Lost 1 lb so far

I am 1 lb down. Not hungry, but craving donut.  Today will have black coffee and thin whole wheat bagel for breakfast,  zucchini and apples for lunch and big dinner.

Starting tomorrow

Today I slacked.  It was a day off. So we went out for lunch. I had nice burger. Had it healthy.  As much as burger could be healthy.   O well tomorrow will be coffee for breakfast.  No milk. Will have to kiss latte good bye for 2 weeks

Starting again

I am very frustrated.  I eat good and excercise every day. But I gained. Not sure if i am eating too much or it is just age. I am about 12 lb overweight now. I hope it is a muscle weight. But I have some imperfections I would like to fix. So I am going on Japanese diet starting Monday.  Will keep the progress here.
Today I am going to Pilates Boot Camp at Mind the Mat  #minthematchallenge
The best boot camp for civilized girls
 I lose about  700 calories in one hour.

Phase 2

Read here about phase 2 of my diet.

Calories counting vs. meal plan.

Some nutritionists say: you can eat everything, only calories matter. If you stay in 1200 calories a day, you will lose weight. Others say: avoid fat, carbs, etc.. Then you will lose.
As an experienced weigh loser I say do both, I did and still do low carb and 1200 calories, combination of both works the best.

Weight Loss: Traveling and Eating Out.

I was traveling this week. It is so hard to be good, eating out. Unless very expensive eating out. If you go to really expensivesteak houses or seafood restaurants it is pretty easy. You get nice cut of beef and veggies. Small portions for lots of money. But if you go to cheaper places: fun starts. Everything is fried. After one week of eating out I cannot stand smell of fried food. You go out for lunch. You order salad. Sounds healthy right? Salad should be healthy. I am wondering why many places insist to load up salads with calories, and carbs, and fat. They add chips, tortilla strips, bacon, pepperoni, potatoes, onion rings, nuts covered in sugar, ham, and lots of cheese into salad. We have to be really careful what we get, and what we eat. I’ve seen 1000 calories salads without dressing. Also be careful with dressings. Chipotle offers pretty healthy salads, but if you add dressing, which is really yummy, you add about 300 calories and tons of fat and crabs into your salad. I always prefer oil and vinegar. Or I get dressing on the side. And add just a little bit, for taste. I learned not to like salads swimming in dressings. In St Louise I was pleasantly surprised with one restaurant, called Blueberry Hill. It is really a nightclub. Chuck Berry is going to perform there next week BTW.. I wish I could be there. They also serve lunches and dinners. We went there for lunch. It didn’t look like a great healthy restaurant. Not expensive at all. I ordered salad. They brought nice portion not too big, not too little, mixed lettuce (not just iceberg), radishes, celery, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, just a hint of cheese, couple of slices of eggs, grilled chicken, and yogurt and dill dressing on the side. Yummy and healthy. I was very impressed.
In another place, very expensive, modern fusion, tapas. Small portions and all. I ordered artichokes hearts, they brought those deep fried. I just do not understand why they insist to get something that naturally taste really good and fry it to death. You cannot taste any artichokes there, just fried breading. Not to mention million calories breading and oil are adding to dish. Hey were also served it with dipping sauce.
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve sinned during my traveling. I ate staff I shouldn’t be easting. As a result I gained a few, I need to lose those few. I weight 134 Lb now. Will post my progress.

Weight Loss: Finding my way.

It is crucial for success to find your own way. Let’s define success. For me success is to lose weight to the point I feel comfortable. And then keep the result for life. As I mentioned before, to achieve this, I needed to change my life style for good.
I spend couple of months trying different staff.
First I thought to become vegetarian. To get into that slowly I decided to cut off red meat first. I failed miserably as soon as I’ve seen nice filet mignon with blood on the plate.
I tried to cut off portions. Didn’t help me any.
After lots of researching I finished with 2 options: low fat or low carb.
I am a carnivore and a carb addict at the same time, the choice was difficult. I’ve studied few methods and came up with my own ( really combination of few) that allowed me to eat healthy, lose weight and still enjoy my life.
I went with low carb. Let me explain. If I went with low fat, I would have to cu off lots of food I really like to eat, like eggs and bacon, like cheese. With modifies low carb version I can eat pretty much anything at least healthy version of anything. Many people think that low carb means to eat only fatty food and no fruits or bread or pasta. It is true for some methods. I didn’t like those because I like fruits and I believe that fruits are good for us.

