Weight Loss for Slackers

About every week or so, I jump on the scale at my gym just to see what's going on in the weight department; alas, I've noticed a creep upwards in the last month or so - it's gone far enough that I need to make some changes and push it back down where it belongs.


So, I thought I'd blog about it - here's how an RD who believes in the non-diet approach loses weight:

1. I'm going to exercise a little more - no big deal, just add an extra 30 minutes of cardio twice a week and continue doing my yoga; just trying to get a little exercise every day, rather than every other day

2. I've switched my full-fat flavored coffee creamer to the non-fat version; not quite the taste I love, but it's no big sacrifice.

3. Rather than my glass of wine (OK, or two) with dinner, I'm switching to water for most dinners - save that glass for when I really want it

4. Most importantly, I'm really going to focus on eating only when I'm hungry and stopping when I'm comfortably full. Also, I'm going to stick to water during the day


So, that's it - I always try to eat healthy, but am never perfect at it, so I'll keep doing what I always do in that department. I'm just going to focus a little more on following the Slacker Golden Rules - I'll keep you updated!

Just say no to shake diets!

A dear friend mentioned to me that she is seeing a new doctor (a PA, actually) about his weight loss plan. The plan involves some sort of shake and $200 a month. That's all my friend knew, but she was on board. After all, he's a doctor!

Now. My friend is indeed overweight. She's also 70 years old, and has tried more than her share of "diets". My heart breaks at the thought of her jumping into another one - it's like watching someone drive off into the intersection, not seeing what you see - a big truck speeding right towards them!

It also makes me very frustrated - why is she so willing to put so much time, money, and energy into something that will not work in the long run? Here is what is going to happen: she will go on the diet, feel great about herself for a little while, lose a little weight, start thinking about real food, start dreaming about real food, start obsessing about real food, binge on real food, feel terrible about herself, yadda, yadda, yadda, end up gaining the weight back plus a few extra pounds for good measure. Who needs this insanity??

Here is my wish for my friend: enjoy your life. This means that you take gentle care of yourself by finding some sort of daily activity that makes your heart work a little harder and challenges your muscles a bit. This means choosing good-tasting food that you enjoy, and enjoying healthy food because you feel good nourishing your body. This means taking an interest in life, which by the way - takes your mind off of dieting and off of food. This means learning to like yourself as you are, because you are a fabulous person and you are not your weight.

The magic of concentrating on these things is the by-product - living this way ultimately makes you healthier, without you needing to do some silly "Doctor approved shake diet". There are steps you can take every day to get closer to taking care of yourself, and guess what? These steps will probably get you closer to skinnier and farther from caring about it.

Book review - In Defense of Food

I've recently finished the book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan. Wanna hear about it? Here ya go:

This food business is complicated. When it really should be quite simple - as Mr. Pollan starts off his book with the advice: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

But then, we dive into all of the murkiness that is the food industry and the muddiness that is the dietary advice industry (the latter is the industry I devoted many years of schooling to be a part of). Like I said, it's complicated. The main problem, he argues, is that our society is bent on looking for The Key Ingredient, and in doing so, we take whatever magic ingredient we think we find and put it in places that nature never even intended, in doses way out of whack with the original food product. True. We tend to be much more enamored with vitamin C added to our diet soft drink than with the plain old faithful orange, sitting in the produce section with no marketing plan at all.

I do believe he throws the baby out with the bathwater at times - for example, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing when we (meaning food scientists/food industry) add a nutrient to help relieve a known problem - iodine in salt, folic acid to grains, and so on.

He's also a little harsh on nutritionists, and lumps us all into the same category and misrepresents what we say.... but, hey, no hard feelings.

One point he made that I found very interesting was that when you do a word association with Americans and chocolate cake, Americans tend to say something along the lines as "fattening" or "guilt". However, the French tend to say "celebration" in the same situation. Now, I know some of you are still mad at the French (I'm talking to you, hubby), but you gotta admit, that's a better way to live.

