Readers' weight loss tips are fantastic

I'm continuously surprised that my "fight to be fit" campaign on this blog and in the newspaper has garnered so much attention, more than I ever imagined. I'm so grateful for the phone calls, e-mails, cards and kind words in person when you spot me at the gym. The support is AWESOME, but more than that, it's cool to know that so many people are on similar journeys of their own. So please, keep it all coming, especially the tips.

Which brings me to today's post. Here are a few tips given to me by readers that I think are pretty fantastic.

1. I'm a night eater. Right around 8 p.m., I get the urge to go snack on something. A coworker told me she is, too, and so after dinner, when she knows she's not going out anymore, she goes and puts on her pajamas. It's sort of a mind trick that gets her thinking about bedtime rather than snack time. I've tried this, and it really works for me. I also go up to my room to watch TV and play on the computer so that the kitchen is far away.

2. One reader suggested I try lemon juice and pepper on my salads instead of fat free dressing. It cuts about 100 calories, and it's delicious. I also like the salad sprays by Wishbone. Ten calories!

3. Do you have a sweet tooth? A reader told me she hated dieting because it felt like she could never eat anything sweet. So her trick was to buy strawberries, strawberry yogurt and low-fat granola. When she gets a sweet craving, she makes her own homemade parfaits that are about 200 calories, and it cuts her craving. I LOVE parfaits. Kwik Trip has them premade for 280 calories. I stock up and have them for breakfast.

4. One reader said she read my column about having four glasses of wine one night and offered a tip for another kind of drink. She suggested using diet soft drinks in place of full-sugar when ordering mixed drinks. Like a Diet Coke and bacardi is about 80 calories, whereas a full sugar version could be twice that if not more.

5. After reading my blog entry about "wishful closet organizing," where I talked about gazing at clothes that don't fit yet, a reader told me that she always keeps one shirt hung up in her closet in plain site that she doesn't fit into yet. Every time she loses a few more pounds, she tries on the shirt. When it finally fits, her reward is to wear the shirt to the mall, where she buys another pretty shirt that doesn't quite fit yet. The incentive keeps her going.

Keep the tips coming, everyone! I'm using a lot of them.

Mysterious foot injury is ticking me off

I have a heel injury that's totally throwing off my game. I don't even know how it happened, although I suspect it was on the elliptical last week. All of a sudden I realized, after I took off my shoes, that it hurt like hell to step down onto my left foot. It hurts worst first thing in the morning when I get out of bed.

I know it sounds like a small thing, but think about the number of cardio exercises that depend upon a functioning pair of feet. Ellipical and treadmill are two of my go-tos, and I've been having to avoid them the past couple of days. I could work through the pain, I'm sure, but I don't want to prolongue or worsen the injury.

So today I did the bike for 20, then did some strength-training for half an hour on the machines, then did another 20 on the bike. My intention was to stay off the darn thing as much as possible today, but the weather was so unbelievably gorgeous that I ended up taking my dog for a long walk, so I guess I blew it.

I don't think I'll mention it to Jackie. I want to get 100 percent out of our workouts together, and they just wouldn't be as hard without all the crazy jumping around on stuff.

Anyway, I'm taking suggestions on good cardio workouts that allow me to keep off my heel. Anyone? Anyone? ... Bueller?

P.S. The blog title on The Free Press home page is a bit vague. "My foot hurts. Can I go to the nurse?" is a line from "Clueless," which I watched over and over again in my teen years. Just thought I'd clear that up. Yeah ...

High-impact Cardio Torture Day about killed me

There are two kinds of training days with Jackie: strength-building days and high-impact cardio circuit training. (I'm actually not sure if that's how she would describe the latter, but that's the effect it has on my body.)
On Monday I was warned: "I spent some time writing new workouts this weekend," she said, "and on Wednesday I'm going to kick ... your ... butt."

The past two days my mind has wandered back to those words, including early this morning when I was sitting at home eating a banana before heading to the gym. My eyes flashed to my cell phone. "Maybe I could text her that my car won't start. It's 10 below, so it's a good excuse."

I didn't do that. I went to the gym. I faced the music. And, going with that metaphor, if one were to liken exercise to music, Mozart this was not. More like death metal. Korn maybe. Yes, this was a Korn workout today. I might have even been able to hit some of those throaty, screamy notes.

On strength days, most of the work is stationary. There are segments of cardio between the segments of lifting, but the majority of the emphasis is on the muscles to perform. It's still hard and very effective. And my heartrate goes up and stays up most of the time. But it's manageable.

High-impact cardio circuits like today, to me, are not manageable. I hug the concrete beams for support. I walk in circles trying to catch my breath. I sweat all over the Bosu. My heart beats out of my chest. Today, twice, I revisited my banana and warned Jackie that I might have to dart over to the garbage bin and yack. I was serious, too. My stomach was warning me: "Do one more burpee, I dare you. I'll spray banana all over this mutha."