Weight loss: Meal Schedule.

During my weight loss journey, I figured out that it matters not only what we eat but also when we eat it. In Russia we say: eat your breakfast your self, share lunch with friend and give dinner to your enemy. This is very true. I you want to eat something that your method does not allow, eat it for breakfast, then you will have no or minimal impact on your routine. It does not mean you can do it all the time, but as an exception, this trick works pretty darn good.
Russian people in general have a little different meal schedule. They have breakfast, dinner and supper. They eat the largest meal (like dinner in the US) for lunch. They do not call it lunch they call it dinner. At night they have light supper. This meal schedule works very well for weight loss routine.

Weight Loss: Second Strong Motivation

I was breastfeeding my daughter until she was about 11 months old. She just lost interest at some point. I was visiting my mother in Russia. My husband was in Ukraine. My mother offered for me to leave my daughter with her for few days, and go to visit my husband, just to spend weekend childfree. It was a great idea.
We went to Crimea. We stayed in the nice hotel on the beach. First time in 2 years, not pregnant… baby was safe with my mom… Romantic weekends by the sea. It was not Summer anymore, but weather was nice enough to walk on the beach or sit and listen to waves. It was really nice out there. We were sitting on beach reading book aloud. He was sitting I was lying down, head on his knees, reading book aloud. Very romantic! Then I had to move. He told me, that I was moving like a walrus or a seal.
It was it! The second huge kick into my fat butt.
Next morning I has salad for breakfast and went to swim in the pool. Well it was strong motivation, it took me couple of months to find my way. At this point I also figured out that my husband will most likely become ex soon. I do not know what thought kicked me better: his comments, or realization that I will have to go on dates again. But something did it. I started seriously searching for my method.

Weight Loss: My Lemon Pie Story.

To start dieting again I needed very strong motivation. I think most of us went through the process of going in and out.
For me the process started with understanding of need to lose weight.
Admitting to myself that I needed to lose weight.
Finding excuses why I could do it later.
Trying to diet and then finding another excuse: holidays, party, birth day, traveling etc..
I tried different methods.
I was trying to cut portions. I decided, I would eat everything, but will go with smaller portions.
At the time I was stay home mom, so refrigerator was dangerously too close. Yes I had smaller portions but was eating those more often, so as a result, I probably was consuming more food.
I really love lemon custard pie. I make it from scratch. Just love it. I was baking that pie and eating very tiny pieces. Tiny piece would not do any harm, right? By the end of the day I realized that I finished the whole pie.

Weight loss: After Pregnancy.

There is a mystery, I still do not understand, how it works. I was pregnant, baby inside, surrounded by waters… water supposes to be heavy. I gave birth. Baby was more than 8 pounds, plus water, plus other stuff. I was hoping for at least 10-15 pounds off. I was 3 pounds lighter after giving birth. Mystery. Some lucky people are losing weight just by breastfeeding,. Not me. I could not lose an ounce. Somebody explained it to me. In my case, my body was trying to collect more fat just in case for hunger, so I would have enough supply to feed the baby. I am not a doctor. All I know that I could not go extreme again, extreme diet while breastfeeding could not be healthy for the baby.
I tried to cut calories, cut fat, eat super healthy. Nothing worked. When I was cutting calories, I even started gaining.

Weight loss: Pregnancy.

I was always wondering how stars making it through the pregnancy and stay slim from behind, just having small watermelon in the front. It is huge mystery for me. As soon as I got pregnant, I gained so fast. And it is not only me.
My best friend, as soon as she gets pregnant, she has few kids, every time she stops fitting into her pants. Her thighs are getting huge. I mean next day. Has nothing to do with her diet. I got huge everywhere. I guess it was my fault also. All Russian women including my mother told me, that I had to eat for 2. I had to listen to my body and it whatever it was asking for,,, ahahahah it was asking for lots of yummys. And I was glad to give it to my body. I had great excuse. I enjoyed it. I gained so much during pregnancy. If I was doing it again, I would control it better. At least I would try. It was huge mistake to just let it go. When I was 4 month pregnant I had huge belly, looked like I was 8 moths pregnant by then.

