SUGAR CHALLENGE TO START MONDAY APRIL 5!! Check the website for information and ideas on how to cut back on sugar in your diet. Learn how to identify hidden sugars in seemingly "healthy" foods. Learn tips on how to get your kids to cut back on sugar in their diet. Reap the benefits of stable blood sugar levels! Join me on monday and we can work on this together! Noreen

Our LEAN blogger Jim is doing great. Read on to see how he is progressing! I have also included a very good recipes for Taco Soup that I got from Sparkpeople nutrition website.

Taco Soup

16 oz ground turkey or lean ground beef
1/2 cup onion chopped
taco seasoning
2 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes with green chillies
14 oz can (drained) kidney beans
1 cup water
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup garbanzo beans, smashed

Directions -
Brown meat and onions over medium heat in a saucepan, stirring occaisionally. Drain off excess grease and add taco seasoning. Add diced tomatoes and stir for a bout a minute over med heat. Add beans and water. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add corn and mashed garbanzo beans. Simmer additional 5 minutes.
Garnish with chopped cilantro, baked tortilla chips or sour cream.

3/19/2010
I have lost two lbs per week since we've started. (A total of four pounds so far.) Noreen weighed me yesterday at our weekly meeting and we're down to 239 lbs.
Two pounds per week is a good pace for me right now - I'm still transitioning into a new mindset. But, I'm developing a solid sense of what food is going into me (and how much) and suspect that I'll take exercise more seriously soon. Before, things like healthy diet and exercise were just fleeting thoughts in my busy day - with little to no chance of getting traction. That's changing and it feels good. The key is I'm developing self-awareness and discipline.
I've done well keeping below my calorie budget. I'm not drinking enough water yet though and exercise is negligible. Also, it's been tough for me to routinely eat breakfast.
Noreen advised me to start small on the exercise - like walking the dog even for 10 mins a few times per day.
So, let's see how I do when I start exercising, drinking my quota of water, and having breakfast every day. My self-awareness and comfort with the fact that this isn't hard stuff to do are both growing strong. I'm building a solid foundation for the rest of my life. I'm optimistic about it, for sure.
Highlighted day - Tuesday, March 9th -
• 900 calories in 40 minutes (Twizzlers - chain-munch).
• A 570 calorie dinner on board the USS Dallas (SSN-700) - Los Angeles class Fast Attack Nuclear Submarine.
Thanks to my friend, Bill, a former Submarine Captain, I was a guest of Commander G.R. Arnold and his crew onboard the USS Dallas (SSN-700). This is a sister ship to the USS Montpelier (SSN-765), on which Commander Arnold once served under Bill's Command . She's in Portsmouth for some upgrades and maintenance and the opportunity was seized for a visit.
On the way there, I downed a ton of Twizzlers (close to 1000 calories). I knew what I was doing - no excuses - except for the fact that I was extremely jazzed to be on my way to a private tour of a state-of-the-art Nuclear sub ... accompanied by my friend, a decorated and distinguished former Commander.
So, 900 calories later, we pull into the Portsmouth Shipyard. Talk about an overwhelming sense of history and tradition. There are buildings there dated back to the mid 1800's (the mind swims that within those stone walls were the people back in the day constructing and maintaining the ships we still read about in our history books) - and buildings so large it's really hard for the mind to comprehend. The place means business.
The tour was ... overwhelming. If you ever get the chance to go on a tour - DO IT! Once you step down the ladder you're immersed in a totally self-sufficient world - clean as a whistle, efficient as mankind can muster, and crewed by some of the most impressive and well-trained people in the world. You'll sleep better at night knowing that we have the best equipment, best people and the most advanced technology out there. War's a awful thing - but if we're going to tangle, it's good to know we have the best there is - bar none.
Near the end of the tour, we came to the Officers' Mess - a small but comfortable room with space for about 10 people to eat (the table is big enough to serve as a surgical operating table - for which it which it serve doubles-duty). The table was already set and Commander Arnold asked us if we'd like to join him for dinner.
We started with a Salad, then to the main course of turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and carrots - all served family style. A Galley Crewman stands by and takes your plate away after each course, followed immediately by the next. After dinner, I had a small piece of cake and cup of coffee to finish out what was arguably one of the most memorable dining experiences of my life. There I dined with two Submarine Captains - one current, one former - and was treated to outstanding conversation, a fine meal, and excellent service - all in the belly of a 300 foot plus nuclear fast attack submarine - who's accomplishments are still classified to this day. Tough to beat that. And, all this for 570 calories.
I think I can forgive myself for the Twizzler-fest this time.
And, speaking of indulgences - I actually got away with downing a few beers last Wednesday night after a Baseball Board Meeting. Even with three, stayed below my budget. Not sure I'd blog about it if I had more. ;-)

