No Such Thing as a Free Lunch? Not at Duke!

I am the master of getting free lunches. Last week I got FOUR free lunches from outside people and a couple more from Kyle's kitchen.
Tuesday: lab meeting - pizza lunch. unfortunately we've switched from Papa John's to Dominoes.
Thursday: lunch with a seminar speaker
Friday: lunch with a visiting postdoc
Sunday: small group-provided lunch after church

Incorrect Nutrition Labels

Quick article on the high percentage of incorrect nutrition labels on food - this is too bad, as I use them all the time! Also check out the video at the bottom on which name-brand products can be substituted for store-brand. (I actually nearly always buy store brand, so it's making me think if I should be spending more on some items.)

Good Week/Bad Week

The truth about these weeks, as best I can calculate it! The missing days are generally fine lunches and excessive dinner at Kyle's.


I'm rather afraid to weigh myself! I should start working out...

Succeeds

Check and CHECK for meeting my food spending goals for the month! I did have to deny myself a little more than usual at the end of the month to not go over - like, I didn't eat fruit for like a week because I couldn't buy any. But I went grocery shopping today for a few items and picked up some apples. And I did make Kyle buy me dinner last weekend. :)

August groceries: $95.39
August eating out: $64.55

Fails

As you might have been able to infer from my lack of updates, I a little bit fell off the horse for like a week. Not coincidentally, that week was the first week of classes. I got a lot of free meals and basically just had very poor impulse control around dinnertime/at Kyle's in general. I kept track of about half the days totally, even though I was doing pretty badly. Oh well! The real test of whether a diet has become a lifestyle if if you can get back to it after setbacks. Tonight I "got back to it" by eating like a pound of Brie.

I also learned some things this week: Don't go to Kyle's over a mealtime without a plan. Don't eat tons of Doritos or Cheez-Its before bed or I'll get a stomachache. Eat in moderation (like, enough for the meal) even when free food is offered - there will be more food later or tomorrow if I'm hungry then. Chex Mix and ice cream are wonderful, but only in moderation.

The High Price of Cheap Food

I read an article titled "Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food" today which I recommend you take a look at if you're interested at all in your food. Unfortunately, the article doesn't go beyond the content of The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, except for an example of sustainable ranching and maybe some updated statistics. It's still worthwhile as an introduction to the subject, though.

Dispute: "No one goes to farmers' markets for bargains" (p. 4). Ummm... I do. Maybe the author means that per average calorie farmers' market food is more expensive than grocery store food? Because I find that farmers' market produce is less expensive and higher quality than grocery store, but maybe that's specific to my choices.

I liked this paragraph (p. 2):

So what's wrong with cheap food and cheap meat — especially in a world in which more than 1 billion people go hungry? A lot. For one thing, not all food is equally inexpensive; fruits and vegetables don't receive the same price supports as grains. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a dollar could buy 1,200 calories of potato chips or 875 calories of soda but just 250 calories of vegetables or 170 calories of fresh fruit. With the backing of the government, farmers are producing more calories — some 500 more per person per day since the 1970s — but too many are unhealthy calories. Given that, it's no surprise we're so fat; it simply costs too much to be thin.

Pretty shocking! Kyle is definitely on the high calorie/$ side of things and I am on the low - I've noticed that $50 of groceries for me is three or four bags and for him it fills his whole trunk.

Thinnity

This week I actually feel thinner. I have no idea what my weight is doing because I haven't measured it in a while, but ultimately it's this feeling that I'm going for. So I definitely consider it progress! I even wore some skirts this week. Also, Kyle confirms increased thinnity (although maybe it's just my confidence showing).

Farmer's Market - Second Haul

For the past few weeks I have been missing both the Duke and Durham farmers' markets. :( As a result, I have had no fresh produce in my house for some time. So when I made it to the Duke market today, I went a little crazy! I think the farmer was a little surprised when I kept saying "and I'll have this and this and this..."

All for $15:
1 package blueberries
2 zucchini (1.5 lbs)
2 green bell peppers
5 tomatoes
5 peaches

The only thing that was tempting that I didn't buy (because I was getting worried I would run out of cash) was new potatoes. Maybe next week.

Eating Out as a Reward

Last night I did something that I haven't in quite a long time: I treated myself to a meal out.

