Bingeing

M&Ms, cannoli, mini ice-cream cone, animal crackers, pretzels. I threw out the Vienna fingers this a.m.

Tomorrow is another day.

I gained 5 pounds over the weekend

We went out for dinner and were going to have a class of red wine at an Indian Restaurant. We ate on program but I had two glasses of red wine. We had friends over after dinner, a little more red wine. Easter Sunday, I indulged a bit. I ate a little chocolate, lamb, shrimp and some cookies and champagne.

Today is a new day.

Sunday I'll be done with phase on of South Beach

I will have lost 4 pounds as of today. I am staying in the 139 to 143 range for the last 6 or 8 weeks. I did walk yesterday so exercise may be my last resort though I have no desire to be a gym rat. Anyway, I'll keep plugging away. I feel pretty good but am way far from my goal of losing 14 more pounds.

My husband wants to go out to dinner tonite and have one glass of red wine. I am stressing about the calories. Crazy that I am at this point.

140 lbs but look and feel thinner...how can that be?

Apparently it can be true. There are so many factors that keep the scale where it is. Glycogen levels that are higher, hold in water. Where are you in you menstrual cycle. Salt intake (I am eating a lot of salted almonds). How much water are you drinking. The less water you drink, the more you retain.

So while I was bumming this morning over weighing the same for nearly 10 days. I do feel thinner. While I was kvetching about my lack of weight loss, my son said "No one cares if you're fat or thin." I'm not sure how to take that comment...but the reality is, I care! And I'm working hard.

Yes, I am open about my weight troubles. I've read you are not supposed to talk about dieting, especially in front of daughters. But I say, "This is life, my life and I don't believe in hiding stuff from my kids." I don't believe that kids don't notice when there mom is dieting on the sly...kids know everything!

Six to Eight Weeks at the same weight. Is this my ideal?

I find it hard to believe a 5'3" person's ideal weight is 140 lbs. but so be it. I could exercise more but am not going to. I will continue to eat healthy because I feel pretty good and it is the right thing to do. If I go back to my bad habits, I will gain weight and feel crappy.

Lose your weight before you enter perimenopause!

This is very difficult, mentally. I am eating very light and the weight is hanging on. I am not craving because I am avoiding any triggers...and eating light, fish and veggies and keeping busy...

I probably should have done this before menopause

I am back down to 139 but probably because I didn't eat dinner last night. I made a dish of roasted veggies and shrimp for lunch. I was full halfway through (miracle of miracles!) and ended up eating the last bit at 3:30. I had some nuts at dinner time.

This feeling of hunger or not is what hunger feels like. Once you eat enough you get full and can't and don't want to eat anything else. A feeling of insatiable hunger is a craving. You want to avoid all foods that give you that feeling. For me it is not only sugary things, but anything with white flour, red meat, cheese, fried stuff like french fries and chips of all kinds. Read on.

The Rising Childhood Obesity Epidemic
Posted on March 10, 2011 by helenpapas| Leave a comment

March 04, 2011

Helen Papaconstantinos, R.N.C.P., R.O.H.P.

http://helenpapas.wordpress.com/category/glycemic-index/

Another reason to stay away – cheap processed food is biologically addictive:

Foods made ‘in a plant’ (rather than grown on a plant), as Michael Pollan would say, are biologically addictive.[17] Sugar stimulates the brain’s reward centers through the neurotransmitter dopamine exactly like other addictive drugs.[18] Brain imagining (PET scans) show that high-sugar and high-fat foods work just like heroin, opium, or morphine in the brain.[19] Both obese people and drug addicts have fewer dopamine receptors, making them more likely to crave things that boost dopamine and that feeling of reward. Foods high in fats will also raise opiate-like substances. And just like drugs, after an initial period of “enjoyment” the user starts regularly consuming them to feel normal.

Gained a Pound! Are you kidding me?

I am only eating fish and veggies and nuts. How can this happen? The only think I can think is that I didn't eat dinner til 8 and was starving and wolfed down a lot of shrimp and roasted veggies...

Quick weight loss and counting

There is something to be said for dropping 4 lbs in 4 days. I don't care if its water weight. My clothes are looser and I have a plan for maintaining...Anyway I am eating lots of vegetables, no fruit, no dairy, no carbs, except some beans which have carbs and hummus. The only animal I am eating is fish.

The good news: I had already been off to a good start getting off sugar, caffeine and dairy and except for a couple of transgressions I have basically been off those for nearly 2 months.

