Skipping Thanksgiving

The average American gains 7-10 pounds during the Holiday Season. It starts with inhaling pounds  of candy on Halloween, swan diving into a plate of turkey, stuffing and pie on Thanksgiving Day, raiding the food court at the mall on Black Friday, attending countless holiday parties given by friends or work colleagues where there are always those “special” treats that your friend made “just for the occasion” that you HAVE to try, eating half a honeybaked ham and drinking a gallon of egg nog at Christmas and finally attending the New Years Eve Bash, that typically includes a a fifth of tequila and the Christmas leftovers! When I list it all together like that, it just makes me want to throw up.

I have discovered the perfect solution to holiday weight gain: Skip the holiday.

Seriously. That is what I will be doing on Thanksgiving Day – NOT attending a Thanksgiving Dinner. And you know what, I really don’t care. I have no emotional attachment to food anymore. If I want turkey and stuffing or pumpkin pie, I can get that anytime. Furthermore, what usually leads me to overeat at Thanksgiving is the fact that I am spending the day in the company of people that I don’t know very well, or distant relatives that I could care less about. These are not people I would have chosen to spend the day with on my own. I usually reach for seconds out of boredom. Furthermore, I would rather be off doing something else. I hate wasting time gorging and making fake small talk on the only vacation day that I have between Labor Day and Christmas.

I will visit my sister in Connecticut this week, but my train does not arrive until 5:30pm Thanksgiving Day. Some of her friends think this is a little weird. They cannot conceive of a person that has no interest in food consumption on this of all days! I plan to be under 200 pounds by years end and holiday celebrations are not so important to me that I am willing to delay my progress. If I want to reach my 100 pounds lost goal by August 8, 2010, I have to stay on track.

For Christmas, I have planned a short trip to my parent’s home with my husband – only 3 days. We arrive Christmas Eve and leave first thing on the 27th. The entire day before we leave will be spent at Disneyland. Lots of walking. I will carry non-perishable Jenny Snacks in my backpack and spend the day showing my hubby the best thing about growing up in Orange County (the only good thing about growing up there!).

My advice this Holiday Season: Go only to the events and get togethers that you want to go to. Don’t force yourself to spend time with people that you couldn’t give two shits about. You’ll spend the whole night at the buffet table just so you can get away from them! You can inhale a lot of calories that way.

Skip Thanksgiving – you might enjoy it more that way.

Bread is not Evil

In the spirit of not fighting my body and indulging cravings when I have them, I bought some bread yesterday. But not just any bread: Rosemary and Olive Oil bread. It is this wonderful bread they sell at Harris Teeter (a grocery chain in NoVa).

Whereas previously I would have eaten the whole loaf in a day. I just had a couple of slices and another this morning.  I feel great. I went for a jog this morning and managed to get back before it started to drizzle. Yes!

Memo to All: The guy who started the “bread is evil” thing – he’s dead now. Go to the bakery and get yourself some bread if you want!

Vocational Choices and My (Slightly Less) Fat Ass

Yesterday, my husband and I had one of those deep conversations about our lives and our work and what we both wanted to do when we move to Chicago in a few weeks. We both realized that we were not sure whether we wanted to continue on the same career paths that led us to Washington, D.C. I came to Washington to go to law school so that I could escape the pink collar ghetto of administrative work: think 9 to 5 or Working Girl, without the sexual harassment and the bad hair. It hit me yesterday that it is possible that I am not really doing what I was meant to do. In my study of how my thoughts and feelings can directly effect my weight loss, I began to wonder if there was a connection between the size of my ass and my job situation.

I was the thinnest when I felt like I was doing what I really wanted do. I have honestly never felt “at home” in my own life since my early 20s. At the time, I was living in New York City, working full time as an Admin and studying classical singing at night. I was happy then because I thought that the job was temporary and that eventually I was going to be a professional opera singer. Then I went to Italy for a singing program. I was convinced that I was going to be the next Renee Fleming (pictured above). I was to sing in front of this famous Italian conductor. When it was my turn, I choked. I opened my mouth to sing and nothing came out! As a cop out, I blamed the vocal coach. I accused him of wrecking my voice and left the program. I really don’t think that things have been right with me since.