Normally, I only eat out for social reasons, or because Kyle really wants to. But yesterday was the perfect storm of circumstances that caused me to get take-out:
1) I had just worked really hard in the lab nonstop for a few hours, and had another few hours of work to do, so refueling was necessary.
2) I didn't have anything appetizing waiting for me at home, since I haven't been to the farmer's market in a couple weeks and I refused to buy produce the last time I was at the grocery store. I've been eating pasta and spicy black beans and rice for several days now.
3) Kyle's still out of town, so I couldn't go to his place for food, and he couldn't meet me to eat out.
4) I was really hungry, having only eaten part of my lunch because I'm so bored with my food.

So I went to Twisted Noodles! And got my favorite dish, beef pad see ew. And it was delicious. And less than $10.

Week Five's Downfalls

Report from week five, in which I ate a lot of ice cream:


First half, not so good. Second half, better.
Aug 2: second dinner at Kyle's house
Aug 4: dessert at small group
Aug 5: would have been 1200 cals, but then I ate my face in ice cream!

Time to Step Up the Steps

I weighed in yesterday morning at 147 lbs. Turns out eating ice cream several times a week is not good for dieting, especially when once I start it feels so hard to stop! At least my backslide wasn't huge. I still have hope for being 141 lbs by the end of August, but it will take renewed commitment to the calorie limits as well as some exercise!

Speaking of which, I read today's Time article on how exercising may actually be counterproductive for weight loss. The argument seems to be that when you vigorously exercise you get hungrier, and the additional calories you consume will probably meet or exceed the calories you burn off working out (there are studies to corroborate this, or at least some version of it). I appreciate what the article is arguing, but I'm not going to follow its advice. Some days when I work out I feel hungrier than if I hadn't, but I'm conscious of those impulses and I am careful to eat anywhere near what I just burned off. I read a different article some time ago that said that people can lose weight either by cutting calorie intake or by working out, but I think that was assuming fixed calorie consumption (like if you're normally eating 2000 cals per day, one group eats only 1500 cals and one still eats 2000 cals but burns 500 cals by working out).

Also, so far this month I've gone out twice, spending a total of $23.61. One-third of my eating-out budget gone in less than one-third of the month - better be careful.

The Boyfriend-Free Week Begins

I dropped Kyle off at the airport yesterday for a visit with his family, and my roommate left today for CA as well, so I'm all alone in my apartment and I've decided to capitalize on this by sleeping, reading, and working out more for the next week or so (maybe cooking, too!). I started tonight with a little workout at my apartment complex's gym. Just 40 mins of light cardio and a few body circuits thrown in. I haven't worked out on my own in a few weeks so I didn't want to go crazy, but it felt very nice and I'm looking forward to my next one! (Not-so-good news: last night I drowned my lonliness in ice cream, bumping my caloric intake for the day up to 1900 calories.)

Mixed Success for "Spending Less" Juy

As a reminder, my budget allows for $150 on groceries and $75 on eating out per month. In July, I spent $197.47 on groceries and $64.80 on eating out. So out-and-out success for my eating out budget. I spent about $100 on groceries during July 1-30 and another $100 on the 31st. I basically replenished a lot of things I was running/had run out of, so that increased the bill a lot. I decided to get it all over with in one trip instead of spreading it out - olive oil, flour, cornstarch, mayo, mustard. Plus I bought a bunch of meat sort of on a whim (it was on sale) so that was expensive too - turkey cutlets, shrimp, crabmeat. So I forgive myself a little bit, it being the last day of the month and all. I guess I'll try to keep my grocery spending this month around $100 or less to make up for it.

Week Four

I realized I haven't posted since my birthday - I sort of descended into this hedonistic 3-day period after that and I guess got a little out of the habit of posting. Thankfully, I was not out of the habit of writing down everything I eat, with the exception of the day that I had my birthday dinner (July 29). We went out to a Japanese steak house and had steak, which overall was probably not very unhealthy food but it was a LOT. And then when we went back I had ice cream and cookies up the wazoo. So I omitted that day from my records, but only that one.


The other day I went a bit crazy was last Friday night. I didn't eat much of anything all day and I had a very hasty dinner right before having guests over, so I wasn't well-prepared to resist the dessert I encountered! But overall my averages are acceptable. The other day that was really on the high side was when we went to Ted's a final time and I ate a whole burger, but I substituted mashed potatoes for the fries.

I wouldn't be surprised if I gained a little bit of weight back since that last weigh-in, but I'll try to check it tomorrow or Tuesday.

Weight Goal 1 (Revised) Accomplished

Weigh-in today, before eating or drinking: 144 lbs. Sweet - three days before the end of the goal period. I guess my goal for August is like 139 lbs? Something like that.

