Finally, I can put a new lower weight on my update!

So, I think I mentioned I joined SparkPeople a little over a week ago. I felt very demotivated, and I thought that might be a place to help me get back in the right frame of mind to restart a diet and fitness plan.

I spent the first few days just getting used to the site--it's got a lot of tools and stuff. I was still feeling the flu, so didn't dive in. But now, I'm starting to find my groove.

The first two weeks (I'm not done with those) is a sort of "start slowly" phase there, and you really are asked only to track three things you start changing. But for a few days, I've been tracking all I eat and all my exercise. I had been eating pretty much whatever I wanted for a month while ill, so let's say about 4000 or so calories a day, or more. I had regained a few pounds. But I started SparPeople with the intent of beginning the cutback.

I've logged meticulously in my nutrition journal for a week. It really reminded me how easy it is to lose track of what goes in the mouth.

My first week of logging and consciously eating less, I have been doing about 2400 calories, some days a bit more, some less, but never under 2000 and the highest was close to 2800. I started to make little changes--skipping fruit juice and eating the fruit at breakfast, for example.

For the first time in, what, a year and a half, I'm drinking water purposefully. It's REALLY hard for me to drink water. Just don't like doing it. But since I have to track water, it reminds me to drink. I feel the benefit of it.

Cardio has been a sticky issue for me. I have had asthma my whole life, and bad enough to require many medications daily. I start coughing and spitting up goo when I breathe really hard during cardio. So, I tend to avoid it. This past week, after more than a year of not doing any sort of movement like that, I did cardio twice. Not for long--I'm still flu-impaired and I'm so cardio-out of shape--but twice. Once on my own with music for 10 mins, and once for 15 minutes with a Leslie Sansonen DVD (a one miler at a good pace).

And so, I can change the number at left to 271.6.

I had bobbled around between 275 and 273 last week, so I expected 273ish again today. Seeing a number that hadn't been on my scale since, I think, Novemberish of last year (see stats on sidebar, scroll way down).

My goal is to work myself down to 1800 to 1900 a day. I should lose at a moderate pace at that level. It's still hard for me to eat below 2700, which seems to be the low end of my "I can be pretty satisfied and have some treats" level of eating (not my "eat whatever I desire", though). But I know that to get under 200 lbs, I can't have what I want. To get unde 200 lbs, I have to do without and feel some pain.

Anyway, if your mojo is long gone, maybe SparkPeople can give you a little kick in the pants. It's free and it's useful, but it does take time and has a bit of a learning curve (not much). I'm "PrincessDieter" over there. If you're already there, friend me. :)

This week, my goal is to stay closer to 2000 than I have, in order to eventually work down to 1800 cals a day. And my goal for next week is to be in the 260's. Gosh, I've waited for that one a while.

Let's not give up...ever.

Happy Tuesday, peops!

Onward and DOWNward...

Links to Informative Comparisons of BodyBugg vs GoWear Fit

Here.

Another here.

The comment thread HERE has good info from actual users of both products.

A critical review of Bodybugg by Coach Dean Anderson.

A couple posts by a GoWear user. Another user talks about her first 24 hours with it.

I'm considering one of these. The price makes me go "YIPES!" I'm leaning to the GoWear Fit only because of the sleep monitoring function, as I have sleep apnea. Because my thyroid went kaput over 15 years ago, I suspect I don't burn as much as a "normal" metabolism person.

Plus, gadgets are kinda fun.

Anyway, still mulling it over. Reading that Ali Vincent still uses her Bodybugg makes me interested, but, well, it's a pricey purchase, so I gotta ponder.

If you're using (have used, plan to use) one of these devices, let me know how it worked/is working for you, or which one you plan to get. Did it motivate you to burn more calories or eat fewer. Did it show you sleep disturbances (GoWearFit) or help you be more meticulous about food logging?

And if you want to look into a less techy/cheaper alternative that's like a revved up pedometer, maybe the FitBit?
See ya...

ADDENDUM 11/10: I found this blog whose GoWear user actually screencaps her reports, in case you are curious what they're like...

