Cara's Weightloss Journal

I found a very interesting article yesterday. It was in the February issue of Reader’s Digest. It was an interview with Gary Taubes who wrote the book Why We Get Fat—and What to Do About It last winter.

The article started by confessing that Taubes has been called “a dangerous cherry picker of data—someone who searches through decades of studies to weave together the bits he likes.” But in the past five years, top researchers, after recent compelling studies on obesity and weight loss, are now starting to take his arguments very seriously.

What Taubes has been saying lately is, basically that the theories of “calories in-calories out” and low-fat diets are just about completely backwards from what science has been proving for decades about how to lose weight.

Here’s are a few things he says…

Read more »

I’ve turned a corner in my weight loss journey.

Well, no, wait a minute… not in my weight loss journey, but in my heart.

The most I can hope from this turn, is to not do a u-turn and head back down the path I’ve been on for the past couple of years.

As many of you might know, I’ve been on Weight Watchers since May 2007. So in a couple of months, I’ll have been trying to reach my goal weight for FOUR YEARS. (yikes) I still haven’t reached goal. 

Sure, I’ve reached major milestones along my journey, all of which I’m extremely proud of, but I haven’t reached my ultimate goal weight yet.

Well, now I hope with this new turn, I can get there.

A little bit of history about my weight loss journey, for those of you who are new. Weight Watchers has taught me SO much about how to eat right. It’s taught me what foods are good for my body and bad for my body. It’s taught me that I can eat whatever I want to eat as long as I eat responsibly and watch my portions. It’s taught me proper exercise. And an all around healthy look at the way I eat.

I’ve also tried a few other diet plans along the way, though none of them I’ve stuck with for very long. Maybe even a few weeks at a time. But each time I dabbled in something different, I learned so much more about foods and how they interact with my body.

I learned a great deal from the Eat Clean Diet. Man, if you ever want to learn exactly what food does to your body, that’s the place to start. My husband tried a medical weight loss diet and I learned  a lot from his journey about carbs and sugars and protein and how they break down in your body for the good and bad.

So, all in all, I’d say I have a pretty good grasp on how to diet, or rather how to eat right and exercise to lose weight.

But here I sit, still 30 pounds from my ultimate goal (20 pounds from my Weight Watchers goal).

I was almost at my wits end when I recently stumbled across a lady who’d written a book about cravings. It started me to thinking about how throughout the 200+ blog posts and 4 years of daily eating and exercise habits, it has always come back to cravings for me. That’s always been my down fall.

My cravings are SO bad. I’m sure you can all identify with it. A real good visual is the orange fuzzy monster that Weight Watchers came out with a couple of years ago to represent the “cravings monster” who stalks us and follows us wherever we go. I can say I’ve never physically seen that monster in my path, but I have definitely felt him emotionally and mentally taunting me and teasing me and making funny faces at me ALL THE TIME. My cravings are such a real and tangible thing.

So back to this book. It’s by a lady named Lysa Terkeurst and it’s called Made to Crave.

The book is about how God made us to crave, but not necessarily to crave food but more to crave Him. Listen to this verse: “How lovely is your dwelling place, oh Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” (Psalm 84:1-2). It says ‘my heart & flesh cry out for God’. If I had to be completely honest with myself, my heart and flesh cry out for cheese fries, juicy burgers, lasagna, cheese & bacon soup, coconut cream pie, bacon & onion mac & cheese, donuts and full fat lattes (though my list of “crying out for” foods, could continue for another paragraph or two, to be truly honest). And I’m afraid that I’ve let my cravings for food consume my craving for God.

Here’s an excerpt from her book that really sums up how I feel right now. She’s talking about her endless cycle of waking up each morning and weighing herself just hoping that the scales would be kind to her, but they never were, and so she’d step into the kitchen and each whatever yummy thing she could find for breakfast, and start the cycle of bad choices for another day only to repeat this process every morning. Anyway, here’s the excerpt:

And the cycle I’ve come to hate and feel powerless to stop continues. … But I did need to make changes. I knew it. Because this wasn’t really about the scale or what clothing size I was; it was about this battle that raged in my heart. I thought about, craved, and arranged my life too much around food. So much so, I knew it was something God was challenging me to surrender to His control. Really surrender. Surrender to the point where I’d make radical changes for the sake of my spiritual health perhaps even more than my physical health.

Part of my surrender was asking myself a really raw question.

May I ask you this same raw question? Is it possible we love and rely on food more than we love and rely on God?

That hit me like a ton of bricks.

I am a deeply spiritual person and I rely on my God and my Saviour, Jesus, for every breath I take and everything move I make. How could this be humanly possible that I could love food more than God?

But I think back over the past 4 years, heck, the past 44 years, and I can see where my life has almost always revolved around food. I schedule for it. I anticipate it. I devote serious amounts of time to food every day of my life. You might even say I’m a bit obsessive compulsive about my lovely food. 

So maybe there’s something to what she’s saying.

