Oats Weight Control Oatmeal (160), handful of raspberries (30), 1/4 Eggo Waffle (40) w/1 t. margarine (30)
Lunch: McDonald's Double Hamburger, extra pickle (360), 1/2 serving small fries (125), Diet Coke
Dinner: Healthy Choice General Tso's Chicken (410), 1/2 bagel (105), w 1 t. margarine (30), 4 T. chocolate Cool Whip (50)
Day 46 Reward #4
Good bye Anne Klein eye wear, I hardly knew ya. $179 is a lot of money to shell out for specs that are only worn to read the newspaper. I wasn't about to plunk down that kind of cash for "readers" but I did snag a wannabe Liebskind style for $19, quite an upgrade from the cheap ones I usually pick up from the Dollar Store. At least I won't look like Granny Clampet when I'm in the grocery aisle, squinting to read labels.
I hope you are following through with your Rewards List, it's a great perk to have something to look forward to and a good diversion while you're "counting". Keep moving.
Day 46 Calorie Count: 1395 and 51:40:12 minutes of walking
I hope you are following through with your Rewards List, it's a great perk to have something to look forward to and a good diversion while you're "counting". Keep moving.
Day 46 Calorie Count: 1395 and 51:40:12 minutes of walking
Day 45
How is your daily exercising coming? You must be seeing results in your body by now, particularly in your arms, legs and rear. I am finally noticing the diminishing span of my thighs and seeing less of a fat roll around my bra, front and back. I still have bulges, BB shot dents and curds and whey, but I'm reaping the rewards.
I've been diligent about walking and have even added some interval running and although, I wholeheartedly enjoy being out there (once I'm out there), I still waffle. Waffling brings me back to that mental Polaroid of me slumped out on the fake leather physician's table, like a mammoth, melting, marshmallow Peep. That'll do it every time.
I picked up an inexpensive AM/FM radio with a spot watch so I don't have to sprint into the kitchen, after my walk, to check the time. It times me to the second.
Day Calorie Count: 1380 and 52:30:02
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1/2 Panera Cinnamon Crunch bagel (210) with 1 t. margarine (30)
Later: 1/2 dozen McDonald's fries, 1/6 McDonald's Cheeseburger (100 total for both)
I'd rather not even eat those random, obscure bites because it's a pain to Google it, compare it with something similar, divide it and come up with a reasonable value. I'd rather not be bothered and that can be a very effective deterrent to overeating.
Most of the calorie values of the foods I regularly eat are embedded in my brain like newspaper print in Silly Putty. I can call them up instantly. Banana. 90. Hard boiled egg. 90. It's the unusual stuff that makes it tricky. Like homemade carrot cake. You can find a recipe that calls for a 13X9 baking pan, but what if the slice you eat is from 3 cake rounds? And has 3 cups Crisco oil? And yields 10 servings instead of 16?
You're probably thinking "who cares?" You do. If you hadn't raised your sticky hands to sign up for The Plan forty five days ago, I'd say, "go ahead, eat the whole cake, and while you're at it, have some cinnamon ice cream to go with it." But, if you're reading this, then that's not an option for you. You have to count.
Early Dinner: 1/2 turkey club (turkey and bacon 380) on whole wheat (120), 1 T mayo (90), 1 ounce Lay's chips (150 ), Diet Coke
Later: 94% Fat Free Kettle Popcorn (100), 1 ounce Snyder's pretzels (120)
I've been diligent about walking and have even added some interval running and although, I wholeheartedly enjoy being out there (once I'm out there), I still waffle. Waffling brings me back to that mental Polaroid of me slumped out on the fake leather physician's table, like a mammoth, melting, marshmallow Peep. That'll do it every time.
I picked up an inexpensive AM/FM radio with a spot watch so I don't have to sprint into the kitchen, after my walk, to check the time. It times me to the second.
Day Calorie Count: 1380 and 52:30:02
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1/2 Panera Cinnamon Crunch bagel (210) with 1 t. margarine (30)
Later: 1/2 dozen McDonald's fries, 1/6 McDonald's Cheeseburger (100 total for both)
I'd rather not even eat those random, obscure bites because it's a pain to Google it, compare it with something similar, divide it and come up with a reasonable value. I'd rather not be bothered and that can be a very effective deterrent to overeating.
Most of the calorie values of the foods I regularly eat are embedded in my brain like newspaper print in Silly Putty. I can call them up instantly. Banana. 90. Hard boiled egg. 90. It's the unusual stuff that makes it tricky. Like homemade carrot cake. You can find a recipe that calls for a 13X9 baking pan, but what if the slice you eat is from 3 cake rounds? And has 3 cups Crisco oil? And yields 10 servings instead of 16?
You're probably thinking "who cares?" You do. If you hadn't raised your sticky hands to sign up for The Plan forty five days ago, I'd say, "go ahead, eat the whole cake, and while you're at it, have some cinnamon ice cream to go with it." But, if you're reading this, then that's not an option for you. You have to count.
Early Dinner: 1/2 turkey club (turkey and bacon 380) on whole wheat (120), 1 T mayo (90), 1 ounce Lay's chips (150 ), Diet Coke
Later: 94% Fat Free Kettle Popcorn (100), 1 ounce Snyder's pretzels (120)
Day 44 A Bug's Life
There are ten to one hundred trillion bugs in our gut. They're called micro flora and according to Jeffrey Gordon (Center for Genome Sciences at Washington University), these little boogers lead very busy lives. They, among other things, "help create capillaries that line and nourish the intestines. They produce vitamins, in particular, thiamine, pyroxidine and vitamin K. In addition, they provide enzymes which metabolize cholesterol and bile acid. They also help extract calories from the food we eat and store these calories in fat cell for later use--which gives them, in effect, a role in determining whether our diets will make us fat or thin."
A New York Times Magazine article, "Fat Factors" (Robin Marantz Henig, 8/13/2006), reported that a new wave of research suggests that microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, intestinal microbes) may contribute to obesity. So, it's not the biggie sized meals after all, it's a fat bug.
The article states that it's long been understood in the study of obesity that diet and obesity genes play a major role in the drama of weight gain/loss. No surprise there. About 50 obesity genes discovered since 1994 are identified with regulating the amount of food people consume, when eaters feel full, and how efficiently their fires burn the calories off. Infectobesity is the term that describes the field of research striving to determine if the gazillions of microbes living inside our gut (gut bugs) are actually making or keeping us fact. Gordon adds that it's a long way down the road before these tummy creepy crawler's role in obesity is completely understood.
Interesting but, a bit far fetched for me. The critter theory has the convenient potential to be just another excuse for not taking responsibility. Bugs or no stinkbugs, 20PO are in charge of their own weight loss or gain. I have heard every possible genetic and physiological excuse in the weight watching world from women who insist they can't lose weight. Won't happen. Doesn't matter what they do, how much they starve themselves, they can't shed pounds. Not one iota.
Really? I am wondering if someone who claims they can't lose weight was dropped smack down on a deserted island for three weeks with only a volleyball named Wilson and unlimited Dasani water, would she, when airlifted out, be any lighter? I'd bet money she would've lost at the very least, a few ounces.
Day44 Caorie Count: 1433 and 50+ minutes of walking
A New York Times Magazine article, "Fat Factors" (Robin Marantz Henig, 8/13/2006), reported that a new wave of research suggests that microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, intestinal microbes) may contribute to obesity. So, it's not the biggie sized meals after all, it's a fat bug.
The article states that it's long been understood in the study of obesity that diet and obesity genes play a major role in the drama of weight gain/loss. No surprise there. About 50 obesity genes discovered since 1994 are identified with regulating the amount of food people consume, when eaters feel full, and how efficiently their fires burn the calories off. Infectobesity is the term that describes the field of research striving to determine if the gazillions of microbes living inside our gut (gut bugs) are actually making or keeping us fact. Gordon adds that it's a long way down the road before these tummy creepy crawler's role in obesity is completely understood.
Interesting but, a bit far fetched for me. The critter theory has the convenient potential to be just another excuse for not taking responsibility. Bugs or no stinkbugs, 20PO are in charge of their own weight loss or gain. I have heard every possible genetic and physiological excuse in the weight watching world from women who insist they can't lose weight. Won't happen. Doesn't matter what they do, how much they starve themselves, they can't shed pounds. Not one iota.
Really? I am wondering if someone who claims they can't lose weight was dropped smack down on a deserted island for three weeks with only a volleyball named Wilson and unlimited Dasani water, would she, when airlifted out, be any lighter? I'd bet money she would've lost at the very least, a few ounces.
Day44 Caorie Count: 1433 and 50+ minutes of walking
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Day 43 Weigh In #6
The scale didn't smile at me this week, but it didn't exactly smirk, either. My Job moment. I stared at the measly .4 pound loss, not even 2 sticks of butter. Honestly, I was ever-so-hoping to shed over 8 sticks of butter this Weigh In. After all, I had religiously hiked up the hills each day and counted every calorie I had put in my mouth. I even had to tighten my bra straps this week
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote, "Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."
I'm confident that "the place and time" , (the scale in 7 days from now) will prove her words true. I'm mentally picturing that naked blob hunched over in the doctor's examining room. SHE would give up. SHE would become discouraged. SHE would stick her head inside the kids' pillow cases full of left over Halloween candy and gobble up all the stale Almond Joys, not coming up for air until the last peanut M&M was gone. I am not her, anymore. I'm the girl with the new hair cut, new lipstick and arched eyebrows.
"Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit." *
I am not quitting.
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1 bite of Jimmy Dean link sausage (60), 1 1/4 cup Lucky Charms (140), 1/2 cup skim milk (40)
Snack: Panera Muffie (1/2), (155)
Lunch: 2 slices veggie pizza (390), Diet Coke
Dinner: Green salad w/ 3 T. Paul Newman's Balsamic Vinaigrette (135), 3 ounces chicken, roasted (140), 1/2 buttermilk biscuit (50), 1/2 cup corn w/1 t. margarine (135)
Later: 94% Fat Free Kettle Popcorn (100), 1/2 glass Pepsi (80)
Day 43 Calorie Count: 1505, close to 52 minutes walking
*Napoleon Hill
Day 42 Jeans: The New Religion
Citizens of Humanity, 7 For All Mankind, Blue Cult, True Religion. Sounds like new spiritual movements. They're not, they're jeans, I mean, denim and you don't buy your jeans at department stores anymore, you go to denim emporiums or premium denimtiques. These ain't your Mommy's Levis.
Button Fly 501 Levis and Wranglers are as passe as aviator sunglasses these days. Where's Gloria Vanderbilt and Brooke Shields when you need 'em?
It's been years (yeah, you read that right) since I bought a pair of blue jeans that I've lost touch with the whole denim revolution. The denim scene arrived and I wasn't even aware of it until I popped into one of those holier than hip boutiques to pick up Reward #4. I was overwhelmed. The salesperson spoke a dialect I didn't know existed, denimese, and prattled on about thread, fit, wash. Then, I glanced at a price tag and I had to sit down.
A gaggle of giggling teens entered, armed to buy and I grabbed that opportunity to escape.
So much for "heavily twilled blue cotton cloth", I think I'll get reader glasses instead.
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 2 pieces toast w/2 T. Polaner's Sugar Free Orange Marmalade (160), 1 T. butter spread (90), 1/2 container Lite blueberry yogurt (45)
Snack: Cotton candy (50), 2 slices sm. vegetable pizza (390). 8-10 ounces BLT salad (250), pizza sauce (50)
Dinner: Healthy Choice BBQ Chicken (370)
Day 42 Calorie Count: 1485 and 45+ minutes walking
Button Fly 501 Levis and Wranglers are as passe as aviator sunglasses these days. Where's Gloria Vanderbilt and Brooke Shields when you need 'em?
It's been years (yeah, you read that right) since I bought a pair of blue jeans that I've lost touch with the whole denim revolution. The denim scene arrived and I wasn't even aware of it until I popped into one of those holier than hip boutiques to pick up Reward #4. I was overwhelmed. The salesperson spoke a dialect I didn't know existed, denimese, and prattled on about thread, fit, wash. Then, I glanced at a price tag and I had to sit down.
A gaggle of giggling teens entered, armed to buy and I grabbed that opportunity to escape.
So much for "heavily twilled blue cotton cloth", I think I'll get reader glasses instead.
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 2 pieces toast w/2 T. Polaner's Sugar Free Orange Marmalade (160), 1 T. butter spread (90), 1/2 container Lite blueberry yogurt (45)
Snack: Cotton candy (50), 2 slices sm. vegetable pizza (390). 8-10 ounces BLT salad (250), pizza sauce (50)
Dinner: Healthy Choice BBQ Chicken (370)
Day 42 Calorie Count: 1485 and 45+ minutes walking
Day 41 Water, Water, Everywhere
You're probably thinking, "where does the water thing come in? Not seeing much about drinking water to flush out all the fat." Well, I don't drink a lot of water, certainly not the recommended 64 ounces daily, but I do drink water throughout the day and especially after walking. Generally, I'll drink a Diet Coke along side water at meals.
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1 packet Quaker Weight Control Oatmeal (160), 2 slices bacon (180)
Lunch: Wendy's Junior Cheeseburger, extra pickle (280), Wendy's small chili (220), 2 saltine crackers (24), Diet Coke.
Later: 20 Dark Chocolate M&M's (1023 calories per cup), I had about 1/16 of a cup (170)
Dinner: Lean Cuisine Sesame Chicken (340)
Day 41 Calorie Count: 1454 and 47 minutes of walking
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1 packet Quaker Weight Control Oatmeal (160), 2 slices bacon (180)
Lunch: Wendy's Junior Cheeseburger, extra pickle (280), Wendy's small chili (220), 2 saltine crackers (24), Diet Coke.
