Checking In

Have I written about accountability? Being honestly accountable to yourself about your efforts is critical to successful weight management. And sometimes it's not pretty...

I weighed myself this morning and my week of giving in to inexplicable hunger registered on the scale. I'm up almost 5 lbs. Not good. Some of it is water weight and some of it is true excess weight.

What did I do or didn't do that could have prevented this? I did eat without paying attention. I didn't log what I ate. That's it - very simple. Action=Consequence. I know me well enough to know that I MUST pay attention and I MUST log what I eat.

What's next? First, I have to acknowledge what I did do:

I did get my exercise program back in gear - I added yoga. I did the strength training three times. I did the NordicTrack 4 times and I walked 4 times. Or was it five? That's all the good stuff. Unfortunately, my knees are killing me and I need to take a break from the NordicTrack and possible all the squats and lunges I do in the strength training. So - what's next?

Food plan: I need to think about it some. My partner has advised he's eating a light lunch so he can have dinner with me. Urgh. I prefer to have a very light dinner (some would call it a snack) so I need to reverse my eating a bit. I can do that. Just need to think about it some more. Two things I am implementing immeidately: semi-fasts on Fridays and Mondays. The reason for this is to create a calorie deficit to offset the excess calorie intake on the weekends. My partner and I like to eat out on the weekends and also have a really nice meal with wine on Saturday nights. While I do usually make fairly decent choices when we eat out, I still eat too much. And get too much sodium. So - less food on Fridays and Mondays and more water on Fridays and Mondays. I can do it.

Exercise plan: No NordicTrack for a week. I will walk or do Leslie Sansone DVD's for my cardio.

The plan's totals:
Cardio: 5x (average 250-300 calorie burn per day)
Strength Training: 2x - I'm breaking the full body sessions into arms and legs and will repeat twice
Yoga: 2x
Abs: 5x

Food plan:
Monday & Friday: Calories consumed <=1200 Tuesday - Thursday: Calories consumed <=1400 Saturday & Sunday: Calories consumed <=1600 Water consumption: Monday & Friday: 96 oz Tuesday - Thursday: 64 oz Saturday & Sunday: 80 oz I can do this. I know I can. I've done it before. Just got to get my head back in the right place. I am joining a weight loss challenge for April on MyFoodDiary. Whoever loses the highest % will get $5 from each participant. That's it - no crazy have to exercise to burn x number of calories, etc. Just lose weight. I like that. I'll check in on my goals next week.

Goals and Challenges - Redux

At beginning of March, I set a goal for myself to lose 4 lbs by March 29th. That is not a good goal because there are factors I can't control that may impact the number on the scale. Water retention is one. And right now my weight is up instead of down. Water retention.

Instead of focusing on the scale, I should have focused on behaviors that I can control that also impact the scale. Am I working out consistently and with enough intensity? Am I drinking at least 64 oz of water each day? Am I logging EVERY bite of food? Am I getting enough sleep? Taking time for me? These tried and true behaviors are what ensures my successful weight management and I got away from that and it set me up for feeling pretty badly about myself.

Today is Easter. A good day for a fresh start and returning to the basics. For now I need to concentrate on weekly goals & challenges. So - here are my goals and challenges for the upcoming week:

1. Add yoga to my workouts - at least one time this week
2. Walk at least 3 times this week. Not for the calorie burn, but for the fresh air.
3. Do the Jari Love Get Ripped strength training DVD three times this week.
4. Do 4 cardio sessions on the NordicTrack this week.
5. Keep my calories under 1550

That's it. This past week I intentionally scaled back on exercise because I needed to make some changes. I've got the changes planned and these goals will help me implement them. My sore muscles have been screaming at me to stretch more. Yoga will help me with that. My spirit has screamed at me to get fresh air - the walks will help me with that. My heart and muscles already thank me for the cardio and strength training so I want to keep that up. And I just plain feel better when I don't overeat and more than about 1600 calories for me is too much.

I'll check in with my progress next week.

Boundaries

One of the hardest things I've had to accept is that I am not normal when it comes to food. Perhaps I should say I am not what I perceive as normal. There are some foods, if left to my own devices, I would never stop with one or two portions the way a 'normal' person would. I also tend to use food as a tranquilizer for my moods. I eat the food of choice until either my mood is numbed and my stomach hurts or the food is all gone. And if the food is all gone before my mood is numbed and my stomach hurts, I'll likely go looking for more. I had to accept that because of this behavior, there are some foods that are just not safe to keep in the house. I set boundaries around them and do my best to live within those boundaries.