TBL's ALI VINCENT--How She's Keeping the Weight Off, Advice To Those Starting Weight Loss Journey

There's an interesting interview with THE BIGGEST LOSER'S female winner Ali Vincent over at That's Fit dot com that's worth visiting to read in its entirety.

Here are two Q/A snippets that I found of special interest.

The first tells us how Ali is keeping off her huge weight loss--and it's not easy, not for lazybones, shows focus and strength of will:

TF: What was your daily calories in/calories out goal on the road to winning Season 5 compared to today? (Ali was initially voted off, but did win a spot to return to the ranch.) In your book you share you still keep a food journal, but do you still strap on a bodybugg?

AV: I've got it on my arm right now. Yeah I do, I love it, love it, love it. People are like, "Do you still have to wear that?" I don't have to wear the bodybugg, but for me, it's the best tool I've found to track the calories I've burned every day. For me it's liberating. As long as I burned it, I can eat it. Now I'll stay on about 2,000 calories and I'll just make sure I burn 2,000 calories. It was hard for me to do before, but now I have an active lifestyle. I never go more than three days. On that third day, if I haven't done a workout, then I go.

When we first went to the ranch, my calories [in] were 1,200, but they didn't use the bodybugg [for the burn] like they do it now. On Biggest Loser we had one day of rest with higher calories, so I added 800 calories on my rest day for a 2,000 calorie day. [After being voted off the show] I stayed on a 1,200 calorie budget and I had to burn 3,750 a day to get me in a 50 percent [weight] loss range at the finale. When I returned to the ranch, Jillian asks me, "What in the hell are you doing?" I told her, "I go to bed when my bodybugg tells me to go." I relied on a mathematical equation. When you win the Biggest Loser, you live and die by the bodybugg. There's other tools out there, the bodybugg was the tool that I was given and that I use.

The second is advice for those starting a journey to lose fat and gain fitness:

TF: What do you tell people who are obese/overweight and don't know where to start?

AV: A, you gotta tell the truth of what you are. I didn't even know I weighed 234 lbs. You have to know where point A is before you can get to point B. Then think about what point B looks like. How much weight do you want to lose? Get clear on what your goal is going to be, then break it down in between. Start journaling everything that you do throughout the day. Go online, get support groups, get a trainer or a friend. If you want to be healthy, find the healthiest person you know and start hanging around them. Start watching them. You have to take action.

It never gets easy. Not the start, not the middle, and obviously not the finish--which is no such thing. It's just the ongoing....

Ali's Book, BELIEVE IT, BE IT releases tomorrow. Previous TBL winner Matt Hoover also published a book. I'd like to see Kai Hibbard write a tell-all, frankly, of the manipulations behind the scenes and how the pressure of TBL seems to lead some pretty close to eating disorders, exercise addiction, and dangerous diet behaviors for the moolah.Wonder if they invited her for the "Where Are They Now" type of show coming up soon?

Prolly not?

Ali, Matt and Suzy, and Eric Chopin (who has regained, btw) will be in it.

Anyway, the special airs November 25.

CHICKEN KITCHEN: POST YOUR DANG NUTRITIONAL FACTS ALREADY!

It really annoys the princess poop outta me when large food franchises bother to put up their snazzy lil websites and leave out nutritional facts.

We had Chicken Kitchen chop-chops for lunch (I left our 1/3 of the yellow rice on mine), but I could not find nutritional info on this online, except for an incomplete one on a calorie site.

Hey, Chicken Kitchen, get on the fricken ball. Give us the nutritional label type of breakdowns for your menu items. If you really want to be helpful, put WW points on 'em, too. How about it?

The Princess commands...

(Now, on the off chance that I'm a total doof and missed it on their site, do check it out and tell me if I missed it. Heh.)

Amazing Transformations To Inspire Us

I thought these before and afters, courtesy of Woman's Day online, were really something. I want my own transformation, and I bet you do, too.

Take a look.

Our Habitat Choices Can Work for or Against Fatfighters

Well, last night sucked. I did fine with B and L, but D got the best of me. Nothing new. My fault. Why? I bought dessert. I bought a dessert that is tempting. It was there. And I ate it. 400 calories worth.