Two weeks on no carbs and then I'll add fruit and brown rice back in. Now that I am not eating these I realize I was eating a lot of fruit and a lot of brown rice, tortilla chips and french fries. Although I was maintaining my weight with those little treats, I think I need to rethink that in the future.

Adding fish to diet, took out carbs- lost 3 lbs

The good news: I've lost 3 lbs in 3 days! I feel motivated. I realized I was eating a lot of carbs on the vegan diet (My think vegan friend told me there are fat vegans!) I was not only eating brown rice and brown rice cakes but french fries and a lot of tortilla chips. I was able to maintain my weight for 5 weeks with these treats. So once I lose the weight doing the no carbs I may go back to being a vegan. Or I may stick with some fish. We'll see.

I feel good, was a little tired yesterday. Jumped rope, lifted weights and walked. No yoga, feeling tired from the adjustment.

Going to do no carbs for 2 weeks!

Yes, I've given up on Vegan for now. I went to Florida for the weekend. It was a little stressful, did not have enough food choices in the house and when we went to a restaurant and asked for vegetarian choices (not even vegan!) the nasty waiter informed me I should have called it in! I'm thinking it's not an airline! Anyway, I ordered shrimp, vegetables and risotto. It was delicious and no adverse effects.

I am extremely discouraged but will do phase 1 of south beach but with no dairy and see if I can jump start this weight loss. I'll be eating fish and veggies, no dairy or meat or chicken, lamb, etc.

Wish me luck!

Jumping Rope, My New Cardio Exercise

I am still craving sweets from my Sunday travels; exhausted and thinking about food. I spent the afternoon and evening reading an entire romance novel to keep my mind of the cravings. I really feel crappy, exhausted and unmotivated. It happens every time I go off sweets. I've also been craving fish.

The good news: I can maintain my weight on this vegan plan and still be satisfied. The bad news, still haven't lost that 15 lbs I'd been hoping to. Starting next week I am gong to do 2 weeks with no starchy carbs to see if I can jump start the weight loss. I am waiting until next week as I am traveling this weekend.

I was thinking of acquiring a stairmaster to get my cardio in but then read the following article in the Wall Street Journal about jumping rope. It says if you can jump for 10 minutes you are in moderately good shape. I did 5 minutes, with a rest in between each minute. It was hard. The good new is is that it is a fast all-over workout.

Learning the Ropes
Forget the treadmill. To get fit quickly and easily this spring, do like boxers do and jump around

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[jumpropes1] Photographs by F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Styling by Anne Cardenas

THE SEGMENTED ROPE | Because the rope is covered in durable plastic, this is the ideal choice if you jump on rough, outdoor surfaces. Lifeline USA Segmented Power Rope, $12, amazon.com

Peter Nestler, who jumps rope for a living, recently executed an extended double dutch sequence for Adam Sandler's next movie, "Jack and Jill," as Mr. Sandler's stand-in. When he was finished, Katie Holmes, the film's co-star, approached Mr. Nestler, he said, and told him it was the most amazing thing she'd ever seen.

I know the feeling. I jump rope out on the street in Astoria, Queens, for exercise, observed by my coterie of elderly Eastern Europeans.

"When's the fight?" one asked recently.

Traditionally the turf of the boxing ring and schoolyard, jumping rope is nearly perfect exercise in terms of conditioning, cost-benefit and convenience. It's just you, a rope, a pair of shoes and the ground.

It is a kind of complete physical engagement that few other activities offer. And once you catch the "swing," it's pretty satisfying stuff: a personal lyricism that jogging and other aerobics will never have.

"To coordinate that kind of rhythm, the whole body has to be in sync—core, shoulders, legs," said Brian Nguyen, the actor Mark Wahlberg's personal trainer. Mr. Nguyen trained with Mr. Wahlberg for his role in last year's film "The Fighter." "It's a very intense movement for the body," he explained.

Jumping is also gentler and kinder, though. "You're getting the most bang for your buck, because you're working almost every part of your body, but there's not the impact of running, because of the way the foot lands," said Alexis Colvin, an assistant professor of sports medicine in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan.
THE PURIST'S SPEED ROPE
[JUMPROPES] F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, styling by Anne Cardenas

Many pros use uncomplicated, inexpensive plastic ropes—sometimes simpler is better. Orange Crush, $8, punkrope.com

John Snow, the manager of Trinity Boxing Gym in Lower Manhattan, has basic pointers. He has me jump in place, without a rope, practicing my arm movement: elbows to my sides, turning the wrist and bending and rolling the elbow, breathing through my nose, setting a pace, staying focused and loose. Mr. Snow called it "controlled relaxation," an eloquent attitude towards life, as well as rope jumping.

