The Last 2 Kilograms (Starting The Zone Diet)

In America, we used to say it was hard to lose the last 5 lbs. You don't hear that anymore, since we've adopted "Super-Size Me", or "large fries" as our motto. Nevertheless, it's pretty true. I've been stuck at my current weight for the last month, mostly because I've been eating chocolate and crisps every day, occasionally binging on ice cream or pizza, and otherwise not being optimal with my diet. I've been working out as usual, and always look forward to it. But, I'm not really conscious about the refined sugar and "white" carbs I've been eating. Needless to say, I'm not counting calories anymore.

Last night I was watching the Diet Doctor on FitTV, and they were putting a guy on the Zone Diet. The host is an MD, and she agreed with the value of the Zone, since it's all about eating clean proteins, and whole grains, vegetables, and fruit, and eliminating processed carbs. It's a great way to live, and for losing weight, but it's hard to adhere to in our comfort-food society. It got me motivated to try to lose the last few kilos, and otherwise see how low I can get my weight down to.

Can I stick to such a plan? If I can, it's because I'm interested in the experiment. I figure there's two ways for me to get down to an ideal weight -- either counting calories, or adopting the Zone philosophy.

So here's my plan for my Modified Zone Diet:

• Replace "white" carbs with complex carbs (fruits, vegetables, whole grains)
• No calorie counting

That's it. Just getting back to a more natural diet, before all the temptations of processed food. As simple as it is, it'll be hard to do, so I'll probably post everyday about it. And since my daily weight should quickly reflect this good diet, we'll see if it works.

Recovered From The Klondike Bars

My weight settled back down to 76.6 kg this morning, which isn't bad considering I binged on Thursday, eating a Carls' Jr. Super Star w/ cheese and large fries combo, then half an hour later, 6 Klondike Bars in quick succession. People ask me, "Why 6 of them?" If you can't figure out the obvious answer, take a look at the package <<--.

People also ask why I order the Super Star. Probably because I remember it as the biggest burger (it has two patties), even though the Six-Dollar burger is bigger these days. But I never really liked the Six-Dollar burger. It's supposed to be a premium restaurant-quality burger, but it just tastes like two $3 burgers. And of course, there's the double Six-Dollar burger, which for some reason is listed in the nutritional info, but without any data. So, my binge had a listed calorie total = 920 + 620 + 6*250 = 3040 calories. But of course, we know there's more calories than they list in their nutritional table, as Morgan Spurlock showed (analysis showed 10-20% more calories than stated).

What did I really want on this binge? I thought about it as I was driving home, considering a medium thin crust veggie from Round Table Pizza, a carne asada burrito and three rolled tacos from Robertos, or an entire french roll pre-made sub sandwich from the grocery store. I also briefly considered cooking, but I was feeling out-of-sorts, and just wanted immediate comfort food. It was too much trouble to take an extra freeway exit to get the burritos, or order the pizza, so I just went with the Carl's Jr. drive-thru near my house, the most convenient option.

Ultimately, the binge wasn't really satisfying, and I could have eaten more after the Klondike Bars. It did settle my stomach though, and I didn't even feel bloated after eating all of it.

I don't consider myself to have an eating disorder. I think it's pretty much natural to occassionally "pig out". Remember when we used this simple language, instead of the victim-oriented terms like "eating disorder", "binge", and "filling the void"? Come on, I'm not the one packaging the Klondikes into Multi-Packs, dammit.

Another Graveyard Poker Session

It's late. It's early. Workouts again in a few hours. I went to 24 Hour Fitness after work, and did 50 min Stairmaster and strength training, before heading off to The Village Club to play no-limit. I was going to play at Barona, but Anna called to say she was off that night, so I went to Chula Vista instead.

