Losing It with Jillian

Losing It with Jillian debuted a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't get around to watching the debut episode until last night. I was curious how Jillian could inspire and instill necessary lessons with these families in just five days when it's a miraculous thing to do it in five months during The Biggest Loser.

In the first episode, she worked with the Mastropiestro family in Wilmington, Mass., one that was only weeks away from the daughter's wedding. They were also similar to many American families -- full of excuses why they couldn't exercise of lose weight. Well, you know Jillian. She doesn't like excuses and pretty much calls BS on them.

Jim, the dad, had gone through gastric bypass surgery, but he was still obese. He, and the rest of his family, pretty much ate until they went to bed at night.

Michelle, the daughter, had undergone the same surgery, and even though she was at a healthy weight, she hadn't dealt with the underlying issues that had made her overweight in the first place. She still felt like the fat girl inside and lived in fear that the previous overweight version of herself was going to return at any time.

Agnes, the mom, had gained and lost more than 100 pounds an amazing seven times! Her body fat percentage was a stunning 56 percent. When she and Jillian went for a walk to talk about why, a very old hurt came to the surface. She and her husband had lost a baby boy after only a month of life 22 years before. Jim had never been able to talk about the loss, and so Agnes had suffered and grieved alone for all those years. Jillian helped the family finally open up and talk about that loss. This part was hard to watch for me. Not only was it incredibly sad, but it hit home. My mother lost a boy, stillborn at 7 months, four years before I was born. I have never heard my dad talk about him, and to my knowledge he has never visited my brother's grave since my grandmother was buried beside him when I was 10. Like the Mastropietros, our family didn't talk about this or many other issues. But the thing is, when you don't talk about things that bother you, they fester like an untended wound. Like Jim said, "If you don't talk about things, it doesn't get easier."

Jillian, in true Jillian fashion, got the family exercising immediately. Within five minutes, Jim and Agnes were ready to quit. That's when Michelle and her brother, Michael, went off and yelled at their parents. When Agnes said she was trying to ride the bike, Jillian shot back that "trying is planning to fail." That's an interesting quote. Maybe I'll put it up somewhere I can see it. Maybe I'll put it next to the one by Yoda from Star Wars: "Do, or do not. There is no try."

Jillian was appropriately disgusted by the family's eating habits. Even though Michelle knew what she was cooking for her family (fried, greasy foods with not a green vegetable in sight) were bad for them, she did it anyway to make them happy. "I'm an enabler," she finally admitted.

If you're wondering if five days with Jillian made enough of a difference in the family's life, the answer is yes. Six weeks later, at Michelle's wedding, the family made an impressive showing. Jim had lost 48 pounds and 10 inches off his waist. Agnes had lost 34 pounds and looked lovely in her mother-of-the-bride dress, something she'd worried about six weeks before. Michael had lost 25 pounds. Michelle, who didn't need to lose weight, looked radiant and seemed happier than she had when she'd broken down in tears in the gym while talking to Jillian about the fat girl inside her that haunted her.

I didn't record the second episode last week, but I plan to watch it online soon and will start regularly recording the new episodes tonight. If anyone wants to watch, it's on at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central.

Has anyone watched the show yet? If so, what did you think?

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It won’t kill you.

My father’s feet turned to clay when I was ten years old. Before then, he stood as a giant who protected me from everything. At 6’3” and 250 pounds, Dad held us up so we could reach the stars. But the year I turned ten Dad was diagnosed with diabetes. My invincible hero turned into a man with cautions attached to his life. The strongest caution accompanied food. I learned early in my Dad’s diagnosis that if he didn’t eat he would die. Being hungry would kill him. I internalized this message a bit too well, and never let myself go more than a few hours without food.

A funny thing happened when I was 29. I spent 24 hours without eating. It wasn’t by choice, there were other things on my mind at the time, not to mention doctors and nurses who ordered me to take only water. Not a single bite or drop of juice for 24 hours and somehow I survived. Since then I’ve disproven the lesson from my childhood over and over again. I’ve actually come to appreciate being a little hungry. It makes me savor my food, helps me look forward to it. Surprisingly, if I push away from the table still slightly hungry, I can go three or four hours before I need to eat again. I will admit to getting “hangry,” a word a friend made up meaning so hungry you’re angry at everyone, but I haven’t died yet.

Another unspoken family rule taught me that exercise wasn’t to be trusted. Exercise hurt. If you did too much, you would have a heart attack and die. If you escaped that fate you were sure to end up with injuries: torn ligaments, pulled muscles, and surely, broken bones. My Aunt who biked regularly had to have knee surgery. She became an example of why it was best to just avoid all of that danger.

I started running in my early twenties. I was (and am) super slow. In addition to surely dying, according to family and friends I risk a number of maladies every time I put on my sneakers: joint degeneration, back pain, knee problems, and (a personal favorite) any minute now my uterus is going to fall out. And yet, like being hungry, running hasn’t killed me. I’ve come to believe it won’t. I even own a t-shirt that says “Running won’t kill you. You’ll pass out first.”

