The Great Lose Weight New Year's Resolution

Here we are a week into 2015 so raise your hands if you, like many made a New Year's resolution to lose weight?  According to University of Scranton Journal of Clinical Psychology losing weight was the number one new year's resolution in 2014.  This resolution dropped to number 3 in 2015, right behind spending more time with family and friends (1) and getting fit (2) according to most sources. Many folks will jump onto the newest fad diet, join gyms, buy exercise equipment and go all out for all of about a month if that before they return to their normal diets and activities.

A year ago today, I was two months into my fitness journey which by default led to weight loss.  I have maintained my weight loss hovering within 0.5 lb of 108 lb.  During my weight loss phase, I heard over and over again that for every 6 lb lost, 5 lb of those are from dietary changes and only 1 lb from exercise.  The rule of thumb is:  dietary change is for weight loss, exercise is for fitness.  I think it is more complex than that because exercise can reduce stress with reduces cortisol so you lose weight, especially fat easier.  You also sleep better with exercise, another factor that is important for weight loss.  However, the primary factor in losing weight is your diet. 

That does not mean you cannot enjoy good food or your food has to be bland.  It doesn't mean you have to give up bread or eat a steady diet of salads.  What worked and continues to work for me, may help you achieve your New Year's resolution.  Here's are a few things that work for me:

• set goals -  Calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) then eat 20% less for weight loss.  Do not eat less than your BMR (basal metabolic rate), the amount of energy expended while at rest.  Females should not eat fewer than 1,200 calories; men should not eat fewer than 1,500 calories.
• calorie tracking - There are numerous calorie counting apps, websites and software.  It becomes a matter of personal preference.  I like and still use My Fitness Pal (MFP) for tracking calories consumed and burned.  MFP feeds into Health (Apple) in addition to a number of fitness apps that I use.  I'm also testing Lose It! 
• fitness - You do not need to spend a penny to get fit.  Search for "you are your own gym" for ideas.   I do a lot of walking with a goal of 10,000 steps per day.  I highly recommend a pedometer (under $20) or a fitness tracker.  My current fitness tracker is Misfit Shine ($120).  Many of the fitness apps I use are free with upgrades to low cost, feature enhanced paid versions.  I really like the Runtastic apps, Sworkit, Hot5 and 7M Workout.  I also use fitness videos on YouTube.
• carbohydrates - A lot of diets put an emphasis on cutting carbs.  Carbs are not the enemy because your body requires a certain amount for fuel.  However, many women find they lose weight quicker on lower carbs.  The default MFP setting is 50% carbs.  I reduced mine to 40% which made a huge difference in my weight loss without me feeling deprived.  Simple sugars can be a problem in that they cause insulin spikes and water retention.  I tend to limit simple sugars.
• fats - Fats get a bad rap but fats do not make you fat, eating too much makes you fat.  You need fats as part of a healthy diet.  The recommendation is to get 20% to 35% of calories from fat.   I have my fat macro set to 30%.  Fats are calorie dense at 9 cal per gram.  Choose unsaturated fats, minimize saturated fats and avoid trans-fats.
• protein - Recently there has been a huge emphasis on the importance of protein.  Protein minimizes the loss of lean muscle when losing weight and it keeps you full longer.  I eat protein with every meal and quite often snacks include protein.  I eat a lot of clean protein, Greek yogurt, nuts, eggs and cheese.  I continue to use protein powder but gave up on commercially made protein bars except when traveling.  Many commercially made protein bars are too high in carbs so I make my own.
• artificial sweeteners - I don't use artificial sweeteners but there is new research that indicate they can actually prevent you from losing weight.  I use stevia if I want to reduce the calories in something sweet.  In general though, portion control works well for me for sweets.
• diet foods - In general, I avoid anything labeled as 'diet' like the plague.  These foods tend to be highly processed, over priced and poor nutritional value.  
• whole foods - This is nothing new for me but I really push whole foods especially fruits and vegetables.  
• grazing - I am a grazer, from about 10:30 AM to 6:30 PM seldom eating before or after that time period.   This is my natural eating pattern which actually falls under intermittent fasting, a successful dieting method for some. 
• the apple test - Am I hungry enough to eat an apple?  If the answer is no, then I'm really not hungry.  That means I'm reaching for a snack for any other reason besides hunger. 

A Few Problems with Caloric Values

Today's Diet Tip:  Seven Diet Myths Debunked  Note #3 that all diets perform poorly over time.  If you want to lose the weight and keep it off, remember it is all about calories in verses calories burned.  It really is that simple!

