Weekly Food Summary (and Friday and Saturday May 30 & 31)

As a weekly summary, I ended up at approximately 600 calories over my target for the week (which could result, mathematically, in a .18 pound slower weight loss). That said, I still should have lost some weight this week, and yet am back up to 0 total weight loss, as of this morning. I do cheat a bit and will take the lowest weight on either Saturday or Sunday for my weekly total loss/gain, so will let you know if tomorrow I am down some in weight. Would suck if I actually regained 1.5 pounds compared to last week, but I actually do feel fitter and have much more defined and thinner arms (at least they look and feel that way!).


Dietary Review:
I have a few goals for the next two weeks, looking across my food intake over the past two weeks:

1. Eat less salt (too many pickles and pickled items)
   
2. Eat less sugary stuff (even fruits... too high in sweet and sometimes useless carbs across my days)
   
3. Eat more vegetables (was definitely not getting in my 7 servings a day)
   
4. Try to better balance calories across the week
   
5. No more than 2 cups of coffee a day. Maybe (big maybe) just 1.5 cups per day this week.

So, this is probably a list that could benefit the general US population. I will try to more proactively eat my veggies this week.

Friday Food Summary: 2 cups coffee with agave nectar
Oats with rice milk
1 mango
BBQ Beef
Cocoa Loco Snack Bar
5 rice crackers, 1/3 serving of potato chips
Oat snack
Potato salad
3 oz wine

Saturday Food Summary: 2 cups coffee with agave nectar
banana
5 cherries
3 rice crackers
2 breakfast turkey sausages
1 fried tomato
Pizza (Chickpea crust free of gluten, soy, and corn, fontina cheese, diced garlic tomatoes, gulf shrimp, terragon butter)
1 New Grist Beer
1/2 flourless chocolate cake

Exercise: I did well on exercise yesterday, getting in my 6 miles, as planned. I was slower at 9 minutes 44 seconds per mile, but didn't do speed training and felt a bit slow anyway. The slowness may have been due to the fact that I played 9 holes of golf earlier in the day for a work event. I didn't do a whole lot of walking on the course, but definitely got some in. No exercise today as planned.

Favorite Food (Beverage) Find of the Week: Tonight, I was able to have an entirely gluten and soy free meal at a local restaurant. It was awesome. They had gluten-free pizza and even flourless chocolate cake (yeah, shouldn't have had it, but still think it might have been worth it... I only had half thanks to the hubby). Even better, they had gluten-free beer that was pretty tasty!

Lakefront New Grist Beer (made with sorghum and rice).

Shoutout: My good friend, Miss Piggy, went to the gym for the first time in over a month! Props to her!

Daily Food Summary (Success! A Close One!)

I officially declare today a success. My resolve was sorely tempted because my hubby really wanted some Boston Creme Pie custard from our local custard shop, so I went with him. I managed to go into and out of the custard shop without having had ANY custard or other things that would not have been good for my calorie count today.

It was tough. I almost...sooo clooossee... ordered a cup of custard, but I remembered that I only have a finite time to meet my goal. I also remembered that I will be able to have custard at another time, when I have the calories budgeted. Just not today.

Food & Drink Ingested:

Breakfast:

2 cups coffee with agave nectar

Oats with rice milk

Lunch:

Salad (greenery, 1/4 chicken boob from Wednesday, tomato, 2.5 tbl. spoons of salad olives, blue cheese dressing)

Snacks:

4 cups fruit salad (2 for morning and 2 for afternoon snacking)
5 rice crackers

Dinner:
Gluten-free Whole Foods bread slice, buttered (posing as a hot dog bun for my turkey sausage)
1 hot Italian turkey sausage
Heinz Organic Ketchup (contains no wheat, soy, or corn products! Does contain sugar though...)
1/4 cup giardiniera
1 can Hanson's Ginger Calorie Free Soda

Exercise: Today was another good exercise day, much to my surprise. I was not sure how well I would run 6 miles after having run 8 yesterday. I ran 6 miles, with speed training the last two miles, for an average of 9 minutes and 2 seconds per mile. I also did 35 minutes of power yoga in place of strength training today. If I run another 6 miles tomorrow, I will be able to have Saturday off to do nothing.