Later: 20 Dark Chocolate M&M's (1023 calories per cup), I had about 1/16 of a cup (170)
Dinner: Lean Cuisine Sesame Chicken (340)
Day 41 Calorie Count: 1454 and 47 minutes of walking
Day 40 Count Your Drinkable Calories
We're a couple days out from Weigh In #6, when we will be at the halfway marker on the 20/90 Plan. You should be toting around 40 sticks less butter, if you're not already. How accurate is your calorie counting? Are you counting everything? Is it as precise as it can be? A gentle reminder: do not blow off or overlook the "little" things, two handfuls of movie popcorn, confiscated Nestle Crunches from your kids backpacks, Duncan Hines cake batter licked from the beaters, and, liquids, yes, especially liquids, they all add up and over, big time.
Be careful with what you drink, just because you don't chew the calories, doesn't mean they're not there. They're there, in all their unassuming, unobtrusive glory.
You pop out of bed in the morning, and quickly guzzle 16 ounces of Tropicana 100% Pineapple-Orange juice. Easy to do. (260). Next, a cup of coffee with a few splashes of International Delight Hazelnut Creamer (45 calories a splash). No time for breakfast? You grab a Yoplait Nouriche yogurt drink (260). On the drive to work, you hit Starbucks for a Grand Blackberry Green Tea Frappuccino w/cream. Sound so fengshui good for 560 calories. O.K., so where are we at? 1215 calories and you haven't even chewed anything.
You've got to count everything that passes through your lips; Frappuccinos, frappes, smoothies, Slush Puppies, slurpees, McDonald's Triple Thick Strawberry Shakes, Hot Toddies, gloggs, mulled apple cider, hot cocoa, egg nog, Brut champage, Kahlua & Creams, Martinis, Mudslides, non alcoholic grape juice, cranberry juice, Gatorade, Powerade, Monster Energy drinks, Red Bull, Thelmas's Frozen Lemonade, Mike's Hard Lemonade, Limeade, freshly squeezed lemonade, apple juice, Popsicles, Astro Pops, Bomb Pops, Icees, Push Ups, Yoo-Hoo, Brown Cows, Pinot Noir, steamers, lattes, kefir, carob Rice Dream, beer, stout, Long Island Iced Teas, sweet teas, peach teas, Pepsi, Pumpkin Pie International Delight coffee creamers, Grappa, Grand Marnier, Jello shots, protein drinks wine spritzers, wine coolers, Amaretto, Absinthe, skim milk, goat's milk, buttermilk, low fat milk, 2% milk, Slim Fast, carrot juice, Instant Breakfasts, Mountain Dew, veal stock...
Day40 Calorie Count: 1480 and 46 minutes walking
Be careful with what you drink, just because you don't chew the calories, doesn't mean they're not there. They're there, in all their unassuming, unobtrusive glory.
You pop out of bed in the morning, and quickly guzzle 16 ounces of Tropicana 100% Pineapple-Orange juice. Easy to do. (260). Next, a cup of coffee with a few splashes of International Delight Hazelnut Creamer (45 calories a splash). No time for breakfast? You grab a Yoplait Nouriche yogurt drink (260). On the drive to work, you hit Starbucks for a Grand Blackberry Green Tea Frappuccino w/cream. Sound so fengshui good for 560 calories. O.K., so where are we at? 1215 calories and you haven't even chewed anything.
You've got to count everything that passes through your lips; Frappuccinos, frappes, smoothies, Slush Puppies, slurpees, McDonald's Triple Thick Strawberry Shakes, Hot Toddies, gloggs, mulled apple cider, hot cocoa, egg nog, Brut champage, Kahlua & Creams, Martinis, Mudslides, non alcoholic grape juice, cranberry juice, Gatorade, Powerade, Monster Energy drinks, Red Bull, Thelmas's Frozen Lemonade, Mike's Hard Lemonade, Limeade, freshly squeezed lemonade, apple juice, Popsicles, Astro Pops, Bomb Pops, Icees, Push Ups, Yoo-Hoo, Brown Cows, Pinot Noir, steamers, lattes, kefir, carob Rice Dream, beer, stout, Long Island Iced Teas, sweet teas, peach teas, Pepsi, Pumpkin Pie International Delight coffee creamers, Grappa, Grand Marnier, Jello shots, protein drinks wine spritzers, wine coolers, Amaretto, Absinthe, skim milk, goat's milk, buttermilk, low fat milk, 2% milk, Slim Fast, carrot juice, Instant Breakfasts, Mountain Dew, veal stock...
Day40 Calorie Count: 1480 and 46 minutes walking
Monday, February 2, 2009
Day 39 Funky Food Day
There's no egg in egg creams and no cotton in cotton candy. I know because I ate both of those today.
I stopped in a candy and nut shop in my neighborhood that specializes in nostalgic candy: Mary Janes, mini marshmallow ice cream cones, chocolate cigarettes, Fizzie Drink Action tablets and every retro sweet in between including Gold Mine gum and candy buttons (globs of colored dots on adding machine paper).
I was there with my son, big mistake, who spied the cellophane bags of pink cotton candy. A 2 ounce package of dyed sugar batting has 200 calories. I pull off a piece from the fluff mass, maybe an 1/8, and let it dissolve in my mouth (50). It wasn't so much as delicious as it was memory inducing.
Now unto that classic NY beverage, the eggless egg cream, of which the essential components are soda water, Vitamin D milk, and chocolate syrup. Not just any chocolate syrup. Any egg cream aficionado worth his seltzer knows it's not a classic egg cream unless Fox's U Bet chocolate syrup is used.
My son, while watching something on t.v., calls out to ask me what's in an egg cream? Rare teachable moment. I ask him what HE thinks is in it. He shrugs, disinterested, "I dunno know." I seize the moment to educate. I was heading to the grocery store anyway, so while there I thought I'd pick up the three vital ingredients, fully expecting to substitute Hershey's, but to my shock, our Midwest supermarket actually stocked Fox's U Bet. Small world, at least, in the ethnic aisles at the grocers.
I walked my son through each preparation step, from using the appropriate tumbler, to pouring the syrup slowly down the inside of the glass and stirring like mad with a long iced tea spoon, resulting in a drink with an inch of fizzy, white foam on top. As he clanked the spoon inside the glass, I enlightened him with all things egg cream from its legendary, and somewhat disputed origins to pasteurization, soda jerks, the esteemed egg cream guru, Louis Auster, Brooklyn. He sipped it and shrugged, "it's okay, kinda like a Graeter's chocolate soda without ice cream." I started to tell him about other Jewish foods we could explore...blintzes, bialys, hamantaschen. He walked out of the kitchen, totally uninterested, "hey mom, why couldn't we have just added soda water to Nesquik chocolate milk?" What chutzpah.
Day 39 Calorie Count: 1370 (including cotton candy and the egg cream).
I stopped in a candy and nut shop in my neighborhood that specializes in nostalgic candy: Mary Janes, mini marshmallow ice cream cones, chocolate cigarettes, Fizzie Drink Action tablets and every retro sweet in between including Gold Mine gum and candy buttons (globs of colored dots on adding machine paper).
I was there with my son, big mistake, who spied the cellophane bags of pink cotton candy. A 2 ounce package of dyed sugar batting has 200 calories. I pull off a piece from the fluff mass, maybe an 1/8, and let it dissolve in my mouth (50). It wasn't so much as delicious as it was memory inducing.
Now unto that classic NY beverage, the eggless egg cream, of which the essential components are soda water, Vitamin D milk, and chocolate syrup. Not just any chocolate syrup. Any egg cream aficionado worth his seltzer knows it's not a classic egg cream unless Fox's U Bet chocolate syrup is used.
My son, while watching something on t.v., calls out to ask me what's in an egg cream? Rare teachable moment. I ask him what HE thinks is in it. He shrugs, disinterested, "I dunno know." I seize the moment to educate. I was heading to the grocery store anyway, so while there I thought I'd pick up the three vital ingredients, fully expecting to substitute Hershey's, but to my shock, our Midwest supermarket actually stocked Fox's U Bet. Small world, at least, in the ethnic aisles at the grocers.
I walked my son through each preparation step, from using the appropriate tumbler, to pouring the syrup slowly down the inside of the glass and stirring like mad with a long iced tea spoon, resulting in a drink with an inch of fizzy, white foam on top. As he clanked the spoon inside the glass, I enlightened him with all things egg cream from its legendary, and somewhat disputed origins to pasteurization, soda jerks, the esteemed egg cream guru, Louis Auster, Brooklyn. He sipped it and shrugged, "it's okay, kinda like a Graeter's chocolate soda without ice cream." I started to tell him about other Jewish foods we could explore...blintzes, bialys, hamantaschen. He walked out of the kitchen, totally uninterested, "hey mom, why couldn't we have just added soda water to Nesquik chocolate milk?" What chutzpah.
Day 39 Calorie Count: 1370 (including cotton candy and the egg cream).
Day 38
After six weeks on The Plan, I still have that senseless internal dialogue when it comes to walking. I read that a bad habit can be permanently extinguished after thirty days and conversely, a healthy habit will become part of your daily routine if practiced for a month. So, how do I explain why my Dad, after being smoke free from his two pack addiction for over a year, suddenly got up out of his Lazy Boy in the middle of Laugh In, walked to the gas station and calmly lit up a Viceroy? Same reason I grapple with walking every day, even though I have been doing it for thirty seven days and I know it's one of the best things I can do for myself.
If it pays off in the way my pants fit and reminds me each time I look in the mirror and see less-of-a-bloated face, why do I struggle so much? I don't know, I can't begin to figure it out and I don't really care to.
I've read the book--"Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", and am aware of all the programs out there that teach low performers, like me, how to achieve greater productivity, and strategies that help break/develop habits. But the bottom line is: you still have to just do it. Don't waste your time and energy thinking about exercising, just get out and get it done. By the time your waffling brings you back to pulling your shoes on, you could've had fifteen minutes, or more, under your belt.
If it pays off in the way my pants fit and reminds me each time I look in the mirror and see less-of-a-bloated face, why do I struggle so much? I don't know, I can't begin to figure it out and I don't really care to.
I've read the book--"Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", and am aware of all the programs out there that teach low performers, like me, how to achieve greater productivity, and strategies that help break/develop habits. But the bottom line is: you still have to just do it. Don't waste your time and energy thinking about exercising, just get out and get it done. By the time your waffling brings you back to pulling your shoes on, you could've had fifteen minutes, or more, under your belt.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Day 37
I cashed in my third reward, transforming my dingy brown and gray hair (think Adrian from Rocky) into a crown of warm mahogany tones. The best part was the salon was close, right in my neigborhood and I didn't have to take out a second mortgage for cut and color, for seventy bucks (about 15 pints of Graeters), I left there feeling like a million bucks. It's amazing how something that cost so little can make you feel so good.
The desired image of me, living in my head, desperately trying to excape is gaining ground, pound by lost pound. Believe me, there's still many laps to go but I an definitely feel her on my heals.
Day 37 Calorie Count: 1440 and 45 minutes of walking.
The desired image of me, living in my head, desperately trying to excape is gaining ground, pound by lost pound. Believe me, there's still many laps to go but I an definitely feel her on my heals.
Day 37 Calorie Count: 1440 and 45 minutes of walking.
Day 36 Weigh In #5
I dropped exactly 1.6#. Right on the money. I am hoping you are tracking with equal success. If your scale didn't grin at you today, and you have been faithfully following The Plan, then you have nothing to worry about. Think of this Weigh In as your personal Job plateau: you did everything right, you counted every calorie, you walked every day, you trusted that you would lose weight this week, but, for inexplicable reasons you didn't lose or maybe you gained. And the injustice of it all is your friends don't believe you. But you refuse to turn away or fall off The Plan. Good for you. Stay committed.
Why the scale didn't move this week could be attributed to any number of things; water retention, constipation, who knows, but it will correct itself. The scale may register double the amount in loss next week.
True Story: One of my 20PO pals, who has free registered for Weight Watchers a dozen times, had her first weigh in after following the program to the 'point" for the first week. She excitedly handed over her membership card to the scale monitor and got back a big, fat 0. She was devastated and discouraged, not to mention, pissed off. This was her Job moment. She could've taken one of two approaches: thrown in the towel, cursed Jean Nidetch and devoured a small pig or dug in her heels and remained resolute, knowing she did everything she could have. She chose the latter and went back to Weight Watchers the next morning, asking to be weighed again. She had to fork over another coupon but it was worth it. She lost 4.7 pounds. Imagine if she had chosen the first option. Unfortunately, she gained that 4.7 pounds back and has the rest of her coupons stashed in a junk drawer.
We can't question why bad weight loss happens to good people. Blow it off and stay on course. You can be proud that you counted every kernel, slurp and bite, right? You hoofed it everyday and you pushed yourself away from the counter, table or buffet when you hit your magic number, right? But, if you didn't, that's another story...
Day 36 Calorie Count: 1402 and 48 minutes walking
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1 /2 Lender's bagel w/1 T. Polaner's Sugar Free Marmalade (150), 3 oz scrambled egg (100)
Lunch: 1 ounce pretzels (110)
Lunch/Dinner: Steak soft taco (170), half Baja Chicken Chalupa, no sour cream (160), 6-7 nacho chips (70)
Later: Gala apple (50), other half of chalupa (160), 1 Twix stick (142)
Why the scale didn't move this week could be attributed to any number of things; water retention, constipation, who knows, but it will correct itself. The scale may register double the amount in loss next week.
True Story: One of my 20PO pals, who has free registered for Weight Watchers a dozen times, had her first weigh in after following the program to the 'point" for the first week. She excitedly handed over her membership card to the scale monitor and got back a big, fat 0. She was devastated and discouraged, not to mention, pissed off. This was her Job moment. She could've taken one of two approaches: thrown in the towel, cursed Jean Nidetch and devoured a small pig or dug in her heels and remained resolute, knowing she did everything she could have. She chose the latter and went back to Weight Watchers the next morning, asking to be weighed again. She had to fork over another coupon but it was worth it. She lost 4.7 pounds. Imagine if she had chosen the first option. Unfortunately, she gained that 4.7 pounds back and has the rest of her coupons stashed in a junk drawer.
We can't question why bad weight loss happens to good people. Blow it off and stay on course. You can be proud that you counted every kernel, slurp and bite, right? You hoofed it everyday and you pushed yourself away from the counter, table or buffet when you hit your magic number, right? But, if you didn't, that's another story...
