I'm doing well on my diet and am starting to see the results. I've lost about 8-10* lbs since the beginning of the year. My two pairs of everyday jeans are fitting better, and I was able to bring the tighter of the two pairs back into the everyday rotation, along with a couple of sweaters. Some stuff (eating less/healthy, not letting myself get too hungry, stockpiling healthy food at my office, exercise, etc) has become habit now and require a lot less active willpower. That makes it easier. The few weeks it takes to make new behaviors become habits is not all that fun, but it is worth it.
I am not going 100% in this diet. I lose weight every 4-6 years or so. The last time that I deliberately lost weight was when I was part of the diet study almost 8 years ago. I followed it very strictly then, and was working out a lot. I lost weight very quickly - 20 lbs in the first 2 months. It was good, but it was hard work. I guess I could've done that here, but I didn't feel like it. So I'm coasting along at about a lb/week. I eat chocolate pretty much every day, and get a mocha or chai at least once a week due the the bad influence of my office mate, sample the baked goods that people bring in, and still get Thai food for lunch on Fridays, although not every week. Working late still takes priority over workouts sometimes, but not always. But all this half-assery is getting balanced out by the fact that I am really busy and a lot of meals have been replaced by large healthy snacks/semi meals, and I'm being diligent about not letting myself get too hungry.
I am kind of surprised that I am actually losing weight. The surprising thing is not that this works, but that I stuck around long enough for the good habits to take effect. The memory of my rapid weight loss during the diet study spoiled me and if I don't start off with a bang I got discouraged quickly and gave up. So what was the difference? Well, in part it's due to some online support in the form of the aptly named Team Mean Honey Badgers.
Missy told me about LoseIt.com, which is a free diet/exercise site. I signed up, and tracked my calories and exercise for a few days. I was starting to get bored with tracking my calories when I took a look at the forums. I saw one called "Team Mean Honey Badgers" and you know I had to go check it out. At first I was dubious - they had a weight loss competition. That didn't seem very much in the spirit of not giving a shit. But after reading the posts I realized that it was a very fun supportive group and it was 100% motivational and 0% competitive. I admit, I've stopped tracking my calories and exercise, but I still follow the honey badger forum. Mostly it's just for fun, but there are days when I am really unmotivated to work out and they inspire me, and other days when I just don't give a shit about dieting and it's nice to see that there may be others that are busting their asses and sometimes a few who are don't give a shit either, and so I have company either way.
* depending on how bloated I am, how carefully I balance on the scale, etc, etc.
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Diet Update + Well, Duh: Weight Watchers Users Complain about Points Plus System
Last summer I tried Weight Watchers' online program for a brief, unpleasant time. It did nothing but make me ragey against WW, inspired an epic rant on this very blog, and made me so cranky that I actually ate more just to be contrary. I am now on a diet and am using a competing (but free) online program, LoseIt, to track calories.
To recap, WW changed its points system to allow people to eat unlimited fruits and veggies. They then tweaked the number of calories in a point down to account for the added calories from fruits and veggies. They also cranked back the daily points/calories but gave a number of free weekly points/calories. I'm sure some people liked it, but not me. I'm a scientist. Even though I do eat lots of fruits and veggies, years of dieting have resulted in me eating mainly non-calorie dense ones. I wasn't going to suddenly start eating lots of bananas. It just made me cranky to have a target daily intake that was about 500 calories below what it should be. The fact that certain processed food, particularly WW's own products, had substantially fewer points than healthy things of similar calorie count, such as plain yogurt, also pissed me off.
Strangely enough, the strictly calorie counting of approach of LoseIt, or the rigid protein/carb/fat balancing act of the Zone never made me ragey like WW did. I just assumed that I am a cranky old badger and thought that the WW approach might work just fine for other people. However, even some WW oldtimers have been struggling with the new system. In contrast to my experience, they are having trouble losing weight and have had to cut their points further. It didn't say anything about them getting ragey or too hungry, so perhaps they were approaching it from the other extreme as me, but nonetheless it suggests that it's not a great system for more than a few people.
Anyway, that's enough WW ranting for now. I am doing well on my diet and exercise routine. I'm not going in 100% on either, but am eating less (and healthier) and working out about 4 times per week. I once read that people don't have unlimited supplies of willpower, and that has been my experience. There are times when I've had to pour most of it into my work, or just life in general. I'm sure you have too. This was the case as I got settled in here in my current job/life in Ithaca. Sadly, my metabolism is not such that I can do this all the time. Every few years I have to make losing weight a priority. I still feel like I need to put some of my spare energy into work, so this time I'm experimenting with ahalf-assed balanced approach. (This is also in line with my general New Year's resolution of being nicer to myself) It's going well so far. I have lost 7 lbs in as many weeks and have made some habits into a routine, which has made it easier by requiring less active willpower.
