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Vanessa Blog Week 17: Mealtime Manifesto

Sean Kelley — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:00:53 +0000

A Rant – Why We Are Struggling with Weight
I had the best, most effortless diet week since starting the program. I ate well, worked out, felt great. In short, all was good, and the scale loves me too.

How come, one might ask? Simple answer: Because I was not in the United States.

Dieting is not even dieting in Germany, Russia, or Brazil. It is just simply eating what everyone eats anyway. Working out is not a problem—you just walk everywhere, like everyone else does. After Germany and Russia, I already had an idea that maybe our food choices in the good old U.S. of ours might be not as good as we might think. But Brazil destroyed the last doubts: the most delicious fruit for breakfast, fiber cereal, 0% fat yogurt, and lots more. Only some single slices of bacon offered, for the lonely American tourist. Making good food choices during the day? Piece of cake. Everything is grilled, from salmon to beef to chicken and veggies. So no fat, no grease, and it tastes delicious.

Why can we not have decent fruit or better, broader, healthier food selections on our menus? Why do I face sticky, icky, prepackaged bakery goods and greasy bacon at breakfast menus in every single average business hotel in the U.S.? And, once in a while, the lone green unripe apple? Why is everything doused in sauces…and why do you have to be a real pest to get the sauce on the side? What’s wrong with offering a delicious fruit plate as dessert? How come my only salad choices are Caesar and Nicoise? I’d like to get some answers, if possible.

So here is my plateau-busting trick: Just go on a trip. Preferably Brazil, if you just happen to be looking for a great spot to visit. Endless walks on the beach, super food, friendly people, sunshine. Could anyone want more? Oh yes, and losing a bunch of pounds after a long plateau. And this was a work trip. Just imagine what would’ve happened if I could have actually gone to the gym or focused on my well-being.

Goals
I am getting ambitious again. After reaching 181 pounds and still having two months of the program to go, I think I would like to fit into some of my old clothes again, the real clothes. Not the ones I bought when I realized that holding out in one skirt because you gained 20 pounds might not be a viable solution. Now I am at the point where I fit back into the clothes I bought when I gave in a couple of years ago and bought my so-called fat clothes. Nevermind that I thought those untouchable four months ago, and I was ready to throw them out. But since I am a true collector and gatherer, I didn’t do it, and instead just put them in a box and tucked it away. Today I took the box out and thought I’d give it a try. I fit perfectly well back into most of them, and, amazingly, almost back into my ‘normal’ clothes. In order to keep myself in check, I took out two pieces to measure my future success, and to motivate myself: a pair of pink snakeskin trousers (ha, yes!)—I need to trim about 3 more inches off the waist to close the zipper comfortably—and my beloved boots, which still also are not closing by about 2 inches on the top. When I bought all this, it fit perfectly. And I never thought I’d get back into it, but now it seems to be within reach. If I just pull it a bit more together and stay focused. Maybe I can work out in the snakeskin….

Feel Great Weight Stats
Original weight: 210
Weight at week’s end: 181
Weight loss this week: .5 lb
Total weight loss: 29 lbs

Susan Blog Week 17: Sticking With It

Sean Kelley — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:00:18 +0000

So we have been at this for a while and I continue to reiterate to myself the importance of sticking with it. I was at a plateau for a while and it was very frustrating, but my body has started to respond and I continue to lose inches—and most importantly, my body fat percentage has continued to go down. It is down 9 percent since I started. In a few months, there has been real progress. Wonder why I didn’t do this earlier???;-) Since my fitness level is much higher, my recovery time after playing a lot of tennis or riding my bike for a long time is much quicker. I have found that I can push myself harder and achieve the fitness goals that Jamie and I have set. I have been riding my bike longer distances and at faster speeds. I feel pretty good and am going to keep at it.

My revelation of the week: Stick with it!

I hope I can stay motivated…………

Feel Great Weight Stats
Original weight: 256
Weight at week’s end: 235
Weight loss this week: 1 lb
Total weight loss: 21 lbs

Tiffany Blog Week 17: Alternative Methods

Sean Kelley — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:00:17 +0000

Monday: I was so sick today—a fever and chills out of nowhere. At least I was unable to eat much. Ha ha.