Weight Loss: First try

I studied lots of diets. We didn’t have the Internet back then, so I’ve read books and magazines. Talked to people. I wanted to lose fast! I wanted it right away. Somebody gave me a print out of cabbage soup diet. Cabbage BTW is really great for weight loss. I will describe another much healthier diet with lots of cabbage later.
I was determined to lose, I started this diets and it was success. I got tired of that soup of course pretty quickly. I would not recumbent to repeat my experience. One week max on that. Will give you good start for something bigger. But you will not enjoy that week. Food wise at least. The funny part that you can eat it as much as you want.. great, the problem is that after all day of eating it, you just do not want it anymore,,
I got on this diet as soon as I came back to the US. And man I was losing. It was great, I started to fit into my old clothes. Sometimes in the middle of this, my ex got invited to Russian embassy on some art show, concert and reception. We went. With the reception they went completely overboard. They had Champagne fountains, all kid of caviars, smoked fish (sturgeon) was presented as a whole with face and everything on the big plate. They had all kinds of cheeses and salami. They had pate’s and foie gras. They had all kinds of pastries and desserts. And I was stack with bottle of water. My soup was waiting for me at home. I am still proud of myself. At this point I new, I was going to make it thin.
In a week later I got pregnant and had to quit extreme dieting for a while.

Weight Loss: Slow diets.

If your weight problems are based on your lifestyle, or your eating style, not on hormonal issues or other health problems, you can lose weight. You, probably already done it few times, but those pounds came back, as soon as you switch no your regular routine. If your goal is to lose weight and keep it off for good, you need to change your life style. Sounds hard, but it is possible. The key is to pick new life style you at least like. For example, if you cannot live without steak, switching to vegetarian, would not work for you. After a while you will hate it and quit. You need to start with adjusting your regular diet to the new healthier way. One little example: we all know that yogurts are healthy. There are many adds on TV about different flavors something like key lime pie. And it is labeled fat free. You think: Great I’ll eat it. Not too fast. Those sweet yogurts are full of sugar and starch. The healthier way is to buy plain yogurt with no artificial flavor and sweeten it with fresh fruit and/or honey, or even sugar, but just a little bit. After a while you will not even like those super sweet yogurts. I like whole-wheat crackers. My husband use to make fun of me saying I was eating cardboard. I actually felt the same while ago. But for me it was those crackers or no crackers. So I trained myself to like those. Now I love it! BTW my husband loves those too.
Slow diet probably will not get you in your goal weight right away, but slowly but surely you will get there and keep those pounds off for life.

Weight Loss: Flush diets.

Flush diets are great for fast weight loss. There is an opinion that those diets are not really good for you. They help to lose weight fast, but as soon as you finished and get back to your regular habits, you gain pounds back as fast, maybe even faster. Those diets are usually very monotone. You can eat very limited variety of food. It is unhealthy to stick to this type of diet for a long time. And frankly it is really hard. Common opinion: stay away from those.
I disagree.
Those diets can really help to boost up motivation, if used as a part of larger slow diet. Let me explain.
Let say you decided to start dieting. To lose weight and keep it off you need to change your lifestyle for good. Since your current lifestyle is not working for you, weight wise at least. There are many different ways. Some count calories, some go low fat, some go low carbs, etc. We are all different. We enjoy different stuff. Our bodies work differently. One thing all those diets have in common: they are slow working. When you switch to the diet, it starts pretty good you notice pounds melting away. Your body is tying to adjust to the new way of living. After a while, the process slows down. At this point it is really important not to lose motivation. Here comes flush diet to rescue. You switch to one of those for a week or two. Get rid of 5-6-10 pounds quick, and then switch back to regular routine. Flush diet is a really great way to start the long-term routine also.
Look at my Diet Page for a few examples that really work.