We rely on various indicators (eg. scales, nutritional values, fitness equipment calories burned, pedometers, fitness apps) to help in our weight loss goal.  Herein lies part of the problem.   I wear my pedometer and have my fitness app on when walking about the house.  Despite calibrating both to my current weight and average step length, they will show different number of steps taken and calories burned.  This would be a problem if I were relying solely on those devices to tell me the number of calories I burned in order to eat a bit more.  The second problem especially with scales is the calibration can become faulty due to age or impact.  In other words, you may not weigh exactly what your scales say you weigh.  Another problem is a lot of fitness equipment gives you a display that includes calories burned but unless it has been calibrated with your weight, chances are very good the display will not be what you actually burned.  That means, you may not be burning as many calories as you think you are which can be problematic for desired weight loss.  For example, if using My Fitness Pal with a calculated 1,200 calorie intake combined with 300 calories burned, your intake should be 1,500.  If in reality you only burned 250 calories instead of the 300 you though you burned and ate the 1,500 you would be over by 50 calories.  If this were done on a consistent basis, it would sabotage your weight loss.

Next problem, the nutritional values.  We rely heavily on them and not just for weight loss so the key question is, are they accurate?  Many restaurants are now including a caloric value on all or a portion of their menu items.  Here's an interesting video addressing discrepancies between restaurant posted caloric value and actual caloric value:

Therein lies one of the problems with trying to lose weight.  Even if you exercise and/or increase your physical activity AND you count the calories you consume, the numbers can still be off causing you to not lose as much weight as you thought you would. 

My work-around is to focus on eating and being physically active for my own optimal health.  I use the nutritional values and calories burned values as guidelines knowing they may be off a little especially those nutritional values for meals eaten away from home.  I also increase my physical activity on days I know I will be eating out.

Read Those Labels!

Today's Diet Tip:  Hydration is extremely important when combining exercise with dieting.  Aim for drinking eight 8 oz glasses of filtered water daily.

I'm a label reader, both nutritional and ingredient labels.  These labels have a significantly higher influence on what I buy than price does.  I will often put a food product back on the shelf just on the basis of one of those labels.  A study published in the journal Agricultural Economics which found that women who read the labels on food packaging are nearly 9 lbs lighter than those who don’t.  Impressive!

Food manufacturers are constantly changing their products usually as a cost cutting measure.  The changes they make may or may not affect the nutritional value of their modified product.  In most cases, the change will.  Unless the product is labelled in such a fashion as to draw your attention to the changes, chances are very good you may not notice them.

We were preparing for our monthly games night in December.  I ask my husband to pick up more non-alcoholic beer.  I like to keep both non-alcoholic beer and wine on hand for those who choose not to drink alcohol.  Both are good for cooking as well for adding flavour without alcohol.  He brought home two cases of President's Choice Blond Brew.  I noticed one case said 80 calories per can and the other said 50 calories per can!  It was a fluke I caught the difference because usually the old label has been discarded so can't be compared to the new one.

I compared the nutritional values on both cans.  On the surface a drop in calories is a good thing especially for those counting calories.  The 80 calorie version has 55 mg of potassium which is now missing from the 50 calorie version. The 80 calorie version has 17 g (2 g sugar) carbohydrates while the 50 calorie version has 9 g (3 g sugar).   The 80 calorie version is not a significant source of sodium while the 50 calorie version has 10 mg of sodium.  Clearly what they did was add salt and sugar likely because they added a bit more water as a cost cutting measure.  So I called Loblaws Inc. to inquire about the change.  The 50 calorie version is the new version with the older 80 calorie version being phased out.

When food manufacturers change a product, they often increase water, salt or sugar as a cost cutting measure.  Changing the oil in a product is another common change, quite often to a GMO oil like canola.  Be sure to check the labels often even for those products you buy on a regular basis.  Chances are you will notice these types of changes from time to time.

I'm not a soda drinker but we do have soda in the house for entertaining.  There has long been a debate over which is better, Coca-Cola or Pepsi.  Well, the short answer is neither are a healthy drink but then they aren't claiming to be. However, many do enjoy them so the question when dieting becomes which is the better nutritional choice.   If you are counting calories, indulging in one can will not sabotage your diet as long as you have a calorie deficit for that day.  On the other hand, a can of your favourite cola will add about 150 calories to your caloric intake for the day without adding any real nutritional value.  Sodas do earn their title of empty calories for a reason!

Pepsi has just slightly better numbers when it comes to calories and sugar although the carbohydrate content is the same.  Pepsi has almost a third of the amount of sodium, something that would be of interest for those on a sodium restricted diet.  On that note, for those who enjoy soda, the choice comes down to personal preference.

