Saturday Morning Weigh In

I was down 1.8, which officially eliminates my .6 & .8 gains and then some. I'm a happy camper!
I want at least a 2lb loss to report next week. I am oooonnnn!

I've started a six week challenge with some friends. We've all agreed to do our best to lose 10 lbs over the next six weeks. If we all hit that target, we're going out for dinner. Now, I know we're supposed to celebrate our weight loss triumphs with non-food rewards, but this is special. It's an excuse to have a celebratory dinner with friends and work together on a goal. We have six weeks to think of what we'd like to eat on that day. The whole deal is this: What would you really want to eat if it had zero consequences, no points to track, no hours on the treadmill etc etc.. That will be what you will have provided the 10 lbs is shed. Now there really is no way we can know for certain that each person lost 10 lbs, so we'll work on the honor system. Besides, it would feel kind of crummy to go knowing that you're lying to everyone there. The only one anyone would really be cheating is themselves.

On another note, one of the "Smart for Life" girls at work really proved that this diet isn't so smart after all. The poor thing ended up passing out at her desk. When she finally came to, I gave her a banana to eat to get her sugar up. When the paramedics arrived, they asked her if she had any history of blood pressure issues, diabetes, etc etc. I explained that she has been on a new weight loss regime. The paramedic grabbed the bag of cookies to read the nutritional information and his words were " What the bleeping bleep is this?!?!?!??!?! No wonder she fainted, her energy levels are depleted" The banana eventually worked it's magic and she managed to get a few more hours in at the office before going home.

The whole diet is as follows. Eat six of these cookies per day, followed by 3oz of lean meat (chicken or fish) and vegetables. You are guaranteed to lose at least 12 lbs a month. Each cookie counts for 100 calories, so at the end of the day you've only ingested 800 calories. This is absolutely insane. I could eat 800 calories a day on my own and save myself the $300/month it costs on cookies.

I work with four girls who are following this diet. I was getting a little fed up of them knocking Weight Watchers, because what they don't understand is that Weight Watchers is not a diet. It is a life style change. You will have to eat forever. You can't eat cookies forever. The brain has to be conditioned first and foremost. As much as I argue the benefits they are all simply looking for a get thin quick fix. I don't want to be there saying I told you so. It sounds mean, but I'm sort of glad something like this happened so they could see what kind of a toll this can take on your health.

I highly doubt that anyone who has ever been on a crash diet maintained the loss.