drop the fork

Regular Food

I’m a huge food fan. (Big surprise, huh?) I’m a foodie -- I love to eat out; I love to eat wonderfully-prepared meals made with fresh, wholesome ingredients. I love fruit. I love rice. I love most an adequate number of veggies.

Is it any wonder that when I first contemplated joining Weight Watchers, I went around practically wearing sackcloth and ashes? I was just sure my “foodie” days were over. I could see myself never eating in a trendy restaurant again; never eating a big plate of Chinese food again. Never having ANY food fun again.

Well, turns out I was suffering from “diet mentality.” WW soon set me straight. After about 3 weeks on the program, when I realized that the plan was allowing me to eat anything I wanted -- within reason, as in “not too much of,” -- I was overjoyed. And I reside in this joyous and giddy state, to this very day. (I’m enjoying chocolate and wine as I write this, and there may be another wine serving in my short-term future.)

As far as I’m concerned, real food is the way to go. I don’t do deprivation, and I don’t do diet food. Ugh. The quickest way to depress me is to tell me I can’t eat something I love. (Not that I’d listen to you, anyway. I‘m stubborn like that.) Fortunately, it’s totally unnecessary to eat rabbit food to lose weight, or to stay at goal. On the contrary -- I think everyone should make a concerted effort to eat their favorite foods every now and again -- within reason. If your favorite food is salmon, have at it a couple times a week. If your favorite food is Boardwalk Fries, you’re going to need to exercise a bit more restraint.

I do make a few sacrifices to the foodie gods, though, as I didn’t do a great job of picking my grandparents and so have a genetic predisposition toward heart disease. So, I limit saturated fat, most of the time, and I avoid trans fats as much as I can. I do pour on (literally!) the olive oil, and peanut butter is a staple of my weekly diet. There are a few lower-fat items that I do make use of: Hellman’s low-fat mayonnaise is awesome, so why waste calories on the full-fat version? Unfortunately, there aren’t that many of these types of foods, in my experience, that are worth buying, or using long-term.

All this brings me to my main point -- and you’ll see me say this over and over in this space: don’t do anything to lose the weight that you’re not perfectly willing -- and able -- to do the rest of your life. Surely you don’t want to eat Weight Watchers entrees or Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches until you pass into the Great Beyond, (hopefully) a few decades from now. Life is too short to eat bad food, and while these types of “diet” items are OK every now and again, especially if your choices are limited or you‘re in a hurry, they should not be a staple of your diet -- or anyone else’s diet. Believe me, if you fix a regular dinner for your family and then sit down and eat a Lean Cuisine whilst they chow down on the good stuff, you will soon become very resentful . . . and your new food plan will end up on the trash heap.

So, what’s a Weight Watcher (or any other “loser”) to do? Well, my advice is to follow volumetrics principles -- eat lots of fruits and veggies, and whole grains. Eat lots of lean protein: fish, chicken, turkey, beans. Eat some red meat, if it fits into your world view, but limit the fatty cuts. Eat healthy oils. Eat nuts. Gosh, there’s so much good food in the world! Also, fix just one dinner, for both you and for your family. You can still fix family favorites; just find ways to lighten them a little, make them a little lower in fat and salt. And you can eat the same thing your family eats -- but smaller portions.

And be sure to eat the occasional sinful treat, every once in a while. My personal favorites, not necessarily of the healthy persuasion: chocolate, French fries, fried chicken, premium ice cream, huge muffins, scones, pizza. These are my top faves. I will have a scone or two a week, a muffin every now and again. Ice cream, less often. The other stuff? Even less frequently. (By now, you probably have guessed that chocolate appears on my daily food plan, in one form or another.)

How often can you treat yourself? Well, I’ve seen an “80/20” rule bandied about by some nutritionists -- roughly 80% of your daily diet should consist of healthy, good-for-you foods, and the other 20% (assuming you’re getting minimum nutrition in -- the average woman's "good nutrition" base is at least 1200 calories, and ideally more) can be more of the fun stuff. “Discretionary calories,” is the term that's sometimes used, and if you have the room, there’s no reason, barring specific health concerns, not to have a little fun with your food. Obviously, when you’re in the process of losing weight, you will have fewer discretionary calories than when you’re maintaining, but it’s still important to enjoy both healthy foods and your old favorites, as appropriate.