Simple or Easy?

You know, it turns out that most things can be judged by simple versus easy, and the right answer is usually the simple answer - but not necessarily the easy answer.





Want to lose weight? Simple - eat less than you burn. Is this easy? No, not really. But, it's simple and true.




When someone is trying to sell you the "easy" answer, it's probably not the right answer. Need to lose weight? Take this pill. Easy! If only it worked...




Want to help kids be healthier? Simple - turn off the TV! (yes, this is backed by research). As a mom, I can tell you - this simple answer is not easy, but it is worth it.



Want to get more exercise? Simple - take a walk every day. May not be easy, but it works.



Cut through the clutter and all the information overload out there by running it through the simple versus easy test. See for yourself!

The baby pounds competition

I was busy in my kitchen, listening to a cheesy entertainment show on in the background, and they reported that a certain celebrity was already looking "fit and fabulous" just 7 weeks after she had her baby.

Nothing irritates me more than the media's obsession with how fast celebrities get back to their fighting weight after a baby; why does it have to be a race? What exactly did she accomplish?

Look - nature designed our body to lose weight after we have a baby. Just like you don't have to think about the baby growing inside of you to make it happen (although you can certainly screw it up by diving into something like alchohol or drugs), you really don't have to be a superhuman to lose the baby weight. You just need to take care of yourself, and allow nature to do it's thing. And, a woman who kills herself with extreme dieting and exercising too soon just to make news that she lost the weight in record time is NOT taking care of herself, in my book.

Slacker Golden Rule #4

You must move your body.

It simply is not possible to be healthy without movement. Exercise has been linked to literally every aspect of health - weight, mood, sleep patterns, cognition, memory, bone health, heart health, and on and on.

Now. I must admit that I fall off the exercise wagon once in awhile. OK, a lot. A body at rest stays at rest, right? It's the momentum that kills me - just getting myself up and moving is usually the hardest part. One thing that helps to motivate me is to try and remember the feeling I get after I've done the exercise - a good workout literally makes my body hum. I feel the blood moving through me, my brain feels clearer, and I feel - skinnier.

The good news is that you don't have to run a marathon if you don't want to. One of the reasons other cultures don't have a weight problem is their tendency to simply walk. Build that tendency in yourself - go for walks. Or a bike ride. Or a swim. Or .... just get moving a little bit.

The Slacker Breakfast

Our mama's had it right - breakfast is the most important meal of the day, y'all!

It's true - research has shown that breakfast eaters tend to be skinnier throughout life; breakfast eaters also tend to eat a better overall diet.

I grew up in a house where breakfast was mandatory, and stayed a breakfast eater for most of my life, until I started working from home. Then, I let it slide a bit, and found myself starving by about 10am, every morning. I mean, STARVING. And, it was stealth hunger too - I didn't realize it was coming on until it had me in it's steely grips.

These days, I have to make a conscious effort to eat breakfast - my morning coffee tends to dull the hunger pangs, and the day gets busy in a hurry. But, on the days that I eat a good breakfast, I'm more able to make better choices for lunch and snacks because I'm not frantic hungry.

Here's some tips for breakfast:

If you are OK with cereal, find one with a little bit of fiber - raisin bran is great, and oatmeal is fantastic. Even if you need to resort to the little packets of sweetened oatmeal, it is still oatmeal and will give you a dose of fiber. One of my favorite breakfasts when it's cold is oatmeal with frozen raspberries thrown on top, a little dab of brown sugar, maybe some almonds, cooked with skim milk - YUM.

Another great breakfast item is yogurt - portable and mixable. Try mixing yogurt with berries and a low-fat granola. Or, mix up a smoothie the night before, give it a shake in the morning, and drink your breakfast on the way to work.

Other great options: hard boiled eggs, pita with hummus, peanut butter and jelly (or banana, my favorite) sandwich, fruit and cheese, nuts, bagel with low-fat cream cheese and tomatoes... other ideas?