Beverages are one of the worst foods for dieting because they contain a high caloric content.  Three colas can add as much as 480 calories to your caloric intake which is a lot if you are on a 1,200 calorie diet!  Fatburn offers a free activity burn tool so you can easily calculate how long to spend doing the activity of your choice to burn of your beverage calories in order to create your calorie deficit to help you reach your weight goals.

Pancake and waffle mix remains a popular pantry staple even though it is less to make from scratch.  However, there are times that the mix comes in handy.  The bottom line with mixes is they are always more expensive than a mix from scratch.  It is important to read those labels because with mixes especially, there is more to it than calories.  My husband brought back a box of Aunt Jemima pancake mix from hunt camp.  I brought a bag of Arrowhead Mills pancake mix back from our vacation home.  I had bought it for when the guys were down for their golf week.  How do these two mixes compare and which is the better choice?
 

Food manufacturers use another tactic that quickly becomes confusing to shoppers.  The Arrowhead Mills pancake mix is 140 cal for 1/4 c and the Aunt Jemima mix is 150 cal for 1/3 c.  Unless you read carefully, the Arrowhead Mills pancake mix appears to be the better caloric value for those counting calories.  However, to make a fair comparison the caloric values need to be converted to the same units so I converted the 1/4 c values to 1/3 c values.  [Conversion:  1/3 = .33, 1/4 = .25, (value)(.33)/.25 = converted value, example using calories:  (140)(.33)/.25 = 184].  The corrected value for the Arrowhead Mills is 184 cal for 1/3 c so it is 34 calories more than the equivalent amount of Aunt Jemima mix.  In terms of nutritional value though, the Arrowhead Mills is lower in total fat, lower is sodium, considerably higher in potassium, higher in fiber, higher in protein and lower in sugar.  It also contains no soybean oil (GMO) or bleached flour that the Aunt Jemima mix has.  Even though it is 34 calories more, the Arrowhead is nutritionally a better value than the Aunt Jemima mix.  It uses organic whole grain flour and organic enriched wheat flour.  I would rather cut those 34 calories somewhere else (eg. a bit smaller pancakes) in favour of a higher nutritional quality product and sometimes that becomes the choice in the quest for healthier eating.  

Create a Calorie Deficit for Weight Loss

Today's Diet Tip:  Create a calorie deficit through calorie reduction combined with increased physical activity.

We've all seen the television advertisements with Jared Fogle endorsing Subway because eating their subs helped him lose a massive amount of weight, 245 lb of weight to be precise.  Exercise was not really a part of Jared's weight loss plan but he has kept the weight off.  Mark Haub took it to a whole new level by losing 27 lb on the twinkie diet, definitely not what one would refer to as health food.    I was reading through a forum post and resulting comments on My Fitness Pal regarding "John Cisna, a science teacher from Ankeny, Iowa, lost 37lbs and saw his cholesterol drop by a third in the three months that he ate nothing but McDonald's. He also saw his low-density lipoprotein, also known as 'bad cholesterol', drop from 173 to 113."  He kept his caloric intake to 2,000 calories per day and he added 45 minutes walking to his day.  Essentially he ate fast food for 90 days, lost weight and improved his health markers.  In all three cases, a calorie deficit was created by caloric reduction from what they had been eating and in John's case, that calorie deficit was enhanced by walking daily.  This underscores the notion that as long as you create a calorie deficit, you will lose weight regardless of what you eat. 

Despite the weight loss in these three cases and the improvement is certain health markers, this is not something I would do myself or recommend.  The focus is on the food not developing a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.  I should note that I am not a huge fan of any fast food and quite frankly the last time I had a Twinkie was likely as a teenager, eons ago.  A diet consisting mainly of fast food has a multitude of other negative health implications even if you can lose weight eating it.  However, if one chooses to lose weight going on a fast food diet, that is their choice.   It may be slightly healthier than relying on heavily processed diet foods from the grocery store.  At any rate, this diet choice is rather expensive!  The Twinkie diet has the potential to quickly become problematic by not providing the body with the essential micronutrients needed.

This is one reason I do not like fad diets, diets that eliminate or greatly restrict one food group or crash diets.  Yes, they may be effective for temporary weight loss but they are ineffective for establishing long term healthy weight goals.  They can adversely affect your health, set you on a yo-yo dieting pattern or worse create an eating disorder.  These types of diets take the fun out of food which is unacceptable to this foodie!  Food is meant to be enjoyed.  Simply creating a daily calorie deficit allows you to do just that!

Zucchini Melody

Today's Diet Tip:  Water dilutes digestive enzymes.  Do not drink water within a half hour of eating, while eating or for an hour after eating.

