Not that this is anything new. We make noises like, "we really should try to eat better," and "next week we are *definitely* starting a diet," and "SWEET HEAVEN I AM NEVER EATING AGAIN" at least once a week, on average. This is because we, like many of you, are typical Americans. And by "typical" I mean...er...um...[searching for the politically correct term]...fluffy. In a Garfield-esque kind of way.
"Put me down, woman! I see CUPCAKES!!"After having been burned by extreme diets in the past (Atkins, you sick bastard, you) I knew that I, at least, had to start small. Achievable goals: that's the ticket!
So, step 1: Discuss diet strategies over a frosty.
(This eases one into the dieting process.)
Step 2: Research said diet strategies online.
Step 3: Get sidetracked for about two hours online researching candy-colored synthetic dreadlocks, even though you've never had dreads, will never have dreads, and, frankly, couldn't pull them off stylistically even if you tried. (But srsly, how cute is this girl?!?)
Step 4: Um. Where were we?
Oh, right.
Well, if you're looking for any gems of weight-loss advice from a cake-addicted blogger who hasn't seen the sun in approximately 5 days, then I am delighted to tell you that you're nuts.
I can, however, share what's working for John.
John's Surprisingly Effective Diet Plan:
1. Read Eat This Not That!
, the restaurant edition.
2. Scream in horror after discovering every single one of your favorite meals on the "Not That" pages. (You know the Goofy yell? That's what he sounded like, every 5 seconds. It was hysterical.)
3. Buy the Tap & Track iPhone app, which tells you the nutritional info on everything at restaurants and grocery stores and keeps tallies on how many calories you're consuming.
4. Walk on a treadmill a lot.
, the restaurant edition.2. Scream in horror after discovering every single one of your favorite meals on the "Not That" pages. (You know the Goofy yell? That's what he sounded like, every 5 seconds. It was hysterical.)
3. Buy the Tap & Track iPhone app, which tells you the nutritional info on everything at restaurants and grocery stores and keeps tallies on how many calories you're consuming.
4. Walk on a treadmill a lot.
I think he's already down 8 pounds - in a week. Naturally, I hate him. But in a loving, supportive manner.
And how am *I* doing? Oh, about like this:
John: "Um, I'm pretty sure eating a frosty while on the treadmill defeats the purpose."
Me: "YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME."
Me: "YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME."
love it! I am totally with you. My hubby's been unemployed, sitting on his butt playin video games for a year and he dropped like 40 pounds! How come button-mashing doesn't count as excercise for me, too?!
ReplyDeleteHey man I feel your pain. I'm Garfield-esque myself. I personally also feel that baby steps are the most effective. I started out by cutting out the fast food, then the soda, and have just been going from there. Water is so delicious to me now. And I actually enjoy going out for a brisk walk with my MP3 player on. After that weights is pretty simple.
ReplyDeleteYou can do it! (I still eat cake on the weekend sometimes)
I was going to enhance your plan by mentioning that you can order pizza online, too. That's helpful, right?
ReplyDeleteOn my google feed, this post came with an ad at the bottom for how to get a flat stomach :-).
ReplyDeleteCheck out SparkPeople if you haven't already. Wonderful site, about being happy and healthy, not just "skinny." Oh, and it's FREE. :)
ReplyDeleteMy hubby and I are exactly the same way. He quits drinking soda and loses 10 pounds. I quit soda and gain 10 pounds. Its not fair, I agree.
ReplyDeleteAt work I buy breakfast (potatoes, scrambled eggs and bacon) and then make myself walk up 72 stairs (instead of taking the elevator) to my desk on the 8th floor.
ReplyDeleteI actually posted this on Buzz about it a couple weeks ago:
I like to eat my breakfast as I walk from the cafeteria to my desk. I know this may be weird, but I figure it serves 2 purposes:
1) It combines eating with exercise. This has to be good right? (Other than just causing a choking hazard)
2) It makes walking up stairs from the 5th floor to the 8th floor MUCH more delicious.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My point? Eating a frosty on the treadmill makes PERFECT sense...and probably has a much lower risk of choking than what I'm doing every day.
Beats trying to start a diet with a bunch of delicious hot wings staring at you just wanting you to try one.. lol never ever works I gobble em all up.
ReplyDeletedid you know men will always lose weight easier than woman. Yup it's true, a sad and evil fact cause there bodies almost instantly covert it to muscle while we ACTUALLY have to lose it.
ReplyDeleteit's really really not fair is it?
Oh so true-my husband loses weight when I diet....no effort of his own of course.
ReplyDeleteI embarked upon my favorite diet so far a few weeks ago (crash diet for HS reunion...err...not going to lose 40 pounds in two weeks!) Anyway it is called the "Hollywood Cookie Diet." You eat a cookie for breakfast, a cookie for lunch, another cookie or two for a snack, and one small meal in the evening. Definitely feels like I'm cheating. It does leave me hungry but I am down 5 pounds. I could probably do the same thing eating smaller portions of regular food. But hey-it's COOKIES! On a DIET!
