Archive for the ‘calories’ Category
And the experiment continues (no more calorie counting)
It seems like everyday I am trying something new with my diet.
This weekend (and in the coming week), I have made a deal with myself to try the previously unthinkable.
I am not counting calories.
I have put away the LoseIt and I am going on trust. In other words, I am going to trust my body to tell me what she wants to eat and in what quantities.
For those of you who don’t know me, this is as scary as hell.
I’ve been counting calories (and keeping a food diary) for three years now – religiously.
But I decided that it’s time to cut myself some slack and to try trusting myself around food for a change.
And this doesn’t mean that I am doing the mental calorie calculations in my head and just not writing them down, which is what I sort of what I thought would happen. I literally haven’t even thought about the calories. To tell you the truth, it’s more liberating than I thought it would be (and it sort of belies all of those times that I told myself [and Michael J] that I really loved counting calories)! Because, to be honest, meal time – and life in general – is so much more pleasant and relaxed without it.
The interesting thing is that it seems like I am actually eating less than I was when I was counting calories! I think part of this is because since I am trying to feel that satiation point (instead of eating a certain number of calories) I have really slowed down my eating. It’s amazing how much less you eat when you slow down enough to savor each bite.
The hardest part of this whole thing I am realizing is not the trusting, but the slowing down. Sometimes (most times) I am three or four bites into it before I realize that I am eating way too fast. When that happens, which it does at least twice a day, I have to literally put down the fork (or the spoon or the piece of flax bread) and remind myself to breathe.
I’ve been trying to remember to take three deep breaths before I put anything in my mouth and to continue to take deep breaths through my nose while I eat, but it hasn’t been perfect. Slowing down and breathing while you eat makes a huge difference. I enjoy my food more. I eat less. And I feel much more satiated.
I would like to say that I discovered these strategies on my own, but alas that would not be the case!
To give credit where credit’s due, I am currently reading The Slow Down Diet: Eating For Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss, by Marc David. It’s a great book. I highly recommend it, even if you don’t have any weight to lose. It seems so intuitive, yet potentially life changing.
In fact, it may be that this relatively short, easy to read book may hold the last of the answers I’ve been searching for.
As the title suggests, the key is really about slowing down enough to trust yourself – neither of which I have been able to master in my previous relationship with food. This program seeks to remedy that by encouraging you to get in touch with your “inner nutritionist” and to really be present, pay attention, and get in alignment with your needs and desires.
And although the focus is on food, if you squint a little, you can see quite easily how the principles therein could also apply to pretty much every aspect of your life.
Essentially, The Slow Down Diet is designed to be implemented over an eight week period. Each week focuses on one of the “eight universal metabolizers,” which David identifies as Relaxation, Quality, Awareness, Rhythm, Pleasure, Thought, Story, and the Sacred.
At some point, he states that our approach to food (or eating) mirrors our approach to life. In other words, the way we do food is the way we do life. Reading this book, especially the chapter on awareness, has made me see that not only do I not eat with awareness, I also don’t live my life with awareness to the degree that I would like. That is, I don’t bring my full concentration to bear on many things – not just the food that I used to shovel down unthinkingly, but also my relationships, my work, or my home.
As I work on implementing the principles of this diet in my relationship with food, I also hope to deploy them in other areas of my life. Wouldn’t it be nice to be more relaxed, to have more quality, to be more aware, and to experience more rhythm, pleasure, and thoughtfulness? Wouldn’t it be absolutely joyous to rely (or access) better stories and to be more profoundly in tune with the sacred?
Potential for weight loss aside, doesn’t it just seem like a better way to live?
I know that when something sounds too good to be true, it often is. But there is something so intuitive about this book; it makes so much sense to me at such a deep level that I could not not try it.
I’ll be sure to keep you posted as the experiment continues. I do, however, think it’s worth noting that I do trust myself enough to at least try it, which, for those of you who know my history, is truly saying something and really speaks to the identity-level changes that have occurred over the last three years.
If you’re someone who bolts your food down without tasting it, who eats in the car, or who lives off fast food only to find yourself back in front of the fridge (or back in the drive-thru) an hour later, then I recommend you read this book. Who knows, it might change your relationship with food.
