So it appears Kate Moss is catching some flak for sharing one of her motto’s – ‘Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.’

Now from what little I’ve read, I guess Moss is sort of an icon in the world of anorexia and bulimia, and that maybe this phrase has already been something of slogan for that lifestyle, so I guess I understand why some people are upset about it. On the other hand, it’s not really fair to criticize the message of the motto based on the reactions of people who are clearly not emotionally well; I mean, I didn’t read anything sinister or dark in the quote at all until I was provided the additional information.

After giving it some thought, I realized that the real problem with the motto as originally stated is the word ‘skinny’ which, in a number of circumstances I hadn’t really considered at first, can be read as oppressive and unhealthy in terms of self image. So why not change it?

One of my new motto’s: Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels.

I Know I haven’t been updating the site too much recently, but it’s just been cus I’ve been really busy, as opposed to being unmotivated.

Unfortunately being busy hasn’t led to the greatest food choices, but I’m sticking with the gym and averaging about my goal calories, so all is not lost.

I was so hyped to go to the gym today – I go downstairs after work, ready to hit the stationary bike like it’s nobody’s business, and the damn thing is closed because the tenants in one of the offices downstairs is having new furniture delivered. What a letdown.

So I ended up coming home, lifting weights a bit, and doing 100 jumping jacks. Its certainly not the kind of workout I need to be putting in, but it’s better than coming home bummed out about missing the gym and doing nothing. Hopefully I’ll be able to hit it up tomorrow.

I haven’t been updating the site the last week or so, other than to enter my decidedly underwhelming daily weigh-in’s. For a couple of days now I’ve intended to write a post dedicated to why I’ve been so lax in my posting, and so unfocused in my diet, but it seemed I couldn’t muster the interest to even do that.

Enter Rachel’s post over at Body By Pizza detailing her trip to NYC, which contains the following call to action:

Seriously, if you’re still fat (in that ‘I can’t even bend over to tie my shoes’ way), the time has come to get un-fat. All logic aside, it’s just something you need to do. Sure, counting calories isn’t glamorous and setting aside a few hours each week to exercise won’t always be your first choice (at least at the beginning), but doing these things is so fucking worth it. Not only will you prevent your heart from giving out at a ridiculously young age, but you will feel amazing from sunrise to sunset — guaranteed. If I’m saying this as a 5’2″, 185-lb individual, you can only imagine how good this shit is going to get! It’s time to grow up, cut the crap, get to work, and come join me as a permanent resident of Cloud Nine.

It sounds alittle hokey but, for whatever reason, this is exactly what I needed to hear right now. After reading that, instead of writing a post about why I haven’t been updating the site or going to the gym, I packed my gym bag and brought it to work this morning.

Cloud Nine, here I come.

Quick question – Which is healthier, Coca Cola or Orange Juice?

Obviously the answer is orange juice and if you chose that, you’re correct. Now for a slightly more complicated question. Assuming my weight is stable, if I currently drink three 12 ounce cans of Coke a day, and I were to replace them with three 12 ounce glasses of orange juice a day, would I lose any weight?

From my experience, I would wager a lot of people believe the answer to that question would be yes – it’s not.

A 12 ounce can of Coke has about 140 calories in it, while 12 ounces of orange juice has about 160 calories. By substituting equal volumes of Coke with orange juice, I’ve actually increased my calorie intake by 60 calories (20 per can x 3 cans a day). At that rate, all other things being equal, I’ll actually gain half a pound a month for as long as I keep drinking orange juice in place of Coke.

“It’s hard to imagine orange juice as fattening,” my Dad said to me skeptically as I presented this info to him, shortly after starting mywastedlife, “it doesn’t feel right.” And in a way, he was right. Orange juice isn’t in and of itself fattening, but neither is Coca Cola. Plain and simple – Excess calories cause weight gain. It doesn’t matter to your body where those calories came from, if you take in more than you burn, you’re going to start storing fat. That’s where the disconnect between being healthy and losing weight begins.