In his phenomenal weight loss book, The Gabriel Method, Jon Gabriel discusses many factors that had contributed to his 220 pound weight gain. One of them was that he was in a career that he was unsatisfied with. He was a bond trader on Wall Street, which earned him a lot of money, but he longed to be outside in the wilderness. He wasn’t really a city person. He had wanted to be a biochemist, but parental pressure caused him to attend business school instead. He writes: “I wasn’t just starving for nutrients, I was starving for life.” I am the opposite. I am miserable in the suburbs but loved the city!

It’s quite possible that ever since I left New York, I have been starving for life. Starving artistically. Perhaps the key to recovering my old body (I was a size 10 in my early 20s) is to recover my old life. Step one: get back to the city. In three weeks I will be doing just that. I drive to Chicago on December 5, 2009 to meet my husband in our new apartment to start our new life!

I also have found a singing school in Chicago. As soon as money permits, I will begin studying again.

Still Heading in the Right Direction!

I have been on JC for about 3 months now and I was at 216.3 pounds as of Nov. 8. So I am still heading in the right direction. That makes for an average weight loss of 7.4 pounds per month. I am currently losing at a rate that is faster than one of JC’s notorious celebrity clients! I think the visualization and meditation techniques, courtesy of Jon Gabriel have really helped! I also have not done any stress eating in over 3 months!

The impending move to Chicago is not stressing me out. A while back I started to wonder whether my weight loss meditation techniques would work in other areas of my life. Instead of the mantra “Thin is Easy”, I tried “Work is Easy”, “Packing is Easy”, etc…

And sure enough, with that attitude, it has been easy! Everything is easier when you think it is. Conversely if you think something is going to be miserably hard and you dread the activity in the days leading up to it – it will be difficult as a motherf$%@#*!

Life is easy.

Channeling My Inner Kardashian

Most of you have heard of Kim Kardashian. For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past two years, Ms. Kardashian is the daughter of Robert Kardashian, famed attorney who was part of the criminal defense “Dream Team” in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Kim was placed on the celebrity map officially when a tape of her having sex with her then-boyfriend, Ray J, was leaked onto the internet (probably by Kim herself) back in 2007. She has since appeared on Dancing with the Stars, on her family’s reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and at countless red carpet events.

Of all the celebrities who are famous for nothing, she is my favorite for two reasons. First, she is smart. This sounds silly, but have you noticed that she has completely transformed herself from Sex Tape Slut to Elegant Red Carpet Darling in less than 2 years? It seemed effortless. When it comes to media savvy, she has it in spades. Second, she has grace. Unlike Paris Hilton, who poses incessantly in the most unnatural way everywhere she goes, photos that I see of Kim seem much more organic. It is as if the way she moves and breathes naturally looks perfect for the camera. And again, she makes it look effortless…graceful; not gaudy like Paris.

I have referenced The Gabriel Method on this blog many times. One of the principles of Jon Gabriel’s weight loss method is that you have to accept who you are and what you look like at your present weight and be grateful in order for you to become better, i.e. thinner and healthier. In other words, you have to act like you are already are a size 4 or 6 or whatever your goal is. The theory is that if you behave as if you are already thin, it will be easy to get there. Likewise, if you act like a marathon runner, that 2 mile jog you take 3 times a week will seem effortless. Some of these same weight loss principles can also be found in The Secret.

