The Cost of Losing Weight

Monday's Nightline was devoted to the story of a mother who weighed 334 pounds and her son, an 11 year-old standing at 5'8 and weighing 249 pounds.

To secure spots at Wellspring Family Camp in Pinehurst, NC, the mother put $7,900 dollars on a credit card.

I feel sorry for that mother's $7,900 dollars because what the duo did to lose weight was, basically, exercise and track food by measuring everything in addition to writing down what they ate in a journal. Participants also had organized aerobics classes, early morning walks and were provided with a pedometer to encourage getting in 10,000 steps a day.

I liked the "Uncontrolled Bar," a food bar with fruits, soups and vegetables among other things. The staff reinforced an idea that Dr. Aronne often repeated in The Skinny:

You can have an unlimited amount of vegetables.

Wellspring's uncontrolled bar is not limited to vegetables though.

On a similar note, check out New York's ad campaign. If you're squeamish, don't click.

Are You Pouring On The Pounds?

The Skinny

After reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, I decided to give Louis J. Aronne's The Skinny on Losing Weight Without Being Hungry another try since I was still in learning about food mode.

I first saw Aronne on Late Night With David Letterman in a cheesy Biggest Loser-like segment. If my memory serves me, I believe that Aronne was one of the doctors on Letterman's quintuple bypass surgery team.

The cheesy segment initially made me go in search of Aronne's book since the Letterman staffer lost weight following Aronne's advice.

I like the front cover teasers:

Can't shed those pounds? It's not your fault. Dieting is not about willpower.

It's pleasing when I'm told things like it's not your fault.

One of the things that cracked me up was Aronne's oft-repeated mantra:

You can have an unlimited amount of vegetables.

No one ever tells you that you can have an unlimited amount of those delicious Ikea almond tarts.

Aronne's reinforcement of simple points stuck with me:

Choose the gym closet to your home.

Empty calories are fattening.

Lean protein is filling.

Low-calorie foods are filling.

They (liquids like soda) evade every calorie-detecting mechanism in your body.

...You just can't bully your body into losing the perfect amount of weight.

In Chapter 5, The Skinny Lunch Makeover, Aronne talks about the order of eating lunch: salad then vegetables then lean protein. To further illustrate his point, he puts the calorie count of some salad/vegetable items:

2 cups lettuce = 15 calories

An entire bell pepper = 30 calories

One large cucumber = 34 calories

1 cup mushrooms = 15 calories

1 cup broccoli = 30 calories

For those busy days, Aronne suggests having the following at-the-ready:

Bagged salad mix

Steam-in-a-bag vegetables

One or more Skinny-recommended frozen dinners

Aronne's recommendations for eating out at restaurants are beneficial.

The Skinny Resources are helpful too as are the Skinny Mini asides. Here's part of one:

Capsaicin, the active ingredient in cayenne and other hot peppers, may help you eat less by affecting levels of appetite-suppressing brain chemicals...

His whole person approach is refreshing:

Learn how to relax.

Don't do it (exercise) for vanity.

I'm starting now on the laughing/relaxation portion of the program.