The Diet Naked Blog

Just Say No

   Those pumpkin muffins I baked were really good--the bran ones.  I made 24 mini-muffins.  I ate a few and now will freeze the rest so I am not tempted to nibble until they're all gone.

I hope you had a happy halloween, complete with healthy choices and self-restraint!  Boo!

To Distract You From Halloween Candy

This O'Connor Casting agency has posted the following information three times as comments.  I deleted the comments, but post it here just in case anyone wants a three month's supply of Yoplait products and lives in the Chicago area.  Plus, I hope this will distract you from the Snickers in your kids' candy buckets.  Fun-size candy bars are not the boss of you!  

Casting YOPLAIT YOGURT’S Weight Management Project

" My goal this new year is to get back into shape & eat right!" "My goal this new year is to shed a few pounds" Sound familiar? Yoplait is looking for participants who are interested in leading a healthier lifestyle to participate in an online program to help you achieve this goal and maintain it. Share your success & challenges along the way with other women via online video and your personal online journals. Check out www.sogoodgirls.com to see last year's program.
O’Connor Casting Company (for Yoplait Yogurt) is looking for ‘real’ women!

SEEKING: Women in their mid-20’s to early 60's who live in the Chicago area (urban or suburban), to participate in a 12-week wellness program that runs from January through March 2007 with some pre-program work in December 2006. You will be given fitness and nutrition tips from a recognized resource, providing you with knowledge and guidance throughout the process. You will be able to carry on with your normal daily life, but must be available for filming one weekend day per month for the duration of the 12-week program. You will also share your daily experiences and challenges via online journals/blogs (for approx. 2 hours per week). You may also be featured in other promotions over the course of the program. This program promotes a healthy lifestyle change, not a quick diet.

PROJECT TO TAKE PLACE IN THE CHICAGOLAND AREA.
SORRY ACTORS OR ASPIRING ACTORS/MODELS – THIS IS A CHANCE FOR REAL WOMEN TO BE THE STARS!

YOU MUST:
• Have access to a broadband connected computer to participate in the program on weekly basis
• Be available to be filmed for approx. 4-6hrs. one weekend day per month over 3 months.
• Be willing to share your experiences as you go on this 12-week wellness program.
• Be comfortable writing to a public, online audience about the program
• Be willing to invite discussion, comments and tips from an online audience and respond to them in due in a timely manner
• Be a legal resident of the US.
• Sign and affidavit of eligibility and publicity release.

If you fit this description or know someone who does, please contact us ASAP to schedule an appointment.

INTERVIEWS: Tues. 10/31 – Tues. 11/07
Looking for ‘real’ women, mid 20’s – early 60’s, who desire to lead healthier lifestyles.

Contact: O’Connor Casting Company at 312-226-9112 or email yoplait@oconnorcasting.tv Just say “Yoplait Weight Management” Project.

Interview Dates/Loc.: Tues 10/31, Wed 11/1, Thu 11/2, Mon 11/6, Wed 11/8
O’Connor Casting
1017 W. Washington, Ste. 2a, Chicago, 60607
312-226-9112
Project Dates: January 2007 thru end of March 2007
Compensation: A supply of Yoplait yogurt products over the course of the program as well as prohealth/wellness products, total value of which shall be approximately $1,000.00.

Pumpkin Muffins

Here is a simple Weight Watchers' recipe for Pumpkin Muffins.  They only have two points per muffin.  However, I avoid refined foods like that, so I found another Pumpkin Muffin recipe that is more friendly to my low-glycemic diet.  (I located this in the South Beach Diet Support Forum.)

Pumpkin Bran Muffins

1 1/2 cups wheat bran (I'll probably use oat bran because that's what I have on hand)

1 cup nonfat milk

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 egg

1/2 cup Splenda

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon each cinnamon and cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup canned pumpkin

Optional:  1/4 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix together, in large bowl, wheat bran and milk and let stand for 10 minutes.  Mix together applesauce, pumpkin, egg, Splenda and vanilla.  Add to bran mixture.  Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves.  Stir into bran mixture until just blended.  Scoop into muffin tins.  Baked in preheated over 15-25 minutes.

I'm going to make these today and I'll let you know how they turn out.

Happy Halloween!  (Are you prepared to resist candy?  You can do it!)

Craving Carbs?

While poking around the internet today in search of a healthy pumpkin muffin recipe, I came across this article, "Curb Your Carbohydrate Cravings."  Among other things, it addresses the question:

"Why does eating one cookie set off an incredible urge to finish the entire bag? You're feeling very stressed out — the candy bar in the vending machine is calling your name."

If  you need a little boost or wonder why you can't stop listening to the call of the vending machine, check out that article.  It's a good one!

How I Did It

The photo shoot is over and, no, I'm not writing a book.  (Yet.)  So, that's not the reason I willingly allowed myself to be photographed.  Actually, I'm torn between telling you it's a really big deal and warning you that it's not a big deal at all.  Let's just say it's surreal . . . and I'll tell you more about it in a few weeks.  (You can read about the actual photo shoot on my other blog, Actual Unretouched Photo.)   

*  *  * 

Both last night, at our church party, and today, at church itself, lots of people commented on my weight loss.  "Where'd you go?" asked someone.  And "have you been losing weight on purpose?"  Or "How have you lost all that weight?" 

I guess when you've lost 48 pounds, people notice. 

