February 5, 2005

Dr. Ted,

Well, so far so good.  I lost 5 lbs. the first week, 4 lbs. the second.  I'm exercising 45 minutes a day, four days a week.  Lots of walking.  No difficulties in speaking, so there hasn't been a loss of efficiency at work.

I have done a slight "cheat" with the wires, but not with the diet.  I've had one wire break, but forgot to take the opportunity to brush the backsides of my teeth.  Therefore, every Sunday night I cut and remove the wires so that I can brush and floss effectively, and then I rewire.  I have not cheated on my food intake.

By the way, I'm including some "ideas" for other OJWs to give advice and support. 

I'll try to report in again in a fortnight.  By then, my weight loss should be stabilized to around 2 to 3 pounds a week.  Many thanks. DF

 

Exercise:

Walk.  It’s some of the best exercise you can do.  Try to walk 45 minutes per day, four times a week.  You can break that up into three 15 minute sessions, but you’re better off trying one 15 minute session and one 30 minute session.

Remember, walk by time, not by distance.  As you lose weight, you’ll find that your pace will increase gradually.  If you stop after achieving a certain distance, but you’ve still got a few minutes, keep walking until the time is up.  

Wear comfortable shoes.  If you’re prone to foot problems, get some gel insoles for walking.

Keep a brisk, even pace.  You’re not in a race, but you do want your heart rate to boost a bit, as well as a sheen of sweat on your brow.

Breathe through your nose, not your mouth.  First, you can regulate your breathing more this way.  Second, since your teeth probably hurt a lot from the brackets, this will keep the wind from whistlin’ across your roots.

Try a 3/3 breathing pattern.  Inhale for three steps, exhale for three steps, repeat.

Take a handkerchief with you.  Trust me, after about 15 minutes, your nose will run a bit.  I don’t know why.

Try to walk alone.  If you walk with a companion, you’ll be tempted to talk, which screws up your breathing pattern.  You’ll also be tempted to race, which isn’t the point of the exercise.

Whenever and wherever possible, walk indoors.  If you work at a large company, they probably have a walking path already set up.  Use it.  If not, go to your local mall.  Walk the inside perimeter.  The environment is controlled so you don’t have to worry about it being too hot or cold or muggy or dry to exercise. 

If you walk at the mall, ignore the signs and window displays.  You can browse later.  For now, you’re there to exercise.

Be a wall hugger when you walk.  Don’t take the middle path, but keep closer to the wall.  This increases your distance as you walk.

If you walk outdoors, however, don’t be a tree-hugger.  You might get arrested for being a suspected Earth Liberation Front terrorist or, worse yet, a xylemosexual.

For incentive, glance occasionally at the other walkers or shoppers in the crowd.  First, look at those people fatter than you, and take heart that you’re taking steps (literally) that make you look better than them.  Then look at people thinner than you, and be assured that if you keep walking, exercising and eating right, you’ll be one of them.

If you’re the fattest person in the whole crowd, find a fatter mall.

If you’re the skinniest person in the whole crowd, why the hell are you wired shut?  Seek psychological help immediately!

You’ll notice a mild aching starting up in your lower calves near the front leg bone (tibia) if you walk for more than 10 minutes.  Ignore this.  It’s a buildup of lactic acid.  It goes away as long as you keep up a moderate pace.  Besides, a little pain is no reason to quit.

You’ll also probably notice blisters on your feet or toes.  This suggests you’re not wearing the right shoes.  Don’t spend $100 or $200 for a pair of sneakers.  Get something snug but not over-tight.  If you get blisters on the toes, get some small Band-Aids and wrap them up overnight.  If they feel worse the next day, take one day off from walking (but only one).

One of my workmates, a body builder, informs me that walking isn’t enough.  He suggested you also do “resistance” exercise.  I informed him that with around 100 pounds of lard in my butt, I’m dealing with enough “resistance” from mere gravity, thank you very much...

If you do decide to do weight training, start slow and small and work your way up.  Remember, you’re doing these exercises to maintain muscle mass and burn calories.  You’re not running for Governor of California.

Food:

Make sure you have a couple of household tools that will seriously help in your dining experience.

Ø      A good blender – by good, I mean fewer buttons but more wattage.  Check ConsumerReports.com to be sure.  Don’t skimp and buy 1) a cheap one or 2) a non-UL listed one.

Ø      A good juicer.  I like that Jack La Lanne one, but buy yours through Wal-Mart on-line.  It costs 1/3 less than what you pay on TV, plus you get all the extra goodies.

For supplements, I’d recommend you get the following stuff from GNC:

Ø      Liquid Multi Colloidal Minerals

o       This covers the trace minerals you might miss otherwise

Ø      Liquid Ultra Mega® Vitamins (orange flavor)

o       Mixes well in juice or other drinks

Ø      100% Whey Protein (vanilla, strawberry and chocolate)

o       The vanilla mixes very well with any fruit/veggie juices you make

Ø      Soy Protein (unflavored/unsweetened)

o       For when a soup mix needs a protein boost

I’d also recommend SlimFast Lo-Carb meal drinks.  They have a high protein-to-carb ratio, and they also have a lot of calcium.  Three of these a day will give you 1200 mg of calcium, which will help your muscles as you exercise.  You’ll also have 60 grams of protein out of the 100 you should aim to get per day.  Even better, they taste quite good.  Shop around, though.  A four-pack can run $6 at some stores, so look around to see where/when it’s on sale.  I found one store that were running a 2/$9 sale ($4.50 a pack) which is a 25% savings on normal retail.