Weight Loss: My first strong motivation (first kick)

I am a lazy person. I also do not like changes. I get comfortable with something and it is very difficult to motivate me to change it. I need strong kick to my butt. But I am also very stubborn; if I decide something I will stick to it.
When I was 23, my size was 18 +. I went to visit my mother to Russia. Moscow is the beautiful city with lots of beautiful women. Most of young girls in 20s in Moscow are skinny. High heels, mini skirts,,
It was late fall, which feels like deep winter by DC area standards. My winter boots were completely destroyed on Moscow streets after couple of days of walking. Those shoes couldn’t handle wild mix of dirt, snow and salt on the ground. If you visit Moscow in the middle of snow season, and stay in the tourist area, you wouldn’t probably experience it. If you take few steps from main manicured streets, you would find real neighborhoods with lots of dirty mix on the ground. I’m not sure what really killed my boots, weather or extensive walking (which almost killed me., since I was not use to walk anymore, at least not that much). Anyhow shoes were dead. I needed another pair. I have to mention that shoes in Moscow are really expensive. You have to pay at least $100 to get something not too attractive, but at least last for a while. I bought cheapest boots I could find. By the end of the day of walking, I got blisters. On both feet!
I went to Russia not only to visit, I had to get some paperwork done,, I had to run around Moscow for the rest of the week. They do not do paperwork by mail. People have to go offices, stay in line, etc.. One of my friends told me that she’d never seen anybody who was limping on both feet. Ahahahaha! I had to find something comfortable (for blistered feet) fast. I found most comfortable reasonably priced boots in one store. Very bulky, huge bulky round noses kinda like clown boots! On huge platforms.. Which was not bad, actually: keeps you higher form the wet snow mix. Really… keeps you feet dry. Also I had to learn how to walk on those. No hills just huge platform. To kill me completely those boots had neon green details. NOT MY STYLE.. AT ALL!
When I was trying those shoes, whining to my mother and sales person.
WHEEEEEE not my style,,
WHEEEEEE so ugly,,,
But SOOOO comfortable!!!!
It was only pair I could walk without limping.
The sales person was in her 40s. She looked at me and said: ”What is our age? Just a number”.
It was IT!! It kicked me right into my huge butt. I was just 23. I was way too young for comments like that! I came home, looked at myself in the mirror. Larger size did not suit me at all.
Is does work for few lucky people I know who look and feel great being XL.

But I didn’t work for me. Decision was made. I stated my losing weight journey.


I could not possibly jog when I was XL,, I was too heavy.. And hate jogging. I came up with method that allowed me to lose weight and still enjoy your life. Otherwise I would just give up.

Weight Loss: Does Size Matter?

When I was in school, we called tall and skinny girls giraffes. We didn’t know then that were beautiful and they really looked like models. Standards are changing. We should not. Now skinny is in fashion. It does not mean that everybody has to be skinny. Being skinny does not mean to be happy. Or in some cases healthy. I know few lucky people look and feel just great and comfortable in larger size. All of them stay physically active and exercise on regular basis. Most importantly they can eat whatever they want and stay beautiful, happy and healthy.
I envy them.
I think the key is if you are comfortable in your size, if you feel great, if your size does not prevent you from physical activities, if it does not affect your health, and if you like yourself in the mirror, do not change it! Congratulations, you have great balance in your life! Do not follow stereotypes to reach some ideal weight hat does not suit you. You do not need to look like a model to be beautiful. If you like your self, you are beautiful!
When I was in XL size. I was not physically active. I could not exercise, at all. I kept toothbrush upstairs and downstairs, so I could brush my teeth without climbing to the second floor. It was too hard for me. I also didn’t like what I saw in the mirror. I was not lucky. I didn’t feel comfortable being XL.

Weight Loss: Exercise when to start?

