Is Butter A Carb? (Today's Fun Fact)

Today's fun fact is another law, as they tend to be. Anyone who lives in or has visited New York may have noticed that most large chain restaurants have calorie counts visible.

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This is due to a New York City (not state!) law that requires food service establishments with 15 or more locations that operate under a single ownership to post calorie counts for menu items that are standardized in portion size and content. This includes franchises, food stands, and local or national chains. Menus, food tags, and any advertisement for an item must contain the calorie information for foods and beverages. Seasonal or specialty items (on the menu for less than 30 days a year) are exempt.

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So. Why here? Why now? The government has been trying to crack down on the rising obesity and diabetes incidence rates in NYC for a while now; their latest campaign features gross depictions of bubbling fat coming out of sugary beverages in an attempt to deter New Yorkers from drinking their calories (I'll spare you from those images). City-dwellers, perhaps more than residents of other states of the union, eat a large percentage of their calories outside their home - the average New Yorker eats a full third of their calories in restaurants, from street vendors, and probably at Starbucks.

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It's truly mind-boggling. The things that we take for granted as grab-and-go - a bran muffin at Dunkin Donuts, a burrito at Chipotle, a flavored latte at Starbucks - turn out to be pretty horrible for us. You'd be hard-pressed to find any snack at your favorite place for under 200 calories. Unless, of course, you choose soy crisps or a miniature granola bar. Was ignorance bliss? Were we better off not knowing just how many calories were on our tray? Some New Yorkers say yes - claiming that having a 1,650 calorie meal at Wendy's is okay because they have an "active lifestyle". Some New Yorkers are making better choices, swearing off their morning muffins and street pretzels. Some are just ignoring it altogether; I've had friends say they didn't even notice the numbers.

Recently, there's been a push for national calorie count laws. While not as strict as the New York law, this portion of Obama's health care reform would require national chains to post calorie counts in a similar fashion. Honestly, I'm for it. For me personally, even before I started keeping track of my food intake, published calorie counts make me more conscious of my decisions. At least I know that I'm making a bad choice when I buy that brownie and exactly HOW bad of a choice it is. Most of this information was readily available anyway, and to make it this public just gives us fewer excuses to be a nation of ignorant fat people (sorry, but you know it's true!).

What do you think?

Old Habits Diet Hard: February Weigh-In

Hi tribe! I'm alive! I've been calorie counting for about a month now, but since I started this process while on vacation, it's a little tricky to gauge when I actually started "dieting". I'm considering the two weeks before I came back to NYC as training weeks - learning to use the MyFitnessPal system, researching food groups and healthy dietary balances, etc.


I am now a little more than two and a half weeks into my "real diet", and I have lost two and half pounds! Since my goal is a pound a week, this is perfect. If I stay on track, I will hit my goal of 10 pounds before the wedding (or at least come damn close to it).


Last week I also exceeded my exercise goal, which is 3 days a week of 30 minutes or 207 calories each workout, so a total of 90 minutes and 620 calories in a week. Last week, I worked out 3 days for a total of 101 minutes and 826 calories! Ideally, I'd like to up my workout goal to 4 days a week, but I want to see how school stress goes before I make that kind of commitment.


The weird thing is, most of the time I don't really feel like I'm dieting. All I do all day is eat. I don't really feel like I'm depriving myself of anything - in fact, I'm cooking more and really enjoying it. My biggest concern is that I think about food CONSTANTLY. Everything is a decision. But I've gotten really good at fractions.


Here's what a typical day looks like:


Breakfast
Trader Joe's Oatmeal
Coffee (1 1/2 cups with 1/2 cup of warm skim milk)


Lunch
Two eggs, scrambled with peppers, onions and tomatoes
1 slice of Trader Joe's Soft 10 Grain Bread with margarine


Mid-Day Snack
Baby carrots
Mini Babybel Light Cheese
Trader Joe's Fat-Free Cottage Cheese


Dinner
Jambalaya with chicken breast and TJ's Garlic & Herb Chicken Sausage (no shrimp)


Dessert
1 Tbsp Jif Natural Creamy Peanut Butter
1 cup of Skim Milk


Water Count: 7 cups
Vitamin: TJ's Women's Once Daily
Exercise: Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred Level 1, ~254 calories burned


I actually went under calories on this day by 119 calories, so I gave myself half of a Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich... still under calories by 39 calories, still WAY under because of the workout calories earned.


How have your food habits changed so far this year? I hope you're making progress on any resolutions you have!

Old Habits Diet Hard: An Introduction

I love the new year. Gyms are overcrowded, grocery stores stock up on diet soda and other fake healthy items, and absolutely everyone is obsessing about their weight. Well, I never stop obsessing about my weight, but I suppose the hype gets to me a little more in January than the other months of the year. It surrounds us all. My family is a little bit more health-obsessed than usual right now; there's this little event coming up that we're all wanting to look our best for. Now, I know everyone in my family reads this so I'm not gunna go into their specific reasons and concerns, but suffice to say that we all want to look marvelous.

Last night I was looking through old pictures with my sister to find adorable baby pictures of her for the Rehearsal Dinner Slideshow, and I realized something about myself. I have had this tummy since the day I was born, and it's never gone away. I have struggled with my weight my entire life. Now, I've never been obese, and I don't claim to know what it's like to be unhealthfully heavy or feel mocked when I enter a room. But I certainly know what it's like to feel self-conscious in a bathing suit or worried that my summer clothes won't fit every year. I've wanted to lose 20 pounds for as long as I can remember... and I did, one summer, when I was really ill, and of course the minute I got better and stopped living solely on Rice Krispies, the weight came back. 

This year is going to be different. No more empty promises. I'm starting a new feature on this blog. I am going to hold myself publicly accountable for my weight loss. Today is Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 and I weigh 141 pounds. This is the year I'm going to get down to my goal weight, which has always been 125 pounds. By April 2nd, 2011 (my sister's wedding date), I will weigh 130 pounds. This is my year. Welcome to my new blog series.

I have a couple tools of the trade. This morning I downloaded the MyFitnessPal iPhone app. Now, I've tried calorie counting before, and I always fail within a week. But with this app, I not only have access to all of this nutritional information on the Internet but on my phone... which is on me at all times.

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I know there are a million calorie counting apps and websites out there. Here's why I picked MFP:

• It starts by asking you your current weight, goal weight, and how many pounds you want to lose per week. Based on this information, it gives you a daily calorie budget.
• It has a ton of brand name and restaurant food items stores in its system.
• It allows you to input new brand name, restaurant or home made food items into your personal food library.
• It tracks not only your calories, fat and protein, but also your other things like vitamins, iron and sodium... and the amount of water you drink! Hydration is magic.
• You can create customized meals so that if you eat something often, you don't have to add each ingredient individually
• You input exercise in addition to food - it even gives you credit for simple daily things, like carrying household items and slow walking. No one burns 0 calories a day!
• It's FREE! And comes highly recommended on the App Store.

I know it's only been a day, but so far I really like it! Got any weight loss tools that have really worked for you?