Being this honest with myself and being willing to change my behaviors by limiting my exposure to trigger foods are two reasons I've been successful in maintaining my weight loss. I call it Living Within Boundaries.

Here are some of my boundaries:

Chips - Eat only in a restaurant and only with the main meal. Count out one portion.

Sweets - Don't keep in the house. Can enjoy chocolate or a portion of a sweet AFTER I've worked out and only in the company of someone. The sweet should be of superlative quality (ie, Godiva or better)

Starches - Only eat in the company of others - one to two portions only (Starches are a huge trigger for me)

Nuts & Dried Fruit - Eat only as a 'emergency' snack when out on on adventure with D and the only other eating option is fast-food.

Nibbling - no nibbling while cleaning the kitchen.


That's it. Not too many boundaries and no food is every off limits. I just have certain limitations about how I can enjoy it. I am constantly tweaking my boundaries - sometimes the trigger foods and behaviors change and I need to make adjustments appropriately. That's where the self-honesty really plays a factor.

Exercise

Before I expound on the exercise DVD's I use, here's a tip...

I usually workout for a minimum of 30 minutes, but more typically an hour at a time. Today I'm playing "hurry up and weight" with the FedEx pick-up person and can't be unavailable for any length of time and I have no idea when FedEx will arrive so I'd been fretting about how I'd get my workout in. Then the lightbulb went off - I can climb stairs. It's a tough workout and I can only go for about 10 minutes at a time. So - I strapped on my heart rate monitor, put on some groovin' tunes and started climbing up and down for 10 minutes. I stopped about midway through to do some knee-lifts, which are good for the abs. I burned about 63 calories in 10 minutes. I'll do two more sessions and I'll have my cardio in for the day - and still be around for when FedEx comes calling.

The tip is to be creative when it comes to getting your workouts in. The cliche "when there's a will, there's a way" really is true

When I first started OPTIFAST, I could walk and that's about it. At first, I got my exercise by 'power walking' for about 10 minutes at a time, 2-3x per day. When the weather permitted, I'd go to the park at lunch and walk for about a half an hour. But as I got stronger I wanted and needed more of a challenge, but not TOO much of a challenge lest I became discouraged.

That's when I discovered Leslie Sansone's In Home Walking programs. I started out with a combo DVD - Walk Away the Pounds 1,2 & 3 mile program. I loved the program. Leslie Sansone is fairly perky, but so much I get irritated. But what makes her programs so good is that can be done without rearranging your living room and all you really need is a pair of light hand weights and good walking shoes. If you can march in place, you can do her program - it consists of basically 4 steps - marching, side steps, forward kicks, and knee-lifts. She does have some arm movements, but they are not complicated. If you are new to exercise or even in great shape, Leslie Sansone has a program that will work for you. Can't recommend highly enough!

This year, I discovered strength training and right now I'm using Jari Love's Get Ripped: Slim and Lean and Get Ripped: To The Core. These are long, total body workouts that emphasize repetition to get results. And in a month, my body really did show a huge difference.

The main thing about exercise is that I had to make up my mind that exercise is not an option most days. I'm short and in fairly good shape - I don't get to eat a lot (healthy or not) of food and exercising does two things for me: keeps my body strong and fit and allows me to eat a little bit more.

Back to my tip - get creative. If you have roadblocks against exercise, exercise your creativity to remove those roadblocks. If you are serious about maintaining your weight loss, then you must find a way to exercise.

Off my soapbox.... it's almost time for another 10 minutes of stair climbing.

Some answers

I posted my success on MyFoodDiary.com recently and questions were asked about my journey and how difficult I found the transition to food and maintaining my weight. Thought I'd share my answers here....

First, about OPTIFAST - it is a nutritionally sound, restricted calorie, medically supervised diet. There were times it seemed difficult to stick to diet, but I decided I would not have anything that was not approved. Sugar-free gum was approved and I chewed a lot of it! At the time, I lived alone, so I emptied my kitchen of all food. I had no temptations. I think I was fortunate that I was able to do that. The result was a fairly rapid weight loss and to be honest, my mind just didn't keep up with my body, which played an huge factor in my transition to food and maintaining.