I played about 8 hours, and ended up +$196 USD. I almost busted out, but made Aces full of 9's on the river on a $450 pot. I was in the big blind with A9o, and the flop was AA2. The little blind checks to me, I bet $20, the guy on my immediate left calls, everyone else folds but the little blind, who calls. Everyone is wondering what's going on, with such a dangerous board. The turn is a King, little blind checks to me, I make it $40, guy on my left calls, and the little blind raises to $80, we both call. Now the pot is about $330. I'm afraid I don't have the best hand, but I'm committed now. I just pray the little blind has Ax, i.e., has no kicker. Or, a high card comes on the river, and neutralises his kicker. Miraoulously. I river is a 9, which gives me the 2nd best hand possible (I can only lose to AK). The little blind bets me all in for about $60, we both call. I turn over the best hand. The pot is over $450, and I'm now up about $250. Turns out the little blind had 22, and flopped a full house. Woohoo. Another hour passes, and I bleed of $50, and finally head back home. Now to get some sleep before Outdoor Fitness Camp in a few hours.

I probably left the only winner at the table. Since about $120/hour is taken off the table due to the $4/hand drop, and about $1/hand toke, probabaly $1000 USD came off the game in the 8 hours I played. Gotta love the house edge. The rake is always the biggest winner.

The Biggest Loser, Special Edition: Families

NBC is airing another Special Edition on the Biggest Loser tonight, this time it's families who run restaurants. It looks like another two part show, but I'm worried that these contestants are going to have problems losing weight. On the main show, the winners have dropped around 50% of their weight. I think the last two special editions saw about 30% weightloss. But given restaurant families, who are probably pretty busy, and may not have the right attitude, I'm betting the weightloss will be under 25%. If the contestants are less than spectacular, the show will start to lose it's inspirational draw. If you don't believe me, check out Celeb Fit Club 3. No one there is even commited to losing weight, except for Kelly LeBrock, and the late-addition Gunner Nelson. There, it's more about getting drug-addicted D-listers to scream at the drill saregent trainer, and visa versa.

Now That Was A Fun Poker Night

Saturday night at Angie's party was definitely much better than hanging out at the casino all those countless weekends. And to think I've been missing out on alcohol, music, and cool people. And more human interaction than check raising on the turn with the nuts. And no, I won't leave any blind items about what went on. Especially since there are people out there that can throw stones back at this glass house. This isn't Perez Hilton.

I got my a** up the next morning, and made it to the gym for cardio and strength. I did okay for the day, but then ate Pick-Up-Stix with Denise & John, and no one ordered vegetables, for which I substituted beef chow mein. Then I had a chocolate bar for dessert. Oh, and I had a bunch of Denise's brownies and cookies in the day.

I'm still at 76.6 kg, which means I won't be able to make my goal of 75 kg any time soon. I'm just maintaining, probably because I'm not restricting myself from the goodies that float around everywhere. It's not really important, I guess, since I'm pretty happy with where I'm at now. Bruce Lee can rest easier.

Will Miss Outdoor Fitness Camp Today

It's Saturday morning, and I just got back in from last night's poker session. I stayed later than planned, because I hadn't been to this casino before, and it was first class. The game was also very good, and I netted +$350 USD in a $100 buy-in $3/$2 blind No-Limit Hold'Em game. There were some very bad players there who didn't know me. Anyway, time to sleep, and I should be able to get some workouts in tomorrow before going to Angie's game tonight :)

Xenical Reviewed For Over-the-Counter Sales

I saw an article today about the prescription fat-blocking drug Xenical being up for review as an over-the-counter drug. I wondered how effective this drug was, since I know a lot of people have trouble losing weight, and far be it for me to criticise how people manage their weightloss. I was suprised to see that the studies showed an average of 12.4 lbs loss in six months, compared to half of that for the placebo group, when combined with an exercise plan. I can see why US sales of Xenical are only $102 million, and worldwide sales are $500 million for 2004. Plus the drug costs about $100/month, and is generally not covered by insurance plans. And you have to take 6 pills a day.

On the other hand, I lost my weight at a rate 5 times faster than the patients on Xenical. Would people really go through the hassle and expense to lose only a little amount of weight? Probably, when they start advertising it on television. I guess that's why analysts are projecting $5 billion in annual sales by the end of the decade.