And, if you let it, it might also change your relationship with yourself, if not your entire orientation towards life.
Learning to Listen
Filed under: calories, challenges, exercise, struggles, weight loss |
Leave a Comment Over the last few weeks I have been doing my best to learn to listen to and, subsequently, trust my body.
I’m doing this, in part, because I am beginning to appreciate that my longest term, most committed relationship to date is not the one I share with my 19 year old long haired white tortoise shell cat, but the one that I share with my body.
And unlike all of the men in my life, the relationship that I have with my physical self is literally, “Til death do us part.”
With a little help from some very talented weight loss coaches, I’ve come to understand that I need to love my body, because when I start loving her (notice I did not say it), she will start loving me back.
When I start trusting her, she will start trusting me.
And when that happens, we will begin to do what we want.
And what we want, ostensibly, is to feel great, have tons of energy, and live comfortably in our skin.
My journey towards self acceptance started about two years ago when I realized that there was some part of me that still linked weight loss to death. I named that part of me Kathy Jo and have since teamed up with her so that we can, in fact, reach our shared health goals.
Today, my body was hungry. Very hungry.
In fact, by 10:30 a.m., not only had I eaten breakfast, I had also had a couple of snacks and started lunch.
Was this a binge? No, not really. And I say that not because I didn’t eat 750 calories in the space of a few hours (which I did), but because I took several deep breaths between bites, drank quite a bit of water, and really thought about the question: Are you really hungry?
As it turned out, the answer was yes.
So, I ate: an Organic Raw bar, a handful of raw almonds, a serving of tomato and basil soup (also raw), and a zucchini sliced up like Ruffles Potato Chips.
Then, not surprisingly since I had just consumed all that energy, my body wanted to move.
Was this the mind, feeling guilty about all that food? Maybe. I hope not.
So my body and I packed up our work and went to the gym.
And instead of punching in a pre-selected workout, I did whatever my body felt like doing – at whatever length and at whatever level of intensity.
And the minute that she was done – the minute that it even whiffed of punishment – I stopped.
I didn’t push.
I wasn’t disappointed.
In fact, as it turned out, I actually had a better workout (body-wise, heart-rate-wise, and even calorie-wise) when I let her do it.
My weight loss coaches tell me that the body doesn’t like to be defined by a number on the scale and the body certainly doesn’t like counting calories.
While I have let her have her way on the former, I still cling stubbornly to the latter. I’d like to think that I am merely recording what I eat, without actually restricting what I eat, but – in practice – I know that’s not entirely true.
Sometimes I wonder what (and how much) I would eat if I stopped counting calories. Other times I wonder if it would be possible for me to sit down to a meal and not automatically know how many calories were adorning the plate.
My biggest fear is that I would overeat (whatever that means) and that I would do it often.
My coaches, however, would say that if I were truly listening, I would only do it once, because the body doesn’t like to be numbed out, overfull, or stuffed. That if I truly listened, I’d reach for the salad naturally instead of the tahini or the cacao or, better yet, the full-fat, full-sugar ice cream that I haven’t had in months, if not years.
Needless to say, I’m not entirely there yet.
But I am listening – or at least I am trying.
And, perhaps even more importantly, I forgive myself for my inability to trust.
I also keep reminding myself (particularly every time I fire up LoseIt) that the more I listen, the more likely it is that I will eventually hear.
A Simple Step
Or, rather, several.
Over the last month or so I started walking more.
I think it’s because the weather has been unseasonably nice where I live and it’s just nice to be outside when the sun is shining and it’s reasonably warm – especially in November.
I used to discount walking. It’s not hard enough. It’s not strenuous enough. It’s boring…. You name it, I had used it as an excuse not to do it. It wasn’t like I was one of those people who drive around 30 minutes in the gym parking lot to get a park near the door and then go sweat it out for an hour (or two) on a spinning bike, but it was close.
But walking, like any other exercise, burns calories. And, not like a lot of other exercises, it’s incredibly easy on your body!
I remember someone telling me once that joggers are simply walkers who don’t have a lot of time!
I’m beginning to see that.
I live on a dirt road with some steep and some rolling hills, interspersed with some rather scenic flats. In addition to just getting out in nature, on an hour and 15 minute walk, I can burn almost 500 calories. And sometimes my heart rate gets up as high as 147 beats per minute! Granted it doesn’t stay there, but it doesn’t really need to.
