Yes, I have officially joined the majority of Americans who are unsuccessfully concerned about their weight. In an effort to drop 10-12 pounds or so (gained over the last 2+ years), I investigated several diets and food supplier options including: Nutrisystem (endorsed by Dan Marino and everyone even remotely associated with the NFL and currently not getting a paycheck from anyone else), Seattle Sutton's Healthy Eating (c'mon, I'm in the name for crap sake!), Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers (long associated with women).
The conclusion I arrived at was that weight loss is about expending more calories than you take in. Rocket science right? No one ever called me bright. However, there is a proper nutrition aspect to the whole deal which is how SSHE and Nutrisystem make their money. SSHE provides relatively fresh food twice a week and you supplement it with dairy and fruits/vegetables. Nutrisystem sends meals weekly I believe and they are vacuum packed. Both seem reasonable, but are about $100 a week or so. Can't I do this on my own? Well, I think I can get close and the Lean Cuisines I just bought were on sale for $2 a piece which means I can have 50 of them this week alone for the cost of the other plans. That MAY defeat the purpose if I eat them all however.
My buddy Rich is trying to drop a few as well, so he is quasi joining me on the venture. Yesterday we just had soup for lunch and last night I had a Lean Cuisine that was pretty good actually. Without the additional energy though, I'm dragging a bit today, though that could also be from working out two days in a row too.
Learning Tuesday has been missed the last few weeks, so I'm making an entry today. You hear about Indonesia all the time in the news and still few people have a clear idea of where it is and what islands make it up so I'm attaching a pretty decent map. Most recently, a plane went down there, but you'll also notice that many of your Starbuck's coffee beans are grown there. How many coffee blends can you find?
4 comments:
I don't know much about the others, but I understand that the Seattle Sutton meals are pretty bland and not particularly tasty. If it were me, I'd stay away from all that stuff and look to a diet like the Zone or Atkins, or South Beach or something. Not that I've ever tried or anything (though I could use it).
Good luck!
Having been on the wagon for the last four months and having happily made it through the holidays w/o and ounce of dammage, I've found nothing beats counting calories for giving you a basis for losing the weight and, more importantly, understanding what foods contribute. This makes a huge difference when one gets away from home.
All those prepackaged things (either plans or frozen meals like Lean Cuisine) are great if you never go out. But if you're like me and either traveling 35% of the time or having lots of business meetings over meals, you have to have the knowledge of what foods are caloric and which aren't to make good decisions on menu ordering and amounts to eat.
A $6 investment into a good paperback calorie count book and another $15 for a cheap kitchen scale and you have the basis to teach yourself what's what.
Yes, I too have a mild case of fatbutitis. What has worked for me in the past is managing my portions. I just take half of what i think is a normal serving and also drink lots of water, half your body weight in ounces each day.
Loved the coffee map, New Guinea peaberry is a rare treat.
I actually have done Atkins before and Zone is a modified version of it (or vice versa). I'm not jacked about the potential side effects of either, which is why I went the low calorie route. Moderation right?
Good ideas El. As opposed to going out or ordering in, I'm substituting these Lean Cuisines. They moderate my portion and limit the calories, but they are still pretty tasty. When I go out, it will be a challenge. No doubt.
G-Man, I'm actually using this as a first step to get me to the point where I manage my portions long term. If I do this for a month or two, I think I'll crave fewer calories during meal time and reduce the quantity I eat. At least that's the plan.
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