Unpleasant Food Surprise of the Day:
Briannas Homestyle True Blue Cheese Dressing = Gross. I bought this dressing because I was at a store without the best selection of dressings and because it was the only one without soybean oil, wheat, and corn ingredients in the refrigerated section.

The unpleasant surprise: The Blue Cheese Dressing was SWEET!!! YUCK!!! I saw that the ingredients had sugar, but did not expect the dressing to be sweet. It was. Blue Cheese mixed with sugar. Yuck. I am tempted to throw the bottle away. The only thing it might mix well with is a battered, fried onion that my hubby tells me he has been craving for months. We'll see if he would use the dressing. If not... to the trash it is (well the recycle bin once emptied).

Tongue Defying Fruit

The hubby passed on an article in the New York Times about a fruit that messes with how you taste other foods for an hour after you eat it.

The Miracle Fruit, a Tease for the Taste Buds

The fruit can make hot and sour things taste sweet. Maybe it can trick my hubby's tongue and help me sneak fruits and veggies into his diet. (I am constantly worried he is going to get gout.)

For more info on the Miracle Fruit, check out the writeup on Wikipedia: Miracle Fruit.

Death of an Ugly Pair of Sweatpants

I was very pleased today to find out that I had two holes in an ugly pair of sweat pants that I have had since grad school. My first thought was "It is about time these things died," and my second thought was "Hope I didn't do any stretches outside with these holes in the thighs."

They were a pair of sweat pants that I purchased, because they fit and would do... not because I particularly liked them. Have any of those clothing items? The ones that you get, just because you need something, but haven't found something you really like?

This goes back to my earlier post on petite workout pants. I used to buy whatever would fit my length that I wouldn't need to alter. I bought the now dead sweatpants (a size too small) because they actually ran short... especially after being washed. I would only wear them as often as I had to, until I lost the 25-32 pounds a couple of years ago (i.e. when the muffin tops shrank a bit). I started to wear them more often, and now they are dead.

I am very pleased to be able to replace the dead pants, especially since there are a couple of decent options out there for petite workout pants. They will be replaced with the "Short" Nike Modern Workout Pants that were in stock in my size recently . (I just checked online to get the link above, and they again do not have my size. Glad I got them when I did!)

I have found that the cheap sweatpants cannot handle my running schedule. When I actually started running for the first time three years ago, I started to notice that there really can be a difference between poor and higher quality fitness clothing. I also found that I am more comfortable in material that breathes better, does not move into the nether regions when running (or during yoga), and can withstand logging a good number of miles each week.

So, I am excited that my sweat pants have died! I am slowly replacing my yucky work out clothes with better quality and better fitting workout clothes as I go along.

Now, next to help my blue running shorts retire... I am sure that my sister and mother are hoping that my ugly running shorts from high school will kick the bucket next. (They are the old school kind... with the big slit up the side and large white built in cotton underwear.) My mother and sister made more than a remark or two about my bringing the old blue running shorts with me on vacation several weeks ago.


(Ps. for those of you with green tendencies, you will be happy to note that the dead sweatpants will become newly minted cleaning rags. Less paper towels and less trees cut down.)

Daily Food Summary

Success! In great contrast to yesterday's dietary disaster, today was a good day. I made up for some calories lost and survived it.

Food Ingested:
3 cups of coffee
Oatmeal with rice milk
Open face toasted sandwich (One slice gluten-free Whole Foods bread, once slice all natural Swiss cheese, 2 natural smoked chicken slices)
1 pickle
3 cups fruit salad (cherries, watermelon, cantaloupe)
1 cup pickled veggie salad

Today's Calorie Savers: Fresh fruit and pickled veggies (often called giardiniera, see image below) were my two calorie savers of the day. They helped me make it through with their bulk and relatively low calories for volume. Giardiniera can be fabulous on top of hot sandwiches and sausages. Mmm. Perhaps that pair will make itself present in tomorrow's menu.

I love seasonal fruits and veggies. Watermelon is my favorite seasonal fruit, followed closely by various berries, mangoes, and other melons. A book by Mireille Guiliano (in addition to French Women Don't Get Fat), French Women for All Seasons, is another favorite of mine. The book discusses ideas for how to enjoy seasonal foods in great depth by season. If you feel like you are missing out on the enjoyment possible in any season, as I sometimes feel, this book provides great fodder for your seasonal enjoyment.

