Eat Right at Night

I can't go to bed without dessert. I admit it. It's a bad habit, I know, especially after reading the latest Health issue. Turns out, those who eat after 8 P.M. rack up 248 more calories than those who finish eating after dinner. Well, duh. I actually thought it would be more. That's not the real killer. The killer is that your body wants to burn off fat at night, which is while people who get the full nine hours weigh the least. Your body is like a machine. Even when you're asleep, its gears are still working, but it needs fuel. It's not getting food so it takes fuel from fat. It's a great system.

Problem is this mode can't begin the second your head hits the pillows. It takes time to burn the calories. Health recommends eating dinner late and going to bed an hour later, so you don't have time to eat dessert. The body needs about twelve hours to convert that fat. Basically, eat dinner at eight, eat breakfast at eight. For the summer, sure I can do that. For the rest of the year, not so much. I wake up at 5:45 A.M. and eat breakfast at 6:00 A.M. Then I eat dinner between 6:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M. I don't go to bed at eight. I usually go to sleep between ten and eleven. So no I'm not one of those people who gets the full nine hours.

Here's my rule: Don't focus on the 12 hours. Focus on the old rule that says no eating after nine. Before that I'm not giving you a pass. Don't eat whatever you want. Try to eat something with a little fiber content. If you get cravings at night, give in, but only a little. If you want chocolate, eat a Fiber One Brownie, not a giant hot fudge sundae. Dessert won't wreck your diet, as long as your careful of the time you eat and the content of your treat.

The Liquid Diet (and I'm Not Talking Cleanses!)

Thursday I had the misfortune of having all four of my wisdom teeth extracted. 10:00 a.m. I went in and at noon I walked out, feeling and talking like Kramer. For the next few hours I felt fine, numbness aside. Then, little by little, the numbness wore off and an awful pain started in.

The doc gave me a list of things I had to follow from Thursday to Monday: rinse with saltwater, don't drink anything carbonated, take the painkillers (which, evidently, are also sleeping pills, considering the fact that I've been sleeping at least fourteen hours every day). But the number one thing on the list was to eat foods that require minimal chewing. I stocked my fridge with sugar free chocolate pudding cups, Special K chocolate shakes, pina coloda protein shakes, cottage cheese, mac and cheese (one of my personal favorite foods) and Yoplait light yogurt. These are the six foods that I've been living off of. Doesn't sound all that healthy, right? Then why have I noticed that my jeans are fitting better, my stomach is smaller, and I've lost two pounds in the last two days (without exercising at all because doing so is off limits according to my doctor)?

Well this is why! For one thing, repetitious eating has been shown to limit the amount of food you eat. The reason for that is become your palette isn't being subjected to something new constantly. When you eat something tantalizing and new for dinner every night, your brain savors it and wants more, so you eat more. If you eat, say, mac and cheese like I've eaten for the last three nights, the first night your brain thinks, "Yay! This is good!" Second night it's like, "Oh ok, not exactly exciting but whatever it's still pretty good." By the third night it's saying, "This again? So boring!" When you subject your brain to food you like more often, you stop thinking of it as taboo. You stop craving it and you stop piling it on your plate.

Now take a look at the list again. The pudding is sugar free. The shakes are both less than 200 calories and are high in protein. The cottage cheese and mac and cheese are high in calcium and the cottage cheese is low in fat and calories. The yogurt is low in fat and calories and high in protein. While they all taste great, they are also all healthy takes on their original, high-calorie counterparts.

I'm also in a little pain and because of that I'm eating a lot slower, helping me get filled up faster and making my mind remind me to stop eating as soon as I'm full. I'm not saying that you should go take out your teeth to lose weight, but I am saying to eat repetitiously, sticking to healthier variety of foods and a healthier amount of each. It's way easier than you think!

Something that Should be Said

This isn't a tip or a workout. This is something I have to get off my chest.

Yesterday I watched my best friend die in front of me. She was my workout buddy, my therapist, my baby girl. I watched her lay on a surgical table, cleverly disguised to look kind by a flannel, midnight blue blanklt. My mother and father stood around her and I stood by her head. I held it between my hands and she looked up at me with sleepy, doe-like brown eyes. My mother stroked her ears and I smooshed her floppy face as my father held her steady and stroked her back. The doctor moved around us inconspicuously. She became too tired to lift her head and I didn't want to be looking into those eyes when they became unseeing. She laid her head against a towel covered pillow and grunted continuously and softly. Her eyes shut and her pink tongue folded out of her mouth like an unfolding accordian. She kept sniffing something and her tongue kept twitching.

