Weight Watchers

Okay, so I was skeptical, but Weight Watchers totally works (and, as I learned this weekend, so does a nasty case of food poisoning -- talk about weight loss!!)

I have never really been one to stick to structured diets. But, my work offered us 13 free weeks of Weight Watchers AND we get to skip out of work for an hour to do it... So I went. (On a side note, I don't get my workplace at all. They encourage us to live a healthy lifestyle and offer free Weight Watchers and stop-smoking clinics and free gyms, etc. But, they also give us 2 free cases of beer each month. No joke -- 48 bottles/cans a month. They tempt us into getting beer bellies and then offer us free Weight Watchers and tell us to work it off. Crazy.)

Anyway, the system is pretty simple. Everything is based on points. So, if you weigh...
Less than 150 = 20 points per day
150-174 = 22 points per day
175-199 = 24 points per day
200-224 = 26 points per day

And so on. The point is to eat exactly your allotted points per day (or as close to that amount as humanly possible but no less than 20 points no matter what). You can determine how many points everything is by going to sites such as dietfacts.com and looking it up (you can search by food brand or by restaurant). It's really shocking. I always ate pretty healthy but now I can see just how bad some things really are.

So, you keep a record of everything you eat each day and tally the points. You can eat whatever you want, but you need to stick to your allotted points. Of course, you're supposed to drink lots of water, eat fruits and veggies, etc. But, the points are the most important thing.

You also get additional food points for exercise. So, if you do light to moderate exercise for 30 minutes you get an extra food point for that. The number of points you get for exercise increases depending on the level of activity and duration of exercise. But, you never get more than 3 food points from exercise. And, anything under 30 minutes doesn't count.

Lastly, you also have 35 extra points that you can use whenever you want throughout the week. So, if you go to a BBQ and overeat by 8 points or something like that you can check that off your 35 extra points for the week. However, you REALLY shouldn't use all 35 extra points or else you won't lose that much weight. I try not to use any except on the weekends. And, it's worked for me -- I've lost 8% of my body weight since starting 6-7 weeks ago.

Oh, and another big thing is portion size. You really have to pay attention to that. You might say "Oh, this is only 4 points." But, then you look and see that if you eat the whole thing it's really 2 servings so that's really 8 points. We eat too much and don't even know it!

So, an average day for me might look like this:
Coffee (w/cream & sugar) = 2 points
Oatmeal = 2 points
Frozen Meal = 7 points
Carrots = 0 points
Light Yogurt = 1 point
Skinless Chicken = 5 points
Lima Beans = 1 point
Granola Bar = 2 points
TOTAL = 20 points

I'm not going to lie and say it isn't hard -- it is. But, it's totally doable. I can still eat pizza or whatever -- I just need to eat less and plan my day so that I have enough points for it.

Give it a try and see what you think.

Ugh

So i gained a pound, i have my period which makes me bloated and if you've read my blog you're aware that my blood pressure is that of an 800 pound man. I'm going to the Dr's in the morning to sort that all out and get a true reading. My lifestyle is most likely going to change. Maybe this is what i need to get my ass in gear. I'm not keen on having a heart attack at 28, wish me luck tomorrow.

Boo-yah!

I lost something like 7 pounds that I gained last week. I'm back at my the lowest weight again. I worked my ass off this week, I didn't even let Ash and PP's visit this weekend, or my visit to the Potato Festival, or the picnic we had at Toronto Island, or a huge family BBQ dinner with ribs and pasta salad and Camembert burgers, deter me from losing that weight.
I'm going hard till my birthday, taking a break for all you can eat sushi, then going hard till the NDP convention.

I really AM a loser!!

Went to the Weight Watchers weigh-in yesterday. I lost 3.4 pounds this week!! Well, actually it was 3.4 pounds for the last 2 weeks (I didn't weigh in last week b/c I was on my way to Boston).