Day 36 Calorie Count: 1402 and 48 minutes walking
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1 /2 Lender's bagel w/1 T. Polaner's Sugar Free Marmalade (150), 3 oz scrambled egg (100)
Lunch: 1 ounce pretzels (110)
Lunch/Dinner: Steak soft taco (170), half Baja Chicken Chalupa, no sour cream (160), 6-7 nacho chips (70)
Later: Gala apple (50), other half of chalupa (160), 1 Twix stick (142)
Day 35
I tend to visualize negative images of myself for continued motivation. It keeps me focused when I click through memories of my body at its worst. As the horrid images click by like a mental PowerPoint, I see photos when my face was bloated or my black dress pants barely covered my backside. I've even taped embarrassing pictures of myself on the fridge; a photo of me, slumped over a picnic table, eating corn on the cob, a back shot in a bathing suit, photographs so repulsing, they act like appetite suppressants. Or do they?
Now, I want to start visualizing what I will look like, not what I have looked like. Alluring, flattering images are certainly more compelling and appealing. Seeing ourselves as we want to be seen, as you want others to see you. Picture yourself in hip, trendy clothes and start tossing out the stuff you bought in college or on sale, the safe stuff, the stuff that makes you look, and feel, frumpy.
Envision your hair in a new style (lose the scraggly ponytail and the bobby pins). Lose the mousy browns and faded blonds. Conjure images of you, in stylish clothes and with a stylish look. Keep it positive.
The "I'll get around to getting my act together" is over, getting your act together happens now. Grab a Hefty bag and take the first step: hit your closet and pitch all the back up stuff. The baggy pants, dumpy skirts, Dr. Scholl shoes. Be what you have always envisioned yourself to be. It's scary to throw away, what you think are, perfectly good clothes, but if you haven't fit in or worn them in a year, what makes you think, that once you've shed eighty sticks of butter, you'll want to wear them then? Get them out of the house. They clutter up your mental and physical space and bind you to a past that is not a part of you anymore. Start buying clothes that say who YOU really are and aspire to be. Make the image and the appearance one.
Now, I want to start visualizing what I will look like, not what I have looked like. Alluring, flattering images are certainly more compelling and appealing. Seeing ourselves as we want to be seen, as you want others to see you. Picture yourself in hip, trendy clothes and start tossing out the stuff you bought in college or on sale, the safe stuff, the stuff that makes you look, and feel, frumpy.
Envision your hair in a new style (lose the scraggly ponytail and the bobby pins). Lose the mousy browns and faded blonds. Conjure images of you, in stylish clothes and with a stylish look. Keep it positive.
The "I'll get around to getting my act together" is over, getting your act together happens now. Grab a Hefty bag and take the first step: hit your closet and pitch all the back up stuff. The baggy pants, dumpy skirts, Dr. Scholl shoes. Be what you have always envisioned yourself to be. It's scary to throw away, what you think are, perfectly good clothes, but if you haven't fit in or worn them in a year, what makes you think, that once you've shed eighty sticks of butter, you'll want to wear them then? Get them out of the house. They clutter up your mental and physical space and bind you to a past that is not a part of you anymore. Start buying clothes that say who YOU really are and aspire to be. Make the image and the appearance one.
Day 34
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 2 scrambled eggs prepared with 1 T margarine (300), 1 piece toast w/1 T Polaners Sugar Free Marmalade (70)
Lunch: Lean Cuisine Garlic Chicken Pizza (290), 1 cups mini carrots (50)
Dinner: 4 0unce Cheeseburger on a bakery bun (510), 1/2 cup homemade bean chili (110), 2 T cole slaw (75)
Calorie Count: 1475 and 48 minutes walking
Lunch: Lean Cuisine Garlic Chicken Pizza (290), 1 cups mini carrots (50)
Dinner: 4 0unce Cheeseburger on a bakery bun (510), 1/2 cup homemade bean chili (110), 2 T cole slaw (75)
Calorie Count: 1475 and 48 minutes walking
Day 33 You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream...
My hometown boasts the best ice cream made anywhere in the world, Graeters. All the gelato, frozen custard, sorbets, hand cranked, and slow churned ice cream aside, Graeters is without a doubt the best, no cones about it.
In 1870 Louis Graeter immigrated from Germany and started an ice cream store, but this was no ordinary ice cream. He churned out a ethereal concoction using a French Pot process, a method which produces just two gallons at at time, so thick it's hand packed into pints.
In fact, on the Oprah Winfrey show in July 2002, she said, "you haven't had ice cream til you've had Graeters. The butter pecan is Stedman's favorite, and mine, too." The company was then overwhelmed with Internet and phone orders, so much for our town's best kept secret. But when you have an ice cream as irresistible as Graeters, I guess you have to share it with the world (and Oprah's seventy million viewing audience).
I love Graeters and all their signature chip flavors: black raspberry chip, coconut chip, mocha chocolate chip, toffee chip, peanut butter chip, mint chocolate chip with chips the size of Blackwood mulch. That's the result of pouring molten chocolate into the french pot, freezing it into a shell and then hacking it up manually with a blade. Dark bittersweet chips so huge, you have to mine them out.
On this particular morning of Day 33, after I had my usual coffee (80), my aunt dropped by with a Graeters pint of chocolate chip, my favorite and Graeters second best seller. Before lunch, I peeled back the lid, and spooned one luscious bite into my mouth. I had a couple more spoonfuls, holding them on my tongue to savor every every trace of cocoa bean and cream. By noon, the pint was gone (1160).
Eating an entire pint of ice cream isn't new for me. I've done it. A lot. What was new for me was not eating an entire buffet to go with it. Believe me, it's not difficult to eat an entire pint of Graeters. Ask any Cincinnatian.
I had about 250 calories to spend, so dinner was a Smart One and a Diet Coke.
I had splurged on something I love and enjoy. No, I wouldn't do that every week, but I ate it, counted it and moved on and I gave a 100% on my walk (45 minutes).
In 1870 Louis Graeter immigrated from Germany and started an ice cream store, but this was no ordinary ice cream. He churned out a ethereal concoction using a French Pot process, a method which produces just two gallons at at time, so thick it's hand packed into pints.
In fact, on the Oprah Winfrey show in July 2002, she said, "you haven't had ice cream til you've had Graeters. The butter pecan is Stedman's favorite, and mine, too." The company was then overwhelmed with Internet and phone orders, so much for our town's best kept secret. But when you have an ice cream as irresistible as Graeters, I guess you have to share it with the world (and Oprah's seventy million viewing audience).
I love Graeters and all their signature chip flavors: black raspberry chip, coconut chip, mocha chocolate chip, toffee chip, peanut butter chip, mint chocolate chip with chips the size of Blackwood mulch. That's the result of pouring molten chocolate into the french pot, freezing it into a shell and then hacking it up manually with a blade. Dark bittersweet chips so huge, you have to mine them out.
On this particular morning of Day 33, after I had my usual coffee (80), my aunt dropped by with a Graeters pint of chocolate chip, my favorite and Graeters second best seller. Before lunch, I peeled back the lid, and spooned one luscious bite into my mouth. I had a couple more spoonfuls, holding them on my tongue to savor every every trace of cocoa bean and cream. By noon, the pint was gone (1160).
Eating an entire pint of ice cream isn't new for me. I've done it. A lot. What was new for me was not eating an entire buffet to go with it. Believe me, it's not difficult to eat an entire pint of Graeters. Ask any Cincinnatian.
I had about 250 calories to spend, so dinner was a Smart One and a Diet Coke.
I had splurged on something I love and enjoy. No, I wouldn't do that every week, but I ate it, counted it and moved on and I gave a 100% on my walk (45 minutes).
Day 32
Are you planning your reward for Weigh In #5? I've made an appointment for a hair cut and color after the big event.
Are you exercising forty five minutes each day? Are your close friends commenting that your face looks a bit thinner?
It's great to receive positive comments from family and friends, it's like extra rewards when others acknowledge our efforts, propelling us with even firmer resolve, but it's crucial that you plan a small, or not so small reward for yourself each week.
This is the first time in my entire "trying to lose weight" life that I have stuck to a plan longer than seven days. And the reason for that is I don't feel like I am sticking to anything. This is as natural to me as breathing, or eating. Now, the exercise, I admit, is a different story. No doubt once I am out, with my arms flailing, I feel exhilarated but it is more often than not, a challenge squeezing it in. When I begin to waffle, I instantly pull up the image of me slumped over like Snuffelupagus on the table in that dimly lit examining room. That'll do it every time.
Day 32 Calorie Count: 1759 and 48 minutes of walking
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 2 pieces toast (160) w/Sugar Free Orange Marmalade (160),
Later: 10 huge red raspberries (40), a handful of Go Lean Crunch (70), Snicker Fun size bar (72)
Lunch: Half order Pad Thai (400), 3 pieces Flat bread (200), Green salad w/ginger dressing (340)
Later: 3 Ritz crackers w/1 T peanut butter (165), Snickers Fun size bar (72)
Are you exercising forty five minutes each day? Are your close friends commenting that your face looks a bit thinner?
It's great to receive positive comments from family and friends, it's like extra rewards when others acknowledge our efforts, propelling us with even firmer resolve, but it's crucial that you plan a small, or not so small reward for yourself each week.
This is the first time in my entire "trying to lose weight" life that I have stuck to a plan longer than seven days. And the reason for that is I don't feel like I am sticking to anything. This is as natural to me as breathing, or eating. Now, the exercise, I admit, is a different story. No doubt once I am out, with my arms flailing, I feel exhilarated but it is more often than not, a challenge squeezing it in. When I begin to waffle, I instantly pull up the image of me slumped over like Snuffelupagus on the table in that dimly lit examining room. That'll do it every time.
Day 32 Calorie Count: 1759 and 48 minutes of walking
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 2 pieces toast (160) w/Sugar Free Orange Marmalade (160),
Later: 10 huge red raspberries (40), a handful of Go Lean Crunch (70), Snicker Fun size bar (72)
Lunch: Half order Pad Thai (400), 3 pieces Flat bread (200), Green salad w/ginger dressing (340)
Later: 3 Ritz crackers w/1 T peanut butter (165), Snickers Fun size bar (72)
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Day 31
Breakfast: Panera Cherry Scone (360), Coffee (80)
Snack: 1 ounce Lay's Potato Chips (150), Diet Zero
Later: 1 slice toast w/1 T. Polaner's Sugar Free Blackberry Preserves (70)
Dinner: Frisch's Big Boy (440), 1/2 order fries (100), 2 bites Hot Fudge Cake (150)
DAY 31 Calorie Count: 1380, 45 minutes walking
Snack: 1 ounce Lay's Potato Chips (150), Diet Zero
Later: 1 slice toast w/1 T. Polaner's Sugar Free Blackberry Preserves (70)
Dinner: Frisch's Big Boy (440), 1/2 order fries (100), 2 bites Hot Fudge Cake (150)
DAY 31 Calorie Count: 1380, 45 minutes walking
Day 30
My neighbor, a fellow 30PO has spotted me huffing down the street, despite my best efforts to remain in cognito. She expressed interest in getting in shape and losing some weight. I described my usual route, encouraged her to come along and she signed on to meet this morning at the bottom of her driveway.
It was unseasonably cool, but she was waiting with a 32 ounce Gatorade in hand (200). It was apparent after fifty yards of awkwardly shifting it from hand to hand, that the bottle was making it cumbersome for her to walk. We were going at a fairly slow pace, what normally took me 15 minutes, was taking almost double that time. As we approached her house, she pulled out a Zone Bar (210) and offered me half. She commented it was quite a work out and I told her it was a pleasure walking with her and to call anytime she was ready to go again. I don't think she will.
As I hustled home, I thought that it would have been better, calorie wise, if she hadn't walked at all. She consumed
410 calories in a little over a half hour and burned, maybe 100 max.
How is your forty five minutes of daily exercise coming? Remember, forty five minutes equates to the .66 pounds we need to lose each week in order to meet the goal. It's not in addition to. If you exercise over forty five minutes, that's great and I applaud you.
Don't be misled about exercise; you'd be surprised to learn that the amount of calories you fire off when you get your heart pumping aren't as many as you think. The amount burned is affected by body weight, intensity of work out, conditioning level and metabolism. The best rule of thumb is: 15 minutes of hard exercise=100 calories. For me, that's about one mile of power walking.
Professor Brian Wansink (Cornell University) "conducts experiments to find out how the environment, labels, container size and other visual clues make us eat more." (NY Times, 10/11/06) As a leading consumer psychologist, he observes his subjects as they eat their way through an unlimited buffet. Some of the folks have moderately exercised, the others are couch potatoes. He's measuring the difference between the amount of scalloped potatoes, banana pudding and chili mac on both groups bottomless plates, hoping to prove that the exercisers think they can eat more because they burned off so much more. He has no challenges proving his theory.
If a marathoner runs 26.2 miles at an 11-12 minute mile pace and weighs 150 pounds, she'll burn off 2600 calories during the entire race, not even a pound. Now subtract what is consumed during the marathon: 2 Clif Shots (200), 64 ounces Gatorade (400), 1 banana (90), Cran Razz Shot Blok (200), almost 900 calories consumed against the paltry 2600 she'll burn!
Keep on moving.
It was unseasonably cool, but she was waiting with a 32 ounce Gatorade in hand (200). It was apparent after fifty yards of awkwardly shifting it from hand to hand, that the bottle was making it cumbersome for her to walk. We were going at a fairly slow pace, what normally took me 15 minutes, was taking almost double that time. As we approached her house, she pulled out a Zone Bar (210) and offered me half. She commented it was quite a work out and I told her it was a pleasure walking with her and to call anytime she was ready to go again. I don't think she will.
As I hustled home, I thought that it would have been better, calorie wise, if she hadn't walked at all. She consumed
410 calories in a little over a half hour and burned, maybe 100 max.
How is your forty five minutes of daily exercise coming? Remember, forty five minutes equates to the .66 pounds we need to lose each week in order to meet the goal. It's not in addition to. If you exercise over forty five minutes, that's great and I applaud you.
