Weight Loss 4.0
Sep 27, 2012 Weight Loss
I feel like I’m in the fourth (and final) stage of my weight loss. That might seem weird since I still have more than 30 pounds to go until I reach my goal, but I’m in a comfortable routine that is working – I don’t feel like I’m looking for “the best way” to lose weight any more.
1.0 was when I started this whole thing just under a year ago. Slim-Fast sent me some shakes and bars, and I took off the first ten pounds pretty easily. But it was really just a kick start. As delicious as the Slim-Fast stuff was, I knew I could never do it long term – I like “food” more than I like eating sweet, sugary things 4-5 times a day. I happened to interview Dr. Oz ten days in to my Slim-Fast plan, and he had some good advice for me. It would get me going, but I would need to have something else waiting in the wings for when I got tired of it. I started looking for a new plan.
2.0 was when DietBet.com offered up a big prize to me and some other bloggers for losing 4% of our body weights in 4 weeks. I did (all seven of us did, actually) and won over $700 – half of it going to a great charity, The Fistula Foundation. My method for those four weeks was simple: 1,400 calories four times a week, 700 calories/60 grams of carbs twice a week, and one day a week where I could eat anything, no calorie counting. It was based on some interesting studies, and worked really well for me. Since I largely live on carbs, two days a week of deprivation was just about the most I could do, but it was all I needed to do.
3.0 was the time between the first Diet Bet, and now. I tried a few other things. I tried dessert for breakfast, which was also based on an interesting study. I think it’s something that I’ll probably go back to if and when I ever try to just eat like a normal person, without counting calories. The science behind having something sweet with breakfast is strong. But combined with calorie counting, I found it unnecessary, and just used too many calories early in the day – the opposite of what my body wants to do.
I also tried massive amounts of exercise alongside massive amounts of eating. I actually took off five pounds this summer, while enjoying way too many meals out with my husband (the kids were at summer camp). I usually gain in the summer even without the restaurants, so I’d call that a success. But most days I simply don’t have time to exercise for two or more hours, so that’s done until the kids go away again.
Mostly, I just tried to maintain my weight loss, with little bursts of losing. But then, as I got closer to forty (it’s now four weeks away!) I got very motivated. Which brings us to…
4.0. It’s really just my 2.0 method, with a few small changes. I’m doing two days a week of low-carb/low-cal, with 800 calories this time, but only 40 grams of carbs. Four days a week of 1,200 calories, no carb counting (fewer calories than last time, because I just want to get this shit over with already!). And one day a week of whatever, although this time I’m attempting to keep it at 2,000 calories, if I’m home or easily able to count them. Not always possible, like last Saturday night in Boston when I pretty much ate myself sick at Maggiano’s. Oops. (But oh so tasty!)
I’ve also been doing a more moderate amount of exercise. Usually a six mile walk-jog once a week, a bike ride or jog here and there, some 5K training with the kids. Nothing massive or all that consistent. But I have been making a big effort to bike where I would usually take the subway. It really only works if I can show up a little sweaty. Lunch with a friend in lower Manhattan? Fine. Laser hair removal appointment near Central Park where my nether-regions will be worked on? Nope.
If I feel like I need to “eat” those exercise calories on a given day, I do. But if I’m having one of those days where I’m out of calories and just need to eat more, I put my sneakers on, log some more exercise calories, and then eat some potato chips. But when I can, I just let those exercise calories sit in the “bank.” Hopefully it’s making me lose a little faster.
It’s nice to be in a routine that I feel good about. I don’t exactly look forward to these super-low-cal days, but I don’t dread them. I’ve done them enough times that I know I won’t be screaming with hunger pains. I just eat nine or ten very small meals and look forward to the next day.
A few people have asked me why I’m torturing myself like this. If they knew me, they’d know that if it were torture, I wouldn’t do it. I like to be comfortable. But I also like not stressing out when it’s time to pack for a trip or go clothes shopping. That’s my motivation, and it’s working.