I started to post a comment, but then I got distracted by hair and makeup videos on YouTube. I'm sure you can understand.
ReplyDeleteMy weight loss theory is to not eat the free doughnuts at work any more. (It's tough, because they're there twice a week, and I love doughnuts.) Instead, I make cookies at home. And then eat a lot of them. But it's ok, because they're not work doughnuts. I actually haven't lost any weight this way yet, but I just started. I'm sure the pounds will fall off, soon.
Honestly, my husband just got us Wii Fit Plus and Just Dance, which I'm hoping will get me up off my butt. (Fortunately, you can still eat cookies when doing these games.)
I totally sympathize. After having two babies in 18 months getting back into an exercise routine was really difficult. I was already eating pretty well because I had gestational diabetes with my second pregnancy, but once I was paying attention to calories instead of just grams of carbs, eating made me feel sad. Especially after the treadmill or elliptical told me how much it took to burn off said calories. I really had a, "Why bother even eating?" moment.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm still doing my cardio and weights 3-4 times a week (or more if I'm lucky enough to get away) and I eat at least one salad almost every day and I eat a lot of watermelon and popcorn for snacks.
The sad thing is that the results are coming so slowly. After my son was born I lost about 25 pounds in the first three weeks and it was amazing! I was so proud that I got back to my pre-baby weight so quickly. But the rest I need to lose seems to be nearly impossible. I do a daily weigh-in with the Wii Fit Plus (I weigh my kiddos too) and while the results are generally a little disappointing, at least I'm keeping myself accountable. Seeing that I lose .2 pounds makes all the salads, work outs and water worth it!
I'm still in the denial phase so you're one step ahead of me! :) And congrats to John on his weight loss so far.
ReplyDeletePS: I'm craving a frosty now, thanks a lot!
I over identify with "fluffy." I started small & cut out cokes & french fries and lost 30#s in 6 months.
ReplyDeleteOK, going through the same process. I do pretty well when I cook, but in the past few years, I have gone from 32 hours a week to working at home 45+ hours to working 45+ hours with a long commute thrown in a couple of days. Groceries don't seem to get bought for some reason.
ReplyDeletewv: facat. Amazing.
you're adorable!
ReplyDeleteand the girl's accent (in the video) is also adorable.
good luck with the diet! I find that dieting doesn't work for me. it's all about meal portions, switching in more healthy ingredients to what I already eat, and exercise. I can diet forever but if I don't exercise, I don't lose a pound. :)
Cut out breads and sodas and you'll be off to a good start. Atkins can be rough but if you avoid the processed simple carbs progress will come.
ReplyDeleteI too am way too fluffy for my own good.
BTW, this is my first time to comment here since you started EPBOT but I love it. I'm married to a geek and have given birth to 6 geeklings so I'm now a geek by association. :)
Looking at the eat this not that website is super helpful, except when it totally cripples my decision making process at restaurants!
ReplyDeleteI'm finally finding a happy medium between eating healthy and not driving myself insane by completely restricting my diet, mainly by listening to a Geneen Roth audiobook (which I got at the library! From the library website straight to my ipod!). It was a reluctant decision, but she's totally gets it when it comes to explaining complicated relationships with food. A'course her methods aren't going to work for everybody, but she seemed to have some good ideas!
At least you don't live in Alaska? Once you're adapted to the climate here your body will automatically start to gain weight and fat to keep you warm in the wintertime. So I'd say dieting here is kinda hard. But being skinny up here is kinda difficult as well because you end up freezing half to death.
ReplyDeleteToo funny! Reminds me of the scene on 30 Rock where Liz was strolling on her treadmill, sandwich in hand.
ReplyDeleteI must confess I am sort of hoping you were exaggerating when you said that John lost eight pounds in just a week. Losing weight can be a plus, but losing that much in such a short amount of time is rather dangerous and doesn't allow the body to properly adjust. On average, losing one to two pounds per week tends to make it easier on the body and, though it [the pounds] can still bounce back, it doesn’t make it quite so likely. I'm just slightly afraid that, should John lapse slightly in keeping up this new diet, it might all come back rather fast...
ReplyDeleteAnother unfortunate thing about gaining even just a pound of fat results in obtaining a mile of capillary tubing. To make matters worse, losing that pound doesn't mean that the capillaries go away. Oh, no. Instead, they hang around and are the little voices shrieking Feed me! whenever something particularly delicious (and probably unhealthy) is around.