Tuesday: I managed to get to the gym this morning and get my ½ hour of cardio in. Rich had to reschedule, which was probably for the best since I was still feeling a bit under the weather. I felt weak but I managed. All day I have been a little dizzy and so busy I can’t even think straight.

Wednesday: John and I have an intern named Veronica working with us for the summer. She is still in school and is from Austin Texas. I had to organize myself in the morning so I didn’t make it to the gym. We had a very productive day and I kept working after she left.

Thursday: I met with Rich and we are back to doing 3 sets of 10 reps but adding more cardio sprints. He tells me that I look great and reassures me that I am doing fine. He and I both wish we had a year instead of six months because its hard to transform your shape and lose as much weight as I would like in this time frame. I had my first appointment since at least 2006 with an acupuncturist at http://www.pacificcollege.edu/. It’s a school that offers treatment with 3rd and 4th year students and it’s affordable. I am going to see if it can help me with several things, including the shin splints and muscle aches I have been experiencing. Plus, it’s just so relaxing.

Friday: This morning I met with Rich again. We don’t normally train two days in a row and I was expecting to be sore and tired, but I think my acupuncture appointment had some affect on my energy levels because I felt great. I wasn’t sore and my shin splints weren’t bothering me. I think I have lost two more pounds and I really hope that in these next two months I will really see some changes.

Saturday: I rode my bike this morning with a friend to Coney Island for the yearly Mermaid Parade. It took about two hours to ride there, and it’s such a nice trip because there is a bike path that you can ride down. It’s lined with trees and families hang out on the park benches. I really enjoy this type of activity and if I could I would do this everyday. Of course, I had to have a Nathan’s Hot Dog which I read is not that bad. (Nathan’s Skinless Beef Franks (57g): 160 calories, 15 g fat, 1 g carbs)
Sunday: We had our softball game this morning and were winning for most of the game. Then, just like the crazy winds we had, it got swept away. It was still a lot of fun!

Feel Great Weight Stats
Original weight: 159.5 lbs
Weight at week’s end: 152 lbs
Weight loss this week: 0 lbs
Total weight loss: 7.5 lbs

Susan Blog Week 16: Two New Challenges

Sean Kelley — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:00:38 +0000

So for the past couple of weeks, I have been doing what I have to do and the scale has not budged. I mean not even a bit. My clothes continue to get looser but once again, the scale didn’t move in the right direction. I haven’t had a BMI measurement in a while so I am not sure if that number has moved, but regardless, the scale seems stuck. In the middle of it, my doctor decided to run some tests and the prep for the test did not help my cause. It is interesting that not eating or drinking for two days does not aid in losing weight—rather, it causes you to gain since your body thinks it is not going to get any more food.

Revelation for the week: I think this is a plateau.

I am having to reconcile that reaching my Feel Great Weight is going to take a lot longer than I wanted it to. That’s not exactly what an overachieving perfectionist wants to hear or deal with, but nevertheless, I have to get on with it. I will keep focusing on doing the best I can and being satisfied with it.

So, with that, let’s talk about some successes, I have gotten a whole lot stronger (thanks to Jamie) and can now proudly do real pushups (off my toes) without feeling like I am going to die. One of her other clients has decided to challenge me to a workout, so it is a new opportunity to help refocus. It is turning into quite a competition…and I am gonna win! Thanks to all of the trainers at my Equinox for being a part of my fan club. It really does help to have the encouragement.

Till next week.

Feel Great Weight Stats
Original weight: 256
Weight at week’s end: 236
Weight gain this week: 1 lb
Total weight loss: 20 lbs

Vanessa Blog Week 16: On the Road

Sean Kelley — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:00:33 +0000

Other people bring something back when they travel. I left something behind: 3 more pounds! And I did it while on the road. So there’s hope that I don’t gain it all back, once the Health Magazine program is over.

From Russia with Love
I was afraid of finding diet food in Russia, but I totally forgot that it is the land of smoked fish. And smoked fish, according to Sharon, is okay. So my dinner is a platter of smoke fish, salmon, herring, and some unidentifiable white fish (which is delicious) plus a few pierogi. I know they are not diet-conform, since they contain fried dough, but hey, it’s Russia! The next discovery is that smoked fish is also available at breakfast. And I totally forgot, Russians are big on fruit. So my breakfast would make Sharon just as happy as it makes me: smoked salmon, fruit platter, coffee, and more fresh fruit. Quite frankly, any American business hotel’s breakfast, with its pastries, eggs, and other fried stuff, is much harder on any diet than this is.

