The Diet Naked Blog

Sick! And already sick of it!

Last night, I couldn't sleep.  I tossed and turned.  I realized I was too cold, but couldn't seem to get up to grab an extra blanket--though it sat on the exercise bike next to my bed.  I was paralyzed with fatigue.  Then, I realized with dismay that what I attributed to allergies all day--a runny nose, sneezing--was actually the first sign of a cold.

Drat. 

So, I have my first cold of the academic year, on the very first day of school!  Despite my head-ache, my stuffy nose, my chapped lips, we hustled through the school-work today.  (I school my 13-year old twin boys at home, while my 8-year old goes to public school.  My almost-4-year old daughter does not go to preschool, but stays home to drive me berserk with her constant neediness.)

Anyway, you know the best cure for a cold?  That's right.  Ice cream.  Time.  In a week, I'll be fine and dandy.  (I'm also taking Airborne, but I am not a True Believer in vitamins, so it probably won't affect me.) 

I used to treat colds with Ben & Jerry's ice cream (Marsha Marsha Marshmallow was my latest favorite flavor since Wavy Gravy got discontinued).  Tonight, though, I stuck with fat-free, sugar-free pudding and what do you know?  That worked just as well, plus, I don't feel guilty and stuffed and burpy.

Also, because I'm in the midst of an exercise streak, I rode my exercise bike despite my throbbing head.  I adjusted my time to only thirty minutes, though.  I might be streaking, but I'm not a glutton for punishment.

Tonight, I just hope I can sleep because I am utterly exhausted.  Now, go wash your hands!  You do not want to catch this!

Official Thursday Weigh-In

Forty-pounds!  That's how much I've lost, officially, as of today.  The scale says 186.2, a loss of 1.2 pounds since last week and a total loss of 40.2 pounds since April 17! 

How are you doing?  Now's your chance to update your stats and let me know how you're doing. 

(I'd have more to say, but today is the first day of school-at-home with my 13-year old twins and pre-algebra is calling.)

How Streaking Works for Me

I'm on my 17th day of streaking--exercise streaking that is.  For seventeen days in a row, I've climbed onto my recumbent bike and pedaled for forty-five minutes.  Most days, I haven't felt like sweating and on occasion, I've said, "I don't want to do this!"  But I do it anyway.

Why?  It's simple.  I want to maintain my streak.  If I weren't streaking, here's what I would have said to myself tonight:

"Self, just take the night off.  You spent all day cleaning the storage room.  Your feet hurt.  Just do the ironing and then lay down and watch Entertainment tonight.  You don't want to get all sweaty before you go to the grocery store.  You can exercise tomorrow, after all.  Anyone would understand that you just don't have time tonight!"

All of that is true.  I did spend all day cleaning out the horror that is my storage room.  (My driveway has piles of stuff destined for Goodwill now.)  I did spend half an hour ironing.  (Otherwise, my husband will take his pants and shirts to the cleaners and I'm trying my best to be frugal--pants cost $4 and shirts $1 at the cleaners--so, in essence, I "made" $25.00 tonight ironing four pairs of pants and five shirts.)

When my husband and son returned from Judo tonight, I put my daughter to bed and then went to the grocery store.  I didn't return home until 10:30 p.m. . . . and then had to face the dirty kitchen and put away the groceries.  Then, because tomorrow is my third grader's first day of school, I had to pack his backpack with supplies.  I finally finished everything at 11:20 p.m.

And when did I exercise?  At 7:30 p.m., after ironing, while waiting for my husband to return home.  Sure, I was sweaty and my hair was a little wild afterwards, but when I stopped sweating, I changed back into jeans and went to the store. 

You can exercise every day.  You don't even have to want to.  You just have to do it.  Just do it.  If I can, you can, too.

Pop-Tarts: Evil Treats

When I was a younger mother with younger children (about three years ago), through an act of monumental, award-winning effort, I took my four year old and baby to MOPS (Mother of Preschoolers).  I was pleased to be (showered!) and sitting in a room with other mothers, holding my baby.  My son, the four year old, was in the childcare area.  I deserved congratulations and quite possibly, a tiara.  And a sash.