My mistake. It's interesting that I had an opportunity to backtrack, to NOT buy this dessert--when the clerk forgot to ring it up. But no, I bought it. And because I let it enter my habitat, it entered my body.

Anyway, I was over at Sparkpeople logging the dreaded calories of last night's mess, when I came across an article.

Here, a snippet:

The researchers investigated what set the weight-losers apart from the others, and published their findings in the October issue of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

Those who lost weight and kept it off were about three to four times more likely to exercise than those who were obese or overweight. They were also about 1.4 to 1.6 times more likely to spend time thinking about restraining their food intake, considering things like calories.

Those who lost weight had fewer televisions in their home and less high-fat food on hand. They also had more exercise equipment in their homes, the study authors noted.

"You have to pay attention to your home environment if you want to succeed," Phelan said. "Do you have TVs in every room? When you walk into your kitchen, do you see high-fat food or healthy food?"

Dr. David Katz, director of Yale University School of Medicine's Prevention Research Center, noted in the news release that the study's findings were "common sense" and "close to self-evident."

"If you want to choose better foods, keep better foods within reach. Don't just rely on willpower. If you want to be more active, create opportunities for exercise that are always within reach. Don't just rely on motivation," he said.

Emphasis mine.

No one is responsible for my home environment but me. Sure, I live with one of the finest and sweetest men on earth, but it's really me. I do most of the food shopping. I do all of the cooking. I know what's in the fridge, freezer, and pantry--hubby is blithely unaware of stuff like what's in the fridge. Amazing how men can do that.

So, today, my goal is to go through my living room and kitchen (where I spend most of my home-time when awake) and get rid of what's not beneficial and rearrange it so that I can see encouragement (low-cal cookbooks, exercise equipment) and can't see stuff I ought not (hubby's snacks, triggers). We only have one television (I know, we're so weird, right), but I spend more time on the 'puter (which is semi on the fritz, so I'll be getting a new one soon) than watching tv. I even watch tv shows, anime, and movies on the puter at times, so really, I need to sometimes just hit the off button and go exercise.

This is my habitat. I'm it's Empress. I need to get the empire in line.

And I need to stop bringing crap in here.

^^for some home gym funnies, visit this page.

Schizo Eating: KFC Tender Grilled is Nummy and VEGGIEMUNN Corn and Leek Chowder is amazing!

I had lunch for breakfast (went to bed at 7 am and slept until 11:30 am). I woke up with a KFC craving. So, I got dressed and went and bought the white meat tender grilled chicken. I had cole slaw, mashies, and three green bean sides with that. Yeah, 3 green bean sides. I have to admit, I like their grilled chicken better than the fried. I remember when they previously had--years ago--tender roast (which was the one my hubby used to get). That didn't last. Once they stopped carrying the roast chicken, hubby didn't want it, so we avoided KFC. For years, we didn't go to KFC but, maybe, once in a blue moon when I got the urge for some fried chicken and biscuits.

We still don't eat there often. Just got this weird craving. So, there ya go. I'll probably bloat.

To make up for a fast food breakfast, I had a raw lunch. An organic apple with organic peanut butter, an apple-raisin cookie, strawberries. The cookies are sort of a square-shaped, moist melange of sunflower seeds, dates, raisins, bananas, vanilla, agave, walnuts, cinnamon, and, natch, apples. I ordered them fresh-made, delivered Monday by VEGGIEMUNN, a raw food purveyor in South Florida. If you're gonna have cookies, these are wholesome--and whole. And really tasty. Sort of like an apple-banana bread, really, but flatter and chewier. :D

I gotta give kudos to VEGGIEMUNN for killer yummy raw corn and leek chowder. This is one of my fave soups they make (along with the pear watercress and the asparagus). The raw barley and mushroom is okay, and I got several this week for the barley fill-er-up and fiber properties and the earthy mushroom allure, but now I wish I had gotten a half dozen of the corn and leek. Amazing. Beautiful green color, lovely daikon sprouts on top, creamy, delicious. Here are the ingredients: sprouted sunflower seeds, corn, leek, avocado, agave, coriander, parsley, kelp.

