Another Pointless Committee

Last month, Roni (of Roni's Weigh) did a completely awesome post about the obesity epidemic and what the Healthy Weight Committment Foundation aims to do about it. While Roni offered some great ideas of her own, the new organization was basically just rehashing the same old, same old -- exercise and eat right. Well, duh.

Anyways, I wanted to share my very long-winded comment to her here on My Inner Fit Chick (previously KUrunner).

I agree that something needs to be done, but I very much disagree with their methods. Obesity is not as simple as calories in versus calories out. I think most Americans are already “conscious” that we need to eat better and exercise. Weight loss and health is so much more than that.

Why are we overweight in the first place? We know more about nutrition and exercise now than we did 100 years ago, even 50 years ago. But the numbers keep going up. Telling me that I need to eat X number of calories doesn’t change the fact that I want that candy bar.

We, as a society, is stressed to the limit. Moms are expected to be super; we are supposed to get up, make a healthy breakfast for the family, get the kids dressed, pack the husband’s lunch, drop the kids off at school and make it to work by 8:00 for a staff meeting. Then, we are supposed to workout during lunch while magically working on a presentation, pick the kids up and cart them off to soccer, dance and band. We go home and make a wonderful pasta primavera from scratch while entertaining three kids without resorting to TV or video games. Don’t forget the laundry that we have to do or the bathrooms we need to scrub. Then, we are expected to make time for the husband.

Yeah, right. No wonder that McDonald’s looks so tempting on the way home.

If HWCF wants change, maybe they should go after the source. Change the goverment that makes boxes of processed crap cheaper than fruits and vegetables. Go after the fast food restaurants that are on every corner where an extra value meal is cheaper than a pound of meat. I’m not saying that there isn’t personal responsibility involved, but it’s kind of unfair to the crack addict when society willingly puts a dealer on every street. (And yes, I believe that being obese is just as dangerous as being hooked on drugs.)

But telling us what we’ve already been told thousands of times before isn’t going to change anything.

But it gets better. This "health-minded" group is made up of CEOs from companies such as Coca-Cola, Nestle, Mars, Hershey, and Kraft. They are the same ones that make it cheaper to buy a 2 liter of soda than a bottle of juice. They are the ones that sell sugar, sugar, and more sugar to our kids. You think that dinosaur on the macaroni box is targeting adults?

Here's what they should be saying:

Eat less, but keep eating our neon orange processed macaroni. Watch your calories, but keep buying our high fructose corn syrup and aspartame laden sodas. Don't be fat kids, but make sure to save room for a candy bar later.

Anyways, if you're as pissed off as I am now, feel free to send them an email at info@healthyweightcommit.org telling them that if they really want to enact change, they should start with their own products.

Brazil Butt Lift

I am so BORED of P90X. Don't get me wrong, it's a great workout, but 90+ days of it gets really old even with 12 different DVDs. I love Tony Horton, but I can recite every single one of his jokes in my sleep. How do people do 2, 3, even more rounds?

Since P90X was always a little too light on cardio for someone needing to lose serious weight, Jason got me Insanity. It's VERY high intensity cardio featuring calisthenics to build muscle. Although, it is highly debated just how effective Insanity is. There are those who are diehard weightlifters who believe that unless you are throwing around dumbbells, you aren't going to gain muscle. Some people say that it's unrealistically intense and that even someone like Lance Armstrong would have problems keeping up. Others love it.

Anyways, the plan was to combine the P90X workouts I like with Insanity. But then, I saw Brazil Butt Lift.

I'll be honest here; I'm a fitness snob. I quietly mocked my mother every time she bought another contraption or workout video from an infomercial. AbRoller? She's got it. ThighMaster? Check. What about an Ab Lounger? Yep. She even spent the money on the electrocute yourself to better abs thing. I spent a couple days trying out her collection of Firm videos, and sure, they may be great for your average unfit, overweight housewife, but they did nothing for me -- the overweight housewife who runs half marathons. So, I was really skeptical when I saw Brazil Butt Lift on Beachbody's website.

Could the people who make P90X and Insanity really sell something so... easy looking? I mean it looks fun. People dancing around on the beach shaking their booty? Very carnival. The workout was made for Victoria's Secret angel, Alessandra Ambrosio and she does have an amazing ass. But then again, she's a supermodel with freak genes and already had a pretty decent backside before the program. Besides, she doesn't have any muscles. There's no way she could out bench me. Hell, she probably can't run more than 5 miles.

Of course, this discussion went on in my head otherwise Jason would probably be a little weirded out.

But I figure, there's a money back guarantee and I really do appreciate what P90X did for me. If people think Brazil Butt Lift works, I'll give it a shot. If I don't like it or if I feel like I'm losing too much fitness, I'll start Insanity.

