Diet Programs

On a LinkedIn forum board for the United Health Group Career Network a participant asked for input about diet programs. She had read the Consumer Reports ranking of Jenny Craig as best and wanted input from other people's experiences. I started to respond and quickly got a much longer entry than appropriate for a message board. So I'll put it here instead. Here's my experience with a weight loss program.

I think it's important to recognize that while "eating lifestyle" is the correct term to use when describing one's "diet", when weight loss programs use the term "eating lifestyle" it really is a euphemism for what we generally understand as a "diet". In order to get the results most people want from a diet, the change in eating lifestyle is going to be pretty drastic.

For example, when I did Weight Watchers, rigorously following their suggested point system, I changed my eating lifestyle from nearly 3000 calories a day to about 1600. In the support sessions our instructor talked about how great it was to be in control of our eating habits, to be able to put whatever we wanted on our menus, even going out to restaurants. The reality was that my eating habits changed dramatically. There were foods, like peanut butter, fried cheese, candies, that I love eating, but pretty much cut out because I couldn't eat them and still adhere to my point allocations.

I was hungry all . . . the . . . time . . . and cranky. I seriously learned to empathize with dogs growling at anyone coming near their food bowls. The relationship between diet and exercise was introduced a few weeks into the program, but I couldn't wait. I read ahead to figure out how many extra points I'd get and started exercising just to get them because I wanted the extra food so badly. And it was hardly anything! Like an extra 1/4 cup of refried beans or something, but man! At that few calories per day, those beans were magical.

My results were fantastic, though. I dropped from 220 pounds to 170 in about six months.

Then I dropped out of the program. The aspect of Weight Watchers I most appreciated was the education about the relation between diet and weight. Common sense stuff put into easily understood explanations and illustrated through application. I understood it, was happy with my results and didn't want to pay for support sessions anymore. So I decided I'd solo the maintenance program. I did okay for a while, but over the next 3 years or so got progressively more lazy about following it and slowly crept back up to nearly 200 pounds.

Consumer Reports lists Jenny Craig as the best diet program in part because after two years particpants were down an average 8%. Looking at my results as a percentage, they look pretty good. Remember I started Weight Watchers at 220 pounds, so 200 pounds is still down 9%. However, in actual numbers, not exactly the results I want.

Another thing Consumer Reports liked about Jenny Craig was that 2 years into the program, 92% of the participants were still with it. Obviously, dropping out after six months, I wasn't still in Weight Watchers after 2 years. By that time I had totally stopped calculating points. I don't think I gave any serious consideration to my eating lifestyle anymore. I've got to say, if Jenny Craig has developed a system that motivates people to stay with it long term, then maybe they do deserve the Consumer Reports ranking. I think the Consumer Reports senior program editor's comment rings most true: "Of course, the best diet for you is the one you can stay on."

With that in mind, and maybe there is part of the Weight Watchers education contributing to my capacity to accomplish this, as I approached 200 pounds I was motivated to change my "eating lifestyle". I will never again change it as drastically as I did while participating in Weight Watchers. I was miserable. I hated it. As wonderful as my results were, I also gained a profound appreciation for the role food plays in our society. How enjoyable it is to not just eat, but to share in the eating experience socially. However, I can also be careful about my portions. Eat smaller meals, light snacks, that type of thing.

And the lifestyle change should definitely include exercise. The best exercise program is going to be one you can stick with, too. So once I get an actuarial job and get settled into a place where I know I'll be long term, I want to get back into martial arts. In the meantime, based on my sister's review of the program, I've been doing Tony Horton's "In Home Boot Camp" from Beachbody. Since mid-January I've dropped about 10 pounds. Not quite the drastic results I got following Weight Watcher's program, nothing that's going to get me on any before and after infomercials, but I'm a lot happier with the small change and at least I'm going the right direction.

I never want to discourage someone from following a weight loss program they're interested in. Despite my avowal to never do it again, I am very glad I did participate in Weight Watchers. So there it is. That's my experience.

