Monthly Archives: May 2011

Imagine eating M&M’S, then lose weight!

Posted on May 27, 2011 | 1 Comment

Thinking about sweets might actually help you eat less of them.

 

From Joe: Writing about Treats without Calories, Henry Alford asks us to imagine if imagining ourselves overeating some snacks can help us lose pounds:

I’m what any right-thinking nutritionist would call average size. But note that the number 165 is rendered in heterosexual pounds. In gay pounds, I’m Precious. So when I hit 170 this winter, I knew it was time to test-drive a Carnegie Mellon study I’d read about. Scientists there discovered that when you repeatedly imagine eating a certain food, your craving for that food (but not others) is reduced.

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Breaking 150!

Posted on May 27, 2011 | 2 Comments

From Gerry: 150 pounds is a barrier I thought I’d never get below … but two weeks after the Fittest Loser Challenge ended, I did just that. The scale hit 148 and gave me a nice round 40 pound total weight loss. At least the number is round instead of me! My weight-loss journey continues with three-times-a-week workouts with my trainer, Tony, and three more days of cardio. That number in the 140s makes it all worth while! Stay tuned …

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The workplace is making us unfit

Posted on May 26, 2011 | Comments Off

Sitting behind a desk is making us fat. Try a walking meeting when you can.

From Eileen:  Working is not good for your waistline. Or should we say sitting at a desk for eight hours a day and only getting up to wander over to the candy dish is definitely not good for your waistline and your overall fitness level?

In a study of the American workplace, a group of researchers found that 80 percent of jobs are sedentary or require or light activity, which is way down from 1960 when 50 percent of the jobs in the workforce required some sort of moderate activity.

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No more excuses. Start exercising right now!

Posted on May 20, 2011 | 3 Comments

What's the secret to exercising every single day for six years? Just do it!

From Eileen: In a little more than a week, I will be coming up on my six-year anniversary of exercising every single day. I know! I can’t believe it myself.

 And while I sometimes joke that given the work I have put into this, I should look a lot better than I do, I have to say I have never felt better.  I wish I had started this whole crazy thing 30 years ago!

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More on “Which diet plan is best for you?”

Posted on May 17, 2011 | Comments Off

From Joe:  We earlier reported the buzz about a Consumer Reports study of diet plans. Now Tara Parker-Pope advises us to be skeptical and tough-minded about successes claimed by commercial weight-loss programs:

 The magazine said Jenny Craig had “the edge over the other big names” on the basis of a two-year study published last year in The Journal of the American Medical Association. In that study, 92 percent of 442 overweight and obese women stuck with the program for two years…They lost an average of about 16 pounds…But the magazine failed to report that the women in the study didn’t pay a dime to sign up for the Jenny Craig program. Unlike real Jenny Craig customers, they received $6,600 worth of membership fees and food during the two-year study…Today, someone who wanted to spend two years on the program would pay about $400 in registration fees and about $100 a week for packaged meals…

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Which diet plan is best for you?

Posted on May 16, 2011 | 2 Comments

From Joe: If you are looking for a diet plan you can follow for the long haul, Meghan Casserly at Forbes.com suggests you should check out the new Consumer Reports evaluation of diet programs:

 When looking to lose weight, there are a number of serious–and not-so-serious–issues to consider: Will the food taste bad? Will I always be hungry? Will I go broke buying into a meal plan? Will it be convenient? Will I still get to eat out with friends? But for most of us, the bottom line is this: Will I be able to lose weight and keep it off?

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And the winner is …

Posted on May 16, 2011 | 1 Comment

Gerry gives all the credit for her weight loss to her trainer, Tony.

 

 From Gerry:  Me!

I didn’t actually win the 2011 Fittest Loser Challenge, but I’m doing a victory dance all the same.

In 12 weeks, I lost 36 pounds. My body age went from an astounding get-your-papers-in-order-to-sign-up-for-Social-Security 60 years to an amazing 42 years of age.

Or, as my husband put it, “From menopause to trophy wife in just 12 weeks.”

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Final Fittest Loser weigh-in numbers!

Posted on May 13, 2011 | Comments Off

From Eileen:  For those of you who can’t wait for Monday’s paper to read the final results of this year’s Fittest Loser contest, here you go. Congratulations to all the participants!

Bob Pearson, 38, of Hampshire

Trainer: Josh Steckler

Starting weight: 296

Final weight: 218

Pounds lost: 78

Percent lost: 26.4

 

John Novak, 46, of Mount Prospect

Trainer: Wade Merrill

Starting weight: 324

Final weight: 247

Pounds lost: 77

Percent lost: 23.8

 

Jayne Nothnagel, 52, of Bloomingdale

Trainer: Mark Trapp

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Can multi-tasking at work wreck your diet?

Posted on May 13, 2011 | 1 Comment

From Joe:  Shortly after the turn of the century, we all were being sold a bill of goods about the coolness factor of multitasking: New gadgets, a new generation of workers, instant communication, all this was presented to as really slick. Article after article represented anybody who did not joyfully and skillfully multitask as being an old fogey — most probably a male old fogey. (For example, a USAToday story with its subtext.)

 A lot of research has been done on multitasking since that time. The gist of this research is that we pay a steep price for constantly switching our attention when we are doing something important.

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And the winner is …

Posted on May 12, 2011 | 2 Comments

Bob lost 78 pounds or 26.4 percent of his body weight. Way to go, Bob! We are all so proud of you.

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