Heck, just walking over to the gym from my office (and back) I burned 120 calories! (Again, thank goodness for hills!) I was shocked – not to mention pleasantly surprised!
In fact, I was so pleased, that I’m going to start wearing my heart rate monitor when I park so that I will actually be motivated to park further away from my office. (Yes, I am a geek – it’s sad but true!)
And instead of complaining about “having to park in the North 40″ I may purposefully park in the last spot on the very last row at the bottom of the hill!
Seriously, walking adds up and it’s easy on the body. I dropped my car off at the shop this morning and walked to work – 139 calories. I have to walk back – probably closer to 100 (given the direction of the hills). But still, in addition to the gym workout, I will have burned an extra 350 calories shuttling myself to and fro!
Think about it.
And stop looking for the closest parking spot – even if you are looking in the gym parking lot!
Interesting take on fridge utilization
Ever notice that most people store fresh fruit and vegetables in a drawer at their feet, while they store ice cream is usually at eye level? Click here for Ezra Klein’s thoughtful take on food storage and making some calories harder to get than others!
Not low calorie, but guaranteed to stop your wheat cravings in their tracks!
Filed under: calories, food, gluten-free, product recommendations |
Leave a Comment Pamela’s Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
This is the only one we tried, but it was so good that I don’t have an compunction recommending the others as well!
Although the texture was a little dry, the chocolate was amazing!
There are 4.5 servings per box and I ended up with a serving and a half!* MJ, the aspiring-gluten-free cookie monster, decided they were just as tasty as the “real” thing. In fact, his exact words when I asked if I could have one of the cookies on his saucer were: “No. The consequences would be too dire.” He says that he meant that they would be too dire for him (and that really wasn’t a poorly veiled threat), but I’m not so sure 
If you’re gluten-free (or trying to get there) but you can’t imagine giving up cookies, etc., these could get you at least halfway there. But beware, at 170 calories and 9 grams of fat per serving, proceed with caution. But to tell you the truth, they’re so rich that one cookie (or half a serving) will just about about it!
Let me know what you think.
* One serving = 2 cookies
Ugh! It’s Time To Go Back to Bed and Start Over! (And it’s not even 3 p.m.)
I’m having one of those days.
Low grade binge since about 9:00 a.m. Luckily everything I have access to is healthy: rice cakes, homemade hummus, salad, and almonds. Unfortunately there’s just been way too much of it!
There’s a woman whose weight-loss program I’ve been following whose thing is, “Count Chemicals, Not Calories!” So far I haven’t been able to get with the not counting calories part, but today I’m at least hoping she’s right! I’ve had over 1,600 of the little bastards so far today and, as per the tag line, it’s not yet 3:00!
To tell you the truth, I’m just bored. I’m going to go exercise, try to reset my mood, and see if I can break even for the day. I figure an hour of cardio and some resistance training (coupled with a reasonable dinner) should just about get me there. But even if it doesn’t tomorrow is always another day!
I knew I was going to wish that I had started off the day with yoga! Lesson learned
Learning to listen (and to trust)
Filed under: calories, food, maintenance, strategies, weight loss |
Leave a Comment Some days I can live quite easily by the six small meals a day rule – you know the one, eat every two or three hours, something small, between 200-300 calories. In fact, that’s usually my preferred manner of eating.
But other days, it just doesn’t work for me.
Yesterday, in case you’re wondering, was one of the days that it just didn’t work out.
Let’s start at the beginning; why should we learn to listen to our bodies when it comes to food?
To put it simply, the body knows what it wants when it wants it. If you listen to your body (and not your emotions, the clock, your social calendar, or your friends) very rarely will you be led astray in terms of food. The trick is, distinguishing what your body wants from what your mind, your emotions, and the culture say you want.
When your body sends you a clear message – even if it doesn’t jive with the “expert” advice – listen to it. If not, you’ll be more likely to feel deprived, throw in the towel, and decide that the so-called experts don’t know much of anything. In fact, some of the experts know quite a bit, but they don’t necessarily know you. Not like you do. So if your body is telling you that it wants a certain amount of something or a particular something and you’ve done everything else right – drank some water, took a fifteen minute walk, took three deep breaths, ate some carrots or some other super low calorie food – then you should go ahead and have it. Because once it becomes a must in your mind, it’s too late. Have it, get it out of your system, let it go, and then move on.
