Let Them Eat Cake errrr I mean Cookies

     This is both a blog and an update on our family's weight loss challenge as well as my unique plan for losing weight, week 9. 

     It is said that Marie Antoinette uttered these words upon hearing that the working class in France were experiencing a shortage of flour for making bread during a country wide famine.  "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche (Then let them eat Cake)", showed her disconnect with both the people and apparently the baking process too.  I start this week's blog with these words as I can relate to a hungry feeling from dieting these last 8 weeks and to Marie's love of baked goods also.  In fact, this week's diet plan will use the latter to solve the former.

     I really and truly don't mind diets that much, it's the moderation thing that gets me.  I'm a person of extreme behaviors and as one brother pointed out recently, I think it's all a competition and I always play to win, but I like to play on my own terms.  I've never been a person who blindly follows the rules and in fact bucked them a majority of my life, choosing instead to adapt the rules to suit me (If you just thought of James T Kirk and the Kobayashi Maru, then you are as twisted as me).  So here is how I'm setting my own terms this week.  I am really not a sweet eater, per se, but I do have a fondness for oatmeal raisin cookies.  Most diet gurus will tell you that these types of treats should be avoided while dieting or at least eaten in moderation.  I've taken this advice thus far during the diet and I've had successful weight loss (wouldn't you all like to know how much?)  This week, however, I snub my nose at the diet experts, turn my backside to them and promptly drop trou, and boldly announce "Hogwash" to them all.  This week, I propose to eat nothing but oatmeal raisin cookies and lose at least 2lbs. 

     Those that know me best know that this is exactly what I will do.  Those who don't are busy thinking of reasons to list below as comments to try and stop me from doing such a "crazy" or "dangerous" thing, but save your comments, I'm committed to doing this (or should be for doing this).  Maybe if I explain it a little more, you'll feel better about my choice.  My primary motivation this week is to have a little fun with my siblings and

A counter full of delicious oatmeal raisin cookies

other challenge dieters.  I suspect I'm in the running for the highest percentage of loss right now but there are quite a few of us vying for the top spot.  This week my sister Hummingbird is drinking only juice (YUK), and my brother Ace is severely limiting his carbs, and I am sure that the rest of the field are denying themselves things that they enjoy, that's the nature of dieting.  So how fun would it be if I lost more weight this week than them, and did it while over-enjoying my favorite treat?  Lots to me, not as much to them.  My second motivation is that I did hit a weight loss plateau last week and suspect that I accidentally put my body into starvation mode by consuming too few calories, so I really needed a drastic change to reset my metabolism.  I think this plan qualifies.

     The idea actually came from my sister, "She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named".  We spent a day together last month and I think it was then that she told me about the professor in Kansas who lost 27 lbs in 60 days eating

Professor Haub with his diet foods in front of him

nothing but Twinkies, Doritos, and snacks.  I liked the idea of this, of course not long term, but as a lark and a social experiment, so I decided I would try it sometime during this diet, and the plateau gave me an excuse to do it.  The professor alleged that it was all a matter of calories in and calories out, and that the weight loss would take care of itself if you watched both and set up a good plan.  I think I have.  I will allow myself to drink a variety of things like V-8, coffee, tea, milk, and maybe even alcohol (wait a minute, didn't he say he was giving up alcohol until he lost 20 lbs, hmmmm), but during this week, I will chew nothing except oatmeal raisin cookies, and to be particular Otis Spunkmeyer's Supreme Indulgence Cinnaraisin Cravin 3oz cookies that have a whopping 340 calorie count for each cookie.  My

I did check the nutrition.....

wife, who wants no part in this, was nice enough to bake them fresh for me, so that I would have a week's supply. Her rationale was something akin to, "The only thing worse than Bill eating oatmeal raisin cookies all week, is Bill eating burnt or bad oatmeal raisin cookies all week" and she would have been right.  I'm not much of a baker, I have a better shot at being the uncaring monarch.

     I'll share a couple of neat tricks that I am using this week to both drive my metabolism a little faster, and to break up the monotony of eating just one food.  I'm allowed spices, so I am sprinkling some of my cookies with either cinnamon or cayenne pepper.  I like both of these and both are proven to increase metabolic rate.  The cinnamon actually helps to lower blood sugar too, which is a concern when all you eat all day is cookies.  I'm spacing my meals and exercise out to about every 3 hours, and give myself a cookie when I complete at least 10 minutes of strenuous exercise.  I've no doubt that I will have developed a Pavlovian response (look it up, I can't hold your hand on every blog)  at the mention of oatmeal raisin cookies by the end of this week, with my legs twitching at the near-mention of them.  I'm using about 10 other tricks to keep my metabolism elevated, but I won't share them, as after all, I'm in it, to win it.

     I'll close with a quick challenge update.   It's tough to be accurate with this as some of my siblings haven't been forthcoming with the information on where they stand currently, and some people may have even spread rumors of alleged success or failure to confuse the other dieters (OK, that was me), but here's my take.

Hummingbird is leading slightly in the challenge currently, but I see Ace and I doggedly on her heels.  I have at least 3 other challengers who have lost double digits, and are still within striking distance.  If I had to pick a dark horse in this race, it would be Ace's wife who has been quietly shedding lbs at a steady pace. I have not seen her since the challenge started, but everyone who has, mentions how skinny she looks. It's those quiet ones that you have to watch out for.  I think everyone is still engaged in the contest, and I hope to be able to say that we have lost a couple of hundred lbs at the end of it, as a family.  I joke that we no longer will need the wide-angle lens at family reunions.  Seriously though I commend each and every challenger and have been proud to have them as competitors.  The point of the contest was to make some healthier changes in our lives and to shed some lbs and I think everyone participating has had some success doing this,and to all I say Congratulations ! I'd like to thank my family for fully supporting me during this, and point out that my wife has lost significant weight by dieting with me, yet chose to not participate in the contest.  I suspect the same can be said of Hummingbird's husband.  It's a lot easier to diet when you have a partner to do it with.  That's my plan for the week, and the 2/3 mark update on the Challenge, I've got to close now, it's time for my 6:00 cookie. 
    
March 3rd Update - I did indeed stay on the oatmeal raisin cookie diet all week.  At the end of the week, I have to admit a craving for other foods, but I did not get tired of my favorite treat.  I did make a modification to my plan and started drinking a protien shake in the am as well, but I did as promised and ate only fresh baked delcious oatmeal raisin cookies.  The end result was a net loss of..........















                                            5 lbs!