The Biggest Loser, Special Edition: Couples

I knew the Red team would win. They showed the first two weeks of the competition last week, then they compressed the next 6 months on last night's show. After the first two weeks, I knew the Red Team would win, based on a few things. First, Rasha on the Blue Team had that whole spoiled girl attitude, that doesn't work for this kind of challenge. Then, when they showed teasers of the finale, I could tell by a single frame that the Red Team looked smaller. Also the Red Team couple averaged 22 years old, while the Blue Team averaged 26. And Sarah from the Red Team was really heavy, but her body type looked like it'd lose more weight.

So the Blue Team lost about 28% of their body weight. From my highest weight (105 kg), I've lost 28.5% myself. And, the majority of it came off in 6 months. Too bad I didn't have all the people cheering for me, and giving me prizes.

Dragging, But Worked Out

I felt a little better today, but was tired, and ate plenty of chocolate again. I made it out to Outdoor Fitness Camp tonight, and worked out with Angie and Anna. (Traffic was really light tonight, so I got there 30 minutes early, and ran almost all of them.)

Someone at Camp is losing a lot of weight quickly, but might not be eating enough. I told her to expect my whole lecture on the matter, but she's really motivated now, and getting quick, dramatic results, so I actually don't want to do anything to slow her down. Even though her approach is completely opposite to my evangelical beliefs, I understand the enthusiasm, so I figure I'll tell her what she already knows, and let her learn for herself. Anyways, it's exciting to see someone start off with a bang, so I'll go with it.

This is what I picked up at Indulgence tonight. Their reduced-carb pizzas are only 600 calories. I definitely each much more than that for dinner, but it's a good start. This one has pesto, chicken, and fresh tomatoes. It's less than $8 USD, with a salad. I'm putting their number into my phone, and calling it in when I'm done at the gym. It beats (my) cooking.

Tired, But Won't Binge

I'm really worn out today. Yesterday was spinning with Lynn, and I'm pretty good shape now, and can really output power, speed, and endurance. Going fast in spinning feels almost as good as going fast on the road, which I can barely remember these days.

I'm skipping the workouts tonight. I figured it'd be counter-productive at this point, and the body might not like it. So, I'm feeling that kind of tired that I mentioned before, when I'm just dragging, and nothing really will make me feel better other than a day off, reasonable food, and sleep.

On the scale tonight, I hit 19.0% body fat, so I'm definitely making progress. The morning body fat readings are now in the 19's as well. Slowly, but surely, I'm getting down to my ideal body shape.

Still On Target

I stayed on plan with no problem yesterday, and I got out of the house most of the day. In the morning, I went running at Torrey Pines, and the course pretty quickly. There were quite a few bikers on the road, and I got in a few sprints trying to keep up with them on the big 3km hill. When we got to the top, I chatted with a few of them, and they said I was really moving. All the sprint work in spinning class, and the abs work at OFC really helps my speed up the hill. I wasn't exhausted at any point in the run.

My friend John is an amazing tournament player. Starting with over 80 players, he essentially took 2nd place, winning about $1300 in a $65/50 rebuy tournament. I bought 10% of his action, so while I lost $3 playing Omaha8 for a few hours, I ended up $100 or so for the trip.

I ate a bunch of times yesterday, but still kept my calories to under 2100 (I think). I'm on track to hit 76.0 kg tomorrow, and 75.0 kg by the end of the month.

The Instant Results Are In

Okay, I weighed-in at 76.2 kg this morning, and the calorie counting and fitness plan are working well. This is only 0.2 kg off my lowest mark before the holidays, and before all the chocolate and pizza. I'm dedicated to hitting my 75 kg goal by the end of the month, and then I'll set a new goal around 72 kg (23.5 BMI). I'll probably stay around the house today, so I better re-hydrate, and get my butt out to Torrey Pines to run.

