A few posts ago I asked you for tips on losing weight. Well I have not lost much weight since but I did pay a great deal of attention to your suggestions, which ran the gamut from Loving Self Acceptance to the complete avoidance of carbs. I don't know if I'm ready for such extreme behaviors, but I'm definitely ready for something.
One idea stood out among all the ideas you gave me. I have never known much about the calorie content of food. I'm French (or was) remember, and the French believe that anything can be eaten as long as it is eaten in moderation. But after parroting that sentence over the course of a lifetime, i at last realized how asinine it was, really. What the heck is moderation? A thick slice of brie on baguette can only be considered moderation in comparison to wolfing down the entire wheel and loaf, then washing those down with a bottle of Gevrey Chambertain. When is the consumption of chocolate truffles moderate. After one? two? Or is moderation devouring the content of a box in one sitting... but only once a year at Christmas? How many calories do I need to cut before i can start losing serious poundage, do I need to cut 500? 1000? How much I ingest on a daily basis? As it is, i have no idea. I think i know, I tell myself I know, but really, I don't.
And what about exercise? What is moderate? What is strenuous? Everything feels strenuous to me. How many calories am i really burning when i have sex, when I garden, when i pass the vaccuum?
Well my friends i am now no longer clueless, tanks to Jeanne of the blog Nantucket Mermaid. Thank you so much Jeanne for introducing me to myplate @ LiveStrong. This is so awesome! Myplate helps you track the calories you ingest and those you burn. You decide how much weight you want to lose (I said a pound a week) and it calculates how many calories you are allowed tat day. Then you enter everything you eat daily and it keeps a count for you. So if toward the end of the day you have gone heavy on the cassoulet, you know you better have thin soup and kick in the butt for dinner.
Maybe I am naive but I had no idea how to really do this. Cutting calories is much easier once you know what's going on.
Next, I really would love for you to sign up and 'friend' me so we can stay motivate together. It's really fast and easy (and free, and no they are not paying me to say all this.)
May I remind you ladies that bathing suit season is crouching nearby and ready to pounce on you any minute now? Come on, let's do this together! Any takers?
The images are via the sumptuous blog Beautiful Things to Share and represent a wildly idealized version of what i will never look like.
Ugh! So boring!!!! Sorry C., we yanks have been counting calories for what seems like milennia and alot of good it does us! How boring does it make our meals? And our days!
This - I learned in France: leave something on your plate - it is not a sin to leave food unconsumed. Smaller portions. Gradually. Only one truffle a day. Only one fatty dish a day whether you're talking about cookies, cheesecake, truffle, gratin dauphinoise. No daily dessert! Probably no sugar in your coffee either. No buttah on your bread except for special occasions. No chips! Lots of whole grains, green vegetables, fiber and walking! And water.
And they say drinking wine and coffee is good for you too! And I convinced a co-worker that grapefruit juice kept the weight off too because I drank it daily with my Pepperidge Farm cookies! (It was probably the walking up and down Manhattan daily.) But somehow it does make me feel slimmer.
Ugh! Couldn't bear to obsess so much about what I'm depriving myself of. Quality over quantity I say. And you know you're burning calories if you're sweating after 20 minutes of exertion. They say something like 20-30 minutes of brisk exercise 2 or 3 times a week and you're good to go!
Oh good luck! Really how fat can you be and who cares about skinny girls? It's DNA or starvation. The one you can do nothing about the other is way boring. p.s. everybody in Hawaii is fatter than you by miles. (I didn't really say that!)
Posted by: mlle paradis | March 11, 2010 at 07:11 PM
Mlle Paradis: Don't you burst my bubble dear skinny girlfriend. I'm so excited about the calorie counting you'd think i invented it! By the way, i remember a certain meal when you daintily picked at your salad while I wolfed down an entire pizza. I need an education about self-deprivation and i need it now.
Posted by: corine | March 11, 2010 at 08:51 PM
Well, I might take you up on this. I'm willing to lose some of my curves.
Posted by: Angie Muresan | March 11, 2010 at 09:16 PM
I just came back from there. You are so beautiful, Corine. From what I could tell you do not need to lose weight. Anyway, who counts the calories?