Stir-Fried Shrimp and Broccoli

I made Stir-Fried Shrimp and Broccoli from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book on Saturday night for me and Kyle. It was delicious even though I messed up one thing and substituted two ingredients. I can't wait to make it again the next time shrimp are on sale!

the recipe (a similar one can be found here):
mix together 3 tbsp red wine vinegar, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 3 tbsp water (I forgot this ingredient!), 1 tbsp cornstarch (I substituted 2 tbsp flour), 1.5 tsp sugar
heat 1 tbsp oil (I used olive) in a wok/skillet and stir-fry 2 minced cloves of garlic briefly. add 2 cups broccoli florets, 1 cup bias-sliced carrots, and 1 sliced small onion, and stir-fry for 3 minutes. add 1 cup sliced mushrooms (I used 1 bell pepper) and stir fry 1-2 minutes or until the vegetables are crispy-tender.
take the vegetables out of the skillet and put in the sauce and bring it to a boil. put in 1 lb deshelled, deveined shrimp and stir-fry 3 minutes until shrimp are pink.
stir in the vegetables again and heat through.
makes 4 servings. mix 1 serving with half a cup of cooked brown rice.

For my recipe, I calculated that each serving has 328 calories and 6.7 grams of fat, and 1.125 oz of grains, 1.15 cups vegetables, and 4 oz meat. What a great meal!

Durham Farmer's Market Chart

I found another chart of seasonal food local to North Carolina provided by the Durham Farmers' Market here. It's slightly different than the one I found before. It's slightly different than the last.


I'm so excited about this endeavor! So far I've only eaten some of the peaches that I bought on Friday - they were very good and I'm looking forward to making pita pizzas with the tomatoes. Today I'm also going to look into canning/freezing some tomatoes or sauce.

Spending Less Half - Eating Out Too Much

This is the graph that spurred me to take some action within my budget. I was only supposed to be spending $150 on groceries and $75 on eating out (used to be $50 but that never happened). So I was over the total food budget in December, January, April, May, and June, due to spending way too much eating out. Especially June - $162.05 eating out!! That had to stop.

Farmers' Market - First Haul

The Duke farmers' market is definitely a great place for spending less! (And eating healthily.) This is what I bought today from one vendor (I wish I remembered the farm name.)
2 huge bell pepper (1 green, 1 red) - $1.50 each
2 large yellow onions - $1.50
5 tomatoes - $3.50
5 peaches - $3.50
But then the vendor rounded down so I got all this for only $11! In recent grocery store visits, I paid $12.5 for the same types of vegetables (but at least 50% smaller) - so that's a $4.50 savings on the same number of items, not even volume-wise! I've never bought peaches before because I haven't really trusted that I'd like them, but these were recommended by the friend with whom I went to the market.
There is another farmers' market in Durham on Saturday mornings. I might check it out next week - I think they'll have dairy stuff available, whereas this market had mostly vegetables.

STEP

Yesterday I went to a STEP class (5:30 PM Wilson), and it was actually challenging! You're basically bouncing for an hour up and down off a low step, doing different footwork combinations. I'm sure running would be more strenuous, but I can't run for an hour. It's a little different than the classes that involve weights - I don't feel like my muscles are going to give out but I still got quite tired. Before even halfway through the class I was glancing at the clock to see how much we had left. I would have liked to add in a short weights session before or after, but I thought I was squeezed for time. I definitely will try to go back. It should be a good break from weight work if I start going to Body Tone as well.

I weighed myself after my workout (so it's unofficial). I weighed 146 lbs in my workout clothes and 147.25 lbs in my street clothes - now I have the conversion!

Seasonal Food

I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which I wrote a bit about here. It's inspired me to try to eat more locally, so I have to feel out how to make that happen. (It should be healthier as well as cheaper!) I'm checking out the Duke Farmer's Market on Friday this week with a friend, so I looked up a chart of food available in North Carolina by season here so I know what to expect. I'm excited to buy some tomatoes, green peppers, sweet potatoes, and maybe even eggplant.

Third Week

As I said before, the small group last week and the weekend were a bit out of control calorie-wise, but I think the other days went fairly well. I do need to better learn portion control when I'm eating not in my own house. Even with those crazy days, my averages were still decent. My average fat was brought up especially by Sunday, which was when I went to Ted's. After looking at their nutrition facts I was shocked by how much fat they said was in all the components. I didn't have any concept at the time that it was so high, but maybe that's why it tasted extremely delicious.

