April 7, 2011

Our Biggest Losers Revealed

Author: Maria Ali

At the beginning of 2011, the food bank challenged its employees to get healthier by shedding some extra weight, rightly so with the kickoff of the Pound for Pound Challenge. Sixteen employees committed themselves to the challenge for 12 weeks. “The Biggest Loser” would be the person who lost the greatest percentage of body weight.

Drumroll please…

Our Leading Overall Loser was our Vice President of Development Greg Higgerson! Greg lost approximately 30 pounds. Our Leading Female Loser was Jen Gibson! Jen lost approximately 15 pounds.

Here are some words Greg shared on his experience:

“One of the biggest [things I realized] was that I didn’t need to spend a single penny on special foods, pills or even a gym membership. Every bit of equipment that I needed to experience a healthy and sustained weight loss was already inside me. I’ve lost weight before utilizing various popular methods, only to gain it back over time. It’s always been so discouraging that I have been reluctant to even try it again. This time around I realized that I needed to work on my mind before I worked on my body.

I took some time and really allowed myself to consider what being too heavy has meant for both me and for my family. And then I thought about what it would mean in the future if I didn’t change things. Illness, disability, or worse for me, and a true burden on the people I love most. They don’t deserve that.

What they do deserve is a husband and father who actually has some energy left at the end of the day to be involved with their lives. I came to understand that for most of my marriage and my kids’ lives, I’ve been guilty of what songwriter Robert Earl Keen calls a ‘dreadful selfish crime.’ That my being overweight wasn’t something that ‘just happened to me,’ but was something that I have consciously or unconsciously chosen for myself. That’s when I realized that I could choose to do something different just as easily.”

“For me, doing something different has involved making smarter, more conscious decisions about the kinds of food I eat, and how much of it. I decided, for example, to become two-thirds of a vegetarian. Eat plant-based foods for two meals each day, and then have some meat (if I choose) with the third meal.

As someone who has gotten most of his vegetables on a Whopper with cheese over the past few decades, I expected that to feel like a sacrifice. It hasn’t. In fact, I now feel genuine cravings for salads and vegetables in ways that I’ve not before. I look forward to those plant-based foods, and often find myself skipping meat all together for a few days at a time just by chance. Doing something different has also meant getting off the couch in the evenings and moving my body.

 It’s meant dragging my rear end out the door after the kids are in bed to walk/jog three miles. I expected that to be a dreaded and painful routine as well, but it wasn’t. Not after the first week or so. In fact, I started looking forward to my hour on the road each night as an unwinding experience where I could hook up my ear buds and Pandora radio and start to experience my favorite music regularly again. It’s my ‘hour of peace’ each day. Now on nights when I can’t get out there for some reason, I miss it.”

“In short, I’ve been able to take some very bad habits and replace them with better habits that really aren’t any harder or more expensive than what I was doing before. And the result is that I feel better, I have more energy, I don’t snore as much anymore, and I’m even singing better in my band. All of these things add up to a big positive that I now don’t want to give up. Not ever.”

Hooray for Greg and Jen!! We hope their success will inspire you towards better health too! Thank you everyone for participating in the Pound for Pound Challenge.
Maria Ali, RD, LD/N
Nutrition Manager

March 31, 2011

Announcement: The Biggest Loser Winners!

Author: Maria Ali

Congratulations to…
The “Cheetah” -  Greg Higgerson
For taking 1st place overall as Biggest Loser

and

The “Peacock” - Jenn Gibson
For taking 1st place female Biggest Loser

Everyone, please congratulate our 2 leading “losers!!!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m so proud of Second Harvest’s Biggest Loser Team. They all deserve a pat on the back for making it a goal to get healthier in 2011. Everyone had their challenges but they all kept going!

Below is a graph of Second Harvest’s Biggest Loser’s total weight loss over the last 3 months.

Maria Ali, RD, LD/N
Nutrition Manager

March 24, 2011

Biggest Loser Week Tip 11: A Lasting Appetite

Author: Maria Ali

Hello Biggest Losers! 7 days left until our FINAL Weigh-In! The leading animals will finally be revealed.

Tip of the Week: A Lasting Appetite

Do you eat and feel hungry an hour later? After eating a meal, do you soon begin to feel like you want to doze off? What is the secret of having sustained energy and a more satisfied appetite?

The right balance of carbohydrates, protein, and fat in your meals and snacks will not only energize you, but will also help sustain your appetite until the next mealtime.