As I said above: yesterday was one of those days.
Looking at my food diary for the last two (almost three years) it’s clear to see that my preferred intake of calories is between 1,500 and 1,800. When I’m trying to release weight – or if I’m just calibrating before or after a big dinner or a week with my parents – I tend to purposefully drop my calorie intake down to around 1,200. Some days it’s lower than that (closer to a 1,000) though sometimes it’s higher (closer to 1,400).
It’s rare that I have a day over 2,200; but it’s happened.
Yesterday I was starving. I’m not sure why. My calories the day before had been low, but not that low. Maybe it was the fact that I have moved back to my school schedule and have been getting up at 5:00 instead of 6:30 or 7:00. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent a lot of time out in the world lately, whereas I have spent most of the summer at home.
Regardless, I was ravenous. And even trying to do everything “right,” I still had polished off 1,100 calories before noon! (For those of you who aren’t good at math, let me help: that’s 73% of my preferred daily calorie intake – all before lunch.)
As it turned out, I actually had a pretty good food day despite the rough start. And when I went to bed at 10:30, I had actually only consumed 1.442 calories. You might be thinking, 342 calories isn’t all that much for twelve hours! And you might also be thinking about how the body goes into starvation mode when it hasn’t had anything to eat in over three or four hours. And you’d be right.
But in the spirit of listening to my body, I wasn’t hungry again until 4:30, when I had a medium braeburn apple and some carrots. Then, a few hours later, I had a bowl of lentil soup (massive protein and fiber hit) and a glass of petite syrah.
Then, after a couple of more hours during which I consumed a couple of cups of herbal tea, I went to bed and started over today.
Today, I have been back to what the experts recommend. It’s almost 4:00 and I’ve had four small meals.
I had my normal breakfast (255 calories), one of my normal snacks (240 calories), an apple (80 calories), one of my typical lunches (280 calories). And, notably, these have been spaced out every couple of hours or so.
The moral of this story: if you have a “bad” day, go ahead and have it. It’s just a day. Trust your body to know what it wants when it wants it. But also trust yourself to know that tomorrow is a new day and you – more than anyone else – know what you need to do get back on track.
Finally, a Real Age tip I can get behind!
For all of those people who have laughed at my monster salads and shakes!
New Fast Food Bombs to Avoid ala The Hungry Girl!
I swear, I don’t know why there aren’t laws preventing this kind of stuff!
Never eat standing up!
Remember that old wives’ tale, “It doesn’t count if you’re standing up”? Or was it just wishful thinking?
Regardless, according to Judith S. Beck, author of The Beck Diet: How to Think Like a Thin Person,” you should never put anything in your mouth while you’re standing up and that includes while you’re walking.
Why does it matter if I eat standing up versus sitting down?
Because people tend to eat more and more quickly when they’re standing or walking than they do when they’re sitting.
Although this seems like a fairly simple rule, you may be surprised how effective it can be.
For instance, abiding my this single rule practically eliminates the bad habit of tasting – otherwise known as snacking – while you cook!
It also has the potential to eliminate or at least drastically reduce the terrible habit that a lot of women (especially wives and mothers) have picked up of cleaning not only their own plates, but the plates of everyone else in the family as they clear the table after a meal!
Additionally, people who don’t abide by this rule are less likely to count (or even notice) the calories they eat standing up, at least not to the degree they are likely to do when they take the time to prepare a meal or snack and sit down to eat it! Dr. Beck also suggests, by the way, that you limit your eating to the dining room, which means eliminating eating at your desk, in front of the television, etc!
Never eating while standing up also cuts down on a lot of impulse snacking, including the elimination of store samples that on any Friday night in a reputable grocery store can add up to well over 500 calories before you even realize it between the goodies offered at the bakery, the deli, the produce isle, and the prepared foods section. And let’s not even get into how quickly the calories can rack when you stop for the four to six samples of beer and or wine!
