Weight Loss Tracking

Let's say you start out at X weight. And you want to get down to X-33 pounds (but would happily settle for X-28 pounds, really, and call yourself one lucky hot mom). What the best way to do it? Well, after 18 months of trial, I can conclude that systematically NOT engaging in any sort of exercise and NOT keeping track of what you eat does not work. There, I took one for the team, and now you all know that doing nothing does not equal magical weight loss.

So, although I'm sure there's a billion different ways to do it, here are two that I am currently using...







Yes, the big Kahuna, Weight Watchers (WW). I'm doing this because my sister, my mom, and my dad are all doing it with me! It cost us about $60 for the first 3 months; I think it's around $16 per month after that. We all really, really are liking using their online Points tracker system. It's definitely gotten me to think more realistically about how much of something I can eat, and what I ought to just avoid because I don't really like it enough to justify the Points.






The Daily Plate (DP) is a calorie-counting program (also tracks, fat, protein, and other things) rather than a Points-counting program, and so the process is a little more transparent than using WW. It's also free, which will make a big difference over the long run!

The Basics

• Both programs let you search for foods from a variety of vendors, from various grocery stores to restaurants. In my, albeit limited, experience, DP might have a slight edge on the volume of different options in terms of specific brands of an item (like ice cream).
• Both sites also let you enter in your own recipes; WW then automatically calculates the Points value for the recipe, and DP the caloric and other nutritional information.
  
• Only DP lets you browse from foods and recipes added by other users--so, for instance, if your area has a specific mom & pop store that you always buy your ice cream from, if someone else in your area has already added that store into the system, then all you have to do is search for it. With WW you can only see their library of foods and recipes plus the specific item your personally have added. This is a major downfall for us, because if we (my parents, sister, and I) all eat something together, we have to each add the ingredients in separately. With DP, only one of us has to add it, and then the rest of us can search for it to add to our own counters.
  
• Both sites also have activity trackers, where you track all your exercise for the day. Again, DPs is slightly more robust and allows more options. For example my regular exercise is classified as "walking, on a treadmill, at 3 to 5 miles per hour"in the WW system, and I enter in the minutes and the system assigns a point value (1 point for 10-29 minutes, 2 for 30-49 minutes, 3 for 50-? minutes...that's as high as I've ever gotten!). DP, on the other hand, lets you choose the exact speed (3.5 mph), minutes, and you have the option of entering the distance walked and your heart rate, and then it calculates calories burned. It's just another layer of detail that may or may not really be necessary, depending on how detailed you like to track your progress!

One bonus to WW is that it's easier to remember the Point value of something than the calorie count, and easier--for me at least--to keep in my head that I have 22 points to eat each day instead of 1250 calories. It all amounts to the same thing, but the math is easier! Another bonus for me is that you do have to pay for WW, so I am more apt to stick with it because I've already paid for it and don't want to waste my money.

For me, I think I'll stick with WW for the three-month trial period, by which time I should be at my goal weight anyway (fingers crossed), and then I'll have to re-evaluate to see if I need to stay with WW or just switch over to DP, or if I'm confident that my eating habits have changed enough that I can just do it all in my head.

What are your great weight-loss plans?

Learning to Live Lean

Lots of us have a few extra pounds hanging around after having had a baby. Or perhaps after starting your first desk (read: sedentary) job. Or perhaps just after putting on a few pounds a year every year since college. Whatever the reason, there are a plethora of diet plans out there. I read about most of them with skepticism, because for me the absolute bottom line has always been:

calories in - calories out = weight gained (or lost)

Simple, right? And yet, such a difficult equation to internalize. One article that does a pretty good job at showing some places where people tend to make unhealthy choices is this Lose 10 Pounds in 5 Weeks from MSN. Normally I eschew articles like this, but this one points out that simple, everyday choices that you don't even realize you are making, really add up.

Maybe this is you:

"Often, I see overweight people at salad bars. Presumably they have chosen to eat a salad because it’s healthy and less fattening than a meal elsewhere. But the salad they create often has more calories than a Big Mac! It’s piled high with very few vegetables, but with all the meat toppings and creamy potato and pasta salads that can fit on the plate. And then, the entire thing is slathered with blue cheese or ranch dressing."

Or, this is you:

"This fat mindset doesn’t just apply to eating. It applies to being active. I know overweight people whose hobbies are all sedentary: watching movie after movie, playing video game after video game, surfing the Net, and watching endless TV shows. Studies have shown that the more hours spent doing these sorts of activities, the more overweight a person is."

How to fix it? How to break the cycle? Some people swear by keeping a food log, either on paper or by using on of the many online calorie counters. An easier solution, if you're fairly aware of what you eat and the relative calorie counts of foods, is to do the 500 rule: decrease your total calories by 500. You can do this by cutting calories that you take in, or increasing calories that you burn, or doing both. For example, making breakfast a bowl of healthy cereal with skim milk rather than a fancy coffee and a high-calorie scone or muffin, plus taking a 30 minute brisk walk at lunch, will probably get you to that 500 calorie mark fairly easily.

At least, this is the path I'm taking...I'll let you all know how it turns out!