So here you go: me pointing at my shrinking belly, no constricting undergarments, four weeks to go until my birthday, 30 some odd pounds to go until my goal. Feeling great.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1 (Slim-Fast). Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: Dessert for Breakfast, Dr. Oz, exercise, Food, Slim-Fast, Weight Loss
Diet Bet #2: My weight loss strategy
Feb 20, 2012 Weight Loss
Yesterday was the initial weigh in for the Diet Bet I’ve organized. We have twenty participants with a pot of $1,000! My husband was the first to join, which was totally shocking. He ended up being the only man. The next three people to join all live near me in Brooklyn, and I thought “Well, this will be easy. I’ll just deliver fresh baked goods to them every few days.” But then people started signing up from all over the country, and we even have someone participating from France! It’s a mix of bloggers, readers, tweeters, and personal friends who have nothing to do with my online life.
I’ve got four weeks to lose seven pounds. I’m using the same basic strategy I used the first time around, when I lost ten pounds, but I’ve added an element: eating dessert with my breakfast. Don’t laugh, there’s actual science behind it! I wrote about it here. I’ve been doing this for over a week and I swear it makes a difference. I mean, I don’t know if the difference is because of the large breakfast or the dessert, but whichever it is, I’m not messing with success. The weird thing is, if I have to pick between dessert and something salty and fried, I’ll always pick the latter. But that doesn’t seem to matter.
So, here’s my weight loss strategy for the next four weeks, a combination of my low cal/low carb alternating plan, and eating dessert with breakfast to help curb cravings and appetite all day. I’m calling it The Sweets First Carb Lover’s Diet. (Yes, I realize you hardly get any carbs two days a week, but you can eat all the carbs you want for five days! Totally worth it!) Shout out to @dgmommyblogger for the “Sweets First” part of the name.
- Four days a week I eat 1,400 calories a day, with no restrictions on carbohydrates.
- For breakfast on those days, I eat 400 calories of breakfast food and 200 calories of dessert – chocolate, brownies, whatever is around.
- Two days a week I eat 700 calories a day, and limit my carbohydrates to between 50 and 60 grams.
- For breakfast on those days, I eat 200 calories of breakfast food and 100 calories of dessert.
- One day a week I eat whatever I want, with no restrictions on anything.
Today’s breakfast, for example, was heavenly: half of a giant bagel with cream cheese, veggie bacon, strawberries, and chocolate.
About a third of the way in to the plan I’ll be starting the Power 90 workout. I’m a little worried about how this will affect my weight loss in the beginning, but I’m going for it anyway. I’m not worried about getting so ripped that my muscles tip the scales (I should have such problems). I’m more worried that I won’t be able to sustain my eating plan with all that exercise. If I have to adjust, I will.
Just like during my last Diet Bet, I have a very ill-timed trip. I managed to keep control and lose two pounds while I was in Las Vegas for CES last month, but this one will be harder: I’ll be on a press trip at the end of this week to Disney World for the Princess Half Marathon. At CES it was practically impossible to find food on the show floor anyway. But Disney World? There’s food everywhere!
However, the last time I went with the kids I noticed that Disney World was making a huge effort to put healthy food front and center in the parks. At every store and stand, bags of grapes and packs of carrots were right in the front, by the register. So, I’ll do my best. I’ll probably also bring some Slim Fast bars with me, which really helped keep me on track at CES.
A few people wanted to join my Diet Bet after it had already started. Remember, DietBet.com is a free site and anybody can use it to organize a Diet Bet. Also, I’m sure I’ll be having another one of these to keep my momentum going, so stayed tuned for an announcement about the next one!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: DietBet.com, Disney Princess Half Marathon, Disney World, Power 90, Slim-Fast, Sweets First Carb Lovers Diet, Weight Loss
Today’s Agenda: return of the video diary
Jan 11, 2012 Today's Agenda
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1 (Striiv). Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: CES, DietBet.com, Slim-Fast, Striiv, Weight Loss
Today’s Agenda: “running” edition
Dec 13, 2011 Today's Agenda
So for the second year in a row, I will now start talking about the Disney Princess Half Marathon, and every time I say that I’m “running” it, “running” will be in quotes. Because I couldn’t run 13.1 miles if I were being chased by an ax-wielding maniac. I finished last year with the less-than-impressive pace of about 16.5 minutes per mile. Now, before you leave supportive comments saying I should be proud just to finish, I am. Very. But when you fly all the way to Florida to run a race and don’t bother to train for it until a couple months before – twice – I think it’s OK to get a little pissed at yourself.
