Monday, November 8, 2010

Twinkie diet helps nutrition professor lose 27 pounds

Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent.

"That's where the head scratching comes," Haub said. "What does that mean? Does that mean I'm healthier? Or does it mean how we define health from a biology standpoint, that we're missing something?"
Twinkie diet helps nutrition professor lose 27 pounds - CNN.com


An interesting article, though it can't be called a "study". I did read the results of a study last week that directly contradicted this one, that found that the composition of calories was very important. If I can relocate it, I'll add it below.

But I still find this interesting. This should definitely serve as proof that no form of calorie reduction is more valid than another, that any way of cutting calories can give a good outcome. (!)

Support group

My eldest daughter got her driver's license at the end of August. It was a game changer for me. Now instead of having my morning schedule revolve around getting her to school and my afternoon-making dinner schedule revolve around getting her home, I have a lot more time to myself. I don't have to wake up early enough to get in strength training + cardio before I take her to school/make breakfast/start homeschool; it's like a miracle how I just have to wake up early enough to do strength training before getting the other kids up, and then just before I make breakfast I can go out for a really quick run while they clean their rooms, and then in the afternoons I can go out for a longer uphill walk.

I've been doing this since the beginning of September, and I feel incredible. My running endurance has increased. (I don't have high aspirations in the first place, I probably only want to be able to run 2 miles or so.) I run every day instead of taking rest days. I have hardly missed a day of strength training.

But I haven't dropped a single pound. In fact, weighing myself yesterday, I may have gained one. Sigh.

So I found a couple of weight loss support groups on LiveJournal. My old one no longer exists so I have to start out with a new group and try to get to know people and make a place for myself, but hopefully it will become something good. And I signed up for a challenge—between now and 31 December to lose weight rather than gain it. I'm hoping that little bit of accountability to a group outside of me will help nudge me in the right direction.

I already have good exercise habits established, and I'm making progress. This morning I ran a little farther than my minimum and still felt amazing; the only thing that made me stop was that I had to get home to the kids and make breakfast. This is really exciting to me!

But I need to work on my intake. So my goal is to track food @ SparkPeople for the next six weeks. I'm really out of the habit so it will be something new. And hopefully it will shine a light on what I need to do to make this all work.

Starting weight: 169.4 pounds. Good luck me!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

I made it through!

First fast (in the current series) behind me! Breakfast this morning was scrumptious. Food always tastes better after I've fasted. And I tell you what, when I'm skipping up to six meals per week, I'm always certain that the ones I eat are good and worth the calories.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Always on square one

...is better than never starting at all?

Sometimes I look in the mirror and I say, “I look all right. I look okay. For a woman who has had seven children, I’m not bad at all.” I am pretty average.
Other times, I remember when I weighed 140 right around the time of my high school reunion, I look at those pictures, and I’m not nearly so contented with my current state.

Sometimes it’s so easy for me to adhere to smaller portions, to counting and reducing calories, to periodic fasting.
Other times, I get a twinge of hunger and my brain starts to shout YOU’RE REALLY HUNGRY! EAT! FOOD ISN’T BAD! and I think, that’s true, food isn’t bad. And I eat. And I’m usually pretty empty from fasting or eating tiny portions so I eat a lot.

Sometimes I get a little jealous about all those women in Hollywood who have a lot of money and can just plastic surgery their way through the 25 pounds I want to lose.
Other times, I get a little angry that I feel like I want to look like them at all, that I’ve bought into the arbitrary and unrealistic body standard they portray.

Sometimes I’m so glad I bought a Spanx body shaper, and figured out how to modify it so it worked for me. It goes from right beneath my bra to my mid-thigh, and it does wonders! But it didn't stay up very well. So I sewed on thick elastic straps, and now it’s perfect.
Other times, I wish I’d had this Spanx body shaper at 140 pounds, for my reunion. I only had a tiny bit of tummy then. Holy cow, I bet I would have looked great.

