What were you doing this past Monday morning at 9 am? Perhaps inhaling your bagel or in a meeting? Not me! I was having breakfast with Jared from Subway at Sarabeth’s in NYC. And no, we weren’t having Subway sandwiches for breakfast. Instead, we ordered fluffy egg white omelets with whole grain toast  - no oozing cheese omelets with home fries for Jared!  (pic is of Jared showing me his famous pants!)

For those of you aren’t familiar with Jared - he is the spokesperson for Subway. He lost 262 pounds by eating Subway sandwiches. I was really excited when I got the invitation for breakfast so I could find out the scoop on how he lost the weight.

Jared’s story (as told to me)
He had a weight problem since the 3 - 4th grade. He had an insatiable appetite and loved to eat. Jared was a very inactive child and prefered to play Nintendo rather than playing outside. As his weight increased, his activity level decreased even more. He tried numerous diet plans - from frozen food meals to liquid diets at the enouragament of his dad (who was a doctor). However none of them had lasting results. By the ninth grade, Jared was morbidly obese. He said he felt like he missed out on his entire high school life due to his weight. (pic is of Jared telling his story)

By the time he was 20 years old, he was over 400 pounds. At that time, he began experiencing some health problems including edema and sleep apnea. Having started college, he noticed a Subway right next door to his apartment. He checked out the nutrition info, found he liked the sandwiches and decided to put himself on his own “Subway” diet. He ended up losing ~ 250 pounds in about a year on this diet. In 1999, one of his friends wrote a story about this in a local paper. Subway picked saw the story and the rest is history! For those of you who read CGB, you will notice that I frequently recommend Subway as a healthy, low cal and inexpensive option for a meal on the go.

Jared stats
Body stats
Height: 6′2    Starting weight: 425 pounds    Current weight: 190 pounds
Jared’s diet
Diet start date: mid March 1998   End date: early March 1999
What he ate every day:
Breakfast: nothing  (Hmmm…)  Lunch: 6″ turkey, tons of vegetables, including hot peppers and spicy mustard. No mayo and no cheese. He also had a bad of Baked Lays and a diet drink
Dinner: foot long veggie sub - no cheese and no mayo

Exercise routine
Jared did no exercise until he lost 125 pounds and got to a weight of 300 pounds.  Slowly, he replaced riding the bus with walking to class. By the time he reached 250 pounds, he was walking at least 1.5 miles a day

Motivation
His friend J.L. and his family helped to keep him motivated

My final interview with Jared
Since there were other health professionals at the breakfast, I couldn’t monopolize his entire time, so I had to ask my final questions:

Martha: Is it still hard to keep the weight off? Do you still get the craving for junk food? (I didn’t say this - but I’m sure being a spokesperson for Subway having lost over 250 pounds must put some pressure on Jared to keep the weight off… but he still must get strong urges to overindulge at times, especially considering the fact that he had a major weight problem for much of his life)
Jared: Absolutely! It can be really difficult at times because my life is so hectic. I travel about 250 days a year for Subway. I still eat a lot of Subway sandwiches, but not everyday. I definitely get cravings for junk food but try to control it as best as possible.

Unfortunately, I ran out of time and couldn’t probe anymore. I am so impressed that he has lost so much weight AND has kept it off!

Lastly, I just wanted to say what a nice guy Jared is. He is so sincere and loved sharing his story. He also said that he still finds this whole thing about being a spokesperson and kind of “famous” so surreal - especially when he saw some people dressed up on Halloween as Jared with big baggy pants stuffed with Subway wrappers! (Pic is of Jared, his pants and the group who attended breakfast)

Jared’s commitment to fight childhood obesity
The Jared Foundation is commited to helping kids fight obesity. Here is a message from Jared: Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic. I believe there is a solution; educating kids about the importance of proper nutrition and physical activity. I am proud to have my name on this foundation. Its vision and mine is to eliminate childhood obesity. Check out the Jared Foundation website for more info on these great programs.

Keep up the good work Jared and Subway!

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It’s late and you are heading home from work or the gym. You aren’t really sure what to do about dinner. You forgot to thaw the chicken and haven’t been grocery shopping in ages. You are almost home, but trouble is looming ahead. All of a sudden you are starving. You see the neon lights of a pizza shop, Chinese restaurant and McDonalds calling your name.  Suddenly you go into autopilot mode and walk into the one of these not-so-healthy restaurants and place your order. Of course you order more food than you need because you are starving. 1000 calories later, you are upset and somewhat disgusted with yourself for once again giving into temptation. (no - that pic is not of me!)

