kale and ginger juice?

Maybe she does have a secret after all!

USA Today: Stephen Moyer: 'True Blood' set mimics 'Biggest Loser'

pic of the week: best idea eva!

How have I not thought of this idea yet? Let me do a quick calorie total.

Rice cakes: 70
Peanut butter: 95
Banana slices: 70
Strawberry jam: 40

= Awesome 275 cal lunch!

For more healthy food ideas and inspiring pics check out my wehearit. Stay skinny!

disappointment as motivation

Today I was totally going to write a post about a breakthrough I had with hiking, but then I did my weekly weigh-in and all that was crushed. My weight went up.

Bummer.

Me on the ride home from work: "I figured last week's 145.5 was a fluke brought on by dehydration, but this week I was at 148.8, exactly where I was two weeks ago! Zero progress in two weeks! I thought I would hang on to at least a little bit of that dip. I've been so good this week with my exercise and calorie count. What's a girl gotta do?" On and on with the dark and stormy thoughts. So, instead of bringing all this negativity home, I did not catch the last leg of my bus transfer. I got out early and took a nice 15 minute attitude adjustment walk.

Why am I flipping out so badly? This isn't my first no-progress week. But it is my first TWO no progress weeks in a row. It's my first dip and gain. This happens, right? This happens to everyone. I'm sure.

So when I got home I checked some of my favorite weight loss blogs, girls who have been successful doing things in a positive way like I do, and yes, they too have had dips. I found this graph of sweethinspration's weight loss to be particularly reassuring. She experienced a LOT of no progress weeks, and even a few upticks in weight, and she still ended up losing a ton of weight. Much more than what I have to lose.

So basically, I need to suck it up, tweak my plan, and keep going. Here are some new ideas I'm going to try:

• Beef up lunch, tone down dinner. Divide lunch into two portions, have one at lunch and another as a late afternoon snack. Do this to: prevent metabolism drops, prevent hangry at work, prevent being so hungry at dinnertime that I do grody things like eat a handful of potato chips while I'm cooking.

• Re-measure everything. I've started to eyeball portions when I'm in my own kitchen. That's a no-no. This morning I found out I was underestimating the milk in my coffee. Whoops. Overestimating everything just a little is a great way to completely sabotage yourself. You know better!

• Start taking and posting more photos. (You're a freaking photographer anyway, right?) I wanted to wait to post before and after photos after I actually made some visible progress. But documenting the journey along the way couldn't hurt. And all this hiking has given you nice tan shoulders and collarbones – show off! It'll make you feel good!

• Exercise EVERY day. Especially food “indulgence” days. Rainy? Do a video. Feel like crap? Change it up – try something new. Hungover? Bad girl! Drink water and then go sweat it out! (I actually don't drink that much anymore, but every now and then...)

• More lean protein, less fat. This is gonna be a toughie until I get back to the States and can get my hands on some protein powder. But I can still get tofu and egg whites here. Gotta make it happen.

• Love, respect and take care of myself, no matter what. Guilt is stupid. Punishing myself is stupid. Just get back on the horse and ride faster!

I can do this! I will do this! Stay skinny out there!

eat well and still lose weight on vacation

I had a really fun weekend in Seoul. In Korean small towns there isn't a lot of restaurant variety, so Busan and Seoul are really our only chances for Mexican, Thai, Arab, blah blah blah. So I have to take advantage when I can. How does one fit this in with a weight-loss plan? Here's how I do it:

Attitude. I accept that my usual calorie count goal is unrealistic. This is an indulgence weekend. I will indulge and enjoy without guilt. HOWEVER, this is not an excuse to go hog-wild. Think of it more in terms of damage control. Having a nice dinner does not mean having a huge dinner. Letting myself have two drinks with dinner does not mean having 10 drinks after dinner.

Limit starchy white food. While I can't control how much oil they cook the food with, I can control the starch intake at least. When you get Thai, skip the rice, just enjoy the curry. When you get Mexican, no rice or tortilla chips. Same with Indian, unless you're at a place that has really awesome naan or rice, just skip it. (If it's really good, have a bite of your buddy's.)

