fitnessprincess 
"New Objective: build and diet down for 2010 season"
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Archive for the 'weight loss' Category
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
This entry is about the mindset that often forms without your even realizing it when you are dieting. Every two weeks I complete a bi-weekly that summarizes my bodyweight, measurements, photos, and reflections on my diet and workouts over the preceding two weeks. Now I am just like you no matter what you may think and so when the scale was up by 0.5 lb this time well I freaked out. LOL! That’s an understatement. A dark cloud formed over my mind and the day. I was angry. After all, I have been faithfully following my program and well clearly it failed me, right? Well sad to say I took this out on my coach to whom I have since rightly apologized. She tried to tell me that the glass wasn’t empty and that I had made progress but no! I wouldn’t hear of it. After all, the scale said I was "fat" and I FELT fat! Well, you know your brain can do some amazing things, right? Feelings aren’t always based on facts.
So segue to the evening and my rant to my BFF! After venting my BFF said little. Later that evening she emailed me the following blog post by Coach Erik Ledin of Lean Bodies Consulting (http://www.leanbodiesconsulting.com/):
“BEWARE! Rant About The Scale!
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007
This is a post I made previously that I thought deserved to be immortalized in my blog.  It’s always worth a second look …
Why does bodyweight matter so much to ‘you’?
This is going to turn into more of a rant I think.
What does bodyweight tell you? It tells you what you WEIGH!! Who knows what you weigh? You. Who cares what you weigh? No one else.
What are your goals when it comes to training and nutrition? In most cases, at some point, it will be fat loss … or is it just weight loss? Do you care where your weight loss comes from? Or is the only thing that matters is seeing a lower number on the scale. What if you looked the same? Just a smaller version of your current self? Would that matter?
Ok, so I’ll assume and answer for you – you care about FAT loss, not weight loss.
I mean, if you didn’t care where it came from, then you’re perfectly fine with your weight loss coming from a combination of fat AND muscle right? It’s all good as long as that stupid scale comes down right?
Come on.
What does the scale tell you?
I’m waiting …
Yes, the answer is that easy.
It tells you what you WEIGH!!!
It doesn’t tell you anything about what the composition of that weight is. It says nothing about bodyfat, muscle mass, fat, or anything else. It tells you what you weigh.
Why is it such an important number to you?
Other people don’t know what you weigh; they see what you look like. What are people’s perception of what you look like based on? The composition of your bodyweight – muscle, fat, bodyfat, etc and NOT the number on the scale. People know if you’re in shape or out of shape, if you look good or don’t look good based on well, what you look like … obviously. Not based on the tshirt you have to wear every day that gives a daily update of your bodyweight.
Let’s say you dropped 5 lbs of fat. That’s good.
Let’s say, you happened to gain 5 lbs of muscle. That’s really good.
Uh oh, problem. It would appear to me that if the above were true, you’d register no change on the scale. You weigh the same.
You’re a failure.
Or are you?
That might not register as weight loss on the scale, but that represents a 10lb change in the look of your body. Is that not why you’re training? To LOOK better?
Your waist is smaller, your hips are smaller, your legs are smaller, your clothes fit better, friends and family are commenting on your ‘weight loss’ and asking you what you’re doing … and yet? Your weight hasn’t changed much.
Failure. You realize because of the stupid number your scale spits out … that you’ve made no progress.
Come on!
Is this resonating yet?
Of course you’ve made progress. Plenty of it.
If your measurements have come down, you’re smaller.
If you’re smaller, you’re losing fat.
Fat is weight.
If you’re losing fat you’re losing weight (that is associated with the lost fat)
If the scale says you’re not losing weight in light of the above, well something’s happening.
Something is being added to your body to counterbalance the loss of fat weight.
Guess what? This isn’t a bad thing.
Chances are you’re in the SWEET SPOT of simultaneous fat loss … and muscle gain, which is not easy to do, so if you’re there, be happy and enjoy it!
So the addition of muscle (weight) is counterbalancing the loss of fat (weight).
Is this not a great thing?
What improves how your body looks? Fat loss and muscle gains. NOT just weight loss for the sake of seeing a smaller number on the scale.