That aside, I hope all goes well for the both of you. And, personally, I approve of eating a frosty while on a treadmill. As one who has been overweight her entire life (and loathes it), I support you one hundred percent. :)
I'm doing a really easy diet at the moment called Dukan from France. Basically a more sustainable atkins, Ive lost 16lbs since July 9th. Others have lost more but I am too busy to crack up the excercise.
ReplyDeleteMy WoW toons aint getting to 80 alone and I have to save the universe from the Zerg invasion.
I'm going for a Mark Bittman "Food Matters" and Alton Brown's thoughts on food myself. Nothing is forbidden, but there's quite the attitude adjustment, which is always hard. Really really hard.
ReplyDeleteBUT--we women can still do it. I was horrified to wake up one morning and I was only 21 years old and weighed 235 lbs (I totally have pictures to prove it) and I didn't go on a crazy diet, but I did start giving myself rules and gradually starting exercising--I lost 100 pounds. Now, seven years later I'm carrying a little more than my lowest, but I also had a baby last year. :)
ReplyDeleteIt CAN be done! It ain't easy, but it's totally doable. I'm living proof.
Don't you hate that! I went on the Cabbage soup diet for a week. I stuck to my guns, did it all correctly - lost 2 lbs.... My husband watched and ate whatever he wanted along with the kids - lost 4 lbs. Jerk!
ReplyDeleteHahaha, love the treadmill comment! That's like when my sister and I used to go running a mile and a half...to the pizza place.
ReplyDeleteI hope you share more about your weight loss adventures, I like to know that I'm not alone!
i'll just add my suggestion... www.livestrong.com. so far i've lost 12 pounds! it helps to track things and the site is super easy to use. good luck! oh, and it shouldn't be a diet. it should be a permanent change. otherwise, you'll just gain all the weight right back!
ReplyDeleteYeah. My partner Dave lost about 50 lbs by...EATING DARK CHOCOLATE! Yes, that's right. Did not work for me, I can tell you! So I also hate him...in a loving and supportive manner. I feel your pain, Jen!
ReplyDeleteI had an abscess tooth. When you can only consume room temperature liquids for two weeks, the weight drops off! I kept up the intake of vitamins, fruits and vegetables for the whole 'health and keeping me alive' factor. Now my stomach has shrunk and I eat anything I enjoy, just not as much of it. Good luck all, and have fun!
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, diets don't work. For me, the key to losing almost 50 lbs. was not making the decision to lose weight, but making the decision to get healthy, and to make it a priority. Each choice I made from then on be it food, exercise or rest was either healthy or unhealthy, and it became much easier. If health is the goal, it's important to make the healthy choice. And as long as I choose the healthy option 80% of the time, I'm ok, and I can still indulge 20% of the time.
ReplyDeleteI also made sure that the healthy choices I made were things I enjoy and could continue to do long term, so that I wouldn't feel deprived, or a need to revert to unhealthy habits later on.
Hope I've helped? Best wishes on your journey to health, and please, keep us posted!
I don't diet. I mean yeah I cut out the junk I know I shouldn't be eating any way but that's it. For me it's the exercise. I make it my goal to work out every day that way I actually wind up working out 4-5 times a week. I'm more than half way to my goal (12 pounds, only 5 to go). And my clothes are getting loose.
ReplyDeleteI've read that the first bite of something is the best (i.e. the anticipation is satisfied in that first bite), so now I typically eat just one bite of dessert (I keep an open bar of dark chocolate in the fridge all the time).
ReplyDeleteYou can do it! I lost 80 pounds in about a year. It was a long process and I started out slow but I know now how to eat healthily! I didn't do any crazy diets because I KNEW I wouldn't be able to resist sweets. So I just set a number of calories to eat each day and fit what I wanted to eat into that. I also did Jillian Michaels Dvds which are great if you like to stay inside and sweat like a crazed water buffalo (do they sweat?). Keep at it and good luck! Start slowly!
ReplyDeleteExtreme diets really don't work - and a good diet should never deny you things that you like. I highly recommended the free site SparkPeople.com It's a motivational tool that has really helps me keep my head in the right place while I try to get healthier. It helps you set and track small goals, as well as your exercise and food consumption if you want it. It will even make you a weight training routine or menus if you want. There are also groups you can join to talk to others about your goals, frustrations, whatever.
ReplyDeleteIt really is more on the idea (some of you already mentioned this good advice) of making small changes to your lifestyle that all add up. It's made the process pretty painless for me, plus I get to mess around with all the stuff on thee site, so yay more online distractions.
Good luck!
my biggest problem is that i read cakewrecks everyday and crave cake constantly ;) lol!!! but seriously i gained 20 lbs when i started having gallbladder problems and after i got it out i still cant lose it!! i eat less and im making my hubby get fresh fruits and veggies
ReplyDeletePhotoJENic, I was totally going to suggest sparkpeople.com, too! I reeeeally needed to lose some weight for my wedding, and they helped me out a bunch (to the tune of 40 pounds). It's been over a year-and-a-half and the weight is still gone.