What if I told you I could eat nothing but Carl’s Jr. (Hardee’s for you East coasters) & McDonald’s and lose weight, would you believe me? You should, because I can – in fact, I did. Five years ago I lost 50 pounds following a low carb diet that consisted mainly of In-N-Out Burger and Del Taco. Was that diet healthy? No. Did I lose weight? Yes.

How about if I said I weighed 300 pounds, and in order to lose weight, I was going to run on the treadmill for an hour every day? You would expect me to lose weight, right? Unfortunately, so would I, and we’d most likely be wrong.

Odds are, if I’m 300 pounds, I got that way by living a lifestyle which already has a calorie surplus. Without addressing those excesses calories, the best I can hope for is that my treadmill time is simply going to prevent me from gaining more weight. At worst, I could mistakenly believe my workouts allowed me room to eat worse than before, and I’ll actually put on weight.

It’s knowledge like that which keeps me from being surprised when I read that new medical research “demonstrated no or modest weight loss with exercise alone,” especially when other research “…suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neurobiological underpinnings,” and describes fast food cravings as “…the hallmark of addiction.”

At some point people need to come to the realization that you exercise to be healthy, but to lose weight you have to eat properly. Those two things are obviously related goals, but if you don’t treat them as the distinct things they are, and take the appropriate actions for each, you’re setting yourself up to fail.

I don’t know where I might find a Burgerville, and I’ve no idea if their food is any good, but they certainly have some kick-ass receipts:

Being in California, most places I eat now are required to have calorie counts available upon request, but this is really above and beyond. I love it, and would love to see more places adopt this kind of proactive approach.

Found on Consumerist

As of my weigh-in yesterday morning, my BMI no longer categorizes me as “Morbidly” obese!

That calculation is done automatically, and when I first started dropping weight I checked it every so often to see if it had changed but it never did – so I just stopped paying attention to it. I only saw it today when it was pointed out to me (thanks Esther), and I must say I’m waaay more excited about it than I thought I would be.

‘Normal’ BMI, here I come.

There’s no doubt I’m a stress eater – I can attribute at least 50 of the pounds I need to lose to specific traumatic events. Since starting this site, I’ve made some poor food choices, and I’ve given in to cravings on more than one occasion, but today is the first time I’ve really faced the challenge of eating to placate negative emotions.

Last week, ‘South Beach’ Steve over at Log My Loss launched the “Hot 100 Challenge” to get people to set weight-loss goals for the last 100 days of 2009. It’s a great idea and, knowing that working out has been a key factor missing from my current regimen, I decided my goal was going to be a minimum of 30 minutes in the gym, 3 days a week. The very next morning, I broke my toe

“Oh well,” I thought to myself “I guess I won’t be participating after all.” And I’ve been limping around in sort of a funk ever since (not just from the toe mind you, it just seems to be icing on the maelstrom-of-problems cake I’ve been served recently).

So, today ended up being a terrible day at work, and on the drive home I was incredibly tempted to call up a friend of mine and hit up the local Claim Jumper to throw down one of the ridiculous meals we used to eat (a couple of years ago, I would easily take in 3500-4000 calories at such a meal). I wanted it real bad – I swear I could taste the bacon on the potato skins and the whip cream on the chocolate shake. I didn’t want to just cheat, or go over my calorie limit for the day, I wanted to gorge myself until I felt as bad physically as I did emotionally.

In the end, I stopped at the local deli and got a roast beef wrap. I’m really happy with the decision I made, and, in large part, it’s due to the accountability this site provides that I made it. So if you’re reading this, I want to say thank you.

I also want to announce my (revised) goal for the Hot 100 Challenge*: 3 pounds a week.

Just because I can’t get into the gym right away, doesn’t mean I don’t have other room for improvement. In the last 22 weeks I’ve lost 34.3, which averages out to 1.56 pounds per week, and for the next 93 days intend to double that figure. While not astronomical, it’s going to be a challenge, particularly while I’m kept inactive due to my toe, but I’m going to pull it off.

So my toe has been getting progressively purpler (?) over the last few days. Below is what it looked like yesterday morning, and it looks worse today. If it doesn’t start to improve, I’m gonna have to bite the bullet and go to the doctor.

Ouch!

I think I broke my toe