Calories In - Calories Out = Weight Loss or Gain

The simple formula above is the driver to my current fitness activities. My weight loss without running or other exercise would be too slow for me to hit my "skinny by December" goal. Consequently, I am running, strength training, walking, and stepping up my chore schedule now to help keep me on track to meet my weight loss goal.

I will burn only .8-1.2 lbs per week on my current diet and fitness schedule. That is even with running approximately 30 miles per week.

• Each mile run equals approximately 100 calories burned.


• Each pound of fat to shed equals 3,500 calories.


• Running 30 miles per week, burns 3,000 calories, so not quite 1 pound.

A couple of online calculators (such as the ones I have on my favorite links) have said that even keeping to a 1200 calorie/day diet and running 1 hour per day, I will only lose .8-.9lbs per week. The total lost will decline as I lose weight (as I will burn less calories hauling less weight around). My own calculations result in a slightly higher loss of 1.2lbs per week, so we will see how it goes.

Today's Exercise: The calculations above and my determination to meet my skinny goal (Motivation1) are what helped keep me going for today's (and each day's) run. I ran 8 miles, averaging 9 minutes and 22 seconds per mile. I am quite pleased with that time for such a long run. I will try to add some speed training into the rest of my running this week to see if I can decrease my time further as I go along.

Motivation 2: One thing that helped keep me going today was that I found an outlet to a local trail along the water than I can actually run to from my home. It is a mile from my home, but it made the long run so much nicer, not having to drive to some place where I could run four miles consecutively with minimal street crossings. (My shorter runs are all done in my neighborhood on streets that are not too busy.)

Motivation 3: A large study of people who lost and kept off 30 pounds or more found that they walk/run an average of four miles a day. The study done by the National Weight Control Registry is discussed in an article in Psychology Today:

"Fit for Life - Keeping the Weight Off"

HFCS = Pure Evil

HFCS (otherwise known as high fructose corn syrup) is one of my enemies. Not only can it be pretty bad for one's health, I also happen to be allergic to it. It does bad things to me. Messes up my digestive system within minutes, gives me hay fever-like symptoms within hours, and leaves me bloated and mentally foggy for a couple of days.

HFCS is in everything. When you have an allergy to corn derived items, you will be disheartened to find that it appears in items such as sodas, candies (even decent chocolates), and condiments. Yes, even ketchup contains HFCS. Funny enough, the hubby passed along an article on a blog that mentions how Heinz is working on developing a sweeter tomato, so that it doesn't need to use HFCS:

Catch Up Lady: Heinz to Save Me from Death by HFC

Disaster!!!

Today was an eating disaster! A big "OH NOES!!!" Chips and chocolate did me in. Big time. Yikes.

Today's food report:
2 Cups Coffee with Agave Nectar
Oats, rice milk, mixed fruit (strawberries, banana, mango)
Sandwich (2 slices gluten-free Whole Foods bread, once slice all natural Swiss cheese, 2 natural smoked chicken slices)
1 pickle and 2 pickle quarters
1 cup fruit: Cherries, cantaloupe, watermelon
1.5 servings of kettle potato chips and hot salsa, 3 rice crackers dipped in hummus (UH OH)
2/3 chicken boob (see image below)
Veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots cooked in chicken juices)
3 oz glass organic red wine with no added sulfites
Chocolates (DOUBLE UH OH)
2 cans Hanson's Ginger Calorie Free Soda

I will have to do some serious calorie reductions over the next couple of days to average 1200/day across the week. (A picture of our chicken and veggies below)

Exercise: On a positive note, I did do my planned exercise, running 6 miles while averaging 9 minutes and 12 seconds per mile. Shaving off a tiny bit compared to my last 6 mile run without speed training. I did not expect my final average to be so good today, so am quite pleased. Too bad I ate enough calories to completely make up for the run's calories burned. Doh!

