5-Bite Diet?!?

It's been a while since I've blogged in here, but I posted my thoughts on this diet on Facebook and MySpace, so why not here? Here it is:

I couldn't resist tearing a new one on this deal.

I took a couple days off because of my grandfather's passing. There isn't going to be a funeral or anything, but I thought I should at least spend some time with my family over the next two days.
On any day I have off, I got up, washed some dishes, turned on the TV, and what? "We're going to have Dr. Alwin Lewis to talk about the new 5-bite diet." That grabbed my attention immediately.

In a nutshell, here's what it is: You can eat whatever you want! Yes, you can (in a non-Obama-type way because I don't want to offend B.O. by that association)! But...you have to skip breakfast, and you can only have 5 bites for lunch and 5 bites for dinner. You can have unlimited (low-calorie) teas, colas, coffee, water, etc. for the day. By doing this, you're supposed to lose weight and change what your stomach considers as "full". This can be 5 bites of a Big Mac for lunch and 5 bites of a tub of lard for dinner...just as long as it's five bites. "It's better than getting gastric bypass surgery and works the same way" (this "doctor's" golden argument of the diet).

Ok, let's briefly forget the fact that you're starving yourself here because that's completely obvious to EVERYONE.
1. You're skipping breakfast. It's not like it was some made-up garbage or part of a fad diet when doctors and nutritionists said breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It jump-starts your metabolism for the day. If you skip it, then what? Not only do you not get that metabolism kick, you're robbing yourself of the energy you need for the day. You get the most bang out of your buck with breakfast if you eat within one hour of waking up.

2. You're not taking in enough calories. If your caloric-intake for the day is in the hundreds, you're starving yourself. Plain and simple. Take it from someone who struggled with anorexia for six years of her life until she realized this is no way to be healthy. Yeah, I lost weight eating less, but was I any healthier? No. In fact, I was probably worse off then than I ever was in my life health-wise.

3. You're not getting the nutrients your body needs. This guy claims that you can do this safely as long as you take a multi-vitamin every day for your nutrients. He also says the reason why it's ok for obese people is because they "have too many nutrients" and need to cut back. WHAT?!? Their obesity has nothing to do with having too many vitamins and essential nutrients. They're not eating properly (i.e. the McDonald's diet) and exercising. Of course, health problems (thyroid, for instance) and age can affect it, as well, if you are on a good nutritional plan and exercising regularly. If you're not even trying though, there's no excuse.
I think it's common sense that a person is going to benefit more from vitamins and nutrients coming naturally than through a pill. A multi-vitamin can only do so much for you. You know, they're called supplements for a reason: They SUPPLEMENT. I think someone needs to show this "doctor" the definition of that word.

4. You may lose weight, but you're not getting healthier. Going back to point #2, you're starving yourself and not just of calories but proteins, carbs, etc. These are essential things your body needs throughout the day. Eating 5 bites of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese is not going to have the same nutritional value as eating grilled tilapia on with some brown rice. But when we're talking about this diet, I guess the better I eat, the more starved I'm going to be, so I'd pick high-calorie foods to compensate.
It's not all about how MUCH we're eating but WHAT we're eating. This guy is trying to capitalize on saying the only problem here is that we just eat too much, and it has nothing to do with what we're eating. It has been PROVEN that if you pay attention to what it is you're eating and eat properly (even sans exercise), you'll be healthier. Starving yourself doesn't do it. Been there, done that; doesn't work! And not only that, it screws you up mentally. I can't even begin to go into the layers of problems that creates.

I found it interesting that someone who was trying to back up the diet wrote this in a comment on a website: "Many anorexics/bulimics/compulsive over eaters are having success with this diet. Loosing 15-30lbs every two weeks." Do they realize that they mentioned people with anorexia and bulimia as having success with the diet? Why should they be starving themselves anyway? I thought their problem was they needed to gain weight and/or get some help from a psychiatrist.