Now, get over the scale already, and start paying attention to the signs that your body is improving – measurements, skin fold readings (maybe), how your clothes fit, comments from others, etc.
Got it? Good.”
URL: http://leanbodiesconsulting.com/blog/category/beware-scale-rant/
The most amusing part is this morning well, the evil scale said my weight was down! LOL!
Another new friend posted this quote in her journal. I really like it and want to close with it today:
“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.”
Posted in Training, Competition Prep, weight loss, Rant
Friday, March 27th, 2009
 Do you pay attention to how much cool whip you use? I am dieting down for competition and I have used fat free cool whip each time. Oh just a dollop on top of my protein pudding at the end of the day. It makes me feel human, you know?
Well, recent discussions about oatmeal prep and how you measure oatmeal (dry weight is most accurate/meaningful as everyone preps oatmeal a bit differently not the same amount of water or consistency) led me to measure the "teaspoon-ful" of fat free cool whip I was putting on my protein pudding. Now this WAS a genuine teaspoon full of the stuff that I added. To my surprise the weight corresponded to 4 tablespoons or two servings (1 WW point by the way if you do WW) - 30 calories and 6 grams of carbs. I was in total shock. Now anyone who uses cool whip has noticed that the stuff is light and fluffy as a general rule when you first open the container but it tends to harden and shrink after that. So you have to be very careful about measuring cool whip based on volume. As for me, I have decided to forgo cool whip from this point out. Rather save the 30-calories and 6-grams of carbs for some real food!
Posted in weight loss, Weight Watchers, cool whip
Monday, January 12th, 2009
I am so glad today’s a new day and it’s a new week, aren’t you? Both of us have a clean slate and can make a fresh start on things. That said I am going to give a plug here for the power of reflection.
Sigh! You would think I know better by now and that I wouldn’t repeat past mistakes. Sigh! But therein lies the conundrum: we are all creatures of habit. When push comes to shove and the pressure is on we revert to those habits that are most deeply ingrained within us. This is the reason it is so important to work hard to form healthy habits and to keep them. For most of you the change of month likely passed without too much notice but for me as I am a professor at a university, January marks the beginning of a new semester. Some of you might think: So what? After all, I made it through the fall semester, right? Yes, but the beginning of the spring semester is quite challenging for most teaching faculty as we really don’t have any time in which to do the prep. Most of us have the summer off or do research so we have ample time to prep for our fall teaching responsibilities but prep for January usually takes place during the last week or so of December during the holiday season as the earlier part of the month our focus is on last lectures, final exam prep and grading. Consequently, the first week of the semester is usually a frenetic dance in which I try desperately to keep all the balls in the air and avoid stepping on my partner’s feet too many times since we are going to be together for the next twelve weeks.
So this past week I found myself reverting to a bad habit deeply ingained in me. Monday (the first day of classes) came and went and I lived on coffee fumes during the day eating solids only at night because I simply didn’t have time to breathe during the day. And adding insult to injury I was stupid enough to push it as hard as I could in the weight room. Tuesday I repeated the process only to crash and burn Wednesday. I knew the end was in sight and I knew it wouldn’t be pretty because I was exhausted. It wasn’t until I did crash and burn that I realized I had once again fallen into that trap of feeling that I needed to help everyone else instead of first taking care of my own needs. I think this is a habit educators unfortunately have a tendency to fall into. The system almost demands it and our own individual noble goals and need to teach/help others just feeds into it. The funny thing is our actions actually hurt us in this regard and yet no one ever seems to recognize how counter productive our actions are. If we don’t take care of ourselves - eat properly, work out, and get adequate sleep - then we can’t do our jobs properly the way that we really want to. This is the conclusion I reached seven years ago when I joined Weight Watchers looking for help with my weight problem. The funny thing though is even though I had this “nirvana” moment, Thursday and Friday - sigh! I went right back to my unsuccessful coffee “diet” even though I had fresh evidence suggesting this was not a wise strategy. Ugh!
