Slow Progress, Flagging Commitment

So how well did I do in February?

Using my averages, I lost less than two pounds for the month.  Considerably under my hopes.  I have excuses, of course. Even some good ones. But looking over the statistics, there are some real clues about what is going on.  There are some things I may be able to fix relatively easily, others will be harder.

First the excuses.  February was a weird month.  The snowiest on record for our area.  The snow created disruptions and displacements. It kept me house bound. It prevented most forms of outside exercise - everything except shoveling. Because it was so VERY deep, it made it impossible to struggle through to play much.  I could have used the opportunity to get on the NerdicTrak every day, and have a vigorous workout with the weights and floor exercises, but I passed most days. NOT a good month for the exercise stats.

Being housebound made eating more of an issue, all day every day.  I'm good on regular work days, because I don't have the choices or access to tempting food. There is often food around the office, but mostly it is (currently) easy for me to resist.  My early success made me arrogant about my ability to eat moderately of sweets; the weather made me rush to stores when possible and hoard up goodies for the snowbound days to come. I had only a couple of days where the eating was MUCH more than I planned, but those days took a toll. My evening snack has crept up, and stayed up, to be more than the 100 calories it should be.

Of course, emotional issues crop up and creep in, affecting my mood and then my tendency to eat or be a slug.  There were specific things this month, each novel and unique, that sometimes felt like punches in the stomach.  But that is always going to happen. Nothing this month rises in retrospect to the level of epic tragedy - more like normal life as a guardian of adolescents recovering from tragedy. I need to be resiliant in the face of these issues which will continue to appear with no warning. There is nothing in eating, or lying on the couch, that will make those situations better.

According to my detailed statistics, on average for the whole month, I expended 471 more calories than I consumed each day.  I only had three days where I ate more than I expended. I guess that kind of balance leads to the slow progress I'm seeing.

What have I learned that I can put to good use?  Several useful things that can be turned into new rules.

I do not have yet, and may never have, the self control to eat moderately of certain kinds of sweets in the house.  Rule:  Don't buy that stuff unless I intend to eat it all.

Moving frequently during the day - walking, housework, stairs, chores - has a greater cumulative impact on calories burned than twenty minutes on the NT followed by a day on the sofa.  Rule:  Get off my duff and move!

Aerobic exercising - NT, elliptical, walking, leads to clarity of mind and renewed sense of peace. Being outside especially nourishes my soul.  Rule:  walk outside as much as possible.

Knowing that I am reporting here, and that some people are reading it, is keeping me honest.  This post, for example, is motivating me to get up and start the day. I've got lots more thoughts on how to do better, but now its time to get going.  Rule:  keep posting - do not let more than a couple of days go by without reporting.

Diet and Exercise in the News

This morning, as I was sadly realizing I had dozed through my morning exercise opportunity, two different diet and weight related stories popped up on NPR.  Both indicate that weight loss and weight maintenance are going to be hard for me. Very hard. My body is working against me.

aging and muscles


This story tells us that as we age, our muscle cells wear out, don't replace themselves, and thus burn fewer calories. Therefore, eating the same number of calories results in weight gain. The good news is exercise makes the remaining muscle cells bigger and so we are able to counteract this effect some - and have an impact fairly quickly.

The next story explains that as you lose weight, your brain emotionally responds to food differently.

food response

After you have been dieting, visual cues of food give a much more emotional response than if you have not been dieting.  The deck is stacked against you - your emotions are telling you to eat up so you don't starve to death!  We are programmed to regain.

So I'm getting older, I've got fewer muscle cells to burn calories, and my brain is programmed to act like a three year old around cake.  Life is tough.  Susan Estrich would say, "so what?  It doesn't mean you get a free pass to be a fat blob just because it's getting tougher!"  And she's right. Life isn't fair. It is tougher for some people, but that's just the way it is.

And, in the serendipidous way the web works, I stumbled upon another story, this one about how truly beneficial it is for women to walk as they get older:

women and walking

This says, the more and faster you walk in middle age, the better your body and brain will be in your old age.  I think my mother is partly an example of how true this is.

So, good news and bad news.  And the impact on me from each story is I just have to keep working at it.