I guess I'm so passionate about this because I've had to deal with the absolute mental and physical tortures you put yourself through when you don't eat enough. I know anorexia is a different animal than just doing one of these diets, but it perpetuates the problem and could cause it in people who wouldn't have become anorexic otherwise.

As people in the Beachbody community (or otherwise), I think it's so important for us to impress good nutrition even more so when diets like these (don't even get me started on the acai berry diet) pop up. People who are uneducated in this area will jump right on this wagon and potentially destroy their bodies and lives. It's sad but true...

Fitness?

I haven't posted here in almost two months, which makes me wonder if I should even continue. I used to have so many things to talk about (ok, complain about) when I still worked in retail, but I haven't for almost a year now. I don't come in contact with people who get my goat on a regular basis, and I don't have to deal with back-to-school shoppers or the Christmas rush. Some part of my brain misses sharing all that with you, but I certainly don't miss it enough to ever work in retail again. Thankfully, I've been at a job I love where the people are terrific, and I get paid a lot more and put up with little to no bull crap for almost a year, and I don't plan on ever giving that up.

My main focus has been on fitness since the beginning of February when I started this journey with P90X. I never dreamed that I'd get so involved with it when I started. I remember writing that blog and feeling fed-up with feeling tired and not wanting to eat. I was falling in and out of anorexia and therefore, my weight was going up and down, up and down. On top of that, I wasn't happy going to the gym. Even though I was underweight, I still was embarrassed to lift in front of anyone. You would expect those feelings to come from someone who was obese and ashamed of their body. Well, I wasn't obese, but I still felt like I was. It was like talking to a brick wall to convince me otherwise. Sometimes you just have to figure things out for yourself or be lucky enough to have something speak to you. P90X was it for me.

Now I've been spending a lot of my time trying to get other people involved. I became a coach on Beachbody a couple months ago, and I've been able to meet some people through that and sell products. However, I still want more. I've been milling over what to do fitness-wise with any extra time I have. Summer is quickly coming to an end, and people are going to end up in their fitness slump. Not many people want to work out until January 1st comes around. I'm especially having a hard time finding people that like to work out in Erie, Pennsylvania (if that's you, let me know). I think there are a lot of people who are unhappy with how they look and feel, but they'd rather do the quick fix of a diet pill and not put some real effort into it. I don't have a success story where I went from fat to thin, but I know of people who have doing these programs, and it's inspiring.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to start up some P90X classes or something along those lines. Finding people around here would be difficult, but I think if they really wanted to get in shape for next summer, now would be the time to start. If you do want to get involved, please let me know. I'm having the worst time finding any fitness-minded people in this area. Anyone that may know of a way I could get these classes going, please let me know. I sort of feel like I'm stuck.

More P90X/Beachbody News...and I'm Still Alive

I know it's been an incredibly long time since I've written on here, but my blogging has gone by the wayside lately, and something else has replaced it. I think it's kind of obvious what that thing may be...*cough*P90X*cough* I'm already about halfway through my second round of it, and I've become really engrossed in the whole program and the community of people I've able to meet through it.

Over the past month or so, I'd really been considering taking it a step further. Heck, I already have the license plate, and people are sending me messages almost on a daily basis to ask exercise/health-related questions. I'd been thinking about becoming a coach on the Beachbody website. I had been asked several times by random people if I was already a coach, so it made me think about it a little more. I kept questioning myself on whether or not I could do it, but I guess I didn't need to ask that because I've already been doing that for free the past month or two without even thinking about it. So yesterday I took the plunge and signed up to be a coach, and I'm now waiting for my little start-up kit to show up in the mail. I don't really care so much about making money through this, but I thought it would be a nice opportunity to share what I'm passionate about and help other people at the same time. It sounds kind of cheesy, but that's really where I am with this. All due thanks need to go to one guy for giving me that extra push to sign up: Jason "Puckhead" Diebold. Check out his site because he's an awesome coach and person.

