Don’t be a typical female dieter! She’s insane…

This Blog post was written by Katie Simons, recent Fundamentals Graduate, she outlines her own experience with Paleo vs. Weight Watchers…

Why Female Dieters Don’t Lose Weight According to Me, A Former Female Dieter

Are you a woman who eats healthy and works out and still doesn’t lose weight?  Are you eating within the prescribed calorie range (or Points range for those Weight Watchers out there) and just don’t lose weight?  Do you eat lots of diet foods that are marketed towards women (cereals, cereal bars, yogurt, frozen yogurt, whole grain everything)?  Do you work out more, eat less and still the scale doesn’t budge?

I am a vigilant Weight Watcher.  I am a rule follower.  And I (insanely) track everything.  Most people don’t do this.  But I do.  The objective of this note is to show that you can eat within a prescribed calorie range (or in my case, Point range, for Weight Watchers) and STILL GAIN WEIGHT.

That was me.  That was me for all of 2010 and the first month of 2011 until I decided to learn more about WHY I wasn’t moving on the scale.  I mean, I was working out more than an hour and half a day (ask my roommate), eating my prescribed Weight Watcher points and I never lost weight.  I am within a healthy weight and BMI but I always wondered why I couldn’t lose those “last 5-10 lbs”.  But, once I made real changes by going to the Paleo lifestyle in February 2011, I have lost 6.5 lbs somewhat effortlessly in 6 weeks.  The Paleo lifestyle does not encourage tracking calories or carbs or anything but I am a skeptic so I tracked it just to see.  And wow – what did I see?  It’s all about the carbs.  I looked at the grams of carbohydrates instead of calories. And boom!  Weight fell off me.

They say the range for healthy weight loss is to have a daily carbohydrate intake of 50-100 grams.  This will allow you to lose 1-2 lbs of fat a week.  To maintain this weight loss, you can take in 100-150 grams.  Combined with moderate exercise, you are good to go.  Let’s see what the typical female dieter eats (the “old me”) and why she just isn’t losing weight….she is a calorie/points obsessed woman and it is killing her to restrict them WHILE she works out well over 45 minutes a day for 5 days a week and then, doesn’t see weight loss?  This is insanity.  And insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and seeing the same result.  Female dieting – which is consumption of mostly low fat, chemical-laced, refined carbohydrate-loaded foods – is insane.

I have done all the tracking for you to really drive home the point.  Like I said, most people don’t do this…and it’s easy to follow a simpler way of eating without tracking but for those skeptics out there, I weighed and tracked EVERYTHING for you.

The good female dieter is referred to as the “old me”.  “New me” is the Paleo girl who is actually losing weight and has taken herself off the carb/glucose roller coaster.  The latter is a stronger, healthier, more level-headed person.  And even though I said I would only do it for 30 days, I am sticking with it because I ate a cupcake last week and it was gross.  I cannot believe I just wrote that.  I was a SUGAR FIEND as you will see in the food journal of a typical day of the “old me”.

Please note: for my height and current weight, I have 29 Weight Watchers points to use per day.  If you work out, you are allowed to add Activity Points.  For the point of this exercise, I didn’t add Activity Points.  But just to give you an idea, if I work out intensely for an hour, I receive 12 Activity Points.  I only add 6 points so I can create the “deficit” for weight loss.  Or, so I thought….

Old me: Breakfast at 7:30 AM

• ¾ cup of Cheerios with ½ cup skim milk (4 Points) à 34 grams of carbs
• Small banana (0 Points) à 27 grams of carbs
• ½ cup reduced calorie orange juice (1 Point) à 13 grams of carbs
• Coffee, black* (0 Points) à 0 grams of carbs

Total Points: 5Total grams of carbohydrates: 74*If you add milk and sugar, think about how your totals might change.

So, the total for this typical female breakfast is only 5 Points Plus but it is 74 grams of carbs!  And this is only BREAKFAST.  And I bet – don’t lie – that you are hungry at least 2 hours later.  So, what would you grab?  Fruit?  A granola bar?  Yogurt?  Yogurt is so healthy, right?