Does this sound familiar? To me it does! I tend to work late and then go to the gym until nearly 10 pm. On my way home, I tell myself that I’ll just have a light dinner like yogurt and fruit because it is so late (and I have minimal food in my apartment!). But all of a sudden the hunger kicks in and I find myself in the pizza shop one block from my apartment. What is wrong with this picture? It shows that I’m human like everyone else. I work very long hours, often skip grocery shopping, wait too long before eating and then get starving, which leads me to grab what’s closest and easiest. Ok, so least I’m not getting General Tso’s chicken and fried rice! But aside from not being the most nutritious choice in the world, the slice of pizza doesn’t fill me and I end up still looking for more food in my apartment. (pics are of Famiglia Pizza shop one block from my apartment that I pass on my way home every night)

Here is the breakdown of the above scenerio with problems & solutions:

#1 Problem: Letting too much time go between meals and snacks which leads to excessive hunger and increases the chances that you will make a poor dinner choice. Going too long without eating will actually cause your body to secrete chemicals that will increase cravings for carbs and fat! You will also get low blood sugar which will make it difficult for you to get satiated when you do eat something…therefore you feel the need to eat and eat and eat!

Solution: Plan a late afternoon snack or a little snack before going to the gym. I’ve started grabbing an energy bar before hitting the gym because it’s convenient. Check out my previous post on energy bars. Other snacks include string cheese and fruit, pb on crackers, cottage cheese or light yogurt and a fruit. I would suggest about 200 calories for a snack between lunch and dinner. This way you won’t be quite as starving when dinner time comes.

#2  Problem: No food in your apartment.

Solution: Obvious - go food shopping. If you don’t have the time, order a Fresh Direct delivery to your apartment.  The key is to plan and keep ingredients available that can be used to make meals. Ideally for me, meals that take 10 minutes or less.  I will post more ideas on quick dinners in the next few weeks.

#3  Problem: Passing your favorite “not-so-healthy” store on your way home from work.

Solution: Make a detour when you are walking home. Walk (or drive if you aren’t a city girl/guy!) a few blocks out of the way to you won’t even see these problem spots.

#4  Problem: Getting take-out dinners from the same old greasy places.

Solution: FInd healthy alternatives in your neighborhood. They are out there - it just takes a little searching.

Here are some suggestions:
- Japanese (check out my post on calories in sushi and sashimi)
- Chinese steamed chicken, shrimp, scallops or tofu with sauce on the side and brown rice
- Rotissiere chicken (1/4) with baked potato and steamed veggies
- Middle eastern chicken kebob with pita bread and salad (add your own low fat dressing)
- Subway 6″ sandwich on whole wheat bread (check out my post on Subway)
- Chinese steamed seafood, veggie or chicken dumplings and a small hot n’ sour soup (no crispy noodles)
- ONE slice of pizza (add your own salad or veggies) OK - so this isn’t such a bad choice on occasion!

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I literally had 5 minutes for dinner last night before going to a meeting. There are tons of restaurants and delis near my midtown nutrition office, however I didn’t even have an extra 5 minutes to have a sandwich made or eat a salad. So I turned to good old Subway. I haven’t eaten there in years. Intellectually, I know it has low cal healthy choices for sandwiches - after all, if it’s good enough for Jared who lost over 100 pounds, it must be good enough for me! However I kind of associate it with “fast food” and boring sandwiches. I am used to the fancier more interesting (and yes, fattening!) sandwiches served at other locations.  (Pic is of Jared)

But I decided to give it a try. I ordered the 6″ turkey sandwich with cheese (only adds 50 calories and 4 gm fat because the slices are so thin) with extra turkey (an extra 50 calories and 1gm fat), lettuce, tomatoes, veggies and mustard. It came to about $5.00. This is a lot cheaper than most of the sandwiches from other places such as Au Bon Pain, Pax, Metro Cafe, Hale and Hearty. I must say that it wasn’t bad! I was actually suprised at the low calorie content as it seemed like a fairly large sandwich with a lot of bread. I think the trick is that the bread is light and airy, which lessens the calorie content. Total calories: 380  Total fat: 9.5 grams

Overall, I would recommend certain Subway sandwiches for a low calorie, relatively tasty, inexpensive lunch or dinner. It beats the 700 calories or more fancy wraps and sandwiches  (that can cost $8.00) that are sold at other locations!

6-inch Jared Sandwiches with 6 grams of Fat or Less Values include wheat bread, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, pickles and olives. I would recommend adding in extra meat, as the portions they give you are on the small side. Mustard is the lowest calorie/fat condiment.

Ham
Oven Roasted Chicken Breast
Roast Beef
Subway Club®
Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki
Turkey Breast
Turkey Breast & Ham
Veggie Delite®
6-inch Sandwiches

Check out this link for the complete listing of sandwiches under 7 gm of fat and 400 calories or less (most of them are 300 calories or less!)

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