Sometimes I am beyond faithful with exercise—pushing myself to improve, not content with doing as much as I did yesterday. Sometimes I focus on cardio (jogging and walking), sometimes on strength training. For the last four months of the school year and hectic kid schedules I thought, “I can’t wait for summer I can’t wait for summer I can exercise every day!”
Other times, I wonder what the point is. Or I want sleep more than I want exercise. After more than a month building up to a really good speed and distance, for the last three weeks I haven’t exercised at all. This morning I got dressed for it, but here I am writing instead. And I’d sort of like to go back to bed.



Last night I decided I’d give a 24-hour fast a shot. Eat Stop Eat has worked for me before, and I know it can work again, if I can get around my sabotaging brain. If I can just train my brain to remember that food is merely fuel for my body, and that I’m not the meanest thing ever for not eating. If I can push past the few early first fasts, that are filled with hunger pangs, and get to those later fasts where skipping food is no big deal.

So I didn’t eat dinner, and made it just fine. This morning my stomach is protesting, and once again I didn’t exercise. So many excuses. But even if I don’t do everything, I can do something. Fingers crossed I can be strong.

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Now playing: Muse - Resistance

Thursday, May 27, 2010

A beginning is a very delicate time*

It strikes me this morning that the beginning is the hardest part. It's hardest to cut back on portions and step up exercise in the very beginning stage, when it's all deprivation and no reward. Later with some pound loss under your belt (so to speak, ha ha) it can kind of self-perpetuate, success begets will power which begets continued effort and continued results. But those first steps, where you're doing it and there's been no payoff yet, that's the part where it's hard not to eat the theoretical PopTarts in the cupboard.

* A line spoken by Princess Irulan in the movie Dune. I'm such a nerd.

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Now playing: Muse - Neutron Star Collision (Love is Forever)

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Keeping on

I think all is going pretty well.

The plan: to fast breakfast and lunch three days a week (six meals, that's the same as fasting two 24-hour periods, right?). Physiologically it might not be quite the same, since different hormones are secreted with longer fasts; but in terms of calorie-reduction I think it works out the same. And it has the benefit of allowing me to eat dinner with my family every night. Fasting dinners was somewhat difficult to explain to my children.

Fasted two yesterday, eating today, fasting two tomorrow. Exercising. Hoping for good things. Not weighing until Sunday, because I don't want to go "WHAT?!" and have it sabotage me.

New goal: to be able to run 1.5 miles without any walking. Did a mile yesterday, so excited about that. Trying to build.

Friday, May 21, 2010

limping along

I should be exercising.

I fasted two meals yesterday, which I thought would make a measurable difference in my weight this morning. But I weigh about .8 pound more than the last time I weighed. Funny how that stupid number—and I know how sketchy weight is as a measure of progress—has taken the wind out of my sails this morning.

So stupid.

Because I feel great! I'm doing so well!

This is why I should weigh in no more than once a week, ever. And also! I should not care! Seriously, what is the big deal about .8 pounds?

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Hungry today

Not unmanageably so, but my stomach is making its empty presence known. Still, I feel great about how the week has gone—not eating sugar, not craving sugar, subsisting on controlled portions, lots of great exercise. It's a good beginning.

Hope like crazy it's sustainable. Going camping tomorrow—can I resist the smores and keep my portions low? I'd love to see a loss at the end of week one, and not gain back whatever I've managed to lose thus far.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Life I love you. All is groovy!

Feeling insanely good this morning. Did 35 minutes of cardio before I woke the kids up, and then went out and ran a half mile afterward. Half mile isn't much, but there was a light rain falling and it just felt so good to push myself a wee bit harder than I already had. Abs work yet to come.

Down about five pounds since Sunday morning's weigh in.

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Now playing: Simon & Garfunkel - The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Finding my limits

So I fasted two meals Sunday (total calories ~500) and walked about a bit, expending more than sedentary would.