Exercise makes me feel better. It clears up migraines before they really start. It soothes my moods and helps me form strong friendships with other runners. It teaches me that I can pick a goal and stick to it, no matter what. At the end of March Trish challenged us to set a goal and stick with it. I chose running every other day in preparation for a local 5K. In the month since then my grandmother died, I’ve dealt with job issues, and I had to revisit some old fears. Still I ran. Every other day, despite weather, exhaustion, and just plain lack of any desire to, I got out there. My 5K was the day after my grandmother’s burial. I ran. …and it didn’t kill me.

What lessons hold you back? If you took them out and looked at them, would they still be true? Are you willing to give up the security of those lessons to be healthy?

~~~

When she’s not cooking, buying, or dreaming about food, Rachel Kleinsorge writes steamy paranormal mystery romances. She is currently waiting for the call from her agent, the amazing Carolyn Grayson, while working on her next novel.

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Goodbye to another pound

I'm happy to report that despite a couple of slips in my willpower last week, the scale is still going the right direction overall. I got down to 162 at one point last week, but then I had a really bad calorie day and two more less-than-stellar ones. The lesson learned -- I can eat out once in a day and manage my calories, but twice makes it near impossible. Yesterday morning, I was sitting at 163.6, but at least that's a pound less than last Monday.

Someone asked last week what I'm eating to stay in my calorie count of 1,200 per day. Here's a sample from last Monday, one of the days when I stayed in the ballpark of 1,200:

Breakfast:
1 English muffin (120 calories)
1 T strawberry jam (50)

Lunch:
1/2 cold cut combo sandwich from Subway (440) -- You can't beat $5 for a foot-long sub that can feed you for two meals.

Snack:
Apple (100)

Dinner:
1/2 cup sloppy joe (200)
1 wheat sandwich thin (100)
1 cup vegetable pasta (189)
1/2 slice American cheese (35)

I drink only water, which has no calories. So the total calorie count for the day was 1,234, and I spent 2 hours working in the yard (mowing, constructing a rock garden around my mailbox, and trimming limbs off trees).

Some of the things I've learned:

1. I don't have to have a full slice of cheese on a sandwich. 1/2 to 3/4 of a slice is plenty, and an easy way to cut a few calories.

2. I love using the sandwich thins. I'm a big fan of sandwiches, and with these I can have the bread for only 100 calories.

3. Risotto is good, but horrible in the calorie department. Same with the oh-so-delicious rolls at Logan's Roadhouse. OMG, they're like 275 calories each.

4. Having a piece of fruit as a snack between lunch and dinner helps to satisfy my cravings for sweets and helps me not get so hungry before dinner, tempting me to overeat.

5. It's awesome that we're going into fresh produce season. Things like tomatoes and cucumbers and green beans have so few calories that they're good things to help fill me up without packing on a lot of calories (or pounds).

6. I've observed that I can have one higher-than-normal calorie day without seeing too much of an uptick in the scale numbers, but it's when that day becomes two or three that things start going the wrong direction.

7. Things I need to steer clear of: white bread, white rice, corn.

8. Sometimes fate seems to be steering me right when I veer off the path. Last week, I caved and went through the DQ drive-through to get a small Blizzard. When I took the first bite, it was filled with nuts even though a Chocolate Extreme Blizzard isn't supposed to contain nuts. In fact, the whole thing was filled with so many nuts that I couldn't eat it. I hate nuts! 600-calorie catastrophe averted.

What lessons have you learned on your fitness/weight loss journey? Has fate ever given you a helping hand?

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The Great April Experiment

Only two more days until my experiment with more intense exercise and calorie counting. Beginning this Thursday, I will be devoting four hours per day to exercise. I will be strict with my calorie count, and I'm going to keep track of my measurements. It's like my own mini version of The Biggest Loser. I'll chronicle my progress here each Tuesday, and I'm hoping that it will be productive and inspiring. This comes at a good time because I've been traveling for two weeks now, and though I haven't seen a big weight gain (probably because of the amount I've walked), I can feel the need to get more strict with both exercise and food intake.

Since it's spring now, my activity options have opened up. There's the yard to be mowed and flower beds to be weeded. Walking outside is always more fun than on the treadmill. And that feeling of renewal and happiness that comes with spring and warmer, longer days fuels the desire to better oneself. So that brings me to my question to you all -- what fitness/health goal would you like to set for yourself in April? Share them in the comments, and each Tuesday tell us how you're doing. Stating a goal publicly and reporting in regularly are proven ways to meet those goals, and we want to see all of your meet those goals on the road to being a healthier writer.

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Let's Talk Metabolism

I'm not one of those people blessed with a fast metabolism. Sometimes I think it nods off or goes into hibernation. So when one of my daily Prevention e-mails came in with the topic "Diet Blunders That Slow Metabolism", I paid attention. The last thing I need is something slowing down an already slow metabolism. The average woman gains 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per year, so no wonder I suddenly looked up at age 39 last year and went, "Crap! How did that happen?"

One of the things I found interesting is that we should drink our water cold instead of at room temperature as the cold water intake revs our metabolisms more. Other things to consider if you feel your metabolism is flagging: not enough Vitamin D, not enough protein, and your food is covered in pesticides (tip: buy organic fruits and veggies).

Click here to read the entire piece, which covers 10 diet blunders and a sample calorie-burning day plan.
~~~

