Who is that “Slim Spider” you may be wondering? It is Esther on Halloween. Her spider outfit from last year had to be taken in to accomodate for her 19 pound weight loss! For all of you who have been following Esther’s weight loss journey, you’ll be happy to know that she has met her 6 month goal of getting under 130 pounds! It has been MANY years since has gotten her weight this low. She currently weighs 129 - down from 148 pounds 6 months ago.

It has been a rough and rocky road for Esther. For those of you who have been following her progress on CGB, you know that Esther has an active life - lot’s of social occasions, family and work events. Most of these occasions involve quite a bit food and/or adult beverages. Esther’s family get togethers (i.e. Greek Bar-B-Q) are especially tempting as Esther loves Greek food. But despite all this temptation, Esther has managed to lose the weight and keep it off. 

Pic is of Esther holding on to 5 pounds of fat! She has lost at least double this. Keep in mind, when you lose weight, some is from fat, some from water and a small amount may be from muscle - though not much in Esther’s case as she is working out so much.

How does she do it?
I often get asked by my clients “How does Esther do it? What kind of diet is she on?” No, I did not give Esther a “special diet” because she is on CGB. Esther just works hard! No gimmicks or radical diet plans. She calorie counts (or rather I do!) and exercises 5-6 days a week. Here are some her other “tricks”:

1. Keeps a daily food log. She has kept records for the past 6 months. You have to give her credit for that! See my previous post on how keeping a food record will increase your weight loss by 50%.

2. She doesn’t deprive herself of her favorite foods. She just tries to eat them in moderation and cuts back on calories on other days. Total deprivation leads to diet disaster!

3. Exercises 5-6 days a week on most weeks. This includes at least 3 cardio sessions (usually more), 2 personal training sessions (pic is of Esther’s trainer Anastasia who kicks Esther’s butt! Calm down city guys - Anastasia doesn’t wear this when she trains Esther! It was her Halloween costume), and takes a pilates class each week (pic below is of her pilates trainer)

4. While she does over indulge on alcohol on some occasions, she is still having quite a bit less than she has had in the past. Esther is not alone. Many city girls and guys to consume alcohol when socializing - having wine with dinner, meeting friends for drinks, having a drink(s) on a date, etc. The calories from alcohol can really add up. In addition, it can decrease your willpower to watch what you eat. Bottom line, Esther has significantly decreased her alcohol intake.   (Pic is of Esther wearing her old pants which no longer fit!)

5. Esther is great about compensating for her overindulgences. When she has a higher caloric day, the next day she tends to have a much lower calorie day.  Check out my previous posts on Recovery Dinners from Your Indulgences. 
 

Esther is becoming a celeb…
Esther is becoming a bit of a NYC celeb. She is going to be on Channel 2 News! She was interviewed by one of my nutritionist colleagues at New York Presbyterian Hospital for a segment on Holiday Eating.  I’ll keep everyone posted as to when it will be on.

Esther wants to thank CGB for “keeping her honest”, her family for watching her like a hawk during get togethers, her trainer Anastasia and Jill, her pilates instructor (pic on the right).

Esther, we’ll be watching you during the holiday season!

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Halloween … you know it’s that time of the year when you see stores filled with sugary treats of all kinds. A sugar addicts worst nightmare! Halloween is associated with “treats” -  candy in your office, candy that you buy for trick or treaters or candy that your kids bring home. In my private practice, Halloween is a problem for many of my clients. I see people who buy candy a few weeks in advance in anticipation of Halloween.  Of course, the bag doesn’t stay unopened for long…  many of my clients food logs reveal consumption of mini candies all day long for several days prior to and after Halloween. Or they find themselves getting into their kids stash of goodies late at night.

Here are a few problems I see:

1. Buying candy for trick or treaters too early. The longer it sits in your apartment, the greater the chances are that you will open the bag. Even nutritionists know how hard it can be to resist eating candy when it is in your apartment!

2. Candy everywhere in your office. Again, very difficult to resist when you are bored or stressed. 

3. Candy that your children bring home. How many times have you found yourself getting into their stash? You may be thinking all that sugar isn’t healthy for them, but it isn’t good for you - or your hips - either!  

 Here are the calorie contents of some popular Halloween candies:

Tips to control your intake of Halloween candy:

1. Don’t buy candy too early for trick or treaters. Try to buy it the day of Halloween or the day before.

2. Don’t buy your favorite candy. Instead, buy something you don’t love. For example, I would buy mini twizzlers instead of anything that contains chocolate (since I am a chocoholic!). You always buy something healthy like mini boxes of raisins. One of my clients asked her child what kind of treat he wanted her to buy for the trick or treaters. Luckily he said “Smarties”. This was one of the few candies she doesn’t like!

3. Consider leaving the candy in a basket outside of your apartment. The less you see of it, the less you will eat.

4. Dispose of any leftover Halloween candy that you don’t give out.

5. If you have candy at work, try to limit yourself to 100 calories or so of candy a day. Check out the above chart for calorie content. If you find that you lose control once you have even one piece of candy, DON’T even start with it! Bring in a more “appropriate” snack.

6. Decide how you will handle your child’s Halloween candy. Perhaps allow your child 2 mini candies a day for a week. Throw the rest out if you find you can’t control yourself if it is around.

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