I knelt down and rested my head on hers, something I'd become accustomed to doing, and whispered, "Do you have any idea how much I love you?" something I'd always asked. She grunted softly again and again. And then it stopped and my father said the obvious confirmation. But I stayed knelt down and asked her the same question again and again.

That same morning my mother woke me to tell me I had to take Jewel to the vet. Although it was only seven, I was up as soon as the words left her mouth. My mother was scared because Jewel wouldn't eat anything. If you'd ever met this dog (which would have made you a very lucky person) you'd know that she ate anything at anytime. More than once in the last week I'd told her to stop eating the grass and to stop eating random things she'd found in the carpeting.

But yesterday morning she wouldn't eat breakfast, wouldn't go outside to go to the bathroom, and wouldn't even get up from her corner where she slept the night. Yet when I came downstairs she greeted me at the bottom of the steps, lying down with her ears up and panting in contentment. My dad tried to give her a treat, just to see her eat something but she wouldn't take it. He left to look up her symptoms online and she climbed, slipping slightly, to her feet. I asked her to eat something, gesturing to her full bowl. She gave me what I can only call a quizzically look and looked at the food. It took no more prying to get her to eat half the bowl. Then she drank a ton a water and went back to the meal. Then she ate the treat, went outside, and came back inside, panting and wagging her tail. I looked at my dad and we were both thinking the same thing: Mom overreacted.

Nonetheless, we got in the car to go to the vet. Jewel got into the backseat without a problem and laid down with me sitting next to her, stroking her side. She kept giving me confused looks, as if to say, "Guys, I'm fine. Why are we going to the vet?"

When we arrived, she jumped up and looked out the window and then followed me, jumping out of the car. On the ramp up to the entrance, she went to the bathroom, much to mine and my father's embarrassment. But we cleaned it up and some nice people pet her, with her relishing the attention. "She's 13!" they said in disbelief. "But she looks like a puppy!" She always got that. Good genes, I guess. Always looked ten years younger than she really was.

Our vet, an old family friend, was quick to take us in. Jewel greeted her happily, until she saw that they had a thermometer and she looked to me for help as the vet...well you get it. I didn't reach in to pet her, afraid I'd bother the vet, but I whispered to her, "It's okay, baby. Everything's okay," like we were sharing our own little secret.

It wasn't four hours later that I was saying the same thing to her, but this time I knew it wouldn't be. It wasn't four hours later that I told her to rest her eyes and I'd see her when she woke up.

I've suffered from depression since sixth grade. I've lost count of the days when I'd come home and just cry, barely making it into the door. But she'd greet me everytime. I'd kneel down on the carpet and wrap my arms around her, making her beautiful gold fur wet and messy. I'd put my head on her shoulder and she'd rest hers on mine and we'd just sit like that. Other times she'd roll on to her back and let me rub her belly while I cried, until the tears ran dry. Did you know that petting an animal can alleviate feelings of sadness? She did.

I'd take her for walks, yes, but my favorite workout was lying on the floor, attempting to do sit ups or bicycles and failing miserably because she'd climb all over my head. Sometimes she'd just lie down by my head and I'd attempt to continue to situps, with my hands over my head reaching to pet her.

I couldn't even spend the night at home yesterday. I had to stay at a friend's house. But it's not as if I could hide away forever. Tomorrow morning, I'll get up. I'll come downstairs saying, "Where's my puppy?" like I always did. But I won't get an answer. And there will be no one to help dry my tears.

Tip #28: Match You Workout, Beat for Beat!

I do like to work out but sometimes my drive to exercise falls flat. I've gone on a stationary bike everyday for the last week. I started at a half hour Monday and Tuesday and I could hardly make it through, going just over 12 miles an hour. Suddenly, in the following days, I was pedalling over 15 mph and lasting over an hour. What made the sudden change? Jog fm.

I recently read about this workout saving device in Health magazine and I had to check it out right away. Now we all know that working out to music keeps the mind occupied and makes you exercise longer but it turns out the music you listen to helps you keeps you going as well. The first page on Jog fm has you type in how fast you want to go running, but if that's not the workout of your choice, don't be discouraged. You can also find music specifically designed for walking and biking.

Best part? You don't have to buy these all these songs, although the website does give you links to where you can do so. Thanks to an application called Spotify, you can link your accounts on Jog fm and Spotify to listen to music while you workout. You can even create your own workout playlist on Jog fm or listen to one someone else created.

An issue for me while I was exercising was that I didn't know what songs would be good for me to bike to. I usually listened to Rob Thomas and Maroon 5, so I looked the songs up on Jog fm and found that the majority of songs I listened to weren't fast enough. Most of them were less than 120 beats per minute (bpm). For biking, you should stay between 135 and 170 bpm. For running, 147 to 169 bpm. For walking, 137 to 139 bpm.

