Careful, now

So, as I wrote a few days ago, my weight is at the lowest it's been in...what?...a few years now? Yes, I think that's right. I think it's been a few years, at least, since I was at 163.

You'd think that that would have been enough to send me running to a week of steamed veggies and fish or lean chicken, right?

Wrong.

Last night, I had Patxi's deep dish pizza and a Caesar salad.

Monsieur and I typically order a mushroom and onion pizza, and usually I have 1 slice and plenty of salad.

For whatever reason, last night I was pretty hungry, so I ate two slices and plenty of salad.

It has been a really long time since I had deep dish pizza. I find that it is much more enjoyable if you have it infrequently. Last night, it was super enjoyable!

Now, according to the French diet, this should not be a problem. There are no "bad" foods (excluding, of course, fake/highly processed foods) only poor portion control. In this specific case, since my lunch was fairly small, having two slices of pizza wasn't in itself such a terrible thing. After all, I felt okay after eating and not overly stuffed and regretful.

But, I do have to be careful. Why? Because it has happened in the past that when I've made some progress with my weight (i.e. it's gone down!) I've had a somewhat unconscious tendency to sabotage myself. I don't really know why, but I have noticed it after it's happened. I want to make sure I don't let that happen again.

So tonight, I will go back to a lighter dinner option.

Perhaps I will even have some fish.

Weight Math

After yesterday's disappointing weigh-in, I remembered (vaguely) that statistic about how many calories you need to cut to lose 1 lb. So, I turned to my friend The Google and did a little research.

There seems to be some debate over the precise number of calories you'd need to reduce or burn through exercise in order to lose 1 lb of fat in one week, but the general consensus was that 3,500 calories = 1 lb of 'weight'. Breaking that down into more manageable daily pieces, you'd need to cut back about 500 calories per day to lose 1 lb, or 250 calories per day to lose 1/2 a lb. Roughly.

Now, part of the reason the French Diet appeals to me so much is that I have never counted calories. The whole idea is anathema to me. I just hate it! I have enough things I need to juggle in my mind that I really don't want to add calorie counting to the list. First of all, I'd need to memorize the calories in  everything I eat, and then I'd have to try to calculate how much the portion of food X that I just ate contained. I just patently refuse to add this task to my daily to-do's.

Of course, with the advent of the iPhone and all the health/diet related apps that are available, you might say that all I need to do is find the right app and let it do the work. And, that might be true. But I still just don't want to do it.

So instead I asked The Google about exercise and how many calories each type of exercise (roughly) burns. Here's what I found, according to the Mayo Clinic:

For a 160 lb. person:

1 hour of...                    =              calories burned

  aerobics, high impact                          533
  aerobics, low impact                           365
  cycling < 10 mph                                292
  weight training                                    365
  swimming laps                                    423
  walking, 2 mph                                   204
  walking, 3.5 mph                                314

So yesterday, I went for a brisk walk in the morning. My iPhone app WalkTracker (I'm not opposed to using technology to help with health and fitness, it's just calorie counting that I despise) informed me that I had walked approximately 2.7 miles over 50 minutes at an average speed of 3.26 mph. According to my app, that represented 270 calories. Later that same day, I ended up walking another 1.5 miles when I found myself taking the train back home after visiting my parents. So, all in all, I had a pretty good day, exercise-wise.

My goal is to do some moderate amount of aerobic activity for 30-60 minutes each day, I probably would be able to take care of 1/2 a pound a week. The rest (if I want to make 1 lb a week my goal) should come from appropriate application of the French diet, especially from portion control.

Getting Back Into The Swing of Things

For some reason, I'm finding it very hard to get back into my French routine. Early in the week, I came up with menus for this week. Tuesday, I was supposed to make a Salade Niçoise, with imported Spanish tuna in olive oil, green beans, hard-boiled potatoes and eggs, and other assorted delicious and healthy components.

But then, it started to get late and I realized I didn't have the right tuna on hand, so instead, I went to Johnny Rockets and ordered this:

Well, at least I didn't get the shake or the fries. But still, it was not exactly the best thing I could have chosen to eat. Still, you could argue that the French diet is all about freedom and not having foods be labelled as "off limits". In a certain sense, that is true. Having a hamburger out is not going to kill you or completely derail you. The problem, of course, is that this was not the only poor choice I'd made this week. Tuesday and Wednesday's lunches were both eaten out, and were both not the healthiest.

Last night, I did manage to go to the market and get ingredients for a home-cooked meal, and it was reasonably French. And tonight, I had some fish with some oven fries and a tomato mozzarella salad. 

So, all in all, there have been some hits and a few misses.  

And that's what got me thinking, "Why is it so hard to get back on track once you've gone off of it??" Is it because I'm still trying to make the French diet second nature and forming a new habit takes time? Or, to put it another way, "Will this ever get any easier??" I hope so. 

