A Diet is Forever

I tried to read Skinny Bitch. Many trusted friends swore by it. “It will change your life!” “You will never look at meat the same way!” The title was appealing. Skinny Bitch. Isn’t that what every woman says to herself when passing a supermodel on the sidewalk? Or whispers as a tiny waist-ed co-worker saunters past in impossibly tall heels?

I made an earnest effort, even bought the book because I thought it would be a keeper. I get it – the conversational prose, the ‘no-bull’ tactics to nutrition, the fear mongering to turn omnivores to a vegans … but do you have to talk down to me to get your point across?

In record time the book found its way back to a Borders (RIP) the same day it came home. Mistake number one: Buying a book without ever opening the cover. Mistake number two: thinking a diet book would magically make me skinny. An apology should be issued here for my lovers of this book: I’m sorry. It’s just not for me.

If you’re looking for a book about food and diet that is honest and aware, pick up Michael Pollan’s Omivores Dillema. I’m working through it right now. Also, watch the documentary Food, Inc. As a consumer of food you should increase your knowledge about the food industry and understand how what you consume is not what it appears to be.

My last two rants from my soapbox: 

(1) I hate hate HATE when people say to me, “I am on a diet!” Images of cabbage soup and slim fast shakes fill my head. The first definition of the word “diet”: a : food and drink regularly provided or consumed – fourth on the list d : a regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one's weight.

I could expound on this all day. Everyone is on a diet. You may be on a gluten-free diet, a vegan diet… as long as you are putting food in your mouth, you are on a diet. If you want to use definition four, see to it that you are modifying your diet to be nutritious and sustainable. Make meaningful decisions to eat fresher and purer foods and develop healthy habits for life.

(2) Just because you are trying to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle does not mean you must end your love affair with food. I listened to this interview with author Jane McClaren. Pick up a copy of her book Honest Eating. I’m going to do it, you should too.

Fall off this planet

My last entry splashed at the end of January, 6 months ago. Between then, I'd wrestled down weight that I gained in conjunction with stress and anxiety. I hiked 50+ miles in Yosemite National Park. I began biking regularly on the Katy Trail. I placed third in a workplace walk-a-thon (81.3 miles in 8 weeks to be exact).

Not much has changed, but one thing does stand out - it's a lot harder to stay focused on exercise when I don't have a goal.

A goal? That's right. A goal. When I started this blog, my goal was to lose weight for my wedding (in the months after our engagement I ballooned up to the most I had ever weighed in my life... who knew Chipotle, Buffalo Wild Wings and beer weren't part of a healthy diet? I kid.) And the weight loss came easy - four days at the gym, two days of outdoor activities. It was a simple challenge and I enjoyed it, I was convinced I'd keep it going for good.

But as life tends to do, I was thrown a curve ball. Stress and anxiety began piling on. What was once a healthy routine became a chore. Depression set in. I didn't like the idea of admitting this, but I went to see my doctor anyway and the numbers were confirmed - I had put on nearly 10 lbs in 6 weeks and it wasn't my thyroid. Though it didn't look like it, I felt it all over - the slugishness, the bloating the tiredness.

Why would I want to blog about my un-fitness? Isn't that a little, well, antithetical? I fell off the face of the blogosphere with as much notice as a dribbling drop. I haven't made a big enough splash to leave any audiences pining.

After reading an inspring story from a co-worker on how she overcame her fear of running, I decided to sign up for my first 5k. My husband runs a 5k as his workout, so for me to run a race would invovle some serious training (note: my preferred method of pedestrian transport is walking). So I've hooked up with a running coach and I've got a workout plan in place. Here's to picking up my feet and keeping the blog up to date... I'm 62 days away from running a race!

(holy crap)

When you hit a wall... my philosophies on beating the weight-loss plateau

This entry was inspired by one of my aunts who reached out to me about hitting a plateau with her diet and exercise.  I've read a lot of this advice before, but a lot of it is also intuition.

Last night's Biggest Loser featured many of the contestants busting their butts, then stepping on the scale to unusually lower numbers of weight-loss (many in the smaller single digits). 

This really hit home for me: I started my weight-loss in the middle of January.  When I stepped on that scale with my trainer next to me, all I saw were the glaring numbers. 147.8.  Holy.   By the end of March, I was maintaining an eight-pound loss.  I changed my diet considerably and I ramped up my physical activity.  But now that we're creeping into April, just 8 weeks from the wedding, I've hit a wall.  I stepped off the elliptical and onto the scale: 139.6.  I am just three and a half pounds away from my short goal!

So it's time for me to revist some principles that my fitness mentor shared with me early in the challenge:
Keep. Mixing. It. Up.  From the dynamic fitness to the dining room table, the easiest and best way to weight-loss is variablity.

Dining Room Table: Don't Cheat Your Caloric Intake!