I found that the best Maroon 5 songs for me were The Sun at 160 bpm, Wake Up Call at 164 bpm and Harder to Breathe at 150 bpm and the best Rob Thomas songs were Streetcorner Symphony at 164 bpm, Little Wonders at 167 bpm and This is How a Heart Breaks at 140 bpm. These sons have come up pretty often on my Spotify account lately but my playlists aren't those alone. There's pop and rock and top 40s and '90s and '80s and '70s, whatever you like. My playlists have been a mix of everything. Thanks to Jog fm and Spotify, I've stopped getting tired and bored during my workouts and can work out without getting so bored that all I'm thinking is that I'm in so much pain I've got to stop. Now I'm thinking, "You know what? How about three more songs?"

Workout #17: Make a Run for It!

Even when I was little, running was my enemy. I remember running in the Presidential Fitness Challenge every year and I could never run faster than a twelve minute mile. I used to feel so bad when my friends would run beside me and try to get me to run faster, but I never could.

My sister is almost as bad as I am, but not quite. She's never been over weight but she's never been a great runner either. I was more than surprised to hear that she decided to run a marathon. On her way home for the Easter break, she texted me and asked if she wanted to go for a run the next day. My first thought was "Is she crazy?" I was going to immediately say hell no but I ended up texted back that it sounded like a good idea.

The next day she woke me up, tossed me a pair of sneakers, and pulled me outside. We walked down one house and then we made a run for it. Needless to say, I was ready to quit only a few houses down from that. I started to slow up, so my sister ran a little faster and I struggled to keep up.

We didn't talk much, so I ended up listening to my neighbors around me and focusing on my breathing. Eventually, I managed to steady it and fell into step with my sister. I kind of liked the sound of our feet hitting the pavement in unison. Every now and again she told me to slow up and pace myself or, when I started to feel like stopping, she'd tell me to focus on one thing at a time. Rather than focus on reaching home, she'd tell me to get to the next mailbox, and then I could slow down if I wanted to.

The thing was, after I reached one mailbox, I wanted to run to the next one, and the next one, and the next. Before I knew it, my house was in view. She told me earlier on in the run that we could walk from there, but instead she decided we'd sprint. I struggled to sprint but didn't slow up until I got back through my front door.

While I don't plan to run any marathons just yet, I don't mind training with my sister for the time being. Maybe I'll be running one in a couple years.

Recipe of the Week: Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie

I just started making these and personally I love them! They fill me up all the way to lunch!
Plus: there's no cholesterol!

Ingredients:
1 packet Quaker Lower Sugar Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal
1 tbsp dried cherries
8 whole almonds
1 tbsp walnuts
1 tsp sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add water and heat the oatmeal (try not to make it too diluted). Then mix the oatmeal with the cherries and walnuts. Chop the almonds in half and mix then in as well. Then separate the mixture in half and shape into two balls. Place them on a greased cookie sheet and sprinkle the sugar over the top and bake for twenty minutes.

Nutrition facts (two servings of one cookie):
Calories: 154
Fat: 6.2 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 131.1 mg
Potassium: 135.6 mg
Carbohydrate: 22.8 g
Fiber: 2.5 g
Sugar: 9.2 g
Protein: 3.7 g

Tip #27: Get Back to What Works

I'll admit it: So far this year has not been kind me. I've gained a little weight back and my skinny jeans can tell. I've done a lot lately: TweetWhatYouEat, SparkPeople, just plain old keeping a log. All in all, they've helped somewhat, but not to the magnitude that Weight Watchers did. So I'm shelling out the cash and getting back on track.

I'm over one week into my re-diet and I have to say it feels pretty good. My skinny jeans are still complaining but I feel lighter. I'm exercising more than I used to with the kind of motivation that Weight Watchers brings me. On Sunday, I got on my stationary bike and pedaled at or above 12 mph until I reached 15 miles. My legs were sore, but in a good way, like I know I accomplished something. I've lost over two pounds already this week. I'm standing up straighter and not as concerned with hiding my weight gain under really baggy clothes.

I'm eating a lot more fruit (which has no point value on the PointsPlus program) and cutting back on my cravings, which often total more than I can have (like my personal favorite Skippy peanut butter). I will say that my body is a lot hungrier now, which means that I was definitely eating more than I should have before and my body isn't used to the healthy calorie amount I'm at now. I've been through this before, so its really no trouble. I know I'll get through that.

So for right now, my skinnies are left to the back of my closet, but I feel asured that I can lose the weight to button them up again.