No More Yoga

I tried the yoga/pilates fitness class again today over lunch, this time with the right instructor. I guess I was expecting something that resembled a workout, which this is not. My heart rate only elevated twice, and for less than 90 seconds. Plus the only parts of the class that I would want to replicate I can easily do on my own. It was mostly just stretching, which is fine, but I wanted to sweat. So now I'm not going to anything with "yoga" in the title again unless I'm old or pregnant, and I'm suspicious of pilates. I guess I'll switch back to the 5-6 PM classes at Wilson that are more aerobic.

Also, two unofficial weight checks since I stopped by the gym twice. First, after breakfast and with my regular clothes on, and second after the class with my gym clothes on after eating some carrots. The difference between them was a couple pounds (later lighter), so I guess I should start being careful about what clothes I'm in when I take my weight. So far all the "official" ones have been with my regular clothes on (jeans, T-shirt, no shoes).

Epic Fail: Whitewater Weekend

1) Spending less: The cost of the weekend overall was mostly for the rafting, but a good chunk of it was for food. Which was terrible.

2) Slimming down:
a) It wasn't a very good workout. My heart rate didn't really get elevated at all, except maybe from adrenaline.
b) The offered food wasn't terribly healthful. I also went way overboard at dinner on Saturday and ate until my stomach actually hurt.

Confession: I did the same thing (ate until my stomach hurt) for Sunday night dinner at Ted's Montana Grill, but that was because the food was so delicious. I think we have to go back like three times by Sunday to use up all of our discount certificates. It's funny how when you just eat less/more spread out your stomach gets a bit smaller and you feel less hungry. When I stretch out my stomach like I did this weekend though it undoes all of that, so I have to be careful for a few days to not overeat again.

Not on Track but Doing Well

Weight this morning (before eating but after drinking water, in Wilson): 148.25 lbs

I've lost about 4 lbs in 2 weeks, which is a little slower than I would have liked but it is in the safe losing range of 1-2 lbs/week. I doubt I'll get to 142.25 lbs by the end of the month, which was my goal, but I think I can get to 145 lbs, which was sort of also my goal based on a different starting weight. :)

I'm going whitewater rafting this weekend! Saturday's meals and Sunday breakfast are kind of out of my control but I'll try to keep portion sizes reasonable. Also I expect it to be a good workout and great fun.

Dessert Danger

Tuesday was a good day for spending less but not for slimming down. Pizza for lunch and a cookout at a friend's house for dinner (I did have to buy some fruit to bring, but ended up taking home most of it). I went a little crazy at the end of the cookout though and had dessert. Not just one type of dessert, but three. And seconds! I thought it wouldn't matter too much because the dessert were so small, but my estimations showed them to be very calorie-dense. In all I ate about 2400 calories that day, or twice what I usually do! Scary part: if I had stopped before dessert, I would have been right in my target range. Look at this distribution of calories!:

Good News, Bad News: Pizza

Every week at lab meeting we get Papa John's pizza, which is my favorite. Because my advisor is going to Singapore, this week was our last lab meeting until Labor Day! Good news: don't feel obligated to eat such calorie-dense food once a week. Bad news: no more free lunch.

Second Week - Still Going Strong

Just a formality right now because I've written about most of this already, but here are my official calorie and food serving counts for the past week, excluding Kyle's birthday. Kept it to the low side for calories and my average fat intake is less than 40 or 50 g like I wanted - but maybe with that extra day added in things would look a bit different! Not eating enough of any of those food groups except grains but I am eating a decent portion of each of them, though I need to make some more effort for vegetables.


I did another workout today with a friend. We went to a yoga/pilates class at noon at Wilson, but the instructor was out so a yoga guy filled in. It wasn't bad but also wasn't exactly what I wanted for a noon workout (I didn't even sweat enough to have to shower after), so I'm going to try back next week for the real class I hope.

I checked my weight (unofficially, as it was noon) and asked my friend to check hers since she knows it against her scale at home. It was 150 lbs even, so that makes a bit more sense than last time. I'll try to get in there another morning soon.

Cooking Marathon

The set of pots and pans in my apartment belongs to my roommate, who is moving out next weekend and planning on packing up her cooking stuff tomorrow. I decided to cook up a storm today so I can make it through the week using just the microwave and oven. I spent about seven hours grocery shopping and cooking!

first I boiled a whole box of whole-wheat spaghetti
next I made the interesting half of a spicy black beans, tomato, and rice dish that I like a lot and make often from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (that Kyle got me for Christmas one year and is awesome)
what really took me the bulk of the time though was:
vegetable bean chili from my Weight Watchers cookbook
sweet potato and black bean burritos filling (no tortillas yet) from here

I watched like half a season of The Office while I cooked and cleaned. The weird thing that happens when I cook large portions, like for multiple meals, is that I usually don't get hungry. Today I ate breakfast, then around 4:00 PM I had another snack. After I finished all the cooking around 9:30 PM I told myself that I really should eat something, so I had one portion of the vegetable chili and some fruit. It's amounted to about 825 calories so far today. I will eat something more tonight before I go to bed because I'm going to work out tomorrow and I don't want to feel weak. It's just strange knowing that you should eat something and not really wanting to. I'm looking forward to having all the food I made today starting tomorrow!