Have you ever watched Biggest Loser, Extreme Makeover (weight edition) and other programs related to weight loss? They like to show very huge people performing high impact exercise, sweating, crying, breathing heavily, face is red,,,
If you are overweight do not repeat it at home. Extreme like that should be happening under doctor’s supervision, and even then it cannot be good for your health. When I was very heavy it was very difficult for me to even go upstairs. I could not even imagine doing high impact back then.
Recently we visited New York City. Have you ever noticed that New Yorkers are slimmer? I had same impression being in Paris, Rome, and Moscow. People who live there are slimmer. I mean there are more slim people around there. You know why? They walk. Every day. As a part of their everyday routine, they walk to public transportation, to stores, to restaurants. Many people who live in Manhattan, or downtown Moscow do not have cars. It is more convenient to walk and use metro, then sit it traffic for hours. When I lived in Moscow. I had to walk 15 minutes to metro, after taking metro I had to chaise bus (you have to chaise bus in Moscow, derivers will not wait for you on the bus stop: they stop on the bus stop, let people go in and out and leave. If you are not at the stop at that time, they leave. Even if you are few yards away and they perfectly see you. You have to run to be on time. Otherwise you might need to wait for another bus for an hour. They also do not have schedules. You should see girls on 5-inch stilettos or grandmas running to catch the bus.
The main point I was walking everyday. Walking helped me to keep my weight down. Walking is a good exercise with low to medium impact.
Later while I was very big, walking was only one option to exercise for me. So I started slow. I also brought my dog from Russia. She was motivating me take walks every day.
When you are heavy any physical activity is harder. You have to carry all that weight with you. It is hard on your joints, bones, heart, lungs,, When I was dieting walking was only one type of exercise I did until I’ve lost about 80 pounds. I think swimming and water aerobics are pretty suitable for heavy people also. Water takes weight off and provides resistance for muscle toning.

Weight Loss: Exercise

I hate gym! I get bored on machines. I do not like aerobics or step, or cycling. It would be nightmare for me to get up 2 hours earlier to hit the gym before work. I don’t enjoy Yoga or Pilate’s (too boring). I cannot run. I am afraid to go too fast on bicycle. I am allergic to chlorine of swimming pool. I do not like playing sports. Or watching. Rock climbing and I are not compatible (I value my nails too much).
I did go to gym for few years. Kicking my butt in. I was lucky for 6 months I was working in the building with gym in the basement. That gym offered boot camp during the lunch hour. I didn’t need to spend my after work precious time on disgusting gym. I did it for 6 months straight 5 times a week. I’ve never been in the better shape. (I’ve lost weight by then already). I didn’t enjoy it at all. I enjoyed feelings I had after. It was also very refreshing to exercise during lunch.
I am lucky. There is one type of exercise I like. I love dancing. While I have to kick my butt to gym, I would dance myself happily to the dance class. I just love it!
I think the key to successful exercise regiment is to find something that suites you, something you enjoy. It is much easier to stick into routine if you enjoy it. Dancing is a great exercise: ballet helps with muscle toning, posture and core, tap is a greatest cardio ever (I had no idea, it does not look like that at all), Jazz gives you combination of muscle training, cardio and it is also lots of fun!
Dancing is good for you butt and it is also really good for your brain!

Weight Loss vs. Quitting Smoking.

My husband is trying to quit smoking for few years. It is very difficult. I was trying to motivate him. He got mad at me at some point, saying: “You do not understand addiction! You never smoked!” I told him: “I quit eating. So I understand.”
Is food addiction is really as bad as smoking addiction? Can we even compare quitting smoking and losing weight?

My husband clams: it is very difficult to walk on the street and smell smoke. He immediately wants to light up. Well. Imagine you are on strict diet; you walk on the street with restaurants. You smell something fried yumm, something grilled, very yumm,,, Pastries,, OMG,,, You walk on the mall, you smell cinnamon bun, French fries,, is it more difficult, or I am imagining it?
My husband says: It is very difficult to go out or to the party where some other people smoke. He wants to join them,, ahahaha have you ever being on the party dieting? Especially on the party with really good food! Everybody, not just some people, are eating. Right in front of your face! And again…. that very delicious smell of food awhhhh…. It gets more tempting when I am dieting. Have you ever noticed this phenomenon? I’ll tell you one story later of my unbelievable self-control on one reception. I am still very proud of myself.
My husband claims that he always wants to smoke, when he has a drink,, well drinking is usually going very nice with hors d'oeuvres or cheese. Not to mention that driking it self can pack lots of weight on us.
When people have kids, they normaly do not smoke at home. But they cook. They cook yummies that are not compatible with any diet, Smiley face pancackes, cookies, fries, mac and cheese,,
And finally: Nicotine stays in human body for 2-4 days, in very rare cases it can stay for 2-3 months. After that addiction is in our heads.
Smokers can go cold feet, we do not need to smoke to survive, but we NEED FOOD to survive. And for me:
The appetite comes during a meal. (The Russian expression)