Weigh-In Wednesday #4: My Just Desserts

I can’t seem to get enough chocolate this week. I’ll re-weigh and re-measure next week to get an accurate reading. ;)

When it comes to weight loss, even anti-diet dieting, it really reap what you sow. This is the fourth month since we started our Diet Drop project to lose weight through healthy eating choices, fun exercise, friendship, and no self-sabotaging diet plans or unrealistic goals. So far, I’ve lost just a little bit of weight (read more in the previous Weigh-Ins entries) and I’ve had a lot of fun. But this past month–as the numbers show–I’ve slacked off:

Every number–overall weight, arms, waist, hips, thighs, etc.–is the same as last month!

I should just be happy I haven’t gained anything. Especially since this past week has been a particularly difficult week to resist indulging in anything chocolate. It is hard for women to get an accurate reading for their weight at specific times of the month, which is why I plan to re-weigh and measure myself next week just to be sure. Women should always rely on an average weight calculation rather than a specific day for an accurate reading, in my opinion. But the proof is in the pudding (chocolate pudding, of course): I haven’t lost anything most likely because the truth is I have not been exercising enough lately to burn off more calories than I’ve consumed. If I increase my activity level, as summer so wonderfully encourages us to do, I’m sure I’ll see my measurements and weight start to drop again.

What are your thoughts on regular weigh-ins and how do you mark your own progress? I can’t wait to fit into my old jeans and other cute clothes that are two sizes too small. As part of my summer plans, I’m going to dedicate one hour a day to listening to an album and doing some form of exercise at the same time. Today, it’s Robert Johnson Delta Blues music and Pilates and yoga moves on a mat in my living room with the sunlight shining in.

–Michelle

This Summer, Follow Your Gut

An archway of branches at Descanso Gardens in Southern California. It’s a beautiful place to explore. What’s keeping you from exploring new activities and places this summer?

Summertime, like New Year’s, can be a great launch point for new goals and adventures. It’s not only a clean slate, but also a season that enables you to be more active and that inspires happiness and fun. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve felt like I’ve reached a plateau. I’m at a point, physically, where I need to amp up my weight loss methods in order to keep my metabolism high and lose more weight. I’m also at a point, emotionally, where I feel like if I don’t get up and run with some of my project ideas, I’ll miss out on some great opportunities. With all that in mind, I’m kicking off summer with a reinvigorated mindset. I have all the tools necessary to accomplish my weight loss goals. It’s time to kick myself into high gear. Here are some of the plans I’m making for summertime weight loss:

• I will follow my gut, take more risks, and try things I’ve never tried before. Experience can only be gained by trying something new…and if you fail in the process, you’ve learned even more. I’d rather see what’s on the other side of trying than to sit on this plateau and not try.
• I will give myself a mini-makeover. I have an extremely limited budget. I mean, money is really tight these days. So doing things that cost money is usually ruled out for the time being. However, there are small, inexpensive ways to boost your self-confidence and have some fun. Like my budget, my old jeans are still too tight. Instead of getting hung up on what I can’t wear, I’m pulling out all of my skirts and sundresses and mixing them up with other clothes to make new outfits. I’m also thinking I’ll dye my brown hair blonde for the summer. That kind of change gives your system a real jolt and can help give your attitude a new spin.
• I will listen to a record or CD every day. Instead of sitting down for an hour to watch a TV show or read articles online, I will choose instead to dust off an old album or disc and keep moving–standing, stretching, dancing, anything but sitting!
• I will explore new places. I will find as many places I can to walk to or drive to (if they have free admission) so that I can see more, hear more, and feel more. Sometimes a different bird call or view can tap into a sense or memory that leads to new inspiration. I will also take my sketch pad with me and start drawing again. It’s so much more relaxing than vegging out in front of the TV.
• Speaking of vegging out, I will dedicate this summer to trying new veggies and new ways of cooking them. Summer is probably the best time of year to take advantage of local produce markets and farmers. I realized yesterday that I pretty much only boil my veggies unless I throw them in the baking pan with some chicken or fish. I want to break away from this habit and learn new ways to incorporate veggies into our meals (besides my love for making veggie dip). My first experiment will be using the indoor grill to make different types of veggie skewers.
• I will use the longer daytime hours to my advantage. One of my favorite things about summer is the longer days. I feel like the extended daylight gives me extra energy and opportunity. Now that it’s still light out even after we have dinner, I’m going to start suggesting we go for evening walks. It’s time together; it’s good for digestion; and we may learn something new about our neighborhood.
• I will indulge in more fun and games this summer, including but not limited to hula hoop, jump rope, beach fun, and dancing. Anytime there is a chance or invitation for fun and physical activity, I will do myself and my body a favor and say yes!