Subway. Not the restaurant, the public transpo. Usually when we go on a trip, it's just me and my boyfriend. It's so cheap, fast and easy (like your mom! ha ha, JK) we wouldn't dream of using another form of transport when we're in a city that has it available. This time, we were traveling with our friend and her two daughters. She is NOT subway experienced. She hated all the walking to transfer trains and stair climbing. We're used to it, so it doesn't even occur to us to be bothered. Half-way through the trip she said enough and paid for taxis the rest of the time. I hadn't really thought about it before, but riding the metro kind of like doing a bunch of mini-hikes throughout the day. Not enough at one time to get you sweaty, but over the course of the day it adds up. (Especially when you factor in all the other city walking you're doing, maybe all that rich food isn't really so bad after all!)

Okay, so I may not have lost weight this vacation, but I didn't gain either. Plus, I had a great time! Any other great vacation weight-loss tips out there I should be taking advantage of?

Remember to enjoy yourself on your way to awesome!

progress report 5-21-2012

So I was in the store that has the out-of-the-box scale that I use, bumming around looking for a purchase. I didn't have a shopping list that day, so I felt guilty just popping in to pull the scale off the shelf, weigh myself and then not buy anything. I couldn't think of a single blasted thing I needed. My time before the big move is getting so near, I am really being careful about anything I buy. But I was tired and a little dehydrated. So I said fuck it, and weighed myself.

145.5 pounds! Dude! I was more dehydrated than I thought! But still, three more pounds lost is three more pounds lost, so, go me! "Self, how shall I reward myself today? How about a big beautiful Evian! Yeah!" Guilt-free use of the scale, and a nice present for all my hard work, a win-win. Then I started thinking about it. I really have been off with my water drinking, especially with the weather getting warmer. Taking a 1.5 liter water bottle to work would be a great way to keep track of it and make sure I'm reaching my water goal for the day. Usually I hike over to the nearby mountain spring and fill water bottles there, but the ground water in Korea is pretty soft. It's nothing like the super-mineraly well water in the good ol' American South that I grew up on. So, Evian does really taste special to me. Some days here I literally crave it. There's a theory that most food cravings are actually a craving for trace minerals, so maybe there's something to that. Perhaps an Evian will work with the temptation/reward circuits in my brain the same way a dessert would. 

So a (hopefully) once a week Evian treat, refill that bottle with free spring water the rest of the days, 100% calorie-free indulgence, awesome!

Totals for the week:

Weight: 145.5 pounds (an additional 3 pounds lost, bringing the total lost to 9.5 pounds!)

No changes in waist measurement (I weighed myself and took the measurement on different days, so that may be the reason for that.) and I have not kept proper track of my exercise this week. I've been exercising, but have not been writing it down like I should since we went to Seoul for the weekend. More on that later, including a great tips I discovered for getting in your exercise and watching your calories when you're in situations when you're out with other people and can't keep track. Stay skinny! 

the decision to put down the spoon

Check out this clip from the Triplets of Belleville. I know what you're thinking, either, "WTF is that?" or "How can a weirdo French cartoon help me with weight loss?" But trust me, this scene has a great moment that always occurs to me when I'm thinking about having a second helping at dinner. This character is a Tour de France cyclist, so he has to control his weight. His granny helps him rig up a system that lets him know when he's had enough food for one meal, but after the bell goes off, it's his decision to put down the spoon. You can see it in his face and in the reluctant but determined way he sets it next to the plate. He doesn't want to, but he has a goal and he's committed to achieving it. Trust me, it's worth two and a half minutes of your time.

actually, if my food looked like that, not eating would be no problem

When you decide to put down the spoon, do it like that. It feels so final, like you've made that choice, you're strong and in control, and you can do this.

Remember, YOU can make that choice
you ARE in control
you CAN do this.

(BTW, if you've never seen the movie, you should watch the whole thing sometime. It's pretty freaking fantastic.)

calorie counting help

Counting calories is LAME, but it's what I've had to start doing in order to reach my goal. I'm always on the lookout for anything to make it easier, and the computer program, Calorie Balance, makes it way easier. 

It's freeware, so it's not perfect, but on the whole it works fine for my needs. You type in the foods you eat, and the amounts and it looks in its massive food database and spits out your calories, fats, carbs and other nutrients consumed for the day. You still have to measure your food yourself, ugh, but it's about as easy as it gets. If you have some restaurant entree or exotic new food it hasn't heard of, you can look up the nutritional info on the web and add it to the database. There is supposed to be a feature where it goes looking for you, but it doesn't work. (There are some internet-based calorie tracking programs that do this very well, but you have to live with the fact that your personal information, plus what you eat every day is being stored on someone else's server. Creepy.) The main food chart screen totals all your calories, carbs, fats, sugars, fiber, and protein in an easy-to-understand graph at the bottom. That works very well. There is also a feature where you can choose other nutrients (iron, calcium, etc.) to be tracked on the same graph, but it's pretty buggy. It does track that kind of thing for you, but you kind of have to total it yourself. 