I will be having the mushroom/barley raw soup and the raw plantain pie for dinner. (In case you're curious, the plantain pie's ingredients are ripe plantains, nut cheese & tomatoes, Macadamia Nuts, Cashews, Bragg'S, Lemon Juice, Italian seasoning, basil, garlic. The mushroom barley soup has sprouted barley, shiitake mushroom, white mellow miso, fresh herbs, cold pressed olive oil.)

As you can see, I'm not a totally consistent eater. Certainly, I"m not a raw foodie. But I like having regular vegetarian meals and I enjoy the occasional raw meal. I am a particular fan of some vegan raw soups and desserts. Miami is hot most of the time and cool fruity or veggie-ey soups are very delightful when one is prone to perspire when going outdoors.

Losing and Keeping Away Visceral Fat is Facilitated By Exercise

Let's not kid ourselves. Portion/calorie-contol is key and necessary, but for those of us with deadly visceral fat--especially if you're like me with an apple-ish physique, big belly and all and with Metabolic Syndrome--exercise is ESSENTIAL:

In the study, UAB exercise physiologist Gary Hunter, Ph.D., and his team randomly assigned 45 European-American and 52 African-American women to three groups: aerobic training, resistance training or no exercise. All of the participants were placed on an 800 calorie-a-day diet and lost an average 24 pounds. Researchers then measured total fat, abdominal subcutaneous fat and visceral fat for each participant.

Afterward, participants in the two exercise groups were asked to continue exercising 40 minutes twice a week for one year. After a year, the study's participants were divided into five groups: those who maintained aerobic exercise training, those who stopped aerobic training, those who maintained their resistance training, those who stopped resistance training and those who were never placed on an exercise regimen.

"What we found was that those who continued exercising, despite modest weight regains, regained zero percent visceral fat a year after they lost the weight," Hunter said. "But those who stopped exercising, and those who weren't put on any exercise regimen at all, averaged about a 33 percent increase in visceral fat.

"Because other studies have reported that much longer training durations of 60 minutes a day are necessary to prevent weight regain, it's not too surprising that weight regain was not totally prevented in this study," Hunter said. "It's encouraging, however, that this relatively small amount of exercise was sufficient to prevent visceral fat gain."

The study also found that exercise was equally effective for both races.

--from "Exercise Keeps Dangerous Visceral Fat Away A Year After Weight Loss, Finds UAB Study"

Why I Didn't Choose Gastric Bypass

A couple years ago, for an extended period of time, I researched WLS--banding and bypass. I was heading toward the big FIVE OH with morbid obesity still dragging my body down.

Reading about complications scared me, but the clincher was this: regain.

I didn't want to risk my life and health (some people die from WLS, some develop serious infections, some get chronic problems like anemia and bone depletion and seizures, etc), and then find that the weight comes back eventually. Some regain is the norm--look at Carnie Wilson and Randy Jackson. I've seen it in IRL, a friend of the family who, once his pouch stretched a bit, gained back weight, though, happily, thankfully, not all. Even one of the most interesting of the WLS bloggers, Melting Mama, with all she's already suffered healthwise post-surgically, is having regain issues.

I think keeping even half of a huge loss off is a victory. So, I'm not gonna say that I think WLS doesn't help. Plenty of folks keep 1/4 or 1/3 or 1/2 or more of the original loss off. If you lose 100 pounds and keep off 50, that's still progress in my book.

Let me repeat: Even keeping off part of a significant loss is a type of triumph.

Let me clarify: I am not dissing any person who chose/is choosing WLS. Hey, I know just what goes on in the mind of the desperate obese. That's me.

However--and this is coming from my little corner of the world, a totally subjective offering--I couldn't help thinking I'd be the one who gains nearly all back in five or 7 years. Forget that. I'm too scared of anesthesia, infection, and chronic malnutrition issues (not to mention super-saggy skin and loss of hair, ah, vanity still pricks the soul). I don't want to get chopped up inside if I'm gonna be back at 275 or 300 lbs down the road.

