I stepped on the scale this morning...

145! One hundred and fourty five pounds! I've done it! (And about a week and a half early, to boot!)

Yayayayayayayay!

Now where do I collect my check? Haha.

I've hit a plateau! I'd much prefer to call it a mesa though - sounds more earthy, exotic, enjoyable. Anyway, I've been at 148 for the past few weeks despite my best efforts. My goal is 145, and it's coming up in about three weeks!

Any and all sugestions are highly appreciated. I haven't come this far to miss the mark at the very end!

I have to fess up: I changed my goal.

However, I feel that it is justified. When I signed up for this site months ago, I had the plan of losing 20 pounds slowly and "the healthy way" after years of yo-yo dieting. Alas, in the spring my college professors and my stress levels had other plans for me and I found myself doing other things besides marathon sessions at the gym followed by chomping on carrots. From 155lb in December I ballooned up to around 165 in April (or possibly more - I became terrified to look at the scales).

Since the semester ended in May, however, I've come down to around 148-150. I don't think it's rational for me to except to get myself down to 135 (the original goal) by September, so I've changed it to 145.

More generally, and in my opinion more importantly, my goal was to lose weight in a healthy, safe, enjoyable, liveable manner, and I truly think I've accomplished that. My dietary habits have truly been revolutionized in the past few months. I'm eating whole, nutritious foods and really don't feel like I'm "dieting" (I attribute this to eating lots of vegetarian protein and running; see previous posts). I have a much healthier outlook towards food now and I know that I will continue to eat conscienciously and healthily after I reach 145 in a few weeks. Eventually I would like to get back down to 130-135, but that's in the future and I am okay letting it come off slowly.

At some point, you really just have to throw the towel in on dieting and just start living. What I've learned, however, is that "living" doesn't necessarily mean weight gain. How liberating!

Hey ya'll. I've lost 15 pounds since May! Which means I have about 13 to go by September.

The best part is, I don't feel like I'm "dieting." I think the keys to what I've been doing are a) eating a lot of protein and b) having a big breakfast (400-600 calories). Before I always skimped on protein and breakfast; I'd have, say, a Special K bar (90 calories, probably 2g protein). I'm a vegetarian, and a pretty lazy one at that, so when I was getting protein, it was usually from carbs. Now I try to make sure each meal is at least 10g of protein and from different protein sources: greek yogurt, eggs, cheese, very little from processed carbs. I'm eating 1600-1800 calories a day but not really keeping track. Here's what things look like now:

Breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled with 2/3c. mexican/jarlsberg/muenster cheese and spinach or peppers, plus a slice of cinnamon toast with butter. This meal is about 550 calories and 25-30 grams of protein (half of daily requirement).

Other breakfast (when I'm in a hurry): Greek yogurt (I swear this is a dieter's best friend!! 120 calories and 16g protein) with granola and berries. Totals to about 350 calories, 20 grams of protein.

Lunch: big salad with avocado, seeds, almonds, mozarella cheese, non-creamy dressing (About 500 calories. I honestly haven't counted it all up.)

Snack: trail mix (170 calories, 6g protein)

Dinner: pasta/soup/healthyish pizza, etc. Usually something frozen from Trader Joe's, haha. Under 500 calories (usually about 400) and at least 10g protein. I have one salad and one more conventional meal a day, never two of both. And then for desert, I have a piece of fruit or a frozen fruit bar (60 calories! love it!). Often, I top the day off with a white chocolate Lindt truffle. Yumm....

I'm also going running every few days (it's been hard with the rain). Today I went 4 miles, but usually it's about 2-3 miles every other day.

So that's my "plan." It's been working out very well. I totally committed carbicide yesterday, but I broke up with my boyfriend on Friday night so I gave myself a pass, and recovered back to normal today.

Well that's all for me for now. I hope the rest of you are doing well! Can't wait to see that $100 back in my pocket in September...:)

I've lost over 10 lbs!

I've been losing weight and getting fitter! Weighing-in in a few weeks. Wohoo

Flaabers, two things!

First: I started doing the most flaabulous exercise a few weeks ago - rowing! After maybe ten workouts I already feel fitter already. It's the best workout I've ever gotten in my entire life. I cannot tell you how much I encourage you to start rowing. Rowing machines (called 'erg') are usually in most gyms, and are a wee bit difficult to learn in the beginning but  you will get the hang of it. It is well worth investing money in having a trainer at the gym show you how to use the erg at the gym for half an hour and coach you in how to properly do it (I had two of my friends who are on the university's crew team show me). TRY ROWING!

Second, if you are not getting enough protein, you absolutely MUST! I'm a vegetarian and admit that for years I have let the protein thing slide, as I'm not a big fan of soy milk/eating heinous amounts of cheese, etc. However, since I've started working out, I thought I should make sure I get all of my protein so I can actually build muscles. I've worked out before, but not nearly as intense as now - every other day I run for 10-15 minutes on the treadmill, row (I started at 2500m, now am at 3500m, keep adding every workout), run for ten minutes, and stretch; before I'd just run for 20-30 minutes. Anyway, I've become very consciencious of my protein, and make it my daily goal to get ALL of the DV of protein - 50g. Sounds intimidating, trust me I know. However, it is actually pretty easy: Odwalla makes protein smooties that taste pretty good (especially for a protein drink) that have 18g protein each, then I make sure to eat a Luna bar (10g) at some point during the day, then make sure to eat cheese/veggie burger/tempeh at meals and I'm all set for protein. The 350 or so calories in the Odwalla juice may shock you, but a) it's all healthy - it has B6, B12 in it, which make you super happy, and b) I have it for breakfast and make it into a meal. Also, despite the fact that I'm eating 1500-1700 calories a day, since I've started eating at least 50g of protein every day I haven't been getting that empty 'diet' hungry - in fact, I don't feel as if I'm on a diet at all!

