Our "Biggest Loser" Competition.

So, my office decided that we should partake in a "Biggest Loser" competition. Here is a copy of the email that I sent out earlier this afternoon:

It is 3:00 in the afternoon. You have been patiently sitting on the phone listening to a constituent go on and on about their problems. Worst part is, they need help from their state reps not from their federal legislator but they have not let you get in a word edge wise yet. Finally, you get a chance to refer them to their state representative. They blame you for not wanting to help and hang up. You decide to go to the hallway, stretch your legs, and comfort yourself with a piece of chocolate from the candy dish…

Or, it is Thursday night and you are on your way to the second dinner meeting of the week. This time you know the buffet is going to consist of greasy fried chicken, fat laden green beans, and an assortment of pies. And when you pick only a few of the healthier foods from the buffet you notice everyone glaring at you and you know negative thoughts about you are running through their heads. These looks guilt you into making your trip to the dessert table..

We have all experienced this, even the few in the satellite offices.

This is one of the reasons why we have decided to start a "Biggest Loser" challenge within the district offices. The other reasons being, we would all like to look a little bit hotter, we have a few obvious competitive staffers, who hasn’t made a new year’s resolution to become more fit, and spring is just around the corner, time to break out the sleeveless tops.

So, starting on Monday, January 7th, we will begin our version of the Biggest Loser.

Details on our Competition:
* We are using an honor system. You will be required to weigh yourself on January 7th and then every three weeks until the end date of March 31st. You will have to write down your weight somewhere where you will remember where it is each time that we have a weigh in date.
* We will be using a percentage of weight lost to determine the winner. Each time that we have a weigh in, you will have to calculate your percentage lost and email it to me. I will then email out to the competitors how much weight people have lost and rank them in order of most to least.
*Weigh-in Dates are as follows: January 7th, January 28th, February 18th, March 10th, and March 31st.
* To enter into the competition, you will have to pay an entry fee of $25.00. What will this entry fee get you? Well, if you are the BIGGEST LOSER in the office, then you will walk away with the grand prize. So, the more that enter the competition, the more that is at stake.

This gives me an added incentive to lose the pounds. I am determined to beat everyone at the weight loss game. I really just have to keep it on my mind 24/7.

~ Day Three/Four ~

Pump Up The Protein.
The pro in protein? It's the most satiating food group. To banish hunger, eat 1 to 1.25 grams of protein for every 2.2 pounds of body weight (about 70 grams daily for a 140-pound woman), says Katherine Tallmadge, R.D., author of Diet Simple (Lifeline Press). Include it every time you eat.
Steady Snacker: Shoot for 10 to 15 grams per snack, six times a day. Good choices: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 oz soy nuts, 2 T peanut butter.

Shop Smarter.
It's easier to eat healthfully if you plan ahead. So today—and at least once a week hereafter—hit the produce aisle and buy fresh goodies for the coming week. Get whole fruits and precut veggies and nuts along with staples for healthy meals, such as whole-grain pasta, skinless chicken breasts and prepared marinara. Once you've stocked up, tack a list on the fridge and write down each food as you run out of it. At week's end, you've got a customized record of your favorite nutritious eats.

~ Day Two ~

Feast First Thing
Eating in the A.M. turns on your calorie-burning machinery and controls your appetite all day, Foreyt says.

For the Steady Snacker: Make your first snack big to prevent hunger.

Other tips.

So, similar to my friend Jen's blog "Testing the Tips," I will include several different tips that I am going to try. I am not going to simply use the SELF diet tips, but utilize a myriad of sources. The January 2008 edition of Glamour has a section entitled "Follow these rules, reach your goal." The article insists that it is as simple as following these five steps to reach your goal weight. Well, we will see...

Step 1: DON'T OVERHAUL YOUR LIFE - MAKE SMALL CHANGES.
If you really want to lose weight for good, a gimmicky plan won't do it. "As soon as you say the words 'I'm going on a diet,' you've already failed because that implies that at some point you are going to go off of it," says James E. Painter, Ph.D., a food psychologist at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston who has conducted dozens of weight loss studies. "Diets don't work." Even if you had the Herculean willpower to stay on a dramatic plan forever, it wouldn't be healthy or fun.
Repeat these words, Painter suggests, until you truly believe them: I want to get to a healthy weight and stay there forever. I don't have to to make huge changes all at once, just small ones consistently. Such a simple mind trick won't work for all women - some need to address other issues like emotional eating (LIKE ME!) - but it can help many. "You are basically saying out loud that you're done with the quick-fix diet mentality and ready to commit to a newer, healthier way to live," says Painter. "It is a pledge."
I am committing RIGHT NOW to live a healthier lifestyle.

Step 2: LEARN HOW MANY CALORIES YOU NEED.
Only 17 percent of women can accurately estimate how many calories their bodies need each day, according to a recent survey by the International Food Information Council. But figuring out this baseline (which depends on your height, weight, and activity level) is crucial so you can determine how many calories you should be eating to reach your goal. Thankfully, your body's requirements are easy to figure out. Go to www.glamour.com/health and click on "How Many Calories You Really Need" to figure it out.
It claims that I need 2448 calories a day! Dear lord, that seems like way too many calories, especially for my goal of losing fifteen pounds in 45 days. I am going to aim for 1400 calories total a day.