BBL comes with a workout plan designed for your butt shape; mine is "too much." Day 1 was basics and Bum Bum (Brazilian slang for butt). Basics is just a tutorial about how to do the moves with proper form. Stuff like, put your foot here and your knee here and engage your core, etc. I even thought about skipping it. It's 10 minutes long and to quote a wise man, my biscuits were burning.

I hadn't even started the real workout yet.

Bum Bum is a combination of cardio while doing moves that target your tush. Instead of endless lunges like P90X, you did lunges as a part of a dance move. Squats, leg lifts... they were all there but as part of the cardio. Bum Bum is 30 mins long and I had to pause the disc twice.

How can I make it through 60 mins of Plyo X and then PAUSE a silly little cardio video?

I mean, I didn't even put on my heart rate monitor. Hell, I almost did it in my pajamas because I didn't think I would sweat. I definitely underestimated it.

There are 3 more workouts in the series, and I'm still skeptical that I'll maintain my upper body strength, but I'm going to give it a shot. If anything, I can substitute BBL in for some of the P90X workouts. But for the next few weeks, I want to see what Brazil Butt Lift can do for me.

Brand New Jumperoo!

Not sure what I'm supposed to do here...

Hey, I can spin it!

Thank you, Daddy!

P90X Results and Review

Jason and I started P90X 12 weeks ago and the results are in!

… But before I get to the cold hard numbers, I want to begin by saying that we didn’t follow the program. Not 100% anyways. Hell, probably not even 50%. P90X requires 6 workouts a week and a low-carb nutrition program. I never had any intentions of going low-carb as I’m still breastfeeding. The workouts were fun (and HARD), and I looked forward to most of them, but life happened. I probably shouldn’t have started the program with a newborn who wasn’t sleeping more than a few hours at a time. There were a lot of workouts that I was just too tired to start and I’m sure I wasn’t “bringing it” the way Tony Horton would have wanted. Then, we had two deaths in the family — one being Jason’s dad. Needless to say, with the stress and time involved dealing with everything, pushing play wasn’t at the top of our list. Add to that a couple of trips out of state and Jason’s work schedule drastically shifting…

We definitely didn’t do P90X the way it was intended.
I still saw results, even with my half-hearted attempt and I still recommend everyone try it. In fact, my brother and a couple friends are going to be starting P90X while I’m going through Round 2. Yes, I’m doing it again and hopefully this time, I can do the program right. I got pretty decent results doing about half the workouts so I’m dying to see what happens if I follow it all the way. (Still breastfeeding, so still no low-carb though.) As for my thoughts on the actual workouts:

Chest & Back — Lots of push-ups and pull-ups. A little dull, but the basics work.
  
Plyometrics — I love plyo. It’s hard. You’ll hurt the next day. But it’s fun and I’m sure it’s the reason why I’m running faster even though I haven’t been running nearly as much as I used to.

Shoulders and Arms — My delts and triceps are my favorite parts to work and it was really similar to my arm workout prior to P90X so I may be a bit biased, but I enjoyed it. My problem was not having enough different weights. My 8s were too light and my 15s were too heavy for most of the exercises.

Yoga – Eh. I still don’t like it (and I really love my other yoga dvds) and it tends to be the first dvd that gets skipped during the week.

Legs and Back — Sneaky lunges! Love the calf workout.

Kenpo — It’s fun, but not much of a calorie burn. You really have to push yourself if you want to get your heart rate up.

Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps — Confession here… I’ve only done this workout once. It was HARD. Like, too hard for me to even do half the reps. So, I went back to the Phase 1 dics. Of course, Jason LOVED this workout.

Back & Biceps — Never did it. Again, Jason preferred it over Phase 1.

I did leave out AbRipperX and Core Synergistics because I like to pretend they don’t exist. You know, I hate it, but I love it sort of thing. Overall, it’s a great system although the Classic program is a bit light on cardio. Tony is funny although after 90 days, his “Tony-isms” start to get a little old. I still want to punch Dreya Weber in the face. Karen pot-stirrers are amazing.

Okay, now on to the results.

Jason’s lost almost 10 lbs and 3% bodyfat.

 

I’ve lost over 13 lbs and almost 3% bodyfat. I’m down 2.5 inches off my waist, 2.5 inches off my hips, and over an inch off of each thigh. I haven’t taken my official final fit test, but as of month 2, I’m jumping higher and squating longer. I’ve more than doubled my push-ups and more than tripled my ab strength. I also doubled my bicep curls. (Keep in mind that all of this is without doing P90X every day.)

P90X Results and Review

Jason and I started P90X 12 weeks ago and the results are in!