Don't be misled about exercise; you'd be surprised to learn that the amount of calories you fire off when you get your heart pumping aren't as many as you think. The amount burned is affected by body weight, intensity of work out, conditioning level and metabolism. The best rule of thumb is: 15 minutes of hard exercise=100 calories. For me, that's about one mile of power walking.
Professor Brian Wansink (Cornell University) "conducts experiments to find out how the environment, labels, container size and other visual clues make us eat more." (NY Times, 10/11/06) As a leading consumer psychologist, he observes his subjects as they eat their way through an unlimited buffet. Some of the folks have moderately exercised, the others are couch potatoes. He's measuring the difference between the amount of scalloped potatoes, banana pudding and chili mac on both groups bottomless plates, hoping to prove that the exercisers think they can eat more because they burned off so much more. He has no challenges proving his theory.
If a marathoner runs 26.2 miles at an 11-12 minute mile pace and weighs 150 pounds, she'll burn off 2600 calories during the entire race, not even a pound. Now subtract what is consumed during the marathon: 2 Clif Shots (200), 64 ounces Gatorade (400), 1 banana (90), Cran Razz Shot Blok (200), almost 900 calories consumed against the paltry 2600 she'll burn!
Keep on moving.
Day 29 Weigh In #4
Good bye seven sticks of butter, hello eye brow wax.
How did you today? You should be tracking about a 6.4# loss. We're gearing up for Round 2 (Days 30-60), are you ready? Are you walking? Are you counting?
Interesting conversation I had with my sister, who had just picked up these snack bags of sliced apples:
Me: How many calories does one of those bags have?
She, shrugging: I don't know, I don't even bother worrying about those measly calories.
I checked the bag, 35 calories. Now, 35 calories surely doesn't seem like much to me either, but then I started thinking.
Thirty five uncounted calories per day over the course of one year is 3.65 pounds. After two years there's seven pounds of fat mysteriously hanging off your thighs. So, what's the big deal about a couple of Good 'n Plentys? Now you know.
Day 29 Calorie Count: 1315 and 45 minutes walking
Breakfast: 1 cup Sugar free Cafe Vienna (25), 6 bites Special K with Strawberries cereal w/1/4 cup skim milk (70)
Later: Starbuck's Vanilla Latte (220, no whipped cream), 1 Gala apple (50)
Lunch: Wendy's Junior Hamburger, extra pickle (280), 1/2 plain baked potato (80), 1/2 Gala apple (25)
Snack: 94% Fat Free Kettle Corn Popcorn (100), Diet Pepsi
Later: 1 T. Duncan Hines frosting (75)
Dinner: Smart One Lasagna (300), 1/8 cup salted peanuts (80), Diet Pepsi
Later: 2/3 cup Fruity Cheerios, dry (100)
How did you today? You should be tracking about a 6.4# loss. We're gearing up for Round 2 (Days 30-60), are you ready? Are you walking? Are you counting?
Interesting conversation I had with my sister, who had just picked up these snack bags of sliced apples:
Me: How many calories does one of those bags have?
She, shrugging: I don't know, I don't even bother worrying about those measly calories.
I checked the bag, 35 calories. Now, 35 calories surely doesn't seem like much to me either, but then I started thinking.
Thirty five uncounted calories per day over the course of one year is 3.65 pounds. After two years there's seven pounds of fat mysteriously hanging off your thighs. So, what's the big deal about a couple of Good 'n Plentys? Now you know.
Day 29 Calorie Count: 1315 and 45 minutes walking
Breakfast: 1 cup Sugar free Cafe Vienna (25), 6 bites Special K with Strawberries cereal w/1/4 cup skim milk (70)
Later: Starbuck's Vanilla Latte (220, no whipped cream), 1 Gala apple (50)
Lunch: Wendy's Junior Hamburger, extra pickle (280), 1/2 plain baked potato (80), 1/2 Gala apple (25)
Snack: 94% Fat Free Kettle Corn Popcorn (100), Diet Pepsi
Later: 1 T. Duncan Hines frosting (75)
Dinner: Smart One Lasagna (300), 1/8 cup salted peanuts (80), Diet Pepsi
Later: 2/3 cup Fruity Cheerios, dry (100)
Day 28
Flipping back through my daily food diaries, it's surprising to see the amount, or lack of food, one can eat for 1500 calories. Just glancing over my carefully portioned and counted dinner from last night makes me realize HOW much I was eating before I started counting and HOW little grasp I had of the calories involved. No wonder I was tracking to gain a pound, or two, a month and had, in fact. After twenty eight days I'm much more aware of every Junior Mint I put into my mouth.
Funnel cakes, spare ribs, movie popcorn, eggnog lattes, Mountain Dew, Cheesecake Factory's Kahlua Coffee Cheesecake, even Nicoise salad has taken on whole new meanings. It's not entirely about the WOW factor anymore, it's more about How many calories does it have?" Is it worth skipping dinner for? Will it really fill me up? Is eating it worth the feeling I felt in the doctor's office a month ago?
In the deli line today I noticed a basket with wrapped shortbread cookies on the counter. I was preparing to fit one into my calorie budget before I even had it in hand. In the day, I would've just grabbed it, opened it and devoured it. I checked the nutritional info on the package--one serving was 112 calories. The cookie was fairly large so that seemed like a good caloric bargain. Wouldn't you think an individually packaged cookie would be portioned as one serving. Look again. The servings per one cookie was four! That cookie had 448 calories. Those dirty rats.
Approach what you place into your mouth like you approach shopping for clothes. I would no sooner saunter into a store, grab hangers of clothes, plop 'em down on the counter and say "ring 'em up". I always check the tag. Don't you? If you're anything like me when it comes to shopping, you check out the price before even taking it to the dressing room. That way you can decide if it's a good value or worth the money? Look at the foods we put into our mouths in the same way. You see something you would like to eat, you get a good idea what it will cost you in terms of calories and then you decide if it's a good value, if it has enough bang for the buck. I realize that it is not always simple to get the caloric total before the food passes our lips and we don't always have the luxury of making an informed decision on the spot, but they more we educate ourselves, double check, and measure, the more prepared we are to make decisions that pay off. Knowledge certainly is power. Keep reading labels and Googling websites. Take control. Be informed.
This past month has been work, sacrifice, compromise and pushing through. You've worked very hard, but you're only one third of the way to goal. Don't fumble now.
Day 28 Calorie Count: 1430 and 50 minutes of walking
Funnel cakes, spare ribs, movie popcorn, eggnog lattes, Mountain Dew, Cheesecake Factory's Kahlua Coffee Cheesecake, even Nicoise salad has taken on whole new meanings. It's not entirely about the WOW factor anymore, it's more about How many calories does it have?" Is it worth skipping dinner for? Will it really fill me up? Is eating it worth the feeling I felt in the doctor's office a month ago?
In the deli line today I noticed a basket with wrapped shortbread cookies on the counter. I was preparing to fit one into my calorie budget before I even had it in hand. In the day, I would've just grabbed it, opened it and devoured it. I checked the nutritional info on the package--one serving was 112 calories. The cookie was fairly large so that seemed like a good caloric bargain. Wouldn't you think an individually packaged cookie would be portioned as one serving. Look again. The servings per one cookie was four! That cookie had 448 calories. Those dirty rats.
Approach what you place into your mouth like you approach shopping for clothes. I would no sooner saunter into a store, grab hangers of clothes, plop 'em down on the counter and say "ring 'em up". I always check the tag. Don't you? If you're anything like me when it comes to shopping, you check out the price before even taking it to the dressing room. That way you can decide if it's a good value or worth the money? Look at the foods we put into our mouths in the same way. You see something you would like to eat, you get a good idea what it will cost you in terms of calories and then you decide if it's a good value, if it has enough bang for the buck. I realize that it is not always simple to get the caloric total before the food passes our lips and we don't always have the luxury of making an informed decision on the spot, but they more we educate ourselves, double check, and measure, the more prepared we are to make decisions that pay off. Knowledge certainly is power. Keep reading labels and Googling websites. Take control. Be informed.
This past month has been work, sacrifice, compromise and pushing through. You've worked very hard, but you're only one third of the way to goal. Don't fumble now.
Day 28 Calorie Count: 1430 and 50 minutes of walking
Friday, January 30, 2009
Day 27 First Pressed Oleuropein
My daily food diaries would make a nutritionist turn over in her lab. I know that. I'm not proud of it, and even though there's an absence of miso, flaxseeds, tempeh, quinoa, collard greens, spelt, lean organic beef and blackstrap molasses, I'm certainly not starving or suffering from malnutrition, rickets or scurvy.
One of the powerhouse foods I do use is extra virgin olive oil. I incorporate it in my meal preparation as much as possible, poured over anything made with semolina flour and water: fusilli, bucatini, orzo, farfalle, penne, rigatoni...
The good news is it's right up there with blueberries and green tea in the anti-inflammatory benefit category. The bad news is one tablespoon has 120 calories.
Here's a "visual" of how something so good for you can be so bad for you: You're boiling a half pound of spinach linguine for you and a dinner companion. You've drained it, dumped it into a colorful pottery platter, and now you lift the bottle of buttery, green oil and begin drizzling. Drizzle, drizzle, drizzle. Doesn't look like the pasta is even coated. You turn the mouth of the bottle straight down unto the pasta. Glunk, glunk, glunk, you're tossing the strands as you're pouring and the pasta is soaking up oil like absorbent cotton. Three thousand nine hundred and forty calories later (1 cup of olive oil equals 1920 calories), and you haven't even hit the parmesan.
Note to 20P0: Use sparingly.
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1 1/2 cup Fruity Cheerios (200) w/1 cup skim milk (80)
Lunch: 2 cups homemade chili (330), MinuteMaid Diet Lemonade (5), 1 gala apple (50), 1 ounce tortilla chips (152)
Dinner: 1 Flatbread (110), 3 ounces curried shrimp (100), 1 cup white rice (220), green salad w/cherry tomatoes, 3 T. Ken's Lite Northern Italian Dressing (75)
Day 27 Calorie Count: 1362 and walked for 52 minutes.
One of the powerhouse foods I do use is extra virgin olive oil. I incorporate it in my meal preparation as much as possible, poured over anything made with semolina flour and water: fusilli, bucatini, orzo, farfalle, penne, rigatoni...
The good news is it's right up there with blueberries and green tea in the anti-inflammatory benefit category. The bad news is one tablespoon has 120 calories.
Here's a "visual" of how something so good for you can be so bad for you: You're boiling a half pound of spinach linguine for you and a dinner companion. You've drained it, dumped it into a colorful pottery platter, and now you lift the bottle of buttery, green oil and begin drizzling. Drizzle, drizzle, drizzle. Doesn't look like the pasta is even coated. You turn the mouth of the bottle straight down unto the pasta. Glunk, glunk, glunk, you're tossing the strands as you're pouring and the pasta is soaking up oil like absorbent cotton. Three thousand nine hundred and forty calories later (1 cup of olive oil equals 1920 calories), and you haven't even hit the parmesan.
Note to 20P0: Use sparingly.
Breakfast: Coffee (80), 1 1/2 cup Fruity Cheerios (200) w/1 cup skim milk (80)
Lunch: 2 cups homemade chili (330), MinuteMaid Diet Lemonade (5), 1 gala apple (50), 1 ounce tortilla chips (152)
Dinner: 1 Flatbread (110), 3 ounces curried shrimp (100), 1 cup white rice (220), green salad w/cherry tomatoes, 3 T. Ken's Lite Northern Italian Dressing (75)
Day 27 Calorie Count: 1362 and walked for 52 minutes.
Day 26 Famous Last Words
"You have got to plan the time. If you say, "geez, this is the last thing I have time to do BUT I'll walk for fifteen minutues:, I'll be you a Victoria Secret IPEX bra that you'll walk longer than fifteen minutes. You'll just want to."
Famous last words, my famous last words. I owe you a brassiere. Today I had no gumption. Just couldn't muster the motivation to put on my New Balances. Finally, after much hem hawing around, I left the house. I was out ten minutes, when I double backed and headed home. I kept thinking about the loads of laundry piling up, unpaid bills to pay and get in the mail and phone calls to return. My heart wasn't in it. I still managed about 18 minutes of walking, better than nothing at all.
Breakfast: Coffee (80), Quaker Oats Weight Control Oatmeal (160)
Lunch: PB&J (230), handful of seedless grapes (40), 1/2 ounce pretzels (50), Diet Coke
Snack: Hostess Chocolate Cupcake (130), 1 cup skim milk (80)
Dinner: 8 0unces Minestrone Soup (130), 2 slices of Double Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza (600)
Day 25 Calorie Count: Right at 1500.
Breakfast: Coffee (80), Quaker Oats Weight Control Oatmeal (160)
Lunch: PB&J (230), handful of seedless grapes (40), 1/2 ounce pretzels (50), Diet Coke
Snack: Hostess Chocolate Cupcake (130), 1 cup skim milk (80)
Dinner: 8 0unces Minestrone Soup (130), 2 slices of Double Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza (600)
Day 25 Calorie Count: Right at 1500.
Day 25 Do Chefs Have Our Backs
Not in the least, according to Marilyn Marchione (The Cincinnati Enquirer/Oct '06). She writes, "if you don't pay attention to calories when deciding how much of something to eat, you might want to know that the chefs serving it to you don't either." I'm not surprised. Half of the chefs surveyed reported that calorie content didn't mater at all. Why should it? Those toqued culinarians have bigger tilipia to fry than fretting over the calorie content in the salmon. In fact, calories aren't even on their radar range. Between checking the late produce delivery and firing the drunk dishwasher, to adhering to strict P&L financials, increasing sales and controlling waste, chefs have little time left to worry about calories. That's our job. Most chefs acknowledge "that it is up to the diner to decide how much to consume and how much to take home in a doggie bag."