Well, that is where I am right now. This is the corner that I’ve turned. I have no idea what’s around the corner, but I know that I need to reexamine myself and my heart and get my priorities and my cravings set straight.

I’m only on chapter 4, but I feel like I’m on chapter one of my weight loss journey. And I feel really good about that. I really feel that if I could knock my cravings, or at least get them under control, I could beat this weight loss thing.

Well, I’ll let you know how it goes. I plan on journalling more frequently (I know, you’ve heard that before). I want to work through this new process a bit more and I’m gonna need your help to get me through it. We’ll see where I go from here. I hope it’s to a better place and a more sane reality for me. Because I just don’t know how much longer I can stay on the path I’m on continuing to not reach goal.

…

P.S. If you’re interested in the book, I can post more info about it. Just let me know.

I lost a pound this week!

One whole pound.

At first, I was a bit bummed. I hear Katschi talking about how she loses 5 pounds a week on the Eat Clean Diet. But I have to remember that everyone is different. She’s a bit heavier that me (sorry Katschi) and when I was that weight, I could lose 5 pounds in a week from eating healthy and on plan. Those days are behind me. I know. So I changed my mind and I’m now ecstatic that I lost A WHOLE POUND!

:D

I worked hard for that pound. Here’s what I did:

• Exercised 7 days a week: Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred workout 3 times, Walking with the girls for 60 minutes, 2 times, and walking in the evenings with the dogs for 30 minutes every night.
• Ate clean all 7 days—stayed under my alotted 21 points through WW.
• Only splurged on ONE meal—seriously! That one meal was Saturday night. Was at a very fancy restaurant (the food was sinfully divine!) that we would NEVER have gone to had we not recieved a gift card from a freelance client of my husbands. Seriously, the meal cost $80 for the 2 of us. Thank goodness we had enough on the card to put the tip—which was $15, man!
• Drank my allotted water every day. Actually, I just found out that I drank about twice as much as I was supposed to. I always thought WW told you to drink 8 cups of water a day, but I found out this morning it was only 6 cups. I’ve been drinking about 12 cups a day.

I got another paper clip this morning. If you don’t know, at our WW meeting, the leader lets us take one paper clip from the “treasure chest” (a little wooden treasure box) for every full pound of accumulated weight loss. I haven’t been able to add a paper clip to my chain for 2 months (9 weeks, actually). I was so excited to add a paper clip. I have 97 paperclips on my chain, now… see? The way I do my chain is the dark colored clips (blue) are every 5 pounds and the pink ones are for the in between pounds. I have one gold clip in there (2nd row from the outside at the bottom right corner)—that one is for my 50 pounds. When I reach my 100 pounds, I’ll get another gold clip and then again when I reach my goal. When I’m done, I’m hoping to have 132 paperclips on my chain.

I can’t wait for the finale of Biggest Loser. I SO hope Michelle wins. Have you guys been watching it. I can’t stand Vicki. Its so wonderful that Michelle is in the top two to go to the finals. The other 2 are Hebba and Ed. I couldn’t care less which one of them makes it, as long as Michelle is there.

I did the math on their percentages, cause it’s all about who’s lost the biggest percentage of weight at the finals. And Ed has lost 24%, Heba has lost 25%, Vicki has lost 30% and Michelle 33%. So if they keep going the way they have on the ranch, Michelle will definitely win. She could totally be the next Ali (from last year).

Check out this video of Vicki. It’s hilarious. Alot of the clips, I’ve seen before, but watch at the end when she has her last weigh in. I laughed out loud at work when I watch it.

First of all, still eating clean, still exercising, still counting points, still going strong. Oh, and I did Jillian Michaels’ Shred 3 this morning. Ugh! Am I going to be sore!!!

Now, on with the science lesson…

Before WW, I tried NutraSystems and lost 10 pounds. I quit the program because the food was so boring. But a couple of weeks ago I was talking to my mom about the science behind their system because I had just read something similar in the Eat Clean Diet book. So I thought it might be worth iterating here as sort of a science lesson.

I’m sure most of you already know all of this stuff, but here goes anyways…

First of all, my disclaimer, I am not an expert on this subject, I am only piecing together bits of information I’ve researched.

The one thing that both diets have in common is they both believe that having a low Glycemic Index (GI) is a good thing. They also say that complex carbohydrates and low insulin levels help promote weight loss, too. But what the heck does all that mean??

Here’s what NutraSystems has to say about that: “Carbohydrates that break down slowly in your body encourage stable blood sugar levels, which is good, so they rate well or “low” on the Glycemic Index. On the other hand, carbs that break down too quickly cause your insulin levels to spike, and high insulin levels can cause your body to store fat. These “bad carbs” are given higher glycemic values and most often leave you hungry soon after a meal. So if you’re looking to lose weight, you should stay away from “bad carbs” and instead, seek to incorporate more “good carbs” with low glycemic values into your diet to help keep your blood sugar levels stable and your appetite in check.“

And here’s what the Eat Clean Diet has to say: “Foods comprised of simple sugars have a high glycemic index. This causes a spike in insulin levels, which negatively affects the metabolism. Too muchy insulin tells the body to store fat quickly and prevent your body from drawing on fat for energy needs… Complex carbohydrates are processed slowsly, staying in the gut for far longer.”

