Cheat Days: Sanity or Sabotage?

January 25, 2013 by 4 Comments

To cheat? Or not to cheat?

Shakespeare was the first to ask that…I think.

If you’re trying to lose weight should you ever give in to your not-so-healthy cravings?

In my ideal world I eat a healthy, well-rounded diet every day; one that leaves me neither stuffed to the gills nor starving for more. The truth is that more often than not I’m trying to watch what I eat while maintaining some semblance of a normal social life (food is fun, it is, it always will be…and no one likes eating celery when other people are scarfing down cupcakes).

It is my need for a normal social life that makes me a big fan of the oft abashed “cheat day.”

I understand cheat day critics. For starters it’s pretty easy to go overboard when food is concerned, and when calories are being counted it is very easy to ride that slippery slope to dietary downfall.

But, here’s my argument for cheating. For the most part I don’t have a problem keeping my food choices healthy and my exercise regular, but without a regularly scheduled indulgence the egg white omelets and salads with dinner that I often crave would feel like punishment and not a healthy choice. Honestly, it’s all psychological.

I have, for years and years and years, tracked my caloric intake on Livestrong.com/thedailyplate (I know that Lance Armstrong is considered evil and all, but I still think his site has the best calorie counting tool out there—and it’s totally free!), but once a week usually a weekend day, I don’t think about how much protein I’m getting, I don’t check nutrition labels or think about fat grams. I just eat whatever it is that I want, and then the next day I go back to maintaining a system in of checks and balances. For some therapist-only-knows-why reason, this one day a week keeps me sated for the other 6-days of the week.

There are some arguments that having a cheat day tricks your metabolism into burning more, but I’m not entirely sure I buy that. I do, however, believe in the advice of the late, great Oscar Wilde: “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”

Do you believe in cheat days? Or, do you steer clear of temptation?

 

Kim

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Choose Your Own A.D.D.

September 25, 2012 by 1 Comment

You know you live with a personal trainer when:

  1. The cashier at the grocery store says, “Man, you guys eat healthy!”
  2. You wake up in the morning and plan your cuddling around your mutual workouts
  3. The man in your life has no problem whatsoever strapping on a neon green Wii dance belt and getting down with Zumba on date night
  4. Meals are served with the question, “How much protein does this have?”

As adventures in cohabitation continue, I’m getting back down to work and trying to get into my new work from home groove. New home, new groove. So far I’ve failed miserably and have succumbed to the temptation of the New York Public Library or mooching cubicle real estate at the offices of friends. As much as I don’t miss working a traditional office job, I sometimes miss the concentration that comes with cubicle dwelling. Working from home is awesome for things like home cooked lunches and mid-afternoon gym runs, but it is definitely more of a test to my often lacking attention span.

Ooh, was that a dust bunny?

I’m so desperate for discipline these days that I paid $10 for a program that disables my internet for up to four hours. What did people procrastinate with before the Internet? Did people actually do work?

Luckily, the self-discipline aspect of my life is going a little bit better in regard to gym going and eating relatively healthy (as our Trader Joe’s cashier confirmed). Not wanting to wake The Fella when I roll out of bed at 5am most days has meant putting my gym clothes in the living room each night, changing as soon as I get up, and then hitting the gym. The more quiet I try to be in the morning, the more noise I make, so I’ve learned it’s best to just leave the apartment until after the sun has successfully risen. So far so good.

As for the eating, would you eat a bucket of fried chicken in front of your personal trainer? Yeah, cohabiting may be the best diet ever.

Breakfast


TJ’s High Fiber Cereal with banana and low fat milk
Scrambled eggs

Lunch


Hot and Sour Soup

Dinner


Yup, we’re still rocking coffee table dinners.

Salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrots, onion, reduced fat feta, and TJ’s cilantro dressing

Crustless quiche (aka egg casserole)
For this sucker I defrosted a bag of frozen spinach and then sautéed it with a package of white button mushrooms. I let the veggies cool a bit and placed them in a baking dish. On top, I added a carton of egg beaters (2 cups) and mixed in half a cup of lite shredded cheese. On top I spread out another half cup of cheese. Then I baked it at 350 for 40 minutes. Super yummy and the whole dish was about 300 calories. Not too shabby.

Kim

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A Dietary Confession

December 5, 2011 by 2 Comments

I’m shooting a commercial in 10 days. Considering I’ve spent the last two weeks eating nothing but pizza with the occasional Thanksgiving feast thrown in for variety, I may have to do a wee bit of damage control over the next few days. I guess this means reviving the Operation Hot Bridesmaid meal plan for the next week-and-a-half. In theory it went a little something like this:

Breakfast: Egg whites, vegetables, carb in the form of fruit or toast
Snack: Protein shake
Lunch: Protein, vegetables, carb
Snack: Protein shake or protein muffin
Dinner: Protein and vegetables (no carbs after 7pm)

When I started this blog it was about losing weight without really dieting. Then it was about living a healthy lifestyle. Almost four years into documenting my daily eating habits I’ve come to some conclusions. Food, as a rule, is meant to be enjoyed. Having said that, healthy foods are actually enjoyable. So are unhealthy foods, but unhealthy foods can become not so enjoyable when they become the crux of your diet (ahem, the weeks between Halloween and New Years). Also, there are some moments in time that call for a bit of dietary planning: weddings and on-camera acting jobs are pretty much it.

I guess, well, I feel guilty about “dieting.” And that’s because I don’t really think dieting is the way to go; diets are short term, making healthy choices a priority is far less stressful, and generally healthier. But I am “dieting” now because I don’t want my newly acquired Thanksgiving love-handles to be recorded for the masses to see.

There, I said it. Glad I got that off my chest.

 

Breakfast


Oatmeal with almond milk, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, and banana
Obviously this breakfast was prepared before I tried to zip up my pre-Thanksgiving pants

Lunch


Catered lunch. ¼ Portobello mushroom sandwich and Greek salad.

Dinner


Salad with egg, tomato, olives, cucumber, red onion and lemon juice dressing
Coffee

Exercise: Strength-Shoulders and Triceps; Cardio-30 minute jog

 

Kim

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Same time last year

May 31, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I went an entire summer without ice cream last year. Seriously, doesn’t that just seem like the worst? What are summers for if not for creamy deliciousness?

Right around this time last year I was recruited to be a diet pill model. When the offer came in I was super torn: on one hand I believe very strongly in the importance of a rational diet, on the other—a national commercial spot is nothing to sneeze at as an actress. Eventually I ended up quitting the gig; my conscious got the better of me, as did my innate desire to not be a total whack-job.

I have to give the company I worked with credit, they gave me a nutritionist that monitored my diet, and at the beginning things seemed pretty easy; all I had to do was eat cleanly. But after my initial 10lb weight loss, the scale stopped moving—it didn’t matter how many hours a day I logged at the gym, or how lean my meals were—I was as low as I was going to get. After weeks of frustration on my part and the part of the company my diet went from clean to crazy. That’s when I pulled the plug.

As bizarre as that experience was, I learned a lot about clean eating from it and it has been something I’ve continuously tried to reincorporate it into my lifestyle. Before my diet went off the deep end I felt amazing. Thanks to the lean eats and uptick in weight-room time I felt like my body was working more optimally than ever. The challenge on a daily basis is reconciling my deep-rooted need to not go to extremes, with my interest in getting back to that super-clean feeling place. Also, umm, it’s really hard to eat clean all the time, a girl’s got to live too!

Now that the heavy meals of winter are behind me, and I’m no longer chained to a cubicle all day, I’m up for the challenge of finding that balance. Perhaps it’s a summer challenge of sorts, but I’m not taking frozen desserts off the table again—that’s a non-negotiable.

