Breakfast is always a challenge – how to get something delicious and nutritious on the table while frantically getting ready for work? The idea of something healthy that went into the fridge the night before and came out in the morning seemed too good to be true. I have been seeing recipes for overnight oats on my Pinterest feed for years and, with Fall quickly approaching and a leftover can of organic pumpkin puree sitting in the cupboard, the Pumpkin Spice Overnight Oats seemed like a winner. Last night before bed I lovingly combined rolled oats, vanilla protein powder, almond milk, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice into mason jars. It quickly turned thick… dubiously thick. Still, I hoped for the best as I put them in the fridge.

This morning, breakfast was a snap – open jar, stir and serve. The only problem was that I served us two large servings of Pumpkin Spice Paste. It was awful. Neither of us was able to choke down more than four spoonfuls of the unpalatable pulp. After the first bite, I tried to tell myself I could save this recipe tomorrow with some sweetness (maple syrup, perhaps) but by the third bite, I had to admit defeat: this recipe is unsalvageable. I have been a pretty adventurous eater in terms of trying healthy recipes and, for the most part, have been pleasantly surprised. Not everything is the best thing I’ve ever eaten, but most of it is tolerably edible. This is only the second time in all my years of clean, healthy eating when I simply couldn’t muscle through a dish, coaxing myself along with reminders that food is fuel – the first was an instrument of torture masquerading as a vegan quiche. Food is only fuel when you can get it into the tank and the Pumpkin Spice Paste only made it as far as the trash can’s tank. Tomorrow: Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal.

It is often said that there are two kinds of people: those who live to work and those who work to live with the latter being the ideal we all strive to achieve. Your work is what you do to support the life you want to live, it funds the things you want and goals you hope to achieve. I have come to the realization that the same is true of eating: there are those who live to eat and those who eat to live.

You should like your job and you should enjoy the work you do – after all, you are most likely doing it eight hours a day, five days a week or about 35% of your waking hours in a year. Loving your job makes the days go by faster, gives you a sense of satisfaction and achievement. For those who live to work, work is everything. They work late nights and early mornings, they take calls and answer emails on the weekends. Personal time? Not really – maybe the random family obligation here or there, perhaps a few casual relationships but the job takes precedence and there aren’t many (if any) personal responsibilities that won’t be sacrificed in order to fulfill a work responsibility.

On the flip side, for those who work to live, what matters most is that your job provides for you, enables you to enjoy the other 65% of your waking hours. Maybe once in a while you get swamped and work late, but overall, when work begins to interfere with your home life, you make changes. When long hours keep you away from home for extended periods of time or miserable working conditions leave you irritable in the evenings or weekends, you address the issue – cut back on hours, talk to your boss, confront whatever is making you unhappy or simply find a new job. Work to live means making the life you hope to lead, your home, your family and loved ones and your dreams your priority. It means letting your job provide for that. This is the way I strive to balance my work and life. I love my job, enjoy my coworkers and I feel fulfilled and proud of the work I do but at 5pm, I leave it all behind. Whether you work to live or live to work, the one thing you don’t get is both. You chose what is most important – the work or the life – then you run with it.

As both a vegetarian/vegan and as a healthy eater, I have heard on a number of occasions, “oh, I could never eat what you eat – I would rather enjoy life.” This is an implication that that food, whether a filet mignon or Double Stuff Oreos, is the thing that drives someone, even if it drives that person into an early grave. The notion that any food is worth shaving a year or two from your life expectancy seems absurd to me now but it shows me that, much like with work, there are those who live to eat and those to eat to live. There was a time when I was a live-to-eater; when my days weren’t more than a collection of hours spent acquiring and consuming food. When I wasn’t eating, I was thinking about what I would eat next and when I wasn’t thinking, I was leap-frogging all over town from one fast food drive-thru window to another. It is inconsequential whether the food I desired me was a sophisticated pyrotechnical display of culinary mastery or bags of Donettes and orange Circus Peanuts; both were forays into overeating, overconsumption of calories and lack of balanced nutrition. I didn’t think I was choosing to eat over all the activities and experiences I desired but that is exactly what I was doing. Like I said, you can’t have both. I wanted my bacon cheeseburger and my banana milkshake but I also wanted to feel good about my body, to be fit and healthy, to be active. The way I chose to eat obliterated any chance of achieving my the dreams I dreamt about what I saw as an ideal life.