Outside Again

I love Spring! The Big Snow is still on the ground, but it has stayed above freezing and been sunny for the past couple of days. I took advantage of the good weather and got out there.

I love walking. The moment to moment level of exhertion is much less than the NerdicTrak or elliptical trainer, but I keep at it longer and find it very calming. The problem really is that it's so time consuming.

Today's walk was in Rock Creek Park, just a mile from my house. I got out there around 9:30 and the serious exercisers were out in force. Bike riders and runners in form fitting bright or black clothing zoomed by me. Most other walkers had dogs. (I'm sad my dog cannot handle the confusion of that scene). I walked for nearly two hours, not so very fast, but quite steadily.

I've never really gone running but I thought about it as I watched them go past. Am I too old to start the punishment of pounding on the pavement? A year or so ago, when I was in better shape, I did some interval run/walks on the treadmill while rocking out on the iPod and I liked it fine.

I really wish I could bike. A couple of years ago I bought a new one to start training for a big ride. The first time I went more than 10 miles my knees hurt for a week. Three repeats of that and I stopped trying. It could be the bike not fitting me. But my knees hurt fairly often these days anyway.

This was meant to be a happy post. I walked in the sunshine today and now I am tired and happy. I ate decently, and now it's bedtime.


- iPhone uPdate

I Have Been Here Before

Overall, I've had some success so far this year. Despite living in a disaster area (for so the President has decreed) I have managed to maintain some discipline. Despite this weeks stall, I can get back to more discipline and lose more weight.

Here is a slice of the graph showing my actual weight from New Year's Day to the present:

 

 Hard to follow out of context, I know, but the dots are my daily weights, and the line connects my average for the week.  The horizontal lines are 5 pound marks.  

But I've been here before. I looked back at the past year and was astounded to see where I was a year ago, and when last I was where I am now:

Again, the horizontal lines mark five-pound increments. So the weight I've lost since New Years - since I've been blogging about it - is the same weight I lost in October last year.  Basically, I'm ten pounds over where I was a year ago.

What happened last November to reverse my hard work and send the weight soaring again?  Halloween kicks of the "eating season", of course, that stretches all the way to New Years.  I think I had a real mental switch in November, where I decided that I was not going to watch what I ate. I sank into a real funk, and found it hard to hold on.  I decided I was only going to think about other things, and simply not pay attention to food or my body. I gave myself permission to indulge. I cooked and ate some things I hadn't eaten this millenium, since before The Big Loss. I held the family together through the holidays, but at a price.

I find it useful to have the reality check - to see where I've been to give me some perspective on where I'm going. It's certainly discouraging to see how I've gained all this weight in the past year. But the facts are the facts. It's frightening to see how fast the weight can pile on. I know I can take it off, but it requires constant focus and discipline. Just deciding that it doesn't matter will lead to total blobdom, and that is not good for anyone - including the family, not just me.

So looking at the graphs overall is motivating, at least since things are generally moving in the right direction right now.

The Potluck

Last night was the sailing club potluck. I did ok, with my current relaxed strategy of what constitutes "ok".  Beck is very severe on the concept of special occasions - because there are likely to be too many of them. Not just for the holidays, but for ordinary life as well. Therefore, its not ok to just say to yourself, "This is a special occasion and therefore it doesn't matter what I eat."  Of course it matters. The laws of physics are not suspended for special occasions.

Beck suggests several quite severe strategies: 1. Keep to your normal schedule and routines. Only put on your plate what fits within your calorie budget. Maybe even bring your own food and eat only that (easier to do at a potluck than other kinds of events).  2. Stay within your normal calorie budget, but eat a little bit less earlier in the day in order to save some calories (not many 200-300 only) for the event.  3. Decide you are going to allow yourself up to 300 extra calories for the event.  Know that means you are likely breaking even for the day instead of losing. 

She further goes on to caution its important to keep to the other disciplines - eat only while sitting down. Eat slowly and pay attention. Keep the inner dialogue going - remind yourself what your priorities are - I have decided to lose weight, it is important, and it is more important than the home baked bread sitting on the table.  And of course, survey the field and make your plans before putting any food on your plate.