That's why it's so important to be as accurate as you can when counting restaurant calories. I'll be the first tiramisu lover to admit it's a challenge to calculate the calories in restaurant dishes. I'm bound to miss an 1/8 cup grated chocolate here or a tablespoon of mascarpone there. A chef's "dusting" of Pecorino Romano may be equivalent to 4 tablespoons in your portioning. A chef's one cup of alfredo sauce could mean ONE cup poured into the large bowl the pasta will be strained into, another one cup on the platter the pasta will dumped on and another one cup on top of the platter. Culinese is a very different portioning language from the one you and I are speaking. Generally terms such as one cup, one teaspoon, one pint really mean "as much liquid as the polenta will absorb" or "enough sugar to give it sweetness without being grainy" or "drink enough Vin Santo until you can't remember the year you were born." Be very careful when counting out. Missing the mark a half dozen times a week could be the reason why the needle on the scale hasn't moved north.
If your Health0Meter hasn't been kind to you these last few weeks and you frequently order off menus, maybe you should rethink the whole restaurant thing. If you really want to lose 80 sticks of butter in 90 days, having better control on how your food is prepared and how much is served will help you meet your goal. It's your goal. You own it. You have responsibility for it.
I am not about to bore with what you already know about dining out; have bread basket removed, request lemon slices in your spritzer, order beef bouillon, ask for dressing on the side, blah, blah, blah. How asinine are those?
I'm not suggesting you can't dine out. What I am suggesting is maybe you better curtail it if you haven't seen the 1.6# drop a week since you started The Plan.
Do you desire to be twenty pounds lighter more than you desire to eat Chef Uber's beef bourguigon washed down with his fine Merlot? If you'd rather opt for a night out, you may as well throw in the towel now. Quit counting. Why bother with the whole process? How do you count zabaglione? Who knows. It's not a packaged and portioned-"Counting for Dummies"- food like a Hostess Zinger, however, I could probably break it down, pad it a bit and come up with a reasonable count. But to do that laborious math five or six times a week is insane when one is striving to lose weight. If you weren't a 20PO on the The Plan, I'd say Bon Appetit, bring it all on but you are on The Plan, so get tough.
Day 25 Calorie Count: 1500
Breakfast: Coffee (80)
Lunch: PB&J (230), and later, 1/4 cup Haagen Dazs Dulce De Leche Light Ice Cream (220), 1 Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie, unbaked (100), about 7-8 Planter's Mixed Nuts (70)
Dinner: Burger King Cheeseburger (337), half order of small fries (100), one 2X2 inch square yellow birthday cake w/
whipped icing (I Googled Sara Lee.com, and www.foodaddict.com to compare a similar serving of cake) (363).
That's why it's so important to be as accurate as you can when counting restaurant calories. I'll be the first tiramisu lover to admit it's a challenge to calculate the calories in restaurant dishes. I'm bound to miss an 1/8 cup grated chocolate here or a tablespoon of mascarpone there. A chef's "dusting" of Pecorino Romano may be equivalent to 4 tablespoons in your portioning. A chef's one cup of alfredo sauce could mean ONE cup poured into the large bowl the pasta will be strained into, another one cup on the platter the pasta will dumped on and another one cup on top of the platter. Culinese is a very different portioning language from the one you and I are speaking. Generally terms such as one cup, one teaspoon, one pint really mean "as much liquid as the polenta will absorb" or "enough sugar to give it sweetness without being grainy" or "drink enough Vin Santo until you can't remember the year you were born." Be very careful when counting out. Missing the mark a half dozen times a week could be the reason why the needle on the scale hasn't moved north.
If your Health0Meter hasn't been kind to you these last few weeks and you frequently order off menus, maybe you should rethink the whole restaurant thing. If you really want to lose 80 sticks of butter in 90 days, having better control on how your food is prepared and how much is served will help you meet your goal. It's your goal. You own it. You have responsibility for it.
I am not about to bore with what you already know about dining out; have bread basket removed, request lemon slices in your spritzer, order beef bouillon, ask for dressing on the side, blah, blah, blah. How asinine are those?
I'm not suggesting you can't dine out. What I am suggesting is maybe you better curtail it if you haven't seen the 1.6# drop a week since you started The Plan.
Do you desire to be twenty pounds lighter more than you desire to eat Chef Uber's beef bourguigon washed down with his fine Merlot? If you'd rather opt for a night out, you may as well throw in the towel now. Quit counting. Why bother with the whole process? How do you count zabaglione? Who knows. It's not a packaged and portioned-"Counting for Dummies"- food like a Hostess Zinger, however, I could probably break it down, pad it a bit and come up with a reasonable count. But to do that laborious math five or six times a week is insane when one is striving to lose weight. If you weren't a 20PO on the The Plan, I'd say Bon Appetit, bring it all on but you are on The Plan, so get tough.
Day 25 Calorie Count: 1500
Breakfast: Coffee (80)
Lunch: PB&J (230), and later, 1/4 cup Haagen Dazs Dulce De Leche Light Ice Cream (220), 1 Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie, unbaked (100), about 7-8 Planter's Mixed Nuts (70)
Dinner: Burger King Cheeseburger (337), half order of small fries (100), one 2X2 inch square yellow birthday cake w/
whipped icing (I Googled Sara Lee.com, and www.foodaddict.com to compare a similar serving of cake) (363).
Day 24
My day was like Gumps's box of chocolate; I didn't plan so as the day progressed "I didn't know what I was going to get."
Breakfast: Coffee 4/T Half 'n Half (80), a hunk of Panera's Sesame Semolina bread (about 260) w/3 T Polaner's Sugar Free Blackberry Preserves (30)
Lunch: 3/4 cup Special K With Strawberries, 1/2 cup skim milk (150), 1/2 ounce pretzels (50)
Dinner (at relatives): 1 Fried Chicken Breast (I used Kentucky Fried Chicken's nutritional info) (460), 6 Sun Chips (70), 1 cup green bean, marinated in Italian Dressing (50)
Snack: 1 Double Dipped Malted Milk Ball (size of cherry tomato, if Hershey Whoppers are 90 calories per 9 pieces, then one of the gourmet balls equalled 4 Whoppers) (30), 3 Hershey Kisses (90).
Day 24: 1276 Calories/45 minutes walking
Breakfast: Coffee 4/T Half 'n Half (80), a hunk of Panera's Sesame Semolina bread (about 260) w/3 T Polaner's Sugar Free Blackberry Preserves (30)
Lunch: 3/4 cup Special K With Strawberries, 1/2 cup skim milk (150), 1/2 ounce pretzels (50)
Dinner (at relatives): 1 Fried Chicken Breast (I used Kentucky Fried Chicken's nutritional info) (460), 6 Sun Chips (70), 1 cup green bean, marinated in Italian Dressing (50)
Snack: 1 Double Dipped Malted Milk Ball (size of cherry tomato, if Hershey Whoppers are 90 calories per 9 pieces, then one of the gourmet balls equalled 4 Whoppers) (30), 3 Hershey Kisses (90).
Day 24: 1276 Calories/45 minutes walking
Day 24 Good Bye Brady Bunch
My next reward is a new purse. Something a bit more trendy to tote my lipstick in. And I'm getting a new hair cut with shimmery bronze highlights. And an eye brow wax. I want more eye opening, dramatic brows. And teeth whitening. I definitely want to brighten my french roasted- stained buckers and get rid of their Screaming Yellow Zonker yellowish hue. New hair, new eyes, new teeth and new jeans. I can't go out anymore with my Marcia Brady dungarees.
I'll stroll into a denim emporium and select a perfectly fitted pair of jeans. Oh, and new reading glasses. Not the kind I pick up at the Dollar Store, but hip specks, like my ob-gyn wore. A lens that demurely whispers, "I was a bloated, blown up ass perched on parchment paper just three short months ago and then I got mad." Then, I'll slowly tilt my forehead down giving a better view of my coiffed brows, auburn threaded hair and I'll flash a smile, revealing teeth whiter than Breakstone sour cream.
You should have, at least, four or five rewards in mind, with one already redeemed. They don't have to be big things, but they could be if you have the cash. Botox? A spa day? David Yurman jewelry? Big things are great, however, the little things are such as important: a new bra, renting a movie, ordering monogrammed stationery. Treating yourself speaks volumes about you, your self esteem, and how you approach life. The act of taking good care of you will transcend in the daily food choices you make, which will result in the success you set out to attain. It all weaves together in some self actualized tapestry that I can't explain but that I have experienced. Start your rewards list and follow through with it.
Did you know a brow wax is the cost equivalent to 4 Big Macs, 1 Starbuck's Maple Macchiato and 1 box of Suzy Q's?
I'll stroll into a denim emporium and select a perfectly fitted pair of jeans. Oh, and new reading glasses. Not the kind I pick up at the Dollar Store, but hip specks, like my ob-gyn wore. A lens that demurely whispers, "I was a bloated, blown up ass perched on parchment paper just three short months ago and then I got mad." Then, I'll slowly tilt my forehead down giving a better view of my coiffed brows, auburn threaded hair and I'll flash a smile, revealing teeth whiter than Breakstone sour cream.
You should have, at least, four or five rewards in mind, with one already redeemed. They don't have to be big things, but they could be if you have the cash. Botox? A spa day? David Yurman jewelry? Big things are great, however, the little things are such as important: a new bra, renting a movie, ordering monogrammed stationery. Treating yourself speaks volumes about you, your self esteem, and how you approach life. The act of taking good care of you will transcend in the daily food choices you make, which will result in the success you set out to attain. It all weaves together in some self actualized tapestry that I can't explain but that I have experienced. Start your rewards list and follow through with it.
Did you know a brow wax is the cost equivalent to 4 Big Macs, 1 Starbuck's Maple Macchiato and 1 box of Suzy Q's?
Day 22 Weigh In #3
I lost EXACTLY 1.6 pounds! A little over 6 sticks of butter. Six and two thirds to be exact. After three weeks, my grand total weight loss is 7.2 pounds, a tad over 28 sticks of butter.
Let me gently refresh your memory:
Now, you're thinking that 1 pound of quivering flesh lost per week does not equal 20 pounds in 90 days, more like 12. That's right. To lose the twenty big ones in three months, we'll have to shed 1.66 pounds per week. Do the math. That means we've got to ante up an extra 335 calories per day to get there.
Here's the catch (you knew there'd be a catch, always is when it involves something worth working for), that extra .66 pound per week is going to be burned off. Literally. We are going to exercise everyday for the next three months, come hell or high water, for forty five minutes. Three quarters of an hour of aerobic activity a day will sear off approximately 300-350 calories. Again, count the beans. Three hundred calories per day x 7 days per week= 2100 calories (give or take a few). We'll have real data in a week to prove if we're on target.
We have real data: The Plan works.
Are you on target?
Let me gently refresh your memory:
Now, you're thinking that 1 pound of quivering flesh lost per week does not equal 20 pounds in 90 days, more like 12. That's right. To lose the twenty big ones in three months, we'll have to shed 1.66 pounds per week. Do the math. That means we've got to ante up an extra 335 calories per day to get there.
Here's the catch (you knew there'd be a catch, always is when it involves something worth working for), that extra .66 pound per week is going to be burned off. Literally. We are going to exercise everyday for the next three months, come hell or high water, for forty five minutes. Three quarters of an hour of aerobic activity a day will sear off approximately 300-350 calories. Again, count the beans. Three hundred calories per day x 7 days per week= 2100 calories (give or take a few). We'll have real data in a week to prove if we're on target.
We have real data: The Plan works.
Are you on target?
Day 21 Think Outside The Pint
Some days I fell like Ursula, the sea witch from Disney's Little Mermaid. Fat, ruthless, half woman, half octopus. Did you know her character was modeled after Divine, a drag performer?
I'm not a six tentacled, slimy villianess, but there are moments when I'm simultaneously juggling something in all my tentacles...
Tentacle 1: On phone with bank haggling about an overdraft
Tentacle 2: Wiping up spilled orange juice
Tentacle 3: Hoisting a split grocery bag unto the counter
Tentacle 4: Signing a kids failed geography quiz
Tentacle 5: Pouring Iams into the dog dish
Tentacle 6: Browning grease-splattering ground beef....
I can get purple and ugly and I have on occasion eaten little shrimps from a platter.
It's at those moments when frustration is high that a simple task, like emptying the dishwasher can overwhelm and send me into a tailspin. It's then I mindlessly reach for my tension reliever. Ice cream. Prozac Almond Chip, drug of choice. Most of us have vices we employ to medicate ourselves temporarily; Virginia Slims, bourbon, on line spending, whatever. Mine had always been ice cream. Slow churned, hand churned or french potted.
When I'm in a pressure cooker state of mind, the cold from a pint of ice cream melts off the steam inside, soothing frazzled nerves. Sometimes I eat it in a desperate frenzy, not even waiting for it to soften. I truly enjoy it when I am shoving it in, barely tasting it. At times like that the point isn't about pleasure or enjoyment. It's about numbing. I experience a strange euphoria after, being totally and wonderfully out of control, mixed with a sense of comfort and then, inevitably, disgust.
Today could have been one of those ice cream- inducing- stupors- followed- by- self loathing- kind of days. But it wasn't. As neurons were fraying, I didn't turn to the freezer with spoon in hand, poised to scoop. I calmly grabbed my walking shoes and headed out the door. I walked it off. One step at a time. When I made the final turn past the barking Rottweiler, I barely remembered what I was wound tight about. Each time my shoe slapped the pavement, a bit of stress seemed to poof out of my body into the air. By the time my front door was in view, I felt a true sense of calm that hadn't come mockingly from a quart of Mocha Chocolate Chip. It came from within.
The mollusk monster know as stress, retreats, with her tail between her tentacles, to her dark hole beside the cauldron.
I'm not a six tentacled, slimy villianess, but there are moments when I'm simultaneously juggling something in all my tentacles...
Tentacle 1: On phone with bank haggling about an overdraft
Tentacle 2: Wiping up spilled orange juice
Tentacle 3: Hoisting a split grocery bag unto the counter
Tentacle 4: Signing a kids failed geography quiz
Tentacle 5: Pouring Iams into the dog dish
Tentacle 6: Browning grease-splattering ground beef....