Passing on Dessert

Saturday was a bit of an off day because I was so busy. I ate a big breakfast and then had food out of my own house for the rest of the day. I kept it to reasonable portions but the foods were more calorically dense than I would prefer. I was proud of one point: I ate one plate of bar-be-que food for dinner and then stopped. There were two delicious-looking desserts sitting right in front of me (brownies and banana pudding) but I abstained. (I'm not against desserts in general, just I knew I'd had enough junkish food that day.) Hours later I was really happy about that decision, and definitely not hungry.

I didn't work out on Saturday, but I got some pretty good exercise scrubbing bathrooms for 2-3 hours. I was dripping sweat!

Confused

I worked out this afternoon! Kyle was playing racquetball with some other guys after work so I went to the gym at the same time. I did 45 minutes of aerobic and about 15 minutes of body circuits. Afterwards, I checked my weight. I'm weighing myself only in the morning before eating or drinking, which is supposed to be my lowest weight of the day and the most consistent day-to-day. However, I checked my weight after working out, just to see it - I was expecting it to be around the same or slightly higher than last time (152.25 lbs). The scale told me I weighed 147.75 lbs! While that is in the realm of the possible (unlike my roommate's scale the other day, which said 226 lbs) I find it unlikely that those pounds would have disappeared in such a short amount of time, especially without exercising and a day off. So I suspect the scale is not consistent or calibrated or something, but I guess I'll keep using it until another one is available or it becomes very obvious that it's wrong.

First Day Off Report

I guess yesterday was kind of a day off because I indulged by eating out twice. There's basically no way to get an accurate estimate of what I ate because neither restaurant puts their nutrition data online. I'm positive I went over my guidelines, if not for lunch then definitely for dinner. I didn't want to take a day off so early in the program, but it was a special day.

My friends in my program went out to lunch at Cuban Revolution in the American Tobacco District - I spent about $9 and had a "Cuban Salad." I didn't look too bad for me - Romaine lettuce, black beans, little bit of cheese, onions, few maduros. I didn't put dressing on it because it was quite tasty on its own. But it was quite a giant salad and I ate nearly all of it.

I took Kyle out to dinner at Blu for his birthday. It's a pretty nice seafood restaurant in downtown Durham, and I recommend it. The food was absolutely delicious - I felt like Kyle and I were both food critics (in a good way) because we were dissecting the meals into their various wonderful tastes and discussing them. I had shrimp and grits (picture at right from here), because that seems like a southern thing and I'd never tried it anywhere else - it was divine! Aside from the shrimp and grits and a butter sauce the dish had asparagus, mushrooms, and applewood bacon. Luckily the dish was not in enormous American proportions so I was full but not stuffed after eating all of it. I also had a crabcake (Kyle and I split the appetizer) and three bites of Kyle's dish, mostly scallops. The meal would have beeen about $55 or $60 but I had a $25 gift certificate from Restaurant.com that I paid $2 for, so we ended up paying only $35 total! That's the way to eat out at nice places when you can't really afford it, I suppose, though the one meal was still nearly half of my eating-out budget for the month. I jokingly told Kyle that he's going to be underwriting some of my meals out for the rest of the month and he said no way - you better hope you have a birthday this month! Which I do. :)

After dinner we walked down 9th Street to Francesca's where Kyle ordered some gelato and a cannoli. I had one-and-a-half bites of the gelato and one bite of cannoli. Later in the evening, I ate four mint Oreos - my one real cheat so far, because I just wanted them for the taste.

As far as food groups go, I had almost zero fruit (only the maduros, and I'm not 100% sure they are fruit) and probably very little dairy (bit of cheese on the salad, whatever it took to make the grits and the sauce, and the tiny bit of gelato). I think my only vegetables for the day were the lettuce in the salad and the asparagus on my shrimp and grits, so definitely not enough there. Good bit of meat and grains, but I bet a lot of the calories came from the not-in-a-food-group stuff like the butter sauce and dessert.

My Life Story - Slimming Down Half

As long as I can remember I've been pudgy/overweight a bit, but I don't think I started characterizing myself as fat, really, until after college. Or at least, too fat.