Drank My Calories Last Night

Went out with the OFC group to a cool bar in the neighbourhood where my gym is. I'd always seen the place, but this was the first time I'd been in there. I had a really good time, and now I wonder if people have this much fun every weekend. It'd probably take a toll on you if you did, or I'd learn to slow down some. Anyway, I learned about a few new drinks, and I was really impressed with how good they taste :)

I planned my workouts around the outing. I only ate 990 calories before the night, and I substituted drinks for dinner. I finished up at midnight, and made spinning and OFC the next morning as usual. I felt a little off-balance in the shower this morning, but I made a point to re-hydrate as soon as I got home last night. So, after I got moving and drinking in spinning, I felt much better.

I can tell by my intermediate weigh-ins that the calorie counting is working as usual. 100g/day, that's all I ask.

Where Are My Instant Results?

I limited myself to 2000 healthy calories yesterday, did a hard turn at spinning, and I'm not really any lighter this morning. Argh. Well, the body fat reading hit 20.0%, which is lower than yesterday, so if I don't lose it today, I should get a weigh-in 0.2kg lighter tomorrow morning. Or, maybe by Sunday, I'll hit 76.4 kg again. Ok, that's my goal.

This is breakfast, two scrambled eggs, and a cracker with humus. I'm a little hungry, but I'll have about 1000 calories before dinner today. I'll probably have a few drinks tonight, which won't really help me hit my Sunday goal. Maybe I'll do a strength session at lunch today.

I talked to Ryan the spinning instructor after class last night (again). We're always the last two out of the room. It's scary how much I have in common with these gay guys. We talked about the Biggest Loser: Special Edition, down to the interpretations of reaction shots, TiVo freeze frames from next week's previews, the difference between the trainer's (Jillian and Bob) styles and results, and Kathy Griffin. He's probably thinking my straight act isn't holding up so well. What can I say, I like celebrity gossip and showtunes. But I've also watched World War II a couple of times by now on the History Channel. So there.

Krash Diet

I'm watching a bunch of weightloss shows on the Discovery Channel, and there's a bunch of Kellogg's Special-K commercials telling people they can lose 6 lbs in two weeks by replacing two meals a day with a bowl of Special-K cereal. They don't tell you about the details which includes changing your lifestyle, eating fruits and vegetables, and exercising. In their study, they tell you that participants ate an average of 575 calories/day less (27% less). Without exercise, this would amount to only (14 days * 575 calories/day) / (3500 cal/lb-of-fat) = 2.3 lbs of fat lost in two weeks. So these people must have exercised another 3.7 lbs off, requiring (3.7 lbs)(3500 cal/lb-of-fat) / 14 days = 925 calories of exercise per day. That's about 2 hours of exercise each day. Personally, I couldn't lose 6 lbs in two weeks without resorting to starvation. Maybe I could have when I was really overweight, but not now.

Oh, and the average weight loss was only 5 lbs. I guess someone lost 6 lbs; that was "up to" person.

So the Kellogg's Special-K Challenge is really simple -- calorie restriction, intense exercise, instant lifestyle change, and disappointing results. Congratulations, you've been sold out for a box of cereal.

Didn't Count Calories Last Night

I didn't eat crazy, but I didn't weigh food either. It's been so long since I've done that, and I've been losing weight without it, that I forgot to do it. But, when I got on the scale this morning, and was a 0.2 kg higher than yesterday, I figured maybe I better count calories until I hit my 75kg goal.

For dinner, I had a salmon burger, probably 100g humus, 40g crackers, 40g muselix, 30g banana, 200g tofu salad, 100g tabouli salad. I guess that's a lot. Let me take a stab at the calories = 450 + 120 + 160 + 120 + 60 + 320 + 120 =~ 1350 calories. Okay, that's a little too much. The day's total was probably about 2350, so I was only about 350 over.

I'll try to weight everything today.

Goal: 75kg By End Of January

Ok, instead of finding out how much pizza and chocolate I can eat, I'm going to reach my initial goal of 75 kg by the end of the month. This probably means that I can't eat a daily chocolate bar anymore, or screw around eating bags of popcorn. When I eat 100% "correctly", I'll end up getting really hungry in a few days, and crave either fat or sugar. It's pretty hard to ignore these cravings, since it's probably the body's reaction to losing weight, and it's homostasis mechanism trying to make me eat more. I'll just tell myself then, I'm sacrificing for this experiment, to see what happens when I stick to a calorie limitation.