Think about what you eat.  Dee did this to me everytime we had a training session together.  I'd be burning through squats on an inverted bosu ball and he'd ask me "What did you eat today?"  It takes a second, but you can usually recall what you've eaten by the end of the day.  Now, if you can say that you're eating the same thing for all your meals and snacks for five days out of the week, you might be running into the diet wall.
Metabolism is a tricky thing.  I don't purport to have any special knoweldge about the metabolism, but using some of the knowledge I've gathered about it, I think of my whole body as a machine and my metabolism is the engine and what I'm eating is my fuel source.  Here's another way of thinking about it:  you have a long week of work or school and you're not sleeping enough.  You learn to cope with the exhaustion, you take the bus instead of drive or you drink more coffee.  Your mind isn't as sharp as it would be after a good night's rest, but you manage to get things done at a slower pace. 

Now if you’ve already drastically reduced your calories AND you’re maintaining your intense workout schedule, your metabolism (much like a sleep version of you) may have actually slowed down because it’s learned to keep on working in “starvation” mode... it'll keep you alive, but not in the best capacity.  Jillian Michaels explained it best on last night's Biggest Loser:  Eat a strict diet three days a week, eat moderately two days a week, and give yourself additional wiggle room on the weekends.  Doing this keeps your metabolism burning at a higher rate since you're mixing it up - and it also keeps you motivated & rewarded for working so hard.  This is exactly what my mentor told me and it is nice to know that come Saturday night with friends, I don't have to feel so guilty about french fries.

If you’re working with a nutritionist, you might want to ask about how you can modify your caloric intake to meet your energy needs. For myself, I do mostly portion control and when I do have to have starches I try to go for foods low on the glycemic index (think of these as long lasting fuels that don’t store as fat as quickly). If your diet does allow for some of these foods, look to all the whole grains: bulgur wheat, brown rice, steel cut oats, quinoa are all good starches that keep you full and are relatively low on the glycemic index. Quinoa is my new favorite; if you’re not familiar, it’s a whole grain that has the complex amino acids of a stable protein (such as chicken or fish) and it’s vegan!  Variety is the spice of life and with how many meals you eat in a day, don't let Monday look the same as Friday.


Dynamic Fitness: Muscle Confusion and Kicking Boredom

My philosophy behind my fitness regimen is based on the principles muscle confusion, popularized by  the P90X (tm) workout system & the Dynamic Fitness Method (tm).   Aerobic exercise can get stale - running, ellipticals, even spinning... Zumba classes are great but over time you've seen the routine and you're not sweating.  Cardio is definitely an important part to losing weight and it enhances your endurance, but some people can actually see more results when doing workouts that utilize different parts of the body every day.  You name it, it fits.

Some modules of muscle confusion workouts go on a week by week basis... one week of strength training, another week of stretching and elongating for recovery, etc.  Other modules rely on incorporating strength and weight training into circuits.  Whatever your cup of tea, muscle confusion can be very liberating.  Why?  Because you aren't doing the same darn thing over and over and over again for weeks on end.  Not only are you mixing up your gym routine, you're adding new activities and finding fitness in all new places. 

Here are some of the activities that litter my workout schedule:

Walking the 4 mile trail by my house
Hip-Hop Dance Class

Ballroom Lessons
Hitting the bag (90 lb punching bag in our basement)
Gym routines in any combination of duration but no less than 30 minutes:

• Elliptical
• Running
• Biking
• Weight training

Power Vinyasa Yoga
Pilates
Zumba
Turbo-kick
Rock Climbing (bouldering and top-roping at the rock gym)
Home circuit training with 5 lb weights or 10 lb paint cans

Also, because of my knee problems I try to keep high-impact days spaced out to ensure my knee has rest in between.  For example, I'll run one day and the next day I'll ride the bike... or if I have an exceptionally hard dance class, I'll take a walk the next day.  Formulate it however you want to, or stack two activities (sometimes after our Ballroom lessons, Hubby and I will go straight to the rock gym for two hours of top-roping).  Number one rule to muscle confusion: make sure you're giving your body ample recovery so that you aren't working one section repeatedly.  Some of those low-impact activities I've listed have become my favorite part beucase I can do some of these activities with Hubby and it keeps us in shape together.  The built in recovery time and the variety to this workout strategy allow me to incorporate all kinds of activities into my fitness routine so that it doesn't become mundane.

Pushing Past the Plateau: My Strategy for the Three Pounds

I'm five days away from my first dress fitting.  Though I'm finally back into a shape that I'm happy with, I want to make sure I'm also striving to meet my goal.  Hubby and I will be travelling seperately for the next week which means a lot of eating out.  When I fly, I look for all sorts of comforts - fried foods, wine, etc.  To get myself ready for the onslaught of restaruant food and alcohol I'll have over my bachelorette party weekend, I'm opting to eat light and clean until I get on that airplane.  I'm also making sure to get a work out in every day - Monday I danced, Tuesday I went to the gym, Wednesday I'll do pilates, and Thursday morning I'll try to get to the bike, even if for 30 minutes... it's better than nothing!  When I get to my destination, I'll squeeze in a light run and maybe even some Yoga.  With all the variety that travel can bring, it doesn't hurt to think out of the box to find fresh meals and fitness.