What are your weight loss plans for this summer? How are you going to keep motivated to stay active? Share your thoughts, struggles, questions, or achievements in the comments section. Good luck!

–Michelle

Try This Healthy Lunch Dip

Using different veggies to make dips similar to hummus is a great way to enjoy eating healthy food more than usual.

I love creating new veggie dip combinations. Getting creative in the kitchen helps me to have fun when trying to lose weight and eat healthier. It also helps me use up stuff that is in the fridge before it goes bad. I don’t know about you, but I’m guilty of letting lots of perfectly good veggies go to waste because I just let them sit there. Weight loss can be made easier if you like the health food you need to eat. For example, I didn’t want to eat the rest of the edamame in the fridge, so I found a soybean hummus recipe online. Then I added my own twist to that recipe idea. The result was a really yummy, healthy veggie dip that made for a great lunch!

Easy Healthy Lunch: Carrots and soybean-veggie dip sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese and served with a few Alphonso (Kalamata) olives.

Ingredients and Directions:

• 1 package of soybeans (out of the pod)
• half a can of green beans
• 1 small Roma tomato
• 1 small, thin slice of butter (about a tsp)
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
• 2 tbsp Italian vinaigrette dressing

Bring to boil and reduce eat to simmer altogether until everything is tender. Puree til smooth as hummus. Sprinkle with cheese, if desired, and enjoy as a super yummy, healthy dip!

–Michelle

Related post: When I Dip, You Dip, We Dip

How to Burn 2000 Calories in One Day at Home!

Spring cleaning burns tons of calories. The only household task I can’t count is gardening because these are the only plants I have–one amaryllis and two black succulents.

Every little calorie burned helps me get one step closer to achieving my goal of losing 40 pounds. To keep me motivated, I decided to educate myself about how the little activities I do can add up.

Since I work from home, I structured my schedule this week to allow a day for taking care of household chores that have been piling up since my husband and I have been busy with work (spring cleaning!). All calorie-burning data is from the WebMD Fit-O-Meter (and all data is calculated based on my personal weight; you should enter your own weight to get the most accurate data for yourself). And, if you turn on some upbeat music while you’re doing stuff, it really helps your brain and body increase your activity level.

• Make breakfast: Making breakfast takes about 10 minutes and burns 30 calories. Clearing breakfast dishes in 5 minutes burns 18 calories. In total, burns 48 calories.
• Make the bed: Making the bed takes 5 minutes. Burns 15 calories.
• Wash the dishes: Takes about 15 minutes. Burns 51 calories.
• Go grocery shopping: Grocery shopping with a cart takes 20 minutes and burns 68 calories. Carrying a load of groceries to and from the car and the apartment takes about 15 minutes and burns 166 calories. Putting them all away takes about 10 minutes and burns 37 calories. Burns a total of 271 calories.
• Dust the house: The entire house takes about half an hour to dust thoroughly (lots of bookshelves). Burns 111 calories.
• Mop the kitchen floor: Takes 15 minutes to mop the kitchen. Burns 78 calories.
• Vacuum the house: The whole apartment takes 30 minutes to vacuum. Burns 155 calories.
• Scrub the bathtub: Cleaning the shower and bathtub well takes about 20 minutes of scrubbing and rinsing. Burns 112 calories.
• Bathe and groom the cat: Takes about 20 minutes from the time I find the cat, scrub him with cat shampoo, rinse, dry, and brush. Burns 103 calories.
• Reorganize the hall closet and file cabinet (includes some moderate lifting): Takes about 45 minutes. Burns 233 calories.
• Fold the laundry: Standing while folding a couple loads of laundry takes 15 minutes. Burns 44 calories.
• Make dinner: From prep to cooking to serving takes about an hour (standing and sitting). Burns 177 calories.
• Do the dishes again: Takes about 15 minutes. Burns 51 calories.
• Clean out the bedroom closets: Takes about an hour. Burns 310 calories.