I sort of went with strategy #3.  I ate a bit of my own food, standing up, but I had decided to do that. I ate a straight meal, with a big salad, one meat, a vegetable side, and one piece of the terrific bread. I also had one piece of cake. (I could have cut it quite a bit smaller and not felt deprived - something to think about.)  No alcohol. I had decided it was either dessert or alcohol and I went for the chocolate.

I did have a small piece of my special chocolate when I got home. So the total calories for the day were up more than 300... but I'm not dissatisfied with how I did.

This is all great training for the cruise. I need to think through again and again how I intend to handle that venture.

Plus and Minus

Up and down, plus and minus.

I crossed a 10 pound frontier a week ago. Definite progress. Feeling the success. Noticable in how my clothes fit. This despite my little treat each night. If I'm sucessful with a little treat, how about a bigger one? Why just one chocolate when they are so small, why not five? Go ahead, have the sixth.

Then I had a rough couple of days, emotionally. Hit with a problem with the kids, my first reaction was that I wanted to have Cinnabons for dinner. (but we didn't) Hit with more and conflicting emotions and too much time alone, I baked a cake.

I exercise. I meticulously log everything that passes my lips. Remorsely my device records how much I move-or don't move. Every morning the scale shows the actual impact. Creeping back up to the other side of the line.

Calories in minus calories out. I believe in the physics and math of it. On a daily basis, the results on the scale are more about salt and water and sleep. But over the average of a week, it's the physics that counts.j This week, for the first time since January, the average will be up week-over-week.

It's still down from where I started. And the plus can be turned back into a minus next week. My actions can be scored back into my credit category. Don't stop now!

- iPhone uPdate

Outdoors

I took the day off from work to be alone, but the absolute last thing I could stand was more time in my house, after being snowbound for days. I needed to exhaust myself physically. I needed to get outside! So despite a forecast of windy and cold, I got out of the house with no particular destination in mind. Washington, DC is actually a great place for those who love the outdoors. There are many destinations close at hand with beautiful man or nature made views.  I wasn't up for something too rugged - I wanted to walk, not scramble or climb.  But I wanted to be alone, so  a tour of the monuments was out of order.

With sudden inspiration, I headed to Great Falls National Park, the Maryland side, at the C&O Canal. The canal is a national park that is 185 miles long by half a mile wide, incorporating the old canal and towpath that parallels the Potomac River all the way from Georgetown in DC to the heights of the Appalachians just over the ridge from Pittsburgh. The particular place I was going is less than 20 minutes from home. I have been there many times, but not recently and never with snow. I had been looking at old photos, and there was one memorable golden day in August 1998 that was beautifully captured on film, and I wanted to be there now.

As often happens after a storm, it was sunny, crisp, and not quite as windy as forecast. Before leaving I hesitated over my footware: Big snowboots? Wellingtons for wet? but I finally decided on my light but sturdy trail runners.  A couple of years ago, I did serious walking - training for and then participating in a two-day, 40-mile, Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.  I learned then that any walking above a mile or two really requires very good footwear, and these shoes had my custom orthotics. In deference to the wind, I wore a jacket instead of my preferred vest so my arms could stay warm. I stopped first at a WholeFoods and got a light hot breakfast and future provisions. I had my watchcap and a couple of choices of gloves.

There was no ranger at the gate and there were only a couple of other cars in the parking lot, but the rangers had been blowing the nearby paths mostly clear. Perfect!  There was a layer of slick snow on everything, but no deep snow to wade through.  I had no desire to get my feet wet, and would have turned around if that had been the case.

The first thing I did was take the boardwalk over to look at the Falls themselves. I stood my myself in the sun and contemplated the raw power for a while. Then I set off down the towpath, with no goal in mind. There was a nice foot trail beaten down, with a cross country ski track next to it. I discovered that stepping off the beaten path resulted in the foot plunging a foot or more through soft wet snow, so I stuck with the trail. It was so bright, my glasses were nearly black, so they went in my pocket. I had to keep my eyes down, rather than looking around, because it was slick and uneven. I wasn't walking fast, but I was walking steadily.

