"So, you should post some recipes from the Fine in '09 Campaign. What were you eating?"

I started this as a comment in response to a comment on the post below. It got so unwieldy long that it's now a post. I'm not sure I'd recommend anybody actually follow my method for reasons I'll elaborate on later. But, at the height of The Campaign, I did go on a diet of sorts for about 4 - 5 weeks. I stopped eating full meals, and instead ate high powered snacks over the course of the day. Stuff like a boiled egg, nuts, yogurt, etc... Sometimes I'd splurge on a whole avocado or some tuna salad (heavy on the tuna and pickles, very light on the mayo) with whole wheat, high fiber crackers (industrial cardboard, actually). Then I'd fill in the rest of the day with fruit and cut veggies. At night - every night for the whole period - I ate a salad, mixing up the veggies for balance and interest and adding in grilled chicken and Parmesan cheese for protein. Needless to say, the kiddos were pretty freaking tired of salad by election day. The theory was to maintain a fairly constant level of input to spur my metabolism to operate at its most efficient level. In the evening, when my energy needs spiked - because that's when I worked out - I took in more food, but the rest of the time my caloric intake was pretty equalized. Also, I figured that without eating full meals, I'd avoid a lot of the extraneous crap we all usually end up eating. I didn't want anything coming in that my body couldn't or wouldn't use. There were a ton of unintended benefits of the diet. I ended up almost entirely eliminating carbs and animal fats from my diet, without making a conscious decision to do so. I'm fairly certain I would have mentally resisted such a decision. I ended up with whole foods making up a pretty significant chunk of my diet and raw foods not far behind. Meal prep time was cut down awesomely and there was absolutely no slaving over a hot stove in the middle of the summer. I think the theory is good. But, in retrospect, I don't think I needed to be quite as strict about it as I was. Toward the end of the period, I started to feel a bit weak. Actually, on the spectrum of a bit weak to straight passing out, I may have leaned a little farther toward straight passing out. Which leads me in to why I'm not sure I would recommend the diet. I don't know how healthy it actually was - feeling like you're going to pass out is probably not a symptom of optimum health. Also, while I didn't find it particularly hard to stick to the diet - my somewhat obsessive nature kicked in and I kind of reveled in the structure of it all - most people aren't weird like that. I think an extremely rigid diet only works for certain personalities. Lastly, a temporary fix like this isn't good if you need to make lifestyle changes. Luckily, my normal eating and general lifestyle are pretty healthy, so a temporary change and then a return to normal worked well for me. In fact, I've continued to lose weight in the weeks since I stopped the diet. I'm starting to cut back on exercise now, because I want to stay pretty much where I'm at. So, that's what I was eating. Or not eating.

Things I've learned on the Fine in '09 Campaign trail.

You guys! I'm ready to pronounce the campaign a success, pretty much back to my normal size and weight. Still working on firming up a few trouble spots, but just about there. I've never really tried to lose weight before, and did not have a clue what I was doing when I got started. So, here I am littering the Interwebz with what I've learned.

Exercise is key. Dieting alone will get you just about nowhere.

That said, what you eat is far more important than what you do. Think about it this way, it takes someone my size and weight about an hour of hard work to burn off 500 calories. So, that Big Mac meal you can scarf down in ten minutes...? You'll have to run pretty hard for almost two and a half hours to work that off. Want to walk it off? Get ready for a trip...you're looking at almost six hours. Much less time consuming to just not eat it in the first place.

To lose weight quickly and efficiently, recognize that your body is a furnace. Streamline your input so you maintain a fairly constant energy level, don't overload it three times a day. This makes it easier to avoid temptation and makes your metabolism work with you.

Bust. Your. Ass. I know they say to start slow and build up, but nothing is more inspiring than making serious progress. It's a lot easier to lose your focus and drift back to bad habits when you're trying to go slow.

I guess that's all I've got. Worked for me.

ADDED:

As requested. Excellent picture quality due to the fact that Baby A saw me trying to take pictures and insisted on wiping down the mirror for me. With a baby wipe. Ever the little helper bunny.

Confronting the ridiculous and accepting the real.

Ok, everyone is talking about this and therefore I must weigh in. Because the collective cacophony of EVERYONE is clearly not enough.

Ok, I have to admit that when I flipped through my monthly Glamour and came across this picture, my very first (and totally superficial) reaction was holy shit, this post-baby pooch won't ever go away, will it? My second reaction was genuine surprise that a glossy ran this picture.

Clearly, Lizzie Miller is a beautiful and very sexy woman. Also clearly, her body does not represent the perfection we've become used to.

This whole confusingly controversial episode has made one thing very clear to me: I (and probably WE ALL) have body image issues. Despite the fact that I once again wear 4s and 6s, I still feel disgustingly far off from the public image we've all grown to accept as the ideal. Lizzie Miller here wears a size 12. That's 3-4 sizes larger than me. Yet, in my own head, I'm certain she looks better naked than I do. She's in a magazine, after all.