So, okay, old me is starting the day with just 5 Points but 74 grams of carbs.  Remember, it’s 50 -100 grams of carbs for healthy weight loss…

Let’s get back to morning snack in a minute and examine a different breakfast with the new me…..

New me.  Breakfast at 7:30

• 3 eggs* with at least 1 cup of vegetables (typical for me is onions, mushrooms, tomato and spinach.  I like color!) in 1 Tbspn of  olive oil (11 Points) à 4 grams of carbs
• At least ½ cup steamed broccoli (0 Points) à  okay, maybe 0.5 gram carbs….
• 1 cup melon (0 Points) à 13 gram of carbs
• Coffee, black (0 Points) à 0 grams of carbs

Total Points: 11Total grams of carbohydrates: 17 grams*I don’t eat 3 eggs every day.  I only do this breakfast 2 times per week.  Usually, I just eat my leftovers from dinner for breakfast.  And someone at my office saw me eating spicy citrus shrimp with steamed veggies for breakfast and literally thought I was insane.

Woah!  Oh my gosh….that’s 11 Points on BREAKFAST??  Yeah, that’s what I thought too.  I can’t believe I am using that many points on breakfast.  Oh, no.  This is not good.  I am going to have to do another hour at the gym….but before official freak-out begins, let’s see how the day unfolds.

Okay, now, let the day start…

8:30AM:  Both “me’s” are fine.
9:30 AM:  Still, both “me’s” are fine.
10:30 AM:  Old me…is…..HUNGRY.  New me feels, well, totally fine.
10:31 AM: Old me wants…
10:32 AM: a Luna bar?
10:33 AM: pretzels?
10:34 AM: a yogurt?  YES!  A yogurt.  That’s HEALTHY!  But I have to push onto 11AM.
10:36 AM:  I have work to do but I am soooo  hungry.

[10:30-12:00 PM: By contrast, new me is working away (or screwing around on Facebook) and isn’t, well, hungry!]

Old Me: 10:38 AM Snack for old me

Yogurt!  Woo hoo!  I bought the really healthy Stoneyfield Farm Cherry Greek Style yogurt because it’s organic, it says “healthy” on the package and it’s from New England; I am a good, loyal New Englander who will support local businesses.

Total Points: 5 PointsTotal grams of carbohydrates:  27 gramsNew me – nope…no snack.  I am fine, thank you!  Plus, there’s lots of crap in the ingredient list that don’t sound very healthy.  Like “organic sugar”??  Sugar is never healthy so why are you lying on the package, Mr. Stoneyfield?

Let’s compare the old and the new

So, okay.  I see how this works – because I ate a bigger breakfast filled with foods that didn’t make me crash and burn, I don’t need a snack.  So, points wise, it’s basically a wash.  But waiiiiiiiit a minute…..do you remember the part about effective weight loss and the number of grams of carbohydrates to allow this to happen?  It’s between 50-100 grams of carbohydrates.  The old me is already at the limit!!!!  And it’s not even noon!

Okay, now, it’s lunch time.  The new me is hungry now.  It’s noon.  The old me just had a yogurt so let’s wait until, well, 12:30.  Since the new me is eating first, let’s look at that lunch.

New Me: Lunch 12:00 PM

• 4oz pork loin from Trader Joe’s (3 Points) à 0 grams of carbs
• 1 cup steamed green beans (0 Points) à 4 grams of carbs
• ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce (0 Points) à 12 grams of carbs
• ½ cup blueberries (0 points) à 6 grams of carbs

Total Points: 3Total grams of carbohydrates: 22I guess I could have had more pork but really, that was enough.  I was satisfied.

Old Me: Lunch 12:30

Now, I never ate frozen meals, but a lot of female dieters do.  Here are the stats on a Weight Watcher Smart One.

Spicy Szechuan Style Vegetables and ChickenTotal Points: 6otal grams of carbohydrates: 3838!  Holy cow – that’s more than I thought.  But hey, you are in target with your Points.  It’s only 6 points.  But don’t those Smart Ones seem small?  I dunno.  That’s just me.  Plus, remember when everyone thought airplane food was gross?  NOW, all of a sudden, everyone wants airline food back.  Maybe it’s because we are so used to eating frozen dinners in the past 20 years of so….anyway, I think frozen food is icky.  Always have, always will.