So, I realized yesterday that the race is a little less than eleven weeks away, and I got on the treadmill. Something I need to do just about every day between now and the race. I’m not expecting miracles. All I want is to get my pace to 15 minutes per mile, which would mean finishing in about 3 hours, 16 minutes. So that’s the goal. We’ll see how I do.
Getting some weight off will definitely help. I’m heavier now by about ten pounds than when I “ran” the race last year. So I’d love to take that off before the race. I’ve been losing about 1.5 pounds a week on Slim-Fast, so if that continues I’ll be in good shape for the race. Well, not good, but better than last year. :-)
Working against those plans are the loaf of white Pullman bread in the oven right now, the two loaves of sourdough bread that will be in the oven later, and the cake pops I’m making for a Blogging Angels recording session I’ll be doing tomorrow. I know, it might seem like torture, but my brain doesn’t work that way. Having a little of that stuff works better for me than not having any at all.
Last, we’re on Day 10 of the 12 Days of Change from One.org. Day 7 was from The Culture Mom, who had a very inspiring post about bringing her kids to a food pantry. Day 8 was from the very techy Coast to Coast Mom, who turned off all electronics for an evening and lived to tell about it. And today’s action is from my friend Nancy (From Hip to Housewife), who (with the help of One.org) will be sending messages of hope, thanks and support to Africa. This may be the easiest action to take so far: all you have to do is leave a message in Nancy’s comment section! It will only take you a minute, so I implore you to visit Nancy’s post and help out.
OK, I’m off to make cake pops. Wish me luck. I’ll be dealing with frosting in a can, a huge weakness of mine.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 16 (Disney Princess Half Marathon). Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
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Tags: 12 Days of Change, Blogging Angels, Disney Princess Half Marathon, Slim-Fast
Today’s Agenda: on the clock edition
Dec 12, 2011 Today's Agenda
I love Mondays. I get the house to myself once again.
Of course, I didn’t realize that the weather program on my phone was set to Celsius. I bundled the kids up like they were summiting Everest and shoved them out the door.
So I haven’t been talking about weight loss for a few weeks. I haven’t given up on Slim-Fast, but I have fallen into the habit of doing it for only four days a week. After about a month of going strong, that seems to be all I can muster. Which was totally predictable. Even Dr. Oz knew that would happen, after knowing me for all of thirty seconds. He thought it was a good way to kick-start my weight loss, but warned me that I’d better have a back-up plan for when I lost steam.
So, I’d been thinking a lot about what the next stage would be. And I think I’ve found it – but I’m not going to tell you what it is until I’ve seen if I can stick with it for a couple of weeks. Because it’s a little weird, and some people would probably yell at me and tell me it won’t work and blah blah blah so I’d rather say what I did after I’m able to follow it with “And it totally worked!”
The other new thing for me this week is trying to keep my OSS (“Ooh, something shiny!”) brain from flitting from thing to thing. No more running to check an email if I”m folding laundry. No more putting a few things in the dishwasher in the middle of writing a post. Part of my new plan is admitting that I will not get everything done, no matter what it is. So instead of saying “OK, I’m going to put away ALL of the laundry!” and then being pissed when six hours later it’s not done and my day is over, I will simply set a timer for one hour and whatever I get done in that hour, I get done, and then I leave it for the next thing. I’m hoping this will keep me more focused, and also keep me from letting certain things go for too long. We’ll see how it goes.
And last, it just hit me that I’m “running” (walking, crawling) the Disney Princess Half Marathon again, and it’s in eleven weeks. And all I want is to get my time down to a still-pathetic 3:15. Which would actually be an awesome time for a full marathon. Maybe I should just accidentally on purpose forget to mention the “half” part when I tell people my time. So after I hit publish, it’s down to the treadmill I go. I’m already wearing a sports bra and everything.