Memorial Day Weekend Report

Well, I went a bit over my planned calories this weekend. Not too bad. I was 250 calories over for all of last week, mainly due to some unplanned ice cream on Saturday. I was a hundred calories over yesterday and today due to chocolate and chips respectively. I am pretty bad about staying in my calorie ranges on the weekend and know I need to work on it. At least this weekend, I wasn't quite as bad as I have been in weekends prior to my starting the push to lose the 20 pounds. So, here are my three days of meals:

Saturday, May 24th (Great wedding and night out)
1 Cocoa Loco Snack Bar
Medium Skim Latte
Mango salad with grilled chicken
1 cup frozen sangria
2 small balls of ice cream rolled in coconut and sliced almonds
Dinner buffet - 2 small crab cakes, 2 chicken skewers, cheese blocks, mixed fruit
3 glasses of wine (2 white at the wedding, 1 red while out later)

Sunday, May 25th (Big breakfast day)
2 cups coffee with sugar
Oats with raisins and little bit of brown sugar
Scrambled eggs
Mixed sliced fruit
Smoked Salmon with Cream Cheese
Cocoa Loco Bar
Falafel
Grilled beef (thinly sliced) & rice
Hummus
Cucumber yogurt salad
1 chocolate truffle

Monday, May 26th (Memorial holiday with a bit too much grilled sausage)
2 cups of coffee with agave nectar
Oats, rice milk, heated with frozen raspberries thrown on top
Serving of kettle potato chips and hot salsa
Fage 2% Greek Yogurt with 1 tbl spoon of black currant jam
2.5 hot Italian turkey sausage, grilled
Grilled veggies (squash, asparagus, broccoli)
Slice of gluten-free bread with a little butter
1/2 orange

The sweets on Saturday and Sunday, left me craving more sweets today. I had to fight a tough urge to have chocolate this evening. Still feeling it, but confident I have succeeded for the day. Now if my hubby would stop mentioning Krispy Kreme...

Exercise: On Saturday I did a few sit ups, push ups, leg lifts, and stretches. They made my body feel a little better after the two flights and layover. No exercise Sunday. Today, I ran 4 miles at a new record: 8 minutes and 33 seconds per mile. I didn't do any speed training, but I did make an effort to be speedy. I did do about 15-20 minutes of strength training: sit ups using a workout ball, crunches, push ups, light arm movements with 2lb weights, and a few yoga moves that help strengthen my back and keep my bum from going flat.

Weight Is Contagious!

Are the people close to you (your friends, family members, coworkers, especially those of the same gender) a bit overweight? Very overweight? Are they thin? What are you?

An article on the contagiousness of obesity, published last year in The New England Journal of Medicine, showed that friends and family members, especially of the same gender, significantly influence whether a person is thin or obese.

Is Obesity Contagious? provided by WebMD

I found the article on the contagiousness of weight, because today, there are articles on many news services on how social networking significantly influences smokers to quit. The article references another study that shows a similar effect with obesity. I found that interesting and looked up the study on the contagiousness of weight (the one discussed on the link above).

People can influence the weight of their friends and family members when they use their social networks to help them lose weight. Becoming thin and enlisting your friends and family can help more than just your/my weight efforts. The same with gaining weight. How do you think those of you who read this blog influence the weight of those close (emotionally, not physically) to you? Do you think they influence your perception of what is a good weight, without your realizing it at times?

I had a nice conversation with my grandmother not long ago, who gave her impression that people in city centers (like Manhattan or London) often tend to be thinner, while people farther out are often heavier. In working with different clients, I have seen how some companies' employees can generally be heavier or thinner. In my experience, the same goes for smoking. Smoking is more or less prevalent in different client and in different office locations.

I think the study on the contagiousness of weight has social implications that each person can think about. What role do you/I play in the weight of your friends and family? What role do they play in your/my perception of an acceptable weight?

The studies, on both weight and smoking, also give employers some food for thought. How can they help create social environments that help drive employees to lose weight and drop smoking?

Trending in the Right Weight Direction

Yesterday, before I caught my flight in the wee morning hours, I did manage to do my weekly weigh in. Success! I am now trending in the right direction.

18.5 lbs to go.

Traveling with Allergies and Intolerances

Traveling with allergies and intolerances can be a pain. I have to prepare in advance now, when I know I will need snacks and meals while traveling. You may notice that my menus have a few items that substitute regularly consumed foods (e.g. gluten-free bread instead of regular bread). I am allergic to soy, corn, and wheat products and generally gluten intolerant. Yikes!? Right!? Thankfully, I am only moderately allergic to them (no throat swelling or anything crazy like that).