Also, while watching focus groups, there’s always this delicious platter full of fresh cut fruit, pears, plums, apples, grapes, and more. Why do American market research facilities only have M&M’s and stuff like that? No wonder we all fight the fat.

Power Walking
Being in another city or on another continent for work always affords the opportunity to sneak in an hour here and there to see the city and its sights. But it means you have to walk quickly to different sights, since sightseeing and working professionally (getting punctually back where you’re supposed to be by 5:00) means quite a bit of multitasking and rushing from A to B. The good part: I finally get around to my cardio (or something like it). The combination of subway and strident walks from sight to sight makes me noticeable more fit. I think I can almost sense my fat cells shrinking. The only problem in continuing with it when I am back home: Sweating away mindlessly on the treadmill doesn’t bring you any closer to an interesting destination like the Tolstoy House.

Persistence is not my Middle Name
From Monday to Thursday I do not only okay, but great. Somewhere at the end of Wednesday, my supply of healthy treats starts to decline and I buy a few Russian bakery specialties, just to try. Blinchiki (Russian sweet crepes) are just too delightful. Also I get more and more stressed out, and eat more not so good stuff. Simple equation: The more unpleasant the atmosphere and work, the greater my unhealthy food intake. Big surprise. It really goes downhill fast on my way back to New York on Friday. In Moscow, you can’t board the plane with any liquid food items or water, and my supply of good food dried up a long time ago (or so at least it seems.) So I start eating fruit, but also croissants and pierogi, and drinking regular soda (no diet sodas available, and I do like bubbly). When my connecting flight in Atlanta is delayed for three hours, I break down and eat my saved emergency bag of mini chocolate croissants. Seven of them. All at once. Plus some peanuts. When I am finally home, after over 24 hours on the road, my stomach feels awful.

I bet I managed to ruin within 24 hours the good behavior of days. But when I step on my scale, it shows me a surprisingly lovely 183 pounds.

Friends & Drinks
Unfortunately, I stray a bit more on Saturday. We have my husband’s bandmate from his band “the Mockers” staying with us, and the rest of the band is in town too for rehearsals, We all go together to see the musical “Passing Strange” by their friend Stew on Broadway. Needless to say, the evening is longer then anticipated and involves more drinks then it should have. Plus some pizza slices at the end of a long night (approximately 3 a.m.).

In the morning, after a short night, I am off on the road again. It does feel like I live at JFK. On my way to Rio, I apply my learnings from my last trip. I’ve packed more food than clothes, so that my supply will hopefully last until Friday. Soy chips, oatmeal, Glenny’s chocolate snack bars, you name it—it’s in my bag. How disappointed any luggage handler would be if they decided to steal my bag and all they’ve got would be diet food! But I really want to step on Sharon’s scale next week and see 180 pounds. Since I don’t think I can walk that much in Rio (it is supposedly dangerous), I’ve packed my bathing suit and will try to do some water exercise. Johanna put some exercises together for me, too, so I can work out at the hotel gym. In Moscow, I couldn’t–the gym opened at 8 a.m. and closed at 10 p.m. Since I leave the hotel before eight and never come back before ten, it was utterly useless to me. So now I have high hopes for Rio. All those girls, I guess, must work out for those beach bodies?!

Feel Great Weight Stats
Original weight: 210
Weight at week’s end: 181.5
Weight loss this week: 1.5 lbs
Total weight loss: 28.5 lbs

Tiffany Blog Week 16: Back to my Roots

Sean Kelley — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:00:06 +0000

Monday: I did my cardio this morning. I am going out of town later this week and I need to try to get most of it in before I go. I am also trying not to eat carbs at night, and to seriously cut back on them altogether. I really need to break this plateau that I am going through with my weight.

Tuesday: I met with Rich this morning for our regular workout. I think I need a massage because I keep pulling a muscle here and there, which can easily become worse if I don’t address it now. I bought this amazing crock pot a while back and decided to make some ground chicken chili stew. It’s so good and really low in fat. I love that thing. You just cut the food up and throw it in.