Maybe it's just like any other thing that requires some discipline and you just have to keep at it. Today, for instance, I went for a bike ride. I probably did about 6-7 miles when all was said and done, and boy, was I out of shape. Any prior progress seems to have vanished and I was having to shift down sooner and for longer stretches of time. But the good news is I rode, and I pushed myself to go a bit farther than I originally planned, just to stretch a bit. If I go for another ride again soon, then I will notice that I'm making progress and not having to start all over again.  Maybe I just have to do that with my diet, as well. Just make sure that there is always some French element to it, so that I don't feel like I've lost ground and am starting back at ground zero all over again.

Time will tell...

Motivation & Rewards

Many, many diets and weight loss programs that I've read about encourage you to set up goals and rewards at regular intervals.

The treat-oriented part of me always liked that concept. Unfortunately, it didn't ever really work for me.  Maybe because the reality of losing 5 lbs "cost" me a lot more than what a manicure or new lipstick ever did. I mean, honestly, do you know how hard it is to lose 5 lbs, especially if you've been holding onto extra weight for years? (Not to mention losing even more weight!)

Let me just go on record and say that if I manage to lose a significant amount of weight and I can fit into a size 8, you can be darn sure I'll be splurging on something other than a pair of jeans. Something more like this:

This is an Hermes blouse and it's a size 8. I found it on The Real Real, which is an online luxury consignment 'store'. This top, because it is being sold on consignment, cost a bit more than a pair of premium denim jeans. Now that's what I call a reward!

Anyway, when I was reading about the French attitude towards food, diet, and health, I thought it was very interesting to see that there isn't really that same concept of progress and rewards.  Why is that??

Well, I think part of the reason is that French women see being healthy and slender as their right. They deserve to be slim and beautiful and cherished. And likewise, getting a manicure and a haircut is part of a woman's regular grooming or 'maintenance' and not something that has to be earned through weight loss.

So, who's right? Is the American system of goals and rewards actually an effective weight loss tool? Or should we embrace the French way and look at weight loss in the same way as we would look at any other element of living a happy, healthy life? As something that is meant to be and deserved, and not as something that we need to earn. What do you think?

Strategy for Success: Menu Planning

As I've probably already mentioned, I tended to easily fall into the pattern of waiting too long to eat and then grabbing whatever to satisfy my by-then-ravenous appetite. I  was at especially high risk at lunchtime, since that's when I would often be out of the house and away from healthier food options.

But, it could also be a problem at dinner, too, especially if I had been out all day and there was nothing on hand for me to easily and quickly cook up when I arrived at home on the later side. That's when I would often resort to ordering some take-out or going out to eat.

I realized that I needed to be more organized and more prepared, but it was just so hard to change my bad habits.

Then, some weeks ago, I found this handy meal planner at The Container Store:

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This meal planner is divided into two sections. Across the top, there's space for you to enter your meals for the week: lunch, dinner and snacks/dessert. In the lower half, there's space for any important meetings or activities (a.m., noon, and p.m.). 

This planner is marketed to moms and the idea is that you might want to know that on Thursday evening you have Annie's school play, so for Thursday dinner you'll be ordering pizza, or that sort of thing. But mom or no, I think this is still quite a good tool if what you want is to organize your menu and plan your shopping accordingly.

Now all I have to do is be consistent and come up with creative meals to fill in all the boxes!

Dilemma: Baking Enthusiast or Svelte Sensation?

I celebrated my birthday in April, and Monsieur offered me an extra-special opportunity as my birthday gift: a week-long class at the San Francisco Baking Institute on Pastry. The class promises to teach you "how to master pastry doughs and use them to create an unlimited variety of exciting pastries."  

As I may have mentioned before, I love pastries in general, and French-style patisserie (Paris-Brest pastries, éclairs, Breton tarts, etc.) best of all.

So, here's my dilemma: 

If I'm trying to lose weight and I know that pastries are a particular weakness, should I really be signing up for a week-long, intensive baking class like this?? Am I just playing with fire? Courting disaster? Sabotaging myself? [Insert confused look here]

Sounds like it's time to resurrect the old WWFD (What would a French person do?) strategy here.  Going to mull it over and I'll let you know what I decide.

Feedback/comments/advice are always welcome...  :)

Strategy for Success: Keep a Record

After yesterday's disappointing weigh-in, I decided to look back at last week for insight into where I went wrong. I had some general ideas about what I'd done, but I thought I should re-examine the week for a deeper understanding.

Luckily, at the beginning of the year I purchased a weekly planner/calendar that I set aside just to record my meals, since I already had an inkling that my poor lunches were partially to blame for my weight predicament.

The one I got is from Martha Stewart's Home Office line at Staples and what I love about it is that each day is broken up into three general time "zones": morning, afternoon, and evening. Plus, there are two additional rows that you can title yourself, for whatever seems most useful to you. In my case, the two bottom rows are for "Exercise" and "Social/Misc." For instance, if I know I'll be eating out because of a party or dinner invitation, I add it to the "Social/Misc." Or, sometimes I will record if something out of the ordinary is going on that may affect my eating (i.e. feeling down, having a cold, traveling, etc.)

