Tag Archives: weight loss

Equivalencies

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Photo courtesy of Archigeek via Flickr

I recently celebrated my 10th anniversary with Weight Watchers.

Honestly, I can’t say that I really “celebrated” it. Hell, I didn’t even go to my meeting that week (not from a lack of desire to do so, but we have been down to the final few weeks of a show that I’m in and I haven’t had the time). One would also think that, after ten years, I would have hit Lifetime status and that my relationship with Weight Watchers would be restricted to maintaining my goal weight.

That, unfortunately, is not the case.

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Hello my friends we meet again…

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…It’s been a while. Where should we begin?

Ok, I own up to it. I’ve utterly and completely neglected my personal blog because I’m all over social networking and any time I feel like expressing my thoughts, feelings, or what is going on in my life I do so using 140 characters or less.

Wheew. There, I said it. Acceptance is the first step towards recovery, is it not?

Although I’m not entirely certain I really WANT to recover.

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Unexpected additives found in many weight loss supplements

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steveb_ohio via flickr

It isn’t easy to achieve or maintain a healthy weight. If it was there would be no such thing as a multi-billion dollar weight loss industry. While we contend here at ShrinkGeek that the only tried and true method of losing weight is to eat less and exercise, we concede that there is no such thing as a “one size fits all” solution on the best way to get there. The struggle to find the combination of diet and exercise that works best for your particular personality and physiology is probably the hardest part about losing weight, and frustration over finding out what you can and can not live with can be a potentially crippling road block to your progress.

Many people chose to rely on “natural” dietary supplements to aid in their weight-loss efforts, and with good reason. The ability to consume a product that can help you lose weight without introducing any man made chemicals into your system is pretty appealing! Unfortunately, it appears as though a lot of people who use these products are getting considerably more than they bargain for.

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User Queries : How many calories?

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Image courtesy of db*photography

Image courtesy of db*photography

I’d like to lose the 20lbs that stand between me and a size 12, or  even the 50lbs that stand between me and a size “Wow!”.  I know that to do so I need to make calories in less than calories out. But how many calories should I shoot for in general?

I’ve used a number of calculators, with so vastly different results.

Here’s two examples:

The American Cancer Society says I need 2318.

The Mayo Clinic says I need 1550.

What gives? Where can I get a reliable number?

Thanks,
Naomi

Ok.  Wow.  You guys have really decided to stop throwing softballs at us when it comes to these questions, haven’t you?  Next time why not ask us how to perform open heart surgery or something?  Sheesh.

Seriously, though – The reason this is a difficult question is because the first (and most honest) response is “it depends.”  It depends on a lot of things.  It depends on how old you are, how tall you are, how much you weigh currently, how active you are, what your sex is, and what type of calories you’re putting in to your body (a 1200 calorie a day diet consisting of nothing but Snickers bars isn’t very likely to warrant positive results).  With all of those factors in place it is no wonder that you’re having a hard time finding a solid answer to your question.

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Wii Sports Resort goes on tour

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arc_noa_adAs part of a media campaign to celebrate the release of the sequel to their popular Wii Sports game, Nintendo announced on Thursday they would be touring around the country with a portable island straight out of Wii Sports Resort.

Starting with a huge display in the middle of Times Square, the portable islands will have plenty of fruity (but non-alcoholic beverages), a steel drum band, a reflecting pool and a lounge area.  Oh, yeah…You’ll also be able to try out Wii Sports Resort!

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Five breakfast options for 100 calories or less

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Powdered Toast Man!Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

When it comes to healthy eating battle cries this has to be one of the most common ones. However, despite the scientific evidence proving the statement above to be true quite there are a great deal of people who choose to skip off on breakfast before starting their day. For some folks it is simply because the allure of sleeping an extra 30 minutes is too great to pass up. If you’re trying to lose weight you may skip off on breakfast because you’re not sure of the healthy, low-calorie options that are out there. Many of the popular breakfast options that we’re familiar with such as pancakes, doughnuts, fried eggs, and biscuits with sausage gravy really don’t fall into the “light” category.

Not every breakfast has to be a big bowl of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs. If you’re looking for a healthier way to start your day I have five options that may just tickle your fancy.

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Walking to Seattle

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Image by Ken Lund

Image by Ken Lund

Over the last few months I’ve been taking part in the Weight Watchers® Walk-!t Challenge.  The program is a partnership between Weight Watchers and Active.com that encouraged Weight Watchers members to sign up for and complete a 5K walk for charity.  As part of the program Weight Watchers provided trainers to those who signed up for the challenge to help prepare them for the 5k.  I’ve never taken part in any kind of event like this before, so while I already walk considerably more than 5k on a daily basis I thought it was a great opportunity to get some more exercise in to my routine and I signed up.

I got an email this morning from my trainer that got me thinking.  Amusingly enough it wasn’t part of the email itself but her signature that sent the wheels in my head spinning.

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ShrinkGeek vs. The EA SPORTS 30 Day Challenge : Week 2

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EA Sports ActiveI’ve made it past the first big milestone in the my experiment with the EA SPORTS Active 30 Day Challenge by completing 10 workouts.  As a reward I got a new trophy and an “attaboy” video from Bob Green in which he explained that they were going to be increasing the difficulty of my workouts from this point on.  I’m much more comfortable with how the program works and I’m learning the proper way to move to maximize the benefit I’m getting from my workouts.

I don’t want to give the impression that I’ve become a total EA SPORTS Active fanboy I thought I’d take some time this week to share my thoughts on ways I think the game could be improved.

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Getting “Active” With The Wii

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EA Sports ActiveIf there is any one console on the market today that has the greatest potential for helping video game fans get in shape it would have to be the Nintendo Wii.  The interactive nature of the motion detecting controllers practically forces you to actually get up and move while playing many of the popular games available on that system (I mean, you COULD sit on the couch while playing Tennis in Wii Sports, but that might just make you a  toolbox).   Nintendo took the fitness potential of the Wii one step further back in 2007 with the release of Wii Fit and the game buying public couldn’t get enough of it.  The game and balance board combination was so popular that one creative individual came up with a website just to track when and where it was available.  Soon similar games followed, including one from fitness expert Jillian Michaels (of The Biggest Loser fame).

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Using Twitter to Track Your Weight

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Fail Whale!When I originally started my life of dieting twenty or so years ago the tools I had to help me do so were pretty much limited to a paper journal and a scale.

My how things have changed.

The modern dieter has a plethora of toys, gadgets, and gizmos available to aid in the weight loss process.  There are paid sites like eDiets and Weight Watchers eTools, calorie counting applications you can download for your iPhone or Blackberry, pedometers and heart rate monitors, digital scales, electronic body fat measuring devices….The list goes on and on.

Developer Mark Rickert has decided to add one more tool to the arsenal by creating an application that utilizes everyone’s favorite new social networking service, Twitter, to track your weight online.

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