Wednesday: I met with Rich again this morning because I leave for Baltimore tomorrow. I was already sore from yesterday so it took me a while to get going again. I was actually dreading the workout, but that feeling didn’t last long. We are now switching between 4 sets of 10 reps one day and the next time 3 sets of 15 reps. Just when I think its getting easier, I realize it’s not. I wonder if that’s how it will be forever?

Thursday: No workout today. Instead my friend and I drove to Baltimore for a gallery opening. John and I shot two portraits for the House of Ruth, a domestic violence center that helps battered women and their children. The show is called www.alineinthesand.org. It was really nice. They passed around hors d’ouvres with lots of yummy fried food and I steered clear of them. Instead I grabbed mixed fruit and veggies and asparagus tips rolled in steak. Yum

Friday: Today I went hiking with a few friends in Patapsco State Park. It’s my old stomping grounds, so I know it like the back of my hand. Being in the city for so long, I miss nature, trees, animals, etc. I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw a frog leap in front of me. Sad! It’s really my favorite way to exercise and clear my mind. We hiked and ran for a few hours.

Saturday: I washed my car today with a hose and a sponge. I miss the simple stuff. Then, I went to a friend’s wedding and was able to fit into my Hugo Boss little black dress that I bought a few years back! Fun. I had a great time.

Sunday: I drove back to New York and that was my day!

Feel Great Weight Stats
Original weight: 159.5 lbs
Weight at week’s end: 152 lbs
Weight loss this week: 2 lbs
Total weight loss: 7.5 lbs

Tiffany Blog Week 15: A Lesson I’ve Learned

Sean Kelley — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:00:54 +0000

Monday: I seem to have decided that Monday is now my day off from working out—it’s my day for sleeping in. It is always difficult to find the balance from week to week and it does make me a bit nervous to not start out the week at the gym. But I am thinking that I have to follow what my mind and body tells me to do so I don’t burn myself out.

Tuesday: Today I got to the gym a bit early to stretch because my left side is trying my patience. Rich has shown me how to use the foam roller to work out tight muscles and it is helping. I have to get one. I am getting sad because I am starting to feel how quickly all of this is going to end. Not that I know from experience, but this is starting to feel like I am in rehab and I have to find my support group. I do have a few fall-backs. My friend Linda has recently started a yoga studio a few blocks away from where I live, the girls in the ‘hood are still doing Bushwickbabes.com, and I have a gym membership. But I think its important to have someone to answer to like I do with my trainer.

Wednesday: Today I had planned to go to the gym in the evening. I brought my workout gear with me to work…and didn’t make it. I was invited to this work thing and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to meet a few clients and photo reps and such. This is why I have to go in the morning.

Thursday: Today I met with Rich and we did the usual workout, but for some reason it seemed so much harder. I think your body goes in cycles because I have noticed that when I have PMS, for instance, I have much less energy. I wasn’t able to get my cardio in until after work, and this time I made it to the gym and ran for 45 minutes.

Friday: I did my half hour of cardio this morning and I felt great afterward. I also have been eating better this week, so I feel like I have made progress. I guess time will tell.

Saturday: This morning I met with Rich again for a training session and more cardio. He was out sick about a week ago, so we had to reschedule one of the sessions for this week. I was actually excited about it because I knew I would have time to run and then hang out in the steam room. It was lovely and I had extra energy for the rest of the day.

Sunday: Today I didn’t work out but had my own “sex and the city” day with a bunch of my girlfriends. We went to brunch, then took a burlesque dance class at the http://www.slipperroom.com/. For me, it was a way to feel comfortable with my body again. I am pretty shy in general, so it took a lot for me to get the nerve to go. It was fun and I learned a few cool moves, but I don’t think I will be doing anything like that on stage—or in the bedroom. Wink wink.

Feel Great Weight Stats
Original weight: 159.5 lbs
Weight at week’s end: 154 lbs
Weight gain this week: 2 lbs
Total weight loss: 5.5 lbs

Susan Blog Week 15: Travel Trials

Sean Kelley — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:00:33 +0000

I have been traveling quite a bit lately for work and it has presented a unique challenge for me. I have been in settings where I have not been able to order my own food because all of the food is pre-prepared and there is a pre-set menu. Most days while traveling, there are lots of things I can’t eat and very little that I can. I’m often faced with large amounts of pasta and rice (my favorite) and lots of veggies, but they are often times covered in lots of sauces and dressings. What is a girl to do? To top it off, trying to get a good workout in what these hotels deem to be a “workout room” requires lots and lots of creativity, and must be done at the crack of dawn since most of my days have been scheduled straight through from 7am to 10pm.