Here I am crossing the finish line last year:
I can’t even describe how that felt. I’m actually looking forward to it again this year!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 16 (Disney Princess Half Marathon). Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: Disney Princess Half Marathon, Dr. Oz, exercise, Slim-Fast
Today’s Agenda: totally Monday edition
Dec 5, 2011 Today's Agenda
So I usually don’t mind Mondays at all. Everyone gets the hell out of the house and I can have some peace and quiet and get stuff done. But today has been proving itself to be what other people are referring to when they talk about Monday.
- I had to wake up at 6:30 to wash Jake’s gym pants because I have completely lost control of the laundry situation – again – and The Ass is hours away from taking it over – again – which would mean Fiona’s clothes in Jake’s room, Jake’s clothes completely wrinkled, and my clothes shrunken and ruined.
- The first email I read this morning was from a very unhappy person I’d worked with recently expressing her displeasure at something that had gotten screwed up, and I had to be diplomatic early on a Monday morning.
- While I was showering my shampoo bottle fell and hit the towel rack, which broke. So now I have to hunt down the part that broke, which will involve a call to Kohler where I say the words “tube-shaped thingy” a lot.
- I forgot to move the car yesterday for alternate-side parking, so I had to go out in the cold and search for a parking spot.
- I just stepped in honey, the very honey that Fiona swore she’d wiped up really well at breakfast this morning.
- Slim-Fast. That’s not something that’s going wrong – it’s actually going right (even if I have forgotten to weigh myself for several weeks) – but after a morning of agita I really just want to eat a giant peanut butter sandwich, and if I do I won’t be able to eat anything for the rest of the day.
Now, none of those things are terrible. I’ll take them over real problems any day. But it’s just been an annoying morning.
Time to turn it around with some writing. I’ll be posting something very fun in a little while that I was working on all weekend. Then, this evening, I’ll be posting about a site that has already helped save me money twice on airfares. Can’t wait to post both of those!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Today’s Agenda: back on track edition
Nov 21, 2011 Today's Agenda
So yesterday I admitted I’d taken about two-and-a-half days off from Slim-Fast and counting calories. All I’m asking of myself this week is to follow the plan for three days, then I’m going to go a bit easy on myself for the holiday weekend. I had my chocolate shake for breakfast, and it tasted great. Just hoping the massive amounts of Mexican food and pasta I ate this weekend don’t make it that much harder to be full today.
I have so many great products gathered for holiday shopping, which for a lot of people will be getting into high gear this week (although I’ve still got about four weeks until I’ll take it seriously). I’m going to start today with some tips from the T-Mobile event I hosted last week, about how to buy tech gifts.
And then, uh (Mommy, please stop reading!), I’ve got three days to clean my entire house top to bottom, because my mom’s coming for Thanksgiving! I’m so excited, because she hasn’t been here in about four years, I think. And she’s totally not the type to be judgmental about how the house looks. But still, I would be a terrible hostess to let her stay here with it the way it is now. So her visit is the kick in the ass I need to get some things done around here – hopefully!
Have a great, short week.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 8 (T-Mobile). Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Week 5 weigh-in: Uh…umm…
Nov 20, 2011 Weight Loss
Yeah. I took a break. I’m trying to tell myself that instead of going full steam ahead until I snapped and ate an entire pizza, I’m taking a weekend off out of choice so that I can get excited about Slim-Fast again. And let’s face it, this coming long weekend will be time off anyway. So it will be a few days off, a few days on, a long weekend off, and then – I hope! – renewed excitement and commitment.
When I talked to Dr. Oz about my weight loss plan he totally nailed my personality in just a few seconds. I get really excited about things in the beginning, and then lose interest just as fast. But I’ve had great results. So I’m hoping that carries me through, because I’m not ready to be done with Slim-Fast yet. I just needed a little break…I hope.
Since I’d had take-out Mexican on Friday and diner food yesterday and wasn’t excited about weighing in this week, I totally forgot to do it this morning. So we’ll see what happens on Thanksgiving Sunday. My goal is to just be steady from where I was last week. Which might be too much to ask after the carb fest that I’m planning for Thanksgiving dinner, but I guess we’ll see.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: Slim-Fast, Thanksgiving