Every time I respond with, "Yes, I have lost weight.  Forty-eight pounds!" (I feel compelled to mention exactly how many pounds, mostly because I'm stunned myself that I lost so much weight.)  And I say, "Thank you," when someone says, "You're looking slim." 

But when they ask, "How did you do it?" I hesitate.  Today, at church, I was holding my daughter's rejected "coffee hour" snack on a plate:  a piece of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, a Rice Krispie treat and a barely molested cupcake.  When someone said, "How'd you lose weight?" I said, "Well, I stopped eating stuff like this." 

Telling the truth is sort of boring.  "I stopped eating sugar and flour."  I don't even mention the white potatoes and white rice because I didn't get fat because of potatoes and rice.  I got fat because of sugar and flour. 

I need to come up with some snappy answers to the "How did you do it?" question.  For instance, "I stopped eating my weight in cookies."   Or, "No more hidden bags of fun-size Twix bars." 

Really, it was just that simple.  I stopped eating like a pig (no disrespect to pigs intended).  I only wish I'd done so sooner.

Preparing to be Shot

Last night, I went shopping for a specific outfit.  For the first time in more than a decade, I shopped at Nordstroms, which proved to be challenging since they name their departments ambiguous things like "Encore" and "Narrative" and "Brass Plum."  How are you supposed to know where to find a pair of mid-rise, boot-cut, lighter wash denim jeans in size 14? 

Fortunately for me, Nordstroms' salespeople are trained to actually help, so a nice young woman named Sheila helped me picked out half a dozen pairs of jeans to try.  I tried to pick up a size 16 pair of one style, worried about bursting into tears in the dressing room if nothing fit, but she assured me the fourteens would fit. 

And they did.  Every single pair of jeans (even the ones that cost *gasp* $158) fit!  I even had her bring me a size 12 because the fourteens were a little roomy in the legs.  (I would have purchased them, too, if I didn't have to wear them tomorrow.  In about five pounds, those twelves will be perfect!)

Shirts, of course, were more problematic because I carry my extra weight around my mid-section.  I am grateful for super-duper, industrial-strength undergarments which camoflauge the nagging roll at my waist.   

Tomorrow, a professional make-up artist and a hair stylist will work their magic on my 41-year old face.  I will be provided with a wardrobe . . . but I'm bringing a few items of my own, just in case.  If I find it tricky to find shirts that fit right, how much harder will it be for the photographer to clothe me?   The fat girl's fear haunts me--what if nothing fits? 

Anyway, this will be my first ever photo shoot and after avoiding cameras for fifteen years, I face the prospect with a mixture of excitement and dread.  I worry that the photographer will throw up her hands in despair and throw me out of the studio in disgust.  I worry that I will blink in every single shot, that blink where I only close one eye and look as if I've overdosed on sleeping pills.  I worry that I will be the fattest, oldest woman in the room (which is likely).

However, wouldn't it be amazing if they actually make me look good?  Even though I'm not at my goal weight?  (Twenty-eight pounds to go . . . )  Even I have to admit that my legs look positively thin in those slim-fit Calvin Klein jeans hanging in my closet.

Anyway, you'll eventually see the picture . . . and I'll tell you more about this mysterious photo shoot at a later date. 

Meanwhile, think photogenic thoughts for me!  And have a great weekend!

Official Thursday Weigh-In

Hooray!  I reached a new low weight today:  178 pounds.

I say it again:  hooray!

When I weighed 48.4 pounds more than I do today, I couldn't comfortably cross my legs.  I couldn't cross my arms across my (ample) chest.  The size 20 clothing I tried on while shopping for an Easter dress fit . . . but looked hideous.  Misery is being stuck inside a body that you don't recognize.

Today?  I can cross my legs and arms while wearing my size 14 pants.  This is all good . . . and it's only going to get better.  Twenty-eight pounds to go!

How are you doing?  Weigh in!

Ever wonder?

. . Do you wonder why we're fatter?  Check out this article and then tell me what you think.  Valid reasons?

Why are you fat?  I can sum up my fatness in one word:  cookies.

(Okay, how about "overeating"?  That's more encompassing.)

You don't have to love it. You just have to do it.

Last night I did not want to run.  What's new?  I mean, I really, really did not want to run on this particular day of the month (if you know what I mean).  I had to take my son to the YMCA for his Judo class.  My husband said, "Well, just take a magazine and read during his class and you can ride the bike when you get home."  I said, "We'll see."  Because I really did not want to run.

We arrived at the YMCA.  He ran off to his class.  I checked in my purse at the front.  I walked upstairs directly to the weight machine that begins my work-out.  And I started, still thinking I do not want to run.  I finished the weight machines, looked at the clock and thought okay, I'll just check out the track. 

And then I ran.  I know.  I really did not want to run.  But I was there.  The track was there.  I had time.

I guess I've created a situation where I just do what I'm supposed to do because why not?   I did only run half a mile, though, and then rode a recumbent bike for another 35 minutes (on intervals).  Despite my initial misgivings and my inertia, I worked out for an hour, thus completing my seventy-first day of consecutive exercise.

What are you doing for exercise?  How do you fit exercise into your life?

*  *  *

Need help with motivation or goals?  Check out this list of articles from the Reader's Digest website. 

New Blog Alert!

Carrien just started a new blog about nourishing your body with real food.  Check out "the real food revolution."  I love the start of this blog and look forward to reading more.

(If anyone else has a diet or food-related blog, let me know and I'll add you to my blogroll.)