Never eating while standing up also has the potential to cut out trips to the office candy jar! Because if you’re like me, if the candy doesn’t go immediately into my mouth, I can usually talk myself out of it before I get to my desk. Same thing with all of the office “goodies” that all of the would-be pastry chefs in my office bring in on most days that end in “Y”! However, if I do actually wait to eat something until I get to my desk, chances are that I’ve made a conscious decision to eat it and, thus, will record it in my food diary!
If you really want to cut down on all of the standing up calories that you consume without usually even realizing it, just stop and sit down. If you’re cooking, ladle whatever it is to a small measuring cup and go sit for a moment. Chances are the smaller amount will cool faster and you’ll get a better idea of what it really tastes like. And if you use a measuring spoon or cup to taste, you’ll be able to keep track of the calories! Unfortunately, as much as we’d like to think they don’t, the calories we eat standing up really matter! A calorie is a calorie, no matter what you’re position you’re in when you consume it!
Tip for the day: If you’re ravenous after a workout, don’t just grab a handful of grapes or chips straight out of the bag. Instead, take a deep breath, decide what you want, take a moment to count (or measure) whatever it is out, put in in or on a small serving dish, and sit down. Just by taking that extra thirty seconds you’ll increase your awareness of 1) what it is that you actually want (instead of just stuffing something in your face), 2) the calories you’re consuming and 3) the taste of whatever it is that you were hungry for to begin with.
If you really want to develop this habit quickly, set up a “tip” jar in your kitchen and/or office. Every time you find yourself (or, if you have a good support system, whenever someone else finds you) eating on your feet, throw a dollar in there. Eventually, usually about the time that you’ve developed the habit, you’ll have enough saved to take yourself (and probably someone else) to a nice sit-down dinner!
How shameful
I used to work in a Baskin Robbins!
Thanks to my sister who just forward me a list of the Unhealthiest Drinks in America (2009)!
I am pleased to say that I have never had any of these and, now, thanks to this, I never will.
I’m not sure why there isn’t a tax on stuff like this. We tax everything else that is “bad” for us! Oh yeah, because we actually subsidize the crap that goes into it. My bad.
Again, a picture’s worth a thousand words!
This morning on Good Morning America: What a Fatty Meal Does to Your Insides! Yuck.
Notice that’s one fatty meal, not five!
You couldn’t have paid me enough to take that assignment!
Thanks, Anne! I think….
Bring on the Fries!
I particularly liked the visual comparisons she used. Ouch!
Check this out: Summer Foods That Fool!
A two thousand calorie day
Happy Father’s Day! In my family, Father’s Day means that Daddy gets to pick. Luckily, my diet plan recommends that every once and a while, I break 2,000 calories, just to make sure my metabolism doesn’t stall. The last time it happened was June 6th. I think today may be another one of those days.
I overslept and instead of going for a walk (grumble), my mother and I took my father to IHop (a/k/a International House of Pancakes). Fortunately, they do have nutritional information available on line (and some on their menu). I preselected the buckwheat pancakes at 110 calories each. Of course, when we got there, all they were offering that were even close were the Harvest Nut and Grain pancakes, at 180 calories each. Unfortunately, they only came in stacks of four or in two, accompanied by two eggs and two pieces of sausage.
When I hesitated while ordering the waitress, in an unusual moment of insight, said, “You can get a half order if you want.”
Hallelujah! How she knew that I only wanted two (because if they were there I would have eaten them) is beyond me. But I left her a very generous tip! I had them hold the butter and to bring the maple syrup in a dish on the side. This way, I dipped the corner of each bit into the syrup, only using about a 16th of what they actually brought me. It was great.
We then went on the road — I packed a bag of baby carrots and a couple of apples, because I knew that I would be hungry after eating an all carb breakfast (despite that walnuts and oats in the pancakes). And for lunch, we landed at another one of my dad’s favorite hangouts: Rudy’s Bar-B-Que.
Between the three of us, we ordered a pound of lean brisket (which is not so lean unfortunately, weighing in at a whopping 1232 calories per pound) and a half pound of sliced turkey (which yielded a much more modest 226 calories). Thank god there were leftovers, but I definitely ate more than my fair share. We also had corn on the cob, three bean salad, and coleslaw (nutrients available on menu). Maybe it was being into such propinquity of a large number of pieces of pig themed art that did it. Anyway, it was very good. But not only was it a highly caloric expenditure, it was not even properly combined! All and all, an abysmal diet choice, but a great Father’s Day experience for my Dad (especially because the U.S. Open was on as background).