Don't forget that The Biggest Loser returns tonight now that the Olympics are over. We'll find out who won that in-progress challenge between Cheryl and Darrell. Be sure to check here tomorrow for a recap and to share your thoughts about tonight's episode.
~~~

Trish Milburn writes romance for Harlequin American under her real name and writes young adult novels for Razorbill under the name Tricia Mills. Find out more at www.trishmilburn.com.

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Michelle's Top Ten Guidelines for Healthy Eating and Losing Weight

I've struggled with my weight nearly my whole life. I have been in Weight Watchers (WW) off and on since 1995, and I have attended WW meetings in 4 different states and the District of Columbia. I have tried several other diets and increased exercise as ways to lose weight. I've attempted dieting with group support, on my own and with an online buddy. I have had some minor successes in weight loss in the past, and I have learned many lessons along the way. It all started to come together in 2009.

A WW meeting I attended last spring was one of those negative ones where everyone in the room seemed obsessed with how hard it all was. How could they be expected to eat so little food? How could they cut the amount of food they ate with every ten pounds they lost? This was impossible. It went on and on for more than ten minutes. By the end of it, I was so frustrated and could feel that my motivation to go on had leaked out with each complaint until I was almost empty.

Finally, I wanted to scream, "It's not about the food!" You know you won't starve. It's about the emotions. You are using food to meet your emotional needs or to anesthetize emotions you don't want to confront, and you're rebelling against the thought of your emotional needs not being met.

These thoughts surprised me, but they were extremely helpful and illuminating. For me this effort to become a healthy writer and eater is not about the food. It's much more mental and emotional. My greatest barrier to success is often myself. I've had to come up with ways to combat my mental and emotional barriers. I've developed ten guidelines for healthy eating that helps me combat my urge for emotional eating and lose weight.

Michelle's Top Ten Guidelines for Healthy Eating and Losing Weight

1) Promise Yourself You'll Give It a Year

At the beginning of 2009, I promised myself I'd give it my all to lose weight that whole year and spent time figuring out what "my all" would entail. I reflected on what had worked for me in my past attempts at weight loss, what hadn't and why I always quit trying. I used that information to figure out how I could change my results. I decided that my biggest mistake was that I never gave it enough time. I let my discouragement at how hard or how slow it was convince me to believe it was impossible and quit after a few months. I needed to see if trying for a whole year would make a difference. I even broke this down into smaller goals to make it even harder for me to quit. I would attend 45-50 WW meetings and work out at least 100 times.

Resolving that I would try all year is the best thing I've ever done for my weight loss. Whenever I've gotten frustrated at how slowly the weight comes off, I can't contemplate quitting because I promised myself I would give it a whole year. All that energy that used to go into the discouragement I let myself feel and the angst over whether I should keep trying, should I just quit, could I really do this went instead into my continued efforts to lose weight. This determination carried me through the 18 times I gained weight in 2009. At the end of the year, I was nearly 30 pounds and several clothes sizes smaller. I was so thrilled with the results I promised to give it my all in 2010 and for however long it took me to get to a healthy BMI.


2) Find a Way to Be Aware of What You Are Eating and Make Healthy Choices

In a lot of ways, my journey is not about the food, but I have had to recognize that food is my drug of choice. I've used it for decades as a coping mechanism, as a way to anesthetize emotions, to avoid ugly thoughts or emotions, to reduce stress, and to reward myself. I have to learn how to be aware of what, how much, and why I am eating at all times and must work to ensure I'm eating a healthy amount. I have to fight myself on this because if I'm not mindful of what I'm eating, I will overeat.

I have 4 keys to succeeding at this:

a) Keep a Food Diary
b) Practice Portion Control
c) Make healthy, nutritious and satisfying food choices
d) Occasionally indulge

3) Manage Your Expectations

So much of the successful journey to becoming a healthy eater and losing weight is mental. You need to learn how to manage your thoughts, avoid playing mind games with yourself, and just keep working at it whenever you hit a rough patch. One way I accomplish this is by managing my expectations on a day-to-day or even minute-by-minute basis and over the long term. I need to have healthy expectations about how low my goal weight can be, how long it will take me to reach a goal weight and how much I expect to lose each time I step on the scale. In fact, I try to be "Zen like" and approach the scale with zero expectations of any weight loss at all.

4) Plan and Prepare for Success

I try to ask myself the following questions on a regular basis: What do I need to do to succeed in my weight loss efforts? What should I do for the short term and for the long term? What challenges can I anticipate? How can I approach these challenges so that they won't sabotage my efforts? What kind of support systems and habits can I build into my life that will help me lose weight and ultimately maintain a healthy lifestyle?

One of the most common ways I plan and prepare for success is to meal plan for the upcoming week and go to the grocery store to ensure I have healthy food on hand to eat. Other ways I've done this include: cooking one day for the month, figuring out healthy meal options I can have when eating out, throwing out my fat clothes, developing a game plan for the holidays or food pushers, evaluating my past year and setting goals for the upcoming year, finding goals to work towards that have nothing to do with the scale, and asking tough questions such as can I take a break, what's in a number, and am I backsliding.

5) Find Other Ways to Measure Your Progress Besides the Scale

The scale is not my friend. It's a necessary part of tracking my progress, but I can't let it become the "be all" of my journey to becoming and staying a healthy writer. Sure, there are times when I love the number it shows, but it also breaks my heart on a regular basis. I've got to come up with other ways to acknowledge what I've accomplished and give me motivation to continue. Learning to recognize non-scale victories keeps me going when I'm not losing weight and is an important part of making my journey a success.