I fasted two meals Monday (total calories a bit less than 500) and exercised about double what I usually would. My energy level, despite the previous and current day's fast, was fantastic yesterday.

I was going to eat only fruit leading up to my evening meal today, as a sort of cleanse. Tried to exercise, but could only do about 30 minutes of cardio and really pooped out during strength training. And I got light-headed around 3:00 and decided I needed to eat a meal.

Lesson learned: Just barely over 1000 calories is not enough nutrition to sustain me into the third day.

Lesson number two: I lost a total of about four pounds in two days. That's a good beginning. Am weakish right now, and looking forward to a good, filling dinner.

Oddly, am not struggling with hunger pangs or cravings. No sugar three days now, though the cupboard is full of it. *shrug* I never know why things go well, I'm just glad they do.

Monday, May 17, 2010

So I guess I feel like writing

Weighed myself Sunday morning, the result being the most I have ever weighed non-pregnant: 167 pounds. This exceeds my previous highest high by four pounds.

Yesterday I fasted two meals, with nary a problem. Took a long walk with the kids after church.

This morning's weigh in: 165.6. Today I also fasted two meals, no problem. Did more than an hour of cardio, plus upper body weight training.

So excited for summer, when I get a little more time to myself. I can't maybe keep up that much exercise, but I can be more consistent.

Hopefully, hopefully this is the beginning of something long term and subtractive. I feel amazingly good this evening, really full of energy though I've had less than 1000 calories in 48 hours.

Wish I could predict. Would love to get back down to 140; 130 feels like a pipe dream at this point.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

How Sugar Ages Your Skin - Prevention.com

...Experts now believe that a lifetime of overeating sugar can make skin dull and wrinkled
How Sugar Ages Your Skin - Prevention.com


Dag nab it. I sugar is still pretty much my favorite food group. Guess now I have to kick my cravings for the greater good.

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Now playing: Broken Bells - The High Road
via FoxyTunes

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

It's always a roller coaster, isn't it?

  • I'm at my highest non-pregnant weight. I've been here once before, and my body likes this weight. Loves it, maybe. I'm very stable here, I can eat a lot and not gain; but I can also eat a little, and not lose.

  • I have, therefore, 20 pounds to lose, to get to a good weight for me. My deepest desire would be 30 pounds, but I've never accomplished that weight, ever, for all my trying.

  • I've been exercising faithfully for about six weeks now, after a fairly long hiatus. My aerobic capacity is slowly increasing, and my strength is increasing as well. Just bought a few new strength training DVDs to help me mix stuff up a little.

  • Have been doing quite well in recent weeks on portion control, and eating less.

  • Made the mistake last week of weighing myself to see if all this exercise and careful eating has had any effect. I haven't budged so much as an ounce after more than a month of effort.

  • So Friday and Saturday I ate pretty much everything in sight, indulged in all my favorites. Delicious!

  • And then I realized what I was doing. Same old thing; if I don't see the results I think I should, I don't have the willpower to keep going. I inhale the baby, the bathwater, and everything else edible; since eating less didn't work, why not eat all I want?

  • So I'm back in the saddle more or less, and I'm not going to weigh myself. Because it's all a mind game. I want to eat well and exercise no matter what the results, and I don't want to lose control if there's no obvious difference on the scale.

  • Back when I started Eat Stop Eat and I didn't see results as quickly as I wanted, I determined that a 24-hour fast (say, from 6pm Mon - 6pm Tue) wasn't working for me. I was basically only fasting two meals because I'd begin my fast after eating lunch one day and end it before eating lunch the next. Wasn't working. So I started fasting calendar days instead, e.g. fasting all three meals on Tuesday.

  • The that ceased to work for me. Fasting became almost as much of a mind game as weighing was—me negotiating mentally with myself, or breaking down after two fasted meals and saying, "But food isn't bad!" while I consumed an entire day's calories.