The allergies and intolerance, however, mean that I can rarely eat any meals served on flights and need to avoid many fast foods as they are loaded with all of the above as fillers, congealers, oils, etc. So, for tomorrow and Sunday flights and layovers, I have purchased some allergen free snack bars (that have added vitamins). Enjoy Life brand makes cookies, snack bars, and cereals that do not contain any of the items to which I am allergic.



I am planning on pairing my Cocoa Loco snack bar with a skim latte tomorrow during my layover. A salad is planned for lunch. We will see what food appears at the wedding. (I will have a snack bar with me just in case.) And, I would be surprised if a little wine doesn't make an appearance at some point.

Keepin' On (the Program)

Today was a successful day. Not an easy one... as for the past four five days, I have been both trying to make up for Sunday's overeating and saving some calories for tomorrow when I know I will have a glass or two of wine at the wedding. I have saved up an extra 240 calories for tomorrow, which should work out well with my travel eating plan (see next entry).

Food & Beverages Ingested:
2 cups coffee with agave nectar
Oats with 1/2 banana, rice milk, no honey
1/2 banana
Slice of turkey meat and 1/2 slice of Swiss Cheese
Open face toasted sandwich (One slice gluten free Whole Foods bread, once slice all natural Swiss cheese, tbl spoon and a half of hummus)
Fage 2% Greek Yogurt with 1 tbl spoon of black currant jam
Veggies and Hummus
1cup decaf Maple Vanilla Tea
2.5 liters of water

Exercise: Ran 6 miles with no speed training, and surprisingly still had a great time (for me) of 9 minutes and 13 seconds per mile. No exercise planned for tomorrow, other than perhaps some dancing.

Alligator Arms (Daily Summary May 22 '08)

No, my title isn't about scaly skin or anything like that. I am a big lotion and sunscreen fan, so no problems there. What my title means is that like alligator arms, my arms did not appear to move in all directions that they normally would today. I wasn't sore after an 8 mile run on Tuesday, but strength training yesterday left me a bit sore today in that little area where my arms connect to my chest, between the shoulder and underarm. I still managed to run without problems other than the bit of soreness.

I also stayed up too late last night. I had to fight to not have an extra cup of coffee like I did yesterday. Today, is one of the many days where I fully believe that there is a link between not enough sleep and being overweight. The days I have to wake up very early to fly out (to where ever my client happens to be) are the hardest in terms of getting in exercise and eating well, because I constantly want to munch on something or have another cup of coffee and do not feel like exercising. A nice little article on the link between sleep and weight loss from WebMD:

The Dream Diet: Losing Weight While You Sleep

Even given the soreness and sleep deprivation, I managed to make it through the day within a few calories of my goal and ran what were probably my fastest 6 miles.

Food & Beverages Ingested:
2 cups coffee with agave nectar
Oats with 1/2 banana, rice milk, no honey
Open Face Toasted Sandwich (One slice gluten-free Whole Foods bread, once slice dill Havarti cheese, natural honeyed turkey slice)
Pickle quarter
1/2 banana
Fage 2% Greek Yogurt with 1 tbl spoon of black currant jam
Slice of turkey meat and 1/2 slice of Swiss cheese
Pacific's organic red pepper and tomato soup
1 cup Trader Joe's Pomegranate White Tea
2.5 liters of water

Exercise: I ran 6 miles, averaging 9 minutes and 3 seconds a mile over the six miles. That is very speedy for me. I usually run a little over 10 minutes per mile. I am intentionally trying to pick up the pace, as I want to improve my time when I run the Army Ten Miler this year (and burning the extra calories is a bonus). I did just a little bit of speed training, but not as much as I had hoped to do. Still, I am quite pleased.

Obese Children

The Washington Post is running articles all week on childhood obesity. Some of the articles, which just relate data and facts are mind-boggling. Others discuss interesting trends and findings (such as obesity is impacting both urban and suburban areas). Start with this article if you have a few seconds:

Facts You Should Know on Washingtonpost.com

One of my favorite facts from the article above is: " 'Husky' car seats were developed several years ago. In 2006, more than 250,00 children under 6 exceeded the weight standards for regular seats. "

Another is: "8. One-fourth of all vegetables eaten in the U.S. are french fries or chips." Really? Do people even consider them vegetables? I think of them more as starch and fat.