I would like to introduce you to Jim - our weight loss blogger! He will be letting us take a peak into his weight loss journey. Best of luck Jim! 3/4/2010

Today it started. Well, I guess it really started about week ago when I was offered the opportunity to work with nutritionist, Noreen Gallo. I'd had a nasty chest cold and was told that in order to get my Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) - which will serve as a baseline referencing caloric intake - I'd have to be able to breathe into a testing apparatus for 10 minutes without coughing. Anyhow, I'm better and Noreen came by this morning to administer the test.
In the interim between deciding to have a go with this and actually getting started, I did start to pay a little more attention to my diet -but definitely did seize on numerous opportunities to indulge before becoming accountable.
So, I'm accountable now ... and what an awakening it's been. I've snubbed my nose at any kind of eating/exercise discipline since ... wow, since I was in my early 20s. I'd always been active, and athletic and pretty lean and I even took a small bit of pride in how my body was still in good shape - in spite of my complete inattention to it.
To tell you the truth, it hasn't bothered me too much. I've had a good time in life so far not sweating the details and just eating and drinking what I felt like - with no thought to consequence. But, like anything that deviates from the optimal path, eventually it's going to catch up with you. And it has with me, and now I'm ready. In fact, I'm pretty excited.
From the RMR test with Noreen, I found out that for my weight (243lbs) and my height, 6'1", my RMR is around 2300 calories. This means that if I were to just sit on the couch all day with a clicker, I'd start losing weight if I ate less than that - and gain weight if I consumed more. That simple.
I'm tracking my dietary intake with CalorieKing - a really solid and intuitive calorie counter program for the Mac and PC . It makes it very easy to track calories, carbohydrate, fat, protein and fiber intake. The program has determined that for me to steadily and slowly lose weight, I need to max out at 1850 calories per day.
Today, on my first day of accountability, I went over the calorie budget by about 200 cals and I red-lined on fat intake as well. Rookie mistakes , I think, did me in. (Two roast beef sandwiches at lunch with half a plate of tortilla chips and then some Chinese chicken for dinner? You think?)
I'm logging my exercise separately in an excel spreadsheet - haven't started on any exercise routine yet but am pretty active with baseball and carpentry. Tonight, at informal High School baseball workouts, I caught close to 250 pitches . That's probably about 200 squat-thrusts over an hour and a half - and I worked up a really good sweat.
3/5 -
Used 765 cals out of my budget of 1085. Ate great too. Had a good breakfast (Mini-Wheats) - no lunch (woops) - and a baked potato, salad and cottage cheese for dinner. And, I snacked on a pack of Tastykake Tandy Takes and a bowl of popcorn.
Exercise - I'm helping my friend finish his basement exercise room - today we framed for about 6 hours and although I don't remember working up a sweat, we worked steady and hard.
3/6
Another good day with regard to caloric intake budget. Used 994 of my 1850 daily limit. A little surprised to find that I maxed out on fat at lunch. (Who knew a tuna sub with lettuce had so much?) A couple eggs and a small glass of OJ in the morning, the offending (but well worth it) tuna sub, a small bag of chips for lunch and a Coke Zero for lunch. A glass of OJ for dinner. (Woops? - but I really wasn't hungry). Framed my friend's basement pretty much all day. We worked hard and steady.
3/7
Today, I sat on my butt for no less than 8 hours evaluating Little Leaguers during our annual tryout. Then from there directly to the Windham Hitting Academy - where I pitched for two hours straight. Worked up a seriously good sweat.
For breakfast, I had a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats (which my wife pointed out was really two bowls).
For lunch, the guys brought in pizzas - of which I had three pieces. With water. Dinner - I ate good food - and a lot of it (Baked potato, salad, cottage cheese, roast beef, and a ton of red grapes ... say, 25 or so?) and still came in right around budget for the day. Woohoo.
I couldn't have imagined even a couple years ago that paying attention to my diet would be enjoyable. It actually is - and I'm not going hungry at all.
It might be my imagination, but I'm telling you I'm feeling better already. And I have to say, what makes this even better is I'm not focusing on quick-fixes - my goals are longer term and sustainable. I've been big long enough - not in a huge hurry to dump it all at once.