6) Learn to Recognize Emotional Eating and Develop Ways to Combat that Urge

The key to this is asking yourself why am I eating. Am I experiencing physical hunger or emotional hunger? You need to learn to recognize the signs of physical hunger, such as a growling stomach, lack of energy, light-headedness, a headache, and the signs of emotional hunger. Have you eaten enough that day that you should not be hungry yet? Are you eating for reward or because you think you deserve a treat? Do you have an almost uncontrollable urge to eat, but you have no idea what you want to eat and nothing you eat satisfies you? Are you feeling an emotion that you don't want to acknowledge? Learning to recognize the difference between physical and emotional hunger is a skill you can develop over time.

Since January 2009, I've developed short-term and long-term tactics to help me combat my urge for emotional eating. When I am confronted with an urge to eat for emotional reasons and not for physical reasons, to eat for reward or even to binge eat, I try to stop and recognize why I want to eat. I tell myself that I'm not hungry and don't need to eat. I try to distract myself. I'll try to find some kind of external motivation or "sign" that will stop me from overeating. If I can't resist the urge, I'll try to contain it to just one meal and get back on the healthy eating wagon at the next meal.

Another step I try to take whenever I feel like overeating or binging is ask myself why do I want to do this. What emotions am I feeling that are encouraging me to overeat as a way to suppress them? Can I address these emotions? What is causing these emotions? Why am I upset? Can I figure out ways to address what is making me upset and work out these emotions? Can I change the situation? Can I change my reaction to the situation? Can I change my thoughts about the situation and eventually change my emotions? I sometimes do this emotional searching in a blog post, such as the one on jealousy, fear of success or the dark side of the holidays.

Healthy guidelines 7-10 are also long-term tactics of mine to combat emotional eating.

7) Develop Ways to Comfort Yourself Besides Eating

One of the ways I combat my emotional eating is to find other healthier methods to comfort and soothe myself so that I don't turn to food and overeat. Nature can soothe me. Escaping into a great book has always worked for me. Other ideas include knitting, exercise, meditation, listening to music, dancing around your living room to said music, attending church services, calling a friend on the phone, taking a bubble bath, getting a massage, and doing something social with friends or family.

8) Enjoy the Benefits of Exercise

In his book The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, David Kessler argues that the only feeling of reward close to the one you get from overeating comes from exercise, and you can literally rewire your brain to want the healthy version and not the unhealthy version. I have been trying to do this since May of 2009 and have had a lot of success with it. I've taken the time to figure out what exercise I enjoy and focus on the benefits I get from exercise as opposed to thinking of it as something I have to do to lose weight. I'm learning to really enjoy and appreciate regular exercise. I miss it, and the benefits it gives me, when I've gone too long between gym visits.


9) Determine Why You Started to Overeat and Address that Wound

I learned this guideline by watching The Biggest Loser. A set of questions that the trainers want the contestants to answer before they leave the ranch is: When did you start overeating and gaining weight? What was happening in your life at that time? How did you feel? It all builds to the question why did you start overeating. The trainers firmly believe that this is the most important lesson of all for the contestants. In order to reach their current state of being morbidly obese, these contestants had to have some serious emotional eating issues. They have to figure out why they started overeating so that they stop and finally conquer this issue. They need to face these emotions and work out some kind of resolution, or they'll just gain the weight back.

Realizing how and why the urge to overeat all started was an important step in learning how to stop or moderate this behavior. Once you know this original wound, you can heal it or at least face it and change your reaction to it. Forcing myself to go through this exercise has made a profound impact on my weight loss and my confidence that I'll be able to keep it off.


10) Develop a Healthy Relationship with Food

The key to figuring out what a healthy relationship to food is may be realizing what it is not and what you can't look to food to provide. It won't fix your problems. It won't fill a void in your life. It won't heal an emotional wound you are trying to ignore. Any comfort, soothing or joy is temporary at best. It won't make you happy. Figuring out what will is a much better long-term tactic than overeating.

These ten guidelines are still a work in progress. I plan to write more about them throughout 2010 as I continue losing weight. While I'm not a fast loser, these practices are helping me with my most successful attempt to lose weight. I'm nearly 35 pounds lighter than I was in the beginning of January 2009 and several sizes smaller. I am fully committed to making it to a healthy BMI. What I've learned along the way will help me get to that goal weight and stay there.

What do you think? Do you find these guidelines helpful? What am I missing? What do you think I should add?

Michelle Butler has made becoming a healthy writer a priority. She lives, works and writes in the Washington, DC, area. You can follow her on twitter at http://twitter.com/healthywrtr

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Tweeting good info

A while back Michelle started a Twitter account for Healthy Writer. In addition to tweeting about our posts here, she's regularly posting links to great information and articles she's finding online that would be of interest to our readers here. Recent links led to articles about how eating slowly can help you consume less and lose weight, rules for writing fiction (hey, we are writers), how we burn more calories sleeping than watching TV, and 10 free ways to lose weight. Check out the Twitter feed with the links here. And if you have a Twitter account, be sure to become a follower.

As we head into the weekend, remember that we're here for support and inspiration seven days a week. Saturdays are devoted to healthful cooking, and our new Inspiration Sundays is back for its second installment.