There are a lot of good articles that can be located on a central page from the Post. You may need to establish an account (free and easy) to read all of the articles. Scroll down toward the bottom of the page to find the articles published so far in this weeks' series.

Young Lives At Risk: Our Overweight Children

One of my favorite articles on this site discusses how to have children's birthdays without cupcakes and sweets. (Article on the bottom left of the page under the "For Kids" header.

Weight Loss Success Stories

One of my favorite motivation activities is reading weight loss success stories. It is great to hear the tips, struggles, and the triumphs of others who have been through a similar life path concerning health - and succeeded.

CNN.com periodically posts weight loss success stories, and it looks like they have created a new page on their site, called Fit Nation, that contains quite a few success stories. Some of the stories are quite impressive. Enjoy!

CNN.com Fit Nation - Weight Loss Success Stories

May 21, 2008 Daily Summary

I had a big surprise today. I wasn't sore! I am not sure I have ever not been sore after an eight mile run, but I woke up feeling just fine and dandy and stayed that way all day long.

That said, today was a difficult day food-wise, because I woke up quite early to take my hubby to the airport. I had breakfast two hours early, but saved a banana for a mid-morning snack. The banana did not help much. I was still very hungry two hours before lunch time. I was hungry before lunch, after lunch, and I wasn't satisfied until I had dinner. I ended up eating 76 calories more than planned trying to stave off eating a full meal. The calories came in the form of some pickle spears, extra cherries, an extra cup of coffee with agave nectar. All in all, I am still pleased with today's results will modify tomorrow's meal schedule slightly to make up for the extra calories today. (I had planned for tomorrow to be higher calorie day than today.)

Food and liquids ingested today:
3 cups of coffee
1 egg, 2 turkey sausages
1 banana
3 pickle quarters
Open face sandwich (One slice gluten-free bread, once slice all natural Swiss cheese, natural honeyed turkey slice)
1.33 cups of cherries
Salad with greenery, 2 Turkey Sausages cooked this morning, goat cheese, tomato, Cindy's Kitchen Chipotle Ranch Dressing (wheat, soy, corn free, yippee!)
2 ounces red wine
1 can of Diet Hansen's Black Cherry Soda

Exercise: walked an hour and ten minutes with my dog (4.5 miles) and strength trained and stretched for 50 minutes. I got my new Nike + iPod sensor in the mail, so I am back to tracking my distance and time more accurately.

The Virtues of Walking

One of my favorite maintenance activities is walking. Walking is how I was able to keep off 25 of the 32 pounds I lost in 2006. Not a skimpy 10 minute walk (though I did have to start slowly as I was sadly not in good shape), but 30 minutes to an hour almost every day.

My favorite walking companion, other than my husband when he indulges me, is my dog. My dog needs the walks just as much as I do, so I don't have an excuse either way... especially when the hubby has class in the evenings after work. I came across a great article on the virtues of walking on Health.com. If anyone else needs any motivation to build a little more movement into their daily, weekly, or monthly routines, you may want to peruse the article:

Walk a Little, Live a Lot (Longer)

The article outlines 8 virtues of walking, and a few of them I have definitely found to be true for me: "3. It helps you sleep," "4. It cuts down on aches and pains," "5. It keeps you happy," and "6. It makes you slimmer."

I think there is something to learn from the French, regarding walking. While I was living in France for graduate studies, I began walking 30 minutes each day at a doctor's recommendation. I had a herniated disk and was told I need to drop a significant number of pounds to reduce the pressure on my spine. (I also had two bulging disks, as well.) I would walk along the river in a suburb of Paris, and many, many French couples and families would also be out for an evening walk. It was built into their local culture to both spend that time enjoying the evening with the family and moving their bodies.

Walking is so easy to build into any schedule and can be done almost anywhere. One of my favorite weight loss books (by a Frenchie), French Women Don't Get Fat (see the link under my favorite books), discusses that just moving more at any given opportunity can help. I sometimes intentionally park far from the stores to get in more walking, and I try to take the stairs at hotels when I am traveling (so long as I don't have my bags with me). I walk during lunch when I have the opportunity as well.

