The Hollando Diet

Major milestone this morning: probably my first time under 180 in months. Granted, the reading on the scale was 179.8, and the thing is only accurate to within a fifth of a pound, and the glass of orange juice I had with breakfast probably put me back over the top.

That probably would have been even better, but dinner yesterday got a little elaborate. A friend announced she was buying a place in Boston, and that was certainly worth a glass of champagne to celebrate, and dinner ended up being at a favorite restaurant of mine that serves the best locally available Peking Ravioli I’ve been able to find, so I had to tap on an appetizer that I would otherwise have skipped. But the guilt caused me to add another five minutes on the the elliptical trainer, so that partially compensated.

To answer David’s question:

Following South Beach strictly requires total abstinence from the drink for the two weeks of Phase 1 and only limited consumption (e.g., a glass of wine with dinner) thereafter. Here’s the book on booze:

“At the other end of the spectrum is beer. As discussed, it has a high glycemic index thanks to its main component, maltose, which is even worse than table sugar.

“Wine, and even whiskey, are safer bets because they’re made from different grains, vegetables, or fruit. Not that whiskey is part of any serious weight-loss effort, of course. White wine is better. Best of all is red wine, because it brings with it some significant, proven cardiac benefits thanks to the reservatrol contained in grape skins” (Agatston, The South Beach Diet, 56).

I can’t argue with the science, but let’s get practical. If I’m going to stick with this lifestyle, it can’t include swearing off whiskey, wine, and certainly not the occasional Guinness (sorry, Will).

Could I stand to drink fewer of these libations? Absolutely. And I am. But Yalies and the Temperance Movement have never really got along. As I said in my first post, it’s just no fun. If that means slower weight loss, more fluctuation, or compromises in other areas, so be it. Priorities, people.

Good news this morning. First, I’ve confirmed the quality of Tamarind Bay, a new Indian restaurant in Cambridge’s Harvard Square. Really superb food, although the service was a bit spotty. Well meaning, but spotty. A bit on the pricey side as well, but well worth it overall. I managed to keep myself from eating too aggressively, although it was a challenge (light on the breads, no rice, emphasis on the spinach, lamb, peppers, chicken, and a set of fritters that were ostensibly banana based although only one person out of the three attending felt comfortable confirming that). And I got another 45 minutes of cardio in when I got home.

Second, I checked in this morning at exactly the same weight as the previous morning. So no forward momentum, but I’ve established that, at least under these relatively uncontrolled conditions, I can eat a reasonable amount of balanced food and, coupled with exercise, stay pretty stable. And since yesterday contained both a lunch meeting and dinner with friends, and the next few days contain at most one of each, that should be the peak for the week. Barring accident, I expect to see the other side of 180 within the next few days, and while I suspect I’m in for some fluctuation after I pass that milestone, it should be well behind me by next week.

And the positive effects of exercise are beginning to kick in as well. I’m a night person, so I’ve been working out late; usually around 10:30pm or a bit after, followed by a shower, a final half hour of whatever, and sleep. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings I woke up feeling the negative effects of the previous night’s workout. This morning I was actually pretty quick off the blocks, and I have high hopes for my sustained energy level if I can keep this up.

I am not making this up. NAAFA just held their annual convention from 4-8 August in Newark.

There is a highlighted link to an article from the SF Chronicle regarding something called San Francisco’s “fat and short law.” Leave it to the socialists to dream up this sort of legislation–have you heard of it, Matthew? At least they’re not taking the opposite tack of mandating fitness levels.

Matthew’s last post about the need to abstain from whiskey made me wonder, of course, about that nectar deorum flowing from St. James’ Gate.

I found this:

“Guinness is often thought of as a high calorie beer but the official word from Guinness is that it is less than 11 calories per ounce. A 12oz serving has 125 calories, 9.8 grams of carbs and it’s alcoholic content is 4.2%. For comparison, 12 ounces of Budweiser is 150 calories and 11 grams carbs, 12 ounces of Heineken is 150 calories and 12.2 grams of carbs, 12 ounces of Corona Extra is 148 calories and 14.1 grams of carbs, and SURPRISE… a Sam Adams Light has 126 calories and 10.9 grams of carbs.”

The source for the above is Brian’s Belly, whose motto is “Eat, Drink & Be Heavy.”

Let us all resolve to celebrate the goodness of Guinness within the next week. To your health!