And while cruising Yahoo! Health's site, I came across an article about the 10 worst sandwiches in America -- as in the worst for you health-wise. Check out the jaw-dropping stats here.

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Here I Go Again

By Joan Kayse

I have to lose weight. I want to lose weight. I struggle to lose weight.

These key statements will not be unfamiliar to those who swear every January to lose those extra pounds. I know. I’ve sworn that every January since high school.

Trish invited me to blog when I posted to our Romance Bandits loop about joining the YMCA. I’ve been doing Weight Watchers on and off also and had managed to lose 15 pounds. I understand the program. I KNOW the program and I feel better when I exercise and yet…here it is February 5 and I’m still languishing.

I offer no excuses but I do have explanations. Since October I’ve had two dear friends go through some traumatic life events. As a friend, I was there with them but I also worried for them and when I am stressed I eat. Then the holidays happened and now my brother had to have surgery. Running back and forth between houses, working 12-hour days and trying to keep up makes me stressed. So…I reach for the quick solution. I don’t get to the gym like I intend. I don’t follow the points like I should. No excuses.

No one can do this but me. No. One. I have to MAKE the time I need to exercise. I have to follow the program of Weight Watchers. I can do it. We all can do it. So I’m dusting the chocolate off my hands, tossing the buttered bread out the window and taking it one day at a time.

What about you? What are you going to do different today to get back on track?

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The Tipping Point

By Terri Brisbin

First, thanks to Trish and Michelle for inviting me to blog today.

I’ve been on my own journey to try to get healthier and wanted to share a bit of it with you all. I’ve done the roller-coaster weight loss thing, having gained about 75 pounds between marriage and child #2 and then lost 75 pounds between child #2 and child #3, only to regain it all and more ever since. But I reached my ‘tipping point’ about 18 months ago.

For those who haven’t read Malcolm Gladwell’s work, the ‘tipping point’ is the point at which a market shift occurs, when a trend begins, when a paradigm shift occurs, aka a change in the way you think about something. And mine began about three years ago when I was diagnosed with kidney cancer.

Oh, I wasn’t an immediate convert at all. After surgery and recuperation, I really didn’t pay attention to my overall health. But a followup visit a year later to an endocrinologist brought me to my tipping point. The doctor pointed out that all my tests and levels were ‘fine’, but if one shifted to bad, the rest would topple with it. I went home thinking that this young doctor (did I mention I have children older than her?) was just an alarmist, but her words both troubled and resonated for weeks.

I realized that I was being really stupid! I mean, I’d been given a second chance when my cancer was found early and treated and I was not doing anything to appreciate that chance. Finally, a few months later, I gathered up my courage and took the first step toward a healthier style of living. But, it hasn’t been easy!

I’ve been using the Nutri-system(R) program to lose weight with its focus on portion-control, balanced foods and getting active. I decided to begin at the end of December 2008 and, by October 2009, I’d lost 80 pounds! And, even better, my blood pressure, sugar levels and cholesterol readings are waaaaay down. My doctors are happy and I am, too.

It hasn’t been easy at all, made worse because I love carbs (breads, pastas, potatoes) and generally hate veggies and don’t like fruits. Although sweets were not a big temptation to me, salty foods are. Why eat a handful of potato chips when a bag would be better? One piece of pizza and a salad when two pieces would be soooo much better? So, I found the structure of Nutri-system to be very helpful in getting control over my diet. It forced me to eat veggies and fruit every day, and it pushed me to get more active. It was easy to follow and worked for me because I only have an older son and hubby to cook for and we usually eat different things.

The exercise part is more of a challenge for me, but something I’m working on. Once I began losing pounds, it became easier to walk. And, in spite of a history of fracturing my back twice (yes, I broke my back twice….), I was able to travel to Scotland by myself and walk my way to castles, tombs, ruins, caves and shorelines. Uphill, in both directions, at times, it seemed. It was something I would never have been able to do while carrying around those 80 pounds.

My success so far, the encouragement I’m getting from friends and family, and the changes I’m seeing and feeling in myself are pushing me now to maintain the weight loss and to continue to get myself in shape. I’m still struggling and know that I always will, but I’m feeling a bit more confident in my efforts. Potato chips call my name as I pass them in the grocery store, but I know if I succumb to their temptation, all is not lost.

And that is my other tipping point – realizing that one misstep isn’t the end of the world. That if those darned potato chips win the day, I can still reclaim control. And that each day is a new battle…..

Have you reached your tipping point? Can you share it with us?

P.S. – One of the hardest things during this process has been giving up my favorite foods or recipes – but on the Hungry Girl Web site, she shares lots of ways to substitute and change recipes and ingredients to make your favorite foods healthier. Hey, anyone who can tell me how to make ‘better’ cocktail hotdogs is okay with me! Take a look at www.hungry-girl.com .

Terri is a married mom of three sons (two grown and out, one too big but still home!) and she lives in Southern New Jersey. The author of more than 20 historical and paranormal romances, Terri currently serves on the RWA Board of Directors and is busy writing more romances for Harlequin Historicals and Kensington Brava. Visit her Web site at www.terribrisbin.com

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Which weight-loss plan? And cash for weight loss?

This is the time of year when lots of people are thinking about their health and eyeballing the gym and/or some sort of weight-loss plan. If you don't skip right over the commercials, you've probably seen an increase in the number of ads for weight-loss plans on TV. The big task for each of us is to find a plan (whether a pay plan or something we devise on our own) that will work best for us as a life change, not a "diet." But if you decide you want to go with one of the popular weight-loss plans, which ones are worth the money? That's the question this article at CBS MoneyWatch asked.

