Weigh your booty

It helps to weigh it naked.

Pants from another era

Its good to be able to wear pants from a bygone era without cutting air supply to your lower body.

Still Chubby

Alright so i've neither lost nor gained this week, however it's funny, I had Japanese food, beer, a crepe with Nutella and Banana's, poutine for breaky with Jennifer and i'm the same weight. We walked a fair amount, but no real exercise. We even sat on our asses for two days catching up on Grey's Anatomy episodes.

We've decided to try the points from the Weight Watchers program. I have the book and SS had a good go with it, so Jennifer and I are going to give it a chance. (Jennifer the points are in the mail) I'm going to Take Back the Night this evening so there will be some walking involved and i'll hit up the gym all weekend, i'm not doing anything else really so i have no excuse not to go.

Coffee drinks loaded with fat and calories: report

A regular latte or cappuccino from a Canadian coffee shop packs a punch in fat and calories, a new report shows.

The Centre for Science in the Public Interest took a close look at the offerings from Canada's big three coffee chains, Tim Hortons, Starbucks and the Second Cup.

Starbucks' blueberry green tea Frappuccino was the worst, weighing in at 560 calories and nine grams of fat per 16-ounce serving.

A Tim Hortons double-double — with two creams and two sugars — has 160 calories per 10-ounce cup. A black coffee had about 10 calories and no fat.

"We're concerned about the public health implications of people consuming food products or beverages that can adversely affect their health," said Bill Jeffery of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest in Ottawa.

One drink could pack the 500 to 600 calories of a healthy dinner of chicken breast, rice and vegetables, said Dana Wilkinson, nutrition research co-ordinator at the University of Alberta.

Starbucks declined to comment on the report's findings. In a statement, the company said they offer "a wide variety of options."

Starbucks started the sweet trend to lure people who don't necessarily like plain coffee, said coffee lover and freelance writer Gilbert Bouchard of Edmonton.

The strategy introduces people to coffee culture through a form they're already familiar with, such as milkshakes and soft drinks, Bouchard said.

The strategy worked, and the high-calorie drinks are among the most popular at coffee kiosks across Canada.

But a single beverage can represent a quarter of your recommended daily caloric intake, with little nutritional value.

A daily double-double or low-fat latte adds up to an extra 17 pounds of fat in one year.

The report's authors recommend avoiding whipped cream and extra sugar and suggest asking for skim milk.

The report, called "Good Cup, Bad Cup," also includes the saturated and trans fat content of the beverages.

Aftermath from Quebec

Do we not post our sad pathetic attempts at weightloss on this site any more?
No loss here, but the other day I did such an ab workout that it hurts to laugh. On the other hand, I was in Quebec last weekend and sampled the local fare.

yrautca rubs it in

Last week I mentioned that I was going to attempt 6 miles. Today I did it in 57 minutes.

I am not feeling sore but I am exhausted. In order to run I need carbs. Whereas on a day-to-day basis I avoid carbs, on a running day I get a sandwich at lunch. I have tried running on a low carb diet but it just doesn’t work.

Anyway, I am happy that I finished my run. My next run is on Thursday but I am not planning to run more than 3 miles.

BTW, do you know how many calories you burn when you run for 60 minutes at a 10-minute mile pace? Close to 800. I started at 10-minute mile pace for the first 10 minutes, then increased the pace to 9.13-minute mile.

Damn at this pace, I will be so hot, the fire alarm will go off just as I enter the gym ;)

Getting there....

So i have been slacking as far as the gym goes, though i have all my gear to hit it up after work tonight. I weighed myself after the long weekend just for the hell of it as i pretty much drank a two four and ate fried shrimp and chips amoung other things. So needless to say i was gluttonous and gained like 3 pounds. However.....these past 4 days i have been talking these herbal cleansing pills and eating all veggies and salads and am back down. I still need to lose 4 pounds before i can count any new weight lost. If i actually make a commitment to the gym and continue to eat this way then i'm rockin, watch out bitches :)

Where have all the cowgirls gone?

I am down a lb. I quit smoking like a week ago so I cannot expect to lose a lot of weight. To fight the cravings I have been spending extra time at the gym after work. You know when I am coming home after a workout I feel like I am high. My concentration and focus are super sharp but I have no care in the world with me at that time. I forget it all. Its a rush.

I have stuck to my routine. I have been increasing the weight that I lift and I can feel the burn in my chest, biceps, tricpes, shoulders muscles. Its a good kind of burn.

Today, I ran 4 miles and even then I could have carried on if I wanted to. I am seriously thinking that I should run a marathon. I think I have the legs and the lungs to run long distance. I just need to train right and learn the mental aspect of it. When I run I can feel it in my knees the next morning. Thats the only downside to it.

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.