I warmed up enough to shed first the gloves, then the hat, and finally even to unzip the jacket. It was so lovely to feel the sun on my face and hands, and to feel it warming my black jeans. My mind was occupied by the simple task of staying upright.  In several places, the heavy snow had knocked trees down across the path and I had to clamber over or through their branches. I saw raccoon tracks in the snow, and was pleased not only at their existence, but at my ability to recognize them surely, and not mistake them for dog tracks. I saw a bald eagle, and saw and heard the carolina chickadees.  As I kept going, I realized I had in fact been there just last fall, but had come up from the other direction by kayak. I had reached a place known as "Wide Water", a natural basin the canal route took advantage of. I yearned for kayak season and more time on the water, remembering looking eye to eye with a great blue heron, right below where I was standing.

The reason I exercise is so I can do these things. I was there to exercise, but I exercise to be able to be there.

Finally I had to turn around.  Often, the limits of my outdoor exploits are determined by the location of the nearest bathroom, which was back by my car.  I found myself facing into a rising wind on the way back, and discovered I was slipping and sliding a good deal more. Was I tired, had the sun made the snow more slick with water, was I looking up and out more than down at my feet?  Yes, yes, and yes. I passed a few people heading in the other direction as I got back, most with dogs.  I had been out for more than two hours.  I stayed warm enough, and gladly ate my portable cold lunch as I cranked up the car stereo before heading back.

Making the Case

As my unusual snowy mid-February interlude dies down, I am looking forward to getting back to work and out of the house. In order to get myself re-energized without having to actually leave the house yet, I pulled an old favorite inspirational diet book off my shelf, Making the Case for Yourself, by Susan Estrich, Riverhead Books, 1997.

Susan Estrich has always been an overachiever: first woman head of the Harvard Law Review, for one small accomplishment. But the tagline on her book, "A diet book for smart women" was surely designed to appeal to me. This book was first suggested to me by my sister, who had heard about it from a friend at work, but I read it in the middle of my Big Loss and it really helped keep me on track.

Her basic premise is we fail at dieting because we fail to make it a priority. She argues as a lawyer why we should make it a priority. She brings lawyering tools to help us be successful - arguments to use with ourselves, contracts to sign, rules to follow. She wants us to start by listing our individual reasons, just like Judith Beck.  She offers up her own Miracle Diet to follow (yes, I got the name from her).  None of this is especially original, which she freely admits. She has been an expert dieter her whole life, and she tackled her Big Loss "like the "A" student I am", by reading and studying and trying things out.  Most of her techniques are entirely aligned with the Beck approach.

What I like best about this book is her authentic voice and her humor.  She did indeed get fat (not so obese as women are today, but size 16 on a short body fat). She did indeed keep the weight off (and lists as one of her reasons for writing the book "you can't go on a book tour for a diet book if you gain all the weight back...").  Her anecdotes ring totally true with me - such as the feeling you get when you are feeling successful at the diet, your pants are loose on you, you are in control, and you decide to go out to eat... DANGER LIES AHEAD.

But I believe my absolute favorite line in the book is when she is talking about getting ready to start the diet:
"Look at next three weeks. Is there anything in the next three weeks you can't do and diet?  What is it, a pie-eating contest?"

Gotta love her. A couple of chapters in, I was on the NerdicTrak grooving to the music.

I Crave Routine

The last ten days or so have been a series of unusual events - and I've got another several days of special things coming up. Between being housebound from snow, holidays and memorials, I am completely out of any routine.

I crave routine. It would make life so much easier. It would make planning my eating and exercise so much easier.

It was only the month of January, but I seemed to be settling into a manageable routine. I planned my breakfasts and lunches ahead of time. I made sure I had a plan before sitting down to dinner. I had my little sweet for after dinner.  I had my NordicTrak for the weekends, and a trip to the gym during the week. I had my weights and my big ball for strength and flexibility.

I think if I look back at January posts, there may be less routine than I fondly remember. But every single day so far in February has been out of the ordinary.  Because of the weather, I can't plan more than a day in advance. I've done pretty well at being opportunistic with shopping and cooking. I've done less well at organized exercise, but have had to keep active with the shovel. Every single day has unfolded differently than I thought it would. Now, I'm weary of always being "on" - of having to be thinking ahead with alternatives, and being nimble to grasp opportunities. Everything takes longer than it seems it should, and it all has to be based on contingencies.  I want to settle back into a groove, where other people have schedules and so do I.  Or crawl back into my igloo, fill up with blubber, and hibernate until March.

What Was I Thinking?