I remember the first restaurant meal I ordered after I was back on food. We were in a Mexican restaurant and I found a grilled chicken dish served with veggies on the side on the menu. It seemed like the healthiest choice for me so I ordered it. I almost started crying with the waiter brought my meal to me. The plate was at least 15" in diameter and completely covered. The chicken breast was HUGE and the veggies dripping in cheese sauce. I was overwhelmed. That is when I learned (and think I need to relearn) that it is OK to leave food on your plate. Wow - I get a bit emotional now just remembering that moment.

That moment is so poignant because the tears were from fear. Previous to OPTIFAST, my track record with maintaining weight loss was abysmal and I was petrified I was going to gain the weight back. This is where I have a criticism of Emory's program - each of the transitioning participants should receive at least 2 one-on-one sessions with the in-house psychologist. I was so afraid I got entirely too stressed out about it and even threw-up on the way home from work one day. It was hard. That's when I found MFD and another site - MasteringFood.com (it's since changed it's name, but I don't remember the new name). MFD was great for the support and I got some incredible advice from Mastering Food:

SLOW DOWN. BREATHE. Take some time to fully acknowledge what you have already accomplished. Give yourself credit for this. The rest will come in time.

Part of my fear and refusal to accept what I had accomplished was because I had not reached my goal. I had wanted to reach my goal while on OPTIFAST and I was beating myself up for failing. Yes, I did not consider my weight loss a success. And even now, 2 years later, there is part of me that still does not accept my accomplishment because I haven't finished - I haven't reached my goal.

What other things have I dealt with? Accepting that I am an attractive person - realizing the face in the mirror was mine. That has been difficult for so many different reasons, but I'm getting there. And yes, I still get surprised some times now when I look in the mirror. And yes, I do still struggle with body size perception.

The external responses to my weight loss have been varied and some have caused some resentment: getting promoted at work only AFTER I lost the weight. Now that may have just been a timing thing, but.... Male senior managers at work began to greet me in the hallway with a smile and saying "Hello, Maura," Before, they would simply not even see me. I think those are two things that just really got up my a$$ some - but only some. It's not worth it to stay resentful over someone else's problem. Most of the other responses have all been incredibly positive.

I think the biggest difference, though, is how I feel about myself and my outlook on life. I still struggle with depression sometimes, but it's much easier to catch when I start spiraling and is MUCH easier to avoid in the first place. I am more confident. Some of my friends remarked that I'm more approachable and more open.

I won't lie and say that maintenance is a piece of cake. Its not. In fact, it is MUCH MUCH MUCH harder than OPTIFAST. And I so admire the people on MFD who have achieved their weight loss without the luxury of having food and food choices removed.

I've been asked how I did it and how I maintain the loss. The short answer is SHEER DETERMINATION and STUBBORNESS. But that answer goes a long way. I made up my mind I was going to do this and once I make up my mind, I can be like a brick wall. I use my stubbornness to my advantage here.

The long answer is that I had to get my head in the right place about my health. And that is the number one piece of advice I give to everyone. Any diet (please make it a sound diet) will work if your head is in the right place. If your head isn't in the right place then the weight will come right back.

More advice - build a weight management toolbox and use the tools DAILY. My toolbox contains: my will, MFD, Nutritiondata.com, Flylady.net, Worlds Healthiest Foods (whfoods.com), Goals & Challenges, Water, my support network, Exercise, Heart Rate Monitor, Scales, Food scale and measuring cups/spoons

Support Network

This weekend marks my official anniversary date of maintaining my weight and while I acknowledge my efforts to maintain my weight at this time (usually with a nice piece of jewelry), I also send thank-you notes to the people who have supported me in the process.

A support network is vital. My partner and I were discussing his role as my number one cheerleader, coach, supporter for my weight management efforts and he mentioned there should be classes for significant others to take so they can learn how to support their loved ones with their weight management.

It's not just about saying "you look great" or "you're doing so well." While the positive acknowledgments are important, sometimes they aren't appropriate. For example when I was transitioning from Optifast to regular food, I splurged and bought myself a small (4-piece) box of chocolates. This was outside all the boundaries I'd set for myself. My partner didn't say "That's OK. A treat every now and then won't hurt you. You've done so well." Instead he asked, much to my annoyance at the time, "why did you do that?" He wasn't judging me. He was asking me to be honest with myself and why I would choose to stray outside the boundaries during such an important phase of my weight loss.