MoneyWatch analyzed several of the top weight-loss programs: Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, eDiets, In the Zone, Bistro M.D., NutriSystem, and Medifast. They give overviews of the plans, what they cost, what the cost per pound is, assessments of if the plans work and if they are worth the money. There's a side-by-side comparison at the end of the article.
~~~
Do you think you'd be more likely to lose weight if money were on the line? If you said yes, you may very well be right. According to this interesting article about sites such as HealthyWage.com, "dieters who had a financial incentive to lose weight were nearly five times as likely to meet their goal when compared with dieters who had no potential for a financial reward."
~~~

I need to get back to reporting my progress on the days when I post. Today, I kept it down to 1,560 calories, but would like to shave 200-300 calories off that. I did two hours of house work, much of which was shampooing carpet. It's amazing how much you can ache after shampooing carpet. I'm on Day 11 of no Coca-Cola. Yesterday, I craved it like crazy, but I managed to resist. Yay! Score one for willpower. I started a weight chart and stuck it on the front of my refrigerator. I'm weighing every Monday morning before I eat breakfast. I didn't have a good eating or exercise week last week, so I count myself fortunate that I lost .4 pound.

How's everyone else doing?

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Starting Over, Feeling Good

Struggle is a part of most things we do to improve ourselves and our lives, and that's definitely been true for me the past couple of weeks with my weight-loss/healthy living efforts. As I have before and may have to again, I'm in a bit of a starting over spot. For the past two weeks, I've allowed myself to get away from tracking my calories and exercising/eating like I should. I have all manner of excuses (board meeting, stress in various areas, travel, Thanksgiving), but I hate that I let those things derail me. But I'm not going to beat myself up over it because that won't do me any good either. So, beginning today (Monday), I'm looking ahead and rededicating myself to this effort again. And I'm going to do it by sharing my actual weight with you. When I stepped on the scales this morning, I weighed in at 164.8 pounds. Tonight, I weighed a little more, as was to be expected since we weigh the least in the morning, but I used a new scale to check my BMI, which registered at 27 -- in the overweight range. I need to shave 3 points off that BMI to get back below the overweight range, and my goal weight by my birthday at the end of May is 140. My more immediate goal is to hit 155 by the end of the year -- yep, 31 days from now. So, how am I going to do that?

1. 2 hours of exercise each day, no excuses -- I got that in today with 1 hour 10 minutes on the treadmill, 20 minutes of stretching/elastic band work/sit-ups, and 30 minutes house cleaning.

2. Keep track of my food intake, no excuses -- 1,483 calories consumed today; need to shave 200-300 calories off that in the days ahead.

3. Read something to inspire me each day -- Today, I read a few pages in the latest issue of Prevention.

4. Writing progress each day -- This will help me to not feel guilty about taking 2 hours out of each day to exercise if I am also putting in the hours necessary to make good progress on my writing projects. I feel good about today's progress because I finished the second chapter of a new proposal, then printed out and read the first two chapters I'd written (copy edited, made notes about characters/setting to refresh my memory, jotted down ideas about future scenes) since those two weeks of dismal health choices also included dismal writing progress.

5. Don't forget to reward myself for good behavior. Today, I still had enough time in amongst all the writing, editing, exercise and other tasks to watch two episodes of Gilmore Girls (just started season 6). Just call me one of Pavlov's dogs. :)

6. Cook a healthy dinner at least 5 nights a week. This will also help in my husband's weight-loss efforts, something that is extremely important to me. I'm off to The Biggest Loser Web site now to look up a recipe for tomorrow night's dinner.

I have to say that Day 1 of this renewed effort has left me feeling good, physically and emotionally. I just need to remember that feeling to keep going.

How are the rest of you faring in your journey? Share your recent ups and downs. Anyone interested in joining me in my extra efforts this month. Let's see how many pounds the Healthy Writer community can lose in December! Seriously, I challenge yourself to weigh yourself today, post that number somewhere you'll see it every day (above your computer, on the refrigerator door) to inspire you to get in that exercise and make healthy food choices. Keep track of how much you lose this month, and report back on Dec. 31.

Here's to a great December!

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It Really Is A Merry-Go-Round

By Tawny Weber

This weight thing isn’t easy. And it's not like I expect easy, you know? After all, writing can be termed a pretty tough career, right? Between the creative struggles, the rejections and bad reviews, the stress and ups and downs, this isn’t a job for wimps! And so much of its completely out of our control, yet we keep on trying, focusing, working until we achieve the goal.

So I keep telling myself if I can jump into the deep end of the writing gig, I can handle something that’s theoretically totally WITHIN my control. My weight. My attitude toward food and exercise and the way I address my health. My willingness to use the spare half hour I have each day to exercise instead of cruise the net.

And yet it seems to be the furthest outside my control so much of the time.

Years ago, a good friend of mine, Betty Hanawa, and I joked about this theory that we are each given a finite amount of dedication and willpower. And when we’re writing, it all goes to that, so we have nothing left over to focus on getting our body healthy.

Now I have to admit, that depressed the heck out of me.

Four years later, I think I’ve finally figured it out. This weight thing is like a merry-go-round. It’s the big picture, if you will. If writing one book is an achievement (woot, and it is!) then a career of writing and selling books is a lifestyle. So it is with being a healthy writer. It’s never going to be about the one shot diet deal, or the four weeks of dedicated exercise before sliding into sloth. It has to be the long-term commitment. Or to quote Mad Eye Moody – constant vigilance – of keeping my eye on that brass ring. You know the one, the healthy, balanced, well-exercised and successful writer brass ring.

That’s doable, right?
~~~

