Happy Thirst…I mean, Thursday, Team!
Are you thirsty yet for a taste of that victory drink? Only one more week to go and we are at week 12 – the final weigh-in – of your 2011 Biggest Loser Challenge! And more importantly, the very first day in which you no longer have a contest to be doing this for. Has it become your habit? Are you still on our wagon because you want to be? Now is the time to decide. Now is when you find out if you were hoping for a quick fix. Now is the time to realize that diets fail because people expect a short-term fix to last long term. Do you remember Bonnie’s tirade about “diets?” Let us all remember – everything is a diet. Your choice to take this journey is about so much more than just the nutrients you are receiving from these wonderful whole-foods you are eating. It’s about your whole life health. How many of you have sat down recently (maybe thanks to other recent posts) and thought about what you have gained, lost, changed, learned? And if you had to make a 10 item list of positive changes – what percentage would have to do with food alone? I’d reckon a guess at oh…25%. Tops. Let’s try mine on for size:
1. I sleep better.
2. I have more level amounts of energy throughout the day.
3. The little things…are little things – and they don’t bother me near as much as before.
4. I find enjoyment in quiet time. No radio, no cell phone, no chatter. Even in hectic places – like rush hour traffic.
5. My food tastes better. (Okay – that’s 1!)
6. I like what I see in the mirror.
7. I no longer panic if I miss a meal. (There’s 2!)
8. My thoughts are clearer – more distinct – better organized.
9. I feel happier and smile more and more easily.
10. I no longer wonder what to buy at the supermarket. Now I know and it’s easy. (Drat! 3! Well with only a 10 item list out of the 100 or so I could put down – I guess that’s an easy stat to break.)
Give it a try and share your list with us! Hit reply all or comment to share!
Last week, we introduced you to Jane Doe. A non-fictional character who is actively using our methods to gain control over her health and well being. An obsessive note-taker, she has provided us with an excellent excel workbook (complete with pictures!) and write-up of her activities, meals, and thoughts. I am simply going to cut and paste it here – my comments, where appropriate, are italicized. As this is lengthy it follows the end of today’s post. Be sure to take some time to read through it and look at the attachment. There is a lot of very good movement here and many helpful habits you may not have used in a while! And as always, your comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Workout of the Day:
Warm-up: 2 rounds of 15 – Jumping Jacks, Shoulder Mobility, Push-ups, Walking Lunge, Samson Stretch, Squat
Work-out: 20 Minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) – 5 Burpees w/tuck jump, 15 walking lunge steps
A burpee is fast movement. From standing, squat down, kick back to a push-up (knees okay!), lower to floor, push-up, jump back to squat then explode into a jump clapping hands above your head. In this case you will forego the hand-clap and pull your knees to your chest, wrapping your arms around them briefly before putting your feet down to land. It takes some practice so do a few tuck jumps in your warm-up. They are tough! So don’t be discouraged and as always – HAVE FUN! Oh yeah, if it hurts – stop and only do what parts of it you can.
Recipe of the Day: (courtesy of Following My Nose)
Assemble Ahead & Bake Later Mahi Mahi
This dish can be easily tailored to your own personal tastes and nutritional requirements, and can be assembled ahead of time.
This is what I used, but this is a great dish to use up any veggies hanging around:
8 ounces Fish, dolphinfish, cooked, dry heat
2 tbsp Butter, salted
2 tbsps coconut oil
0.5 tsp Spices, paprika
1 ounce white cheddar
1/4 cup Peppers, sweet, red, raw
1 small stalk Celery, raw
1/2 cup, chopped Collards, raw
1thin slice Onions, raw
Directions:
Add coconut oil to bottom of baking dish.
Place fish in the center of the dish.
Season with salt and pepper if you like.
Surround the fish with assorted chopped veggies.
Add slivers of butter on top of fish.
Top with cheese.
Sprinkle with paprika...
If you are making more than about a 1/2 hour ahead of time, cover and place in the fridge. Take it out of the fridge and allow to approach room temp while the oven is preheating.
Bake until fish is done.