TOTAL: Calories burned from all activities listed above: 1759 calories burned!

Add a stretch break! Whether you’re doing a lot of physical activity or just sitting around all day, your body can benefit in many ways from stretching. A total of 30 minutes of stretching burns 111 calories.

Count your walking! Light and moderate walking throughout the day between tasks counts too! Just one hour of general walking activity burns 266 calories.

Of course, no one wants or needs to do all of those chores in a single day on a regular basis. This was basically our spring cleaning. However, several of these daily tasks really do add up to make a difference in our daily dieting lives. Keeping these numbers in mind can help maintain a positive outlook toward daily weight loss activities. And don’t forget to drink lots of water and get a good night’s rest because both of those things help maintain your body’s metabolism.

Now that I know how many calories can be burned doing each of these household tasks, I can use the information to my advantage. If I eat a heavy dinner, I’ll work it off at the grocery store the next day. If I want a 100-calorie snack, I’ll bathe the cat afterward to burn it off. The cat may not think it’s funny, but I have to keep a sense of humor when I’m dieting! :D

Let me know what you think in the comments section!

–Michelle

Special Order with a Smile

In “When Harry Met Sally,” Sally special orders everything to suit her personal tastes without any hesitation when making the requests.

When you’re dieting, it can be tough to have fun going out with friends who aren’t dieting. Instead of staring at a restaurant menu feeling guilty, get creative. If you’re polite and kind, pretty much any restaurant will let you special order something to suit your needs. (Check out this great scene from “When Harry Met Sally” when Harry first hears how Sally special orders everything. Love it!) Here are some ideas to help you special order when you’re out so that you can keep losing weight:

• Order a combination of small items from the appetizer and side dish sections of the menu. For example, you can get an appetizer of shrimp or small pieces of chicken and combine that with a small side of a favorite veggie. This way, you’re not getting the huge entree-size portion and you’re only eating one side dish instead of also having a roll, soup, potato with butter, etc.

Updates On The Skipping Dinner Experiment

Not a long time ago I decided to make a little experiment and see whether I’d be able to go without dinner for a whole week. You can read all about how it started here. It seemed a relatively easy experiment, to have a full breakfast and late lunch, which theoretically should have lead to the skipped dinner. Well, I have to confess it wasn’t that easy, I broke down after the fourth night. However I have to admit even if I ate after six o’clock, it wasn’t anything heavy, a very light dinner. In fact, one of those nights was a raw vegan experience, which I posted about in this post.

Even though I failed this little experiment, I still have hope that I’ll be able to go though it again.

All the best,

– Vita :)

PS: If you haven’t voted yet on our little poll, we’d highly appreciate just a second of your time to answer one simple question, meat or seafood till the rest of your life? Thank you! :)

My First Experience With Vegan Raw Food

Last Saturday our good friend invited us to try a new restaurant that he got a coupon from. We didn’t even know where we are going until practically the last minute; all he told us was, “This is a new place and you guys are gonna love it!” There were four guys and me in our group and it was hard for them to resist making snarky comments when they realized that we had arrived at a vegan restaurant. Even though I was quite skeptical about it, I decided to reserve my judgement until I was done with my food.

We started with drinks, which I thought were pretty good. For example, I ordered a delicious coconut cocktail, which consisted of muddled limes, fresh coconut water, and raw sugar cane. It was sweet and refreshing at the same time! Our food arrived one plate at a time, which I thought was kind of weird.

Add Zumba To Your Life!

Michelle and I were thinking we’d like to try some aerobic or maybe dance classes for quite some time, but the financial aspect of this idea never let us move beyond the discussion. We have heard from other people about Zumba, apparently some new fitness class in the gym that everyone is buzzing about these days. Zumba involves dance and aerobic elements. Its choreography incorporates hip-hop, soca, samba, salsa, merengue, mambo, cumbia, flamenco, cha-cha-cha, tango, martial arts, and some Bollywood and belly dance moves. Well, after all that information we had to check it out, especially since almost every gym offers a one-week free pass, which we thought we’d sign up for.