Breakfast


Scrambled egg whites
Pineapple
Watermelon

Snack


Babybel cheese
Hummus and baby carrots

Lunch


Turkey ‘Ruben’: Sandwich thin with turkey pastrami, lite Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and mustard
Kiwi
Blackberries

Dinner


This was my first attempt at making broccoli rabe. I sautéed it lightly with a little bit of olive oil and garlic, then added a cup of vegetable broth and some red pepper flakes to boil it down. It was so good I went back for seconds. Is it considered gluttony if you’re binging on broccoli?
Steak

Dessert


Vanilla Fro-yo with a dollop of peanut butter

Exercise: 45-minute spin class

Kim

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Pilates Victim

April 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

FYI, Pilates totally qualifies as a contact sport in my humble opinion. I was busy yesterday and had very little time to get to the gym, so I decided to try a new Pilates DVD (review to come in a later blog). I love Pilates, as far as I’m concerned if you want to see results in your core quickly Pilates is the way to go, but I totally remember why I stopped taking mat classes at the gym—I always look like I’ve had the crap beaten out of me afterward.

I bruise really easily, and for some reason after an hour of moves like Rolling Like a Ball and Superman I’m left with bruised vertebrae and black and blue hip bones. Sexy, I know. I love Pilates but it would appear that I’m a wee bit of a delicate flower. Perhaps I need more iron. Who wants a steak?

Speaking of steak, the first full day of the great Passover Diet of 2011 wasn’t so bad. I spent the earlier part of the day shopping with a friend (read: enlisting her as my personal shopper since my own personal sense of style is sometimes lacking) who also admitted that she sees Passover like a dietary detox. Not its intended purpose, but it’s perhaps the most will-power efficient way to give up bagels. Mmmm, bagels. I’m glad I’m not the only one who rationalizes holidays this way. After shopping, I headed out to Queens for a girl’s night out. Tuesdays are totally the new Friday.

Basically what I’m saying is: I was too busy socializing all day to go to the gym so now I’m all black and blue. Karma’s a bitch.

 

Breakfast


Greek yogurt with honey, banana, and walnuts

Lunch


Cajun broiled tilapia with salsa made from avocado, tomato, and grilled pineapple
Broccoli

Dinner


Sangria

Cobb Salad

Kim

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Countdown till Carbs

April 18, 2011 by 4 Comments

FYI the South Beach Diet has been around for thousands of years, the Jews invented it, it’s called Passover, and it is my least favorite holiday.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever fully expressed the full extent of my love for carby goodness, but eight days of no bread, pasta, rice, corn or soy derived anything, and legumes pretty much cuts out the majority of my feel good foods. I’m not sure who makes the rules about what is or is not edible, but I imagine that they don’t like me very much. Things are about to get super cranky up in here, because as of sundown it’s officially Passover.

In a way, a very small way that I’m trying to convince myself is awesome, I’m kind of excited. Basically I HAVE to eat cleanly this week. The majority of my junk foodie downfalls are on the do not eat list, this could be a good detox as I kick off operation hottest bridesmaid ever.

Speaking of mission hottest bridesmaid, I found a dress! Thank you all for your opinions and your advice. If you don’t mind I’d love to pass on your words of wisdom to my fellow maids J. Surprisingly, it was the second dress that ended up looking the best on me. I tried on a ton of dresses, but that one was the only one that looked great on me. Go figure. I’m actually really excited about it. Is it normal to be excited about a bridesmaid dress? I am actually pretty sure I could wear it again. Of course, everyone says that, but I really mean it.

Here’s the final outfit:

It’ll probably be a bit darker blue than this photo.