It's hard for your friends and family to know how to support you. I'm lucky - my partner is incredibly intelligent and has some psychology and medical training. And he is brave enough to risk alienating me by asking me to be honest. Friends and family don't necessarily want to take that risk and they stick to the safe "You look great" type of supporting comments.

Help your supporters by letting them know what you need. Make sure you have one supporter who will call you down when you need to be called down. Also, if some of your supporters are making comments like "you don't really need to lose any more weight" and you have at least 10 lbs to lose to be in a healthy weight range, then you may want to question that person's support. That person may have issues he/she are trying to make yours by sabotaging your efforts. Don't let them. That happened to me while I was still on OPTIFAST and I learned to say "Thank you. My doctor and I have set a healthy goal for me and I am still working towards that goal." If the person persists, then perhaps you should limit your contact with that person.

Overall, though, people DO want you to succeed and I think it's important to acknowledge and thank them for their support.

And now I'm off to write thank you notes.

Thank You, Emory and STARS Group

This past Friday, I attended one of Emory's STARS groups to talk about my experiences with maintaining my weight. I enjoyed meeting everyone in the group and was so inspired by their achievements. Y'all are awesome!

After the group, the nutritionist and I chatted for a bit with the program's doctor, discussing my goals. They both gave me lots to think about in terms of how to possible get started in a career where I could use my experience and knowledge to help others lose weight and maintain their new weight.

They also both advised I take a hard look at my goal weight. One of my disappointments is that I haven't reached my goal weight. I'm 12-15 lbs away. And I've been 12-15 lbs away since April 2006. Both the nutritionist and the doctor think I may be trying to go too low and that some of the weight I want to lose is excess skin. WOW. That has given me something to think about and I've decided to revise my goal and now want to lose just 7 more lbs. At that time, I'll have another body fat % test done and consult with my physician about a realistic goal weight.

And on a side note - I accomplished a personal best at Emory. I climbed up 7 flights of stairs in the parking deck.

-Maura

Water Water Water

Water is so important to our health. It keeps you hydrated which keeps your organs and muscles functioning properly, as well as making your skin look better. Its also important in weight management because it helps keep false hunger signals from being sent just because you're thirsty.

I have a tough time with water. I'd prefer to drink coffee, juice, and diet sodas. I do drink coffee and the occasional diet soda. I limit juice consumption because I'd prefer to get my calories from food, not liquid. It's especially hard for me in the winter to get all my water in, but a fellow member of MyFoodDiary.com gave me some great advice - try drinking hot water with a slice of lemon in it. It worked like a charm.

Now I start my day with 12 oz of water before my first cup of coffee. I also drink 12 oz of water for every cup of coffee I drink. I also drink 12 oz before and after each exercise session and with my meals. I'm finding it easier and easier to get my water and I've found my desire for diet sodas has diminished greatly.

Tricks to get the water in:

Drink at least a cup for every cup of coffee of diet soda consumed
Try it hot with lemon
Add fruit or cucumber slices to it for a hint of flavor without the calories (or just a few calories if you eat the fruit). I've been adding sliced strawberries to my water and it is great!
Drink it with your meals

Water essential to life. Drink it. Enjoy it.

Goals and Challenges

Sometimes it is difficult to stay motivated to keep losing weight to reach a goal or to maintain your weight. At least it is for me. Short Term Goals & Challenges are great ways to give your motivation the oft needed kick in the rear.

I've actually just set a short term goal & challenge for myself. To lose 4 lbs by the end of March.

OK, the 4lb goal isn't a smart goal. There are too many factors that could influence the scale reading. So I'll really be focusing on the actions needed to achieve that goal:

Calorie Restriction - average 1457 per day
Exercise - 6x per week: 3 days cardio of 30 minutes, 3 days 60 minutes weight training, 2 days cardio 48 minutes (HIIT), 1 day cardio 60 minutes. Average burn: 314 calories
Water: at least 64 o per day
Relaxation (Stress keeps the weight on for me): Every day - knit or read

The World's Healthiest Foods

I'm reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and it's already got me rethinking my 'obsession' with nutrition, but I do think most of us either have forgotten or need to learn how to eat healthy, real food. George Mateljan's web site The World's Healthiest Foods is a great resource to learn about the nutritional content of foods and how it can help you make incorporate healthy foods in your diet.