Tabby Tales

Would you believe that cute little girl, was puking her guts out just a couple hours earlier? I got up this morning to find the poor thing crouched outside my bedroom door shivering like the dickens. I wrapped her in a blanket and cuddled her until she said, "Dad, I need to throw up in the toilet." Very calmly. No hurry. Just, "hey, Dad, fyi . . ."

About 15 mins after that was done, "Dad, I'm hungry for breakfast. I want a bagel."

"A bagel is kind of heavy, Tabby. I don't want you to throw up a bagel. How about some toast? Toast is light."

"Um. Well, toaster strudel is light, too. Can I have some toaster strudel?"

We settled on a small bowl of cereal.

After breakfast she ran downstairs laughing and spent the next half hour or so dodging the nerf darts her brothers were shooting at each other across the basement while she gathered up the darts and brought them back so Sam and Ben could reload and keep going.

I think she's fine now. We're staying home from church anyway just to be sure we don't turn the kids' primary into a disease hub.

The other day at work a shift manager named Gigi came in and asked, "Hey Jack, do you have any more stories about Tabby to share?" And guess what? I did! Which got me to thinking I should share them here, too. I mean, they're not real involved stories, just cute little things she's done.

***

Like she hates it when I get called in to "Pizza Work", as she calls it. I'm not sure if she actually hates Pizza Hut. She gets real excited when we drive by. "Dad! It's your Pizza Work!" But she likes it when I'm home to put her to bed. Probably just because sometimes I'm not here for it, I get to be her favorite when I am. So those evenings when I'm on call and have to phone in to ask if I'm needed Tabby always assures me, "They're going to tell you to stay home and play with Tabby."

***

It's getting nice here most days. Like up into the 60s. Sometimes, anyway. Well, the other day it got up to 70 degrees out. Tabby was out playing on our back porch, blowing bubbles. I was watching from the living room. She left the porch, went out of sight, so I walked to the door to check on her and saw Tabby lounging on the lawn.

"Tabby, what are you up to?"

"I'm just sitting here. On the grass." Then she sprawled out backwards throwing her arms wide and grinning, "It's Spring, Dad! See our leaves!"

***

Garage sale season is in full swing. That Tinkerbell nightgown Tabby's wearing up there? $1 at a garage sale. I don't think our little girl has ever had a nightgown and she sure was excited to get one. To get that one! "Dad, I have a nightgrown." She always put the r in there and pronounced it like rhyming with "growl". Instead of telling her she was doing it wrong and trying to correct her, I decided to try aggressively modelling it and see if she'd catch on. So I just started rhyming it with "down" and fell into chanting

Nightgown, nightgown
Tabby's going to lay down
Down, down into bed
Tired little sleepyhead.

Tabby loved it and started repeating it with me. Sure enough, in about 10-15 minutes she was saying it correctly.

Well, she loves the nightgown so much, I had to put a picture of it here.

"Tabby, should we get a picture of your nightgown on the computer?"

"Yes! Take a picture of me flying!"

"Flying?"

"Yes! Like Tinkerbell!"

So there it is.

***

As we were looking at pictures on the camera we came across some Becky had taken of Tabby following me while I mowed the lawn. Every time I turned, Tabby would squeal and run away behind me to follow again. Tabby declared this picture was her "fravorite" (anyone know a word to rhyme with "favorite"?) and we had to post it, too. So here's another.

Root Canal

A long time ago I had a filling break in one of my rear molars. My dentist fixed it and warned me I would eventually need a root canal. About a month ago, the same day I took my actuarial exam, I had some pretty intense pain in that same tooth. By the time I got to the dentist a few days later, the pain had subsided to just a dull throb, but she assured me I now needed that root canal or it would return. So today I got it.

It wasn't as bad as they're made out to be. The shots, as with any dental work, were the worst part. Worse than usual, actually. Turns out for a root canal they have to get right on the nerve. That was, like, electric flames shooting through my jaw. Yeow. But it only lasted a few seconds and after that I didn't feel anything. I mean, there were the vibrations while having the nerve chamber drilled out. It was kinda' disconcerting at the end to watch and smell a smoking heating element put in my mouth. No pain though. None at all.

All the numbness just drained out in the last fifteen minutes and it still feels fine. I'm glad to have that done. Just need to get it capped now.

