Do You Want Joy Bauer to Help You Lose Weight?

One of the brands/magazines I work with at my day j-o-b is Woman’s Day. They’re doing a weight loss project with Joy Bauer, and I thought some of you might be interested in it. Below are the details, and go to the website if you want more information on applying:

Need help losing weight? Woman’s Day is partnering with Joy Bauer, America’s favorite nutritionist and TODAY Show contributor, for a special weight loss project. If you’re chosen, you’ll be given a diet plan to follow and get personalized counseling to help you reach your goal. You’ll also share your journey with Woman’s Day readers and blog about it regularly on womansday.com from August 2010 through January 2011.

Sneaky Sugar

You + Sugar = Fat.

I’m sorry. There’s no other way around it. If you eat a lot of sweets, you’re not going to lose weight. You might maintain weight, and you definitely might gain weight, but you’re not going to lose weight. 

Okay, you probably know this. And you think you’re watching out for sugar. You eat yogurt, not cupcakes. You’ve switched to natural sweeteners like agave or stevia in lieu of the white stuff. 

But look again at that yogurt. Check out how much sugar it has. Chances are, if it tastes really good, it’s probably not all that good for you. I’m not saying that something has to taste bad to be healthy, but that sweet yogurt? It’s probably filled with sugar. I was foraging for a decent snack at my parents’ this weekend, when I found some yogurt my mom had bought. It was low-fat, and it had something like 23 grams of sugar. (And my dad has diabetes!) 

I showed my mom the nutrition facts and explained to her some stuff you might not know if you’re new to this healthy thing. (This applies to all food, not just yogurt.)

• If it’s “low-fat”, especially if it proclaims so on the label, it’s probably making up for it elsewhere. It might have more sugar or more of something else.
• Brown rice syrup or high fructose corn syrup (and really, anything that ends in -ose or “syrup”) are probably not ingredients you want to see on ingredient lists, or at least not in the first few ingredients.
• If your fruit is in a cup, it probably has syrup in it. Syrup has sugar in it. 

Banishing Belly Fat

That’s my focus these days, as far as weight loss/toning up. (As far as fitness, it’s training for a marathon!)

Anyway, I’ve followed the awesome Sarah for awhile on Tumblr. Yesterday, I clicked through to her site. Um, check out those abs! So I asked her a question yesterday about how I could get abs like hers. Check out her answer below. It’s all pretty common-sense stuff, but it’s good to remember:

First, I’m so flattered you read my blog! I follow yours as well (since Tumblr first started doing the directory and I’ve loved it since!)

So in regards to my abs, I think part of it is good genes but I am not one of those naturally skinny people AT ALL.  I just gain and lose easiest in my tummy.  So it’s pretty noticeable to me when I need to let up on the dessert. 

I have always been a runner.  I think first and foremost that is what helps.  I run between 30-50 minutes 3-4 days a week (unless it rains for 5 days straight like this week). 

Also, I try to always do strength training moves that require stability from my core.  For example, rather than doing regular bicep curls, I stand on a bosu ball or on one leg.  For squats, I’ll put weights on my shoulders at a perpendicular angle (elbows pointing forward).  The forces your core to work hard to keep your chest and head up.   I do a lot of planks, and love pilates ab moves like the hundred. 

Lastly, I try to eat clean.  My idea of junk food is trail mix or an apple with peanut butter during the week.  Rarely do I eat pasta or bread and if I do, it’s under 100 calories in a single sitting.  I don’t drink soda, diet or regular.  I try not to drink beer.  I am of course a secret addict to sweets (which I reveal at times), but I know I’ve gotta work it off within the next day or two to make sure it doesn’t stick.  

Thanks again for the amazing compliment.  I honestly don’t focus exclusively on my abs during workouts except maybe one move, but I just try to always be using them during the day whether it’s sitting up straight or giving them squeeze while I run.

My Birthday in Food!

Scrolling back through the few days, I realized why I keep this blog. To keep myself accountable. “But it’s my birthday week and I lost 50 pounds this year?” I’m glad I have photographic evidence to remind me to only do this once a year!

The sweet Casey e-mailed me this morning and told me to “enjoy every indulgence imaginable!” Casey, I did not let you down!

I spent the day with my mom and was kidnapped back to NJ for the evening for dinner. (I wanted to have dinner with my parents but my dad had to work late, so NJ it was.) I went to the Sicilian Sun in Ho-Ho-Kus (yes, that’s a real town name) with my parents and two of my wonderful friends.

My dad and I started with spiedini di mozzarella, which is basically fancy mozzarella sticks or a fancy (breaded and fried) grilled cheese sandwich. It’s similar to another dish called mozzarella en carrozza. My dad and I always get it at our favorite restaurant, Portobello, which is also where I had my Sweet 16…11 years ago. Ah!

Then, I moved onto chicken parmigiana with some spaghetti on the side. (Note, we do not go to fancy Italian restaurants. They are nowhere near as fun, or as good, as the family-owned hole-in-the-wall kind of places.)

(I ate about half of it and left the rest. I was going back and forth with myself about whether I should bring it home, but once was enough for me!)