ReplyDeleteI saw all the unhealthy things my friends were putting themselves through and knew I would rather be "fluffy" than go that route. That's why I wound up loving the site; it really teaches healthy (and effective!) lifestyle changes rather than so-called "dieting".
So I don't know if you are looking for advice...buuut, it helps to cut out all foods with high fructose corn syrup. That stuff is seriously bad for you and you'd be surprised at what food products they put it in. HFCS causes more weight gain than if you were just eating regular sugar. :)
ReplyDeleteGrowing up I watched my Mom try every diet to ever cross her path. So I vowed I would never ever do to myself what she did. Recently I've decided that "not dieting", doesn't mean "not eating healthy". I found this book called 'The French Don't Diet'. I also started doing Wii Fit Plus for 15-30 minutes a couple times a week. Its awesome. I haven't dropped tons of weight or anything. But I have lost in a steady pace (2-3 lbs a week). The most interesting thing for me is that I'm not as hungry as I was before. I don't feel like I NEED to eat seconds and thirds. I stay full longer, though my portions are smaller. Its actually been really enlightening. And it hasn't been miserable. I don't feel like I have to deny myself.
ReplyDeleteIf ever there were two people that didn't really need to diet, you two count. I just met you in San Diego and I never would have thought "diet"! Don't go crazy on this, ok? Too many people get obsessed with this stuff unnecessarily because our culture has such a screwed up sense of what is the right size for people.
ReplyDeleteLow-carb diets are trash. Any diet which says "do eat this, don't eat that" is worthless.
ReplyDeleteMore broadly, any temporary diet is pointless. The goal is to acquire eating habits that will always be suitable, even when you've lost as much weight as you want to.
The only organized program out there that I would recommend is Weight Watchers, which uses a point system. You don't avoid anything in particular, but simply get a fixed number of points per day, based on your weight, age, and activity level. If you want that big honking chocolate bar, go ahead, but it'll cost you. My mother and father have lost nearly 100 pounds combined thus far in the past year. Once you reach your desired weight, you don't stop the diet, you just add a couple points so that your intake balances with what you burn each day.
The biggest thing you can do, of course, is exercise, because that provides benefits above and beyond creating a calorie deficit for the purposes of burning fat. Exercise bikes are probably the best for someone not in great shape. Do at least 30 minutes a day, at least three times a week, and keep your heart rate in the right zone for your age (65-85% of your maximum rate, which can be approximated as 220 minus your age).
I use the Lose It! iPhone app. It's free, and tracks all your nutrition for you. You enter your goal weight, how many pounds to lose per week, etc, and it tells you when you'll reach your goal. It also uses that to calculate your calories per day, takes your activity and adjusts calories accordingly, etc. And yeah, it's free. I started my diet July 5th (after a binge on the 4th). I've lost 7 pounds already. The great thing is knowing when I have enough leeway for a cocktail or some ice cream in the evening after the day's noms. (And yeah, it's free and I'm a tightwad.)
ReplyDeleteYOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!
ReplyDeleteAhhhh.... that's how I diet, too.
I suppose this loses some of its effectiveness having never met you before in real life, but... You're perfect just as you are!!! If you're worried about your health then check out www.haescommunity.org. Health at every size is a great way to improve your eating habits without an emphasis on your outward appearance. Weight Watchers said it best, "Diets don't work." Too bad they're a diet.
ReplyDeleteI had surgery on my tongue three times in 6 weeks a couple of years ago, and lost no more than 10 pounds. It was rather annoying that I went through all that pain and didn't even have significant weight loss to show for it.
ReplyDeleteI have Wii Fit and Wii Active, and was doing one or the other every day until I got bronchitis last fall, and took about a month to completely recover. I got out of the habit of exercise, and while I've gone walking this summer, I need to get back to daily exercise. I'm definitely going to check out SparkPeople and try to resume the exercise and lift some weights or work out with resistance bands. I know what to do; it's actually doing it that seems to be the problem.
My husband and I have been there, and lost a combined 170ish lbs a few years ago. My tips: veggies, veggies, veggies, fruit. They are filling and go in everything. Have a plan during the week, but give yourself a day off as well. You can't outexercise a bad diet, but you need exercise to diet well. Cook, it's fun and saves money, and saves calories. Every time. If you need some support, I recommend Sparkpeople.com which is a 100% free diet site with food/exercise tracking and social support. Wave hi to me there if you join, I'm Ivory1825, and a 3 year veteran member and team leader.
ReplyDeleteI totally identify with the husband thing. Mine merely decided to cut down on 3rd helpings and not eat everything in the fridge after 10pm and lost about 25 pounds.