Exciting things to look forward to on the blog!

I hope everyone is having a good March! There are some new things to look forward to in my blog. First and foremost, we will be having a client blog their weight loss journey on this site. He has agreed to submit frequent reports on how his diet and exercise goals are coming along! He has had his resting metabolic rate measured and should be reporting soon. Second, I would like to put forth a challenge to all! Many of you know how I feel about sugar and its impact on our diet and health. I would like to start a challenge for anyone interested in decreasing the amount of sugar in their diet! Once I hear back from anyone interested, I will be posting frequent blogs on sugar and ideas to try to get it out of our system (myself included!!) I guess misery loves company! Lastly - Happy National Nutrition Month!

Lets have a Super Healthy Super Bowl!

Sunday is the big day! Superbowl Sunday. Although sadly the Pats are not in the big game, it is still a great reason to have a party. Typically we think of football fare as high in fat, sodium and sugar - but it does not have to be. With a few easy substitutions, trade-offs and tips you can have a great time and not break the calorie bank.

- Go for a walk, run or take a class. Just move your body. Calories burned before the party will help to compensate for the extra calories consumed later in the day. Another fun idea is to pull out the Wii during half-time and have everyone work up a sweat.

-Do not starve yourself during the day with the thought that you will save extra calories for later. Research has shown that eating a light snack with a good balance of protein and carbohydrate prior to the party will help deter from getting there and being so hungry you eat everything in sight. Feeling satisfied when you get there will allow you to sample the things you really want in moderation and walk away from the table before you overdo it.

- Try not to drink too many calories during the party. Lite beer is an obvious choice over regular beer but do not forget the calories obtained from sodas and juices. Calorie-free flavored seltzers and water can be more interesting than plain water. Alternating seltzer with a beer or soda is a great way to dilute out your calories. Another advantage to consuming seltzer or water is that it fills you up and may help decrease snacking.

- Fill your plate and walk away from the table. Standing next to the food table is a sure way to overeat! Think how many potato chips or m+m candies you can eat during a 10 minute conversation with a friend. Using a small desert plate rather than a dinner plate is another tip to decrease portion size.

- Bring a healthy snack to the party. Fruit or veggie dips are great portable snack ideas With veggies you can use a lite ranch salad dressing or hummus (a great high protein choice) for a dip and low fat vanilla yogurt is a great choice for fruit. Bring a couple bags of microwave popcorn to pop once you get there. Make sure you choose a low fat or lite brand as regular microwave popcorn can pack a huge fat punch! In addition, sprinkling some seasonings on the popcorn adds flavor with little to no calories. A tip here is to spray the popcorn with a little nonstick baking spray before you sprinkle with seasonings - helps them to stick.

- De-fat some of your favorite Football Fare! When making chili, brown the ground beef and rinse it in a colander under water to wash off the fat before returning it to the pan for seasoning. You will be amazed at how much fat is removed with this method with no impact on taste. Choosing ground turkey rather than ground beef is another way to save on fat and calories. Use baked tortilla chips when making your nachos. Once the toppings are put on, no one will notice the difference. Make sure you use part-skim cheese as a topping and non-fat sour cream. Salsa is great dip, very low in calories and high in nutrients! Just a few of these small changes can make a huge difference in total calories and fat. Go heavy on the seasonings!! Spicy is good!

- Don't go nuts over the nuts! Nuts are an extremely healthy food but are also high in calories. A few handfuls can send your calorie budget haywire. Pistachios are a great choice. They are a lower fat nut and usually in the shell thus taking longer to eat and hopefully you will eat less.