So in short, eat at least 50g of protein and start rowing!

Hello dear Flaabers!

I do apologize for going absentee for a bit! Life got crazy through the holidays, from baking my tail off with my mother to attempting to see all of my friends from home in a short span. Then college started up again and I've been busy like a bumble bee!

While I was home, I met with my physician for my yearly physical and told her about Flaab. My doctor thought that Flaab was a brilliant idea!

Despite the madness, I've been doing well. Except for the day or two, the weather here in DC has been much more agreeable than Boston and I've managed to go jogging a couple of times. Woohoo!

Speaking of DC, as you know our new president will be inaugurated on Tuesday - just a few blocks away from me, actually. Yes, the millions of tourists coming to Washington to see the new president will be camping out right outside my door...how lovely! There is, however, an infectious mood sweeping the city off its feet, a sort of Hope Plague, if you will. I would like to channel all the calls for 'hope' and 'change' that will be floating around the District on Tuesday to you, dear Flaabers, with a slight alteration: do not just 'hope' that you can 'change' your weight and eating habits! Just go change them!

Hope!, Change!, Rainbows!, and Unicorns!,

Michele

Sorry if this already got posted, but I couldn't resist!

http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/judgments/2008/12/21/rolls-dough

"Lowenstein and his colleagues randomly assigned participants to one of three weight plans, with the goal of dropping 16 pounds in 16 weeks. While the control group received no explicit financial incentive for making their goal, other groups did. One incentive involved participants depositing their own money in an account. If they hit their weight targets, they got the money back with matched funds. If they didn't, they lost the deposit.

After 16 weeks, only 10 percent of people in the control group managed to drop 16 pounds or more, with average weight loss of just four pounds. But the people with money at stake fared far better, with about half reaching the target and average weight loss of 13 to 14 pounds. The study suggests the chances of slimming down improve a lot when you're faced with the stark choice of losing weight or losing money."

Spending the afternoon strutting around DC in heels whilst shopping for Christmas gifts counts as exercise, right?

Good, that's what I thought.

Alright, it's rant time.

Auntie Eeee and fellow flaabers, I know it's strictly verboten but somehow I ended up on websites talking about new trendy diets. The latest ones seem to be 'The Flat Belly Diet' and drinking copious amounts of acai juice. It was all so seductive I couldn't resist. Before I knew it I was prowling around the Prevention website like a lion on the prowl taking quiz after quiz on how well I know how to Beat Belly Bloaters! and other nonsense. But I finally pulled myself away.

First off let me discredit this acai craze. Acai juice actually has less antioxidants than grape juice. You heard me. Also less than pomegranate, blueberry and everyone's favorite, red wine! Juices are far from the best source of nutrients; the actual whole fruit provides the most benefits. Which leads me to my second point, about the Flat Belly Diet..

The Flat Belly Diet seems to be the sexy new thing, at least to daytime talk show hosts. The basic premise is that you eat a certain kind of fat - monounsaturated fats, or MuFas (that's pronounced moo-fahs, loves, rhymes with loofah) as the diet's founders call it - at every meal. The foods they ecourage are sunflower seeds, almonds, nuts in general, olives, olive oil, avocados, and dark chocolate; dieters are supposed to incorporate a bit of them into four 400 calorie meals that are four hours apart.

You may be thinking, "Wow! Where do I sign up?" or "What's with all of the fours?" but what I was left thinking was why is this news?

I feel like every week some new study comes out touting the benefits of say, tomatoes, or nuts, or olive oil, or peppers, etc. Yet, there are hardly, if any at all, studies saying how great, say, flour is for us. There's reason there's a constant stream of information being pelted at us by scientists about how foods of the earth are magnificent for our bodies.

We, humans, are of the earth. Doesn't it make sense that we should eat foods that are also of the same origin? Our bodies were created by nature; so should our food.

When I put it in this light, it almost sounds illogical to me - more bizzare perhaps, actually - that as a society, and species in general, we have deluded ourselves into thinking that man-made food is somehow better than that which comes from nature.

For a long time I've believed that the way to optimal health was through eating natural, un/minimally processed foods. However...I have never followed this (strike two on the illogical-o-meter). Therefore, I'm going to embark on a little experiment: I'm going to eat the wholest foods I can, for a whole month. Just to see how it goes.

What does this mean?

Lots, lots, lots of fruits and vegetables, hearty whole grains (brown rice, whole grain bread), nuts, seeds, natural oils. You know, natural foods. Cut out the processed garbage - even the stuff that seems good, like say dairy. No deluding myself that granola bars - with their sugar, preservatives and binding agents - are healthy (I'm looking at you, Kashi TLC!).

The holidays are approaching, however, and I know this means: a) the Christmas party I'm throwing for my friends before I go home from college (cookies! champagne! christmas-tree shaped pasta!), b) making apple fritters with Mom when I get home from college, c) the annual Italian feast on Christmas Eve, d) the copious amounts of pasta and ravioli on Christmas day. So I'm going to allow myself eensy beensy little portions of those things on the four days I mentioned - but otherwise, it's back on the Health Express for me.

I realize all this about "natural" foods may not be news to many of you, and many of you probably already eat this way, but I really feel like someone just had to say it, just slap the diet industry in the face once and for all.

And I leave you with a quote that I find especially relevant: "Man cannot live on bread alone." Do not neglect your spiritual and mental health - and, for heaven's sake - don't live on processed food!