Soups – try to make soup your main evening meal.  What I like to do is get a can of Progresso soup or Campbell’s Chunky soup, dump it in a blender, and then drop in a can of either beef or chicken broth (whichever is appropriate for the type of soup you’re making).  Even the Chunky Beef soups will blend quite well so long as you have enough clear liquid to thin the mix.  Blend at high speed for at least 3 sets of 2 minutes each.  If things still look a bit “chunky” give the mix another spin in the blender.  The taste is exactly the same as regular soup.  Divide into two bowls and refrigerate.  One bowl equals about 16 oz. of soup, while only adding about 15-20 calories (because you thinned the mix with broth).

Try to avoid “cream” soups, however.  The heavy blending will sometimes cause the cream to separate, making a rather disgusting mess.  The non-cream soups also have less fat and more protein. 

If you want to boost the protein level in a soup, add a scoop or two of that soy protein from GNC mentioned above, but do so AFTER cooking.  Otherwise, the soup may boil over in the microwave (experience is a harsh teacher).  Use a whisk to make sure the powder incorporates well.  There’s almost no taste, and only thickens the soup slightly.

You CAN have chili from a blender.  However, you need to thin it with fresh tomatoe juice (and yes, I went to the same school system as Dan Quayle, so just hush, okay?) instead of water.  You’ll need to re-season the blend with extra chili powder and garlic powder, of course, and you must make sure that all the meat has been completely liquefied, but it’s well worth the effort.

If possible, eat your soup alone.  You’ll be forced to slurp, and family/friends/workmates don’t want to listen to a symphony in tomatoe puree…

Blender Magic:

Sometimes you’re going to want a treat.  We all do.  However, you still want that treat to be healthy.  Here’s a suggestion.

Cut one medium banananananana (never could figure out how to stop spelling that word) into slices into the bottom of the blender.  For best effect, the banananananana should be kept in the fridge.  Throw in a tablespoon of almond butter (it’s expensive, but worth it in flavor and oils).  Crack open a can of SlimFast Lo-Carb Chocolate and pour just a little bit into the blender.  Put on the cover (trust me, you don’t want to clean this stuff off the ceiling) and crank ‘er up.  Wait until the banananananana has blended smooth, then take out the center cap from the lid of the blender and sloooooowly incorporate the rest of the SlimFast.  When it’s completely mixed together, stop the blender and pour into a tall glass.  Grab a straw and start sucking up a cheater’s Banananananana Split.

Don’t do this more than once a week, though.  It’ll give you something to look forward to.

Be absolutely sure to wash the blender or juicer after EVERY usage.  If you’ve got a dishwasher, so much the better.  It’s merely good food hygiene, and you don’t want to get food poisoning from a dirty rubber o-ring. 

General Dieting Assistance:

Track your intake.  This is important.  Don’t “guess” that you ate X, Y or Z.  I strongly recommend you try out CalorieKing.com.  There’s a membership fee of $30, but it is well worth it.  You can record your food intake, and they have a large database of foods (with nutritional info) to help you track your calories, protein, etc.  You can also add your own recipes if you calculate the ingredients separately.  It may seem a pain, but it teaches you a valuable lesson about what you’re actually putting into your straw.  The system also helps you track your exercise, which is important.

If you take a capful of that GNC Ultra Mega Liquid vitamin mix, be sure to count the 40 calories it contains.  Yes, you have to be that picky. 

Don’t think that you can eat 1,200 calories one day and then “earn” the right to have 1,600 calories the next.  ALWAYS keep the calorie count below 1400.  If you get hungry, drink some water or zero-calorie drink.

Weigh yourself regularly, but not daily.  If you weigh yourself daily, you’ll get frustrated.  Your safe target of weight loss should be 2 to 3 pounds a week.  That means you’ll be losing (at most) only half a pound a day.  This won’t show up on most scales, so it’ll seem like you’re not making progress.  Weigh yourself at a set day and time.  I prefer Mondays at 09:00, but work the schedule around to what works for you.  Wear the same clothes and accessories, and keep your shoes on.  Shoes do not weigh 75 pounds, nor do cell phones or wrist watches.  It’s silly to remove them.

Drink water.  Seven to eight glasses a day.  That’s one two-litre pop bottle of liquid. 

Drink one (and ONLY one) non-alcoholic beer a day.  You don’t want the alcohol because of the whole gag-reflex thing, obviously.  However, beer does help kick your kidneys into high gear, and for only about 75 calories a day. 

I know it’s overpriced, but if you’re bored with mere water, get some of that Atkins breakfast drink mix and whack that into an empty two-litre pop bottle, then fill with water.  The extra vitamin C will reinforce your immune system, as well as act as a natural diuretic.

Try to keep to only one large cup of coffee (10 oz., not 10 gallons!) a day.  For the rest of the day, drink decaf.  Yes, I know it sucks, but too much caffeine interferes with the weight loss process.  One cup of the real stuff will also keep you away from caffeine withdrawal headaches, which are almost as bad as dental pain.

Get some peppermint tea and some Splenda.  It tastes good, helps control any breath problems that brushing won’t always cover, and also helps your digestion.

If you have problems with constipation, don’t use prune juice too much.  Yes, it has “a reputation” but it also has a lot of calories.  Get some Benefiber from the drug store or the grocery store and mix a tablespoon into a glass of water.  It doesn’t get thick or gritty, has no taste, and works quite well.  However, make sure you take this at least one hour BEFORE you take any vitamin or mineral supplements – never after.  Otherwise, you’ll just flush out the supplements without proper absorption.

You’ll occasionally feel the need to firebomb your local McDonalds or blow up the nearby Krispy Kreme.  This yearning will pass after a few weeks.  Resist the urge.  Remember, prison food is fattening.

Block the Food Channel from your cable box.  You’re just engaging in culinary masturbation when you watch, and that’s not healthy.  Besides, aren’t you sick to death of Emeril constantly yelling ‘BAM’ all the time?