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The old me actually never really ate that stuff so to keep it real, I used to pack a pretty good meal that had a meat, a starch and some vegetable, usually frozen.

• 4 oz chicken with BBQ sauce (5 Points) à 12 grams of carbs (for the BBQ sauce not the chicken)
• ½ cup quinoa with mixed veggies (3 Points) à 20 grams of carbs
• “Healthy Weight” frozen veggies, half the bag (2 Points) à 7 grams of carbs
• 2 chocolate Nips [no, not booze…I wish….but those hard chocolate candies] (2 Points) à 11 grams of carbs*

*I JUST looked this up because I don’t eat Nips anymore.  ELEVEN grams!!!  What a waste for such a tiny thing!

Total Points: 12Total grams of carbohydrates: 50Let’s see the totals after lunch between old and new me’s:

You see what I am trying to prove here…..the Point totals are pretty dead on and it’s even less for the new me even though I am probably eating more food.  But look at the grams of carbohydrates taken in!  Now, for me, I work out like a maniac so I am pretty confident that the old me was able to get away this type of load because of 2 hours in the gym every day (and I am not exaggerating – ask my roommate).  But my God, I did so much work to consume food that didn’t fill me and wasn’t satisfying.  The new me – well, I work out for less time (but WAY more intensely) and eat fuel that’s better for me athletically AND promotes a lean, strong body.  Gosh, I wish I knew about this years ago!

But the day is not done.  And I know that I love dinner.  So, let’s see how the rest of the day goes.

3PM – I think it might be snack time.  But, well, let’s wait until 4PM because the old me works out at 6PM and it’s better to get that snack two hours before the gym.  I can wait.

The new me works out at 6AM so I might just have a snack.  [btw, this change in workout time was due more to convenience and getting sick of eating dinner past 9PM and not going out after work when I live in the coolest city in the entire world…but I don’t really think it matters when you work out.  However, I heard theories it’s best to work out in the morning and well, I have dropped all this weight with morning workouts, so who knows…I have found that I actually like morning workouts now.]

New me: Snack 3PM

• 1 ounce mixed nuts (5 Points) à 4 carbs
• 1 can tuna fish with wasabi mustard (2 Points) à 0 carbs
• Apple (0 Points) à 12 carbs

Total Points: 7Total grams of carbohydrate: 16Old Me: Snack 4 PM

• Snackwells, duh!  The snack pack kind that comes out of a vending machine (6 Points) à. 38 grams of carbs

Total Points: 6Total grams of carbs: 38 (YOWZERS!!! Again, low fat…thought I was being healthy)Okay so back to the comparison chart

FYI – the old me is officially in “weight gain” mode according to my carb intake.  However, I work out a lot.  I think this prevented me from really gaining.  But it explains a LOT.  I wondered for over a YEAR why I work out all the time, but stay the same weight.  And I just thought, well, that’s how my body is.  No, it’s NOT!  It’s the fuel that I am putting in my body!!!  The quality of that fuel is much better now….now, I eat less, workout less* and I am losing weight.  THIS. IS. AWESOME.

*less time at the gym but WAY more intensely.

Time for dinner….oh wait, the old me has to work out.  I am going to take the hour long Total Body Conditioning class and then, spinning.  I can add nearly 24 Points!  But I am a good Weight Watcher and I only add half those Activity Points.  The new me worked out in the morning doing CrossFit for 45 minutes.  I got 10 points and add 5 points to my total.  But this is weird – the new me doesn’t always use the extra Activity Points because the food I eat is so filling!  For the purposes of this activity, I am not going to add Activity Points but you get the drift.