For now, I have swapped the time I was spending walking for running, as I am back into weight loss mode and need to burn the extra calories. I fully expect that I will, again, return to walking as a primary maintenance activity after reaching my goal weight.

2 Bowling Balls

I came across an article yesterday that I liked on USAToday's Web site.

20 Tips to Lose 20 Pounds

What I liked about this article, is that it points out that carrying around 20 extra pounds is equivalent to carrying around 2 bowling balls. That extra weight has to be rough on the joints, back, etc. The rest of the tips, while good, are pretty generic.

One of the two primary reasons I began losing weight in 2006 was that I had constant lower back pain. I have found that so long as I keep to a 25 pound or more weight loss level compared to my highest, my back pain tends to diminish significantly to entirely. The only times I tend to feel pain is if I am traveling a lot without keeping up strength training and exercise.

A good example of reducing pressure on joints through weight loss comes from a study (written up on WebMD) that found that for every pound lost, it results in 4 pounds of pressure being taken off the knee:

Weight Loss and Arthritis

spine-health.com also discussions extra weight and pressure on the lower back:

Weight Loss for Back Pain Relief

A study of obese patients with lower back pain found that those who had gastric bypass surgery and lost weight had a 44% reduction in back pain (article on Medline Plus through Health Day):

Gastric Bypass May Also Relieve Low Back Pain

2nd Success in a Row

I am quite pleased that I managed to meet my calorie and fitness goals again today! Woohoo!

Food and Drink Ingested:

• 2 cups coffee with agave nectar
• Oats, rice milk (no honey or fruit today)
• Open face sandwich (One slice gluten-free Whole Foods bread, once slice all natural Swiss cheese, natural honeyed turkey slice)
• 1 large tomato, chopped with sea salt
• 1 cup cherries
• 1 artichoke heart with sauce
• Salad with greenery, goat cheese, kidney beans, sliced jalapeno peppers (mmm, spice!), 1/4 of the chicken boob from yesterday, all natural ranch asiago dressing (with no corn, soy, or wheat products of course)
• 1 cup chrysanthemum tea
• 1 cup peppermint tea
• 1+ liter of water (still working on this one)

Exercise: I moved my long run to today, as I will be traveling to and attending a wedding on Saturday and returning most of the day on Sunday. (I usually do longer runs on the weekend.) I successful ran approximately 8 miles (1 hour 19 minutes). I am already sore. I usually space out my runs, and don't do runs every day of the week. Tomorrow, I have some strength training and stretching planned.

Google Health

I came across an interesting article this morning from the Wired Blog Network, called

Google Health Goes Live

Google, essentially, is creating a giant database of consumer health information that would be available to the consumer and to their doctors. The huge concerns are, of course, how are they going to keep the data secure and ensure that only the right individuals and institutions have access to the data. The artice did not say exactly how that process works, and I am interested in learning more about it.

In some ways, a central repository could be useful... to ensure records are kept over time (no having to get the same shot twice because you can't remember the last time you got it) and for emergencies (could keep a list of medications to which you are allergic). I am sure we will hear more on this as it gets more coverage. The announcment on Google Health just came yesterday.

A Diet Too Extreme?

I came across this diet by accident, when searching for "20 pound weight loss" on Google's search engine.

Madonna's Trainer: How to lose 20 Pounds in 6 Weeks

I am curious whether the total calories equals 1200 a day. Seems like they may barely reach it. Depending on the person's starting weight, this could be an okay temporary diet, I think. My target is only 1200 calories a day, too, which is considered a safe amount given my current size. One reason I could not do this diet, is I need more diversity in my food. I think doing this diet for six weeks would be so boring for my tongue and stomach.

There is a lot of back and forth in the comments under the article at the link above that are somewhat entertaining.

May 19 Victory

Today I met both my calorie and my fitness goals and am pretty pleased about it.

Food ingested:
Coffee with agave nectar
Oats with 1/2 banana, rice milk (skipped the honey today)
1/2 sandwich
1/2 Banana
1 cup cherries
Two pickle spears
1/2 chicken boob
Veggies (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower cooked in chicken juices)
2 cups chamomile tea
2 liters water

Exercise: Ran 6 miles. May have even averaged under 10 minutes per mile, but my Nike shoe sensor needs to be replaced (so cannot be entirely sure).

