January 23rd Blog
I saw a piece in Austin Fit Magazine about the Ton of Fun weight loss contest that I participated in last year. The idea was that ten local celebrity “fatties” would assemble teams and raise money for Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
Danny Baker, GM of FOX 7 TV, got me involved last May. I was already into a weight loss program and TOF came along at a point where it provided me a neat motivational boost. I lost 35 pounds during the six-month contest and have now dropped over 70 pounds since October of 2005. Not all the celebrity captains lost weight but Kenny Taylor, CEO of Big Brothers and Todd Jeffries of KLBJ-AM left all of us in the dust by losing 75 and 55 pounds respectively during the contest.
How did I do it? Well, my Cybex bike played a large role. Pounding that thing for 30 minutes along with aggresive use of small hand weights provides a great aerobic workout. The other thing has been that which is hardest for a food critric: portion and carb controls. But what I discovered in my almost daily dining out forrays is that you don’t have to eat everything. You can pass on the basket of bread. Don’t have to finish each entree. And you can have a small bite of dessert. Don’t have to eat it all. Get whole wheat pasta and brown rice. Sweet potato fries are amazingly good. I’ve developed an entirely new appreication for fruits and vegetables as well. When I’m really hungry, and I know I’m going to pig out, I head to places where that pursuit will be tasty yet relatively harmless. Tops on my list: Zen, (love the shrimp bowl), Nu Age Cafe (amazing vegetarian food), ZuZu (healthy Tex Mex) and Koriente (Korean health food).Most importantly, I no longer sit in front of the tube at 1am devouring pints of Haagen Daas.
I really appreciate all of the supportive emails I got from vistitors to DOWR during the contest. But by no means am I done. Onward and downward. And news flash for all you carb counters: try Tofu Shiritaki Noodles. Only 3g per serving and they don’t taste like cardboard. Available at Whoe Foods, Central Market, et al.