Posted by: Angie Muresan | March 11, 2010 at 09:20 PM
I just visited that site and calculated the calories I can have to loose weight.....think I have been way to generous with myself! Good luck and thanks for the motivation...It really is easy I just need to eat less and exercise more.... if it were that easy. Have a fun but 'hungry' weekend! xv
Posted by: Vicki Archer | March 11, 2010 at 10:46 PM
Sparkpeople.com is along the same lines. When I did stick to it, I lost the weight. The one exercise that seems to burn the most calories for me is the Aerobic Cycling classes (6oo calories per class lost) but then you walk funny for a couple of days ;)
Posted by: Corine | March 12, 2010 at 07:37 AM
Angie: The picture is from two years ago. This is the body i want back and I put it there for motivation.
Vicki: Eat less, exercise more, yeah, ain't that a bitch...
Corine: The bonier the butt the harder the class. At this point i have plenty of padding, so I'll try.
Posted by: corine | March 12, 2010 at 08:16 AM
I have not weighed in (groan) on this matter as I'm always either under or over what I need to be (for good health).
I think it is a sin to leave food on a plate (working with people whose kids have died of starvation will do that to you), but just take less. Expend more.
Simple? Not really. If so, we'd none of us have this discussion EVER again. I'm just as sucked in as everyone else by many things. But not "diets" anymore. I have to lose for health's sake--& not in some vague way. No, it's quite serious. And no, I'm not rolling in the aisles but...it doesn't take much to get you to pre-diabetic/diabetic level & it is a shock.
Nothing concentrates the mind so much as this, I have to say. Really scary. So I wish you luck, set some realistic goals so you enjoy life, etc. You're an excellent cook & that definitely helps because you'll know how to "lighten up" many of your recipes without making fake food.
Good luck, Corine, & I hope you'll take some fab shots of Hawaii. (You don't have to show us your flesh....other beautiful scenery will do:)
Oh, & to all those who tell you "you look great & you don't need to lose weight?" Yes, you look great. Don't listen to them, though, no matter how well meaning they are. You most likely need to just lose 7-10% of body weight to feel better. Think of it that way. I did in WW once, & I hit the magic number faster than I thought possible. It helped immensely to keep the eye on that (relatively) low number of pounds. Do it now before you feel truly unwell.
signed,
I know whereof I speak. Unfortunately.
Posted by: Susan | March 12, 2010 at 09:32 AM
Oh please! I have a skinny neck and skinny ribcage - the rest, fuhgeddaboutit! And embarassing to admit, but I tend to indulge ALONE. I came out of my mothers' womb with cellulite! And do you think, being Chinese/Italian/Francophile I would seriously deny myself? I have NEVER been naturally slim. And I have never met a cookie I didn't like. But no, no eating disorders. Just management. And awareness.
Oh you will get there, you'll just have to go through the process. And figure out what works for you. Gradual reductions and exercise would be my best advice. Hard when you live with all (mostly teenage) men wolfing down massive volumes. I just don't think, no longer being teenagers, it's worth agonizing about. (I suffered enough then!)
Posted by: mlle paradis | March 12, 2010 at 03:36 PM
p.s. being married to a vegetarian and only eating meat about twice a month probably keeps me 10 lbs lighter than i would be otherwise. something to think about. we eat alot of beans and salad and fish. mediterranean/middle eastern food and pasta! so many flavors, so little fat.
Posted by: mlle paradis | March 12, 2010 at 03:42 PM
I too could shed a few..I'm in. Calories do count.and yes I have now gone vegetarian the last month and have lost 5 lbs without "really" trying. It's easy..read Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet for motivation.
I joined that site; how do I friend you? I need to lose 20..good to have company along the way
Kit
Posted by: kit | March 12, 2010 at 09:57 PM
Sure, I'll join with you! I just found out that my healthy breakfast option has about 30 g fat!! OMG. I had no idea. I send you a friend request on LS.
Posted by: Ariella | March 15, 2010 at 06:50 AM