Tuesday's progress (Trish):

Calorie intake: 1,682

Exercise: 2 hours 15 minutes yard work (cutting and hauling brush, weeding, weedeating); 30 minutes housework

Steps: 13,376

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Short of Breath

By Guest Blogger Jeanne Adams

Earlier this summer, I realized I was short of breath. Now before you frown too much, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t like ME either. By nature, I’m an active (verging on hyperactive), extroverted Tigger-type. Which means, I was never heavy as a kid, nor as a young adult. In fact, I’ve only been over my “typical” weight levels twice in my life.

Now is the second time. The first time was in my twenties when my life fell apart. In the space of 45 days, my mother died, my marriage ended, I moved, and my now-thankfully-ex-husband left me thousands upon thousands in debt. It was the same month as my birthday and Christmas too. Ick. I cried a lot. I ate to fill the emptiness. The worst for me though, was that I didn’t move. I sat. I stared. I worked. I went home.

Not a lot else going on.

As I began to heal, I realized I was in my twenties, and short of breath. WHAT?? How could I, the quintessential bounce-out-of-the-chair-in-meetings gal be overweight, breathless? Well, sitting and thinking and moping will obviously do that to a body.

I tried yoga, aerobics, swimming, biking and all manner of other things. I discovered a very important thing. I really, really, really don’t like to sweat. I also don’t like chlorine hair. So vain! Unfortunately, even doing yoga makes you sweat if you do it right. If you want to move muscles and burn fat and gain health, you’re gonna sweat. Bummer.

It took me months, and dozens of false starts. Then, one day, I walked into a Tae Kwon Do studio.

Within two years, I was told, I could have a black belt. Wow. Cool! Engage brain AND body…I like it!

The first day of class was painful. There were push-ups in the warm-up routine. The 8-year-old kid in the green belt next to me was pounding them out. I couldn’t do any. It was two weeks before I managed one full, military-style push-up and made one lap around the dojo without huffing and puffing. When I resigned the dojo to move to D.C. just shy of two years later, I could easily do 25 push-ups, circle the dojo ten to fifteen times before I was breathing hard, break boards, and drop a man twice my size. I made it to high-red – a step below black.

Fast forward to now. Short of breath again. A move, a marriage, a decade full of fabulous life with two kids and two books out. Problem is, the fertility-drug-induced and pregnancy weight gain, plus a lot of sitting to write books has caught up with me. No excuses though, since my youngest child is nearly five and I don’t write 24/7.

I needed to lose 25 pounds. And I needed to not be short of breath.

Time to start, I decided, with what I knew. So, I did one push-up. I drank more water than Diet Coke. I took a walk around the block.

The body is pretty amazing. It remembers. I have my Tae Kwon Do handbook. I’m doing the forms – the patterned movements. I started Karate in between books. I don’t get to class much, but I do the forms.