It also has tons of recipes and healthy cooking techniques. Overall, it's a great site. One thing I really like is that while Mateljan does sell his book through the site, he doesn't push it on site visitors. He generously makes so much information available for no cost at all. I appreciate that.

Here's that site again - giving the URL this time: www.whfoods.com

Fly Lady

I've seen some studies regarding a possible correlations between clutter/messiness & financial issues with obesity. I won't discuss those findings here - intead, I'll say my house was filled with clutter when I was at my highest weight. And that made me feel badly about myself which made me want to eat and I typically gave into that urge which made me feel worse about myself. Rinse and repeat.

I found a great resource to help me get rid of the clutter and keep my home peaceful. Flylady.net. Fly Lady is a real person who deals with her own clutter and food issues with routines. And she's very gracious about helping others with establishing their own routines. I don't use her system just as she describes, but I have used the principles to help me get rid of the clutter and keep it out of the house, establish my workout routines, and just plain get things done that I typically don't want to get done.

Routines are critical to my success in managing my weight. Whenever I start slipping in the routines, I notice it's easier to make unhealthy choices about food and to let my exercise slide. And that is a formula for gaining weight.

I'll post more about the specific weight management routines I maintain at a later time. This post is simply to introduce you all to Fly Lady. A word of warning - Flylady's program relies on emails. A lot of them. And she accepts no whining about them. Instead she tells you - unsubscribe or simply delete them.

Here's that link again: www.flylady.net

Nutritiondata.com

While MyFoodDiary.com has a vast database of common foods, including many restaurant's menus, I find it better to get exact information for fresh foods, by gram, from Nutrition Data. Simply search for the desired food and then select the best match from the search results. I change my amount to 100 grams and then enter that information into my custom foods section on MyFoodDairy.com

For example, I ate 60 grams of fresh strawberries this morning. I used Nutrition Data to get the nutritional information for 100 grams of fresh strawberries and entered that into my custom foods in MyFoodDiary. Then I logged 60 grams and MyFoodDiary did the calculations to show I ate 19 calories instead of the 32 Nutrition Data shows for 100 grams. I love this way of logging my food. It removes the guesswork.

Here's the link: www.nutritiondata.com

MyFoodDiary.com

All my adult life through countless Weight Watchers meetings, money blown with Jenny Craig and even with Optifast at first, I refused to log my food. Flat refused to do it. I felt it made me to obsessed with eating. Perhaps it does, but it also keeps me honest.

For example, I want to eat about 1800 calories today. I unwisely skipped breakfast which set me up to eat way too much at lunch. I tried to order wisely but didn't ignore the egg roll or wing on my plate or the crispy noodles on the table. I came home and logged everything and my lunch turned out to be almost 900 calories. Yikes. No biggie. Dinner will be lower in calories and much more healthful - no fried foods - and I should finish my day on target.

Discovering MyFoodDiary.com was the key to removing my aversion to logging food. It takes some set-up for custom foods, but overall, it is the easiest food/exercise-logging application I've used. And the forums are fanstastic.

The site is not free - but I can spring for $9/month for this invaluable tool! Here's the link:
www.myfooddiary.com

A little bit about me.....

Hello and welcome to my blog - it's all about my weight management efforts and the tools I've found to be most helpful in my success.

I probably won't be updating my blog all that often, but as I find new "tools" that have helped me, I'll post a review.

First things first - who am I and why am I creating this blog? My name is Maura and I've successfully maintained approximately a 70 lb weight loss for 2 years. Yep - almost 70 lbs for 2 years. I'm proud of this accomplishment.

Losing the weight was a bit easier than maintaining the loss. I lost the weight by following the OPTIFAST liquid diet administered by Emory Hospital in Atlanta. I can't say that six months of nothing but liquid was a piece of cake, but it was indeed far easier than learning how to balance my food choices and eat healthfully. But I've done it.... and am still doing it.

To celebrate the 2-year anniversary milestone, I contacted Emory and volunteered to share my story. They've accepted my offer and I'll be speaking at their STARS class next Friday. I'm very excited about it and hope my story will help others maintain their weight losses.