ReplyDeleteI have always been some version of "fluffy," but recently after watching some of my coworkers lose significant amounts of weight at our workplace Weight Watchers group, decided to join about 2 weeks ago. It's easy and it's working - and I still am enjoying my life, which is the thing I was most afraid of losing. This needs to be a lifestyle change for me, since I am about 100 pounds overweight. That's not just from cake, it's from too much EVERYTHING.
I thought the program would try to "be the boss of me," which would be a deal-killer since I am very stubborn! BUT, frankly, the points system does a good job of helping you WANT to eat better. If you don't want to go to meetings, you can do it online.
Tomorrow I'm going to devote myself to every piece of advice in Shape magazine for the month of August. Naturally, I've been spending the last few days of July stuffing my face with Cold Stone treats and piles of Pad See Ew. My strategy is that if I puff myself up a bit before I start, I'll feel better about the results. Probably not the best strategy, but hey, we do what we need to do, right?
ReplyDeleteI didn't do a book diet. I cut my portions in half. Went to 2 pops a day. (Mt Dew is my version of coffee). Drank water the rest of the day.
ReplyDeleteFirst day I ate a normal breakfast and lunch. Then when dinner happened, I took half off my plate and wrapped it up. Next day, normal breakfast, heated up the leftovers from my dinner, dinner time did same as night before.
Just doing that I lost ten pounds in two months and never felt hungry or went without.
YES! I started Ediets AGAIN just last night, and just the thought of it made me want to scarf down all the ice cream in the house. It *does* work (the on-again-off-again was due to two pregnancies.) But it's so annoying when my ever-supportive husband -- who is, by the way, my size or smaller -- eats the same portions as me at home, and anything he wants at work when I'm not around, and still drops weight twice as fast. "YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME." Ha! I'm saving that for the next "Now dear..." moment.
ReplyDeleteI turned on the TV earlier today and there was a P90X infomercial on (which is this crazy intense workout program). Made me tired just looking at it. So I went in the kitchen and got out the oreos.
ReplyDeleteYou could always start blog #3 and document your weight loss experiences - since you are a glutton for punishment. I, however, am just a glutton. ;-)
I second the spark people ap and website vote.
ReplyDeleteI have not read the book and I hate people handing me a menu of what I am and am not allowed to eat for a day, etc.
What I LOVE about this is that you start off with a time goal, weight goal, tell it a little bit about yourself, then it suggests a calorie range for what you should eat in a day. You can go with their meal plans, or you can put your usual stuff into a count of what you ate that day. I try to plan ahead before I'm hungry, because it's less impulse eating. And if I improvise, I put it in immediately rather than try to recall it later.
You get to click on a little plus sign every time you down another glass of water, you can see where all of your calories for the day came from, as well as if you are meeting your fats/carbs/protein requirements.
At the end of the day or any time during the day, you can see a pie chart of where your calories came from (ironic, I know) as well as graphed reports of time periods.
I still eat things I like (for my sanity and those around me), I go over the recommended amount of calories when I really want to go out, but I have really started to see food in terms of what will fuel me, and I have lower cal go-tos for when I'm just bored/stressed.
Their database is amazing--it has their preloaded info, plus user entered stuff, which you then add to your favorites, making it easier to add stuff that you eat over and over.
Plus it has made me work out more because it has a section for tracking how many days and when you worked out.
What makes it work is being COMPLETELY honest about what food you ate that day. I've never done the fad diet thing before, because I will not give up my carbs or fat or anything else like that, but I have lost weight for 3 solid weeks now. And I live in a city KNOWN for its food--even my work cafeteria is good.
But yes, I completely understand about the man dropping pounds in a week just because he decided to blink more as his cardio for the day (grrrrrr).
I don't share what my numbers are with him--my goal is to be in better shape and to have clothes fit looser. A number is just a number because muscle weighs more but takes up less space.
I used a brilliant diet - one that pays particular attention to hyperglyceamia, candida and food intolerences. "Stop counting calories, start losing weight" Really stupid name but very sensible. It isn't just a quick fix diet it's done in three stages and some of the tips have really stuck with me - for example eating brown rice, pasta and bread rather than the even more processed white versions. It's also helped with my massive, crippling cravings for dairy (what a wonderful intolerence to have, patooie)
ReplyDeleteJen- I saw you a couple weeks ago in Tempe. You're gorgeous! If you are eating healthy and getting exercise then don't worry about the stupid scale. The diet industry makes billions of dollars every year and the worst part is they have us convinced that we are doing it for out health. We are simply lining their pockets.
ReplyDeleteI adore Michael Pollan, he puts it the best "eat food, mostly vegetables, not too much". If you do that and excercise ( i HIGHLY recommend Zumba!!)then your taking care of your body. If you are dieting for health reasons then a crash diet is just setting yourself up for failure. 95% of diets fail- it's a fact. If you are truly trying to be healthier then practice healthy habits, which does not include eating a cookie and calling that a meal, or just consuming high protein meals, or eating less than 1200 calories a day. Change habits in the mind set that you love your body not in the mind set that you want to change your body.