Author Mike Dooley in his book Infinite Possibilities says that the body knows it’s ideal weight and it knows how to get there, if you’ll just be still and listen. I’m listening. I’m doing push-ups. I’m walking. I’m breathing. I’m moving.

I don’t need The Biggest Loser. All it took was being short of breath to remind me that if I want to sing and chase and yell and whoop and be there for my kids and my fantastic hubby, then I needed to start with one push-up. And keep going.

What was your start? What’s your motivation to keep going? I’m down ten pounds and going for twenty by my birthday in December. Do you have a milestone? I’m hoping that I can finally drop the last five by New Year's. I’m getting there, one push-up at a time. I’m not losing weight, I’m gaining health. What are you gaining by getting fit? I’d love to hear all about it!

~~~

Today's progress:

Calorie intake: 1,420

Exercise: Lots of walking during errands and shopping. Seriously, I should see how many steps it take from the time I walk into Walmart until I walk out. Some dancing around while I was uploading '80s music to my iPod for my 20-year high school reunion this weekend.

Steps: 16,157

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Tips from Around the World

It's a well-known fact that Americans are some of the fattest people in the world. No wonder when we're the land of fast food, buffets, and sedentary lifestyles. We don't have the healthiest relationship with food as a country. And in the South, where I live, I think it's even worse because we haven't met a food we didn't want to roll in batter and deep fry.

This outlook Americans have on food versus how the rest of the world views food is why I thought this article from Reader's Digest magazine was interesting. It explores some of the eating habits of people who live in parts of the world where citizens don't tend to be as rotund as Americans. One of the hardest tips to follow is the first one on the list -- Stop eating before you're full. For a variety of reasons, we tend to eat until we have to start unbuttoning our pants to get some relief. Seriously, that's not very smart. Food is supposed to bring comfort (and nutrition), not discomfort.

So, why not try some of these tips from around the world and see if it makes a difference in how you feel and in your outlook on food.
~~~

Progress:

While I was away over the past few days, I admit I made some poor eating choices. I let desserts tempt me, and I had a couple of Cokes. However, because I had a friend along who has also been making the effort to lose weight and succeeding (we both arrived at the conference having lost 12 pounds since the RWA National Conference), I did get some good exercise. Two nights in the gym and one night of 2-3 hours of dancing. Tomorrow I go back to some serious exercise and back to logging my food intake in my food diary.

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Success with Weight Watchers

By Guest Blogger Marie-Nicole Ryan

All my life I’ve had a weight problem. Either I was skinny as a rail growing up and wishing I had a few curves, or later I was on the verge of dieting, dieting, or falling off the wagon. On top of everything else, I’m short and small-boned and I don’t carry my weight well. I’m a pear as opposed to the apple. Now healthwise, the pear shape (big butt and thighs) is better than the apple (big belly). But once you cross the obesity boundary, it’s ALL BIG and there’s no hiding it or escaping the health consequences.

I’ve had the greatest success with Weight Watchers. And it has taken more than one membership to finally get it through my thick head that I can’t do it on my own. I’m a control freak kind of person, and it really gripes me to have to admit that I need the support of other people who’ve gone this route. It should be obvious, but I’m a stubborn person (not always a bad thing when directed in the right way).

In adulthood I’ve weighed everything from 103 to 238—with ups and downs many, many times.
I rejoined Weight Watchers for the third time February 2, 2008 and continue until now. This time I’ve lost 57 pounds from a maximum of 223.8 to 167 pounds. Now that’s not stellar success because I haven’t embraced the *ahem* physical activity portion of the plan. (Now it’s on the ‘Net, I’m afraid the WW police will hunt me down and make me exercise.) I hate exercise purely and simply, but I know I would already be at my goal weight right now if I were walking regularly. So I still have more work to do on myself.

Am I tired of going to meetings every week? Yes, and sometimes I go every other week, but if I don’t go for my fattitude adjustment, I start thinking like a fat person and wanting to eat like one, too.

I drink the 48 ounces of water and I track what I eat every day…still. It’s more than learning about portion control and healthy foods, and low “Point” snacks. There’s a camaraderie between members, and watching one young woman who has already lost over 160 lbs and is getting close to her goal weight is inspiring in a major way. A great deal of education takes place about our mental attitudes about ourselves and how we experience the world and temptations of that world. There are techniques to deal with the holidays and our families who may not always be supportive of our efforts.

Perhaps the second best benefit (other than the obvious health and emotional benefits) is that my sister and her niece have joined and both have lost 30 pounds at least. I encouraged my niece and she “encouraged” my sister who had to be dragged kicking and crying to her first meeting.

So the upshot of it is: I have to keep going for my health. While it’s true, each of us has her own journey, I’m the big sister and I’ve set the example and intend to keep setting it.
~~~

Today's progress:

Calorie intake: 1,026.83

Exercise: Lots of running errands, which added to the step count. Nothing outside out of that.

Steps: 11,869

I'm going to be out of town until Monday, so I won't be checking in each day. I will, however, be keeping track of my calories, exercise and steps and will give a full report when I return.

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