At some point in my life, that switch was flipped. I began to look at food the way I look at work. I enjoy the food I eat – I should, after all I eat it all day with my daily meal plan of three meals and two snacks. My food gives me a sense of satisfaction, it is delicious and filling. I actually enjoy my food now in a way I never did before because it isn’t simply a sensation of flavor and texture; it is also a feeling of well-being in knowing what I am eating is good for my body and my soul. Ultimately, food is what fuels the life I want to lead. When I think of my life, imagine the most perfect version of it, I am happy and healthy. When I think to my future and my bucket list, things like climbing Machu Picchu and white water rafting down the American River come to mind. I want to parasail and kayak, I want to travel the country in a tiny Airstream trailer with David. I could do none of those things at 290 pounds, I could do none of those things when I was living to eat. The food I was eating was interfering with the life I wanted to lead, it was making it impossible to enjoy the hours between meals. So I made a change. That isn’t to say that I don’t indulge on occasion. Every time we pass through Santa Cruz, we stop at Saturn Cafe and split vegan chocolate-peanut butter milkshake – it is an experience, a shared moment and a memory made and we can have a milkshake once every few months and continue to live the life we want. We have our memories of sharing way too much pizza and diving into a decadent slice of Opera Cake because these are special days, not routine. Every week, when I sit down to plan our meals, I make sure that we are eating healthfully and our bodies are being nourished in a way that make it possible for us to do whatever our hearts please with our lives and bodies, make us feel limitless and strong.

It was a journey that brought me here – from live to eat to eat to live – and it was a transition that took time. It required I changed everything I thought and knew about food, it required I change how much I value my self and my body. It required a willingness to not follow the crowd, not do the popular thing. It required I devoted myself to learning everything I can about diet and nutrition. It required I re-learn how to cook. It required my palette to change and my body to stop craving processed foods and refined sugars and start craving natural fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes. It was a journey but I am here and I have to tell you – this is SO MUCH BETTER! You may think, “oh, I could never do that, I would rather enjoy life” and you should enjoy life – but food is not life. Life is so much more, life is so much better. I have never eaten anything (and, believe me, I have eaten a lot) that tasted as good as I felt the moment I ran across the finish line of the Crescent City Classic for the first time. I have never eaten anything that tasted as good as I felt the day I realized that plus sized clothing was too large for me and I could start shopping the regular departments at my favorite stores. I have never eaten anything that tasted as good as I felt during my last physical at the doctor’s when I was told I was the picture of good health. I don’t mean for this to sound preachy, I don’t mean for it to sound judgmental. Truly, it is with nothing but love in my heart and wishes that everyone could be the best possible versions of themselves that I tell people how much better it gets, how worth it this all is. Eat to live – eat to live the greatest life you have ever imagined in your wildest dreams.

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WEEK SEVEN CHECK-IN
Taking some time off from weighing in. Just eating right, working out and not stressing on the numbers.

The questions I am most often asked about my weight loss are questions pertaining to my diet and meal planning. Before I go any further, I want to explain that when I use the word “diet,” I am not referring to what our culture has come to know as a diet – a specific set of rules and limitations designed for temporary use in achieving short term weight loss, for example, “I am going on a diet.” For me, the word “diet” is the dictionary definition: a collection of foods and drinks considered, as a whole, in terms of its qualities, composition and effects on overall health and wellbeing. I eat a whole foods, plant-based diet – my diet consists of fruits, vegetables, roots, seeds, nuts, legumes, grains and fungi and their derivatives. I could easy digress on the detailed philosophies of my diet, but that would be a blog for another day. While my choices of healthful, organic and natural foods go a long way towards achieving overall health, my weight loss is governed by the simple principle of calories in versus calories out, which I achieve through careful meal planning and preparation.

As much as we try to make weight loss a complicated, frustrating and nearly impossible endeavor, it is really a very simple and reliable formula. If you eat fewer calories than your body needs to maintain your current weight, you lose weight. If you eat more calories than your body needs to maintain your current weight, you gain weight. To lose weight, simply calculate your current Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR: number calories per day your body is using for both normal body function – breathing, digestion, cell multiplication, maintaining body temperature, etc. – plus the energy your burn in everyday activities like standing, walking. ) and subtract calories. The internet has many free RMR calculators. The one I recommend most highly is at WebMD. This site will not only calculate your RMR, it will give you vital information pertaining to your current physical condition, optimal physical condition and detailed calculations for recommended caloric intake for healthy weight loss. This is the information I use for my meal planning.

I do want to make one quick note regarding Hypothyroidism. If you are part of the 4.6% of the adult population who is afflicted with Hypothyroidism, all this goes out the window. If you have difficultly losing weight and display other symptoms of Hypothyroidism , such as fatigue, dry skin, cold sensitivity, increased cholesterol, muscle weakness and aches, thinning hair, joint pain, etc., get thee to a doctor. If you meticulously and honestly count calories, workout, drink water and maintain a healthy lifestyle and still fail to lose weight and you suspect another medical condition could be standing in the way, get thee to a doctor. If you simply struggle to lose weight – like most of us – the problem is, in all probability, simply an issue of caloric consumption.