Here are some tips for a lasting appetite:

1. Avoid eating carbohydrates by themselves.
Many people enjoy snacking on foods like crackers, granola bars, and fruit. Carbohydrate-dense snacks rev you up but they don’t necessarily keep you up. A solution is to pair carbs up with protein. Convenient sources of protein include peanut butter, lowfat cheese, hard-boiled eggs, plain yogurt or even bean dip or hummus.  

2. Don’t stop moving after dinner.
Dinner tends to be many people’s largest meal of the day. Eat, lounge, eat again, then go to sleep. Sound familiar? If you’re trying to manage your weight, lounging and sleeping on hundreds of calories is not the way to do it. After dinner, relax then get back up and get moving. Walk the dog. Do some laundry. Just don’t sit on the couch the rest of the evening. Moving after a meal increases insulin sensitivity and helps control blood sugar levels, which can influence your appetite and prevent you from going back into the kitchen for a late night snack.

3. Avoid extra large portions.
Imagine a plate filled with spaghetti and meat balls or maybe even spaghetti with garlic bread. Is this what your plate looks like? If this is all you have on your plate, you likely are consuming oversized portions. Try to fill your plate with 3 types of food. Fill half with non-starchy vegetables (salad, summer squash, green beans, etc.) Fill one of the remaining quarters with protein (like your meat sauce) and the other quarter with a starchy food (like the noodles OR the garlic bread). This method helps ensure a well-balanced and proportioned meal that will keep you coasting through the rest of your day.
Maria Ali, RD, LD/N
Nutrition Manager

March 16, 2011

Biggest Loser Tip 10: Have you hit a plateau?

Author: Maria Ali

Biggest Losers! Woo-hoo! Only 2 weeks LEFT!!

I’ve heard some of you say the weight loss is starting to slow down. I know for some it’s because your motivation has dwindled. And for others, you’ve been pressing forward and you’re hitting what’s commonly referred to as a plateau. Fear not! Here are a few tips that will hopefully re-motivate you and encourage you to press through. You may not have lost as much as you wanted these last 10 weeks, but make the next 2 weeks count for more!

How to Overcome a Weight-Loss Plateau
By Mayo Clinic staff

If you’re at a plateau, you may have lost all of the weight you will given the number of calories you’re eating each day and the time you spend exercising. At this point, you need to ask yourself if you’re satisfied with your current weight or if you want to lose more, in which case you’ll need to adjust your weight-loss program. If you’re committed to losing more weight, try these tips for getting past the plateau:

- Reassess your habits. Look back at your food and activity [habits]. Make sure you haven’t loosened the rules, letting yourself get by with larger portions or less exercise.

- Cut more calories. Reduce your daily calorie intake by 200 calories — provided this doesn’t put you below 1,200 calories. Fewer than 1,200 calories a day may not be enough to keep you from feeling hungry all of the time, which increases your risk of overeating.

- Rev up your workout. Increase the amount of time you exercise by an additional 15 to 30 minutes. You might also try increasing the intensity of your exercise, if you feel that’s possible. Additional exercise will cause you to burn more calories.

- Pack more activity into your day. Think outside the gym. Increase your general physical activity throughout the day by walking more and using your car less, or try doing more yardwork or vigorous spring cleaning.

Read more: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss-plateau/MY01152

 

Maria Ali, RD, LD/N
Nutrition Manager

March 9, 2011

Biggest Loser Tip 9: Household Chores

Author: Maria Ali

Biggest Losers,

Are you ready to be done? Do you need to step it up? Do what you got to do. Be determined to finish this race better than you started.

Last week we inspired you to get moving, but did you ever realize how many calories you actually burn by simply staying active? Most of us know that we can burn major calories at the gym, but did you realize that you can mimic that in your own home? Doing the things you have to do anyways?

Kill two birds with one stone: “exercise” and finish your household chores all at the same time!   

How Household Chores Keep You in Shape
by PETA BEE, Daily Mail

You might not relish the idea of doing household chores, but new research claims that dusting, vacuuming and mopping with gusto are as good for you as any session at the gym.

So if you don’t have time to pump weights at the gym or attend Pilates classes, then substitute them with everyday household tasks or jobs in the garden.

They will stretch and tone your muscles, and you’ll burn up to 315 calories an hour – that’s more than twice as many as you would sitting in front of the television.