Before I came home, I had been very concerned about my parents’ reactions to my new physique (they have actually been quite complimentary [though my Dad liken me to a quail wing]). I was also worried about the food challenges, but so far so good. And while I’ve been careful during the entire trip, I have done my best to not be annoying. Today, however, I decided that I’d do what they wanted to do with no complaints. It’s his day, not mine. It’s only one day. And, on occasion, the social connection is worth the calories.
Dinner is supposed to be a light meal of wine and cheese; I think I’ll stick with hummus, tabouli, and my favorite lavash (that I had shipped to my parents’ beforehand)!
And as soon as the temperature dips below 90, I’m going for a long, brisk walk!
Days three and four with the folks!
Yesterday was another awesome exercise and food day; though my power walk has become less powerful as the humidity is climbing nearer the air temp!
I had my normal breakfast and lunch (spinach salad and tabouli) and then for dinner we went to a pizza place, where my dad had a $50 gift certificate. My mother and I half and halfed a medium pie (she had a Maui Magic and I had a Mediterranean, hold the mozzarella and light on the feta). According the alkaline diet, feta made from goat’s milk is a lot better for you than mozzarella or any cheese made from cow’s milk. I started with a dinner salad, had two pieces and took the other two home. With the olive oil and garlic glaze on thin crust pizza, it tasted more like a flat bread and felt reasonably virtuous. Yum.
Today was a little more challenging. It started off okay. I went for my walk, which was a little slower than it was the day before and I had my shake. Yea! But for lunch, I had a carnitas quesadilla (the whole thing, but light on the cheese) and guacamole. In my defense, I didn’t have a margarita, but it was a close thing. The scary thing is that the nutrition guide for this particular restaurant isn’t on-line and I’ve seen calorie counts for restaurant carnita quesadillas ranging from 500 to 1300! Since I had them hold the cheese and the sour cream, I’m hoping it’s closer to the former than the latter! However, I am not holding my breath, so I’ve tried to make adjustments elsewhere in my daily food plan.
For dinner, I had another big spinach salad and the last two pieces of my Mediterranean pizza.
A friend of mine was also having a garage sale today. I always liked her clothing style, but she was always a lot smaller than me. Given my new physique, however, I actually cleaned up big. I bought a lot of winter stuff — including a super cute little coat — that I am leaving with with mother to give me for Christmas! It was like my own personal consignment shop. I even got a couple of accessories! This is a win-win for me and my mother; I’m certain to get something I like and she won’t have to look for it! Additionally, I bought a very fitted pair of pants that I am also leaving here. That will motivate me to make sure I don’t gain any weight until Christmas!
You know, if it wasn’t for the scorching heat, summers in the south may not be so bad after all!
Best fast food nutrition guide EVER!
I tend to be pretty down on fast food chains — even those that are only semi-fast food — in terms of providing customers with good nutrition information.
The other day, however, I was heading to Boloco’s and I just happened to check on-line to see whether they had nutritional information available. Unlike other comparable restaurants that have a static pdf (which, granted, is 3,000 times better than those that have nothing) Boloco offers an interactive nutrition guide. The nutrient values change as you decide what kind of wrap you want, the size, whether its on whole wheat, spinach or white, or if you’d like chicken (dark or white meat), beef, or tofu! Whether you want broccoli, carrots, or even cilantro.
It’s great!
If you have a Boloco near you, I recommend you check it out before heading off to lunch! And if you don’t have a Boloco near you, you should check it out anyway, just because it’s so friggin’ cool! If nothing else, you’ll see how quickly calories multiply when moving something from a regular to a large!
Good job, Boloco! You guys are definitely on the lunch list!
Eating out
No matter where I go out for a “nice” dinner, I tend to end up eating about a 1,000 calories. You’re probably thinking, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of calories.’ But you’d be surprised.
When eating out, the question is never, are you really going to sit down and eat 1,000 calories at one setting, because — again — if you’re going out for a nice meal, the answer is always yes.
So a better question to ask yourself is, how are you going to spend those 1,000 calories?