The accompanying footwear. I bought them today and have a feeling it’s going to be really hard to not wear them (re: ruin them) before November

 

I already have a plan of action for the gym based on this dress. Based on the neckline I want to spend some time focusing on building up my deltoid region a bit; and based on the cocktail length, I’ll spend a little more time doing calf exercises. I can’t help it, when I see clothes, I see muscle groups. Tonight, however, was all cardio. Sure, I should have gone to a Sedar (the traditional Passover dinner) but spin class seemed like more fun. It’s all about compromise; I’ll give up bread and pasta in honor of tradition, but I’m not quite ready to give up cardio.

Breakfast


Getting in my last bowl of oatmeal for a while, I threw in a little pineapple and coffee for good measure

Lunch


Panini made with whole wheat pita bread, roasted turkey, tomoto and lite mozzarella
Cucumber slices in balsamic vinegar

Dinner


Leven free dinner: salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avocado, sunflower seeds, and turkey
Olive oil and vinegar

Kim

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Mother Knows Best

April 14, 2011 by 2 Comments

 

Happy birthday to my mom!
Thanks for always teaching me appropriate public behavior ;)

What is it they say about apples and trees?

Nose picking habits aside, I’ve learned a lot from my mom. She’s a pretty remarkable lady, and in honor of her birth I’m going to pass on some of the nuggets of wisdom she’s instilled in me since I was a wee little Kim.

  1. Never settle. If it’s not exactly what you want, it’s not worth your time or investment.
  2. Put red spices in the fridge, it keeps them fresh.
  3. You can only change yourself if you love yourself first.
  4. It never hurts to ask (…usually this is in relation to getting a discount).
  5. Actions are far more important than words.
  6. Breakfast; it’s important, you should eat it. Preferably with coffee.
  7. There are some things, no matter how full of fat and sugar they are, that are not worth giving up in exchange for a healthy life. For her this is Pepsi and salad dressing, for me it’s Buffalo wings and gummy bears. Everyone needs a vice!
  8. Talking while yawning prevents the hiccups.
  9. You teach people how to treat you.
  10. Most importantly, my mother’s motto for life, “F*#k ‘em if they can’t take a joke.”

As far as mothers go, I’m pretty psyched I ended up with mine. In some ways we’re very similar in others we’re so different you’d have no idea we were related at all. Regardless, there’s no one who knows me quite as well as she does. No one who can soothe me, or irritate me, or make me laugh when I’m crying quite like my mom. I love her like whoa, and I’m really excited that she was born.

What are the best words of advice your mom gave you?

Breakfast


Egg white omelet with spinach and goat cheese
Whole grain toast

Lunch


Leftover roasted vegetables and quinoa

Dinner

I met up with my friend Anna for a wine and food pairing. Anna and I met through the magic of the Interweb, she started out reading Elastic Waist, and then The Kim Challenge, and eventually we realized we both lived in New York and worked close to one another and became regular lunch buddies. Sadly, (for me anyway) Anna is leaving New York to rock out with the good folks of the Washington DC area. As far as farewell outings go, this was pretty tasty!

There was wine…


Chardonnay


and fried oysters

Then Pinot Grigio



with strawberry and fried chicken salad


and Chiantti


paired with lentil soup


then came bacon wrapped peppers stuffed with goat cheese
and another wine, but at this point I wasn’t quite as sharp with the listening skills


This one was some sort of mishmash of wines from a Long Island vineyard. It wasn’t as awesome as the rest, but it paired with some delicious


Lamb chops, kale and orzo in a sesame oil based sauce

Of course there was dessert. Apple crumb concoction with butter pecan ice cream and chocolate torte with raspberry sauce

It was an amazing dinner! Thank you Anna for inviting me, and for being my friend. I’m super excited for this next chapter of your life, and that I’ll have one more person to meet up with in DC.