To recap, WW changed its points system to allow people to eat unlimited fruits and veggies. They then tweaked the number of calories in a point down to account for the added calories from fruits and veggies. They also cranked back the daily points/calories but gave a number of free weekly points/calories. I'm sure some people liked it, but not me. I'm a scientist. Even though I do eat lots of fruits and veggies, years of dieting have resulted in me eating mainly non-calorie dense ones. I wasn't going to suddenly start eating lots of bananas. It just made me cranky to have a target daily intake that was about 500 calories below what it should be. The fact that certain processed food, particularly WW's own products, had substantially fewer points than healthy things of similar calorie count, such as plain yogurt, also pissed me off.
Strangely enough, the strictly calorie counting of approach of LoseIt, or the rigid protein/carb/fat balancing act of the Zone never made me ragey like WW did. I just assumed that I am a cranky old badger and thought that the WW approach might work just fine for other people. However, even some WW oldtimers have been struggling with the new system. In contrast to my experience, they are having trouble losing weight and have had to cut their points further. It didn't say anything about them getting ragey or too hungry, so perhaps they were approaching it from the other extreme as me, but nonetheless it suggests that it's not a great system for more than a few people.
Anyway, that's enough WW ranting for now. I am doing well on my diet and exercise routine. I'm not going in 100% on either, but am eating less (and healthier) and working out about 4 times per week. I once read that people don't have unlimited supplies of willpower, and that has been my experience. There are times when I've had to pour most of it into my work, or just life in general. I'm sure you have too. This was the case as I got settled in here in my current job/life in Ithaca. Sadly, my metabolism is not such that I can do this all the time. Every few years I have to make losing weight a priority. I still feel like I need to put some of my spare energy into work, so this time I'm experimenting with a
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Dear Weight Watchers: Your Accounting Methods Suck
Missy joined Weight Watchers. Partly in solidarity, and partly because I would like to lose some weight*, I signed up for their on-line plan.
Disclaimer: I agree with the basic premise of the points plus program - that healthy, nutrient dense food is better for you than processed, fatty stuff, but their calculators are strictly in beta testing mode at the time. I should not get different data if I enter in the raw ingredients for a meal into the recipe program vs the point tracker vs entering the nutrient count.
My daily baseline is 29 points. I'll get to what a point is in a few minutes, as far as I could figure it out. I have 49 extra points per week to eat as I wish. If I work out, I can accumulate more points. However, being a purist I am trying to act under the assumption that 29 points is what I get per day, not the appx 40 that I would get if I added in my 7 extra points and 45 minutes of walking.
It's 6 PM. I am still at work. I have consumed all 29 of my daily allotted points and have not eaten dinner yet. I am probably fairly Zone compliant but had more protein and fewer carbs than normal at lunch. I am kind of hungry despite all that protein. An actual calorie count of my intake is approximately 1300, including all the zero point foods. I have not eaten anything processed or high fat. When I was losing weight on the Zone my food intake so far today would've been pretty average (typical daily intake was 1700-1800 calories, as measured by random phone calls where they asked me everything I ate the day before). How the fuck can this be?
A quick check of weight watchers points plus system reveals several things. Fruits and vegetables are zero points, which is a good way people to eat more produce. It may not be a good way to get people to lose weight however. My mom is a case in point. She consumes massive quantities of fruit and very modest quantities of other foods and she is still fat. She laughed when I told her the Weight Watchers system. Cherries and bananas do add up.
A further complication is that vegetables or fruit added to recipes contribute to points, but not if you just input them directly. WW, WTF? Did you not update your recipe builder program when you switched from 'points' to 'points plus'? My chicken sausage and bell peppers entree has either 6 points or 4, depending on how you count 'em. Given that it had 200 calories, I vote for 4. Same goes for my smoothie, which ranged from 6-10.
Plugging in strict grams of fat, carbs, and protein into the point tracker gave me a clue. A point is less than 50 calories, unless it is certain Weigh Watchers brand snack foods, which are still considered 1 point even if they're closer to 100 calories. If it's anything over 50, it's 2 points. They round up, but they don't round down unless it's their own product. For that matter, it does seem to be heavily oriented towards processed diet foods.