I can get purple and ugly and I have on occasion eaten little shrimps from a platter.
It's at those moments when frustration is high that a simple task, like emptying the dishwasher can overwhelm and send me into a tailspin. It's then I mindlessly reach for my tension reliever. Ice cream. Prozac Almond Chip, drug of choice. Most of us have vices we employ to medicate ourselves temporarily; Virginia Slims, bourbon, on line spending, whatever. Mine had always been ice cream. Slow churned, hand churned or french potted.
When I'm in a pressure cooker state of mind, the cold from a pint of ice cream melts off the steam inside, soothing frazzled nerves. Sometimes I eat it in a desperate frenzy, not even waiting for it to soften. I truly enjoy it when I am shoving it in, barely tasting it. At times like that the point isn't about pleasure or enjoyment. It's about numbing. I experience a strange euphoria after, being totally and wonderfully out of control, mixed with a sense of comfort and then, inevitably, disgust.
Today could have been one of those ice cream- inducing- stupors- followed- by- self loathing- kind of days. But it wasn't. As neurons were fraying, I didn't turn to the freezer with spoon in hand, poised to scoop. I calmly grabbed my walking shoes and headed out the door. I walked it off. One step at a time. When I made the final turn past the barking Rottweiler, I barely remembered what I was wound tight about. Each time my shoe slapped the pavement, a bit of stress seemed to poof out of my body into the air. By the time my front door was in view, I felt a true sense of calm that hadn't come mockingly from a quart of Mocha Chocolate Chip. It came from within.
The mollusk monster know as stress, retreats, with her tail between her tentacles, to her dark hole beside the cauldron.
Day 20 Dieter Incentive Plans
The Procter & Gambles and Microsofts of the corporate world all have "Employee Recognition Programs" in place to reward stellar performers for jobs well done. These initiatives offer, obviously, salary increases, but also four star restaurant gift certificates, La Jolla getaways, or Steelers tickets. You may not be contributing revenue to a blue chip company ledger, but, believe me, you are enhancing your own bottom (and hip) line. And you, like strong performers in the business arena, need reward and affirmation for what you have accomplished to this point on The Plan.
As Weight In #3 draws near, you should be thinking about a reward, a little motivational perk that will keep your resolve firm and your eye on the prize. There must be dozens of items you've been putting off buying for yourself until you "lose the weight." We tell ourselves that "when we go down two sizes, we'll finally buy that medium black dress."
Don't wait until you lose all twenty pounds, get it now. You deserve it. You've been counting every speck of rice pilaf and pumping your butt off every day for nearly three weeks. Indulge yourself NOW, only not with calories.
In the day, when I attempted to "diet", I would mentally prepare a plan for my rewards, which always centered around high caloric, sweet masterpieces: bittersweet fudge sundaes, butterscotch pie, Snickerdoodles, by the dozen. How crazy is that? Picture me, standing trance-like, in front of the Dunkin Donuts bakery case, ogling all the goo filled dough pouches. As I stand there, with a glazed stare, I am tallying up all the French Crullers (170) I'm going to eat and all the Vanilla Bean Coolatas (440) I 'm going slurp up when I get off the "diet". Of course, I never stayed on a diet long enough to reach a goal, but it didn't really matter, I ate the "rewards" anyway.
I am through rewarding myself with food. On The Plan I can treat myself 24/7. I don't deprive myself with foods that previously I considered "food for thin people." Now, If I am craving Haagen Dazs Sticky Toffee Pudding ice cream, I am going to have a scoop or two. Food is no longer a reward. It's a part of everyday life.
I plan on rewarding myself with non food indulgences after each remaining Weigh In. Small things that will incite me to plow on when the first weeks of anticipation may begin to wane.
Do you remember your first lipstick? Mine came from Walgreen's. Probably a Maybelline, 40% off. But I wished it was a silver ridged, luxurious tube of Clinique sheer coverage, brilliant shine, vivid colour Copper shine. I could never resign myself to blowing fifteen bucks on pigmented bees wax when the kids needed new underwear or baseball cleats.
The crazy thing is I wouldn't splurge on something that made me feel GOOD, but I had no issues with splurging on something that made me feel really bad (four pints of Ben & Jerry's = 1 Clinique lipstick). Go figure.
Start planning your first reward, I know what mine will be.
As Weight In #3 draws near, you should be thinking about a reward, a little motivational perk that will keep your resolve firm and your eye on the prize. There must be dozens of items you've been putting off buying for yourself until you "lose the weight." We tell ourselves that "when we go down two sizes, we'll finally buy that medium black dress."
Don't wait until you lose all twenty pounds, get it now. You deserve it. You've been counting every speck of rice pilaf and pumping your butt off every day for nearly three weeks. Indulge yourself NOW, only not with calories.
In the day, when I attempted to "diet", I would mentally prepare a plan for my rewards, which always centered around high caloric, sweet masterpieces: bittersweet fudge sundaes, butterscotch pie, Snickerdoodles, by the dozen. How crazy is that? Picture me, standing trance-like, in front of the Dunkin Donuts bakery case, ogling all the goo filled dough pouches. As I stand there, with a glazed stare, I am tallying up all the French Crullers (170) I'm going to eat and all the Vanilla Bean Coolatas (440) I 'm going slurp up when I get off the "diet". Of course, I never stayed on a diet long enough to reach a goal, but it didn't really matter, I ate the "rewards" anyway.
I am through rewarding myself with food. On The Plan I can treat myself 24/7. I don't deprive myself with foods that previously I considered "food for thin people." Now, If I am craving Haagen Dazs Sticky Toffee Pudding ice cream, I am going to have a scoop or two. Food is no longer a reward. It's a part of everyday life.
I plan on rewarding myself with non food indulgences after each remaining Weigh In. Small things that will incite me to plow on when the first weeks of anticipation may begin to wane.
Do you remember your first lipstick? Mine came from Walgreen's. Probably a Maybelline, 40% off. But I wished it was a silver ridged, luxurious tube of Clinique sheer coverage, brilliant shine, vivid colour Copper shine. I could never resign myself to blowing fifteen bucks on pigmented bees wax when the kids needed new underwear or baseball cleats.
The crazy thing is I wouldn't splurge on something that made me feel GOOD, but I had no issues with splurging on something that made me feel really bad (four pints of Ben & Jerry's = 1 Clinique lipstick). Go figure.
Start planning your first reward, I know what mine will be.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Day 19
I woke up this morning feeling empty, it had been a long evening. When hunger started to pang last night while preparing a "proper" dinner for the kids, I visualized my hulk of a body slumped over on the examining table, and that certainly took my appetite and breath away. I skipped a meal, no big deal.
The skies had cleared this morning and after a quick breakfast of:
Coffee w/4 T. Half 'n Half (80), 1 packet Quaker Oats Weight Control Oatmeal (160), a navel orange (60), I hit the road.
It felt good to be walking after an unplanned day off. I was discovering that I actually looked forward to the walking, to be outdoors and to pushing myself.
At Day 19, I am starting to see a walking payoff: my J. Crew's seem a smidgen less snug. 71 days to go.
The skies had cleared this morning and after a quick breakfast of:
Coffee w/4 T. Half 'n Half (80), 1 packet Quaker Oats Weight Control Oatmeal (160), a navel orange (60), I hit the road.
It felt good to be walking after an unplanned day off. I was discovering that I actually looked forward to the walking, to be outdoors and to pushing myself.
At Day 19, I am starting to see a walking payoff: my J. Crew's seem a smidgen less snug. 71 days to go.
Day 18 Rainy Days and Mondays
It rained all day. A constant drizzle from morning until night. I didn't get to walk.
Day 18 Calorie Count: Right on the money...1500 (but I hit the target at lunch and ate nothing else after 12:40 p.m.)
Breakfast: Coffee w/4 T Half 'n Half, a homemade blueberry muffin w/1 T. margarine (I Googled Au Bon Pain and it listed a 5.8 ounce blueberry muffin at 510. Mine was about 4 ounces, so I'm guessing with margarine) (550)
Lunch: Chicken salad on a croissant at a friend's (about one cup). (Panera's chicken salad is 60 calories/ounce). I estimated that my serving would be (480) on a croissant (170) for a total of (650).
My carbometer was ticking by the time my friend proudly presented her piece de resistance, a delectable lemon tart. I was in the range. I also knew what she paid for the removable-bottom pan at Williams Sonoma and I would've rather chewed off my my knee than start the- "Oh! I'm watching my weight"- dance. Remember those calories are forgiven, or at least, stashed in pie purgatory. The tart was wonderful, and I savored (and counted) every tangy, sweet, luscious forkful
Day 18 Calorie Count: Right on the money...1500 (but I hit the target at lunch and ate nothing else after 12:40 p.m.)
Breakfast: Coffee w/4 T Half 'n Half, a homemade blueberry muffin w/1 T. margarine (I Googled Au Bon Pain and it listed a 5.8 ounce blueberry muffin at 510. Mine was about 4 ounces, so I'm guessing with margarine) (550)
Lunch: Chicken salad on a croissant at a friend's (about one cup). (Panera's chicken salad is 60 calories/ounce). I estimated that my serving would be (480) on a croissant (170) for a total of (650).
My carbometer was ticking by the time my friend proudly presented her piece de resistance, a delectable lemon tart. I was in the range. I also knew what she paid for the removable-bottom pan at Williams Sonoma and I would've rather chewed off my my knee than start the- "Oh! I'm watching my weight"- dance. Remember those calories are forgiven, or at least, stashed in pie purgatory. The tart was wonderful, and I savored (and counted) every tangy, sweet, luscious forkful
Do You Swear to Count The Day, The Whole Day and Nothing But The Day...So Help Your Scale?
Why the "count" counts? Let me give you an example how we unconsciously trip ourselves, become discouraged and throw in the towel when the scale disappoints us. We, then proceed to tell ourselves, "nothing works for me", when in actuality, we didn't let it work for us. Follows is a real conversation I had with a friend, a 20P0 who gained one pound her first week on the Points Plan at Weight Watchers:
She, pouting: I only had two pieces of chicken, a biscuit and some cole slaw! It was only 14 points!
Me, incredulous: Really? Was the chicken skinless or broiled? Because the last time I checked, the Colonel hadn't introduced broiled on their menu-
She, toying with a strand of hair: Well, no..
Me: Was it breasts? Leg?
She: Breasts.
Me: Extra Crispy?
She: Um, yea, I thought that would be better than original.
Me: OK, and you had nothing on your biscuit? No honey? Butter?
She: Well, of course. I can't eat those biscuits without butter.
Me: And how much butter?
She, irritated? Oh I don't know! There was a stick of butter on the table-
Me: And you just hacked off a chunk, right? (Remember 1 T. butter has 100 calories) What about honey?
How many of those little catsup thingies did you use?
She, quietly: Three.
Me: Coleslaw? How much? A cup? The whole pint container?
She, defiantly: Well! That is like a salad!
Really! Like a salad? An entire pint of coleslaw is equal to a salad which, I guess, if she counted creatively is virtually a free food.
Me: Did you have something to drink? Water?
She, defensively: A Pepsi, I would have had diet, but we were out-
Me: OK, that's no big deal, but did you drink a 20 ouncer, or a can, I mean, how much did you drink?
She, madder than a wet hen: I don't know exactly, I didn't measure it!
Hmm...maybe you should have.
Me: OK, is that it?
You didn't' eat a scoop of mashed potatoes your daughter left behind, or scarf down the three tablespoons of baked beans remaining in the container or gobble down your son's half eaten biscuit while scraping plates? How about a couple spoonfuls from your husband's "Lil Bucket of Strawberry Shortcake?
If she counted all her food that way, it's amazing she only gained one pound that week
I am not certain what 14 points equates to in calories but let me say this: One Kentucky Fried Chicken breast (that's breast, not meal) with Original Recipe Breading is 460 calories.* Enough said.
You must to the best of your ability and with the resources you have at your fingertips (Internet), count accurately the calories you are consuming on a daily basis. Don't fudge it. Don't cheat. The only person who gets cheated is you.
When in doubt, add a few calories to cover what could be a shortfall. If you underestimate your calories by just 250 a day (that's about a dozen spoonfuls of butter pecan ice cream), you'll slow your weight loss to a pound a week (assuming you are exercising daily, and I am assuming you are). That's nothing to turn your nose up at, but it won't get you to 20 pounds in 90 days.
* Kentucky Fried Chicken's nutrition website makes it simple to count calories; the "diner" clicks on exactly what they've eaten from a pull down list, adds it to their meal, clicks calculate and your total calorie intake pops up.
Day 17 Calorie Count: 1510
Breakfast: Coffee w/4 T Half 'n Half (80), 1 Pillsbury Egg, Cheese & Bacon Toaster Scramble (160)
Lunch: Chili, Cheese & Spaghetti (in my town, we call that a 3-way) (760), Diet Zero
Dinner: 2 cups Chicken Tortilla soup, homemade (400), about 1 ounce Doritos (110), Diet Coke.
She, pouting: I only had two pieces of chicken, a biscuit and some cole slaw! It was only 14 points!
Me, incredulous: Really? Was the chicken skinless or broiled? Because the last time I checked, the Colonel hadn't introduced broiled on their menu-
She, toying with a strand of hair: Well, no..
Me: Was it breasts? Leg?
She: Breasts.
Me: Extra Crispy?
She: Um, yea, I thought that would be better than original.
Me: OK, and you had nothing on your biscuit? No honey? Butter?
She: Well, of course. I can't eat those biscuits without butter.
Me: And how much butter?
She, irritated? Oh I don't know! There was a stick of butter on the table-
Me: And you just hacked off a chunk, right? (Remember 1 T. butter has 100 calories) What about honey?
How many of those little catsup thingies did you use?
She, quietly: Three.
Me: Coleslaw? How much? A cup? The whole pint container?
She, defiantly: Well! That is like a salad!
Really! Like a salad? An entire pint of coleslaw is equal to a salad which, I guess, if she counted creatively is virtually a free food.
Me: Did you have something to drink? Water?