At first the weigh-in lady told me that I lost 8.4 pounds and I basically told her that she was on crack. It turns out she was doing her math wrong. Still, 3.4 is AWESEOME, especially considering that I ate like a piggy poo in Boston (though I did walk a trillion miles -- though I doubt that totally made up for it).

Anyway, I am compiling all my Weight Watchers tips for you guys now and I will share those in my next post. I think it really works, but you have to keep yourself in line.

people think i am hot stuff

Ok these are true events that have happened since this past weekend:

First, as you know I am back in the lovely ‘burbs. So I went to my hair stylist from 6 months ago – a Ukranian immigrant. Poor woman cant speak much English but knows how to cut hair. Guess what she says to me,

She: you look smaller than before
Smaller to her means thinner; don’t get ahead of yourself.
Me: you mean I was fat before?
She: no no no, you just look more small than before. You lost weight.
Me: I love you.

And then today, gosh, I cant even believe it. I am going to the kitchen at work and one coworker sees me and says, hey you look like you have lost some weight, you look great. I was like whaoaaaaa….but then as I am coming back from the kitchen to my desk, ANOTHER coworker sees me, comes to me, takes hold of my bicep (not in a gay manner) and says, you look great, you been working out?

I guess the routine is working out after all.

Today we celebrate by drinking then……….

I will post my results for the week later this evening.

Shitty shitty shitty

I gained a lot. Boo! The burger and beer diet obviously didn't work. Back to the old fashioned way.

Its just me baby

This is my new routine. Feel free to comment or insult:

Workout routine (at the work gym):

Monday - max out biceps and triceps
Tuesday - run 30 minutes on treadmill, nonstop, cover 3 to 3.5 miles - target is 5 miles some day; then 100 bicycle crunches.
Wednesday - max out chest and back
Thursday - run 30 minutes on treadmill, nonstop, cover 3 to 3.5 miles; then 100 crunches on medicine ball.
Friday - shoulders and legs

Saturday/Sunday - optional run for 30 minutes

Food:

Low carb, low fat - lots of salads and non starchy food - may replace breakfast with a protein bar or shake.

Been on this routine over 2 weeks now and am feeling superb. I am not really tracking my weight. I just feel better and look better too (I hope).

Yeah! I'm a Loser Too!

Thanks for letting me join! I won't let you down. I've been doing really well on my Weight Watchers diet (more on this topic later) UNTIL I went to Boston this weekend. I started out good but it slid downhill quickly. It's so darn hard to be good when you eat out every meal. I did walk about a bazillion miles though. We'll see during weigh-in this week!!

I Lost yayayayayay!!!!!!

FINALLY!!! I guess going to the gym does pay off, damn! I went to the gym 5 times this week, mostly on the treadmill but i did hit the weight room once and voila, i have lost 2 pounds. Unfortunaltey these cannot be counted as weight lost as i had gained back 6 when i went through my ravenous poutine eating days. So now i have 4 more to lose before i can count new weight lost. It feels soooo good to see some results and makes me want to try even harder now. Yay for me!!

Add SS to the club

Hey Jenni, could you add SS to the club. She could replace berly. Please do so. Thanks.

SS is 90 lbs and 5-10 tall (just a dream).

Fat people = big problems for hospitals

Jul. 27, 2006. 04:50 PM

CANADIAN PRESS

Hospitals across North America could be failing to diagnose small tumours in obese patients who either can’t fit into an X-ray scanner or have fatty tissue so dense the machine can’t penetrate it, a new study suggests.

The study, published in the August issue of the journal Radiology, found a growing number of patients are too large to fit into the scanner. In other cases, the X-rays have been fuzzy or imprecise because dense fat blocked the machine’s beams.

“There are things that you can miss because the X-ray beams are just not able to penetrate deep enough,” said study author Raul Uppot, a radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

In some cases, the quality can be so poor that doctors could miss small lung, abdominal and liver tumours, Uppot said.

“We really have to address this issue,” he said.

“Canadians, Americans . . . should all realize that this is another problem they will have if they are obese. When they walk into the hospital, they may not be getting the most adequate care.”