Sounds unbelievable? We put it to the test. The results are a scientific estimate of what a [140 pound] person would burn while doing the following activities at a comfortable pace, based on the calories burned in an hour per pound of body weight. If you push yourself very hard at, say, walking, add more calories.

And it should be remembered that since housework isn’t a good form of cardiovascular exercise, you will still need to work your heart and lungs with walking, swimming or cycling.

315 CALORIES
30 minutes of digging, or 45 minutes of cycling on flat ground
Digging uses the thigh and calf muscles; it is also a good form of cardiovascular exercise if you can keep it up continuously for ten minutes or more.

285 CALORIES
30 minutes of climbing stairs, or 19.5 minutes of skipping
Climbing stairs is a great cardiovascular activity. Do it several times a day and you are looking at a work-out equivalent to one you would get on the stepper at the gym.

225 CALORIES
30 minutes of raking leaves, or 37 minutes of ice-skating
Because you are pulling against a resistance (i.e. wet leaves), raking is a form of weight-training. It works all the major muscles in the legs and upper body.

200 CALORIES
30 minutes of scrubbing the bath, or 45 minutes of ballroom dancing
Getting rid of tide marks on the bath is not the most pleasant of household tasks, but it really works your bicep and tricep muscles in the arms. Particularly stubborn stains will guarantee you work up a sweat.

190 CALORIES
30 minutes of carrying shopping bags home, or 40 minutes of golf
Try to make sure you have evenly-weighted bags in each hand – or swop on the way home. Every now and then, rest the bags on the floor and then bend your knees before lifting them again. This simulates free weights at the gym.

160 CALORIES
30 minutes of painting and decorating, or 25 minutes of walking
Climbing up and down the step-ladder to reach nooks and crannies adds to the calories burned when you decorate. Wallpapering is an energetic activity too – applying paste and reaching up to put the paper on the walls works the upper body.

143 CALORIES
30 minutes of washing the car, or 32 minutes of yoga
It might take longer than whizzing your motor through the car wash at the local garage, but the advantages are that you will work you arms and abdominal muscles as you reach to clean the roof and other awkward places.

130 CALORIES
30 minutes of making beds, or 12 minutes of jogging on the treadmill
Although sheets and blankets tend to make for harder work, even shaking out a few continental quilts and puffing up pillows will add to your energy expenditure.

125 CALORIES
30 minutes of cleaning windows, or 21 minutes of power yoga
Obviously, the size and position of your windows has a big part to play in determining quite how effective this workout will be.

If you are using a bucket, don’t put it on the floor next to you, but leave it a slight distance away so that you have to reach to get it every time you need water.

115 CALORIES
30 minutes of weeding, or 13 minutes of weight training
All the bending down to pick out weeds from the garden means that you are working your thighs and buttock muscles. Try to make sure you don’t bend from the waist down, as it can strain your lower back.

110 CALORIES
30 minutes of shelving groceries, or 18 minutes of badminton
Tins of food can be replacement weights for a home workout, so understandably this chore will be taxing if you have shopped for heavy items.

105 CALORIES
30 minutes of loading the dishwasher, or 30 minutes of light stretching
OK, so putting your dirty dishes in a machine rather than washing them by hand is the easy way out, but believe it or not, the bending and reaching action will help you fight off the flab.

90 CALORIES
30 minutes of vacuuming, or 15 minutes of kick-boxing
Vacuuming works your arms because of the pushing and pulling it entails.

Do the entire house in one go rather than one room at a time – it will mean that you work up a real sweat.

80 CALORIES
30 minutes of preparing the dinner, or nine minutes of tennis
Chopping, grating and lifting dishes in and out of the oven in a steamy kitchen will burn calories. Follow with washing up and you have a work-out without leaving the kitchen.

71 CALORIES
30 minutes of ironing, or 11 minutes of step aerobics
Think of ironing as weight training for the upper body. Make sure that you stand up straight and work your arm muscles hard as you press down. And remember to change hands regularly, so that you don’t end up with one arm more muscular than the other.

50 CALORIES
30 minutes of dusting, or 10 minutes of salsa dancing
It may be less taxing than a lot of chores, but if you have a lot of high shelves or trinkets to be moved, then the calories burned will mount up.

Much of the benefit is in the stretching actions as you reach out with your duster.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-93697/How-household-chores-shape.html

Maria Ali, RD, LD/N
Nutrition Manager