In the long run, you’ll be glad you learned how to eat what you like, from Day One. Remember, once you reach goal, you can’t go back to eating like you did, unless you want to get fat again. Maintenance requires attention to portion control, food selection, and (of course) your weight. ‘Tis far, far better to get to goal with plenty of “good eating” practice under your belt, than to reach goal weight and wonder how the heck you’re going to keep it off this time.

Think of your weight loss food plan as a dress rehearsal for the rest of your life. Don’t eat a lot of “diet” stuff if that's not how you plan to eat in the future. Foodwise, your future starts NOW.

I’m betting you’re thinking that “real food” sounds a whole lot better. It is, believe me.

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Home, Home on the Range

What does it mean to be at goal weight? If your goal weight is 135, are you supposed to hit 135.0 every single freakin’ time you step on the scale, the whole rest of your life? What if you go on vacation and you come back home 5 pounds heavier? Are you no longer at goal? What if you eat out one evening, and the next morning, the scale says you’ve gained 3 pounds?

Do these gains mean you’re just a complete failure at weight loss? Are you just destined to gain it all back? To always be fat??

Nope. Not even close -- not as long as you’re staying in your range.

You and I cannot stay the same weight every single day. It’s impossible. We’re what? 60%, 70% water? Even small shifts in the amount of water we’re retaining can cause a big swing on the scale. “A pint’s a pound, the whole world ‘round,” my Dad used to say. And it’s true. Let's have a demonstration: step on the scale. Note the weight. Now, drink a pint of water. Step on the scale again. You’re around a pound heavier, aren’t you? Your scale is weighing the weight of your body, plus the weight of the water you just drank.

I can eat a Chinese dinner and gain 3 pounds overnight. I can eat a can of soup and be up 2 pounds. I can also have a day where I don’t eat much in the way of salty foods, and weigh a couple pounds less the next day.

And, it’s not just water. Umm . . . how do I put this delicately? “Colon content” -- yeah, colon content. The remains of last night’s dinner . . . still in your gut, working its way out. Too much of that can also affect your weight. Have you been eating a lot of fiber? Are you feeling a bit, um, backed up? If so, you’re probably a tad heavier than you otherwise would be.

Bottom line is, we don’t stay at a single weight. Our weight swings up and down, usually within a pretty narrow range: call it 3 to 5 pounds.

So . . . If your weight’s swinging up, down and sideways, how do you stay “at goal?” How do you know when to worry? How do you know when to DO something?

Though it may not work for everyone, here’s what works for me: I don’t have a single weight goal. I have a weight range. I also have a red line weight. My weight tends to go up and down about 4 pounds. So, if my red line weight is 134, my weight range is 130 - 134.

If I weigh myself and I’m anywhere in the 130 - 134 range, I’m at goal. It’s as simple as that. But if I weigh more than 134 for, oh, more than a day or two, I know that it’s time to take action. I’ll cut my food portions back a little for a few days, until I’m back under my red line weight again.

“But,” you say, “what happens if I go under my weight range?” Well, if that happens, it‘s a good idea for you to eat a little more, until you‘re back in range again.* Weight loss is seductive. We all remember the thrill of losing those pounds, but there comes a time when further losses are not appropriate. It can be easy to hit a new low and think, “Ooh, I like this weight -- think I’ll try to stay here.” But staying at a new, lower weight can be difficult. You'll probably have to eat a bit less than before. You may feel deprived, and start getting into food mischief. My best advice is: don’t go there. The best goal weight for you is one that is healthy and is easily maintained.

In the long run, staying at goal doesn’t have to all that hard, as long as you don’t make yourself crazy trying to hit a single weight number every time. Relax. Figure out your range. Figure out a healthy, sensible strategy for getting back into your range when you stray above red line. When you return from a vacation and you’re above your red line weight, don’t beat yourself up. Small gains are a fact of life, for everyone -- yes, for “naturally” thin folks, too. Just cut back a little, get back into your routine, and take the weight off again.

See you out on the (weight) range!

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More info:

Why the Scale Lies

Irrational Numbers

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If you enjoyed this essay, please send it on!

Want to subscribe? Check the top of the page . . . on the right.

*Thanks, Denise, for this suggestion . . . I only wish I had the problem of "accidentally" going under my weight range, so's I could eat more to gain some back!

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