For some good ole fashion feel good ranting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUTJQIBI1oA
I love Joy almost as much as I love you!
Again- You're gorgeous!
I highly, recommend Fat 2 Fit radio.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fat2fitradio.com/ It's straight shooting from two independent guys discussing fitness, health, exercise, eating right, and are NOT selling you a diet plan, just giving you tools that you can use figure out how to eat healthily, without deprivation and to gradually get down to a healthy weight and maintain it. It's been interesting following this podcast because one of the hosts has lost 100 pounds (over three years) by following their own advice.
I like to think that if I eat a salad at some point in the day, that qualifies as having eaten healthy for the day and makes it totally okay to have dessert. Romaine lettuce vs. iceberg earns me double points.
ReplyDeleteJen i've been overweight my whole life. This year was a big wake up call when my doctor told me that my blood pressure and cholesterol were too high. If you want a fairly easy plan, Weight Watchers has helped me a lot because I loose weight but I can still eat out and eat yummy cake. If you don't want a plan. Try increasing your fruit and veggie intake to 5 servings a day 3 of those veggies. It might help. Then have some cake to wash down the flavor of broccoli.
ReplyDeleteJust substitute your foods!: 2% cheese instead of full fat, plain low fat (or non-fat yogurt) instead of sour cream.. etc. I just made a killer potatoes au gratin using yougurt, parmesan and 2% cheddar cheese... guiltless comfort food... there's nothing better!
ReplyDeletelol, hey using the elliptical at all does too count. :D it's much better than not doing it.
ReplyDeleteJen, you're a riot. I am a proud couch surfing lazy butt myself but earlier this year I joined Curves. Even the worst machine only lasts 30 seconds at a shot and in 1/2 an hour a few times a week I'm losing inches. It's virtually impossible to overdo it, you're not going to end up with bulging muscles but you'll be healthier. And you can still eat cake - heck, even the healthiest eaters will still die, why not indulge once in a while?
ReplyDeleteFat is beautiful, that is all.
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel. This summer I've been working with a trainer from my gym, and she's had me on this really strict diet. It's really annoying sometimes about how she'll give me grief over the tiniest infraction. But, it's made me find more creative ways to eat within the diet, even if it is incredibly annoying when she gives me grief for having a fat-free, no calorie root beer float.
ReplyDeleteI've been losing weight for the past year and a half. The biggest thing that gets me is when I get stagnant (like, staying at the same weight for a month). But, slowly, it's coming off.
ReplyDeleteAnd my boyfriend is currently trying to gain weight... it makes me want to punch him sometimes when he says, "I lost more weight." A loving punch, of course
I don't know if they have them in Florida or not, but Wendy's has a cookie dough frostie that is amazing. I actually dream about them. I had to ask a friend to keep me accountable to only have one a week, or I would have probably driven the 15 minutes each day to the nearest Wendy's and eaten one each afternoon. Or morning. Or evening. Or all three!
ReplyDeleteHere's my special brand of advice, though maybe I can only say this because I am a late-teens-ager with a higher metabolism than I suspect you have, but:
ReplyDeleteDon't bother with "low fat" and "no sugar" foods because eating them only makes you feel justified when you have something like a slab of cake or a bag of potato chips later. Just portion everything a little bit smaller and eat what you will enjoy, or you wont stick to the improved diet.
And I hate exercise for the sake of exercise because it feels phony. Make it fun and pertinent, like walking/biking between the shops around town when you do errands instead of driving to each one. I like bicycles.
I also am obsessed with reading labels on food. I don't care about the calorie count, I just want to know if they used real ingredients I can visualize (fruits, grains, vegetables, etc.).
Also, if you have "bad" food lying around the house, I assure you that you will end up eating it. Only buy and keep around what you won't feel bad eating and leave the treats for when you actually dine out. It makes dining out that much more special.
A little over a month I found out I have high blood pressure. Okay I knew I was over weight but I had been trying to eat healthy.I was just still puting too much of that FOOD in my mouth. It was a wake up call. I had read an news story before this that talked about how most people do not stick to the changes they make after getting a health warning. I'm determind to stay on my path that I'm taking. I work in a complex care/ assisted living home. I like working there, but I don"t want to end up living there because of a stroke etc. Counting calories is working for me. I'm eating a variety of foods, but I do make better choices when limited to 1500 cals. I like Eat This not That web site as it really makes me see what I was eating at times. Good Luck to everyone out there trying to get healthy.