… But before I get to the cold hard numbers, I want to begin by saying that we didn’t follow the program. Not 100% anyways. Hell, probably not even 50%. P90X requires 6 workouts a week and a low-carb nutrition program. I never had any intentions of going low-carb as I’m still breastfeeding. The workouts were fun (and HARD), and I looked forward to most of them, but life happened. I probably shouldn’t have started the program with a newborn who wasn’t sleeping more than a few hours at a time. There were a lot of workouts that I was just too tired to start and I’m sure I wasn’t “bringing it” the way Tony Horton would have wanted. Then, we had two deaths in the family — one being Jason’s dad. Needless to say, with the stress and time involved dealing with everything, pushing play wasn’t at the top of our list. Add to that a couple of trips out of state and Jason’s work schedule drastically shifting…

We definitely didn’t do P90X the way it was intended.

I still saw results, even with my half-hearted attempt and I still recommend everyone try it. In fact, my brother and a couple friends are going to be starting P90X while I’m going through Round 2. Yes, I’m doing it again and hopefully this time, I can do the program right. I got pretty decent results doing about half the workouts so I’m dying to see what happens if I follow it all the way. (Still breastfeeding, so still no low-carb though.) As for my thoughts on the actual workouts:

Chest & Back — Lots of push-ups and pull-ups. A little dull, but the basics work.

Plyometrics — I love plyo. It’s hard. You’ll hurt the next day. But it’s fun and I’m sure it’s the reason why I’m running faster even though I haven’t been running nearly as much as I used to.

Shoulders and Arms — My delts and triceps are my favorite parts to work and it was really similar to my arm workout prior to P90X so I may be a bit biased, but I enjoyed it. My problem was not having enough different weights. My 8s were too light and my 15s were too heavy for most of the exercises.

Yoga – Eh. I still don’t like it (and I really love my other yoga dvds) and it tends to be the first dvd that gets skipped during the week.

Legs and Back — Sneaky lunges! Love the calf workout.

Kenpo — It’s fun, but not much of a calorie burn. You really have to push yourself if you want to get your heart rate up.

Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps — Confession here… I’ve only done this workout once. It was HARD. Like, too hard for me to even do half the reps. So, I went back to the Phase 1 dics. Of course, Jason LOVED this workout.

Back & Biceps — Never did it. Again, Jason preferred it over Phase 1.

I did leave out AbRipperX and Core Synergistics because I like to pretend they don’t exist. You know, I hate it, but I love it sort of thing. Overall, it’s a great system although the Classic program is a bit light on cardio. Tony is funny although after 90 days, his “Tony-isms” start to get a little old. I still want to punch Dreya Weber in the face. Karen pot-stirrers are amazing.

Okay, now on to the results.

Jason’s lost almost 10 lbs and 3% bodyfat.

I’ve lost over 13 lbs and almost 3% bodyfat. I’m down 2.5 inches off my waist, 2.5 inches off my hips, and over an inch off of each thigh. I haven’t taken my official final fit test, but as of month 2, I’m jumping higher and squating longer. I’ve more than doubled my push-ups and more than tripled my ab strength. I also doubled my bicep curls. (Keep in mind that all of this is without doing P90X every day.)

Why I Hate (and Like) Weight Watchers

As I recently said, I’m back on Weight Watchers.

*sigh*

This isn’t the first time I’ve done WW and I’m really having mixed feelings about it. The first time, I did the online version. No good. Seriously, if you are planning on using the online version, go to Nutrition Data, Livestrong, FitDay or some other online calorie counting tool and save yourself the monthly fee. Plus, you can easily find all of the information about Weight Watchers, such as how many points to eat and the formula for calculating those points, with a quick google search. And whatever you do, avoid the WW forums at all costs… well, unless you like bashing your head into a wall.

So after my craptacular experience online, I decided to give meetings a shot. I even enlisted Jason to go with me. Yeah, I lasted through 3 meetings with 3 different leaders and gave up.

Why I Hate Weight Watchers

1. It’s a diet.

I don’t care what the commercials say about Weight Watchers being a lifestyle change and not a diet. It’s a diet. Any program that restricts calories is a diet. Period. “Stop dieting and start living.” Indeed.

2. Points are a fancy word for calories.

The difference between Weight Watchers and most other programs is that WW counts Points, not calories. They claim it’s easier to count to 20 than 1200, but either way, good luck remember how many Points you’ve eaten unless you track throughout the day. But if you’re tracking throughout the day, what’s the difference? Computers have calculators.

3. The formula for Points is arbitrary.

Points take into account fat and fiber. Food high in fat is higher in Points; food high in fiber is lower in Points — prompting you to select high fiber, low fat foods. But there’s really no science behind their formula. It seems like they just picked some random numbers and threw them together.

4. Fats are punished.

As I explained, foods containing fat have higher Points than foods without fat — even if it’s healthy fat. Even though WW suggests eating healthy oils, you’re going to have to give up a big junk of your daily allowance for that handful of peanuts. Plus, foods high in fat already are higher in calories, so basically, the fat is counted twice. Of course, the European version of WW only counts saturated fat, not total fat, but us Americans are still in the 90′s “fat is bad” mindset.