It also has an exercise tracker, which I love. It tracks the calories you burn in different workouts. All you have to enter is the kind of activity ant the time spent, and since it's already keeping track of your weight, it does that calculation for you. Then it takes the calories burned and subtracts it from your total calories consumed, giving you the net figure. (Keep in mind, if you eat 1500 calories, you don't have to do 1500 calories worth of exercise. Your base metabolism rate will take care of a lot of that for you.)

I am a huge geek, so it's been a boon for me. It helps me compare foods, plan out my exercise and know every little thing I am consuming and burning.

Anyway, for absolutely free it's a great tool to try. Read cnet's review and download the program here. The download does ask you if it can install a web toolbar. It's just an ad (everyone's gotta make money right?) you can decline it.

I hope this helps you on your way to awesome!

the power of a nap

When I was in college I had a friend who said whenever she got hungry, she just went to sleep. Oh, to have a college schedule. But in all seriousness, it's not a bad idea. When I go hiking, I can't eat lunch. My stomach just can't take it. So when I get home I'm turning inside out with hunger, but I'm also beat, so I take a nap. It's not even anything I do on purpose, my body just needs it. It's the weekend so, why not? But it really is a good idea, because I sleep through a period of time when I might be driven to snacking from honestly earned exercise hunger. Instead I power nap, shower, and it's time for dinner. This would never work during the week, but fortunately on work days I'm better at managing my need to snack. 

So if you have a schedule that allows for a nap, try timing during a time you usually want to snack. Every calorie you skip helps, and the extra sleep will actually help you lose weight. 

Enjoy your zzzz's!

progress report 4-29-2012: I found a scale!

So, two weeks ago while I was doing some shopping at a local mega-supermarket thing, I came across a shelf of bathroom scales. One had been taken out of the box and looked like it was used pretty regularly. So I thought, what the hell? I put down my bag and shopping basket and weighed myself. It came to 69 kilograms. Being a lazy American, I don't know crap about the metric system. (And being a cheap American, I'm not buying the scale when I'm moving out of the country in two months.) So when I got to work, I did a quick conversion on my computer, and astoundingly, it came to 152.1 pounds! That means I'd lost about three pounds so far! I know that I shouldn't be too excited. You need to weigh yourself consistently, in the same clothes, on the same scale, to really track your progress. So I went back this week, wearing the same shoes and pretty much the same outfit, and did it again. This time I was 68 kilograms, or 149.9 pounds. I know that 2.2 pounds may not seem like much for a week, but if I keep up this rate, I'll be two pounds from my first goal (130 pounds) by the time I go home! Beach trip here I come!

So, from now on my weekly shopping trip will include a weigh-in, and my weekly update will include a weight.

Exercise total: 8.25 hours, awesome!
Weight: 149.9 pounds
Waist measurement: lost another half-inch, which brings the total lost to 1.5 inches

I upped my ab workouts from two to three a week. My personal favorite is the one included in the Yoga Booty Ballet's basic workout. It really hits the lower abs, which are crucial for pulling up in ballet. But, I try new workouts all the time and I'm always on the look out for more! Any suggestions?

It's been a great week! I'm crazy motivated now and I hope you are too. Stay skinny!

semi-daily menu

I'm so stoked! Some days I do better than others with my calorie count, but yesterday's menu was well within my limit, full of a variety of foods and nutrients, and even had enough calories leftover for an after-dinner beer, woo-hoo! It's so easy to fall into a routine and just eat the same things everyday. It's a bad idea in general, and a super bad idea when you're restricting your calories. You need variety to make sure you're getting everything you need. Always be on the look out for new recipes and foods. I thought I'd post an occasional day's menu when I think it would be inspiring and useful, so without further ado:

Breakfast

1 scrambled egg with garlic

breakfast beans with cheese

1 tangerine

coffee with milk

Lunch

½ cup muesli with blueberries

¼ cup milk

1 small banana

Dinner

Awesome stir-fry:

   bok choy

   mushrooms

   green pepper

   spring onions

   fresh garlic and ginger

   tofu

   soy sauce

1 well-enjoyed Suntory Premium Malts

I found the trick to a low-oil stir-fry is to put the oil in a cold pan, turn on the heat, add the garlic and ginger. As soon as the spices start to sizzle, add the veggies. When the pan gets really heated and things just start to stick, then add a little water, soy sauce, and THEN the tofu. (The tofu likes to stick to the pan if you add it too soon.) Cover, and let it steam the rest of the way. That way you really can get away with an honest-to-God teaspoon of oil.