Holland asked about breakfast ideas. This recipe comes from the South Beach book, though annotated by my mother. She and dad love these little things:

Veggie Cups
1 pkg. froz. spinach (micro for 2 mins and drain/squeeze out all liquid)
3/4 cup egg subsitute (I like better n’eggs the best. comes in a two pack and one of the 2packs is just the right amount, no need to measure)
1/4 cup each diced peppers and onions
3/4 cup shredded cheese
salt/pepper to taste
(I never measure, just estimate)

spray cupcake tin with pam
mix all ingredients
spoon into cups
bake at 350 for 30 min (stick with knife - if it comes out clean they are done, if wet, leave for a few more minutes and check again

can be frozen and microwaved to reheat
can have 2 each serving

In a comment on an earlier post, Holland praised my discipline. Boy, did he speak too soon. Work rather got in the way of my South Beach regimen yesterday.

The morning started well enough, but I got drafted into a last-minute lunch meeting at a place with few smart-carb options on the menu. I ended up ordering a California Chicken Sandwich, on bread (the humanity!) — although the other ingredients (melted swiss cheese, guacamole, tomatoes, onions) were generally sound.

Then a colleague thrust upon me her homemade apple crisp, which, naturally, could only be truly savored a la mode. I ate it … but only out of professional courtesy, of course.

Finally, as the stress level around the office had been rather higher than normal, I broke down and poured myself a whiskey after work.

What do I get for my three transgressions in one day? 172.5 pounds, that’s what!

So this morning, much to my relief, I checked in just below 181, down from a shade over 182 at the start of the week. Call it a pound. So far I’ve managed to keep to my goal of 50 minutes of cardiovascular exercise a night. Sure, it’s only been two days, but it feels sustainable, now that I’ve gotten a bit of a rhythm down. The next business trip will be the first real challenge, and right now it looks like I have a few weeks before that happens.

While I wouldn’t call my food consumption for the last two days low-carb, it’s certainly been lower carb than usual. Dinner last night was the Tuesday Night Special at Cafe Sushi in Harvard Square, essentially a large pile of raw fish on top of rice. Not too many carbohydrates, and very low in fat. Lunch today was a chicken-pesto sandwich, albeit with some cheese, and a large salad in place of the French fries the restaurant usually tries to pawn off on you. Dinner tonight poses a certain amount of risk, as I’m meeting some friends for Indian food, one of my natural weaknesses.

The reason I bring all this up: sustainability. As this article from WebMD points out, it’s not just enough to lose a bunch of pounds. You have to be able to keep it off, and highly restrictive diets just aren’t conducive to that, particularly if you like food in the first place. And in my case, that’s what got me into this mess. Any diet or exercise plan that involves perpetually cursing said plan is more or less guaranteed to fail in the end. As Matthew pointed out in his post a few days ago, social events and carb control don’t really mix.

As long as I keep the exercise in the mix, I should be fine: rather than a highly restrictive diet, it lets me get by on a merely sensible diet. So no big sugary desserts, fewer refined ingredients, etc., but no wholesale bread prohibition either. And I enjoy exercise - I just don’t like all the getting to and from the gym (or running around in the heat) that it entails. But will I always have time for fifty minutes a day on the trainer?

Yesterday I went to Macy’s to take advantage of a good sale they were having in the hours of pre-dawn darkness (that is, before noon). Found some excellent suits: but when it came time to try on the trousers, I found that my size was 34w-32h rather than 32-34, as it has been in ages past. Ought I be concerned? Is this is a sign of things to come? The salesman assured me that trouser sizes tend to be different from, say, khaki sizes. I have my doubts.

Morning snack*: 1 part-skim mozzarella cheese stick, 8 oz. glass of skim milk

At the office: 6 oz. can of V8

Lunch: 1 Subway Chicken Ranch Atkins Wrap (hold the bacon).

6:30pm: 2 more 6 oz. V8s

Supper: 1 homemade 2 egg omelet with part-skim mozzarella cheese, roasted peppers, and garlic powder — prepared in olive oil with salt & pepper to taste.

Dessert: Roasted peppers

Miscellaneous: countless Diet Cokes, Diet Pepsis, and water bottles (sparkling and still) throughout the day.

And the scale says: 174 pounds.

*South Beach doesn’t recommend skipping breakfast, but I’m not a breakfast person, never have been. Instead I choose to eat something light, but filling, to forestall real hunger later in the day.