All this while I've been losing weight, when the cravings hit, I end up eating like 3000 calories for the day to satisfy them. At first, I just ate more good food. Lately, I've turned to junky, satisfying food. And now, I'll try to resist the urges to catch up on calories, and just see what happens on a strict limit.

It's going to hurt, but it's just 3 weeks.

Eat A Pizza, Lose Weight

Well, Sunday's pizza hasn't caught up with me yet. I weighed in less this morning (76.8 kg) than last Thursday (77.2 kg). But, it's time to get serious again, and to hit my 75 kg goal.

I made spinning last night, and the gym was crowded. There's definitely some New Year's faces I've never seen before, and I know I'll never see again. I've seen it come and go before. Spinning class fills up fast, so I reserved a bunch of classes in advance for $1 each.

Eating Disorder Reality TV

Remember when they used to say "57 channels (and nothing's on)"? That used to be pretty accurate. Now, given 300 channels times 24 hours of TiVo timeshifting, the Drake equation is working in my favour, and I'm watching narrowcasting television apparently written just for me.

Women's Entertainment televion (WE) had an episode of The Secret Lives Of Women focusing on eating disorders. Three women are shown; one is a morbidly obese compulsive overeater, another is an anorexic housewife, and the third is a 19-year old binger and exercise anorexic. The camera follows these women around in their everyday lives, and they also open up about their obsessions and compulsions. I identify strongly with the overeater and the exercise bulemic binger, while the anorexic is the most foreign to me.

The compulsive overeater loads up on all the snack foods at the grocery store. We follow her at the McDonald's drive-thru, where she orders a large combo meal, plus another hamburger, plus a dessert, and of course, the obligatory large Diet Coke. She explains how she eats the meal in the car, and the additional burger and dessert at home. Been there, done that. But she's looking to bariatric surgery to turn her life around, whereas I just decided to become an exercise bulemic.

The 19-year old is constantly obsessed about food and calories. Every minute of the day, she's obsessed by these thoughts, and she plans out what she's going to eat for the day. She goes to a restaurant with her friends, and she's in a panic about what to eat, and how to special order something on the menu. She drives all her friends crazy with the obsession. (Ok, I might irritate friends at a restaurant, and I might seem preoccupied with food, but as you've seen from my posts, I'm not very picky about what I eat.)

The most telling scenes are where the 19 year-old and her mother get into an emotional, ongoing argument about the mother's anorexia, and how she tries to compete with her daughter. The mother is a size 00, and her arms are the giveaway. The daughter tells the world that her mother has breast implants. Clearly, the mother tries a little hard to recapture lost youth. So, we learn that eating disorders are genetic. And that parents really do need to set examples, and help guide their children. Apparently, this family works in reverse. The daughter has a dangerous bout with anorexia, and gets down below 90 lbs. Her mother immediately goes on a crash diet in response. The mother is too preoccupied with her own obsession to help the daughter, and we see all the disfunction of the family.

The show ends on a positive note, where the compulsive overeater finds a programme for eating right and exercising, and in 8 weeks, she loses 55 lbs, and has completely changed her lifestyle. She's energetic, and is on the right track. I'm sure she's on her way to becoming thin and fit. An amazing turn-around, but not suprising, as once people kick the junk food habit, and start exercising, the natural appetite regulation mechanism kicks back in, and the body finds a healthy weight. Which makes me wonder if compulsive overeating is really an eating disorder. I think it's a natural reaction to our fast-food, sedentary lifestyles, and isn't pathological. On the other hand, the anorexic and bulemic have deep psychological problems that are much more difficult to fix.

Diet Pizza Binge

Ok, I was a slug yesterday, and watched football, ate an entire pizza for lunch, then binged again for dinner. Even though I ate the whole pizza, I wasn't interested in the fat or calories, so I ordered a vegetarian on thin crust and light cheese. That probably reduces the medium pizza to under 2000 calories. Which would have been fine for the day, but I got hungry again around 7pm, and ate two bags of popcorn, two Cliff Bars, two kiwi fruit, and an apple.