Your three potential culprits can be broken down into three groups: food (real food, that is, such as appetizers and entrees), dessert (which one could not so wrongly class as poison) or alcohol (which, no doubt about it, is poison, at least as far as weight release is concerned).
Ironically, I’ll almost always go for the poison — either in terms of alcohol or dessert. Probably because I tend not to have these things at home.
Some people will go for the meal itself and leave off the alcohol or dessert. I wish I was more like them, but I obviously don’t wish it enough to change my behavior!
The key is figuring out which part of the meal is least important to you (or is least congruent with the occasion, place or the people) and let it go. In other words, splurge on the parts of the meal that matter to you most and cut back in the places where it doesn’t.
“But what if it’s all important?” you ask.
Then prioritize, but try to keep it within 1,000 calories.
Yesterday, for example, I went out for a long leisurely lunch with friends. I hadn’t seen them for a while. In fact, the woman was someone with whom I’ve been friends for 9 years, who recently got married. However, because we live in different states and I was unable to attend her wedding, this was the first time that I’d met her husband. In other words, it was a fairly big deal.
MJ and I were hosting, so we took them to a fabulous French Country Restaurant about an hour south of our house. They like wine, so I knew that there would be alcohol involved, probably more rather than less. And the restaurant itself is known for it’s chocolate, so I knew that dessert was all but inevitable.
We started with a bottle of Jelu Malbec, an Argentinan red, and french bread. Delicious. (280 calories, more or less)
Appetizer: Beet Salad with Chevre (150 calories, more or less)
So far so good — as I’d had a light breakfast and burned 475 calories on the NordicTrac, while my friend and her husband had gone for a run.
Just to be clear, everything on the menu looked/sounded amazing — you know you’re in trouble when they’ve managed to even make the calf liver sound good! Sidestepping the scallops, the roasted chicken, the skirt steak, the Irish stew, the homemade pork/veal sausage, the trout, and the salmon, I ordered the Chef’s Selection of Local Vegetables. I even lied when the waitress asked if I liked risotto and just told her to hit me with some extra veggies!
The plate, when it arrived, was gorgeous. In fact, in some ways, it was the most aesthetically beautiful plate on the table. Fresh peas, broccoli rabe, fingerling potatoes, lightly steamed bok choy, asparagus, and a wedge of deep fried tofu topped with a light citrus/ginger/honey sauce. Yum! (200 calories; again, I’m guessing, but it all tasted very clean and the tofu was quite small).
Dessert: A single chocolate madeline (70 calories), another glass of wine (120) and bites others’ desserts: 100 (for a total of 290 calories)
Then there were the chocolate samples in the shop next door: 100 calories, easy.
Grand total: 1020. And that’s with the vegetable plate, the salad appetizer, and the smallest, least fattening dessert available.
Granted, I could have skipped the second glass of wine and the chocolate samples, but it wouldn’t have fit the mood — of the occasion, of the day, of the place, nor certainly of the people. It was a great meal. It was a great day.
I’m not saying that you should never eat out. But I am saying that you shouldn’t feel compelled to go all out on every part of the meal just because it’s there. Make choices. And if you really want the quarter chicken, roasted and two cups of mashed potatoes — and you’re not running a half marathon the next day, as I wasn’t but my friend was — then maybe you should reconsider the wine.
K-Bell Total Body Blast – Review
As noted previously, I purchased the latest trendy exercise program, K-bells (with “Master Instructor” Michelle Khai) and actually liked it.
I had worked through the introductory package, which has a lot of good instructional material as well as one decent cardio workout and one 50 minute circuit training DVD.
Despite that I liked the idea of a k-bell exercise program, the flowing movements, the knowledge that I was working out micro-muscles, the workout itself, and the instructor, I realized that I just wasn’t doing this workout. Whenever I made a decision about what type of exercise I was going to do, I would go to the gym and hit the Step Mill (which my massage therapist lovingly calls “The Gauntlet”), the Tread Climber, Spinning, or if I stayed at home, I’d more often than not jump on the Nordic Track or do Yoga. So what was going on? If I liked the program, why wasn’t I doing it?
