Bite Rite Reader Question: weight loss

I am at about 1,500 calories a day......have 30 pounds to lose......doing Insanity....and I know I am retaining water.....drinking at least 64 ounces a day......I read that it might be b/c I am eating too little and therefore the body is hanging on to whatever........my clothes are looser and all of that but the scale is staying the same.......I have a moderate sodium intake......just wondering if you have any thoughts?

Now, I have never personally done Insanity, but I am well aware of it. I have done P90X and I know that Insanity is more cardio-based. Without knowing other important factors like age, height, weight, etc. it's hard to say if this is an appropriate amount of calories. My first thought, no. The problem with just doing intense cardio while you are cutting calories, trying to lose weight is that you are likely exercising above your anaerobic threshold (AT) this is your sugar burning zone (dipping straight into your glycogen stores). You aren't really burning fat. If you are doing a lot of cardio you are likely very hungry too, so possibly you are eating more than you think. Unless of course you are tracking every little thing that goes into your mouth.

I learned this best when I worked at Life Time Fitness. They have an amazing chart explaining all the details. Every one's AT is different. You have to train your body to burn more fat. Check out the chart {here}.

I do not believe that you are retaining water because you are drinking a lot. Rather, the ratio of macronutrients (carbohydrate, protein, fat) is an important factor to consider. When we eat and digest foods it requires calories (the thermic effect of food). Compared to fat and carbohydrate, protein has a higher thermic effect. This means that it takes more calories to burn and digest protein than other foods. Additionally, protein will keep you feeling fuller longer. So, it is important to consume protein at each meal. Consuming about 40% carbohydrate is considered low but may help you jump start weight loss.

Lastly, resistance training (weights) is extremely important to losing weight. Contrary to some, there has been no consistent or specific research stating that certain foods or the timing of eating raises your metabolism. The only thing that can raise your metabolism is muscle mass. It is also important for maintaining bone mass, something that can be lost during intense and persistent cardio training.

I think most people focus on exercise when they want to lose weight. It is important, but the truth is your diet is even more important. I agree with Tosca Reno when it comes to the way your body looks...diet - 80%, exercise - 10%, genes - 10%.

You also never want to consume calories below your resting metabolic rate, which is the amount of calories your body needs just to beat your heart, breath...basically be alive. If you do eat below this number you body can go into starvation mode and therefore impair weight loss.

I would recommend doing insanity just 3 times per week and weights 2-3 times per week. Eat every 3-4 hour combining starches with protein paying attention to hunger. After writing down what you eat. I would recommend following a plan. Perhaps more strict in the beginning to jump start weight loss, followed by an individual plan.

Spring Cleaning

This time of year I get so eager for something fresh. Something clean. Something new. I feel like my life is so unorganized and I am desperate to change that. Spring is the perfect time to refresh whether it's your life, your home, or your diet.

Because I am one that can get a little overwhelmed, I sat down last night and made a list of every area in my home. My plan is to take one room each day and organize it, deep clean it, and get rid of the things I don't need. I also jotted down a schedule so that I can complete each task I need to accomplish. I whole-heartedly believe that getting up early to exercise starts your day and you can finish what you need to do. I KNOW THIS! However, this is my biggest challenge. My kids don't wake up until 8AM. Therefore, I find it easy to sleep until they wake me up. If I don't get up, I still try to exercise. Yet, it's never as effective. I have found that the only method for getting myself out of bed in the morning is if I have someone depending on me...an exercise buddy. Sadly, if that person is out there is a 90% chance I won't get up.

I also feel like I need to clean up my diet. So, I will be doing my Four Week Focus again. My husband will too. I also have a few clients who have started the plan and I will be documenting their results every Friday - Focus Friday! If you feel that your diet needs to be spring cleaned, this is the perfect plan for that. Other cleanses that involve juices or spices mixed with water or other extremely low calories do not cleanse your body and do not result in long term weight loss. Read more about the FWF here. Summer here we come!

Four Week Focus

Losing weight is tough, trust me I know. For some, it seems to come easy. Others work hard to be healthy and trim. Some of those hard workers may weigh more than individuals who eat crap all day long. Unfair? Then, there are those who don't care or don't know or have tried everything to achieve a weight that feels comfortable to them and can't seem to get there.

I have created a generalized program for women, the Four Week Focus and I want to tell you about it.

Who is it for?

Women. Any woman who wants to improve their diet and their health. Any women who wants to lose weight, especially those last 10 pounds. I am not promising a 40, 30, or 20 pound weight loss here. However, depending on the woman you might lose up to 15 pounds. If you follow this plan exactly, I can almost promise an 8-10 pound loss. Even if you don't care about weight loss, this program allows you to focus on what you should be eating.