Still, it's tempting. Whenever I read good reports about issues resolved by WLS (diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, cholesterol, joint pain), it's still somewhat tempting. When I read that some people lose their huge appetities, I sigh with envy. I want to stop being hungry and stop bingeing.

But I keep seeing regain stories and say, "Um, let me try diet and exercise yet again."

If WLS patients end up, a year or more down the road, still having to resort to diet and exercise, then why not just work on that from the start, I tell myself? I mean, if the appetite returns for some, if the weight regains for many, if the overeating desires do not resolve, and they have to be worked on in traditional methods anyway, then isn't that kinda ending up at the beginning?

Of course, I say again: If the surgery helps folks keep a percentage off permanently, then it's still an option.

How long before longterm studies of the masses having WLS gives us a clearer picture of the lifelong trajectory?

I started this blog after I nixed WLS for myself a couple years back. I have an online friend who got banding and lost 100 lbs. She has kept most of it off, as far as I know. I don't ask, though I know she plateaued and got frustrated. Still, being closer to 200 than over 300 is great. Who wouldn't want that? (I just don't want to mess with my esophagus as I already have GERD and asthma which is exacerbated by acids). There's regain with banding, too,unless you plan to keep the band forever. I suspect as years go on, we'll find out people can't keep the band on forever, or erosion becomes a serious health issue. (I would worry about cancer, too, as repeated acid refluxing and erosion may cause those cells in the esophagus to go wonky.)

See, I worry too much about surgery. I even almost backed out of LASIK in 2007, making the doctor say, "Well, you'd be the 2nd person whose left while on the threshold." I almost did leave. And shoot, that wasn't even my insides.

I keep the option open, though, and hope that science refines things and maybe comes up with a chemical cure that is not worse than the condition. Yes, I dream for the pill that solves the appetite issue. I'd rather avoid the scalpel.

If you had WLS several years ago, how's it going? Regain? Success? No chronic issues? Disappointment? Regret? Strategies?

Considering it, like I did, and, like me, did you get scared, skeptical, worried?

Let me know.

Why Using An Online Food Journal May Help You Find Out The Truth About How Much You Eat

I've known more than a handful of ladies who swear they hardly eat and yet can't seem to lose/keep gaining weight. From my own observation of these gals, it's obvious they are in denial about how much they eat in terms of calories. They assume that having a regular salad for lunch is healthful and "lite", but don't consider that that quarter cup of dressing is loaded with calories and fat. Or they split the fatty entree with a friend/hubby, but don't consider that the entree was 1800 calories to start with, so if it's halved, it's now 900 calories (and this doesn't count sides, rolls, beverages, etc.)

Well, my observations are borne out by a study (flawed or not, it rings true to me), and the emphasis is mine:

In a 12-month weight maintenance study (other details of which are being discussed in this recent post), the subjects kept diet diaries, which were examined by the researchers at regular intervals. However, the researchers report that "it was apparent that, on average, women in both study groups had underestimated their food intake."

And not by a little bit. On average, the women reported having consumed 1370 calories per day. The researchers calculated that their actual calorie intake was 2044 calories per day. That discrepancy of 674 calories a day adds up to over 5 pounds a month!

The men, on the other hand, were spot on: They reported average intake of 1765 calories, the researchers estimated actual intake at 1771.

If you're having trouble losing weight, even though you think you're not eating that much, I suggest you visit on online food tracker--whether the one at Weight Watchers online, or eDiets online, or Fitday, or SparkPeople, and put in EVERY SINGLE THING THAT PASSES YOUR LIPS, solid or liquid or mint or gum, no matter how small. Look at how the calories come out at the end of each day. Do this for a week or more. (If you've ever been to a dietitian/nutritionist, you probably have done this, as this is part of making an appointment. They ask you to keep a food diary. An honest one.)

Be scrupulously honest. Weight and measure stuff if you are not experienced at eyeballing portions. One thing I learned decades ago is that 1/4 cup is a tiny amount, much less than you think. Measure 1/4 cup of shredded cheese and see how small it is. A cup of cereal is puny, but some cereals have a serving size of 3/4 or 1/2 cup (especially dense granolas).

Some Metabolic Mysteries are not mysterious. They're simply a matter of ignorance.