However, the woman speaker dashed my pleasure when, in the midst of her exhortation, admonished us:  "Mothers, don't give your children Pop-Tarts!"  She went on to describe a healthy, peaceful breakfast, the type we should offer our dear little children.  She was trying to encourage us, but her scolding ripped my imaginary tiara off my head.  I felt like the World's Worst Mother.

How did she know?  I wondered if perhaps she could see the Pop-Tart crumbs on my hands or if maybe I had some kind of radioactive glowing aura hovering above my head in the shape of a Pop-Tart because I had just committed the unpardonable sin.  I had given my son a Pop-Tart to eat in the car on the way to MOPS.  (A rare Pop-Tart!  I hardly ever bought them, but they were on sale . . . )  I felt like a failure as a mother, according to that other mother's scale.

Here's the thing about Pop-Tarts.  They are cheap.  They go on sale all the time.  Kids love them.  If you lightly toast a brown sugar flavored Pop-Tart, I will salivate.  What's not to love?

Well.  According to the box from my cupboard my research, one Pop-Tart has 200 calories.  Five grams of fat.  Nineteen (19!) grams of sugar.  And who eats just one?  That adorable little silver package holds two!  TWO!  That means you could ingest 400 calories in approximately ten minutes.

I don't eat Pop-Tarts anymore.  They are just not worth the calories.

However, I do on the rare occasion buy them as a special treat for my kids.  Perhaps some of you judge my actions and think I ought to give them all-tofu-and-whole-wheat-bread-all-the-time and giant servings of broccoli and zucchini, but I don't. 

However, since I started eating healthier, my children have also started eating healthier without even realizing that I haven't bought a bag of M&Ms since Easter.  For all we know, Pop-Tarts will disappear forever from our landscape, but in the meantime, they're hidden high in the cupboard.  Because they were on sale (less than a buck a package).  And kids should get a splurge now and then.

Be sure that I would not buy them if they beckoned me to in an undeniable voice.  But they don't call my name.  I'm safe living in the same house with Pop-Tarts. 

The moral of this rambling tale?  Don't buy stuff you can't resist.  Don't allow it in the house.  A friend of mine once told me she insisted her husband hide the Easter candy in the trunk of the car so she couldn't get at it too easily.  Do whatever you have to do to keep Pop-Tarts from jumping down your throat.  Or whatever food sabotages your diet.

(Thanks to the commenter who inspired this post.  You know who you are.)

I Link: Therefore, I Love

What an inspirational kick in the pants from DoctorMama.  Check out her post about running (and be sure to click the link to her original post on the topic).  (Thanks to elswhere for the heads-up.  Now I have yet another blog to add to my already long list to read!)

And if that's not enough, go check out Carmen's blog (Mom to the Screaming Masses) where she talks about how she lost forty pounds since Christmas.  She created her own diet plan she called "ELF."  Go read all about it!

Who Am I? If You See Me, Let Me Know.

I have no idea, really, what I look like.  When I'm around other people, I compare my body to theirs.  I think, am I that fat?  does my butt look like that?  do I have fat rolls there?  is she fatter than me? I just don't know.  I used to know that I was the fattest person in the room--it wasn't hard to tell, really, but now?  Now, I just don't know.

And it's not that it matters, really, who is fatter or thinner than me.  It's just that I don't have a clear picture of what I look like right now.  I know that I am wearing smaller clothes.  I know that I have lost 39 pounds.  But in my head?  I'm still fat and so when people in public (like the young man who took my ticket at the movie theater yesterday) are friendly and kind to me, I'm surprised.

When I was fatter, I was invisible and young men didn't smile big grins at me.  They just took my ticket in silence and didn't make eye contact, lest my fat was contagious. 

When I was fatter, carloads of young men didn't hoot and holler when they drove by.  (They did that yesterday, a carload of guys actually yelled at me as I climbed in my van.  That was so weird.) 

When I was fatter, young women at the salon didn't compliment me on my handbag.  (Two thin women did that a month ago.  Normally, those kind of girls wouldn't give me the time of day!)

So, when I'm at the mall later today, I'll try not to do it, but I know I will.  I'll be looking at butts and thighs and back fat and wondering if I look like that or that or that. 

And, if I get the chance, I will smile big and look into the eyes of women I see who are fatter than me, knowing that they could be me--they were me, not long ago. 