The irony is that I thought! I learned my lesson a while ago. I lost 110 lb and this summer celebrated keeping it all off for 5 years but now here I am doing exactly what got me in trouble in the first place. Why? It is an ingrained BAD habit. So, what do I do? Throw up my hands in surrender? No! Actually I celebrate how far I have come:
1) I KNOW my enemy and I have successfully recognized him for who he is;
2) I pick myself up and get right back on track with my healthy habits; and
3) I analyze what happened this time that led me to fall back into my unhealthy habits and I implement a strategy (storing protein powder, eggwhite protein, instant oatmeal, and quality protein bars in my office) that I will use next year so this doesn’t happen again.
Make it a great week!
Posted in Nutrition, weight loss
Monday, December 8th, 2008
"There are no accidents"
-from Kung Fu Panda, the Movie
Sigh! I believe this to be a profoundly true statement. This weekend I went way off course - so far that there is no way I could call what I did an accident. It is a stressful time of year - the end of the semester and while that signals a winding down for students for faculty it is anything but that. We have to prepare and grade exams and prepare our lectures, syllabi, etc. for the next semester all at the same time. On top of this I decided last month I was going to continue after my last competition of the season to diet down during the holiday season. Hmmm…Well, I "binged" though I hesitate to call what I did that. I ate everything I have been dying to eat for the last six months all weekend long. I must say that I did it consciously knowing full well what I was doing and doing it anyway because I just wanted to eat, to not track my food, and to eat all the delicious things I haven’t had for what seems like forever.
I have to say that this has been a real struggle for me in terms of this past year. When I lost weight on WW no foods were ever forbidden to me and I can truthfully say I never felt deprived and that has been a real issue for me in terms of contest prep. When I worked with CSF I was truly miserable because everything I enjoyed was forbidden. Things have been much better with Dr. Joe but there is still that tension there created in part because of the macros I have to make which favor protein and leave me little in terms of carbs which are my preferred foods. I love cereals, breads, beans - all of the starchy carbs and I can’t "afford" them on my current diet. I think this is an issue I really need to resolve so I can move forward.
Posted in Nutrition, weight loss, Weight Watchers
Sunday, November 9th, 2008
I have been thinking about this topic a lot lately. Placing last - for the second time this season - in my competition last Saturday and a personal desire to see slim/trim thighs - I struggle with stubborn fat deposits on my inner thighs - have both been factors motivating my reflection. It has become apparent that I need to diet down to a lower bodyfat level if I truly want to achieve my goals. Until recently I never thought of moving to a lower weight. After all I am well within the WW healthy weight range for my height, my BMI and %BF also place me in the healthy weight range. My perceptions were also based in part on my own perceptions: Being overweight all my life I surmised I must be an endomorph and I thought I had a large frame. Only recently through my work with Dr. Joe did I learn that I am actually an ectomorph and I have a small frame. Being overweight doesn’t mean you are an endomorph and frame size can be evaluated by the degree of overlap of your thumb and forefinger when you wrap the thumb and forefinger of one hand around the wrist of the other hand. Turns out in my case my thumb and forefinger overlap by a whole thumbnail - go figure? LOL! Sorry bad pun! Finally 136 lb always seemed to me to be my perfect weight because it took me significant effort to get the scale to move either up or down away from this weight.Dr. Joe has suggested that my perfect weight may be lower ca. 115 lb than what I previously perceived my perfect weight to be ca. 136 lb. The upshot is that I am going to continue dieting down through Xmas in search of my perfect weight and toned/slim thighs. I plan on using Xmas eve as a “competition date” of sorts and of dressing up in a little/very, very short black dress and high heels and taking photos to commemorate my accomplishment and I plan on posting the photos here on-line. I have made an appointment with my primary care physician for Dec. 12th for a checkup to make sure that I am healthy ad not doing something stupid based on a vain desire for external beauty as the deepest desire of my heart since I started my weight loss journey 7 years ago has always been to build a healthy body. If you are putting off losing weight or getting fit until the new year, let me encourage you to start today. Just think how much better you will look and feel for the holidays if you begin today.
I write this entry today and challenge/encourage each of you to consider your own goals and ask whether or not they are based on facts or perceptions and to carefully consider/test your weight loss/fitness motives. Here’s to a healthy, happy 2009 for everyone!