I don't think my own self image is all that far off from the average woman. So my question is this: what in the fuck is wrong with us? And how did we let the fashion industry work this number on all of our brains? And why do we continue to stand for it?

I say it's well past time that we all issue a collective fuck you and your freakishly flat stomachs and insist on accepting what is completely normal and healthy. Women have children. Subsequently, we no longer resemble 15 year olds. And we shouldn't. We can remain beautiful. And men aren't lying. It's only us that cling to this ridiculously pre-pubescent ideal.

So, stop. I'm going to try.

You Make Me Happy, My Eyes on Gray

I am suddenly and completely obsessed with gray. Picked up a pair of gray skinnies today. Am on the hunt for the perfect pair of gray heels. Want gray boots. The only place I don't want gray is my head. Unless we're talking gray hats. In which case, yes please.

If only these weren't $329. Because, they would match perfectly with this dress I picked up last week. In a size 4. Fine in '09 HELL YEAH.

Loo-hoo-hoo-serrrrr.

I'm about halfway through my Fine in '09 Campaign, weight-wise. Sadly enough, we're about halfway through '09, as well. I didn't intend for this to be a year long effort, title notwithstanding. I act like I've had to power through thousands of pounds of weight loss. Really, the entire effort totals about 20 pounds and I'm just a big baby. But, the last ten pounds have been crazy hard - I was losing like a half a pound a week! Those of us that are awesome at math recognize that when a train leaves the East station at that rate, it will be a good 643 years before it loses its big fat ass. Since I'm only able to run about twice a week - only on Saturdays and Sundays and only when the temperature is below 90 and therefore, only in January and November - I picked up a workout video to fill in the rest of the week. Actually, I picked up a workout video earlier this year too - something about Latin Dancing and cardio - and I've done it once. And when I say done it I mean watched it. From the couch. But, this new one is pretty good! It's from that Biggest Loser show and it's called Boot Camp. At first, watching the Biggest Loser peeps misstepping and getting confused all over the place is hilarious. But, since you're doing the same thing, after a while it's just kind of comforting. It really seems to be a pretty good allover workout. The very best thing about the video, though, HANDS DOWN is the ability to customize it. From the menu, you can pick which workouts you want to do - there's a warm up, 3 different main sessions and a cool down - and it plays whatever you choose in succession. The music sucks, but I just mute it and fire up the iPod and my workout playlist. I've been doing this 5 - 6 times a week and YOU GUYS, I've lost 2 or more pounds a week for the last three weeks. Of course, I keep moving the goal posts. So, about 7 pounds later, I still have 10 pounds to go. LOL. Oh well. Now, I'll admit that I've also been on a fairly drastic diet during this time period. But, 2 pounds a week you guys!!!

Some stuff I hate and other stuff that I love.

I believe I have previously mentioned the extremely stupid clause embedded in my Fine in '09 Campaign. The one where I decided not to buy any new clothes until I hit my goal weight...? Stupid. I amended the clause a few weeks back and now get to buy one new thing for every pound I lose in a given week - no rounding up, no carry overs. This week I get to buy two things. Yay! So, I hit the mall. I knew it was a bad idea before I did it. But, that never stops me. I fugging hate the mall in this godforsaken town. HATE. IT. The first problem is that it is geared toward a hip hop crowd - ManAlive and Journey's and Basix galore. Two Journey's in fact. I don't really do Apple Bottoms and Baby Phat and the like, so that leaves me the other half of the mall. Toss Penneys and Sears and we're down to a third of the mall. Even the Macy's sucks. The Macy's! I ♥ Macy's. But, this Macy's sucks. I walked in and got smacked across the face with 8 - NO JOKE. 8. - giant Ed Hardy displays for the new Christian Audigier perfume. Ed Hardy. Macy's. WTF. So, now I've got the last little quarter of the mall. They ripped out my Gap. Just ripped it out and stuffed a cheap azz hooker rag shop in it's place. Like the other 647 cheap azz hooker rag shops in the mall weren't enough. You guys, there is nothing left for me. I even broke down and walked in to a Forever 21 today. I can speak of this no longer lest I spiral into a deep fashion depression. I thank you for enduring this horrific tale of woe - the spiritual cleanse does me good. Oh! Wait! Not all was doom and gloom. I did find a lovely Michael Kors dolman sleeve blouse after I finally fled the mall. Yay for that! Ok, let's look at some things that I love. From Donna Karan's Fall RTW show, I adore this dress. Just love it from all angles and want it. Source: Style.com

Source: Donnakaran.com

And, I adore shoes with beautiful detail in the heel. One of my favorite shoes of all time is this Spuntate Raso Peep Toe from Prada's Spring 08 Resort Collection. They were impossibly hard to get a hold of when out and I've long since given up hope, thereby saving me a cool $600. Luck!

Source: Neimanmarcus.com

While I can't say that I love, love, love these shoes from Bally's Fall collection, I do have a passionate appreciation for the gold filagree detail.

I love the carpet bag looking fabric on these mary janes, too. Just don't like the platform. Without it, I would heatedly heart these.

Source for all: Bally.com