5. Not all fiber is equal.

Yes, fiber makes you feel fuller longer and um, helps things along. But only naturally occuring fiber. Adding Metamucil to a food does absolutely nothing than make you need to poop. Go to the grocery store and look at how much food has added fiber. I’m sorry, but fiber doesn’t belong in yogurt. Eating what is essentially a candy bar with 10 grams of added fiber isn’t going to help you lose weight.

And get this… I once went to a WW meeting where the leader suggested taking a fiber supplement with junk food so that the junk food would be lower in Points. Obviously, it’s okay to eat a quart of ice cream as long as you chase it with fiber powder.

6. Weight Watchers products

At the grocery store, you’ll find everything from candy to bread with the Weight Watchers logo on it. Look at the ingredients list. Do you really want to eat that crap? Why would WW encourage you to eat a piece of fruit candy instead of actual fruit? Why do they mass market TV dinners instead of encouraging you to cook yourself? Because it’s a business. And like most businesses, if you’ll buy it, they’ll sell it. Weight Watchers yogurt, Weight Watchers snack cakes, Weight Watchers ice cream. It’s all fake food with fake fiber. I would rather enjoy a REAL piece of cake every now and then instead of eating their processed snack food.

7. Weight Watchers allows too few calories

Okay, this one is just my opinion here, but WW restricts calories a bit too much. A target of 18 – 20 Points a day isn’t unreasonable. Let’s add in another 5 Flex Points a day. That’s about 1250 calories a day (assuming you eat no fat.) Most nutritionists will agree that 1200 calories a day is just too low. Plus, it’s practically impossible to get any decent amount of nutrition when you are ALMOST starving especially if you are eating WW processed crap.

8. WW isn’t for athletes

Again, my opinion here, but Activity Points are flawed. Let’s say I go out for an easy 10 mile run. Weight Watchers gives me 6 Activity Points (about 300 calories) even though I burned over 1000. A pre-run snack, a mid-run gel, and a post-run recovery drink and I’m already over my points allowance that I earned. Granted, most people on WW aren’t doing that sort of activity, but it’s still a flaw in the program.

9. A little too touchy feely

If you haven’t read Such a Pretty Fat, you should. Jen Lancaster describes it perfectly. I’m not really into sitting in a room with 10 other women discussing our feelings about birthday cake.


Why I Like Weight Watchers

Okay, so despite all of my complaints, I’m still giving it another go because I’m having very little luck on my own and it comes highly recommended for breastfeeding women. I’m really worried that I’m not going to be eating enough, but I’ve decided to give it 3 weeks and see how I’m feeling.

1. Eight Healthy Guidelines

Despite marking all sorts of processed crap, WW promotes eating fruits, veggies, healthy oils, dairy, etc.

2. Support system

This is why WW is so popular, I think. You sit in a room with 10 other people with the same goals as you — to lose weight. While the meetings are a little uncomfortable for me, the group atmosphere encourages you to keep coming back.

3. The Core Program

The Core program encourages eating a wide variety of healthy, real food without counting Points.

4. You can eat anything.

This is a plus and a drawback at the same time. You can eat anything you want, as long as you still within your Points target. The bad thing part – you can eat 20 Points of cotton candy, 20 Points of pizza, 20 Points of celery, etc. The good part — if you really want that ice cream, you can eat it as long as you have Points for it. Of course, if you follow the 8 healthy guidelines, you’re much less likely to spend a days Points on a bag of chocolate.

Skinny Fat

Kate Harding is one of the masters of this topic, but there are a ton of bloggers who preach Fat Acceptance. Basically, Fat Acceptance means that overweight and obese individuals shouldn’t be discriminated against because of their size. Personally, I’m a huge fan of the movement because I believe nobody should be discriminated against for any reason — be it gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or the number on the bathroom scale.

Of course, the opposition to Fat Acceptance will argue about the health consequences of being overweight. Yes, I’ll completely agree that someone who weighs 300 lbs and eats a diet of Big Macs probably isn’t the epitomy of health and well-being. But what about someone like myself who has a few extra pounds while eating a mostly healthy diet and running half marathons? It really bothers me that people assume that just because my BMI is above 25, I’m sick. Sure, I’d love to lose 20 lbs and be in the “healthy” range, but my blood pressure is fantastic, my cholesterol is perfect, and I can easily touch my toes.

Would it be better if I was back at 125 lbs with high blood pressure and a cholesterol of above 200? If my BMI was a perfect 22, but I couldn’t run around the block? How about if I looked like Heidi Klum in a bikini but smoked two packs a day?

Just because you’re thin doesn’t mean you are healthy.

Surprisingly, there was a great segment about being “Skinny Fat” on the news the other day. Plus, BMI standards are just ridiculous anyways and not really an indicator of health.