She, defensively: A Pepsi, I would have had diet, but we were out-
Me: OK, that's no big deal, but did you drink a 20 ouncer, or a can, I mean, how much did you drink?
She, madder than a wet hen: I don't know exactly, I didn't measure it!
Hmm...maybe you should have.
Me: OK, is that it?
You didn't' eat a scoop of mashed potatoes your daughter left behind, or scarf down the three tablespoons of baked beans remaining in the container or gobble down your son's half eaten biscuit while scraping plates? How about a couple spoonfuls from your husband's "Lil Bucket of Strawberry Shortcake?
If she counted all her food that way, it's amazing she only gained one pound that week
I am not certain what 14 points equates to in calories but let me say this: One Kentucky Fried Chicken breast (that's breast, not meal) with Original Recipe Breading is 460 calories.* Enough said.
You must to the best of your ability and with the resources you have at your fingertips (Internet), count accurately the calories you are consuming on a daily basis. Don't fudge it. Don't cheat. The only person who gets cheated is you.
When in doubt, add a few calories to cover what could be a shortfall. If you underestimate your calories by just 250 a day (that's about a dozen spoonfuls of butter pecan ice cream), you'll slow your weight loss to a pound a week (assuming you are exercising daily, and I am assuming you are). That's nothing to turn your nose up at, but it won't get you to 20 pounds in 90 days.
* Kentucky Fried Chicken's nutrition website makes it simple to count calories; the "diner" clicks on exactly what they've eaten from a pull down list, adds it to their meal, clicks calculate and your total calorie intake pops up.
Day 17 Calorie Count: 1510
Breakfast: Coffee w/4 T Half 'n Half (80), 1 Pillsbury Egg, Cheese & Bacon Toaster Scramble (160)
Lunch: Chili, Cheese & Spaghetti (in my town, we call that a 3-way) (760), Diet Zero
Dinner: 2 cups Chicken Tortilla soup, homemade (400), about 1 ounce Doritos (110), Diet Coke.
Day 16
I am feeling pretty darn psyched about The Plan, especially since the 1.8 pound loss yesterday. I feel as if, I am finally on track, heading in the right direction. I don't know how you are feeling about the 90 day endeavor, but so far it has been effortless. I count. I exercise. I step on the scale. I lose weight. Can't get much easier than that. Not only am I eating the foods I like, but I haven't spent one plug nickel (excluding the scale) on my effort to lose weight. No registration fees, gym fees, no money for a weeks worth of meals, no pills.
As I sit here, after hustling my butt up and over the roller coaster hills of my neighborhood (for 49 minutes), I wonder why the heck we make it so hard. Maybe we think it can't possibly be this simple. There has to be more to it. There's not.
There's got to be a catch. There isn't.
I equate losing weight with reading the Bible. As a Catholic grade school-er, I was never encouraged to read that mysterious tome. Only priests, with their supreme spiritual state of everlasting communion with God, could unlock and translate the wisdom to us earthlings. I believed I couldn't possibly understand it on my own. It had to be far too complicated for my mere mortal mind. That is, until I started thumbing through it, reading a couple paragraphs here and there and realized, this stuff is pretty straightforward. I didn't really need the middle man.
So is losing butter. Pretty straightforward. Diets, diet aids, diet supplements, diet books, diet dinners, and diet workshops are the middle men. That billion dollar industry, dieting, is fueled by the necessity of keeping the Bible out of your hands. When all Over Weighters suddenly realize how simple it is to shed pounds (and actually do it), we've just taken the greenbacks out of their silk lined pockets and put them back into ours, where they belong. Does the weight loss industry really think we can't count?
Day 16 Calorie Count: 1470.
As I sit here, after hustling my butt up and over the roller coaster hills of my neighborhood (for 49 minutes), I wonder why the heck we make it so hard. Maybe we think it can't possibly be this simple. There has to be more to it. There's not.
There's got to be a catch. There isn't.
I equate losing weight with reading the Bible. As a Catholic grade school-er, I was never encouraged to read that mysterious tome. Only priests, with their supreme spiritual state of everlasting communion with God, could unlock and translate the wisdom to us earthlings. I believed I couldn't possibly understand it on my own. It had to be far too complicated for my mere mortal mind. That is, until I started thumbing through it, reading a couple paragraphs here and there and realized, this stuff is pretty straightforward. I didn't really need the middle man.
So is losing butter. Pretty straightforward. Diets, diet aids, diet supplements, diet books, diet dinners, and diet workshops are the middle men. That billion dollar industry, dieting, is fueled by the necessity of keeping the Bible out of your hands. When all Over Weighters suddenly realize how simple it is to shed pounds (and actually do it), we've just taken the greenbacks out of their silk lined pockets and put them back into ours, where they belong. Does the weight loss industry really think we can't count?
Day 16 Calorie Count: 1470.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Day 15 Weigh In #2 A Day of Reckoning
I lost 7 sticks of Land of Lakes butter! 1.8 pounds, two tenths over the target. How is that for The Plan? How did you do? Did you drop 1.6 pounds? More? Less?
We are 1/6th through The Plan, only ten more weeks to prove the math adds up. And it will. You will be successful, IF you are doing what you've set out to do two weeks ago.
We are 1/6th through The Plan, only ten more weeks to prove the math adds up. And it will. You will be successful, IF you are doing what you've set out to do two weeks ago.
"Everyone has the will to win but few have the will to prepare for the win." B. Knight
Are YOU preparing? Are you planning what you will eat for lunch? For dinner? Are you juggling your schedule to squeeze in exercise? Are you counting accurately? Are you preparing to win? If you're not, what's happening? You were lamenting just a few short weeks ago how deflated and frustrated you felt with those eighty sticks of butter, slathered on your body and dripping from your chin and hips. You can't even push through for two weeks to achieve what you've
dreamt about for years? If you can't help yourself, nothing and no one can. Get tough.
Maybe you're impatient and want a more rapid weight loss. Are you diet struck with Internet ads popping up promising "20 Pounds in 20 days"? You're smarter than that. I agree that a 1.6 pound weekly loss can't hold a kilogram to Atkin's ten pound weekly losses, but haven't you ventured down that ketosis dead end before? We probably all have or, at least, bought the book. Where's Atkin's now? Years back, I read that his entire line of frozen entrees went belly up and they couldn't even give 'em away to food banks.
True story: A male friend of ours (I'll call him Santa to conceal his identity) was a good hundred pounds overweight when he started Atkins in late 2007. Santa stopped by our house at his 74 pound loss milestone, and he looked positively awesome and so exuberant. Couldn't stop singing the Atkins praises. I was definitely impressed by his stories of three pound T bone steaks, smothered in bacon and omelets the size of Staten Island. Santa rambled on about the little dipsticks he checked his urine with, and how much energy he had, and the endless yummy barbecue pork rinds he could chomp on. About a month later, we connected again and Santa didn't look quite as...slim. In fact, he looked huge and bloated. He wasn't so eager to whistle Atkins anymore, either. I inquired about the diet.
He murmured something about a setback. It seemed a close relative had died unexpectedly and the death sent him into a tailspin (alias binge). He ate (get this!) an entire 12 inch double layer chocolate cake and a half gallon of cookies 'n cream ice cream. I gotta tell you, I was fascinated with the scope of that binge. I wanted to know all the gooey details, such as, did he eat it all in one sitting or did he cut the cake in wedges and shove it in his face like the kid in the Matilda movie. And the ice cream? Did he allow it to soften and just slurp it down, Blizzard style, or did he actually scoop it into a dish? Did he eat them together? Side by side? It really piqued my interest. Long story short, he gained 23 (yep, you read that right) pounds in 6 days. I ran into Santa a couple months later at a Subway restaurant (maybe he was giving the Jared diet a shot), and not only had he gained back all the weight, but piled another full sheet cake's worth on top of it.
No matter how you are feeling NOW, ten weeks is going to pass by whether you are on The Plan or not. Wouldn't you rather be twenty pounds lighter when seventy days roll around? Losing weight slowly is a fire plan to keeping it off in the long run. You may not get the big pay off in the beginning, but, I guarantee you'll see the results in the end.
This Plan is more than just losing the butter, it's about you accomplishing something that you've set out many times to accomplish. It's about the triumphant feeling you'll own, during, after and looking back. It's the calm that comes with knowing there's a pair of jeans in your closet you can slip into when a last minutes invite comes along. Setting a goal and reaching it unties the tether that keeps us defeated on the ground, allowing us to soar off and accomplish other things we've faced with doubt. Losing twenty pounds is not going to transform your existence. I know that and you do, too. It's a testament to our determination, will and perseverance. If I can do it, so can you.
I will never forget that dreary day two weeks ago, sitting in the antiseptic examining room, and wishing I could do this.
I'm doing it.
dreamt about for years? If you can't help yourself, nothing and no one can. Get tough.
Maybe you're impatient and want a more rapid weight loss. Are you diet struck with Internet ads popping up promising "20 Pounds in 20 days"? You're smarter than that. I agree that a 1.6 pound weekly loss can't hold a kilogram to Atkin's ten pound weekly losses, but haven't you ventured down that ketosis dead end before? We probably all have or, at least, bought the book. Where's Atkin's now? Years back, I read that his entire line of frozen entrees went belly up and they couldn't even give 'em away to food banks.
True story: A male friend of ours (I'll call him Santa to conceal his identity) was a good hundred pounds overweight when he started Atkins in late 2007. Santa stopped by our house at his 74 pound loss milestone, and he looked positively awesome and so exuberant. Couldn't stop singing the Atkins praises. I was definitely impressed by his stories of three pound T bone steaks, smothered in bacon and omelets the size of Staten Island. Santa rambled on about the little dipsticks he checked his urine with, and how much energy he had, and the endless yummy barbecue pork rinds he could chomp on. About a month later, we connected again and Santa didn't look quite as...slim. In fact, he looked huge and bloated. He wasn't so eager to whistle Atkins anymore, either. I inquired about the diet.
He murmured something about a setback. It seemed a close relative had died unexpectedly and the death sent him into a tailspin (alias binge). He ate (get this!) an entire 12 inch double layer chocolate cake and a half gallon of cookies 'n cream ice cream. I gotta tell you, I was fascinated with the scope of that binge. I wanted to know all the gooey details, such as, did he eat it all in one sitting or did he cut the cake in wedges and shove it in his face like the kid in the Matilda movie. And the ice cream? Did he allow it to soften and just slurp it down, Blizzard style, or did he actually scoop it into a dish? Did he eat them together? Side by side? It really piqued my interest. Long story short, he gained 23 (yep, you read that right) pounds in 6 days. I ran into Santa a couple months later at a Subway restaurant (maybe he was giving the Jared diet a shot), and not only had he gained back all the weight, but piled another full sheet cake's worth on top of it.
No matter how you are feeling NOW, ten weeks is going to pass by whether you are on The Plan or not. Wouldn't you rather be twenty pounds lighter when seventy days roll around? Losing weight slowly is a fire plan to keeping it off in the long run. You may not get the big pay off in the beginning, but, I guarantee you'll see the results in the end.
This Plan is more than just losing the butter, it's about you accomplishing something that you've set out many times to accomplish. It's about the triumphant feeling you'll own, during, after and looking back. It's the calm that comes with knowing there's a pair of jeans in your closet you can slip into when a last minutes invite comes along. Setting a goal and reaching it unties the tether that keeps us defeated on the ground, allowing us to soar off and accomplish other things we've faced with doubt. Losing twenty pounds is not going to transform your existence. I know that and you do, too. It's a testament to our determination, will and perseverance. If I can do it, so can you.
I will never forget that dreary day two weeks ago, sitting in the antiseptic examining room, and wishing I could do this.
I'm doing it.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Day 14 Cereal: All Things ReConsidered
As a kid, I loved cereal for breakfast, the sugar kind, that is. Frankenberry, Count Chocula, Booberry, you name it, poured into a bowl the size of a bird bath and covered with Domino Pure Cane Sugar. If sugar cubes were marketed as "Eskimo Bite Cereal", I'd gobble those down too. During that rare, celestial shopping event, "when Jupiter aligned with Mars", Mom would splurge and shell out a buck thirty nine for the eight individual boxes of assorted cereals. We kids thought we'd died and gone to Family Affair heaven. I'd approach my mini box of Sugar Smacks as if it were a dead frog in biology class, dissecting the perforated line down the middle of the box, through the cardboard and wax lining, folding back the shutters and pouring in the Vitamin D.
Then came the age of nutrition and it was no longer healthy, wealthy or wise to eat sugared cereal. Go0d bye Captain, Tang and chocolate Space Food Sticks. Hello sugar laden packets of instant oatmeal (go figure), dry whole wheat toast with one egg (scrambled in Pam), and Uncle Sam cereal.
As I left Sugar Mountain to live on the USDA Food Pyramid, I always felt guilty if I ate Froot Loops, even though I pined for them and all their other magically delicious pals. What I should have been eating is All Bran right? Or Grape Nuts? At least a cereal with a healthy word in its name has got to be good for you; nuts, oats, fiber, honey, whole grain.
I suppose, but, here's the clincher: when I eat a 3/4 cup of Fruity Cheerios or Corn Pops for 100 calories and feel grrrreaaaaaaat, why would I gulp down a measly 1/4 cup of Grape Nuts for 110? I'm aware of the epicurban legend about how Grape Nuts blows up in your stomach like inflatable sponges, and keeps you full for seven years, but it tastes like wet sheet rock. Check this out: Alpen Muesli (sounds so yodelly-mountain air-Birkenstocky) packs a 389 calorie punch per cup. Now, that's not such a Smart Start, is it? And granola? 372 calories per cup of Kellogg's Low Fat Granola.
I'd rather enjoy a coveted cup of Cocoa Krispies (or two) and feel undeprived all day.
I have already disqualified myself with any type of professional "ist", degree of expertise but I can read.
Check out boxes of Special K Vanilla Almond, General Mills Fruity Cheerios and Post Honey Bunches of Oats. What a midge madge of nutritional info.