Now, if I could only figure out who I am now, I'll be all set.  (My husband says I'm "skinny," but I think he's biased.)

Pick A Proper Portion

Losing weight is simple.  Calories in.  Calories out.  The trick is to eat fewer calories than your body needs to sustain itself.  Simple, right?

Well, not in today's world where food servings have exploded, causing a remarkable, yet inevitable explosion in the size of our bellies (if you're an "apple") or behinds (if you're a "pear") (or both, if you're just unlucky.) 

Here is an interactive site where you can explore "Portion Distortion."   Be sure to click on both slide sets, and then click on the "Keep an Eye on Portion Size" section.  There's even a handy "Serving Size Card" you can download and keep in your kitchen (or purse) as a reminder not to eat a bagel the size of your head.

If your weight loss is stalling, perhaps you need to check your portion sizes.  Because losing weight really is simple.  You have to eat less and move more.  (If only simple equaled easy!)

Official Thursday Weigh-In

Finally!  The scale this morning said I weigh 187.4 pounds, a loss of 2.2 pounds since last week.  I have lost a total of 39 pounds so far, which feels amazing.  My Body Mass Index (BMI) is now 29.3, according to this calculator, which puts me in the "Overweight" category instead of the "Obese" category.  (I'll be in the "Normal" category when I get to 159--I'm 5'7" tall.)  When I began, I had an overwhelming and depressing 76 pounds to lose.  Now, I'm now halfway to my goal.

On Sunday of this week, I stepped on the scale which said I weighed 187.6.  It's amazing how a number can affect your mood!  All day, I was so happy because finally, the scale reflected the work I've been doing.  And yet, the next day?  190.  The next day?  190.  The next day?  189.  (I keep getting on the scale with some desperation . . . I'm not so sure that weighing every day is a bad thing and I can't remember now why some people say it's best to only weigh once a week.)

Yesterday, knowing that I'd be weighing in today, I avoided salty foods, especially my beloved 94% fat-free popcorn.  I think I must be sensitive to salt, more sensitive than I had realized before.  Despite the tremendous amount of water that I guzzle, I think my body holds onto water as if we were floating on a raft in the Pacific with no hope of rescue.

At any rate, 187.4!  Thirty-nine pounds down!  I've completed 10 days of exercise in a row, but the trainer at the YMCA postponed my appointment until next Tuesday, the 29th.  (As it turns out, I have two other simultaneous obligations on the 29th, so I'm going to call and request someone else--that particular woman only works nights on Tuesdays.)  So, my weight-lifting, muscle-building is on hold. 

Meanwhile, I sweat while I ride my exercise bike.  Sometimes, sure, it's a pain to have to exercise in the slot of time between putting my daughter to bed and going to the grocery store (the other night, I returned home with bags of groceries at 10:30 p.m.), but the truth is, it's possible to fit exercise into almost any life.  You just have to want the results more than you want to not do it.

And I do.  I want to be "Normal."  I want to wear smaller pants.  I want results.

How are you doing?  Weigh-in today with your thoughts and your weight!

About That Ninety-Five Percent Failure Rate

Every time I sit at the computer to write, either a child needs a snack (stat!)--in fact, this very second, my daughter just asked me for "fishy crackers"--or the phone rings or I remember something urgent I must do (like cancel the auto insurance policy on the van we haven't owned since July 4). 

Or a kid comes in to say, "Hey, Mom, I wish we could remove the white things on the ceiling," (we have popcorn-textured ceilings which apparently are problematic now that we have bunk beds).  Or someone says, "Hey, Mom, he took my turn."  You know.  Important stuff.

This morning, I spent quite a bit of time doing a Google search in an attempt to track down the origin of that oft-heard statistic:  "Ninety-five percent of diets fail" and "Ninety-five percent of all dieters regain their weight," and "Ninety to ninety-five percent of people who diet to lose weight gain most of the weight back within three to five years."  Where, oh, where did this bit of information originate?   Is it true?

As it turns out, a couple of researchers back in the 1950s studied one hundred obese dieters in treatment and came up with this conclusion:  ''Most obese persons will not stay in treatment, most will not lose weight, and of those who do lose weight, most will regain it.''  They decided this because of their one hundred dieters, only two of them kept off their weight.  Thus, a statistic was born.