However, instead of going to a Zumba class, I have decided to skip this step and bring Zumba to us. Yesterday I ordered the Zumba Kinect game so Michelle and I could exercise at home. As soon as her foot heals we are planning to try it out and see what the buzz is all about. Meanwhile, we’ll be stretching with yoga–Netflix added a whole bunch of workout dvds online, which we definitely have to take advantage of!

Check out this Zumba promo video:

 

All the best,

– Vita :)

When I Dip, You Dip, We Dip!

Freak Nasty's "Da Dip" was a hit in the '90s (I remember dancing to it at my 8th grade dance!) and it's one of those catchy one-hit wonders that pops into my head every once in a while.

Happy Friday! It’s a sunny day, I’m hungry for a light lunch, and I’ve got Freak Nasty’s “Da Dip” stuck in my head! So, the only thing to do is make a dip for lunch (while grooving to the song, of course). I love making dips at home, especially since you control the amount of oil and salt in them compared with store-bought, preservative-filled dips. It’s a great way to have fun with health food when you’re trying to lose weight without getting bored.

My favorite kind of dip to make is hummus, but what I really love to do is use hummus as a base for a veggie dip. It’s super healthy, fun, and you can eat it with carrot sticks (or any other veggie stick), home-baked tortilla chips, pita, crackers, pretzels…pretty much whatever you want. Sometimes, I even use it as a spread on a sandwich.

Here’s my typical dip-making method (takes about 10 minutes):

1. What’s in the fridge and cupboard? I like to get creative with what we have around the kitchen, especially since we’re on a pretty strict budget. Today, for example, I have a can of garbanzo beans, one Roma tomato left, half a can of black olives, half a bag of baby spinach, feta, carrots, garlic, and balsamic vinaigrette. Other ingredients that can work great, which I don’t have right now, are bell pepper, cilantro, cream cheese, Parmesan, onion, various types of beans (bean dip is so yummy!), avocado, artichoke. The recipe changes depending on what you’re in the mood for and what you have to use. The point is to look at what’s available and concoct a flavor that will suit your personal tastes and cravings.

2. Making the dip.

• In a small frying pan, simmer the sliced tomato, garlic, and spinach (or bell pepper and onion, if you’re using those) with just a teaspoon of canola oil (or olive oil) and a dash of salt and pepper. Sometimes I’ll add a different type of pepper or some cumin and thyme to further enhance the flavor. You just want to soften these ingredients so that the flavors mix well. You can also do this in the oven, but that can take longer than on the stove. [You also can add sesame seeds at this stage, which adds a subtle, earthy flavor that is so good.]
• In a blender, combine the can of garbanzo beans (drained), black olives, and about a cup of spinach with two tablespoons of the vinaigrette and blend. Then add the heated mixture of tomato and garlic, etc., and blend again. Keep blending until you have a smooth hummus-veggie dip. Adjust the blending consistency and amount of ingredients to suit your taste (you may want to thin it a bit with water or vinaigrette, or add a little salt, or thicken it with some saltine crackers).

3. Serve. Eat it hot or cold, depending on your preference, with whatever you want to dip in it. I’m having mine with carrot sticks today. Enjoy knowing that it’s a super healthy snack that tastes great and is totally customized for you!

Have a great weekend!

–Michelle :)

Playtime and Friends Improve Weight Loss

Southwest Airlines' Spirit magazine's April 2012 issue included two articles--one about playtime and the other about weight loss camaraderie--that mirror our efforts with the Diet Drop project.

When my husband and I were flying back from New Jersey to LA, I couldn’t sleep or reach my book so I read the Southwest Airlines’ magazine, Spirit (April, 2012, issue). Two articles caught my attention and reflected some of the goals and philosophies we share on Diet Drop. The first article is, “It’s Called Play,” which, in a nutshell, states that playtime at any age is essential to a health and creative thinking; and the second is, “Dynamo, Mississippi,” which parallels our emphasis on companionship and how it can greatly increase long-term weight loss success. Read on for more insights and highlights from experts that mirror our efforts with Diet Drop.