In the morning, afternoon, and evening rows, I jot down what I ate each day. Sometimes, if things are particularly hectic or I'm more forgetful than usual, I will have to go back and add things in, and as a result sometimes I don't have quite perfect record-keeping. But I try to log as much as I can. 

Anyway, when I went back and looked at last week, I realized that I ate out much more than I originally thought. I had lunch at quasi-fast* food places 4 times last week! And the meals that I did have at home were only moderately French (in spirit, if not in cuisine style). 

Knowing what went wrong will hopefully help me make adjustments this week. Another benefit of my food journal is that I can go back to more successful weeks and get inspiration for this week's menu.

What about you? Do you have any experience (good or bad) with food journals that you can share with me? If so, please do. I'm always looking for new strategies for success!


*I think of McDonald's, Taco Bell, and similar restaurants as true "fast food". For me "quasi-fast" food places include like Chipotle or P.F. Chang's or In-N-Out Burger, which I deem not quite as bad/processed as true "fast food", but they aren't really bastions of health either.

Resisting temptation

Every once in a while, I am tempted to revert back to my bad (eating) habits. When that happens, I have a sure strategy to emerge victorious. Let me share how I came up with it.

Not too long ago, I had planned on preparing a very healthy, very French sort of dinner. I was going to grill some tilapia and serve it with a small side salad and a baked potato. But then, in the afternoon, my husband called to ask if he could meet a friend who was going to be in the area for dinner. Suddenly, the idea of preparing the menu I'd planned, just for myself, seemed wholly unappealing. As I drove home that evening, temptation struck.

The guy in red said, "It's late and by the time you get home, do you really want to start cooking? Cooking fish? Tilapia is so...boring. Why not have something that you wouldn't eat with Monsieur? What about Chipotle? Mmm...a burrito with some chips and some guacamole would taste soooo good!"

The one in white said, "But you already thawed the tilapia! It has to be cooked today or it will go to waste. And the meal you planned is so balanced...so French!! Besides, it will take just as long to stop and pick up food at Chipotle as it would to just prepare what you have at home. And a Chipotle burrito is huge!"

There I was, in the middle, much as poor Homer is in the cartoon above. What should I do? 

Then, all of a sudden, it hit me. I shouldn't be asking myself what should I do, but WWFD--What Would a French (person) Do?? 

That single question was the answer to all my dilemmas. Once I asked it, the answer was obvious. A French person would definitely not stop for a burrito at Chipotle when there was a perfectly good meal waiting to be had at home. So, I went home, I made my dinner, and I have to say, it was so tasty and I felt so proud of myself afterwards. 

So now, whenever that naughty guy in red shows up I'm prepared. I ask myself what a French person would do in that particular situation and I'm able to choose the right thing.

Sweet endings

If I had to identify my single biggest weakness, diet-wise, I'd have to confess it is my sweet tooth. I love, love, looooove sweet treats. My favorites are ice cream, chocolate, and pastries like the patisserie that the French are known for the world over. In fact, my favorite shop in all of Paris is probably
Ladurée.  
Last time I was in Paris, I even snuck a few photos at the store in St. Germain:

So, I have to confess that when I embarked on this French experiment of mine, I wondered about the French attitude towards all these delicious confections. I mean, what is the point of being able to make all these wonderful treats if you are never going to enjoy them?

Then, as I did my research, I started to understand how they French did it. Again, the key lies in balance and moderation.  Sure, the French eat dessert and they have access to delicious croissants and macarons and other baked works of art, but they view them as treats, not everyday staples. Their typical weeknight desserts come in the form of fruit, not frangipane! And breakfast bread is baguette, not croissants or pain au chocolat. Those treats are reserved for the weekend or some other special occasion.

Luckily, I am not a big fan of dessert. (Hmm...maybe because I always tended to overeat and was too stuffed for dessert??) But, in my former eating life, I would eat something sweet every single day (!!), usually with an afternoon coffee. 

So, it was a wonderful surprise to read in The French Don't Diet Plan: 10 Simple Steps To Stay Thin For Life that the author, Dr. William Clower, recommends incorporating an "ender" into your daily diet. That is, as he describes it, some small sweet treat that you enjoy some 10 minutes after you finish a meal (a meal that didn't already include what we would normally think of as dessert, like cake, ice cream, or pie!) and that serves as a sort of epicurean punctuation mark and tells your brain, "Okay, I'm done eating now until my next regularly scheduled meal." 

With this in mind, I looked for that special item that I would use as my "ender" and I found it in the form of extra-dark chocolate from Lindt:

As Dr. Clower recommends, I take a small amount of this super rich chocolate and I let it melt in my mouth, savoring the flavor and letting it cover every taste bud. With chocolate that's this high in cocoa a little goes a long way, so you don't need much to feel satisfied. I'd almost go so far as to say I think it would be nearly impossible to overdose on such dark chocolate!

In any case, I've found that having just a bit of chocolate after lunch or dinner really makes me feel like I got a "treat" in, but it doesn't derail me like a daily raspberry-chocolate-mousse-tart or eclair might. 

C'est magnifique!