Very interesting… too many carbs too fast and your body can’t process them so it sends an emergency signal out telling your body to store all the fats it can find.

Weight Watchers, on the other hand, presents both sides of the “glycemic index” debate as there are studies out there that say the GI both helps and doesn’t help weight loss: “Theoretically, using GI as a weight-loss method makes a lot of sense. Several short-term studies indicate that a low GI diet creates a feeling of fullness, delaying the return of hunger following a meal. The effect of a low GI diet in reducing the body’s production of insulin is also widely recognized. And a low GI diet may favorably affect the resting metabolic rate, represented by the calories used to keep the body’s systems going, when compared to a low-fat diet. … In another study designed to evaluate the impact of encouraging low GI foods as part of the Weight Watchers food plan, no significant difference in weight loss was found, although there were significant differences in the reported feelings of hunger and satiety.”

I thought what Wikipedia had to say was so interesting: “Carbohydrates require less water to digest than proteins or fats and are the most common source of energy in living things. Proteins and fat are necessary building components for body tissue and cells and are also a source of energy for most organisms. Carbohydrates are not essential nutrients in humans: the body can obtain all its energy from protein and fats. However, the brain and neurons generally cannot burn fat and need glucose for energy; the body can make some glucose from a few of the amino acids in protein and also from the glycerol backbone in triglycerides.”

So basically, carbohydrates aren’t a necessary fuel to keep you alive but you do need them to burn fat because your body can’t burn enough of it by itself. Neat, huh?

Are your eyes glazing over yet? :)

So what is a carbohydrate anyway? I know that sounds like a silly question, but I’m someone who has never tried a “low carb” diet and never read anything about it so I really didn’t know.

Carbohydrates are basically sugars with fiber and starches attached to them. That’s why there are good carbs and bad carbs. Our body needs sugar, but too much sugar and we’ll get fat. Our basic metabolism needs sugar to run our basic brain functions as well as just about every important organ in our body. But when we have too much sugar, from bad carbs, our body simply stores the extra in fat cells.

Here’s a basic list of good carbs (complex carbs):

• whole grains
• beans
• nuts
• fresh fruit
• fresh vegetables
• fish & chicken

Here’s a basic list of bad carbs (simple carbs):

• sugar
• white breads
• pasta
• potatoes
• red fatty meats

So here’s the low down: good carbs are foods low in sugars and high in fiber and nutrition that emit low levels of sugar into your body—just enough to keep it functioning properly; and bad carbs are foods high in sugar and starches that will overload your body with sugar too quickly and will cause it to store it in fat cells.

Okay, so that’s my science lesson for the day. Hope I didn’t bore you guys too much. I was doing this as much for me as anyone else. Because it really helps me to write things down to remember them.

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Well, I think last week might have been a fluke.

I gained 4/10ths of a pound this week.

Who knows.

I did the same thing I did last week. I ate high protein, high fiber, low fat, low sodium, low sugar all week. I drank 65 to 85 ounces of water every day (8-10 glasses). Only had chicken, turkey and seafood (shrimp & crab) with fresh veggies and fresh fruits. Whole grains. Omega 3 & 6 oils. Hard cheese dairy products only. Very well balanced. Nothing processed. All natural like God had intended for us to eat.

I did hard-core exercise twice and walked with the girls once. (Yea, I probably should have done more. My goal was hard-core three times and walking twice.) I walked every night after dinner for a half hour (fast paced). Took the stairs and parked in the back of the parking lot every day. Walked to visit co-workers rather than emailing as much as possible.

The only thing I can think is that it must have been the Lasagna Tuesday night. We had a coupon at an Italian restaurant and I had a week moment and ate a whole huge order of greasy, cheese and oh-so-yummy lasagna. Maybe it just stuck with me longer than I thought.

Oh, well, I’m not discouraged. Because I feel so much better eating the way I have been. I don’t even want to cheat today. I’m just craving healthy food so much, now. I came back from the meeting and immediately fixed myself a bowl of steel cut oatmeal with flaxseed, soy milk and dried cranberries. Yum yum! After meeting is usually when I’ll fix myself a big plate of scrambled eggs with whatever kind of bad-for-you food I can pile in there with greasy potatoes and some sort of greasy breakfast meat.

Weight Watchers was good today. Hubby went with me (he’s been kind of hit or miss lately) and I think the meeting was a help. There was another woman who was going through the same thing. She had gone off plan a while back and, though she’s back on plan, she’s been having a hard time committing to it.

WW has a new plan coming out next week called Momentum. It’s a combination of Flex and Core where you count your points but eat the “fuller” foods from the core plan. I think I should come up with my own plan. It’s a combination of eating only healthy (clean) foods but still counting points. Hmm. What could I call it. Clean and Flex? CleanFlex?

Hmm…

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