Follow up: I did meet with my physician and discuss my weight goals with him. He felt 125 lb was fine but was not enthusiastic about the 115 lb idea. In hindsight I placed far too much trust in Dr. Joe and this was pretty dumb. I tried to diet down further, got sick, had no energy and was miserable. This led to a horrific rebound which brought me to my senses and led me to ultimately decide to find a new coach. Ladies, you really should think about your long term health. You may only do one or two competitions but you will still have to live in your body long after you leave the stage. Trust your instincts and if some coach tells you you need to weight 100 lb and this doesn’t make sense to you, well, you are probably right!
Posted in weight loss
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
Last Saturday I went to a seminar put on by Nancy Andrews about nutrition and competing in bodybuilding and figure in the INBF. My coach Dr. Joe Klemczewski (URL: http://www.thedietdoc.com)spoke about his expertise in nutrition and peaking.
I thought it would be useful for me to summarize what I took away and I thought other folks would find the information valuable as well which is why I am blogging about it today.
First and perhaps most important is to recognize how important nutrition is in terms of your physique. You cannot out-train poor nutrition. Nutrition counts for 80% of your success so if you aren’t eating right that’s where you need to start. Next it is helpful to recognized that what is effective for any individual in terms of weight loss is highly individualistic. Genetics play a significant role. Studies typically show a 50% difference in results for folks using any diet (all participants following same program). This is really important to understand as you can’t blindly follow any program and expect to see success. What works for you may not work for someone else and more importantly what works for someone else may not work for you! If you really let this information sink in it is actually quite “freeing” in that you are now better able to give yourself permission to “tweak” things to fit YOU! And that is the only way you will ever be successful. I speak from experience here by the way – I lost 110 lb on WW.
Second for most women the starting point in establishing a diet is knowing how many calories your body burns on a daily basis. On average this number, your average metabolic rate, is 1500 calories/day.
Next you need to portion this based on your need for macronutrients, specifically, protein, healthy fat, and carbohydrates. When you diet obviously you need to take in fewer calories than your body can burn. So you don’t suppress your body’s metabolic rate it is best not to go cut more than about 400-500 calories. If you can it is best to start dieting earlier and to not put on tons of excess weight during the off-season. This way you can eat more food, do less cardio, and be less hungry while dieting down. 16-weeks is a good time frame to think about.
Women need on average about 70 g of protein a day. This number goes up of course if you are in fitness, figure, or bodybuilding. You need protein for muscle but it can also be used for energy. More importantly more protein isn’t necessarily better. Excess protein will be converted into glucose and fat. The flip side is if you consume too little protein you will get cravings for carbohydrates (your body’s normal/preferred energy source) and your metabolism will slow down. You also need some healthy fat. Fats are used by the body as your source of energy of last resort. You shouldn’t be afraid of fats but you want to eat relatively little fat – say 15-20% of your total calories. 97% of fats are immediately converted into bodyfat. Once carbohydrates are consumed your body looks to fat as an energy source. Carbohydrates are the biggest variable when setting up a diet. You need them as they are your body’s preferred energy source in order to lose fat successfully. If you eat too little carbs then your metabolism will stall and your body will never tap stored bodyfat as an energy source. On average your body can handle about 20-25 g of carbs per meal. Eat more than that and your body will convert them into bodyfat.
You will be most successful in losing weight if you consume low glycemic carbs, eat many smaller meals, regularly throughout the day and consume some carbs at most of these meals. Eating carbs ensures a steady energy supply (keeps the metabolism hummingJ), stable blood sugar level, and greater food saiety. That said nibbling all day long is not a good idea either as it doesn’t allow time for the blood sugar levels to fall so that the body is forced to access and burn bodyfat. Be sure to allow between 1.5 and 4/5 h break between meals.
OK now how does all of this relate to losing weight. Your liver stores about 160 g of carbohydrates largely in the form of glucose. When your blood sugar goes down (and you get hungry), your body releases this glucose. Your muscle tissue also stores carbohydrates in the form of glycogen and when the liver carbs are depleted your body will use this as fuel. It takes about 2-3 days on average for your body to deplete these stores before it will turn to your bodyfat for fuel. If you can simply make it through this period, your body is now poised to lose bodyfat. Unfortunately, it is near the end of this period that folks often end up having difficulties as they experience hunger, headache, fatigue, etc. and that people end up overeating (binging) which refills the glycogen stores and they give up or they start the whole process all over again without losing any fat.