Revelation for the week: Staying on plan while traveling is hard.

These are the weeks in which you resign yourself to the fact that you must just do the best you can. This week, I was able to get four workouts in and eat okay, but finding lean protein on a table designed for excess was next to impossible. The scale has been reflective in that I think I have hit a plateau. I am going to try to leverage the coming week when I am at home to kick it up a notch.

We shall see.

Feel Great Weight Stats
Original weight: 256
Weight at week’s end: 235
Weight loss this week: 0 lbs
Total weight loss: 21 lbs

Vanessa Blog Week 15: Plateaus and Planes

Sean Kelley — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:00:09 +0000

I feel like I’ve been losing weight more slowly than before. I have just been told it’s a common problem called a plateau. Since I’ve never managed to stay on a diet long enough to get this far, it’s the first time I hear about it. I guess I just have to turn up the efforts a bit, and mainly not give up. At least that’s how it sounded to me. I swear I will not be distracted. I will hang in there. It’s hard, though. Not from a diet point of view—I like a lot of my new foods better than the old ones—but I am not as motivated any more to go the extra mile (literally) exercise-wise. I guess the excitement of the new experience has worn off. And I am not getting the instant gratification anymore by stepping on the scale. But I guess with the whole world watching, I’d better keep it together.

Traveling Again
Working out while on the road is hard. I am on a 10-day business trip from New York to Hamburg, Germany, to Moscow, Russia. Then, after a short one-day stopover at home in New York, I head right out to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. My time schedule is very irregular while traveling, and is going to be hard to stay on the healthy stuff after a while. Germany turns out to be easy, salads and fruits everywhere. While in Hamburg, I don’t have any problems and make good food choices. Moscow next week is going to be harder. I followed one of Sharon’s tips and packed a bunch of my favorite ‘good’ snacks. Felt silly traveling with bags of soy chips and a bunch of Glenny’s chocolate fudge bars, but it has worked so far. I’ve managed to stay away from all the other ‘emergency’ food choices I normally make when on a trip. In the end one can only sit so long in an airport without feeling you deserve at least a little something. And this time around I just reached into my food bag and ate a bag of chips. The nights should continue to be easy, too, since I am by myself and don’t have fancy client dinners. At least, that’s what I’m hoping—normally, room service isn’t exactly diet food, and neither Moscow nor Rio are places a girl should wander around at night by herself or decide to take herself out to a dinner alone. But if I really want to bust my plateau, I have to find good food and a place to work out. I really, really want to lose those last 10 pounds. Please, can I, please?

Feel Great Weight Stats
Original weight: 210
Weight at week’s end: 183
Weight loss this week: 2 lbs
Total weight loss: 27 lbs

Susan Blog Week 14: Be Prepared

Sean Kelley — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:36:16 +0000

This week represented a big challenge for me: I went on vacation. That leads me to the revelation for the week: Make sure you prepare to be successful when you go on vacation. Otherwise, it could be a problem.

I made sure that I was prepared to be successful. I stocked up on Flavor & Fiber bars, made sure I had enough workout clothes, got my refillable water bottle, put my tennis racquet and vitamin packs in my bag. I called the resort in advance to find out what options I had for working out: a full gym and a free tennis clinic every morning. When I got there, the first thing I did was go to the gym before settling in by the pool, since I was pretty sure that I would not have the motivation to do much after sitting down and settling in with a nice cold drink.

Overall, I did very well. I worked out every day, drank my water, and even went on a kayaking and zipline tour in the mountains. I did struggle with sticking to my diet plan, as I didn’t eat enough food while on the trip. I know, sounds crazy, right? For me, it is hard to eat a lot of food when it is hot, and not being on a schedule made it more difficult than I thought to keep in line. Also, I had to be careful with the breakfast buffets and afternoon drinks because it all looked so good and I wanted to taste a bit of everything.

All in all it went well and the worst thing is, I had to come home! Oh well, a girl has to get back to reality sometime.

Feel Great Weight Stats
Original weight: 256
Weight at week’s end: 235
Weight loss this week: 3.5 lbs
Total weight loss: 21 lbs