Special K/Fruity Cheerios/Honey Bunches of Oats
Zinc 0 2% 25%
The comparison goes on, but don't take my word for it, you can read them for yourself. Who would think, without diligently searching for the fine print that, Special K would have less fiber and MORE carbs, sugar and fat that Fruity Cheerios? Not so "special" now, is it? If you really want a bowl of Honeycomb, substituting Bran Buds just won't cut it. You can eat Bran Buds, til the cows come home (or you hit 1500 calories, whichever comes first) and you still won't feel satisfied. Think of it like this: You're craving a Hostess orange cupcake (130) but opt for the "good' Panera Everything bagel, toasted with a smear of cream cheese (450) because you believe, or have been conditioned to believe that the bagel is the smarter choice. So you eat the bagel with a thought cloud floating over your head containing a smiley faced you sitting in front of that desired orangey puck with the fluffy white filling. Now, you just feel deprived, probably a little pissed off , and certainly unsatisfied. What happens a couple hours later as the cupcake keeps swirling about your unconscious? You hit the fridge in a determined rage and binge on Everything but the Kohler kitchen sink. Who wins? Certainly not you and it's pretty much a given that the binge will bring you right back to where you started. Full circle. To the Hostess Orange Cupcake with the curly- q line of frosting down the center.
Frank Bruni, The New York Times food critic, gets paid to eat and approaches food without denying himself what he craves and still stays fit. "There are may times I would love to just go buy and eat a pint of ice cream, " he tells
Bon Appetit food writer, Melissa Clark, "but I don't do it. But I also won't deprive myself of a sesame bagel with Swiss cheese and tomato if that's what I want for breakfast. A person can eat 700 calories of stuff that they really didn't want But think it would be good for them) and then be haunted for the next two hours, feeling unsatisfied. So they backslide by eating another 400 calories. I'd rather just eat the 600 calories that I really wanted in the first place."
The 20/90 Plan is about counting calories and feeling satisfied. You can lose weight by eating cereals made for kids and silly rabbits. I did. You've read my food diaries. Keep reading labels, weigh your choices and decide what is best for you. If you love Lucky Charms, eat them and count them.
Day 14 Calorie Count: 1420 and 45 minutes of (very brisk) walking
Then came the age of nutrition and it was no longer healthy, wealthy or wise to eat sugared cereal. Go0d bye Captain, Tang and chocolate Space Food Sticks. Hello sugar laden packets of instant oatmeal (go figure), dry whole wheat toast with one egg (scrambled in Pam), and Uncle Sam cereal.
As I left Sugar Mountain to live on the USDA Food Pyramid, I always felt guilty if I ate Froot Loops, even though I pined for them and all their other magically delicious pals. What I should have been eating is All Bran right? Or Grape Nuts? At least a cereal with a healthy word in its name has got to be good for you; nuts, oats, fiber, honey, whole grain.
I suppose, but, here's the clincher: when I eat a 3/4 cup of Fruity Cheerios or Corn Pops for 100 calories and feel grrrreaaaaaaat, why would I gulp down a measly 1/4 cup of Grape Nuts for 110? I'm aware of the epicurban legend about how Grape Nuts blows up in your stomach like inflatable sponges, and keeps you full for seven years, but it tastes like wet sheet rock. Check this out: Alpen Muesli (sounds so yodelly-mountain air-Birkenstocky) packs a 389 calorie punch per cup. Now, that's not such a Smart Start, is it? And granola? 372 calories per cup of Kellogg's Low Fat Granola.
I'd rather enjoy a coveted cup of Cocoa Krispies (or two) and feel undeprived all day.
I have already disqualified myself with any type of professional "ist", degree of expertise but I can read.
Check out boxes of Special K Vanilla Almond, General Mills Fruity Cheerios and Post Honey Bunches of Oats. What a midge madge of nutritional info.
Special K/Fruity Cheerios/Honey Bunches of Oats
Zinc 0 2% 25%
Carbs 25g 25g 23g
Sugars 9g 6g 9g
Vitamin C 35% 0 25%
Folic Acid 35% 50% 0
Total Fat 1.5g 2.5g 1g
Calcium 0 0 10
Niacin 35% 25% 25%
Sodium 160mg 150mg 135mg
Fiber 1g 2g 2g
Sugars 9g 6g 9g
Vitamin C 35% 0 25%
Folic Acid 35% 50% 0
Total Fat 1.5g 2.5g 1g
Calcium 0 0 10
Niacin 35% 25% 25%
Sodium 160mg 150mg 135mg
Fiber 1g 2g 2g
The comparison goes on, but don't take my word for it, you can read them for yourself. Who would think, without diligently searching for the fine print that, Special K would have less fiber and MORE carbs, sugar and fat that Fruity Cheerios? Not so "special" now, is it? If you really want a bowl of Honeycomb, substituting Bran Buds just won't cut it. You can eat Bran Buds, til the cows come home (or you hit 1500 calories, whichever comes first) and you still won't feel satisfied. Think of it like this: You're craving a Hostess orange cupcake (130) but opt for the "good' Panera Everything bagel, toasted with a smear of cream cheese (450) because you believe, or have been conditioned to believe that the bagel is the smarter choice. So you eat the bagel with a thought cloud floating over your head containing a smiley faced you sitting in front of that desired orangey puck with the fluffy white filling. Now, you just feel deprived, probably a little pissed off , and certainly unsatisfied. What happens a couple hours later as the cupcake keeps swirling about your unconscious? You hit the fridge in a determined rage and binge on Everything but the Kohler kitchen sink. Who wins? Certainly not you and it's pretty much a given that the binge will bring you right back to where you started. Full circle. To the Hostess Orange Cupcake with the curly- q line of frosting down the center.
Frank Bruni, The New York Times food critic, gets paid to eat and approaches food without denying himself what he craves and still stays fit. "There are may times I would love to just go buy and eat a pint of ice cream, " he tells
Bon Appetit food writer, Melissa Clark, "but I don't do it. But I also won't deprive myself of a sesame bagel with Swiss cheese and tomato if that's what I want for breakfast. A person can eat 700 calories of stuff that they really didn't want But think it would be good for them) and then be haunted for the next two hours, feeling unsatisfied. So they backslide by eating another 400 calories. I'd rather just eat the 600 calories that I really wanted in the first place."
The 20/90 Plan is about counting calories and feeling satisfied. You can lose weight by eating cereals made for kids and silly rabbits. I did. You've read my food diaries. Keep reading labels, weigh your choices and decide what is best for you. If you love Lucky Charms, eat them and count them.
Day 14 Calorie Count: 1420 and 45 minutes of (very brisk) walking
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Day 13 Are You Losing Sticks of Butter?
We're a little past the midway point of Week 1 and 2. How are you holding up? Are you counting? Are you moving? Are you feeling lighter? Does it appear that a couple of sticks have melted off your body? Are you excited to step on the scale for Weigh In #2 (or are you dreading it?) If you are doing what you should be doing, then be confident that you will drop a little over 6 sticks of butter on Weigh In Day. Of the twelve weeks that you've dedicated to losing twenty pounds and accomplishing what you set out to do, nearly two weeks are behind you. You are 1/6 of your way there! 78 days left.
Breakfast: A couple very quick slurps of coffee on my way out the door (not even 4 T. Half 'n Half) (40)
Early Lunch: McDonald's Hamburger, extra pickles (260), a half an order of small fries (150), Diet Coke
Snack: Jolly Time 94% Fat Free Kettle Corn (100)
Dinner: Sloppy Joe on a hamburger bun (330), 1/2 cup prepared cole slaw (140), 1 cup Kraft Mac & Cheese (250), 1 1/2 cups steamed broccoli w/1 T. margarine (100), 1 Martha White Blueberry Cheesecake Muffin (150).
Day12 Calorie Count: 1520 (I didn't have time, as much as I had planned to, to get my walk in. Before I knew it, it was 10:30 p.m.)
Breakfast: A couple very quick slurps of coffee on my way out the door (not even 4 T. Half 'n Half) (40)
Early Lunch: McDonald's Hamburger, extra pickles (260), a half an order of small fries (150), Diet Coke
Snack: Jolly Time 94% Fat Free Kettle Corn (100)
Dinner: Sloppy Joe on a hamburger bun (330), 1/2 cup prepared cole slaw (140), 1 cup Kraft Mac & Cheese (250), 1 1/2 cups steamed broccoli w/1 T. margarine (100), 1 Martha White Blueberry Cheesecake Muffin (150).
Day12 Calorie Count: 1520 (I didn't have time, as much as I had planned to, to get my walk in. Before I knew it, it was 10:30 p.m.)
Day 12 Smart, Lean & Healthy
Tonight I met a couple of pals at El Rancho Cancun, a greasy spoon-type of Mexican restaurant in our neighborhaood. The allure of the fiesta was to drink strawberry margaritas in 55 gallon drums until we all got silly and laughed too loud. Gearing up for this dinner out, I ate a light breakfast consisting of coffee and a Pillsbury Toaster Strudel (260). Lunch was the usual PB&J, one ounce bag of pretzels, a large banana and two bites from the middle of a Twinkie (700).
I'm not much of a drinker so I was content with Diet Coke, which Rosita refilled so many times I think I had hyponatremia. I skipped over the basket of chips and ordered an enchilada platter, no guacamole, no sour cream and no refried beans. It was pathetic, a card board paper towel roll, cut in half and stuffed with an unidentifiable brown glup, having as much taste as wet poster board.
As my pals scooped tortilla chips into mahogany colored lard and shouted "Ole", I was trying to calculate the calories in the south-of -the- border mess, coagulating in front of me. The saving grace was I left one mystery cylinder on the plate, salvaging some calories from the wreck.
At that point, I wished I had eaten a Smart One Chicken Enchilada Monterrey (310) at home and met them after for a Cuervo Gold shot.
Chicken Alfredo, Chicken Carbonara, Ravioli Florentine, Brick Oven Pizzas. Sounds like I am reciting menu items from an Italian trattoria. These entrees are already prepared, packaged, counted and sitting right in my freezer.
The folks at Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice and Smart Ones take the "count" out of the count and make it simple for all of us on the Plan to eat right, say within calorie and financial budgets and not spend two hours over a hot stove slicing, stewing and sauteing while the house falls apart.
No, these convenient, "let me do the cooking and counting for you" time savers aren't masquerading as five star entrees prepared by a master chef. They aren't made to be, they're not marketed to be (honestly, what do you expect for 270 calories?) and, of course, they don't carry the exorbitant prices than accompany fine dining dishes.
Check them out. They're a great value and can be life preservers, life savers, and gentle nudges to push us through another day when we blew all our bucks early in the day at the meat counter. I like Lean Cuisines and their line of Spa Cuisines (Chicken Enchilada Suiza beats the paste I had at El Rancho) but find the ones you like. These are not the TV Dinners who enjoyed as a kid, hunched over your TY tray , eyes glued to Speed Racer or Petticoat Junction. Today's freezer sections offer up Salmon with Dill Sauce, Dragon Shrimp Lo Mein, Lemon Grass Chicken, Paninis, Pizzas and on and on.
In my former life, I had a bit of culinary experience (although you'd never guess that from my food diaries and I give two thumbs up to the R&D department at Lean Cuisine. They've done a bang up job creating comfort foods such as Beef Pot Roast alla Aunt Bee to classic style cuisine like Oven Roasted Beef Burgundy without preservatives, trans fat or artificial ingredients. I'd rather give myself a root canal than hit the GE oven a week night and attempt to prepare Chicken a L'Orange for under 330 calories. Talk about "Hell's Kitchen."
Day 12 total: Not really sure, around 1200.
I'm not much of a drinker so I was content with Diet Coke, which Rosita refilled so many times I think I had hyponatremia. I skipped over the basket of chips and ordered an enchilada platter, no guacamole, no sour cream and no refried beans. It was pathetic, a card board paper towel roll, cut in half and stuffed with an unidentifiable brown glup, having as much taste as wet poster board.
As my pals scooped tortilla chips into mahogany colored lard and shouted "Ole", I was trying to calculate the calories in the south-of -the- border mess, coagulating in front of me. The saving grace was I left one mystery cylinder on the plate, salvaging some calories from the wreck.
At that point, I wished I had eaten a Smart One Chicken Enchilada Monterrey (310) at home and met them after for a Cuervo Gold shot.
Chicken Alfredo, Chicken Carbonara, Ravioli Florentine, Brick Oven Pizzas. Sounds like I am reciting menu items from an Italian trattoria. These entrees are already prepared, packaged, counted and sitting right in my freezer.
The folks at Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice and Smart Ones take the "count" out of the count and make it simple for all of us on the Plan to eat right, say within calorie and financial budgets and not spend two hours over a hot stove slicing, stewing and sauteing while the house falls apart.
No, these convenient, "let me do the cooking and counting for you" time savers aren't masquerading as five star entrees prepared by a master chef. They aren't made to be, they're not marketed to be (honestly, what do you expect for 270 calories?) and, of course, they don't carry the exorbitant prices than accompany fine dining dishes.
Check them out. They're a great value and can be life preservers, life savers, and gentle nudges to push us through another day when we blew all our bucks early in the day at the meat counter. I like Lean Cuisines and their line of Spa Cuisines (Chicken Enchilada Suiza beats the paste I had at El Rancho) but find the ones you like. These are not the TV Dinners who enjoyed as a kid, hunched over your TY tray , eyes glued to Speed Racer or Petticoat Junction. Today's freezer sections offer up Salmon with Dill Sauce, Dragon Shrimp Lo Mein, Lemon Grass Chicken, Paninis, Pizzas and on and on.
In my former life, I had a bit of culinary experience (although you'd never guess that from my food diaries and I give two thumbs up to the R&D department at Lean Cuisine. They've done a bang up job creating comfort foods such as Beef Pot Roast alla Aunt Bee to classic style cuisine like Oven Roasted Beef Burgundy without preservatives, trans fat or artificial ingredients. I'd rather give myself a root canal than hit the GE oven a week night and attempt to prepare Chicken a L'Orange for under 330 calories. Talk about "Hell's Kitchen."
Day 12 total: Not really sure, around 1200.
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