It is often useful during the weight loss process to periodically (once a week) increase carbs. This is valuable because if you eat low carbs for too long you can inadvertently sensitize the body to insulin and slow/stall your weight loss. Be careful though not to increase the carbs too much though as this will in essence be a binge which as discussed above will slow/stall your weight loss.
Two last points: Your body is largely water. Consequently it is very important to stay hydrated. You should be drinking water all day. If you are a coffee drinker like I am there is no harm and perhaps even some benefit to drinking coffee.
References:
Joe has written two books on this subject that amplify what I summarized above.
Joe Klemczewski, J. Scott Uloth. “The Diet Docs and the Amazing Metabolic Transformation.” Xlibris Corp. 2007. ISBN: 978-1-4257-4845-6
This is targeted for the general population and:
Joe Klemczewski. “The Diet Doc Metabolic Manual.” Genesis Health Systems, Inc. 2007. ISBN: 978-1-60461-386-5
which is directed more to his figure/bodybuilding clientele.
WARNING!! I do NOT endorse Dr. Klemczewski or his services. I had a horrid experience working with him, experienced several health challenges (low iron, lost my period), and had a horrid rebound. I was cheated financially - paid for 12-weeks posing and got 5-weeks, paid for 6-mos of training and got one written program during that time. I could go on and on. BEWARE!!!
Posted in Training, Nutrition, weight loss, resources for figure competitors
Thursday, September 18th, 2008
Recently I read a number of blogs denigrating Weight Watchers. I truly hate reading stuff like that especially when the writers clearly have no knowledge of their subject matter. So, I decided to devote a blog entry to discussing Weight Watchers and why I still attend meetings weekly after losing 110 lb even though I reached my goal weight over 5 years ago.
Weight Watchers works. It works for women, men, young people, older people, pre-menopause, post-menopause - if you are overweight WW can help you lose weight. Period. Bottom-line - study after study, no other weight loss program has the record of success that Weight Watchers has demonstrated. I myself lost 110 lb following the points system.
Weight Watchers truly is a lifestyle - a healthy lifestyle. Folks who say that is nothing more than a starvation diet are full of sh*T! and don’t know what they are talking about. I never ate 1000 calories on WW when following the points system. Even when I was on 18 points I ate at least 1300 calories every day. I know because I used DietPower and recorded all my foods throughout my weight loss journey.
No foods are “bad,” “forbidden” or “off-limits” on WW. You don’t have to stop visiting your in-laws or the Cheesecake Factory. The goal is to learn how to eat real foods that real people eat while living and loving it in the real world! It is all about learning what a serving is, tasting and enjoying food, learning to recognize when you are full and walking away from the table, and how to deal with the food pushers in your life.
What are the key elements?
* weekly meetings - personal accountability, corporate/community support
* nutritional basics - counting your calories, weighing/measuring/portioning your food, eating healthy mix of protein, carbs, and fats, drinking water
* exercise - exercise that is fun and that fits your life and lifestyle;
Meetings aren’t the crutches that they are made out to be by detractors like Abel. Rather they are the strength of the program! Meetings are where achievements at the scale are celebrated, concerns, frustrations, etc. are shared, information is exchanged, and questions are asked and answered. There is a lot of laughter, healing, and personal growth that takes place at WW meetings. I hate missing a single one!
Another thing that is amazing about WW is you don’t have to do everything perfectly in order to make progress. The program really grows with you if you are receptive. When I started WW I was adamant about NOT doing ANY exercise. I only followed the points eating program the first few months but lost weight. Of course, I plateaued eventually but my weight loss success gave me the needed self-confidence to be willing to try exercise and best of all WW pointed me to the best form of exercise for me at the time: Curves for Women and walking (Leslie Sansone). By the way WW doesn’t promote/endorse any specific exercise program - what you do is totally up to you. All WW does is encourage you to get off the couch and move.
WW Meetings are for Losers!