Tim Haft, who leads the Punk Rope class at the Greenpoint YMCA in Brooklyn, stresses the importance of sizing the rope you use. Most ropes can be adjusted by making knots next to the handles. "Stand on the middle of the rope with one foot," he said. "The handles should come up to just below your shoulders."

Mr. Haft uses an inexpensive plastic-cord "speed" rope with simple handles. Ropes with ball-bearing handles are also available and can facilitate your swing. Weighted ropes will give your arms and upper body more exercise; plastic-bead ropes are sturdier for outdoor jumping on harder surfaces, though you should be using a giving platform like a pliant wooden floor, a mat or grass. Cotton-cord and leather ropes look great; no one except stylists use them.

Shoes are important too. Wear something flat, like a cross-trainer or a wrestling shoe, not a running shoe. When you jump, land on the ball of your foot, not your heel.

Like most trainers I spoke to, Frank Powers of Serpico Powers training studio in Manhattan bases his rope routine with clients on a boxer's three-minute round: three one-minute rounds, with a 30-second break between, then three two-minute rounds, then three three-minute rounds.

"When you can jump for 10 minutes comfortably, you're at a decent fitness level," he said.

But for me, it's all about the "swing," casually watching the cars go by on 28th Avenue, the steady exhilaration of the light-footed step and sailing repeatedly up into the air. Michael George, an ex-boxer who has trained Julianne Moore and others, likened it to a dance—that's exactly what it is.
—William L. Hamilton
THE ERGONOMIC ROPE
[JUMPROPES] F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, styling by Anne Cardenas

The Ergonomic Rope

Fancy handles mean you'll be able to workout more comfortably, longer. Harbinger Trigger Handle, $11, amazon.com
THE HIGH TECH ROPE
[jumpropes2] Photographs by F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Styling by Anne Cardenas

The High Tech Rope

The handle's swivel bearings help eliminate tangling and friction. Aero Speed, $39, buddyleejumpropes.com
THE WEIGHTED ROPE

[JUMPROPES] F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, styling by Anne Cardenas

The Weighted Rope

Go for this heavier kind of rope to give your arms and upper body a more intense workout. The Beast, $20, punkrope.com
How To: Do a Criss-Cross Jump

[HowToJumpRope]
[HowToJumpRope2]

Yale Food Addicition Scale

You may want to take this test. I believe the only way to get over an addiction is to not imbibe. My suggestion would be to figure out what foods are your trigger and then avoid them.

