Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Weigh-in Tuesday, plus a surprise at IHOP!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  And it is a happy Tuesday indeed.  Today I'm down 3 more pounds, for a total of 37 pounds, which is over 10 percent of my starting body weight!



10 percent may sound like kind of a small number.  But considering that in order to hit "normal" weight (not obese/overweight) I have to lose 50% of my starting weight... that means I'm actually 1/5 of the way there.

I tried to look up what 36 pounds (my 10%) looks like, but I got bupkis in that department.  In the process, I did manage to stumble upon the grossest weight-loss motivation tool I've ever seen.  I am sparing you all the photos of My Pet Fat (an anatomical model of what an ounce, 1 pound or 5 pounds of fat looks like) because I'm hoping some of you have eaten breakfast today and I don't want to deprive you of your nutrition (or ruin your keyboards).

Calories this week were good across the board... though, actually, I was below my calorie goal a few days this week, and I'd rather stay as close to it as possible.  I don't have any desire to freak out my metabolism.  That red line is 1500 (and my typical aim is 1400.)  Funny to see that my appetite has a pattern.  More, less, less, more, less, less, more...



One very exciting (but slow-moving) figure is my BMI.  Since I started January 11, I'm down 6 full BMI points.  Every day I approach a more normal weight.  There's a long way to go (4/5 of the way to go, really.)  But I've already come so far.



I'm actually a little surprised that my number was as low as it was today.   I was expecting a slow week because last night I ate a late-late dinner.  A very reasonable one, but a late one.  As I've gotten used to the process of weighing in, I've seen exactly how late eating affects a morning scale!

But I didn't mind the late dinner.  I was out celebrating Peter Haskell's posthumous win of Best Director at the LA Weekly theater awards last night.  It was such a thrill to be there with his family (his daughter Audra is a dear friend of mine, and I loved Peter so much.)  His show won all three of the awards it was nominated for - so well-deserved for a career waged passionately in the arts.

After the ceremony we headed out to the nearest open restaurant... the International House of Pancakes, where I hadn't been in many years.  We were excited to discover that IHOP has displayed all calorie counts on their menus.  So many of the dishes make up about 100% of my daily allotted calories, but fortunately they have clearly labeled "Simple & Fit" items which are really quite reasonable.  I had the S&F roasted veggie egg-substitute omelet with a side of fruit for 320 calories, which was surprisingly delicious.  Audra chose an S&F entree too, chicken with balsamic and mushrooms - I can't vouch for it but it definitely looked tasty.

No photos of our food, but my omelet actually did look similar to IHOP's food stylist's.

I really appreciate the effort that some restaurants are putting into offering healthy options.  And I think that more of them should do so.  Come on, restaurateurs.  If IHOP can do it, you can, too.

5 comments:

  1. I was so stoked to learn Denny's has veggies options too (discovered it this past summer while roadtripping). Glad to see you are doing so well Heidi! Keep goin ya ya ya!!! <3

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  2. So happy for you, for the Haskell clan, and for yummy healthy options!

    FYI, the calorie on the menu thing is a new California law. It will be interesting to see what kind of effect it has on restaurant fair. Will people start avoiding those 4-digit dishes, leading to more reasonably-portioned options to appear on menus. Wouldn't that be nice!

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  3. Love! Super proud of you :)

    Also, love the calorie law... I think it will successfully change perceptions of portion sizes and portion control.

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  4. Very true! I love this!

    Amazing job on the loss!

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