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Want to See What I Eat in a Week?

If you are a "food voyeur," and want to know what I consume in a relatively typical week, hop over to the blog DiseaseProof! Blogger Gerry Pugliese recently featured one week's worth of my meals, his meals, and Shauna (The Amazing Adventures of DietGirl!) Reid's meals, complete with pictures. Just click on this link, right here: Blogging and Dieting, A Follow-Up . . .

Why did he do this? Well, we three were featured in a recent Sally Squires Lean Plate Club column on diet blogs. Gerry thought it might be fun to compare our different approaches to food. And different they are! Gerry is mostly a vegetarian; I try to get my fruits and veggies in, but I also like my treats. Shauna appears to cook more than I do (or else she has access to some truly marvelous takeaways), and eats some lovely Indian-based meals that I want the recipes for . . . I so love lentils!* And rice . . . and chickpeas . . .

By the way, Shauna also has a bike -- named Valentino! I confess that I have thought of naming my bike, but I guess I'm not creative enough . . . I just call her "the Serotta." Not very imaginative, I know. (My bike is a "she," though.)

Gerry, so far as I know, does not ride a bike, but maybe after reading about my recent biking adventures in Manhattan and Brooklyn, he'll take it up. (Or else he'll swear that I'm crazy for riding in NYC traffic.)

I've just been trolling Shauna's blog, and as it turns out, Shauna also did a bike tour of NYC - read all about it here! Shauna, you did great! Urban riding just takes a little practice; pretty soon you'll be cussing out cabbies with the best of us!

Anyway -- do hop over, check it out, and get another perspective on food, eating, and weight maintenance!

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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. And if you'd like me to link to your (noncommercial) weight loss blog, just drop me a comment; it goes right to my e-mail. All I ask is a link in return.

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*Here, in fact, is a lentil, chana dal, and red rice soup I made up a couple of years ago by "adapting" another recipe to the point where it was essentially unrecognizable. Both my husband and I love this, especially in the winter.

You Lost 10 Pounds? Great! Of What?

So, you've been cutting back a little, and you've lost, what, 10 pounds now? Hey, that's great!

But wait a minute. Exactly WHAT did you lose? Was it 10 pounds of FAT? Or was it just "weight?"

Quality of weight loss matters -- a lot. You want to lose FAT, not just "weight," because the latter can be: fat, water, muscle. You want to lose the former, and little or none of the latter. (We all lose a little water initially; that's normal.)

The truth is, diet without exercise (weightlifting, especially), as well as extreme calorie-cutting, can lead to significant loss of muscle mass. As muscle helps drive your metabolic engine, you want to keep it -- and even increase it if you can -- and lose fat. What you weigh, in fact, is not as important as your body composition. And who better to tell you about that than fitness expert Covert Bailey?

I have always enjoyed Bailey's "Fit or Fat?" series of books -- he tells you the science behind metabolism and fat loss, and makes it highly entertaining. I re-read and refer to them frequently. Bailey's enduring theme is that "weight" loss is not important -- FAT loss is! Your ultimate weight goal should be dictated by your percentage of body fat, not by what your best friend weighs, or by what you weighed in high school.

Here is an excerpt from "The Ultimate Fit or Fat" . . . Bailey says this so much better than I ever could, I'll just let him do the talking today!

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Plant firmly in your head the fact that the problem is not excess fat; fat is only the outer symptom. The real problem is the lack of fat-burning muscle underneath the fat. As muscle gives way to fat, not only does the muscle decrease, thereby lessening the need for calories, but also the chemistry of the remaining muscle changes in such a way as to require fewer calories.

Dieting may decrease fat, but it cannot increase the amount of muscle or reverse the badly altered chemistry of the muscles. Additionally, dieting does nothing to improve body shape. If a person was fat and pear-shaped before a diet, he'll be skinny and pear-shaped afterward.

Dieting attacks subcutaneous fat first; intramuscular fat is lost only under the most severe prison-camp conditions. Even if you were willing to undergo such rigor, the results would be disappointing, because you wouldn't have done anything to keep from getting fat all over again. Furthermore, your situation might actually be worse; radical dieting, unbalanced dieting, shots and fasting have been shown to decrease muscle mass while a person loses fat.

We have developed such a mania for losing weight that we overlook what the lost weight consists of. Suppose I were to call you on the telephone with the exciting news that the local supermarket was selling twelve pounds for only $1.29! Your reaction would be, "Twelve pounds of what?" Well, that's what I ask when someone tells me of a terrific diet that guarantees you will lose twelve pounds in no time at all -- twelve pounds of what? Unfortunately, while losing fat, you may also lose muscle, which decreases the need for calories and makes the problem worse.