The moral of the story is that I should have gotten my *ss off the couch, and did something productive, even if I was exhausted from the night before. Maybe I could have cleaned the garage. Argh.

Me & Food Today

I woke my a** up at 06:30, to make spinning at 07:15, and I didn't have time to have breakfast (but I ate 250g = 1000 cal of rice crackers yesterday). While I was spinning, I mostly thought how hungry I was, and the sandwich I was going to get from Starbucks after class. Once class finished at 08:15, I called Anna, to wake her a** up, to get to Outdoor Fitness Camp at 09:00. She made incoherent noises on the phone for the first few minutes, but eventually she said she was going to make it.

Ok, so when I'm getting a $5 sandwich at Starbucks (evil-empire #2), I'm reading the labels, seeing which one has the least calories. Yes, I admit I do this. Don't worry, I make up for it later. So I get the turkey and swiss, which claims to have 320 calories, which is probably accurate.

Outfoor Fitness Camp was fun this morning, since Anna was there, merging my two worlds (poker and weightloss). Also, Pat brought his 2 daughters, and Randy brought his 3, so it was pretty much a Brady Bunch movie. It was really cute watching Angie and Randy's littlest girl, and Pat's two clinging to Jason.

I was really impressed with Anna's effort on her first day at camp. I warned her my first day kicked my butt, and I thought I was in pretty good shape that day. In reality, I had to wait a few weeks before I could make it back to my second camp, because I hurt so much.

After camp, I headed down to Chula Vista to the Village Club for breakfast and poker. Breakfast was good (2 eggs, 2 sausage, 2 slices toast, hash browns), poker was horrible. I got hammered in a $3/$6 Omaha game for about -$115. As usual, there was plenty of action, but few starting hands, and no flops. Argh. It was painful, so I finally left at 4pm. In the meanwhile, I was really hungry, so I had the BBQ Beef Sandwich.

I went to Safron on the way home and picked up Thai salad rolls and Cambodian salad. I had all the salad, and one roll, then Denise invited me over to dinner, so I took a 90 minute nap, and made it over there by about 7:30 pm. She made me 3 eggs and toast, and I had 2 peanut butter cookies. We headed off to Barona Casino, to see how Anna was doing post-camp (I expected her to be exhausted), and to play poker. Anna didn't seem to make it into work that night, so I hope she's okay. I'll call her tomorrow. So Denise and I get into a game by 10pm, and I'm in $3/$6 Hold'Em, and win a few pots, so I'm up like +$175 by 12:30 am, and decide to quit. I have to wait for Denise for another 3 hours, so I'm walking around the casino watching the all-night degenerates playing $200/spin roulette, and other multiple black chip per hand games. I get a taco from Rubios, and walk and stand a lot. Finally, Denise finishes up by 3:30am, and we get the hell out of there. I just got home, and it's about 4:50am. Time for one more salad roll, then sleep. I need to put in a bet on Cincinnati (+3) at home vs. the Steelers before I conk out.

Back From The Casino

I went to Barona Casino tonight, to play some poker, but mostly to check in on dealer Anna, who wants to come out to Outdoor Fitness Camp. She got a late start in the rotation tonight, so she's bound to stay a few more hours at the casino. I told her I'd play late into the night, to show it's possible to wake up and work out the next morning. By midnight, I was pretty beat, so I sat down at her table ($3/$6 Hold'Em), talked for a bit, until the blind came, and I got up. I'll call her in the morning to see how she feels. I got out with a $27 win, but I'll be much happier with a few hours of sleep before spinning tomorrow.

Getting started on a fitness program is always the hardest part. I don't like the idea of trying to push someone into it. I don't think I'd ever respond positively to someone trying to encourage me. I had to decide for myself to get going. Advice from others only helps so much (before it becomes counter-productive).