 

I’m going to say something I very rarely say: I may need a diet. There has been a lot of super-rich foods in my life lately, and a lot of alcohol, and my pants are not fitting quite as nicely as before. I don’t really do diets anymore, but lately my moderate eating style has been slightly less moderate. My April resolution to eat cleanly hasn’t been quite as successful as I’d planned. I think step one in getting back to a working relationship with my jeans is to cut out alcohol (this is actually a pretty hard reality since I review bars a significant portion of my living). I think it’s time to acknowledge that this little metabolism of mine is not quite as fiery as it used to be. Kind of a bummer, but at least I have a gym membership again to absorb some of the damage.

Salad anyone?

 

Kim

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Shame on Arianna

December 13, 2010 by 4 Comments

Dear Huffington Post,

I recently saw your article titled “Biggest Celebrity Slim Downs of 2010.”

These sorts of articles are pretty run of the mill, and as someone who too writes gossip on the internet, I understand how tempting it is to showcase celebrity weight loss.  We, as a society, idealize celebrities and when those people in the public eye make healthier choices it can be hugely inspiring for regular folks.  The problem is that many of the celebrities you highlighted for resisting  “those on-set buffet spreads” and “cut[ting] the fat” were neither overweight, nor healthy in their weight loss.

Let’s take for example the before and after picture you posted of Bethany Frankel:

Photo Credit: Huffington Post

On the planet I come from “pregnant” is not synonymous with “fat.”  Similarly, giving birth does not constitute a diet.

I am also slightly concerned about the pictures you chose to use of Christian Bale and 50 Cent, both of whom lost excessive amounts of weight to play a drug addict and cancer patient respectively:

Photo Credit: Huffington Post

Photo Credit: Huffington Post

Touting the extreme weight loss associated with substance abuse and extreme illness is most definitely not something to highlight as one of the “perfect bodies” that “Hollywood demands from its stars.”  I assure you, those suffering from those illnesses in real life feel anything but perfect.

Additionally promoting the 20lbs, an already extremely thin, Natalie Portman lost for ‘Black Swan’ as admirable, or quoting Anthony Hopkins regarding his severely restricted diet “I’m in the gym six days a week, I power walk, live on 800 calories a day” as healthy is deplorable.

A diet of 800 calories a day for an adult, male or female, is extremely low.  It is never recommended for an adult to eat less than 1200 calories a day…ever.  Such an extremely restrictive caloric intake can be detrimental to organ function and overall health.  It is not, as you say “dedication,” it is disordered.

This is, as far as I am concerned, irresponsible journalism.  What kind of example are we setting for young people when we tell them that being pregnant is like to being fat, and that an emaciated physique is one that should be coveted at all costs…extreme costs.  I’d also like to state for the record that “fat” is not something to be shunned societally like the Ebola virus, perhaps if we stopped treating it as such the people we put on a pedestal would no longer have to starve themselves for our continued acceptance.

Happy Holidays,

Kim

Here’s what a diet of much more than 800 calories a day looks like.  Still healthy, not crazy.  Anthony Hopkins, eat your heart out, then eat a sandwich!

Breakfast

Oatmeal with lite sour cream
Pineapple

Lunch

Broccoli and tofu stir fry over brown rice

Dinner

Grilled tuna steak with brown rice, zucchini, red pepper, and pineapple

Kim

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Ibsen on the Treadmill

December 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Two quotes I’ve been contemplating:

The great secret of power is never to will to do more than you can accomplish.

~Henrik Ibsen

and

Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it. Plan more than you can do, then do it.

~Anonymous

Something tells me Anonymous was a lot more fun to hang with at parties than Ibsen.  I’ve read a lot of Ibsen, great playright, kind of a downer.  I’m just saying.

No,  but seriously now, as contradictory as these may seem in nature, they’re both valid points of view and they’re both worthy of striving for, especially when it comes to health.  Why not bite off more than can be chewed, as Anonymous said, and try something we don’t think we’re capable of then do it.  That’s how we get stronger, healthier, and equipped with super awesometastic muscles.