What does it include?

Four weeks of healthy and delicious meal ideas for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner.

Details on recipes, how much to eat, and ingredient specifications.

Shopping lists for each week.

A list of "rules" to live by.

What are the features?

A well-balanced, lower carbohydrate meal plan

Healthy comfort foods

New meal ideas

Meatless Monday

An eat out meal

A semi-free day including a dessert of your choice

I whole-heartedly believe in this program. It is so easy to follow and incorporates new and delicious foods that everyone should be eating. I strongly feel that you should fix the same meals for your family that you are eating, but the recipes show you how to make a single serving too. You will not feel deprived! I am starting week two and have already lost 2.5 pounds in one week.

This program is available now for an incredible introductory cost $18! So, click on the right and get started. Summer and swimsuits are just around the corner!!!

Leave a comment for more details!!

Stuck

Did you know that exclusively breastfeeding a baby can burn 600 calories per day?!!

That explains why you see mother's lose ALL their baby weight within the first couple of months after their baby is born. This scenario seems much more common to me.

Unfortunately, there are some women who actually retain weight while breastfeeding. Yay, for me! This is the category I fall under. At least this helps me to counsel other women who are like me, I know just how they feel.

Here are some recommendations I found at Le Leche League International...

If a mother gains weight or has stopped losing weight after the first two months, she can increase her activity level and reduce her intake by 100 calories per day. Although mothers reducing their caloric intake by 25% safely lost about one pound (.45 kg) per week without affecting their baby's growth, according to a study by Dusdieker, nursing mothers need at least 1800 calories per day. Diets of less than 1500 calories per day are not recommended, although fasts of less than one day have not been shown to decrease milk volume.

Interestingly, crash dieting, extreme exercise, and quick weight loss can actually increase toxins through breast milk because contaminants are stored in body fat.

Weight loss takes time. I don't expect to be to my pre baby weight any sooner than 9 months. You shouldn't either. But, just for fun I have added a new pole to the top of my page.

Does breastfeeding help you lose weight?

Baby Weight

Sorry for no recent posts. I have a pretty cute excuse. I had a baby girl. She is lovely, the extra flub is not. If losing weight is anything like it was after my last pregnancy, it will take a while to come off (breastfeeding does not help me lose weight like it does most women). I may know a lot about weight loss and nutrition, but that doesn't make the journey any less difficult. I am not a celebrity, I am a normal woman. So... follow me on my weight loss journey as I earn my normal figure back. It's hard work.

I gained 40 pounds this time around. I've lost half that (the baby, placenta, blood, fluid, etc.) in 3.5 weeks.

I have 20 more to go.

Here is my plan...

Follow the couch to 5K running guide

Follow a 40% carbohydrate meal plan with about 1800-2000 calories (I am breastfeeding so I must pay attention to my milk supply)

If you are post-partum and would like a meal plan email me. I will take all your info (height, weight, gender, goal weight, and level of physical activity) to create a personalized meal plan. That includes, 5-6 meal ideas and macronutrient breakdown. The cost is just $25.

Sugar + Fat + Salt = Overeating

The following is an excerpt from The End of Overeating, by David. A. Kessler.

“Not so many decades ago a single flavor of store-bought ice cream was a special treat. Our options ran to vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry – and when we could buy all three flavors in a single carton, we saw that as a great innovation. Over time, many more flavors became available, and then specialty ice cream stores opened, serving premium, higher-fat ice cream. In the 1970’s , Steve’s Ice Cream was the most famous ice cream parlor in the Boston Area, earning its reputation for butter cups, and other confections – into a scoop of ice cream. Then a novelty, now it’s entirely commonplace. The food industry has certainly figured out what captures consumer awareness.

Today, of course, ice cream has countless flavors and varieties, and so do most other foods. Once there were just a few kinds of hot fresh bagels – we could buy a plain bagel, or one with sesame or poppy seeds. Now bagels come flavored with onions, garlic, cinnamon and raisins, blueberries, and chocolate. The Panera Bread chain goes further, offering the cherry vanilla bagel, the Asiago cheese bagel, the French toast bagel, and the Dutch apple and raisin bagel. Each one comes loaded with sugar on fat on salt.

Mike McCloud of Uptown Bakers, an artisanal wholesale bakery based in Maryland, call these ‘tricked-out’ bagels. ‘You take a basic concept like a bagel, which is a very clean bakery item. To appeal to a different market segment, you ‘tick it out,’’ McCloud said. ‘You add ingredients to change the mouthfeel and the texture. You put jalapenos and corn kernels in it and call it a southwestern bagel.’

