Plugging along

I’ve had a good first week on the new Weight Watchers 360 plan. I feel like I’m still trying to figure out how it works, but I haven’t found it difficult to follow.

What’s different?  For the first time in many years, I’ve decided that it will make a difference if I lose 30 pounds.  Sounds strange, I know, but I’ve spent the better part of a decade obsessing about the skin flaps that I’ll no-doubt have around my belly if I ever lose weight.  I got huge when I was pregnant, so my abs have not looked good in a while.  Still, the thought of an apron of flesh hanging at my belly didn’t make the idea of starving myself for a year any more pleasant.

I know what you’re thinking–tummy tuck!  I’ve looked into it, believe me.  I’m a bit squeamish about the surgery, which is long, requires at least 5 hours of anesthesia and a full three weeks of walking bent over to recover.  I know it’s done every day, but I don’t know if I have the gut (ha!) to go through with it.

Instead I’ve decided to set aside money for a good set of spanx when the day comes.  I can still buy new clothes, not jiggle and look better.

Burning calories one task at a time

Earlier this year I thought I would switch to a standing work station.  I’ve read about the benefits of standing while working–I’d read several articles, including this one, all said the same thing: standing while you work is good for you.  What really got me though is that people who stand while they work, on average burn an additional 300 calories a day.
For me, that’s a 45 minute elliptical workout.  or an hour on a stationary bike.  I converted my home office desk to a standing work station.  I like it, but I my legs hurt.  So I went back to sitting most of the time.

I often wonder, however, about how many calories I burn during the course of my regular activities.  I walk my dog about 2-3 miles a day, then I come home and start housework. I’m up and down my stairs at least 15 times a day, I vacuum, dust.  The normal things.  What I’ve found is that on an average day I walk around 7 miles during my regular routine. If I stand, the pedometer registers a bit more, close to a mile.

Now that I’m really trying to move on a regular basis. I don’t log in all my hours on my feet, but I do get off my butt as much as possible.  I’m not sure how much of a difference it will make, but it keeps me thinking about my goals and where I want to be in the next year.

Moving forward: Anything to keep moving

Yesterday went well.  I was able to stick to my eating goals, exercise and ended the day feeling well.  I feel like I’ve entered one of those phases in my life where I’ve made a decision. It’s time to do something about my weight and I’m ready to do it.

As an undergraduate I gained 20 pounds.  During my sophomore year, I joined Weight Watchers for the first time and lost it all, plus some.  It was a great experience, one that I hope to repeat this year.

What’s new at the New Weight Watchers 360 plan

Weight Watchers, one the nation’s largest commercial weight-loss companies, is rounding out its program to help members focus as much on lifestyle changes as counting the points in the foods they eat.

On Monday, the company is unveiling Weight Watchers 360, a plan that offers a range of healthy lifestyle techniques and technology to help people not only lose weight but to also keep it off, says company CEO David Kirchhoff.

It builds on the basic plan, which involves monitoring the foods you eat to produce weight loss. Members will still continue track their food intake with PointsPlus values — numbers assigned to foods based on the content of protein, fiber, carbohydrates and fat.

The company decided to add new dimensions to its program in light of the latest scientific research, Kirchhoff says. One study found that people make more than 200 food-related decisions a day, far more than the 15 decisions they are cognizant of, he says.

“So many of our food decisions are mindless,” says Karen Miller-Kovach, chief scientific officer for the company. One goal of the new program is to help members automatically make the healthier choices, she says.

But nutrition experts say that people will still have to put in the hard work of losing weight.

Read the rest of this article here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/02/weight-watchers-new-program/1732297/

New Year, New Goals

I started this blog in the fall as a way to try to document my weight loss.  Since August I’ve gained seven pounds.  I was already overweight, averaging about 170-173, or about 25 pounds overweight.  I thought (ha!) that the blog would be a great way to keep myself honest. I’d have you, gentle reader, to watch my progress.

Things didn’t work out as I planned.

So today is the new year and I’m making a new start. I weigh 181 pounds.  I”m going to start exercising (at the gym) at least three times per week. I already walk my dog every day at least 2-3 miles.

I’m also using the new Weight Watcher program.  I’ve had limited success in the past, but I know that I have to be ready to make the change.  My goal is to to lose 35 pounds in one year.  However, I’m starting a new job at the end of January, so I’d like to lose 5 pounds so I can wear some of my regular pants to work.

Wish me luck and keep in touch. I need the support!

Spanx and Girdles: Gut Control

I think the main reason I decided to go on a “real” diet is my fatigue with foundational undergarments. My gut is so large that I feel compelled to wear spanx or some other type of pantie girdle nearly every day.  And I hate them.

The proliferation of the modern foundational undergarment is a relatively new thing.  Women routinely wore girdles in the 1950s and 60s (perhaps even earlier–I couldn’t say for certain).  These went out of favor in the 1970s.  I remember my mother’s lingerie drawers and the torturous underwear that she saved for years–latex lined girdles with hose garters.  Thank the lord for tummy control pantyhose!

Today few women wear pantyhose.  Tights are great, but the most hip are textured and therefore lack no gut support.  Enter the spanx garment.  This lycra reinforced undergarment replaced the sweaty latex, but they’re still extremely uncomfortable.  Roman Catholics could wear them as means of corporal mortification.  The best thing about them is that they don’t leave scars like so many forms of corporal penance.

I’m headed out of town for a work related trip today.  I’m also packing my tummy control items. I’ve worn just about every style and brand on the market, but I’ve settled on a high waist pantie that has a cool clingy tape so that the underpants don’t roll down around the waist.

My gut still sticks out, but not as much. It’s not ideal, but it’s something I think about every time I see a piece of chocolate.

Up again

Today’s weigh in: 79.8.  Up again.  Sigh.

More weight loss

I ate a Chik-fil-a sandwich last night.I feel I should affirm that I support marriage equity.  I also love those chicken sandwiches.
Having done it, I thought for certain that I would gain weight today, but I lost .8 of a pound.  Victory!  So today I’m 178.2.  I also took a huge long walk with the dog, so I’m feeling pretty good.

Weigh in: down again

My weigh in was 178.2.  Still moving in the right direction. I’d like to talk more about it, but it’s a busy day.

Thanks for your support!

Love to eat? Try Volumetrics (republished excerpt)

What Is The Volumetrics Eating Plan?

The Volumetrics Eating Plan is based on a basic fact: people like to eat. And if people are given the choice between eating more and eating less, they’ll take more almost every time.

Unlike diets that are based on deprivation, the Volumetrics diet doesn’t try to fight this natural preference. Its creator, nutritionist Barbara Rolls, PhD, argues that limiting your diet too severely won’t work in the long run. You’ll just wind up hungry and unhappy and go back to your old ways.

Rolls’ approach is to help people find foods that they can eat lots of while still losing weight. The hook of Volumetrics is its focus on satiety, the feeling of fullness. Rolls says that people feel full because of the amount of food they eat — not because of the number of calories or the grams of fat, protein, or carbs. So the trick is to fill up on foods that aren’t full of calories. Rolls claims that in some cases, following Volumetrics will allow you to eat more — not less — than you do now, while still slimming down.

Rolls, with co-author Robert A. Barnett, made her case in 2000 with The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan. In 2005, Rolls followed up with The Volumetrics Eating Plan, which restates the basics of the diet and provides further recipes.

Rolls has excellent credentials. She a professor of nutrition and director of the Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior at Penn State University. She is also the author of more than 200 research articles. Volumetrics is based, in large part, on the work done in her laboratory.
Read the rest of this article here.