I hate when a recipe says that, but it really is true with fish because of the thickness. In an oven preheated to 375 degrees, I start checking after about 15 minutes. The fish should flake easily with a fork...best to check the thickest part.
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Back to our regularly scheduled program…
“Never do anything that your wouldn’t want to explain to the paramedics.” –Anon
“Never act in a way you wouldn’t want written in the newspaper.” – Anon
“Never do something around your kids that you don’t want written down or drawn up and displayed in the hall for parent-teacher night!” – Anon
Never say Never?
To Never. And all that it implies.
Mike.
<Jane Doe’s Diary>
Sunday, March 20th, 2011- Started Paleo, weighed in at 168LBs.
Sunday, March 27th, 2011- 1 week on Paleo, weighed in at 165LBs.
----->3 pounds lost in just 1 week!
When I first started, I thought it was going to be super hard and difficult to do Paleo. With your help and reading up on tons of material, it helped me understand that Paleo is not all that difficult to sustain nor complex to understand...It was quite simple and after a week of doing Paleo- I can honestly say that I feel better than I ever did before. Especially since I’m now losing weight and actually seeing a difference puts a huge smile on my face because it took some effort but wasn’t an overkill!
March 20th, 2011 was the first day of my Paleo diet. I attached my food journal for my first week for your review of how much change I had compared to the week before. I've been doing a better job of being more concise on portions, as well as limiting the carbs and dairy intake. Never thought you can enjoy a salad in more than one way---Love it! It's about all I eat now more than anything else, and it's quite a satisfying meal to say the least. Just one thing I noticed today- As much as I love purple onions and green onions on my salad….not such a good thing to open up at work especially in the work area..! Last night, I prepared all the fixings for my salad for the week except for the protein part which I will typically decide the night before work. Well I had a small container of purple onions and green onions that I opened and poured a little into my salad, and boy did that smell migrate it’s way a few aisles over….I had someone say, “what are you cooking over there”, smells good, LOL!.....So yeah I guess I’ll be opening those 2 containers for when I get to the café to eat!
One thing that helped me with keeping track on my daily food log was to take pictures of my larger meals with my cellphone throughout the day so then I would remember what I had and can record it at any time and not forget what I ate. Oh...the food scale is awesome….it’s helping me become more aware of how much I’m consuming….! Food scales are one of the first things I recommend for everyone – that and a decent set of measuring cups. Taking pictures is also a really good way of helping to be cognizant of what you are consuming. A photo food log posted on the internet and shared with everyone you know will not only make your journaling easier to keep up with but it also will keep you on track while possibly motivating others! Blogs at Blogger and Posterous are the easiest to do this with. They both accept email entries so all you do is take a picture and email it to your blog for an instant posting! That’s how we post these emails to our blog.
I attached photos of before and after of my fridge/drawer food items at my desk at work. Let's just say that I look back at it and can't believe I had all that "POISON" in my desk....!!! I took all that poison and put it on a table by the coffee machine and put a post it note and said “FREE”. Amazing how many people scooped them up in such a short period of time that it was sitting there….I know, shame on me for putting poison out there- but I didn’t want it to go to waste! ;) That is always the conflict within ourselves. Especially those of us who design and test COMBINES for a living. But as I’ve said before – it’s not for us to decide what others eat. It is for us to be ambassadors for others who want to be healthy. Maybe next time your “Free” sign should include the words poison and a set of skull and crossbones. That always worked in our house growing up to keep Dad from eating our left-overs!
In addition to changing my diet, I've been doing a better job of eating 5 meals a day as opposed to 1 or 2 and then a lot of snacking. I still have my moments where I'm not entirely that hungry so I marked my journal as a "Fast- not hungry"...I've decreased the amount of water that I drink because I'm not as thirsty as I was before due to the other food items I've been eating- so that's great! It’s a pretty cool thing to see how you really get most of what you need for hydration through the foods you eat when those foods are naturally full of water. Grains and legumes (dried beans) have very little water – thus increasing our need for it.