My parents don't have super eating habits and are both overweight (but they weren't when they were my age - they were pretty dedicated athletes), and going out to a restaurant was pretty special when I was a kid. I virtually never ate fast food, didn't drink soda, and wasn't allowed to eat chips. I played soccer and tennis throughout my childhood. I topped out at 5'2" sometime in middle school.

In high school I stepped up my athletic commitment. Freshman year I played soccer and tennis still, then dropped soccer for crew. We trained really hard - I learned how to push myself in a way that I'm actually scared to do now (psychological scarring?). My off-season weight was about 140 lbs, and during senior year in season I remember being between 132 and 136 lbs. That was the best shape I've ever been in, and I really worked for it! I tried to eat a bit healthy (avoiding junk food) but certainly ate as much as I wanted.

During college I still had this mindset that I could eat however much I wanted, even though I stopped working out practically at all for some of the years. Freshman year we had to take a physical fitness course (I did running) and senior year I took a weightlifting class, and those were the only times I was consistently working out aside from the three semesters I did club crew. I don't really know what my weight was doing for most of college because I didn't have a scale, but I guess it didn't bother me much that I was more out of shape because I knew I wasn't working for it and also eating anything/everything at the dining hall. I injured my knee doing something dumb sophomore year and never did the proper physical therapy to repair it, so I still can't run very far without it hurting enough to stop me. I continually hope that committing to a strengthening program will help me lengthen the distance, but haven't created and stuck to one.

After I graduated my weight really started creeping up. I hit the dreaded 150 lb mark sometime in the fall, even though I was definitely eating less. That was pretty shocking. I think my metabolism chose that moment to slow. For a few months I did some circuits every morning when I woke up - pushups, crunches, squats, that kind of thing, but quit when I didn't see any effect. I rarely went to the gym. I did climb a huge escalator every day going in to work, and I made contests with myself to see if I could take even more steps to get to the top (I usually did about 105 steps - no slouch for first thing in the morning!). In the spring I had to buy new clothes for grad school interviews and I was a size larger than what I'd been for most of high school and college.

The health metric that finally got me off my ass, though, was my blood pressure, which I never even thought about before that winter. I have the details here, but basically it was in the prehypertension zone and I found that unacceptable. That was one of the reasons to keep track of more than just calories and fat - so I could see my sodium intake.

So I tracked my calories for a couple months and started working out a bit again. I stepped up my workouts later on, following a program. I stuck with it for about 3.5 months and lost somewhere between 20 and 25 lbs. The first 15 lbs came off without really any external appearance changes, but I finally got some compliments from friends and family in the last 5 lbs, so that felt nice. I had a goal of getting to 130 lbs in time for a pre-grad school cruise with Kyle and two of our college friends - I think my last weigh-in before that was about 131 or 132 lbs, so that was pretty good. I felt okay-comfortable in my bikini.

Of course, I probably gained at least 5 lbs on the cruise - that's what they're all about! That didn't worry me too much. I really lost control after moving to Durham and starting school. At first it was all the free food - I'm stingy, so I like to accept that when I have the opportunity. And it was eating with Kyle a lot - he eats way less healthy than I was last spring and goes out to eat way more often. We tend to hang out at his place more than mine and so I eat his food a lot. I just dropped all the tracking and portion control. I also stopped working out regularly.

And so I've gotten back to this point, the 155 lb point, where I started last April. I have confidence that I can lose the weight again, but I know I have to accept that it's going to look different from "last time." I have less time for cooking and more social committments. But even though I gained all the pounds back from my last weight-loss journey, I did keep my blood pressure down (consistently). I measured it today and it was 112/68. :) And I've learned that I enjoy cooking (especially with reruns of "The Office" on in the background) even though it can be kind of expensive. I'm excited to try out some new recipes soon.

Candace Cameron on Weight Loss/Maintanance

Candance Cameron, who played "DJ" on Full House, had a column on a Christian Women's online newspaper that I was browsing through today. Turns out she talks a bit about her weight loss from when she was a young adult and maintaining it in her adulthood. She was featured in an US Weekly magazine several months ago - check out the cover and her columns on weight loss here. It's pretty solid, standard advice but it's nice to see a real-life example! Also, she's the same height as I am - and her starting point is my current end point goal. :)

Hasn't Budged!

Weigh-in #2 this morning. Conservatively, I expected to have lost a pound, realistically two. But I was at 152.25 lbs, and half a pound is noise as far as I'm concerned. Hmmm. I hope I haven't slowed my metabolism dramatically. Time to start working out I guess!