  • I don't know why it took me so long—more than a year!—to remember the original form of Eat Stop Eat, but I decided yesterday after lunch to try again. So I fasted last night's dinner, this morning's breakfast, and today's lunch. Three meals. It was easy! I didn't even actually get hungry, though I wanted food.

  • The best part was, as Brad Pilon says, I got to eat on each day. I knew I could start yesterday because I'd already had two meals I really enjoyed; I knew I could make it through today because I could look forward to a delicious dinner. So perhaps, perhaps, I'm back in ESE business. We'll see.

  • Husband can't do Eat Stop Eat well at all, he gets migraine-level headaches when he fasts. He kept trying, did like 20 fasts with this debilitating head pain. (Going without food isn't an issue at all, in fact he finds it a relief not to have to think about meals. If only he could see through the blinding head pain.) Finally I told him that I certainly wouldn't do something that made me suffer so terribly, if it was only one of many options to accomplish a weight loss goal.

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Now playing: Muse - Easily

Monday, February 8, 2010

Excellent articles

http://blog.nutritiondata.com/ndblog/2010/01/snacks-now-account-for-a-quarter-of-daily-calories.html

This is a fantastic article about how we should be eating, and the two articles linked within it are even better. For ease:

Eating frequently does not rev your metabolism: http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/metabolism-myths.aspx

Go longer between meals: http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/eating-frequently.aspx

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Now playing: OK Go - This Too Shall Pass

Saturday, January 23, 2010

This is everything it's cracked up to be!

Weighed myself for the first time in months and months this morning. Was within one pound of where I suspected I was.

I'm giving two thumbs way, way up for food combining so far. I'm staying full between meals, I'm eating less, and I have no cravings. I have cookies and chocolate in the cupboard, and they are so not an issue, which is nigh unto miraculous considering how I binged on sugar last weekend and the beginning of this week. I should still be having to muscle through withdrawals. Nope.

Onward!

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Now playing: A Fine Frenzy - You Picked Me

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Even on day one, it worked.

Quite a bit more energy today. Even after completing entire arms workout this a.m., I was able to go out and walk/jog just before lunch. Felt full all day. No cravings to speak of until now; now I want a little sugar, but it's so slight I can resist. Drank lots of water.

Successful first day; of course, the success could all be in my head. But the head is half the battle, right? Hope I can spin it into successful longer period. :)

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Now playing: Muse - Hyper Chondriac Music

Would that my electronic life were easily portable!

This weight loss blog has been around since 18 October 2008, but my efforts have been going on a much longer time than that. Over on my LiveJournal (which is my main blog, and not publicly accessible because I protect many of my entries) I've been talking about weight loss for a very long time. Two of my seven babies were born while I have been blogging, so naturally there's some weight loss discussion there. I had a 20-year high school reunion. And I had, just the regular maintenance and mini-battles with the three pounds I kept gaining and losing.

In fact if you read my LJ, you might see how much I fixated on a certain number, how my spirits fell if I didn't lose after a week of being good, how I struggled, how I succeeded. There are three things that really made me lose weight: Eat Stop Eat with the periodic fasting, counting calories at SparkPeople.com, and food combining.

I haven't talked about food combining at all in this blog, because it's a thing of my past. When I had just barely birthed baby #7 and was looking to drop that weight, I was really cautious about how I went about it. I wanted to be sure that I fed him properly and gave him all the nutrition he needed, without giving myself too much nutrition. I'd fallen into that trap before, eating too much and gaining weight in the name of feeding the baby.

So I downloaded an e-book called Breastfeed Your Way Thin which turned out to be one of the best things I'd ever done. It was a sensible plan anyone on any diet (even a vegan, like I was at the time) could follow, because it's all about food combining—eating foods in certain combinations.

That's the flash back. Here's the present day.

