Desperate times

Call for desperate measures.

When I lived in New York, if the weather was good, I walked pretty much everywhere. There was just so much going on everywhere that I didn't want to miss. Plus, the subway smells like hot pee. So while my gym card became melded to my wallet from lack of use, I was moderately active. However, I ate and drank out a lot and consequently gained weight. That's when I took a break from booze and started recording all of my calories using the Lose it app. I also began eating mostly Amy's organic frozen meals which made counting calories easy. Although "excitement" and "fun" were a bit lacking from my life, the weight loss was a success.

Now that I live down south, there is much less walking, and the weight has piled back on. I do more actual exercise like playing tennis and...uh, raking. But there is also a new component of life trying to sabotage my weight: Chris' cooking. While delicious, it's not exactly fat-free. The fact is, men make you fat. They cook large portions, always want you to try whatever they're eating, and make biscuits at midnight. Well, maybe that's just Chris. Suffice to say, it's time for me to get back on the weight loss plan. I was watching Rob and Big yesterday afternoon (I will get a job eventually) and there was a dietician on who gave me a great idea. She suggested to Big that he divide snacks into serving size portions to avoid mindless snacking.

For a long time, I didn't realize that the calories on each package are per serving, not per package. And they can get really tricky with it too. You might get excited that one serving of Cool Mint Creme Double Stuf Oreos (mmmm) is 140 calories, until you discover that one serving = two cookies. Obviously you can't eat just 2 oreos. That's un-American.

So I raided the pantry for all the good stuff, made note of the serving size, and measured each serving into a ziploc bag. I took her advice a step further and labeled each bag with the amount of calories.

So far it has been effective: it's easier to count calories and to avoid overeating. I've also found that without the fancy packaging, food just isn't as appealing. Companies have spent a lot of money figuring out what colors and designs and fonts get us to want to eat their food. Removing it from the packaging, greatly reduces it's power over us.

That's my second effort to tame the beast of weight gain. I've also been jogging (walking) on the treadmill or doing some form of outdoor exercise everyday. I'm committed to doing whatever I need to do (within reason) to burn those spanx once and for all.And guys, don't act like you don't know what spanx are. I've seen the seam lines under your...shirts.

The next step in the weight loss goal: managing our cheese habit.