Canadian hospitals are also grappling with the difficulties of diagnosing an increasing number of obese patients.

Stewart McNeil, patient equipment co-ordinator at Hamilton Health Sciences, said older equipment wasn’t designed to accommodate larger patients. He said older MRI scanners are often 46 inches wide.

“People are getting bigger and bigger,” said McNeil. “All hospitals are struggling with it.”

McNeil pointed out that the hospital can rent over-sized equipment when it’s called for, but noted that patients who are very obese are sometimes sent to nearby veterinary colleges.

“The MRI and X-ray machines there are designed for horses,” he said. “How would you feel?”

Ian Doris, board member of the Ontario Association of Radiologists, said sometimes just lifting an unconscious obese patient on to a scanner can take up to eight people.

Many older scanners also can’t support more than 400 pounds of weight, while in other cases, a patient’s sheer girth can touch the sides of the scanner, making it difficult to get a clear image.

It’s a particular problem with ultrasounds and detecting liver disease, said Doris, who noted the importance of ensuring that such patients are treated with the dignity they deserve.

“These people aren’t this way because they sit around eating Tim Hortons all day,” said Doris, a radiologist with Hamilton General Hospital. “It is recognized as an illness.”

While patients are expected to take responsibility for their own health, doctors say hospitals should also be updating their equipment to reflect the increasing weight of their patients.

They say hospitals have difficulty accommodating obese people outside the X-ray room as well — from finding stretchers and beds that are wide enough to providing plus-sized commodes.

Hospitals are supposed to replace their equipment every 10 years — a guideline that’s often ignored when the equipment is still functioning properly, said Robin Hesler, CEO of the Ontario Association of Medical Radiation Technologists.

In the meantime, Hesler said obese patients may be exposed to higher levels of radiation in some scans because more is needed to produce an image.

“This is a potential issue down the road,” Hesler said, adding obesity is on the rise. “This is a growing issue.”

Statistics Canada shows the nation’s obesity rate has almost doubled in the last 20 years — jumping from 13 per cent in 1978 to 23 per cent in 2004. The agency said obese adults are more likely to suffer health problems such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, some cancers and gall bladder disease.

Soooo Bloated bleh

So yes i gained a pound. I doubt it has anything to do with that lovely sundae i ate on the weekend, or the all you can eat chinese buffet i went to last night (It was for a birthday). It's that time of the month for me as well, and i feel like i'm 3 months pregnant i'm so bloated. I'm not sure if any of the other ladies get this but it's awful.

On a lighter note, i have been going to the gym and even though my arms feel like they are going to fall off from the weights i lifted the other day, i'm going back tonight after work. I'm getting back into a routine there and it feels really good. I also made this awesome veggie stirfry and ate a lot of salad this week. So it is slowly coming along for me. Jennifer suggested i stay away from the buffet until i hit my target weight. I agree.

If Linny is the Goddess of Sex, then I am the Queen of the Gym

Or at least I wish I was. I was in there yesterday and two skinny bitches came in with a child. Then they proceeded to ignore the child while she crawled all over every piece of equipment in the place and fiddle with all the levers, handles, buttons and everything else. I've been up in the gym before when someone has brought a child, and turned the tv to cartoons to keep the kid occupied, that's ok, I don't mind having to watch cartoons if it means that the kid is just going to sit there like a zombie and behave. This little brat was not sitting like a zombie though, and then she got a hold of the exercise ball, ugh. Then she started trying to balance hand weights on the exercise ball. I just kept imagining the outcome of this activity on her sandled little toes. After a while I switched over to the eliptical trainer, which had just been vacated by skinny bitch #1. I was on there for a good 20 minutes and worked up a pretty good sweat, I was feeling pretty positive about the whole thing, my endurance was up, I had a good pace going, my knee wasn't hurting too much. Then the little brat commented to skinny bitch #2 that I was sweating way more than skinny bitch #1 had been when she was on the eliptical.
Today my knee hurts, not only that, but, my issue is in the front of my knee, the swelling got so bad that it swelled the back of my knee, which is definitely a step in the wrong direction. But, I'll take the day off, see how I feel tomorrow and try to go a bit easier on it.