So, there you go. All the food groups represented, all nutrients accounted for, just low on the fat and starch. (Though, the occasional high-carb comfort food isn't bad, as long as it's in your calorie limits.) The stir-fry actually ended up being a filling meal. The veggies go a long way, calorie-wise, so you can really load up on them. It lead to a bulkier portion than what I've been eating for dinner lately, so it even felt like a kind of indulgence.

I'm debating whether or not to post my daily calorie goal and actual count. I certainly don't want to encourage anyone with, shall we say, a “psychological eating illness”. I don't even want to write the proper term for fear my blog would show up in a search for it. My limit is not far out of the boundaries for safe weight loss outlined by the USDA, and it certainly isn't going to land me in the hospital if I just do it for a few months. Still, some people might not consider it healthy. So, I'm not sure. Any thoughts?

What I'm definitely NOT going to do is ever go back to the crazy amount I was eating before. Now, when I think about how much I used to consume daily, I can't believe it. I plan to eventually up my intake to a maintenance program of 1800-2000 calories a day, but that won't be until I've truly reached a body I'm happy with.  

tip: cheat snack

Tip: have a cheat snack ready. I did not come up with this one, but it is something I have adapted to my needs. My cheat snack is fruit. (My ONLY acceptable snack is fruit.) I keep 1 small apple or tangerine or sliced pear or what-have-you in my bag when I go to work. Usually, I'm cool. I don't need it. So, it becomes my breakfast fruit for the next morning. If I'm faced with a surprise seemingly insurmountable temptation, something that smells or looks so good that my hunger gets churning (see here), then my safe snack is ready to save me with a low-calorie indulgence. Then, no breakfast fruit the next day. No harm done. But most times, just knowing it's there saves me. It's a psychological trick. If your caveman brain knows you have food with you, it won't go seeking food elsewhere. So far, I average eating about one cheat snack a week. That's only 60 calories, instead of whatever high calorie pastry/junk food/crap I was having, like, every other day.

You can make your subconscious your friend instead of your enemy, as long as you know it's dirty tricks.

a confession

So.... I don't own a scale. And I can't really justify buying one since I'm leaving the country in two months. The last time I weighed myself was at Christmas when I was at my parents' place, and I guess the next time will be when I see them again in two months. But I want to be able to track some kind of progress until then, so here's my brilliant idea: dental floss. I measured my waist with dental floss, and cut it so it's exactly the circumference of my waist. Every Saturday I'll pull out that piece of floss and if my waist has gotten smaller, I'll be able to cut the extra off. I decided against using a measuring tape, in case the measurement is too discouraging. Instead, I'll just track whatever progress I make.

I suppose this idea would work with string or yarn or anything, but I happened to be staring at my medicine cabinet when the idea occurred to me, so, there you go.

Floss can be cut, but it cannot/will not/cannot grow longer!

closet project

Here's a fun weekend project (not my original idea, but it's a good one), pull out all your clothes and look at them, really look. Anything that looks worn (in a bad cheap way, not a fun shredded knee jeans way), get rid of. Anything you know as soon as you put it on will make you feel dowdy and frumpy, get rid of. Anything that is not of good quality, get rid of. Anything you're keeping “just for sentimental reasons” get rid of. (Do you really need your high school graduation gown taking up space in your life?) Try on what's left and give yourself a good look. Anything that doesn't look awesome, anything that doesn't feel great, get rid of. If you were the kind of person who was going to get it altered to fit better, you would have done that already.

You are better than muffin-top pants. You are better than cheap, pilly rayon blend fabrics. You are better than shot elastic.

What's left in the keep pile? Probably what you wear all the time anyway. Anything that's in the toss pile, you probably never wear, and when you do you regret it about 10 minutes after you leave the house. Why keep it? Recycle/donate/give away. Eliminate it from your precious space.

What's left to do?

Shop and dream. But only buy things with good fabrics and flattering cuts. Things that look good on you now. The other things you think you're not quite thin enough for (YET), wait. Having that one motivational pair of jeans or bathing suit is a worthy idea, but keep it to one item. Fill your life with what makes you look and feel great now. Treat your body and your life like a temple, and it will become one.

awesome sweater and jeans available at tobi