But, perhaps we should keep a little Ibsen around to keep things from going to extremes.  This is how I feel about dieting.  Eat healthy, but don’t get crazy.  There are the limits to deprivation; eventually our minds, bodies, and emotions will rebel and chances are (if you’re human) a spiral of refrigerator proportions will go down.  This is why I don’t believe in dieting.  I know what I’m capable of and what I am not.  I am capable of eating lots of fruits and vegetables.  I am not capable of turning down Buffalo wings…ever.  Chocolate does nothing for me, but a good cup of coffee with sugar and cream is heaven.

Simply: Exercise hard, test your limits.  Eat sanely, but live a little.

That Ibsen, he sure knows his nutrition, now if only he could keep his heroines from shooting themselves we’d be all set.

Breakfast

Oatmeal with sour cream
Grapefruit

Lunch

Subway: Turkey sandwich on whole wheat with mustard, tomato, cucumber, pickles, and peppers
Deli: Fruit

Snack

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Larabar
aka: Heaven on Earth

Snack

Pineapple

Dinner

Brown rice, shrimp, broccoli, and teriyaki sauce

Kim

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Say Hello to My Little Friend

September 27, 2010 by 3 Comments

I’M SO EXCITED!

Saturday morning the doorbell rang and the friendly neighborhood Fed Ex guy handed me a box. . .a box containing my new favorite toy.

The Body Media Fit system, complete with arm band and display.  This little sucker straps on to your arm 24 hours a day and tells you everything you ever wanted to know about yourself, just short of “What should I do with the rest of my life?”

Monitoring all sorts of bodily signals through your sweat it can tell you exactly how many calories you burn a day, the level of exertion you reach during exercise, and the quality and length of sleep you’re getting.

I’m learning a lot from this little guy.  First, I don’t eat enough!

I’ve always thought my keeping my caloric intake at approximately 1600 calories a day was good.  Well, it looks like I burn a lot more calories than I thought…just living.  In fact, even if I wanted to lose 1.5 pounds a week I could still eat up to 1900 calories.

That’s like a whole additional meal!

This could take some getting used to.

Secondly, I’m a little obsessed with the sleep tracking aspects of this device.  You wear it while you sleep and it will actually tell you how long you’re laying down, and how much of that time is actual sleep.  I never realized how many times during the night I woke up for 1-2 minute intervals then nodded back off.

This is only my third day wearing it, so I’m still all exciting by its shiny new toy factor.

Stay tuned for more updates.

In the meantime it was business as usual in my life…

Breakfast

Ezekial English muffin with 1% cottage cheese and tomato

Lunch

Soup of the Week

Now that it’s Fall I anticipate soup becoming a more important part of my life.

Last night I made what I like to refer to as “cheater’s chicken noodle soup.”  Sure, it’s easy enough to make chicken soup, all you really need is some vegetables, a chicken and some water.  But, I went an even easier route.  Honestly I did this because it was already 11pm when I realized I needed to prep lunch for the week a head and needed to something super easy.

Basically,  I chopped up some onions, carrots, and celery and let them soften in a pot.  I then added three chicken breasts, cut into cubes.  I let all that cook a little bit, then I added 10 cups of pre-made chicken stock (that’s the cheating part).  I brought it all to a boil, then added 2.5 cups of brown rice pasta.  Cooked for 8 more minutes…voila.  Chicken noodle soup in less than 30 minutes.  It’s damn tasty too.  Added bonus you don’t have to shred a chicken corpse or skim off the layer of fat.

I had zested this orange over the weekend, I couldn’t let the fruit inside go to waste

Snack

Earl Grey latte with skim milk

Dinner

Tonight was my very first German class.  It was awesome, if not a bit overwhelming.  Afterward I was ravenous, my friend and I decided to grab a quick slice of pizza for dinner.  I chose the only slice that had veggies on top.  Somehow that makes it feel like a balanced meal.

Spinach and mushroom pizza

I don’t often drink soda, but every once and a while it’s a nice treat.

Kim

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