My son says that Panera’s cinnamon crunch bagel is the best he’s ever eaten. It’s the restaurant’s top seller, so that’s what I decided to try.

I read the list of ingredients first. After unbleached flour and water, the bagel contained both vanilla drops (which include sugar and partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil) and cinnamon drops (with sugar and palm oil). Other ingredients included brown sugar, honey, vanilla, salt, molasses, and more palm oil, topped with sugar, cinnamon, and soybean oil.

Taking my first bite, I concentrated on the sensory hits it provided. The topping gave the bagel a crunchy sweetness, which contrasts nicely with the soft interior. The aroma of cinnamon was pleasant and persistent, and the vanilla chips offered appealing bursts of flavor.

As I chewed, the bagel was quickly transformed into a moist wad in my mouth, with the crunch becoming finer and finer as it dissolved. It was easy to chew and to swallow, and its sweetness lingered yet didn’t overwhelm the other flavors. Well lubricated by its fat content and mixed with my saliva, the wad of bagel melted perfectly in my mouth, disappearing only after a few chews.

The cinnamon crunch bagel was manufactured to perfection. Panera had figured how to put fat, sugar, and other flavor enhancements together to provide exactly the sensory experience I wanted.”

Wow. Are you hungry yet? The food industry = SMART!! The basic concept behind this book is that the more sugar, fat, and salt we consume – the more sugar, fat, and salt we consume. Food companies know exactly how to concoct their foods to keep us coming back for more. This is good for their business and VERY bad for our waistlines, hearts, livers, pancreas’, etc.


I believe every human being has fallen victim to sugar, fat, and salt. We all enjoy it, and if you say that you don’t…well, you are lying!! The tricky part is finding a healthy mix of moderation and balance. If you feel like you are “addicted” to these types of foods, maybe you need a cleanse (involving real, whole foods…not lemon water and spices), or a contest with a family member, or a pledge to enjoy dessert once or twice per week.


I don’t believe in cutting out foods that you love (for extremely long periods of time) because it then becomes an obsession. When you say, “I am not going to eat any dessert ever again.” You are setting yourself up for failure and you will try to “make it up” with other foods. When you eventually give in (because you will) you will likely over-do-it and feel completely guilty.


With that being said, cutting out these types of foods (for a short period of time) to reach a specific goal may help decrease your cravings for these foods. However, you must make sure you have a healthy plan in place. What BETTER foods will you eat instead? This way you can establish a more healthful way of eating. The best tip I can give you is to not put these foods in your home, save them for special occasions.


Hopefully, the excerpt from the book didn’t cause you to run out for a giant-sized –equal to six slices of bread bagel or a large peanut butter, fudge, brownie ice cream cone. Yet, if you feel the urge here is my favorite brand of ice cream available at your local supermarket.

This truly is "smooth and dreamy" which is hard to find in a light ice cream. No gross chemicals, less fat, less calories, and delicious!! I believe there are 11 flavors.

RMR and Extreme Dieting

Here are a few more carry-over thoughts from my last post. It seems like I am getting a few more readers, thanks!

Let’s discuss metabolism, shall we...

Your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is the total number of calories your body burns at rest. This is how much energy you need to blink your eyes, beat your heart, flow blood through your veins, breathe, etc. These are just BASIC body functions. If you were to sit in a chair all day long, this is what you would need JUST to survive. There are several online calculators that you can use to find this number. However, these are calculations and therefore estimates on how much you really burn. If you really want to know for yourself there are assessments where you sit in a dark room and breathe into a mask for 15 to 20 minutes. I used to perform these assessments at Life Time Fitness when I worked there. So, if you have $100, I highly recommend it.

Example:

Last year I was trying to work off the last of my baby weight that I wasn't able to get off because of an injury. So, I used the calculation that I learned in school to caluclate how many calories I needed to lose weight. After adding calories burned in activity I came up with 1500 calories to lose weight. Then, I had my RMR measured at work. The results were 1650 calories, just to sit in a chair. This explained why I had such a hard time eating only 1500 calories. I was always hungry, irratable, and not losing weight because I wasn't even eating enough to beat my heart!

Now that you understand that you need to eat a certain amount of food just to live, let’s discuss what happens when you don’t eat enough.

When you eat below your RMR, your body goes into starvation mode and holds onto excess body fat. If you find yourself working your butt off and eating less but not losing weight – guess what? You may need to eat more. This also explains a plateau. If you have been stuck at the same weight, up your calories. Additionally, this explains the yo-yo dieter…

The Yo-Yo:
You want to lose weight
You starve yourself, go on an extreme diet
Lose a bunch of weight
Get sick of being so extreme
Go off the diet
Gain the weight back
Get depressed
You want to lose weight….