I hope some of these ideas are helpful. Remember, small steps are the way to go! You have to be able to LIVE with the change in order to attain your goals.

I would love to make this blog more interactive. Feel free to send questions, ideas, recipes and of course success stories to me and I will post them on the blog.

New Years Resolutions!

This is the week most of us take a few moments to make a few resolutions for the New Year, things we want to accomplish, improve or change about ourselves. How many of these resolutions actually are still in place by February 1? This year I propose we take a new approach. Rather than "lose weight", "quit smoking", "exercise"... I suggest we actually set up a plan. For example, what needs to be done in January to help me to get on a better eating plan? For me, after the holidays it is to continue my goal of cutting white sugar and flour out of my diet, for others it may be to increase fruits and veggies or others it may be to increase lean protein intake. Ask yourself, how can I increase my exercise in January? Take a look at your schedule, the pilates studio schedule or your gym's schedule and map out a plan as to how to carve out some time each week for exercise. Write it on your calendar and hold yourself accountable to this as you would a MD appointment or meeting with your child's teacher. We need to make these plans realistic. Of course we would all like to step on the scale on February 1 and have lost all the weight or fit into that outfit next week that has not fit for a year. This is not realistic. What is realistic is the small liveable life changes that will gradually get us to our goals so that NEXT January 1 we are not writing the same resolutions on the piece of paper AGAIN!! We need to try not to be so hard on ourselves and above all, make the resolution so unrealistic that we give up on them before any progress is made. Making a resolution is a private thing but achieving it does not have to be. Talk with a friend, ask your spouse for support, get your kids involved. Research has shown that when you put yourself out there and let others know what you are trying to achieve, you are more likely to succeed. Best of luck in the New Year and with your Life Changes and please feel free to contact me with any questions or topics you would like me to cover in this blog!

Tips for Holiday Eating

Now that we are fully entrenched in the Holiday Season, the wear and tear of all of our personal and family commitments may have begun to take a toll. It is very important to take a few moments each day to "check in" and make sure we are eating healthy to maintain our energy to make it through the next few weeks! Try to make sure to eat a healthy breakfast every day. It does not need to be elaborate. Peanut butter on a whole wheat bagel or a lite english muffin and a banana, a bowl of high fiber high protein cereal such as Kashi GO LEAN, or an egg sandwich with lite cheese are all easy and quick choices. If you are planning to be on the run all day, pack a lunch and a few portable snacks. This serves two purposes, saves money and also may just keep you out of the food court at the mall or the drive thu for a quick bite!! A baggie of almonds, container of yogurt, piece of fruit, string cheese or peanut butter on whole wheat crackers will help to curb your hunger and avoid the sweet attack at 3pm. Office parties and neighborhood get togethers are common during this time of year. It pays to keep a few things in mind. First and foremost, do not skimp with your food selections during the day in order to be able to eat in the evening. This usually always backfires! Eat normally during the day and be sure to drink enough water as dehydration can mask itself as hunger! Most importantly, do not go to the gathering hungry! Have a snack before you go to take the edge off as to avoid excessive munching on the pre-meal goodies. I have enclosed some additional holiday Battle Plan tips that may be helpful during this busy time of the year. Have a healthy and happy holiday season!

“Twas my weight before fitness, and up on the scale
I saw numbers a-stirring, and I turned quite pale.
My “thin jeans” were folded in the dresser with care,
In hopes some day soon I would fit in a pair;

So decked in my sweat pants I took to my bed,
While weight loss resolutions danced in my head.
When I awoke in the morning my ideas they came,
And I thought them all through, and I wrote them by name:

“Choose fruits! Choose veggies! Eat correct portion sizes!
Start walking! Get moving! Try new exercises!
I could see to the future – and wow, I look great!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away weight!”

And then I kept going, for weeks I did work
At eating well and exercising for the health perks.
My eyes- how they twinkle! My waist is so lean!
After doing this program, you’ll see what I mean.

Now get ready and set to begin your new quest
For a trim, healthy body and a spirit of zest.
And here’s to my last wish, as my little poem writes,
“Health and fitness to you, and to you a great life.”