Food Diaries = 2x Weight Loss

My mother passed an interesting article to me this morning. The article noted a study where the impact of keeping a food diary led to double the weight loss of not keeping a food diary.

Keep a Food Diary, Lose Twice as Much Weight

You can probably tell from my previous posts that I am pretty religious about keeping a food diary and tracking my calories. It worked the first time I dropped pounds, and, hopefully, it will get me to the finish line.

Hefty US States

I love when new data on hefty states is published each year. Do you notice the % of people who are obese? Does your mind register that (in most US states) 25% of the people you meet are obese and more than 50% of people are overweight!? That is huge (literally).

Sometimes I think that people's perception of weight can change because everyone else around them may also be chubby, so it becomes "okay" and even "normal." I relayed this in a previous blog post, as I have seen noticeable differences in the average weight of workers across different clients and mentioned a study that came out last year discussing how individuals' networks of friends can influence weight.

I was curious whether or not (mis)perception of weight had any more data behind it, so I did a little more research on the tubes and found a study that came out recently indicating that over the past ten years people's perception of weight has been changing. Obese and overweight people are less likely to identify themselves as being overweight or obese. That sounds like a dangerous trend.

Getting Closer to the Half-way Point (Weekly Summary July 13-19)

My weight dropped an amazing 3.5 pounds this week. I didn't do anything special, compared to prior weeks, but I did follow my plans pretty closely.

I was only 150 calories over my goal of averaging 1200 calories per day, but feel pretty good that I was able to keep that close to my goal, having gone out to dinner and to an engagement party. I hope to keep this weight loss rolling to hit my skinny by December goal. :)

Weekly Summary July 13-19:

Sunday:
Left over turkey bacon and cheese souffle
Rice crackers & cheese
Watermelon
Chicken & stuffed eggplant (onions, tomatoes)
Wine
Plum
Exercise: Walked 6 miles

Monday:
Rice and Shine with cheese (grits-style)
Watermelon smoothies (2 glasses)
Stuffed eggplant (onions, tomatoes)
Cheese
Stuffed eggplant (ground lamb, onions)
Coconut ice cream & chocolate sauce (no corn syrup, woohoo)
Wine
Exercise: Yoga and walking, I think. Forgot to record it in my tracker and presidentschallenge.com.

Tuesday:
Coffee with agave nectar
Banana
Yogurt
Salad (spinach, chick peas, olives, blue cheese dressing)
Cheese and crackers
Plum
Coconut ice cream
Exercise: Walked 6 miles

Wednesday:
Coffee with agave nectar
1/2 container of 0% Greek yogurt, sprinkle of gluten-free cereal for crunch, and 1/2 banana
Salad (spinach, chick peas, olives, blue cheese dressing)
Sparkling water with spash of orange juice
Cucumber, 1.5 cups
Crackers with cheese
Broccoli
1/2 chicken breast
Exercise: Walked 6 miles

Thursday:
Coffee with agave nectar
1/2 container of 0% Greek yogurt, sprinkle of gluten-free cereal for crunch, and 1/2 banana
Salad (1/2 chicken boob, 3 olives, spinach, chipotle ranch dressing)
Jicama
Artichoke
1/2 cup broccoli
Talapia fillet
Chocolate pudding and dab of coconut ice cream
Exercise: Ran 2 miles, walked 2 miles

Friday:
Coffee with agave nectar
1/2 container of 0% Greek yogurt, sprinkle of gluten-free cereal for crunch, and 1/2 banana
Yogurt beet salad
Jicama
2.1 glasses of wine
Muscles
Fries, 15 strips
Exercise: 1 hour yoga, walked 6 miles

Saturday:
Coffee with agave nectar
1/2 container of 0% Greek yogurt, sprinkle of gluten-free cereal for crunch, and 1/2 banana
Yogurt beet salad
Tuna
Jicama
Chicken & beef at dinner
Hummus & similar
Lima beans
2 stuffed grape leaves
Custard dessert thing
Exercise: Walked 6 miles

I am slowly starting to build running back into my routine to be prepared for the 10 mile race I am in October.

I am also starting to think of self-reward presents for making it 1/2, 3/4, and 100% to my goal weight. Perhaps a new 3G iPhone? Any other suggestions of mile marker gifts? I hope to stay on track, even though I will be traveling for the next three weeks in a row.

Hunger Can Make You Happy?

I came across an article that says hunger can make you happy. The article is pretty interesting... although they push some of the rats in their study into deep water! What is with that!? They couldn't figure out another way to test?

Hunger Can Make You Happy

Quick Little Food Quiz

I came across a fun little food quiz this morning on CNN Health. I scored 4 out of 6. Let me know if you beat my score!

Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Nutrition and Fitness?

Atkins and Mediterranean Diets Trump Others

All over the health news yesterday were the results of a large studying comparing the Atkins Diet, Mediterranean Diet, and a low-fat diet. The results were that those on the Atkins diet had the best results in terms of lowering cholesterol and losing weight, followed closely by the Mediterranean Diet. Sounded like the Mediterranean Diet seemed to work well for the women in the group. Here is one of the many articles on it in yesterday's news:

Low Carb Plan Best in Study

This article finds a slightly different conclusions - that losing weight is difficult - based on the study:

Healthy Diets Shown to Have Benefits Despite Modest Weight Losses

And, and this article questions how good the study was:

Never Ending Diet Wars

While, I have not tried the Mediterranean Diet, I have tried the Atkins Diet and found that it worked pretty well for me. I got really tired of having meat, but generally felt much better and did lose the pounds. But now, looking back, I wonder if I felt so much better because I was eliminating things I am allergic to (wheat, corn, soy) on the Atkins Diet, but didn't know that I was allergic to them at the time. That could account for why I felt so much better.

Favorite Health TV Show

On Saturdays my ideal activities include:

• Waking up,
• Eating breakfast while watching HGTV,
• Taking the dog out for a long walk or run,
• Returning/showering in time to watch my favorite Saturday morning TV show,
• Watching my favorite Saturday morning show on BBC America (12EST and 12:30EST)

You Are What You Eat is hosted by Gillian McKeith, a holistic nutritionist, who works with overweight and/or otherwise very unhealthy Brits. She coaches them for eight weeks.

What I like about this show:

• They do before and after body overviews of the people (difference in 8 weeks)
• She has people record what they eat (or their friends record it) over a week, and then shows it to them all on one table (usually disgusting)
• She gives people the equivalents of what bad food equals in good food (e.g. how many cups of sugary, milky coffee a week equal how many eggs you could eat for breakfast with those calories)
• She analyzes people's poo and even smells it (really)
• She has the participants blood work done which often leads to finding interesting deficiencies due to participants' unhealthy ways
• She makes people eat vegetables and fruits and exercise
• Entire families are often involved

This is a fun show to watch, and I am excited to get my Tivo hooked up soon so I can record it on the Saturdays when I have less domestic plans.

Anyone want to come over, have lunch, and watch some You Are What You Eat on Saturday?