Dinner @ The Village Club

After Outdoor Fitness Camp last night, it was only 7pm, so I figured I'd head over to the Village Club, hopefully get into a good $3/$6 Hold'Em game, and have dinner. The first available game was $3/$6 Omaha, which didn't look like a great game. So I ordered Won Ton soup, played for probably 30 minutes, won one hand, and left with a $22 profit. It's funny, but people will always ask you where you're going when you get up from a game like that. I just looked completely bored, and said I was going home. Like it's impossible for someone to leave early from a game. Then outside in the parking lot, Arlyn stopped to tell that I was a solid player that didn't go on tilt. I guess that's a compliment. I'm generally a little sensitive about my piker reputation tho :)

I guess I got home too early, because I cooked up over 300g of chicken breast, and ate 3 tortillas with it. Then I had 1/2 a banana, and an orange. It would have been better to have about 100g of chicken and 1 tortilla.

Today's Candy

Was really hungry today, after 3 days of spinning in a row. Going to Outdoor Fitness Camp tonight, but I still would have eaten the candy if this was a rest day.

The Biggest Loser, Special Edition: Families

Last night NBC aired a 2-hr, single-episode special edition of The Biggest Loser which pitted two families against each other for prizes and $50,000 in cash. I have to admit, the new format still retained all the excitement and inspiration of the original series. In fact, it probably has more impact, since you see all 5 months of transformations in one night. They used the "live" grand finale format with the dramatic final weigh-in.

The transformations were impressive. Everyone lost about 25% of their body weight, and changed their lives. They used the usual 24 Hour Fitness ranch, and trainers Jillian Michaels and Bob Greene. But, the families were only on the ranch for a week (the first two weigh-ins), and did the final 5 months on their own. They received a suprise visit from their trainers, and probably had some instruction, but otherwise they all lost weight by exercise -- stength and cardio.

This show should convince anyone that they can lose weight and transform their lives in less than 6 months. The parents lost as much or more weight than the teenage daughters. This show has done so much to counter all the misinformation otherwise put out by the gimicky weightloss product industry, that I'm regaining my faith in capitalism.

Next week, they're starting another Special Edition: Engaged Couples. Ahhh, another reason to live.

Henry's @ Hillcrest

I cooked again, since I'm a little tired of eating take-away from Indulgence or Bambu Bistro. I went to Henry's in Hillcrest, which definitely has a funkier crowd than my University City store. The music was much better, and it definitely had more of the checking-each-other-out vibe amongst the clientelle.

I made chicken with vegetables, and baked some sweet potato wedges.

I just lost my USC bet tonight. I should have realised something was up when the line moved from -8 to -7 over the week. Aiyah.

Made Chili Tonight

After spinning tonight, I made chili with fresh tomatoes, green peppers, onions, carrots, garlic, and ground sirloin. I also found some brown rice pasta, so I made kind of a chili-mac. I ate most of it, and will have the rest for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Of course, what I really wanted was a Crave Case from White Castle.

I have a reason to live tomorrow, as there's a special 2 hr family edition of The Biggest Loser airing tomorrow night.

I'm Back

I got completely lazy over the holiday break, and didn't post a thing. I ate pretty badly, of course, but I worked out over the whole time. The result is probably a 0.2 - 0.4 kg gain. Not too bad considering I re-aquainted myself with the Pizza Hut Manager's Special (two large 1 topping pizzas with a side of buffalo wings for $19.95), ate a whole pound of Godiva chocolates, and otherwise sat around watching bad tv and snacking.

I cooked last night for the first time in over a month. While I was at Henry's, I ran into some friends from OA. Lisa was excited to see me, and was very friendly, as usual. But I got a very cold reception from Dan, who basically just tried to get away from me as soon as possible. I don't know what the story is, but it's probably because he doesn't really accept me at OA. Yes, I overeat too. But I don't belong in their victim's club. Maybe if I believed in any of their 12 steps, I'd get more acceptance. Turns out I have the wrong set of values.

I guess there are some New Year's resolution people at the gym this week. There certainly are a lot of gym membership commercials on tv, as well as marathon telecasts of last year's reality weightloss shows. There were also a whole bunch of US-Weekly type celebrity diet secret shows on VH1, which all helped me to get a little motivated to lose the last few kgs.