ReplyDeleteI started a post a while ago before I clicked on the link to the dred lock girl. She is so cute! No wonder every loves YouTube so much, I watched a bunch of her vids. I totally get the " I hate him but in a totally supportive way" Just don't get too crazy with your diet Jen, love yourself the way you are, we already do!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comment about Michael Pollan " Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" By food that means getting as much as you possibly can in the way that nature, or God intended us to eat it, not "edible foodstuffs" like chips and soda. Or scrambling and egg yourself instead of an eggMcmuffin, which I garantee is not made from egg, but egg substitute. Things like that. Also be aware that the nutritional ontent of and egg you but at the store is not the same as one from the farmers market. And neither is the carrot or chicken etc... Local is almost always nutritionally superior. Finally, I have to disagree with the comment to substitute for low- fat items like butter, cheese, sour cream etc. In order to remove the fat from a food and still have it taste good, (because they are removing fat, they don't put in extra into full-fat items) they have to add more sugar. That way it's less caloric but still just as tasty. So for someone who is pre-diabetic that is one of the worst things you can do. Your best bet is to go ahead and eat the full-fat items, in moderation, but get them from good sources so they have the nutritional quality you want without all the other added stuff that you get from the major food manufacturers.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you. I did Weight Watchers online for quite a while, and while it worked there were two big problems. 1. It bugged my husband to no end that I was always putting food into "points" ("it's like eating with a basketball game going on!" says he) and it cost me about $18 a month. Not a ton, but it wasn't always worth it.
ReplyDeleteThen I found (dramatic drum roll please) Sparkpeople.com! It had all the great stuff about WW, but it's entirely free. They have amazing articles and videos and groups and you can track all your food and put in your favorite recipes and it'll tell you how many calories/fats/carbs are in them. No points, and nothing's off limits.
It's really wonderful. And there's an app.
Good luck!
This site has been helpful for me and my husband: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
ReplyDeleteMy husband has lost 20 lbs since February. There's also an iphone app for the site.
My husband has (without really trying) lost the 7 lbs he was over at his annual physical this spring. I seem to not be losing much though--I was hoping increasing my thyroid medication would help, since I was a tad low; seems though that the other factors of staying up way too late at night, plus eating then, since I'm hungry are too much a part of the picture. (They have done studies that show that not getting enough sleep makes it harder to lose weight--you don't get enough of the "I'm full" hormone, so you eat more.)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, my word verification "word": butsese...
I feel your pain but if you are gonna work to do it I would do it now cause at one point it's gonna be very nessary and then it will be harder. Hang in there I will pray for you and John.
ReplyDeleteJen and John,
ReplyDeletenot that long ago I came across these three tips, they are very very simple and I have lost about half a stone to a stone in weight.
1) Only eat when you're actually hungry. I found that I was eating a lot because I was bored and it was something to do. (I think this was the most fundamental change really)
2) When you're no longer hungry, stop eating. This took a while to get a hang of, in britain we have this culture of having to clear you're plate... and if you don't then it can be concidered rude. I still have people give me a bit of a funny look when I don't finish at a work meal or something like that.
3) BUY SMALLER PLATES. It kind of ties in with the previous one. If you have a smaller plate you can put less food on it... but it still looks full. it a pyschobabble thingy, but it makes you feel fuller cause you have had a full plate of food (even tho it is less)
Apart from that I havn't changed a thing of what I eat. I still eat sweets and cake (I am notorious for having sweets at my desk)
ok.. just have to put in my two cents... and they're not even squished souvenir cents... I've done almost all the different diet things out there and the only one that makes me feel good, AND I loose weight at a steady pace, treats the root of the problem, and the results I see in others who started before me are amazing is....
ReplyDelete.. wait for it...
The Gabriel Method
it really is wonderful
and it's changing my life
ok
getting off the soapbox now and leaving it free for the next person
I'm coming up on my fourth year on weight watchers. It took me two years to reach goal (115# lost), and I've been at goal for two years. It's worked for me.
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe that when you find the system (not diet) that works for you it works.
Woot! You go girl (and John)! I've found the "tap and track" method most effective, too... I'm currently trying to convince my fluffy sister to ditch that Atkins a-hole and join me on livestrong (or any other web tracking device).
ReplyDeleteYou can do eeet!
My mom and sister are currently doing a high-protein diet and so far (I think they're on week 7 now) it's working quite well for them. I don't know if you've looked into that yet, but apparently it's quite effective. In any case, good luck to both of you! :)
ReplyDeleteMy diet plan consisted of the rule "If you break it open first, all the calories fall out."
ReplyDeleteHowever, that hasn't worked out so well as of late - that whole stupid "getting older" thing. *sigh* Soooo, I'm going to 2nd what photoJENic said ... SparkPeople. It ROCKS!