Learning to Spell

Tabby is learning to spell. I'm pretty proud of her. I don't really remember at what age the rest of the kids started spelling, but this time I'm saying almost four means my little girl is pretty smart.

She's been learning letters for a while. Becky got her an alphabet puzzle and Tabby recognizes the letters in the context of the puzzle pretty well and in other contexts most of the time. She recognizes the letters that start our names all the time and knows what sounds they make. Now she is figuring out how to put the letters' sounds together to make words. Thanks to Sam, the first word she has put together is "poop".

"But Dad, she asked me how to spell it!"

/sigh

Tabby doesn't quite have the fine motor skills to write the letters, but she can find them on the keyboard. And she loves to. Over and over. So if you happen to be in the World of Warcraft and see a cute little elf prancing through the woods on her magical sparkly pony saying "poop, poop, poop" . . . that's my girl.

Easter Stories

Tabby gets Easter this year in ways she hasn't in past years. It's fun. We were talking about the Easter Bunny the other day and now she hops around immitating him bringing baskets of candy to our house. The anticipation is building so well.

"I'm going to wake up on Sunday and say, 'Hm, where's my basket? I better go find it!' And it will be full of candy!!!"

So Becky had bought some Easter candy, right? She kind of "hid" it just behind our bed on the floor. Of course, the next day I woke up to Tabby saying, "Daddy! Look what I found!" I cracked my eyes open and she was standing there with a box of blue peeps. "Can I have these?"

"Well, they're Mom's, Tabby. You better ask her."

"We can share." Then looking down longingly, "I love these. I hope the Easter Bunny brings some in my basket."

One more Easter story. Tabby and I were playing with her stuffed animals, a couple of puppies. We were running all over the living room barking at each other.

"Whew, I'm getting hungry," my puppy said, "I'm going to go get some dog food."

"I'm hungry too," Tabby's said, "I'm going to go chase a rabbit and eat it." (Yay nature shows).

"Oh no! What if you eat the Easter Bunny!?"

"No, Dad, I'm going to eat a real bunny."

Then she stopped. For a second you could see the wheels churning as the implications of what she had said hit her. Is the Easter Bunny real? He's bringing me candy. How can I eat a real bunny if I'm pretending? She literally shook it off and looked at me sincerely, "Dad, I'm not going to eat the Easter Bunny." As if that was the important part. Which, of course, it is.

Idealism

I had a great conversation with Sam in the car on the way to his friend's house the other day. Paraphrasing:

Sam: Dad, does the government have a fund to help in disasters like Japan's earthquake?

Me: Sure, Sam. There's an agency called FEMA that gets tax funding for exactly that kind of thing here in the USA. If we want to help other countries, we often send in military resources like ships and manpower to help with rescue and cleanup. Or Congress can authorize 'special appropriations' to send money. Someone just writes up the proposal and they vote on it.

Sam: If I were in charge, like the President or something, I'd just have everyone chip in one dollar every month. That would be, like what? $300 million per month? For a fund that would help so much. And it's hardly any cost. Just one dollar per person.

Me: Well you know, $1 dollar a month for our family would be an extra $72 a year in taxes.

Sam: Yeaahhhh . . . but if you spread it out to just a dollar a month, no one would mind paying it. That's like nothing.

Me: I'd support you, Sam. I think it's a great idea. I think there's a lot of people you'd have to work real hard to convince.

Sam: No. They'd support it. If they knew it was for such a good cause.

I had to bite my tongue to keep from going on a diatribe about the tea party being the latest incarnation of that selfish ilk that would reduce the size of government until you can drown it in a bathtub. Sam was just so sincere about the ability of government to help. I think that's great.

The next day I read this in Newsweek. And I'm kinda' torn. I think reading it would provide Sam a fuller context of political challenges, which is a good thing for him to see. However, I worry that it might push his wonderful, youthful idealism towards early cynicism about human nature and democracy.

/elated

"Congratulations! A preliminary analysis of your test results shows that you were successful in achieving the passing score established by the SOA/CAS/CIA for Exam P/1 (Probability)."