Superfoods Rx

Superfoods Rx by Stephen Pratt and Kathy Matthews is a great book. I read it last year. I don't know if I can completely believe all the conclusions they come to about why certain foods are better than others (Kyle always says "show me the studies"!) especially after reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, but it at least gave me an idea of the variety of foods that I should be eating and provided some good recipes. Also, each of the foods listed below actually represents a group of foods. I think I'll read it again when I can find it at the library, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested in nutrition (also, Michael Pollan's books, for anti-nutrition).

Beans -- reduce obesity
Blueberries -- lower risk for cardiovascular disease
Broccoli -- lowers the incidence of cataracts and fights birth defects
Oats -- reduce the risk of type II diabetes
Oranges -- prevent strokes
Pumpkin -- lowers the risk of various cancers
Wild salmon -- lowers the risk of heart disease
Soy -- lowers cholesterol
Spinach -- decreases the chance of cardiovascular disease and age-related macular degeneration
Tea -- helps prevent osteoporosis
Tomatoes -- raise the skin's sun protection factor
Turkey -- helps build a strong immune system
Walnuts -- reduce the risk of developing coronary heart disease, diabetes, and cancer
Yogurt-promotes strong bones and a healthy heart

First Almost-Week of Calorie Tracking

Alright, here's the stats for my first few days at this (Thursday to Monday). You can see the anomalous July 4 - apparently when left to my own devices, I eat only bread and meat! How terrible! I think the rest of the days are good though, as far as calories go - I'd like to see the amount of fat under 50 g/day. I'm doing okay with getting the various food groups as well, though usually not as much of any one as I should be getting.


I worked out one time during this period - an hour of light singles tennis with Kyle. I should try to hit the gym a couple times this week (mornings! I never go if I leave it for the afternoon).

I'm only keeping track of calories and fat this go-round. Last time I tracked those as well as sodium, total carbohydrates (separate fiber and sugar) and protein, but for evaluations I really only ever used calories and fat so I decided to dispense with the extra baggage. That information is sometimes also a little difficult to find for some brands, restaurants, or cookbooks.

I guess for now I won't post the actual food I eat each day, since it would take up a lot of space and probably be a bit boring. Please say something if you want to see it. If cheating or something becomes a problem I'll start posting it all. :) Also, I expect to take some meals or days off every so often to eat whatever I like - maybe a full day once every two weeks - so expect some blanks.

Rookie Mistake: Not Eating

Yesterday started out as an awesome day, both for slimming down and spending less. My friends were taking a day trip to the beach and meeting at IHOP for breakfast before leaving. Kyle and I packed a lunch to eat a the beach (sandwiches, pretzels) and I ate breakfast (oatmeal) before going to IHOP. So I felt pretty good about sticking to my plan at the beginning of the day.

I don't know about you, but when I go to the beach my body just sort of shuts down and I don't feel like eating - the same thing happens when I fly. Around 3 PM I finally got a bit hungry and ate half my sandwich. Right before we left around 4:30 PM, even though I wasn't hungry again I ate the other half of my sandwich so that I wouldn't get hungry on our ride home. So far so good, except that I drank almost nothing all day, so I bought a Gatorade at a gas station on the way back to Durham.

Back in Durham, we showered and planned to go to our friends' house for a bar-be-que, but by the time we were ready it was time to go see fireworks. On the drive to the Durham Bulls stadium, I realized that, while I wasn't hungry/thirsty at that moment, when I got hungry it was going to be really bad. I told Kyle that since we missed the bar-be-que we should get dinner right after the fireworks.

After a driving and parking ordeal, we got to the stadium and ended up standing in a walkway for a view of the end of the baseball game. I started feeling faint. Kyle went and got me some water while I sat down, and that made me feel a bit better, but I knew ultimately I needed food. So Kyle bought me a foot-long hot dog with ketchup, of which I ate three-fifths. Sporting event food grosses me out but this was necessary. I felt much, much better almost immediately.

After the fireworks, instead of getting a proper dinner at one of our houses or out (I felt that was a good option since I passed up two out-meals earlier in the day) we went to the house of our friends whose bar-be-que we missed earlier in the day for some more fireworks. Thankfully they had a lot of leftover food, so I ate a little bit of real food and some desserts.