Oooops. I had a major slip-up last night. Totally inappropriate and off-track. At least 900 calories worth.

Why? What was I thinking?  This is not a rhetorical question. The heart of cognitive therapy is to figure this out. Judith Beck has a list of seven questions to ask oneself, and recommends making a laminated index card to carry around for instant DIY therapy. Or to ask your diet buddy to keep the card and be the benign inquisitor.So here goes, benign inquisitor of mine.

See page 104: Beck's Cheat Sheet

• What was the situation, and what were my sabotaging thoughts?

I was watching TV with Clara. We had had a good, healthy dinner, where Clara learned to cook salmon for herself. I brought out dessert - some dark chocolate toffees from Trader Joe's. I knew when I bought them they were trouble - I've had problems restraining myself in the past. I was thinking the classic "But I've been so good!  These taste so good!".  I studied the label and did the math. A portion was 170 calories, and I could technically "afford" two whole portions within the calorie budget. But as far as food distribution groups go, I should really stop at one. So I did. For about five minutes. Then I ate the second portion.  Then another five minutes went by, with the box sitting in front of me while I watched TV. Then I picked up the box and with a guilty thrill, began to eat. I didn't stop until it was done.

The guilty thrill was my teenage self with a "What the Hell!". It was what I felt (more than thought) when I smoked or drank in my youth, or did other things I won't go into here. A thrill knowing it was forbidden and it was bad for me but I Just Didn't Care.  Not then. It was like closing my eyes and jumping off a bridge. And I liked the feeling.  I liked it when I was young, and I liked it last night.  How scary is it for me to figure this out when I now am responsible for teenagers?

• Did I eat this food slowly, while sitting down and enjoying every bite?

I ate it slowly at first, the first two portions. When I picked up the box, I was fairly committed to finishing it, and did not set the box down but kept going. I enjoyed each piece, the way it tasted, but I definitely did not enjoy the taste of the last pieces as much as the first.

• How do I feel now that I've given in?

Disappointed in myself. I was mildly uncomfortable in the stomach later, from all the sweets. I thought about it all night. I really wish I had done it differently. But I also remember the little thrill from the "what the hell" moment.

• Had I read my reasons for weight loss?

I had spent time on the overall commitment  and process but I had not specifically looked at the reasons lately. I'll re-read them now, as soon as this is posted.

• Did I try any other resistance techniques?

No.

• How can I avoid this situation in the future?

Clearly I won't be buying the high-temptation items from Trader Joe's for a while!  I seem to be doing reasonably well on portion control for other things - this is the worst slip-up since I started this process.  Some of this was probably bounce-back from having been so good. I was getting over-confident in my willpower alone to control things. I need to make sure I've got the physical structure around myself as well to help my willpower stay in touch.

Other things I should have done include not bringing the whole box with me and sitting down in front of the TV while I ate. If I had just brought my single portion out, and Clara's, there would have been another barrier, however small, to letting go.

• What can I say to myself next time?

I will need to remind myself why I am doing this. What do I care about more - this food or my better life? I will have to remind myself that the kids will take deeper lessons from what they see than what I say.  And I will have to look at my ways of distracting myself and rewarding myself. Perhaps I need some risk taking and thrills coming at me from elsewhere in my life. Maybe I need to close my eyes and (bungy) jump off a bridge from time to time. And think - how much more fun that will be if I am fit, flexible, and look good for the photos!

How Many Calories Do I Burn?

Since I now firmly believe that calories out must exceed calories in to lose weight over the long term, how does one estimate calories out?  Nan's Miracle Diet currently recommends a gadget to help. (Nan almost always will recommend some electronic toy in almost any situation.) This particular item is known not-so-catchily as "Bodymedia Fit". It is the same device known as the BodyBugg, which is apparently used on some tv weight loss show. The BodyBugg comes packaged with support and counselling services, while I just got the gadget.

BodyMedia Home

I wear this 2" square device on my upper arm for 23+ hours a day, and it magically tracks my steps, my amount and level of exercise, and my sleep. And, specifically, my calories burned.  Not just a total number, but a graph showing all day when and how many calories are burned.

More on the wonders of the device later, but for now I'm focused on calorie burning. The device is sensitive enough to track the difference if I get up from the computer and walk to the kitchen to get a drink of water and come back. I'll see a spike on the graph. That's how sensitive it is.