The cycle begins again, but this time the diet you did before doesn’t work the same. Why? You have lowered your RMR so you have to eat less to lose the weight you want. This is one of the main reasons why I am against the hCG diet. You must go significantly below your RMR to lose weight, in turn lowering your metabolism.

Other reasons why I am NOT a fan of hCG:
2. It’s EVERYWHERE! Especially in Utah and that is a shock to me because in a recent obesity report we ranked 44th! Maybe we just care about our weight more?
3. There is no behavior modification. You are told exactly what to eat and some of the food is quite weird. You aren’t taught how to navigate the grocery store or how to fit it into family meals. Also, you CANT eat breakfast! What does that teach?
4. Little ones are watching you. What does it do to an 8 year old little girl when she sees her mom eating so little?
5. What do you do when you are done? What’s your plan? How will you keep the weight off? Will your RMR be affected?

Here is a pretty good article that I found if you want to read more. Hopefully this was helpful information. Let me know what you think!!

hCG is AMAZING! Or, is it?!

I will try NOT to get all hot and bothered while I discuss this topic, but I’m not promising anything!!
So, what is the deal? Everywhere I go I see banners stating, “Get your hCG here!” Or I see billboards displaying, “hCG works!”

But, does hCG work? Well, let me give you a little background…

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a hormone naturally produced when a developing embryo embeds into the lining of a woman’s uterus after conception. It prevents the corpus luteum of the ovary from disintegrating and maintains progesterone production. This is the hormone that creates a positive pregnancy test and keeps a woman pregnant. hCG has been used in clinical settings to induce ovulation in women who are not ovulating and for testosterone production in men who have low levels.

So, what crazy person came up with the idea to INJECT individuals with a hormone that is not theirs to promote weight loss?

His name was Dr. A.T.W. Simeons, a British endocrinologist. He studied pregnant women in India who were on a calorie-deficit diet as well as “chubby” boys who had been treated with low-dose HCG to combat pituitary problems. He noticed that these individuals lost fat and not lean mass (muscle.) He concluded that hCG must trigger the hypothalamus to preserve the lean muscle to protect the developing fetus. At a Salvator Mundi International Hospital in Rome, Italy – Dr. Simeons continued to uses low dose hCG in conjunction with a severely low caloric diet (500 calories a day) to help OBESE individuals lose a substantial amount of adipose (fat) tissue very quickly. Simeons died MYSTERIOSULY and the use of hCG started to spread to specialized clinics. It then became popularized by a controversial yet popular author, Kevin Trudeau.

Now, let’s talk about this Kevin Trudeau character. I did a little research on this fellow; here are some interesting facts…
- An American author, infomercial sales person, convicted felon, and self-proclaimed alterative medicine advocate (doesn’t that sound like someone you want to listen to)
- He wrote several publications including, The Weight Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You To Know About, which came out in 2007. This is the book that discusses the hCG diet in detail. (Are we seriously listening to this guy? What are his credentials?)

So, let’s just think logically here. Let’s use our brains for just one second.
Why would someone lose weight while on the hCG diet? Um, hello! Do you know how much 500 calories is? I eat that much at one meal! Of course when someone who needs 2000 calories a day starts eating just 500 calories a day will lose weight. Duh! It’s NOT the hormone
Why would someone who buys milk that comes from cows that have not been treated with hormones inject themselves with a hormone that is not theirs? We try so hard to rid our bodies of synthetic hormones, chemicals, and preservatives but don’t think about it when we are trying to lose a few pounds.
Why are men and women doing the hCG thing when they are trying to lose just 20-30 pounds? Even Simeons only used it on obese individuals. People, let’s just get on the treadmill and stop with the soda.

And so you are aware…
The Journal of the American Medical Association and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition have both stated that hCG is NOT safe, indeed ineffective, as a weight loss aid…it is, as in any diet the ultra low-calorie component that results in weight loss.”

Obviously, I could go on forever about this subject. However, I don’t want to lose the 2 readers of this blog that I have. This was just to get your brain wrapped around the idea that hCG is just another fad diet. It will come and go just like Atkins’s or the Grapefruit diet. If you know of people who are on a crazy diet, point them in a better direction (ahem.) There are safe ways to lose weight more quickly than the recommended 1-2 pounds per week (if that’s what you want), but you must do so under the guidance of nutrition professional – a chiropractor is NOT a nutrition professional, nor is a nurse for that matter. Dietitians don’t go around adjusting backs or drawing blood do they? Lastly, those who have lost 45 pounds in one month…let’s see you in a few months when you return to the habits you had before your diet.