Okay, this was a very classic example of what not to do when you're trying to eat well. I should definitely have eaten more during the day, either of food that I packed myself or restaurant food, so I wouldn't have gotten so faint and desparate in a place where the only food options are notoriously horrible. I haven't looked up yet what the calories and fat are in a ball-park hot dog but I'm sure I'm going to be grossed out. We could have packed more healthy snacks with us for when we went to the fireworks so that I could have pulled something out of my purse. And I shouldn't have put myself in a position later on where most of my options for a very late dinner were cookout food or desserts (although I was very happy that my friends provided food at all).

Again, a good day gone horribly wrong, food-wise, and I still need to pay Kyle back for the water and hot dog. I'll learn from my mistakes today.

Fast Brunch

I'm late to work (sort of - I can't tell if it's a holiday) but I still wanted to make a decent filling lunch before going in. My philosophy is to hide vegetables inside other things, and that cheese makes everything better.

Broccoli cheese scrambled eggs (2 servings):
heat 1 tbsp olive oil
add 2 cloves galic
stir-fry 2 cups chopped broccoli
add 6 beaten eggs
cook until scrambled
add 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
sprinkle on cayenne pepper
totals for one serving (pictured): 436.5 calories, 30.1 g fat, [FDA guidelines] 1 cup vegetables, 3/4 cup milk, 3 oz meat

When I cook, I tend to follow recipes to the T or just throw things together in a frying pan. Don't take this recipe for gospel or anything - it's just improvisation, and I'm not much of a cook!

I ate about 3/4 of the eggs before deciding I was full - learning to listen to my stomach! :)

Most Impactful Component

Haphazard dieting or resolving to get more exercise never worked for me for actually losing weight - it wasn't until I not only started listing the food I ate but actually breaking out the measuring spoons and counting calories and other nutritional data that I was able to lose some serious weight. That is why this time, before even changing my exercise habits, I am going to track all the food that goes into my body to the highest precision I can. And I have looked to some sources for guidelines for the total number of calories I should be eating daily as well as the proportion of the various food groups. Ultimately I will listen to my body telling me to eat more or less, but it helps to have some ranges to shoot for.

I picked two respectable-sounding sources from the internet and used their food pyramid tools - one from the FDA and one from the Mayo Clinic. They give two pretty different sets of suggestions.





I like the FDA pyramid better for a couple reasons: (1) It separates protein/dairy into separate categories so I know better how to balance them. (2) It uses real measures of cups and ounces instead of "servings" which I always have to look up. I also don't agree with either of the calorie suggestions (based on my previous experience), and I'll probably aim for 1400-1600 calories/day. Both sites are rich in weight-loss information, but I am more familiar with and therefor partial to the FDA site.

Of course, calorie-counting wouldn't be possible without a good database of nutritional information available. I'm using Calorie Count for the moment, and in another post I'll go through some of the other options and explain why I'm working with this one. Also, I'm not currently using any online trackers - I prefer to have total control with Excel. It's more work to get started but easy once I have my regular foods and recipes entered.

Starting Point Weight

Official Starting Point Weight: 152.75 lbs

The scale in the Wilson women's locker room is no longer broken (I hope)!

Starting Point

Welcome to my pounds-losing, dollars-increasing new blog! I feel that weight and money are linked to some extent – at least when I eat out a lot, I tend to gain weight and feel less healthy. In the last few months I’ve noticed my waistline expanding and my checking account shrinking and I’ve resolved to do something about it. This blog is going to track my weight loss as well as any other health and fitness measures I would like to add though a food and exercise log that I will post approximately weekly. More generally, it will be a place where I discuss the process – eating heathier/less, working out, cooking, spending less money eating out, grocery shopping, playing sports, online tools and calculators, and so on. But it will mostly serve as accountability for me during this process, as I haven’t invited any people into my life just yet to check up on and support me. So your comments and suggestions are very welcome. I occasionally documented my last (and quite successful, for a time) weight-loss journey on my other blog, but because I want to go absolutely OCD on the internet about this, I decided to separate the two.

My starting point:
I thought about posting a “before” picture, but that’s just, wow, way to personal and embarrassing. So I’m going to settle for some numbers that probably won’t mean much to anyone else but will serve as a characterization of my current status.
weight: I’m going to check this tomorrow morning on the scale I’ll be using most often, but I think I’m at about 155 lbs
measurements (inches) – these were literally taken with my construction tape measure instead of a sewing one, so they’re a little iffy!:
natural waist – 32.5 in.
waist – 36 in.
hips (widest part) – 42.5 in.
thigh – 25 in.
chest (sternum) – 35 in.
arm – 12 in.

What I think are reasonable weight goals for the start, based on the last time I did this:
August 1 – 145 lbs
September 1 – 140 lbs
November 15 – 130 lbs

And we’re off!