It boiled down to this — the premise of the workout is that you get your heart rate up and you do the bell work and this combination “blasts” the fat from your body!!! Sound good? Sure it does. But there’s only one problem: it was physically impossible for me to get my heart rate up into my fat burning zone doing this workout alone. Thus, I wasn’t burning any calories. It’s not Michelle’s fault, nor is it the fault of the k-bell program. In fact, I have the exact same problem with all of Jillian Michael’s home workout DVDs. I also have the same problem with Tony Horton’s Kenpo X (the kickboxing segment of P90X) and Cardio X. And, for that matter, Billy Blanks Tae-Bo the last time I did it. Essentially, it’s not them; it’s me. They may actually work in terms of toning and building muscle, but psychologically, I feel like I’m wasting my time.
And it’s not that I’m not trying, it’s just that after teaching spinning for 4 years, I have a super low resting heart rate: it’s about 42 first thing in the morning and around 56-60 after I’ve been up a while. It takes a lot of umph to get from 60 to 130 (which is the low end of my target training zone) in a 30 – 45 minute work out tape.
However, I really wanted to do the KB Total Body Blast and I really want to be able to incorporate it into my summer routine without feeling like I’m wasting time. It’s fun; she’s doing a lot of really interesting moves. I can feel the little micro-muscles doing their thing. I feel like my balance will improve if I keep it up. I like the momentum generated by the bell as I swing it across my body. And unlike a lot of newer cardio blast programs, there isn’t a lot of jumping. There is hopping, but that doesn’t bother my knee the way that other more plyo-centric programs do.
So, determined to get a good workout and do KB Total Body Blast, I got up this morning, put on U2′s, “No Line on the Horizon” and jumped on the Nordic Track. This album is a good choice for getting into and staying right in my target zone (between 130-145 beats per minutes) as it has a good mix of fast and slow songs. Also, there is a good mix of tight (or short) notes and loose (or long) notes, lending itself to intervals. It’s also relatively short, clocking in at only 54 minutes. That’s 15 warm-up, 30 minutes in the zone, and the last two songs are slow, which starts a pseudo-cooling off period.
Then, with my heart rate at 100 (instead of 58!) I immediately jumped into KB Total Body Blast — which is only 30 minutes — and it was perfect. I stayed in the zone almost the entire time. I was tired when I was done. I actually worked up a sweat! I only burned 204 calories doing it, but it was only 30 minutes (and when I’d done it without raising my heart rate first, I had only burned 157)!
However, add that to the cardio that I’d done on the Nordic Track (400!), I burned 604 calories. Not to shabby for a leisurely Sunday morning at home. Especially since 1 hour out of that 1 hour and 24 minutes was in my target training zone!
So, bottom line: if you are already fit and you find home workouts to be a waste of time, do something else first to get your heart rate up. I really think that KB Total Body Blast is going to be worth it. Besides that, it’s a lot of fun! This is also going to encourage me to shake the dust off of some of my other programs and give them another go!
A 1,200 calorie day in my world
Filed under: calories, food, maintenance, recipes, weight loss |
Leave a Comment Over the last few days, I have found myself being asked: Well, what do you eat?
My very simple weight loss pan (now maintenance plan), was to lose five pounds — eating 1,200 calories a day and exercising moderately. When I lost the five, I would gradually increase my calories to 1,500 – 2,000 a day, trying to ascertain the point at which I stated to gain weight. When I gained three pounds, I would drop down to 1,200 a day until I lost another five, and so on.
Whenever I tell people this, their first question is usually: Can it be 1,200 calories of anything? Mmm, probably not — especially if you want it to be sustainable.
So, just to provide an example, here is my typical 1,200 calorie day:
March 24, 2009 (taken from my food diary):
Breakfast:
Shake, 270 calories
Snack:
Apple, 80 calories
Lunch:
Pita Bread & Hummus, 130 calories
Salad, 65 calories
Tabouli, 100 calories
Snack:
Orange, 64 calories
1/2 cup soup, 39 calories
Dinner:
1 cup Brown Basmati Rice, 150 calories
Lentil Dal, 173 (recipe)
Dessert:
1/2 cup Soy Ice Cream, 130 calories
Total : 1201 calories
As you can see, I’m a healthy grazer. I eat about every two to three hours. Not bad work if you can get it!