Yale Food Addiction Scale Gearhardt, Corbin, Brownell, 2009
Contact: ashley.gearhardt@yale.edu
This survey asks about your eating habits in the past year. People sometimes have difficulty controlling their intake of certain foods such as:
- Sweets like ice cream, chocolate, doughnuts, cookies, cake, candy, ice cream
- Starches like white bread, rolls, pasta, and rice
- Salty snacks like chips, pretzels, and crackers
- Fatty foods like steak, bacon, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, pizza, and French fries
- Sugary drinks like soda pop
When the following questions ask about “CERTAIN FOODS” please think of ANY food similar to those listed in the food group or ANY OTHER foods you have had a problem with in the past year
IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS:
Never
Once a month
2-4 times a month
2-3 times a week
4 or more times or daily
1. I find that when I start eating certain foods, I end up eating much more than planned
0
1
2
3
4
2. I find myself continuing to consume certain foods even though I am no longer hungry
0
1
2
3
4
3. I eat to the point where I feel physically ill
0
1
2
3
4
4. Not eating certain types of food or cutting down on certain types of food is something I worry about
0
1
2
3
4
5. I spend a lot of time feeling sluggish or fatigued from overeating
0
1
2
3
4
6. I find myself constantly eating certain foods throughout the day
0
1
2
3
4
7. I find that when certain foods are not available, I will go out of my way to obtain them. For example, I will drive to the store to purchase certain foods even though I have other options available to me at home.
0
1
2
3
4
8. There have been times when I consumed certain foods so often or in such large quantities that I started to eat food instead of working, spending time with my family or friends, or engaging in other important activities or recreational activities I enjoy.
0
1
2
3
4
9. There have been times when I consumed certain foods so often or in such large quantities that I spent time dealing with negative feelings from overeating instead of working, spending time with my family or friends, or engaging in other important activities or recreational activities I enjoy.
0
1
2
3
4
10. There have been times when I avoided professional or social situations where certain foods were available, because I was afraid I would overeat.
0
1
2
3
4
11. There have been times when I avoided professional or social situations because I was not able to consume certain foods there.
0
1
2
3
4
12. I have had withdrawal symptoms such as agitation, anxiety, or other physical symptoms when I cut down or stopped eating certain foods. (Please do NOT include withdrawal symptoms caused by cutting down on caffeinated beverages such as soda pop, coffee, tea, energy drinks, etc.)
0
1
2
3
4
13. I have consumed certain foods to prevent feelings of anxiety, agitation, or other physical symptoms that were developing. (Please do NOT include consumption of caffeinated beverages such as soda pop, coffee, tea, energy drinks, etc.)
0
1
2
3
4
14. I have found that I have elevated desire for or urges to consume certain foods when I cut down or stop eating them.
0
1
2
3
4
15. My behavior with respect to food and eating causes significant distress.
0
1
2
3
4
16. I experience significant problems in my ability to function effectively (daily routine, job/school, social activities, family activities, health difficulties) because of food and eating.
0
1
2
3
4
IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS:
NO
YES
17. My food consumption has caused significant psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, self-loathing, or guilt.
0
1
18. My food consumption has caused significant physical problems or made a physical problem worse.
0
1
19. I kept consuming the same types of food or the same amount of food even though I was having emotional and/or physical problems.
0
1
20. Over time, I have found that I need to eat more and more to get the feeling I want, such as reduced negative emotions or increased pleasure.
0
1
21. I have found that eating the same amount of food does not reduce my negative emotions or increase pleasurable feelings the way it used to.
0
1
22. I want to cut down or stop eating certain kinds of food.
0
1
23. I have tried to cut down or stop eating certain kinds of food.
0
1
24. I have been successful at cutting down or not eating these kinds of food
0
1
25. How many times in the past year did you try to cut down or stop eating certain foods altogether?
1 time
2 times
3 times
4 times
5 or more times
26. Please circle ALL of the following foods you have problems with:
Ice cream
Chocolate
Apples
Doughnuts
Broccoli
Cookies
Cake
Candy
White Bread
Rolls
Lettuce
Pasta
Strawberries
Rice
Crackers
Chips
Pretzels
French Fries
Carrots
Steak
Bananas
Bacon
Hamburgers
Cheese burgers
Pizza
Soda Pop
None of the above
27. Please list any other foods that you have problems with that were not previously listed:

Glad I didn't gain weight on the vacation

But I am a little disappointed that I was physically active all day and didn't lose weight! So here is the plan: Exercise more, lift weights (started yesterday), yoga and eat smaller portions.

3 nonpareils, 1 cakester, 2 vienna fingers, choco chip cookies...

Yes, I indulged yesterday. I didn't have enough healthy things to eat for the traveling yesterday and so I indulged. Surprisingly, I did not go hog wild but I did not sleep well and I am craving today. I didn't get that same feeling of "OMG, what have been missing!" I am a little disappointed that I made it so far and then indulged. Back on track with hummus and rice cakes and a smoothie this morning.

FYI, I do take fish oil for my cholesterol but still consider myself vegan. Though when I go to the doc and get my cholesterol checked, if its low, I will ask about not taking it.

Being Flexible is Important

At lunch yesterday on the mountain, they were out of veggie chili so the server recommended a veggie soup. After he got it for me he realized that there was cream in it. I ate it anyway. It was a small cup. I also ordered onion rings forgetting they were dipped in a batter made from flour. I ate a few of those. I will say I was craving later and ate some tortilla chips which I later noticed had some milk product in them! What a day.

We went out for Mexican at Rio Grand where we ate on the roof. It was gorgeous and fun. I was very excited to have been able to order veggie fajitas and gotten a real meal, sans cheese and sour cream. I did have two yummy margaritas to top the evening off and am back on track this a.m.

Traveling could be tough today because I don't have a lot of snacks. I'll try to bulk up at breakfast.

Once I get home I will get more cardio, start weight lifting again and continue with my 5 yogas a week. I did notice that you don't need big portions. Because I didn't want to feel too full while skiing, I ate less than I would at home an had plenty of energy.

Chefs Love to Make Vegan Stuff

Ten of us went out to eat last night. There was not much on the menu for me and as I was asking which items might be vegan the waiter asked if he'd like the chef to make me a stir fry. I said "sure." Out came a delicious, spicy tofu and vegetable stir fry. I couldn't finish it so my husband chowed down the rest.

Our waiter told us that the chef loves to get the chance to make something off the menu. I will say I have been eating a lot of tortilla chip and french fries. I figure I am burning a lot of calories and not eating any sugar, so what the heck. Just for the record, I still consider myself 34 days vegan. My kids are arguing that I went off the wagon trying that tiny piece of buffalo. I believe it is all about intent.