How does Jackie achieve this affect? Cardio circuits that really aren't broken up by large amounts of strength-training. Meaning, I'll do 15 mountain climbers with the Bosu and then go right into lunges and then repeat three times. That might be followed by a segment involving burpees, or jumping squats or leg lifts.

It all sounds so innocent on paper, as does the tiny Bosu just laying there on the floor, like a toy you'd bounce around on when you were a kid. But I've learned that anything in the world can become an object of torture when involved in some sort of lifting, squatting, crunching or kicking-back and jumping scenario.

I drove home, showered and even a half an hour later, my face is still red. Today, Jackie meant business.

She did give me an idea that I really liked today, though. She suggested that I set up an awards system. I should set benchmarks along the way to my goal, and when I reach each, I get some sort of award, and I should set that award ahead of time so that I know what I'm working toward. That sounds really fun! Now I just have to think of prizes.

...How about when I hit 30 pounds, I get to CHOOSE whether the next training session with Jackie is strength-training or high-impact cardio torture? Think she'd go for that? : )

Oh my ... IT'S GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SEASON

Here's to more good days than bad

A couple of weeks ago I did some "wishful closet organizing." My weight has fluctuated so much over the past few years, that I have a range of sizes and many items of clothing that I gaze at but haven't been able to fit into. I organized and displayed the items in several categories.
1. Clothes I fit in now but hope to someday donate to charity when I'm wayyyyy to skinny.
2. Clothes I love that I almost fit into but can't quite pull off.
3. Clothes that I'm months from squeezing into, but damn it, I'm going to again.

Small victory this morning when I pulled an old favorite from category 2 and put it on. It fit, and I didn't feel like I had a giant spare tire sticking out when I sat down. So, the item is now going into category 1, and I'm kind of struttin' my stuff a little bit today wearing it.

It's really all about the small victories, isn't it?

Now let's talk about set backs. My last post was about alcohol and how it's so hard to stop at just one drink. Being social in America tends to revolve heavily around what one puts into their mouth. You gather around a table, and drinks start coming and coming and then there are appetizers and then more drinks. It's crazy. And it can be easy to leave a bar having added 1,000 calories to an otherwise healthy day.

Here's a tip from my trainer I find helpful. When she knows she's going out, she tries to work in an extra workout beforehand. That way her metabolism is up and also she's burned some of the calories she's planned on consuming.

Here's a tip from me, which I have learned over various years of terrible diets. Don't let that bad night derail you. My MO is this: I start a diet. I do well for a few days. I have a bad day, and for whatever reason, the next day I say, "Well, I'll just have the rest of the ice cream I bought yesterday and then I'll be good tomorrow." This pattern of thinking continues until I'm no longer with the program at all.

Routine is a dieter's best friend. If you go off the tracks for a day, get right back on and you will have done very little damage.

It's a marathon, peeps! It's OK to stumble as long as you keep running.

The momentum test

I'm going to be bold and say that anyone can diet for a month. For any of you who haven't reached a month before quitting, trust me, so have I. But when you're in that determined state of mind, a month is fairly easy.

I call it the Diet Momentum. It's a serge of stick-to-it-iveness that fills your mind with only positive thoughts. "I can do this. I will. There's no going back now. I'll never see this number on the scale again."

The true test of will comes when routine sets in, achievements have been made, however minor, and your brain loses that cloud of determination. It's a tricky time because you've got to keep up the momentum without that incredible drive that kickstarted you like a bat out of hell. Truly now, after a little more than a month, this is when the hard part sets in.

I will admit, I had one bad night. I was talking with my trainer about the occasional glass of wine, and she said it's not terrible. The trick is to stop at one. Alcohol and inhibition, as many of us know, are best friends. So I went out one night with my day's worth of calories within the boundary I have set for myself. And I decided to have a glass of Cabarnet, my favorite kind of red wine. After not having a drop of alcohol for over a month, one made me feel pretty good. Which made one lead to two and then three and, yes, a fourth. Four glasses of wine.

Guess how many calories that adds to the day? 500. More than a typical meal for me.

What have I learned? I'm not ready yet. In this critical stage of weightloss when the momentum is waning and my will is tested, I don't need anything to make it harder.

Cabarnet, I'll see you in a few months.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for ...

Today, as you may know, is the one-month mark on my "flight to be fit," as one reader put it. As such, today was the day I weighed-in at the Y on the Iron Man scale for my one-month progress report.

Drum roll, please ...

My one-month weight-loss is: 18 pounds!!! I lost 18 pounds in just one month, which is actually MORE than my last 500-calorie-per-day crazy diet fad. So, seriously people, even though I was one of those girls who rolled their eyes when someone said "Eat less and move more is the only surefire way to lose weight," I'm now a believer.

I feel like I should give an acceptance speech or something. I'd like to thank my mom who always believed I could do it, and my trainer, Jackie, who kicks my butt twice a week, and ... maybe I should save the speeches for when I hit my final goal.

Anyway, I'm away from the office this week, so I won't be posting again for a few days. But don't worry, I'm not going to go on a celebratory doughnut bender or anything.