So, old biddy, what if you get around the rounding problem by adding up the total grams of carbs, protein, and fat? Excellent question? Entering in the nutrient information is another can of worms. Depending on what you eat, you may lose or gain points compared to entering the ingredients. Despite what they say about protein being important, if you enter it in as grams of protein you don't get cut a break in terms of points, but if you select it from a pull down menu you may get a break. For instance, if you eat 3 oz of turkey breast luncheon meat (or more) it's 0 points, but if you eat 3 oz of grilled skinless turkey breast it's 3 points. So depending on what I eat, rounding issues, and how I input the data, my 29 points could range from 800-1450+ calories, not including fruits and veggies. I guess they had to get their extra calories for the fruits and vegetables somewhere. For the record, I ate about 200 calories of fruit so far, so that puts me at 1100 calories for the points that got counted. These points were averaging 35 calories, not 50. Like a sleazy mortgage based securities trader, I am going to have to do some creative accounting here rather than be fully compliant. I reality, I am mostly following the Zone diet and use the points tracker mainly as a record keeping system.
*I'm not going to pretend I'm on a diet because I want to be healthier. I am already fairly healthy and eat pretty well and think the recent emphasis on BMI is a crock of bullshit. No, I'm on a diet because I want to weigh less and look better. To be honest, when I am at my 'local minimum' weight (at which point I am still BMI = 25) I get sick a lot more often than when I am heavier.
Disclaimer: I agree with the basic premise of the points plus program - that healthy, nutrient dense food is better for you than processed, fatty stuff, but their calculators are strictly in beta testing mode at the time. I should not get different data if I enter in the raw ingredients for a meal into the recipe program vs the point tracker vs entering the nutrient count.
My daily baseline is 29 points. I'll get to what a point is in a few minutes, as far as I could figure it out. I have 49 extra points per week to eat as I wish. If I work out, I can accumulate more points. However, being a purist I am trying to act under the assumption that 29 points is what I get per day, not the appx 40 that I would get if I added in my 7 extra points and 45 minutes of walking.
It's 6 PM. I am still at work. I have consumed all 29 of my daily allotted points and have not eaten dinner yet. I am probably fairly Zone compliant but had more protein and fewer carbs than normal at lunch. I am kind of hungry despite all that protein. An actual calorie count of my intake is approximately 1300, including all the zero point foods. I have not eaten anything processed or high fat. When I was losing weight on the Zone my food intake so far today would've been pretty average (typical daily intake was 1700-1800 calories, as measured by random phone calls where they asked me everything I ate the day before). How the fuck can this be?
A quick check of weight watchers points plus system reveals several things. Fruits and vegetables are zero points, which is a good way people to eat more produce. It may not be a good way to get people to lose weight however. My mom is a case in point. She consumes massive quantities of fruit and very modest quantities of other foods and she is still fat. She laughed when I told her the Weight Watchers system. Cherries and bananas do add up.
A further complication is that vegetables or fruit added to recipes contribute to points, but not if you just input them directly. WW, WTF? Did you not update your recipe builder program when you switched from 'points' to 'points plus'? My chicken sausage and bell peppers entree has either 6 points or 4, depending on how you count 'em. Given that it had 200 calories, I vote for 4. Same goes for my smoothie, which ranged from 6-10.
Plugging in strict grams of fat, carbs, and protein into the point tracker gave me a clue. A point is less than 50 calories, unless it is certain Weigh Watchers brand snack foods, which are still considered 1 point even if they're closer to 100 calories. If it's anything over 50, it's 2 points. They round up, but they don't round down unless it's their own product. For that matter, it does seem to be heavily oriented towards processed diet foods.
So, old biddy, what if you get around the rounding problem by adding up the total grams of carbs, protein, and fat? Excellent question? Entering in the nutrient information is another can of worms. Depending on what you eat, you may lose or gain points compared to entering the ingredients. Despite what they say about protein being important, if you enter it in as grams of protein you don't get cut a break in terms of points, but if you select it from a pull down menu you may get a break. For instance, if you eat 3 oz of turkey breast luncheon meat (or more) it's 0 points, but if you eat 3 oz of grilled skinless turkey breast it's 3 points. So depending on what I eat, rounding issues, and how I input the data, my 29 points could range from 800-1450+ calories, not including fruits and veggies. I guess they had to get their extra calories for the fruits and vegetables somewhere. For the record, I ate about 200 calories of fruit so far, so that puts me at 1100 calories for the points that got counted. These points were averaging 35 calories, not 50. Like a sleazy mortgage based securities trader, I am going to have to do some creative accounting here rather than be fully compliant. I reality, I am mostly following the Zone diet and use the points tracker mainly as a record keeping system.
*I'm not going to pretend I'm on a diet because I want to be healthier. I am already fairly healthy and eat pretty well and think the recent emphasis on BMI is a crock of bullshit. No, I'm on a diet because I want to weigh less and look better. To be honest, when I am at my 'local minimum' weight (at which point I am still BMI = 25) I get sick a lot more often than when I am heavier.
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