Yes, yes, thank you, thank you very much. The Johnson Weight-Loss Challenge is over, and I won it with a loss of 15.8 lbs in the months between Christmas 2006 and Easter 2007. The two other women in the challenge (Nana Marian and Auntie Liz) both lost over 10 lbs, but as far as I know, the three men did not.
Now you might say this was easy pregnancy weight for me to lose, but I’ll have you know that the weight I lost recently was in addition to the 25 lbs I’d lost since Spot’s birth (and before the challenge began).
Losing weight is hard. I am still about 15 lbs off my (realistic) target healthy weight. (which means I am 35 lbs off what might look good in Hollywood). But 15 more pounds would put me at my pre-ever-pregnant weight. Would that I could also regain my pre-ever-pregnant brain and my pre-ever-pregnant ambition/energy/conviction that I know everything.
Our challenge, like any worthwhile challenge, had a monetary penalty/reward incentive. And it surprised me to learn that the potential penalty was more motivating than the reward (hey, I have a credit card, after all; it has my name right on the front of it, I can buy anything I want).
So, how did I do it? Well, I’m good at exercising. If I work out (for 60-90 minutes) 3 times a week, it’s a bad week; 4 times is okay, and 5 is good. You have to work it into your schedule, and just plan to go everyday. Then when other things crop up, that one day is an exception. I’ve had to go early, mid-morning, and at night the past few months because of Spot and her nursing/napping needs.
I’m not so good at dieting. I did cut down on Publix white cake and most other forms of white flour and sugar. Tara and I were discussing whether we think birth control really causes weight gain; as she said, how do I know if it was the shot or that half pan of brownies I ate last night?
I started baking whole wheat bread and buying lots more green vegetables. My family eats cooked veggies much better than salad (sorry, Mom), unless it’s chef (read: everything) salad, which is a joke calorie-wise, but we have it three times a month anyway.
For when you just gotta have carbs, I modified two recipes. One was Marcy’s pancake mix; well, she says that you can have any mix of wheat and white flours. I did 3/4 wheat and then also used Zoom(whole wheat hot cereal) or wheat bran for one of the remaining cups of flour. I usually make it with buttermilk, because what are pancakes without buttermilk?
And then of course, you need a little extra sugar, but that’s okay because you put wheat bran in, right? Oh, and you can leave out 2/3 of the oil too–better to save those calories for the butter and sugar-free reddi-whip (actually, it’s LandoLakes that makes awesome sugar-free whipped cream in a can).
The other was Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins from Allrecips.com. Substitute wheat flour, increase baking pwd and applesauce; they’re a little dense, but hit the spot. Oh, and the chocolate chips should be Ghiradelli’s new 60% cacao bittersweet, because, as you know, dark chocolate is good for you.
Other Substitutions I can live with
pasta: whole wheat pasta (Dick can’t tell the difference) or spaghetti squash (he can tell the difference here, but it’s cook’s choice, isn’t it.)
potatoes: sweet potatoes or at least go for baked or mashed potatoes rather than fries.
Mountain Dew: unfortunately, there is no substitute, but I limit myself to 1 can a day and any other little caffeine needs can be met by Coke Zero. (tres virtuous, no?)
brownies: a cup of hot chocolate, made with 1% milk (for the calcium) with LoL whipped cream on top, and maybe even some of those Ghiradelli chips melted in the milk too.
food after 7 pm (or 8 or 9 pm, depending on how late you’re staying up): 1 serving of Metamucil. A very skinny woman told me about this. It does work quite well to keep things moving, and I figure it can’t hurt. But I’m afraid it doesn’t exactly “fill me up” like it does her. Maybe I just have a bigger stomach?
The main thing is to cut bad carbs and increase water and fiber/vegetable intake. It ain’t rocket science. But making yourself like it just might be. Which is why it’s a good thing I’m not heading for Hollywood anytime soon.
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You should put before and after pictures on here, like the commercials do.
unfortunately, 15 pounds doesn’t seem to make that much difference (at least in my face, and I am not posting swimsuit pics on here), though I do fit in my size 12 jeans again.