I just ate how many calories????

Week 3 Ending Jan. 28, 2012

This week ended with still some very good numbers. There were a few more people who gained a little this week but I don't want you to be discouraged. Unfortunately the scale holds great power over many of us and when it doesn't move in the direction we want it to go or move as fast as we would like it to we tend to get discouraged and want to give up. Please don't let that happen. Losing weight is not an exact science. It is very hard to tell how your body will react but it is a proven fact that if you stay the course by making even small and healthy changes to your diet and exercise you will eventually see amazing changes.

This Week's Top Ten

1rst Matthew D 2.5%

2nd Kinsey R 2.1%

3rd Geina Y 1.8%

4th Fran S 1.7%

5th Wayne D 1.1%

6th Colby D 1.1%

7th Kelsey 1.02%

8th Kim D 1.0%

9th Kari W 0.99%

10th Linda G 0.57%

Honorable mention Rachel J 0.56%, Carole T 0.56%, Brittany C 0.55%, Jess S 0.54%, Sunnie H 0.39%, Shauna W 0.24%, Lisa S 0.12%

We have also had several people express concern that it seems a little unfair for the women to be competing with the men. Although it is generally the rule that men can lose weight faster than women, it really doesn't play that great of a role in this contest and I think we will be amazed to see the final results in 12 weeks. I want to mention that Colby, Wayne and Matthew all have had great success so far but I need to let you know that they are highly motivated and are working very hard at this. Matthew is getting married on Mar 10 so he has great incentive to lose the weight and to win the money for his honeymoon. Even though he puts in very long days with work and school (not getting home until usually after midnight) he has still gotten up an hour early every day to workout and to pack all his food for the day. That is true dedication and it is paying off in the numbers he is seeing on the scale each week. Colby and his wife are committed to getting financially fit this year and have quit eating out altogether. That one little change can make a huge difference in your weight loss. Try it yourself and see. I just want to applaud both of these young men. Wayne has done weight watchers on and off for several years and is absolutely faithful in counting his points each day and sticking to the program.Yes they are guys and tend to lose faster but honestly they are working just as hard as the rest of us to be successful. I mention them because I want you all to see that there are many different ways to approach this challenge but if you are committed you will see success.

OK on to this week's challenge: Watch your Serving Sizes. Bigger portions = More calories, guaranteed. Everyone who comes to weigh in this week and at least tries to watch their portions will be entered into the challenge prize for the week. What's this weeks prize you ask? We will be giving away a food scale. So get out your measuring cups and spoons, your food scales and start checking the nutritional info on packages to make sure you know what a serving actually is.

Portion control is always a challenge but a great way to lose weight. Now that you are all pros at keeping a food journal, the next step is make sure you are not eating too many calories of even the good foods. Here is an example. For snacks I often will eat raw almonds mixed with craisins. I really like them and the raw almonds contain a lot of health promoting fats along with other ingredients. As I mentioned before I am away from my home usually 4 days of the week. Last week I got called out on short notice so I didn't have much time. I grabbed a new bag of almonds and craisins and threw it in my lunch bag.The only problem with that is I didn't weigh it out. Usually I will get small snack size sandwich baggies and weigh out all my snacks ahead of time and then only bring enough to cover the days I will be gone. 12 almonds equal 80 calories and 20 grams of Craisins (about 1 tbsp) equals 65 calories, so together that is a snack worth 145 calories which is about what I allow myself for snacks. Put that amount in a small snack baggie and you will see it isn't very much so the calories add up quite quickly when eating these items. Since they were all in one large bag, I ended up eating the entire thing on my 4 day trip. I probably consumed 4 times the calories I usually do because I hadn't taken the time to portion out the food ahead of time.

Mypyramid.gov is an excellent website to help with what you should and how much to eat. You can go in and register and do a menu planner with your height and weight. It will calculate a healthy daily caloric intake for you and then you enter what you eat. Seriously, this is so cool...and it's FREE. Here is another example from the lady who ran the last contest I participated in:"I have 1 c of Special K cereal with 1/2 c 1% milk, he puts an entry in the grain column and dairy and calculates the calories...SAAWEET!!! I know those of you who have an IPhone, or app for this it's not that great, but for me I thought it was very helpful. Go ahead...try it". Here's a little extra help too.

What's a Serving?

The MyPyramid system was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help people live longer, better and healthier lives. There are six broad types of food in the MyPyramid system shown in the chart below.
When choosing foods, keep the following in mind:

• All food groups are important. Each food group provides specific nutrients that can not easily be met from other food groups. No single food group can provide all nutrients.
• The amount of food we need from each food group varies based on age, gender, physical activity, and weight goals.
• The serving sizes recommended by the MyPyramid guidelines can be different than the serving size information on a food label. MyPyramid serving sizes are based on nutrient content. For example, in the MyPyramid system, 1 cup of low fat milk has a similar nutrient profile in calcium, protein, and riboflavin as 1.5 oz of cheese.
• The MyPyramid serving sizes are often different than our personal portion sizes which is the amount of a particular food you typically eat. Recognizing how many servings are in your typical portion is critical in learning "real time" energy management.
  Below are examples of what the MyPyramid guidelines define as one serving unit for each of the food groups.

  Food Group	Serving Size	Serving Size in Context	Visual Clues and Examples of One Serving
  Grains	1 Ounce	1 slice of bread 1 cup cold cereal ½ cup cooked rice, pasta or cooked cereal	Bread = plastic CD case Cooked rice = ½ of a tennis ball 1 mini-bagel 5 whole-wheat crackers ½ English muffin 1 (4 ½ inch) pancake 1 small tortilla (6 inches)
  Fruit Group	1 Cup Equivalent	1 cup of fruit or 100% fruit juice; ½ cup of dried fruit	Whole fruit = 1 baseball Cut fruit = 7 cotton balls 1 small apple 32 seedless grapes 3 medium plums
  Vegetable Group	1 Cup Equivalent	1 cup of raw or cooked vegetables or vegetable juice; 2 cups of raw leafy greens	Vegetables = a light bulb or computer mouse 2 medium carrots 1 large ear corn 1 medium baked potato 3 (5 inch long) spears of broccoli
  Meat and Beans Group	1 Ounce	1 egg 1 tablespoon peanut butter ¼ cup cooked dry beans ½ ounce nuts or seeds	Nuts = 12 almonds, 24 pistachios Turkey = one sandwich slice Peanut butter = ½ golf ball Burger patty = ½ patty Tuna = ¼ can of drained tuna Fish = One third of a checkbook Meat or Poultry = One third of a deck of cards
  Milk Group	1 cup Equivalent	1 cup milk 1 ½ ounce natural cheese or 2 ounces of processed cheese	Hard cheese = two 9-volt batteries Shredded cheese = tennis ball
  Oils	1 Teaspoon	1 Teaspoon oil, salad dressing, butter, etc.	Butter and spreads = A stack of 6 nickels