Every time I see a picture of Kim Kardashian, she has that look. That effortlessly elegant look. She has that look as though life is easy (for her, it probably is!). She is not nearly as thin as many Hollywood celebrities, but she doesn’t seem to care. Sure she goes to the gym, but you see photos of her sauntering down the street in her workout clothes as though she has just spent 45 minutes watering flowers in her garden, rather than doing lunges with her trainer. Like that daring young man on the flying trapeze from that song, Kim seems to fly through the air with the greatest of ease. She is fabulous and she knows it, but she doesn’t seem arrogant, she just seems to be in the moment allowing both herself and the world to experience her utter fabulousness. Now, I have never met this woman, nor have I watched her reality show. All I know of her is what I observe from the pictures and red carpet footage that I see in magazines, TV and on the internet. That je ne sais quoi that the French always talk about – this girl has it.

I was thinking about her last night and something occurred to me: I wonder what would happen if I walked around like that. What would happen if I lived my life as though I was already thin? As though I had already paid off my debt? As though I was a marathon runner, triathlete or an advanced Pilates or Yoga practitioner? Of course I wouldn’t have an American Express card with no limit that I could charge endless amounts of Manolo Blanik shows on, but maybe I could have something else: a better state of mind. No stress. No worries. That feeling of effortless living…maybe…just maybe I could have grace.

So I am going to try it and see. From now on, I will be channeling my inner Kardashian. I invite you all to do the same.

Chicago

It’s official! My husband and I will be moving there in 3 weeks! Due to all the schlepping around we did I managed to lose .3 pounds last week despite being off menu for a bout a day and a half.

We found a great apartment. I think we will both drop a lot of weight due to all the walking that we will be doing. When I moved to New York for college, I lost 15 pounds in the first semester practically effortlessly while most gained the standard Freshman 15. I didn’t drink until my junior year and all the walking allowed me to lose weight while others gained. I am hoping the same thing will happen in 3 weeks when hubby and I finally leave the suburbs…for good!

Great Expectations

This is a photograph of a woman named Dita Von Teese. For those of you who do not know, she is a Burlesque Artist. I know what you’re thinking: what the fuck is “burlesque”? Well, my friends, burlesque is basically just the predecessor of the modern day strip tease. Think Gypsy Rose Lee. It’s just taking your much more expensive clothing off more slowly and charging more for admission. Anywhoo, I post this picture as an example of what is considered an ideal female form. Our friend Dita is reported to be 5′5″ and 105 pounds. Hmmm.

Jon Gabriel, author of The Gabriel Method suggests as part of his visualization technique, you pick an image in a magazine or an old picture of yourself at your desired weight and visualize yourself at that weight. In addition, he specifically instructs that you do not worry  whether or not the image you select is realistic.

I wonder if this is good advice. I have read Jon Gabriel’s book and although I am technically on a “diet”, which he does not recommend, I have felt that his visualization techniques have been very helpful, particularly for killing my sweet cravings. The techniques also reduce stress so that I can avoid binge eating. However, I feel that perhaps the whole “pick a picture” idea could be damaging to some. I don’t want to underestimate my ability to lose a great deal of weight, but I also don’t want to set my self up for a Lifetime Original Movie-esque eating disorder experience.

The National Eating Disorders Association poses the following questions to those who wonder whether or not they have an eating disorder:

Do you spend time wishing parts of your body looked different? Yeah, I’m a woman who has never looked like society tells you that your are supposed to look.

Are you unhappy with your reflection in the mirror? Not really, since I know that I am in the process of changing, and even so, I think I look pretty good now.

Do you skip meals? Say it with me: Hell no!

Do you count the calories or fat grams in anything you eat? Nope. I nice lady named Jenny Craig has already done that for me.

Do you exercise so much that you are fatigued or have frequent injuries? If I don’t feel like working out, I don’t. Fatigue is your body telling you to slow down. Sometimes I do a lighter workout instead of a more intense one.

I think I am free and clear in this department, but someone who has a history of disordered eating might be thrown back into some bad habits after reading the Gabriel Method. Although, he does state very clearly that if you have an eating disorder you need to seek professional help.