I am putting this in bold and in a different paragraph to emphasize what I am about to say. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO JUST SKIP A MEAL AT THIS POINT IN YOUR JOURNEY. Many people have stalled or not seen any changes because they are choosing not to eat or NOT EATING ENOUGH! It is a very hard thing to understand and even more difficult to explain so just go with me on this. You must eat. Every single meal and snack that you are supposed to. Especially if you are following the ZONE block prescription. When you choose to with-hold nutrition your body goes into a shock state and holds on to everything it can – fat and sugar-wise. Instead, it will convert your precious muscles for energy. Muy bad. And I don’t even speak spanish! You are allowed to do two things right now – you can have one “open” meal per week if you so choose and you can skip ONE meal in an entire week. Your journal shows 12 skipped snacks and 2 skipped meals – that’s the equivalent of TOO MUCH! You must eat. Period. Just do it. Nike. Swoosh. Down the pipe. In the hole. Nothing but net. Get the picture? Yes, I skip meals – only eating when I’m hungry. But then again, I am at homeostasis – my body knows exactly what it needs and when. I also no longer require portion control and there are days when I eat 7 HUGE meals just because my body says to. Please listen – I am at stage 36.4 – you are at stage 0.7. This goes for most of our group too. Ladies and Gents – if you are plateauing or haven’t seen much change in the first place – check your eating habits. Intermittant fasting is not the same as caloric restriction. And none of you should be doing IF just yet. If you are skipping meals randomly (again, something I never recommended) then you are sabotaging your own efforts. Let’s get you back on track by eating well and often. Three meals – two snacks, daily. Lean proteins, vegetables, some fruit, little starch, no sugar, nuts/seeds/oils.
I increased my workout activity as well which contributed a lot to my 3lb weight loss in 1 week! I can't be any happier with the results. I'm going to continue doing 20 minutes cardio workouts with my hula hoop and then 30 minutes to 50 minutes of high intensity workouts. It’s great to hear that you have changed your workout habits and are seeing results! Let me stop you though before you get too far… While I’m not a proponent of chronic cardio – the 20 minutes of Hula Hoop versus the 50 you were doing is an improvement. But DO NOT, under any circumstances do your HH then go and do 30 to 50 minutes of high-intensity exercise. That’s too much for even an advanced athlete! Keep your workout under 30 minutes total each day. Do the daily posted workout then HH for the rest of the 30 minutes. So – if today’s workout takes you 20 minutes, you get 10 minutes to HH. If it takes you 6 minutes, you get 24 minutes to HH. Doing too much will kick your body into conservation mode and it will stall your weight loss effort. Similar to why I could run for 50 miles yet still carried 18 percent body fat.
To summarize the above in a few bullets- see below:
· Adapted meal plans to be Paleo friendly
· Increased intense workout routines
· More conscience about what I’m eating now
· Take time night before work to prepare meals an snacks
· Took pictures first week I began Paleo to track my progress- created a collage J
· I only weigh myself once a week- every Sunday to track progress for now and then will do monthly once I get to a desired weight level
· Bought a food scale to ensure I’m measuring everything that I take in
· I’m more energized than I ever was before!
· I wake up every day at the same time (6:00AM) in the morning with no alarm clock!
I noticed that my weight has been to a steady 165 every morning since Sunday and I haven’t really lost anything since Sunday. Is that normal? And should I not worry about it and just continue to weigh in on Sundays as I started doing? Let me know your thoughts. Egad! Take your scale and donate it to the Salvation Army. Then once a MONTH go to the store and use it to weigh yourself. I know that as a whole, women have a need to have this concrete number they can track and get a gold star for. (guys too – sometimes) However, you will cause yourself much more stress and heartache than you need when it doesn’t change much and then you are bathing yourself in cortisol which we know only hinders all your other great intentions. The scale moving down and stalling or even moving back up is normal. Your weight fluctuates many pounds each day. You will not see any major movements except if you just get off of it and only check periodically. After a while, you will almost need to set an Outlook reminder to get on it. So – just relax a bit and don’t stress. Let the scale go and don’t bother with it until April 20th.
Will continue this journey and am so very appreciative of your support and guidance! We are very happy to be on your journey with you! Congratulations on taking the first steps towards a healthier you!
To a new beginning of a healthy lifestyle,
Jane Doe
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