Also, I was contacted a couple weeks ago by someone from Beachbody, and he put a cool opportunity on the table for me that I couldn't pass up. Nothing is official so far, but I'm supposed to find out the final word in a couple weeks, and I couldn't be more anxious. If it goes through successfully, it's going to be one of the biggest events to happen in my life. I am just looking forward to the wheels it's going to give to me to spread this whole program around this area because--as you can see--I'm extremely passionate about it, and most people in Erie haven't a clue what P90X is. I'm just praying all goes well. If not, I still have the coaching, and I'm more than happy to have a voice through that.

I'll keep you guys updated with the news when I receive it. I don't want to explain in detail what it is right now, but I'll just say that it's BIG (as in national). I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

You can visit my site here. It needs updated badly, but I'll be getting to that this week.

First 90 Days Gone...

I suppose I should update you guys on the fact that I hit my 90 day mark for P90X, and I've already started my second round. I hit the mark while my husband and I were out in Marienville, PA for a little celebration of our anniversary. We got a cabin out there, and it was really nice to get away even though the weather was cool and very rainy. We still got a lot of indoor time though, which is not bad at all.

Anyway, I got some progress pictures while we were out there, and I'm happy that I finally got the right lighting so you can actually see my definition for once. More motivation to keep pressing on (or pressing play, I should say):





Don't be afraid to try it if you're considering it. If you have questions, feel free to ask me.

Two Years

I've never been great with words, but I certainly know how to talk someone's head off. Maybe what I'm saying isn't the most intelligent thing, the most inspriring, or contain fancy words, but what it does have is sincerity. When I say I love you, I mean it and don't just say it to say it or because it's what I'm supposed to do.

I've spent the past two years being married to you, the past four and a half knowing you, and the nineteen and a half years before that living without you. These past six years have more than made up for the time I've had to live without you, but if I had to spend a day without you, I'd be even more hollow than I was before. You've been more to me than any husband could be for a wife. When you tell me you love me, I think of the time I first saw you when you came to pick me up for our date to the day you looked in my eyes at the altar and said, "I do."
To avoid being verbose, I simply want to say that I love you and happy anniversary.

Day 75

Thanks for all the great comments you guys have been leaving. I'm starting to get a little more attention the past few weeks, and people are noticing and asking questions about the program. I sort of like being the walking advertisement because I really endorse P90X. In fact, I'm getting a personalized plate for my car so I can advertise on my way to work or wherever I go. Sounds kind of cheesy, but I don't care. I feel a lot better than I did before I started, and I look better too.

In fact, we just had a Wellness Day at work on Wednesday, and we took a fitness test during that. The women were supposed to do modified push-ups and the men just regular ones, but I hate doing push-ups on my knees, so I asked if I could do the other instead. After consulting with another Hamot employee, they said it was alright, but my numbers wouldn't come back very accurately. I didn't care. I was competing against my boss (who won anyway). I managed to crank out 28 military-style push-ups in 30 seconds (my boss did 38 wide push-ups). I was hoping to get to 35, but I should have had my hands wider, and I might have.

We also had our BMI and body fat percentage measured. I had around 8.7% body fat, which is awesome (target range for women is 20-32%; men is 12-24%, but lower is better). My BMI, I believe, was around 19, which is just above underweight (18.5 and under is too low). I imagine I was a little lower last year when I was still struggling with my eating disorder, but who knows. I was really satisfied with my numbers, overall.

Yesterday, I just completed day 75 (of 90), so it was a picture day. My husband took a picture the day before while I was doing Yoga X, and it seems to be getting some attention, so it makes me feel like I've made progress:



Here are some regular shots from yesterday. I'm even more flustered than last time because this was Core Synergistics. Forgot to flex my stomach for the first one:







And an ab shot from today since I didn't get any decent ones yesterday:



So there they are. I managed to find one other person in Erie that's doing this program, and it was by accident Monday night. If anyone else is or if you want to join in, I'm starting my second round (classic this time) on May 5th. Just let me know.

Sixty Days and Counting

I'm so happy I've been sticking with this program. If I look a little flustered, it's because I had just finished doing an hour and a half of Yoga X about 5 minutes before these pictures were taken:

Front shot


Back shot


Obligatory ab shot