Good Exercise Day, Bad Calorie Day

Today was a good exercise day. I started, for the first time, to work speed training into my running. I would sprint 30 seconds, jog slowly for 40 seconds for approximately 2 miles. I did this again in the other two miles that I ran (4 total), but will longer breaks between the sprinting. I could definitely feel a difference in my leg muscles when I got home. My quads felt more exhausted than they did after the two six mile runs I did on Thursday and Friday last week.

Food was not so great... I ate 480 calories more than I was supposed to, so I will have to balance it out over this week. I am going to a wedding this saturday, so I will have to plan ahead for those calories as well. It was the chocolate and the extra rice cakes that put me over my calorie goal for the day.

Reverse Weight Loss! Oh Noes!!!

Whoops, so I have now regained 2.5 pounds. (I do my weigh-ins once a week.) But, I actually feel thinner. Maybe it is because I have significantly upped my workouts? I have started running again (3-6 miles each run) and doing yoga and strength training. Eating wise, I haven't done badly, but I did not very closely track my calories while I was on vacation for the last week. Perhaps I did not do perfectly there. I am hoping this week to see the scale go back downward. I am tracking my calories again this week and planning in advance for the wedding I am attending this weekend, where I am sure to have an extra drink (but no cake). :)

22 Pounds to Go

Petite Workout Clothing

One irritating area when trying to lose weight has to do with workout clothing for me. As I am a petite individual, I find it so difficult to actually find clothes that fit. (In principle, I find it offensive to have to alter workout clothing.)

Thankfully, over the past year I have found that a couple of companies are starting to make petite workout pants. They still assume that a petite woman will have the same top size and shape as a taller woman, which is not true... if it is supposed to hit at the hips, it shouldn't be hitting at the bottom of the hind end, in my opinion.

I was very happy to see that Nike (http://www.nike.com/) started carrying petite workout pants. The only problem I have found with them is that they don't keep a lot in stock and seem to be out or on backorder each time I find a pair I want to order.

Another company, that I randomly recieved a booklet from in the mail, also appears to carry petite workout clothes: Athleta (http://www.athleta.com/). I have not yet ordered from them. If any one has tried them out, would love to know if their workout pants can actually stand up to long distance running.

Sugar Madness

Okay - So, I gave into my sugary cravings on Tuesday, and yesterday wasn't such a great day either becuase it was a special life event, and I definitely enjoyed it. I am back on track today, though, and will keep you updated if this doesn't actually happen.

The Afternoon Crash

Ugh - Afternoon's suck. I am always so snacky and want anything sugary. I will resist today. I will either keep to water or have one cup of coffee with agave sweetener (not a whole spoonful either). I will break this sugar habit!

The 20 Pound Countdown

I have started this blog as a part of my quest to lose 20 pounds. I lost 32 pounds in 2006 to early 2007, but gained 7 of it back over last fall. I also never reached by final goal weight (suggested by doctors). That leaves me with 20 pounds to lose.

I am only 5'2, so 20 pounds on my frame is visible anytime I wear pants that are actually my size. I am pleased with myself for at least staying at a 25+ pound loss for more than a year and a half, but disappointed that I didn't crack down earlier and shed the remainder.

I finally decided, as I did in 2006, that the time to drop the remainder is now. I want to be at my target weight, before a great vacation in Thailand in December, and prior to considering having children in the next couple of years.

The hardest part for me is getting started, but I am committed and tend to be somewhat strong willed. I made my firm decision to keep on with weight loss again two Tuesdays ago, and I have lost my first 1/2 pound since then and feel much better and stronger physically since I started working out in earnest again (running instead of strolling with my dog, doing power yoga, playing golf).

I also know I am addicted to sugar, as I currently give into uncontrollable urges to eat any useless carbs on hand. I know I have to kick the addiction for two reasons: 1) it has started to push my weight up lately and has become a maintenance struggle, and 2) I won't be able to lose unless I give it up. Knowledge plus a strong will to actually make changes is a key for me to lose weight.

19.5 pounds to go.