All of us can think of someone we know who has gone on a diet only to end up looking gaunt and haggard. We admonish the person that she would really look better with a little more fat. But it isn't the loss of fat that gives her a wasted appearance, it's the loss of muscle! No, dieting isn't the cure for excess fat.

While many people diet to get ride of fat, a handful of people do just the opposite. They look skinny, so they overeat to gain weight. But when one does this, the added weight is only fat. The waistline disappears, the arms get flabby, the thighs and buttocks fatten up, and a double chin may even develop. Overeating to gain weight will add fat and put it in places where you need it the least.

Compare these overeaters and undereaters to the many people who have exercised their bodies to low fat levels. They are full-bodied, healthy individuals who lead active lives without being constantly concerned about the number of calories they eat.

Exercise increases muscle, tones it, alters its chemistry, and increases the metabolic rate. All of these effects mean that you burn more calories even when you're asleep.

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Bailey has retired now, but his books are still available. I highly recommend them.

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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. And if you'd like me to link to your (noncommercial) weight loss blog, just drop me a comment; it goes right to my e-mail. All I ask is a link in return.

What to Eat, What to Eat?

When people complain that they don't like the food they're eating -- whether it's on Weight Watchers or any other plan, I ask them: "Well, OK, what do you like to eat? Figure out what that is, and then eat it."

Of course, we should eat healthy foods most of the time; I've said before that many dieticians advocate an 80/20 plan: 80% healthy foods 20% "fun." But a "rest of your life" food plan needs to be one that you enjoy. Otherwise, you are not going to stick with it.

So, here's an idea for you: if you're bored with your food, OR if you think you have to chow down on diet-y "rabbit food" to lose weight, try this exercise. It might expand your food choices and put some pleasure back into your diet.

Get a sheet of paper (or use your computer, I won't tell), and make headings for two columns: "Healthy" and "Not So." Then, under "Healthy," write down the foods you love that are good for you. (I do hope you have a few healthy favorites!) Write down as many as you can, and be specific. List the types of fish you love. List the kinds of fruits. Do NOT list the foods you think you are "supposed" to eat, if you don't like them.

Under "Not So," do the same thing. Try to limit it, though, to maybe a dozen or so of the not-so-healthful foods you really love, and could not imagine (right now, anyway) going through life without.

OK, stick the list on your fridge, or put it somewhere else you can easily refer to it. Now the fun starts!

For the next week or two or three, try to fix your regular meals from foods listed under the "Healthy" column. If you need recipes, there are tons of them available on the Internet. Have you ever done "Google cooking?" All you do is put several ingredients in the search line, plus the word "recipe," and see what comes up.

Also, for the next week or two, try to work in 2 or 3 of your favorite foods. And I don't mean Skinny Cows, if you like ice cream. Instead, consider having a 1/2 cup of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food, if that's your all-time favorite ice cream. Yes, really. Just account for it, and work it into your food plan healthfully. (If some foods are "red light" issues for you, don't keep them in the house, but go have them out, in a controlled portion situation.)

Here are a few foods from my "Healthy" list:

Salmon, tuna, sea bass, bluefish, turkey, chicken, hummus, skim milk, peanut butter, walnuts, almonds, chickpeas, colored peppers of any kind, avocadoes, tomatoes, rice (white or brown), pasta (white or brown) oatmeal, cherries, peaches, bananas, golden kiwi, pears, grapes, broccoli, golden beets.

From my "Unhealthy" list:

Panera orange or cherry scones; Starbucks raspberry or caramel scones, marble pound cake, ice cream, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, cobbler, fried chicken, french fries.

I eat the vast majority of my meals from the first list. But several times a week, I have a scone or ice cream. Less frequently, I'll have a piece of chicken, or some french fries. (Last night I had cherry cobbler a la mode. Yummmm.)

For the most part, I try to eat quality foods; mediocre foods are so not worth it. When I'm at work and working late, I eat my share of tinned sardines and salmon (which I actually like). But when I have the choice, I go for fresh fish, veggies, and the best fried chicken or french fries I can find. No KFC or McDonalds for me . . . life's too short to eat bad food.

Now, if you really want to get fancy, you can set up three lists: (1) foods to eat frequently, (2) foods to eat less often, and (3) foods to eat every once in a while. Examples: (1) salmon, broccoli. (2) full-fat cheese, eggs. (3) cotton candy, pork rinds.

Ready to expand your food horizons? Go grab that piece of paper, and get to work.

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Some good resources for healthy eating:

(Note: I own and have read every one of these books. I don't recommend what I've not read.)

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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. And if you'd like me to link to your (noncommercial) weight loss blog, just drop me a comment; it goes right to my e-mail. All I ask is a link in return.