There is a really great book called "5 Factor Fitness" by personal trainer Harley Pasternack that puts diet and exercise in laymen's terms. Eat five meals a day, work out 25 minutes a day five times a week. TOTALLY stick-to-able... if that's a word. :)
ReplyDeleteArgh! I feel your pain. I joined the gym 3 months ago. 45 mins of cardio 3-4 times a week and I haven't lost a single pound! My hubby (who's lost 20 lbs)says he can see a difference and I'm building lean muscle. That's great, but I want to see those numbers drop!
ReplyDeleteI had great success with WW a few years ago - lost over 20 lbs in 3 months. I was actually losing so fast that the WW staff told me not to exercise? I was miserable that I couldn't eat a lot of the foods I wanted (or atleast more than a mouthful of them). I though "this can't be healthy". Then,one trip to a restaurant on vacation broke the dam (sneaky chicken fingers and fries) and I gained it all back. Grrrrrrrrrr!
p.s. I also crave cake all day.
Somebody mentioned something about John loosing too much weight too fast....I honestly don't think that's true. When I was in highschool, I began changing my eating habits(to good stuff!), cutting out soda, and was jogging 5 days a week. In one month I lost 30 pounds. My mom, who was doing this with me and is a nurse, told me not to worry, since I was being healthy, and had added excercise, it was fine. I averaged 10 pounds a week. Sometimes, especially once you get that balance between calories consumed vs calories burned, the weight just falls off.
ReplyDeleteNow, of course, I'm having a harder time. Part of it is I have 2 kids under 4 and am a SAHM (which makes eating harder), part is my metabolism isn't as great as it was 8 years ago, and part is I weigh more than I did back then. *sigh* I've been working out at the gym with my hubby, and eating better. Sometimes, it just takes persistance.
Oh, and to the poster who mentioned the numbers aren't changing, but she's gaining muscle? Yeah, I hear ya! I'm in that same boat. I can feel the muscles developing and toning, I can see and feel the difference...but sometimes we like to see that number fall!
Dieting to lose weight is a trap. Embrace your exuberant love of life!
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteI wanted to reccomend this site
Even if you dont have diabetes it is very helpful. You can type in a food and it will tell you the nutritional infor and reccommend healthier alternatives :)
http://tracker.diabetes.org/explore/
Jeff: How many points have you had today?
ReplyDeleteHeidi: None of your beezwax!
Jeff: There's a lot of points in that jar of hot fudge. I don't even think it was open before you grabbed the spoon. It's down almost an inch and a half. Honey, I'm just trying to be supportive of..
Heidi: YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!!!
I just thought it was interesting that we had similar conversations.
Gradual and Portion Control are going to be your two best friends. My husband is a personal trainer and I got sucked into the health/fitness/nutrition by association (and helping him study) so my take is: eat everything in as close to a natural state as possible. If you like soda, try all natural ones or carbonate 100% juice or juice blends (ThinkGeek has a nifty gadget for that!) Go for salads with a non-diet vinaigrette - they're beneficial fats and vinegars have lots of health benefits. Then try for whole grain products. Quinoa, couscous, hard wheat winter berries, farro, etc are awesome and very good for you. Oatmeal and home made granola is great for breakfast - (email me if you want my super-secret recipe) and just enjoy fruits, veggies and lean meats like tenderloin (aka filet mignon), chicken and turkey breasts and center cut boneless pork chops. Grilling or a quick saute with seasonings and pam and you're golden! I'm working on a cookbook - let me know if you're interested in a copy!
ReplyDeleteI want a sound-bite of the Goofy yell. Pretty please? I want to know if it's the same as I hear in my head!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Susan somewhere above in this thread...I hate dieting and just the idea of having to cut back makes me run for my Doritos....but using Lose It! the iPhone (and iPod Touch!) app, has worked wonders because it's so freaking easy. I have lost about 20 lbs (of the 28 I was trying to lose) in about 7 months. I probably could have done it faster had I not had oh so many days that ended with a DQ blizzard... but it's totally do-able. Even better when you're both on the wagon. Good luck whatever you decide!
ReplyDeleteI know it's all about moderation - and self-control. This is not a skill I possess; nor is impulse control. I do, however, possess a great affinity for sarcastic and self-deprecating remarks, but as Dave Barry pointed out years ago, grabbing those loose jelly rolls of fat that protrude outwards like stacked tires - and yelling at these protrusions is a massively ineffective way of dealing with your never-ending weight problem. He did not mention if addressing these constantly swelling lumps sarcastically would make any headway... Regardless, I'm going to try it. Or tell supremely bad puns. I'd like to find an easy solution that involves sitting in a recliner and watching the pounds melt away; my guess is that the only way I could accomplish such a thing would be to move down to Florida, drag a recliner outside (or simply cut off the air conditioning inside), and watch first sweat then pounds drop off from the excessive heat. We'll call it a mid-life crisis plan.
ReplyDelete