Proof

Do you SEE how fat my face is?

Drastic measures must be taken.

London trip is only 1 month away and this isn't going to get me any snog time.

You already knew

So I have been working out regularly - 5/6 days a week. I have also been reading stuff online and in some books and here are my conclusions:

Getting in great shape and alcohol don’t mix well. There are no two ways about it. If you want to get in gorgeous shape you have to give up alcohol or limit to 2 drinks a week, at least to start with. My toughest obstacle so far has been giving up beer.

You don’t have to workout like crazy. You just have to workout smart. If you take out only 20 to 30 minutes a day to workout smartly, you will see results. Do not overdo cardio. Monitor your heartbeat and workout at 70% of your max heart rate. Otherwise you start burning muscle.

There are no quick solutions. You have to embrace your fat and out of shape self. Know and accept that you are out of shape. Stick to your workout. Ignore the rest of the world because you already know what they think of you and you agree with them. Give yourself 4 weeks. You will see results. Forget the scale.

There are 2 ways to lose fat: one is to eat less calories than you burn. The other way is to eliminate carbs and build muscle. Under this second method you can eat as many fats and proteins as you want. This is the classic Atkin’s diet and requires no limit on calorie intake.

Don’t plan 6 months in advance. Give yourself one month. Just stick to a routine for a month and see what happens.

I am a hippo

Good Lord!! I gained a few pounds this week, i'm disgusting. It's not a shocker at all. For some reason i've only eaten at home once this week i think. The rest of the week i've gorged on fried veggie subs, poutine, pizza pizza with garlic sauce, fried veggies and fries, melted crab sandwhich and fries, falafels the list is endless. Instead of my usual egg whites with oatmeal and fruit. I've been stopping at Tim Hortons every morning and getting a bagel with cream cheese and an iced cap. I've eaten out almost every meal this week and it certainly shows on the scale. The strange thing is my clothes fit just the same. I had no idea until i stepped on the scale that i had gained a few pounds.

As we all know i've also been a slacker at the gym for most of the summer. Surprisingly i did get in there on Monday and Wednesday so i am trying to get back into it. I think this is my "rock bottom" as they call it. I'm completely disgusted with myself. I'm spending the weekend grocery shopping and making meals for the week to prevent any more take out fiascos.

Fuck

I gained.

Dare I Even Say It?

The last month or two has been really pathetic for me. I mean REALLY pathetic as far as losing weight goes. Simply because over the last few weeks I haven't really tried...as a matter of fact I did the furthest thing from trying...I subconsciously said, "Fuck it."

This is the thing...during that time period I have had so much happening (some things you guys know about from my blog, some things you don't) and I've been stressed to my max. What do I do when I'm stressed? I eat. Specifically anything that's bad for me. Therefore...I have gained back 7 lbs. I'm so upset and ashamed with myself. But I'm not going to let this beat me. I've done a lot of thinking and I've decided to go at this full force. My birthday is only about 3 weeks away (July 17th) and I still intend to try to look my best. So don't lose faith in me...

yum yum

I am now making great salad at home. Here is my recipe (it may be simplistic but hey I am hardly a bonafide chef):

1 Rubbermaid plastic container large with lid (lid is important as you will find out soon)
Grilled chicken cut in pieces (you can get these readymade at the deli meats section)
Baby spinach
Caesar greens
Dried cranberries
Walnuts
Olive oil
White wine vinegar

Put desired quantities in the plastic container, put the lid on, and shake it like a Polaroid picture. It is imperative that you close the lid. Eat and feel good. Prep time 5 minutes.

I intend to try out variations of this, maybe include broccoli and other veggies, almonds, other berries. I don’t think though that making a decent salad at home necessarily costs less than getting one from outside.

P.S. close the lid before shaking.