I have been through several sets of visualization pictures because I have never been comfortable with the ones I have selected. I think “This girl is too skinny, I could never look like that.” Or I think “C’mon, you could do better than that. Don’t sell yourself short.” Marilu Henner, who has a very sound philosophy on health, transformed her body quite dramatically between her 20s and 40s, going from about a size 14/16 (where I am right now) to about a 4 or a 6. She spent her teens and 20s crash dieting and had destroyed her metabolism. My problem is that in order to make me feel better over the years people have said things like “Oh, don’t worry, you’re just big-boned.” And I suppose I grew up believing that they were right and that I would never be any slimmer than maybe a 12. Well, I am calling bull shit on that right now. I don’t see why I cannot look similar to someone who is the same height. Both Beyonce Knowles and Britney Spears are exactly my height (5′5″). Beyonce is about 130 pounds and Britney is about 105. I don’t know how accurate these internet stories are of the stars height and weight – think of their resumes as your driver’s license: The numbers could be fudged a bit.

Will I ever have a body like Dita’s, Beyonce’s or Britney’s? Who knows. But I believe in swinging for the fences in all areas of life and even if I strike out, I think it will be well worth it. Besides, some of the best home run hitters in Major League Baseball history also had more strike outs that others. I think if you asked Babe Ruth if striking out all of those times was worth it, he would answer with a resounding Yes!

Down 18 pounds

220.5 – I lost almost 3 pounds last week! My counselor says this rate of an average 2 pounds per week is twice as fast as their typical client. I think my Gabriel Method visualization is helping a lot. Also I have added a 5th workout over the past two weeks so that may also have something to do with it.

At this rate, I should be at goal by August of 2010! Sweet! And speaking of sweets, I will sample Jenny Craig’s Pumpkin Spice Cake tonight! It’s a seasonal holiday dessert. Yummy! So far I am very surprised by their menu. The JC food is pretty good.

A “Sherry” on Top of My Sunday!

Wow! Last night my husband and I saw an amazing show at the National Theater here in Washington – “Jersey Boys”. It was really spectacular. The best part was that our seats were only $50 each and because the National is an old theater that is built really well, our balcony seats were fantastic! The music was wonderful, of course, the cast for the tour was great (usually the touring cast isn’t nearly as good as the Broadway cast), and the staging was very innovative. They did this thing where they had a projection on video screens in the background showing the group during the scenes of their appearances on American Bandstand and The Ed Sullivan Show. The thing is, the footage was so spot on that I think the “fake” 60s cameras on stage were real cameras filming them in real time on the stage and projecting it on the screens behind! Very cool.

And another piece of good news: I am down 15.1 pounds after 8 weeks! A week ahead of schedule. I weighed in at 223.4 pounds yesterday morning. I have also lost 9 inches total: 1 off the bust, 4 off the waist, 1 off the abdomen and 3 off the hip! This was pretty amazing. I have to say I was not expecting this. My JC counselor and I have adjusted my menu to give me more protein for my workouts. Zumba takes a lot out of me, so on those days, I have a higher protein breakfast. So it’s going pretty well. I am into a pair of jeans that I haven’t been in for over a year and I wore this brown top last night that I have never worn because I bought it off season last year and by the time I got around to wearing it, it no longer fit around my hips. It fits now!

Here is a You Tube clip from the London cast of Jersey Boys! Enjoy!

So Skinny I Forgot to Blog

Even the day off plan that I spent in the hospital with my husband did not throw me off track apparently. I still had a 1.5 pound weight loss bringing me down to 226. I forgot to enter my progress on Sunday.

I have noticed something. I am noticeably less hungry on the days that I work out. However, I took a day off today because I felt that my body needed the rest. On the day after I have a particularly grueling workout, I am VERY hungry. But as I skipped my evening snack last night, I don’t see the harm in one extra dairy and one extra fruit serving today.

I am hoping to be at the 15 pound mark by October 11. I will likely be at 225 pounds this Sunday. I could easily be at 223.5 by then.

There will be more substantive post to come. This week has been a little busy at work.