So how many calories a day do I burn? Based on the device readings, for the last four weeks I've averaged 2185 kcalories a day.  The highest single day was this Sunday, when I shoveled and shoveled, and walked back and forth to the kids house four times. I hit 2542 - which is quite a percentage over the average. (I also had my best night sleep in weeks after all that exertion in the fresh cold air. My phone rang off the hook and I never roused.) Oddly, "bacon day", Saturday, was a low day at 1973.  I shoveled a lot, but pretty much lay on the couch and watched the snow for the rest of the day.

Here's what I've learned about how I burn calories - or at least how the device estimates them. I'm a bit of a skeptic whether the device always records accurately, because a couple of these points seem odd to me. It really values walking very highly. A day spent walking a lot - not necessarily briskly - will have a higher total than one with just one or two bouts of vigorous exercise. It really docks you for lying around. You've got to get up and move around.  But it doesn't seem to give the NordicTrack or the elliptical machine a lot more credit than walking. When I wear a heart rate monitor there is a tremendous difference.  It also seems to undervalue snow shoveling, based on my experience from the last few days. I think snow shoveling is harder work than walking (no heart rate monitor evidence, though I surely breathe hard) but the device doesn't calculate it that way. Perhaps it's right - I'm working hard, but probably working fewer muscle groups overall. It rated my $200 worth of speedy grocery shopping (about an hour) as high as 35 minutes on the NordicTrack.

Low days are in the 1900's. So far, I've never been so much a slug that it goes below that.  And now I know what makes it go up, I'm aiming at raising my average. I need to get up and walk around more. That is clearly the point. While I love the data, the point is to use the data to modify my behavior in ways that will make me more fit and lose weight. I will be changing things. I sure hope the device is accurate, because I'll be working to make its numbers go up.  As the saying goes, "You get what you measure".

10 Steps to Guiltless Bacon

1. Shovel 16" of snow from the front walk and steps - about 45 minutes without a pause. (It was only 16" because I shoveled 6" last night before bed.) Smell neighbor cooking bacon.
2. Come in, stretch shoulders and get the bacon from the fridge. I buy very expensive bacon from previously happy organically raised pigs, hence no guilt on the eating meat thing. Read the label. "70 calories per serving".  "Serving size: 1 piece".  Put bacon back in fridge.
3. Drink hot coffee while mulling things over. Plan the rest of the day. Plan will involve:
   -More shoveling, perhaps some cross country skiing, and more shoveling. So calorie budget can be slightly higher than normal.
   -Eating prepared salad from Trader Joe's for second meal. 550 calories!  Detailed reading of the label indicates 200 calories from packaged honey mustard dressing - can save 100 calories, and 15 carb grams, by using my vinagrette.
4. Realize that there is no need to follow previous patterns for eating bacon.
   I usually cook the entire package in order to make my own precooked microwavable bacon, but then don't hold back eating it thus don't have that much in the way of convenience food.  When I am eating low carb, there is no need to hold back, because calories don't matter, only carb grams.  Now, Nan's Miracle Diet requires detailed logging of every calorie. But I have a revelation:  I can plan to eat a certain amount of bacon, then stop. I can build it into the budget!
5. Cook bacon and egg. Not a nibble while cooking. Sit and eat the budgeted portion on a small plate at the table.
6. Bask in the self-conscious and well-fed glow of a lovely meal.  Walk back into the kitchen, see the rest of the bacon sitting there, and still wearing a smile but not thinking reach for a piece.  Stop just in time with a sudden rush of awareness.  Oooops!
7. Package up the rest of the cooked bacon into measured portions and put it in the freezer for convenience breakfasts.
8. Go out and shovel 8" of new snow from same place shoveled before. Contemplate buried car and walk away.
9. Drink hot lemon tea when back in the house.
10. Take a nap instead of going skiing.

Feel free to revise some steps, but this worked for me.

Crawl into my Igloo to Eat Blubber

This is what I want to do. There is a huge snowstorm underway, and all I want to do is hibernate and eat blubber. At least I've been out walking around (not likely to be driving for the next couple of days) and shovelling. Somehow the sort-of-holiday atmosphere makes me want to stop thinking about food and just experience it. And alcohol has a strong appeal as well. Tomorrow morning probably holds true blubber - I mean bacon - after another bout of shovelling. Oh well. Just try to keep burning those calories, and spend a couple of minutes planning what to eat and Make Sure You Write it Down!