LOL! So true! If you want to lose attend a WW meeting! You will be challenged, inspired and learn some things, too! I think one of the biggest problems I see around WW is that folks who are successful walk away thinking they don’t need WW anymore. I don’t think that that is true. I think if you want to continue being successful you need to stick with what gave you success and participating in weekly meetings, journaling, exercising, weighing your food - continuing to do all of these things is vital. Some folks claim they don’t need meetings - they know it all. I will tell you that I am constantly learning about new foods, being reminded of things I have forgotten, etc. every week I attend. The other benefit of attending is underappreciated but vital: meetings give me a chance to give something back and in sharing my experiences - positive and negative - I find that I myself am buoyed up.
I think it is harder sometimes for Lifetime members than it is for regular members. Lifetime members mentally create their own problems because they get in this false mindset of thinking that they have to be “perfect.” LOL! Um wake up folks! Like were you ever perfect weight-wise or in any other aspect of your life? I think part of my success is that I am pretty open about where I am - some weeks I am up weight wise. Other weeks I am down or the same. When I am up - I admit it and own it. Those are my best weeks because I am open and teachable. The worst weeks? When I lose weight - why? because my mind tends to be closed. On those weeks it is so much easier to fall into that “I am perfect. I have achieved weight loss enlightenment!” mindset.
And that frankly is the strength of Weight Watchers: that it requires you to continue to attend meetings (for free) even after you have taken the weight off. If you stumble, well, they welcome you back with open arms - and that is truly amazing. I have seen the power of this acceptance in my life and the life of so many others. Weight Watchers does say “Ha! Ha! You failed!” They welcome you back - you are still a lifetime member - and they help you to get back on track. In fact, as a lifetime member you are entitled to receive at no cost a set of the latest meeting booklets each year. What an organization!
To those out there who are just starting a weight loss journey: I can’t strongly enough encourage you to check out a Weight Watchers meeting. You have nothing to “gain” and much to “lose” and here’s to losing for life!
Selected References
Stanley Heshka; James W. Anderson; Richard L. Atkinson; Frank L. Greenway; James O. Hill; Stephen D. Phinney; Ronette L. Kolotkin; Karen Miller-Kovach; F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer. Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). 2003;289:1792-1798. “Weight Loss With Self-help Compared With a Structured Commercial Program. A Randomized Trial.”
Yunsheng Ma; Sherry L. Pagoto, Jennifer A. Griffith, Philip A. Merriam, Ira S. Ockene, Andrea R. Hafner, Barbara C. Olendzk Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2007; 107.10. “A dietary quality comparison of popular weight-loss plans.”
Trueman P, Flack S.
Posted in Nutrition, weight loss, Weight Watchers
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
I like many people faithfully watch the Biggest Loser on television. I watch because I was obese for most of my adult life. I feel a kindred spirit with these folks who in some cases have already tried everything in order to lose weight. For me the key to success was joining Weight Watchers which I highly recommend to anyone serious about losing weight safely and learning how to keep the weight off. There is NO better program. It has the best record of success short term and long term. Today in my in-box, I received the monthly ACE Newsletter which contained a link to an article entitled "Biggest Loser’s Couple On-Going Weight Challenge." See URL: http://www.acefitness.org/article.aspx?CMP=HET_0708&itemid=2440
The title intrigued me so I clicked on the link and read the article with great interest. The article focuses on what happened to the famous Biggest Loser Couple Amy and Marty following the program. The couple married and became ACE-certified personal trainers but more importantly and sadly both regained a significant amount of the weight that they originally lost: Since August 2007, not even one year later, Marty who is 6′ regained 30 lb (current bodyweight 249 lb) and Amy who is 5′ 10" regained 41 pounds (current bodyweight 195 lb). Both intend to shed some of this weight by doing six days of cardio and three days of strength training each week - now bear in mind that these folks are already fairly active as they are both working as personal trainers. Yow! Sounds to me like they are preparing for a figure competition (sorry bad joke!) but seriously sounds like something is really broken here and that’s my point. If you have to workout like a dog to sustain your weight loss then you are doing something terribly wrong in terms of what you are putting in your mouth. I am sorry but Amy and Marty may claim to be eating mini-meals, journaling, counting calories, and limiting their treats but the reality is they are lying to themselves about what they are really doing. Until they face their problem it isn’t going to go away even if they do 7 days of cardio AND strength training each week.