I've been half-heartedly counting calories for a few weeks now, and trying a little bit to fast now and then. Neither has been terribly effective because I kind of jump ship and eat without recording or break my fast. But what has been effective, is that I'm in my third week of consistent strength training. It's just a tiny little routine, Mondays and Thursdays I work arms, Tuesdays and Fridays legs/butt, and Wednesdays abs. But the consistency is what's important.

For two full weeks and M-W of this week I struggled with energy levels. I just could hardly make it through half of a decent workout before I was exhausted. Gradually my muscles have been less sore after workouts, but always I lifted or squatted or whatever to the point of shaky and fatigue.

(The good news is, this morning I was finally able to finish the entire arms workout. Here's hoping I get the same thing tomorrow with the legs/butt!)

Anyway, energy has been a huge struggle for me. I'm tired because I'm getting up a lot earlier to exercise, and I'm exhausted and fatigued after strength training.

And this morning, I remembered an entry I'd made years ago when I was faithfully following Breastfeed Your Way Thin and combining my foods. This is from January 24, 2006—almost exactly four years ago today. Hmm, interesting.

From Breastfeed Your Way Thin by Shannon Crawford, regarding food combining:

"One thing I do know from direct experience is that many of us have a tendency to rely on food for emotional support: we eat to feel better. Before I came upon food combining, this was a recurring theme for me. I would feel bad, eat junk food to distraction, then feel bad about that and repeat the cycle. But when I started my program, within a few days my moods had improved significantly. I really couldn't believe how much happier I felt.

"Many people who have adopted food combining have stated that they feel much happier with life, they experience less stress, and feel better overall. I am not clear as to why we experience this, but it might have something to do with the increased energy we feel. Or perhaps with better nutrition and health our hormones are better regulated, resulting in improved, more stable moods. Regardless, the direct result of this is very clear; when we feel better, we turn less to food and more to life."

I had noticed over the last, say, half a week or perhaps more, that I was having a startling lack of food cravings and temptations. All I've been wanting is my healthy food, and I haven't been foraging through the treat cupboard for leftover Christmas candy or anything. I haven't heard the doughnuts calling me from inside the convenience store when I go to gas up the car. And then I thought, "Not only am I not having cravings, my mood is incredibly stable." And then I thought, "Hmm, and my energy level is good, too."

And then I reread this part in the book yesterday. Can I blame it all on food combining? I don't know, but I do feel remarkably peaceful and content, even though I'm eating slightly smaller portions and making an effort to avoid treats.

In fact, that was more positive things than I remembered, I was just thinking about the energy levels. It knocks out cravings too?

So I was thinking about this this morning, and decided to go for it. I'll brush up on my food combining this morning—it's been years, after all—and I'll see if I can get that boost in energy, mood, and the ability to withstand cravings that I need right now. Just had a huge glass of fruit smoothie for breakfast. I can eat a couple of pieces of toast between breakfast and lunch. Crossing my fingers.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Not bad for a first day.

Portions: controlled.

Calories: very acceptable.

Exercise: also went walking and jogging for about 20 minutes.

Not much, but it's a start.

Feelin' Groovy

This morning just feels different. But then, lots of mornings feel different, and I'm diving head first into the chocolate before lunchtime.

I haven't exercised for a while. Why? I don't know; I had shoulder injuries that made strength training difficult. And I kept trying to change up my strength training and ended up hating it (I like cardio better anyway), but since I'm still intellectually convinced that strength training is way more effective than cardio with respect to changing a body, and since the roads are snow-covered outside...

I haven't exercised in a while. But last week I began to change. I did great cardio three mornings. And this morning I woke up bright and early and did a quite good upper body strength workout that has me still, and hour later, very shaky in the shoulders and arms. (Shaky in a good way.) Good portion control at breakfast. Crossing my fingers that this is the beginning of something, because even my big pants are tight now after the indulgent holiday season I had.

Haven't weighed in months, and I have no intention to. But I do want to exercise, and eat less. Let's see where this goes.