New Me: Dinner around 7:30 or 8 PM

• Spicy citrus shrimp (5 Points) à 20 grams of carbs
  • 6 shrimp (0.5 oz)
  • Freshly squeeze orange juice
  • Garlic, onions, little bit of honey, red pepper
  • Oil
• Kale with bacon (1 Point) à 1 gram carb
• 0.5 oz nuts with strawberries and blueberries (2 Points) à 17 grams of carbs

Total Points: 8 PointsTotal grams of carbs: 38 grams**This might be a little high for dinner….might make more veggies and less fruit for dinner.  But hey, the new me is still figuring this out.

Dinner – Old me eats at 9:15 PM and ravenous after a hard workout.  For a while though, I was eating dinner before working out and having a little snack after the workout.  But that never worked.  I always ate a ton after working out.

• Sauteed shrimp 0.5 oz (4 Points with oil) à 0 grams carbs
• ½ cup whole wheat past (3 Points) à 17 grams carbs
• Other half of Healthy Weight veggies (2 Points) à 7 grams carbs
• Weight Watcher Chocolate Latte Bar (2 Points) à 25 grams carbs
  • Honestly, I would eat 2 of them.  It’s only 2 points and remember, I worked out that night.  I’m not going to add the points or grams of carbs but I could easily have reached for another one.

Total Points: 11Total grams of carbohydrates:  49

So, here it is.  I was consuming nearly the same amount of Points.  But LOOK at the carb totals!!!!!!!!!!!  No wonder I was working out so hard at the gym; if I didn’t work out at the gym, I would be gaining 1.5 lbs a year.  Which doesn’t sound like a lot, but over time, it is.  But what’s really troubling is how mentally frustrating it is to work out all the time and struggle (and I mean, struggle) to maintain a healthy weight.

I am quoting Mark’s Daily Apple here:

“150-300 grams/day – Steady, Insidious Weight Gain

Continued higher insulin-stimulating effect prevents efficient fat burning and contributes to widespread chronic disease conditions. This range – irresponsibly recommended by the USDA and other diet authorities – can lead to the statistical US average gain of 1.5 pounds of fat per year for forty years.”Well, that was ME!!!!!!!!!!!  I am 5’11”.  I believe that if I ever stopped working out and I continued with my former diet, I think I would become a large and in charge 60 year old woman who would be fighting NOT TO HIT TWO BUCKS!  Can you even imagine???  Or, I would be a 60 year old woman who doesn’t have time for anything other than working out so that I could support such a diet.

It just seems to me that this eating pattern is like people who overspend what they earn and always have to get extra jobs here and there to make ends meet.  It’s so exhausting!  And that’s how people are eating; they eat all this crap then have to work out all the time and then, they are tired ALL THE TIME.  It’s such a terrible lifestyle.  And I don’t want to live it anymore…

So, you might be thinking –yes, Katie, you are RIGHT.  But a) I can’t live a life without bagels and Danon key lime pie yogurt and b) wow, this is fascinating but Katie is insane because there is no way I am tracking all this stuff.  Well, I say, a bagel or key lime pie artificial chemically-laced yogurt isn’t all that great and try a steak instead.  And as for the tracking everything, here’s where it gets easy.  From my findings, I don’t have to track all carbs because here are the basic rules that I learned from compiling my own data.  (I did all the math just to show you the point because I think testimonials without data are worthless.)  So, here’s the scoop:

• Eat meat or seafood – stay within 4-8 ounces
• Eat tons of vegetables and you can sautee, roast, grill them in REAL OIL
• Eat fruit but not a ton.  From best to “worst”: Berries, melon, apple, citrus, exotic fruits (bananas, mango,. etc)
• Don’t eat crap.  Let me define crap:
  • anything in a package that says it’s healthy (read on to my old morning snack entry) Well, actually, anything out of a cardboard package, in general
  • anything that wasn’t made in nature
  • anything that has something in the ingredient list that you can’t pronounce or looks like a term from a chemistry class
  • usually the stuff in the aisles of the market – shop the perimeter

Also, I do indulge but only once in a while.  And truthfully, I lost the taste for the stuff I used to love.  You can do this.  If you want to lose weight and not have to work so darn hard, I think this is the way.  Eat more, workout less – but more intensely – and enjoy “real food” again.  Don’t be a typical female dieter!!!  She’s insane.