Counting Calories

I've never before been on a diet where I so assiduously count calories. This is unique to Nan's Miracle Diet, 2010 edition.  Most diets I know about focus on food lists.  "Eat this, not that."  For example, the Carbohydrate Addict's diet doesn't discuss calories at all. It focuses on eliminating most carbs except once a day. It does talk about grams of carbohydrates, but only in the most general way - any food that lists more than five grams of carbs in a serving is too carb loaded except for the one meal a day where they can be consumed.  Portion sizes for the one carb meal are based on a plate: equal portions (to the eye) of protein, vegetable, and carb. Including dessert. If you want more carbs, ok, but add in equal portions of the other two as well.

Atkins ignores calories. He flaunts his ignoring of calories, as he glories in having fats. But, he does specifically count carb grams. They are maximums, starting at practically none in the first phase (all meat and fat) and gradually adding them back in five gram increments.

Weight Watchers famously doesn't count calories, they do exchanges or points. You still need to log and count every bite, but in their own system.  When I last did WW, I did the logging on-line which helped a lot. It also helps to stick to their packaged foods which provide a label for counting. There are also third party calculators of WW points which try to guess their secret system.

The technique of logging all meals is commonly urged in many diets. I was never good about writing it down, but technology has helped me enormously.  Starting with my first palm pilot, I have had runs at logging using various food databases in different applications.  I've rarely stuck with it for longer than a couple of weeks.  Nan's Miracle Diet has me doing it every day, sometimes in advance, for at least the next several weeks.  I can't be trusted to estimate and do it mentally. Every morsel counts and is logged.

In order for any calorie planning / logging discipline to work, it has to be done as real time as possible (or in advance and then followed religiously).  Portions should be measured, not estimated.  Every study ever done says dieters underestimate their portion sizes substantially.  I've been doing this, since before Thanksgiving intermittently, and since Christmas faithfully. I have three different apps on the iPhone to facilitate this. I have a scale sitting on the kitchen counter, and I've bought new, nice, measuring cups and spoons.  I am a fanatic at reading labels of prepared foods.  I am often surprised at what I find.

Because I have a calorie budget each day, I've started to look for the lower calorie fill me ups. I've always known vegetables are the way to go, but I'm now a major convert. I've never been a big fruit fan, but Nan's Miracle Diet often gives me a nice piece of fresh fruit at the end of the day for less than 100 calories.  And every day I've saved around a 100 calories for a purely sweet treat, most often Dove's Darks.

Right now I'm in a sweet spot of not having a huge appetite. The last two days have been very low calorie counts, without my wanting more. This may be related to feeling under the weather, but it really works out. Ultimately, the real goal is not so much to reduce my calorie intake, but to create a calorie deficit - take in less than I use up. Since feeling poorly has also led to a drop off in exercise, the deficit has stayed relatively constant.

Goal for the next few days - get the calorie burning going again!

My Mother as Role Model

At first blush, my mother may not appear suited to be a diet role model. At 82, she has shrunk to a couple of inches shorter than me, while weighing 20 pounds more than me. She is all belly, and she sure does love her sweets.

But recall my priorities- if I have to choose between strong and skinny, I choose strong. And she certainly is strong.

Five years ago, she had her left knee replaced. Three weeks after the operation, she declared the pain to be less than that of the old arthritic joint just removed. Five weeks after the operation, she drove herself home alone to New York and commenced physical therapy and exercise.

She kept up the exercise even after the insurance stopped paying for therapy. When she moved down here, she joined the gym right away and is a regular. At the urging of a friend, she added tai chi for strength and balance.

What a difference this has made in her life. She got another new knee for Christmas this year, and moved out of rehab back to her own apartment three weeks after the operation. Now, five weeks out, her surgeon says she is fine. Ready to do whatever she wants.

What she wants to do is keep on going to physical therapy and the gym. She wants to travel the world and not slow down. She sees being physically strong as the key.

And so do I. This is why this little old round lady is my inspiration.

- iPhone uPdate