Step 3: WRITE DOWN WHAT YOU EAT FOR AT LEAST A WEEK.
Now take the time to tally how many calories you're eating. "A food diary is a critical part of successful weight loss," says McManus. "So many woman try to keep a mental tally of what they eat, but it just doesn't work." A written log can be eye-opening - oops, I just ate 600 calories' worth of mini-appetizer thingies! - and help you spot habits you need to address. Maybe you go nuts on weekends, or eat like a bird all day and then have an enormous dinner.
But most important, your log will tell you what to do to get to your goal. To lose a pound a week, you need to eliminate roughly 500 calories a day through exercise or food changes (you may need to trim more if your food diary shows you have been overeating). The healthiest way to cut back is to eat 250 fewer calories - about the amount you'll save if you skip the mayo and cheese on a sandwich, or have a medium coffee with skim milk instead of a low-fat cafe mocha. Then burn off 250 more through exercise.
If you're not sure what to eat, all our experts agree: Focus on fruits and veggies (they're satisfying and low-cal), healthy carbs like whole-grain breads and cereals, low-fat dairy and lean meats or protein sources.
Well, in order to accomplish my goal of 15 pounds in 45 days, I need to lose roughly 2-3 pounds a week. If I am to follow the "experts" suggests of how to lose one pound a week, I should just double it, right? That means that I need to expend an extra 1000 calories a day through food choices or exercise. My goal is to be at the gym for approximately an hour and a half to two hours just focusing on cardio EVERY DAY, with thirty minutes of weight-lifting 3-4 times a week. I will also save some calories by limiting my daily intake to 1400 for these first 45 days of my new lifestyle.

Step 4: BE ACTIVE FOR 60 TO 90 MINUTES ALMOST EVERY DAY.
The book Good Calories, Bad Calories by science writer Gary Taubes recently made headlines by arguing that exercise won't help you lsoe weight. It's true that cutting calories from your diet may be easier and may lead you to drop pounds faster than exercise alone, but the weight loss benefits of exercise should not be discounted. James O. Hill, Ph.D., a cofounder of the National Weight Control Registry - a study that tracks the habits of people who have lost more than 30 pounds and kept them off for at least one year - is vehement: "There are thousands of studies showing a relationship between exercise and weight loss," he says. "Honestly, questioning whether exercise helps you lose weight is like questioning the fact that the world is round."
I already spoke to this with Step 3.

Step 5: EAT SENSIBLE PORTIONS
Most of us don't - we eat whatever's on our plate. In one study Painter conducted, people who unknowingly ate soup out of self-refilling bowls consumed 73 percent more than those who were given regular bowls. "They just wanted to get to the bottom," he says. But the normal-bowl eaters felt just as satisfied after their smaller portions: proof that a lot of hunger and satisfaction is in our heads. "Even though they ate much less, in their minds it was like, Hey, I had a whole bowl - I'm done!" says Painter. That's why for weight loss he recommends using small plates, bowls, glasses, and even utensils whenever possible.
Easy.

~ Day One ~

Today is Day One of the weight-loss adventure. I will write about several tips and tricks that I try and how they work.

To begin with, I am going to follow the SELF thirty-one day "Jump Start Diet". Before starting this, I have to find my eating personality. This was tricky for me. You are given three options: 3-squares-a-day eater, Steady snacker, or Evening eater. I would have to say that for the most part I am all three rolled into one. However, if I had to pick just one, I would vote for the Steady Snacker.

STEADY SNACKER: You graze all day on whatever is easy to grab, often processed bites. Frequent eating can stoke your metabolism, but snackers also risk:
Fat and calorie overload. Mini-meals may max out calories. Processed eats can be high in fat, the most caloric part of food.
Hidden extra servings. Many of the prepared snacks you eat come in larger portions than you need to tide you over.
Negative nutrients. On-the-fly snacks like chips pack empty calories, so you might miss out on vitamins and minerals.

So, DAY ONE, of the Jump Start Diet:
Log Your Bites.
The pen is mightier than the fork. "A food diary forces you to focus on what you're putting in your mouth," says John P. Foreyt, Ph.D., professor of medicine and psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Keep it for a month and the last entry will read: "Dear Diary, I've lost a dress size."

So folks, you can check out my daily food diary here. I will have an entry titled with the date and that will be my food diary. During the day, I will keep a paper diary so that I can keep an accurate track of everything that I put into my body during the day. And then at some point, I will transcribe the information onto the blog.


All of the information from the SELF Jump Start Diet can be found in the January 2008 edition of SELF.

Four Days until the Diet Starts

So, starting Jan. 1st, I am going to attempt to lose fifteen pounds in 45 days.

Is this possible? Yes.

Can I do it? Hopefully.

Everyone starts the year off with some absurd New Year's Resolution. This year, instead of setting a goal for the entire year, I am setting a goal for the first 45 days. By Feb 14th, I hope to have lost 15 pounds.

I know it could make for a completely unenjoyable first 45 days of the year 2008, but I am ready to endure it. Why? Well, not only am I sick of not feeling attractive, but I am taking a trip to Texas and Colorado Feb 14th - Feb 24th, and of course I want to look good for the folks that I have not seen for awhile! Not only will I look better, but I will also (hopefully) save money!

As I stated before, I have four days until this supposed diet starts. So, either I could cheat and start today or I could eat things that I crave until then... we will see which one I chose over the next days!

I will be seeking tips, advice, and motivation for conquering these first fifteen pounds.

Wish me luck!