Yesterday, I mentioned I use My Fitness Pal.  This online site is very user friendly and a excellent tool to use towards a healthier lifestyle.  It calculates your daily energy requirement then sets a daily calorie goal that will create a calorie deficit based on the information you provide.  My basic daily energy requirement is 1,560 calories.  My daily calorie goal of 1,200 calories gives me a calorie deficit of 360 calories so as long as I maintain my normal activity (eg. no exercise) and consume only 1,200 calories a day, I will lose a projected 0.7 lb per week.  If I do any extra activity (eg. shopping, housework) or exercise (eg. elliptical trainer, walking), the calories burned are added to my daily calorie goal.  For example, if I burn 100 calories walking then my calorie goal for that day increases to 1,300 calories.  Under this program, calories burned are meant to be eaten back because there is already a calorie deficit built in.  Essentially, the more I want to eat the more physical activity I do to increase that day's calorie goal.  The only criteria are to not go under the 1,200 calories in a day on a regular basis because it can put your body into starvation mode making it difficult to lose weight and to make sure eat the required macronutrients.    It's actually a very easy, nonrestrictive method of losing weight and getting fit.

Anyone on a diet quickly realizes the importance of eating vegetables.  Vegetables play a large role in our normal daily diet to begin with so there was no adjustment for me there.  Vegetables are low in calories and high in nutrition and fiber.  However, how you cook them or what you add to vegetables (eg. dips, sauces, dressings, cheese) can really increase the calories!

One of our favourite vegetable sides is zucchini melody.  This is a sautéed mixture of zucchini, onions and mushrooms.  It is simple yet tasty, filling but not heavy.  Zucchini melody pairs nicely with any meat, fish or poultry so we have it fairly often.   I paired the zucchini melody with salmon filets and a garden salad for a delicious, low calorie meal. 

One feature I really like about the My Fitness Pal website is the recipe section.  I can easily calculate the nutritional value of homemade dishes.  This is a real benefit for me given that we rely heavily on home cooking from scratch.  It helps pinpoint what changes to make for healthier versions of some dishes as well.

I calculated the nutritional value of the zucchini melody (zucchini stir fry).  A serving size as pictured (about 1½ c) is 59 calories yet still low fat even though I used butter.  The butter is for flavour, often combined with olive oil for these types of dishes.  In this case I could reduce the butter to by half to cut calories, fat and sodium per serving without affecting the flavour much.  As it the zucchini melody has fairly good numbers per serving.

Our Seafood Feast

Today's diet tip:  Substitute salad dressing with a splash of fresh lemon juice for a fresh, sparkling flavour without the calories.  This will cut 45 calories or more!

We eat a lot of fish at home, at least once a week but often two or three times a week.  Our fish of choice is locally caught yellow lake perch, pickerel and bass but we also eat a lot of cod and wild salmon.  When we bought our vacation home in sunny Florida in 2010, I fully expected to be eating a lot more seafood when there!  That certainly has not been the case especially when eating out.  We have discovered several excellent BBQ joints so ribs are the order of the day.   Our favourite seafood restaurants in Florida is Harry's Seafood Bar and Grille and Red Lobster.  We discovered during our recent stay that Long John Silvers isn't too bad (I pick the coating off). 

Fish and seafood is a dieter's delight because it is so low in calories.  You can have a nice filling piece of fish without breaking your calorie budget as long as it isn't coated and deep fried.  I like coated and deep fried fish though but never eat the coating.  About the only fish I will eat coated is yellow lake perch but that is just a very light coating to begin with.  I also don't like shrimp or any other seafood coated and deep fried. 

We were at our vacation home for most of October, home for almost three weeks then back to our vacation home for five weeks.  I decided to make a seafood feast during the first part of our stay.  The night before we had been to Red Lobster with friends for their crab leg feast so I brought home the crab legs I couldn't eat to make a crab meat salad.  Imitation crab meat salad is good but imitation crab itself has a higher carbohydrate content as well as food colouring.  Real crab meat is the healthier, lower calorie choice!

Our seafood feast consisted of bacon wrapped scallops (169 cal/3 scallops), steamed littleneck clams (168 cal/4oz), baked mahi mahi (93 cal/3 oz), crab meat salad (140 cal/half cup) and steamed asparagus (26 cal/8 spears).  This dinner as shown would have been 596 calories at the full amounts but we had less asparagus and clams.  We also had a small garden salad (not shown) at 20 calories sprinkled with fresh lemon juice instead of dressing which made up for the calories cut by smaller servings.  It would have been lower omitting the bacon by about 100 calories.  At any rate, a healthy meal under 600 calories is always a good thing whether or not you are counting calories!