My biggest problem with the Biggest Loser and with many of the weight loss programs, the diet pills, surgical interventions, etc. that I see people turning to every day is that undeniably many of these things will help you lose some weight but sadly if you don’t learn sound nutrition principles and practice them by putting them into action in your own life which has its own unique challenges, you will never keep it off.
Next Wednesday I am looking forward to celebrating 5 years as a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. I lost over 110 lb since I began my weight loss journey - sixty of these through Weight Watchers. I speak from experience - I have had my share of misteps along my own journey. The keys to successful weight loss: Weight Watchers emphasis on teaching the nutrition basics, incorporating physical activity into your daily life, community support, and personal/public accountability. If you are looking for a quick fix, don’t even think about Weight Watchers. The program is about slow and steady weight loss that can be sustained for a lifetime. If you are serious I encourage you to take the first step and attend a meeting. You won’t be sorry. It may just be the beginning of a new life. It was for me!
Posted in Nutrition, weight loss, Weight Watchers
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
Rough weekend. My little sister and her husband were here visiting on vacation. I am always amazed at the power that we give to those closest to us - power to help us, power to hurt us. I tried to share photos of my April figure competition with my sister. She acted like I had been doing something shameful like whoring or something. I swallowed it at the time but unfortunately reverted an old bad habit when they left last night: I ate everything in sight. Did I feel better? Yes, temporarily but I was miserable when I woke up today because I was bloated and still angry. I am back on track and had a great day today. I share this to make a number of points:
1) if you want to lose weight or do anything in life, don’t look for support externally. You have do be your own support system and your best friend. If you don’t love yourself, who will?
2) your success depends on identifying bad habits and replacing them with new/healthy habits. I goofed because I fell back into a bad habit.
3) don’t make excuses - if you goof up, name it, own your mistake. Don’t give it power though.
4) You don’t have to be perfect. Failure is an option and can be quite valuable but only if you learn! from your mistakes.
5) when you fall down, pick yourself back up and get right back on track.
Summary for 06/22/08
8 am Breakfast at Kugel’s
eggwhite omelet w veggies, black coffee
oatmeal
1 pm
6-oz LightLife smart strips
back to Boston!
4 pm
86-g When Pigs Fly low carb wheat bread
20-oz coffee w skim
16-oz herb tea
WATP 4-mi super challenge walk w 2.5 lb hand weights 1-h
7:30 pm
98-g shrimp
252-g broccoli steamed
32-oz herb tea
9 pm
stallone protein pudding
27-g almonds
16-oz herb tea
Posted in Training, Nutrition, weight loss
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
This entry is for a friend :) but I thought it would be useful to others, too, who are trying to lose weight. Back in 2003 when I was trying to lose weight, I created a simple Excel spreadsheet and tracked my food intake (blue; Weight Watchers points; if you aren’t familiar with WW 1 point is roughly equivalent to 50 calories), my body weight based on measurements at my WW meetings (pink) and at Curves for Women (yellow), the gym where I worked out. Below you will see a partial chart from 2003. I think it is helpful because it shows a number of useful things:
1) My food intake varied from day-to-day – that is a good idea and can help you prevent/minimize the likelihood of plateauing. More importantly it may help you see that occasionally eating more food isn’t going to cause you to gain weight and that more food may actually speed/fuel your weight loss efforts. I was eating on average 20 points but my weight dropped as I increased my food intake to 30 points (about 500 more calories on average each day).
2)  My weight loss was not consistent from week to week though it was fairly consistent over longer periods of time. Some weeks my weight stayed the same or even increased slightly and other weeks it would drop 1-2 pounds or more. This is just the result of hormones and being female and is perfectly normal. Men tend to lose more weight, more quickly, and more consistently from week to week. Tracking will help you see your normal hormonal patterns which will help keep you sane and on track especially when the scale doesn’t move or it moves in the wrong direction.
3) Certainly there are differences in the weight you will see on different scales but on average you are going to see the same trends so pick one scale and consistently use it as a measure of your weight loss progress.
Bottom line: If you don’t chart you might think about doing it. I still do it even today. It has always helped me see where I was, what I was doing, and kept me sane when things weren’t going the way I thought they should!
Posted in Training, Nutrition, weight loss
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