Jane Fritsch of the New York Times wrote an article addressing this very issue ("Is that dismal statistic true?  From whence did it come?") which was published on May 25, 1999.  You can read it here. 

If you don't read the whole article, you should at least know this: 

''That 95 percent figure has become clinical lore,'' said Dr. Thomas Wadden, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. There is no basis for it, he said, ''but it's part of the mythology of obesity.''

That's right, folks!  It's just not true that "95% of diets fail."  It's not true that 95% of dieters will regain all their weight within three years.  It's not true that dieting is pointless.  The people at the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, Inc. will try to convince you of this:

Just being fat does not signify poor health. In fact, research shows that the health risks once associated with weight may instead by attributable to yo-yo dieting. Because fatness is most often caused by heredity and dieting history, and because 95-98% of all diets fail over three years, it is becoming apparent that remaining at a high, but stable weight and concentrating on personal fitness rather than thinness may be the healthiest way to deal with the propensity to be fat."

That statistic ("95% of diets fail over three years") is everywhere and yet, it's not accurate.  I found an article from American Journal of Clinical Nutrition this morning that cited research showing a specific breakdown.  For instance, the article reported that individuals maintained 67% of their initial weight loss at one year, 44% at 2 years, 32% at 3 years, 28% at 4 years, and 21% at 5 years.  (It was all full of mumbo-jumbo, but I did find a lot of interesting information at that particular site, if you are interested in academic research and can wade through a bunch of incomprehensible acronyms.)

I did figure out, though, that this study concludes: 

In conclusion, this meta-analysis of 29 reports of long-term weight-loss maintenance indicated that weight-loss maintenance 4 or 5 years after a structured weight-loss program averages 3.0 kg [6.6 pounds] or 23% of initial weight loss, representing a sustained reduction in body weight of 3.2%. 

Do you see "ninety-five percent of diets fail" mentioned at all?  No.  Sure, the people who lost weight through a structured weight-loss program did (on the average, but not ninety-five percent of them) gain some of their weight, but (on average) they maintained twenty-three percent of their initial weight loss.  Some maintained more, some maintained less, but overall, on average, they maintained twenty-three percent of the loss.

Furthermore, the studies on weight-loss maintainance have been done using people who were using a structured weight-loss program.  The rest of us, the ones who are merely eating less, eating smarter and moving more?  Maybe we're just too complicated to study and track in the long-term. 

Now, the people over at the National Weight Loss Registry list some research findings of their own, including this "descriptive study of individuals successful at long-term maintenance of substantial weight loss" which mentions, "Surprisingly, 42% of the sample reported that maintaining their weight loss was less difficult than losing weight." 

I would include a link here about how important exercise is in maintaining a weight loss, but the children are running amok (my four plus three extras) and my eardrums have just ruptured.  But suffice it to say, that if you intend to maintain your weight loss, you must embrace exercise as a necessary part of your life, like, say, oxygen.

Personally?  I have completed my first week of exercise streaking.  And if these kids don't settle down, I just might take up running . . . away from home.

On Diets and Ice Cream Cones

I am concerned about the oft-heard statistic that 95% of dieters who lose weight gain it back.  I do not want to be one of the weight-loss failures, so I intend to figure out what the successful dieters do I can do it, too.  I also plan to write more about the subject (and soon!).

Meanwhile, I found a really excellent article about weight-loss plans.  In part, it says:

If you do lose weight, can you keep it off? The bad news is, according to well-publicized studies, 95% of all dieters who lose weight will gain it back in five years or less. But Consumer Reports’ survey turned up some more encouraging statistics. Close to 25% of respondents to the magazine’s survey said they had lost at least 10% of their total body weight and kept it off for a year. For a 200-pound person, that’s at least a 20-pound weight loss, a significant health benefit. What’s more, over 80% of the successful dieters told Consumer Reports they did it on their own, creating their own exercise and meal plans.

I find the last sentence, especially, very encouraging.  If you don't have time now to read the article, be sure to come back later.  It's worth your time, really!

Have a great (and healthy) weekend.  By the way, did you know that an ice cream cone at McDonald's is a much better choice than a small milkshake?   (The ice cream cone has about 150 calories while the small shake has over 400.)