To be honest, “real” pasta is no longer as good to me as whole wheat pasta. I could taste the empty calories and realized I used to keep eating to get that satisfaction that never came. With white pasta, I’d go from not-yet-satisfied to wanting to burst in 2.5 seconds.

Yum ice cream cake! This? Worth. Every. Bite. But I did make my mom throw out the leftovers afterwards.

There you have it. I’m not perfect, but I”m going to get back to my healthy eating tomorrow and my healthy drinking habits…Saturday. I’m going out for dinner (sushi) with friends tomorrow night and then meeting people out for drinks afterwards.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE SWEET BIRTHDAY WISHES! XOXO

Two things:

1. Chobani Low-Fat Pineapple Yogurt? AMAZING. It is so rich and creamy, it tastes like pudding (UM, Swiss Miss Vanilla? Anyone remember that stuff? YUM.) — but better for you. Add berries and granola and it’s heaven in your mouth.

2. I forgot to post about my workout. I did 15 minutes of intervals (30 seconds running at 6.0, 45 seconds walking at 3.0) on the treadmill at a 10% incline. Joel said that it’s the intensity, not the duration that’s important in weight loss. Plus, if you usually do a half hour workout, this changes it up. And our bodies need new challenges to keep burning fat. Try it! It’s harder than it sounds. And if it’s not, up the speed or the incline.

Oh? My goals?

How did I do on my goals this week?

Weight Loss: My goal, by next Weigh-In Wednesday, is for my weight to have stabilized. I will do this by less alcohol this weekend, following my own advice. I hope to be two pounds down from where I was yesterday, which puts me one little pound above my goal weight. I actually want to lose a few more pounds after there just to tone up a bit, but I consider those bonus pounds, since they weren’t part of my original goal of 50. Still haven’t really stabilized. Working on it, as my birthday/goal is next week!

Fitness: I think I’ve had enough of a rest from my first half to start training for mysecond. (Which finishes approximately half a mile away from my apartment. Lower Manhattan FTW! For once!) So, I plan to get in a long run tomorrow and a recovery run on Tuesday. I’ll do regular cardio Monday, and I’m taking a rest day today. I did my long run but no recovery run and missed a few days of cardio for being sick. Meh.

Nutrition: To continue to eat as cleanly as possible and to limit my alcohol intake. (That was kind of a fail last night but I’ll work on it tonight and for the rest of the week.) This was a total fail on Friday night (but fun), but the rest of the week was okay.

Healthy Thinking: To remember that I’ve come a long way (baby) and to be proud of the progress I’ve made and not focus on the remaining imperfections on my body. Doing pretty well on this one! Also on the previous week’s goal of staying positive about my current career situation.

Next Week’s Goals

Weight Loss: Next W.I.W. is the day before my (ah!) 27th birthday. I will eat like a saint (they eat really well, right?!) all week. And my scale will say 139 next Wednesday. It will. (I realize I haven’t talked about my exact weight for a while, but y’all aren’t stupid. And my before and after picture says my before weight, so my after weight/goal of 50 pounds is easy to deduce!)

Fitness: Only one rest day between now and next Wednesday, not the 3 I took this week (though I needed two of those.) Balancing my half training schedule with the cardio Joel gave me.

Nutrition: Limiting the booze. Doing my own Semi-Sober February. Booze=extra pounds, people. It also can equal fun, which is why it’s so hard to reconcile the two sometimes.

Healthy Thinking: That I’m awesome and can do anything. But also to be realistic and know my expectations and not say yes to everything and overwhelm myself. (See also: work on time management.) Also. And this is a big one: to not think “I’m turning 27 (ahhhh!), I should have done x; I should be x.”

It’s….WEIGH IN WEDNESDAY!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

It’s check-in day! Please let me know by midnight PST tonight (cause I’m nice to the West-coasters) both your progress for this week and your goals for next week. Feel free to let me know where you struggled and if you need advice. (Sorry if I didn’t get back to you last week, I promise I will this week!)

E-mail losingweightinthecity at gmail dot com. I don’t care if we’re real friends and you have my personal e-mail or if you have a blog and you’re also posting it there or you’ve submitted it through Tumblr. I need the e-mail to pick the winner at the end.

SPEAKING OF THE WINNER, I just wanted to remind you of what the final prize is!:

Clif has generously agreed to sponsor not only this contest but an upcoming giveaway.
The winner of the Spring Shape-Up will receive:
3 caddies of Clif Bars
3 caddies of Luna
3 caddies of Clif Mojo
3 caddies of Clif C (new 2-layer fruit and nut bar)
Each caddie has 12 bars, so that’s a total of 144 bars! (A gross!)
I will randomly choose the winner from everyone who stuck with the challenge and checked in every week.
I love Luna bars, their line of bars for women, as a quick afternoon snack with a piece of fruit or before a long run. (I would say that even if the company hadn’t generously donated bars!) The company also makes Shot Bloks, those quick little energy packets you eat on long runs. They’re also doing a lot to give back to the community.

I’ll update you on my progress/goals later. Also stay tuned for more giveaways!