Even the best of us make mistakes trying to guesstimate caloric intake. I struggled for years, growing increasingly frustrated at my inability to lose weight, genuinely believing I wasn’t eating that much. It didn’t feel like I ate that much. I was hungry all the time, I was eating dry tuna on rice cakes and Healthy Choice frozen entrées– I must have been ok on my calories, right? Wrong. The numbers simply don’t lie, The formula is pretty much foolproof. My success came when I stopped eyeballing my portion sizes, doing “mental math” to figure out my caloric intake, free-wheeling on meal choices and I started meal planning and pre-prepping my food. As a result, I can tell you exactly how many calories will pass my lips over the course of the day – today it will be 1253 (I aim to eat between 1250-1275 daily). By planning my meals in advance, I take out not only the guesswork but also the hours spent standing in front of the refrigerator, scratching my head in bewilderment. I don’t worry about getting the proper nutrition, nor do I worry about getting hungry throughout the day. It is all there, organized by meal in nice, neat little rows of reusable plastic containers and Ziplock bags.

So, how do I do it? First and foremost, I aim for a day of balanced nutritional distribution. I eat three meals and one to two snacks per day, factoring in calories, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, fiber and protein. If you eat processed foods – anything with a barcode – keep an eye on your sugar and sodium intakes as well – sugars turn to stored fat, sodium causes water retention. Every meal or snack is within 100 calories of the others and other key macronutrients are also within a close range, evenly distributing my caloric and nutrient intake over the course of my day, staving off hunger and keeping my metabolism working at a constant rate.

My second goal in meal planning is to load up on as many nutrient dense, low calorie foods like fruits and vegetables as possible. When working with a limited caloric intake, it is key to maximize every calorie you consume by making sure it comes with a punch of vitamins, minerals and other micro and macronutrients. There is no room in my daily meal plan for the empty calories of sodas, sugary fruit juices, refined sugars and flours, highly processed nutrient void foods and, yes, alcohol. Tracking and calculating foods can seem daunting but, thanks to modern technology, there are easy resources at our fingertips. There are a number of fantastic and free online tools for meal planning and calorie counting. FitDay.com and MyFoodDiary.com are two examples but my favorite is MyFitnessPal.com. MFP lets me plan meals, calculate the calories in recipes, add foods to the already-massive food database, get feedback and support through community blogs and forums, manually enter exercise and link up many third-party fitness apps to track calories burned during workouts. Its free mobile app also had a nifty barcode scanner for adding foods to meals.

The third key to my meal planning is accuracy: I weigh and measure everything. Anyone serious about weight loss should purchase a digital food scale – they are inexpensive and extremely effective. Rather than add a cup of mushrooms to a recipe (face it, no two cups of sliced mushrooms will weigh the same), I weigh them on then add the most accurate caloric count possible to my meal plan. The USDA calculates all nutritional content based on weight in grams – weighing is the way to go. It may seem like an annoying extra step but remember what I said about guesstimating calories? We are terrible at it. Just weigh the food and know for sure.

Pre-prepping has also been instrumental in my success. Most of us are busy people, constantly on the run, and I am no exception. If my food isn’t convenient and can’t go from fridge to mouth in 15 minutes or less, I am likely to skip it and opt for some kind of convenient takeout food. By pre-prepping, I minimize the amount of time, effort and number of dirty dishes to wash. Once my meal is planned and groceries are purchased, I take a few hours in the evening to prepare as much of the food as I can – that can mean washing greens and running them through the salad spinner, chopping vegetables, toasting nuts, even preparing entire recipes. I then divide my meals into containers and organize it in the fridge by for grab-and-go accessibility. For instance, this morning I put a sweet potato in the microwave for 5 minutes. While that cooked, I sautéed pre-washed greens in some coconut oil. The greens went into a bowl, topped by the potato, some vegan chorizo seitan and pre-toasted walnuts. Breakfast was served in under seven minutes and it was high in protein and fiber, contained zero processed foods, additives or preservatives, was only 274 calories and was absolutely delicious.

These are all routines you can adopt and personalize for yourself. To make this work, choose foods and recipes you love. If you hate oatmeal, please don’t plan on eating oatmeal for breakfast (but DO eat breakfast, eat it every day!) Experiment with your favorite things. Scour cooking blogs for new and exciting recipes. Bulk up skimpy serving sizes with veggies (I love tossing bagged broccoli slaw into pasta sauce to bulk up an otherwise sad, meager looking little dinner.) If the mere idea of eating the same food for four to six days in a row comes across as unfathomably boring to you, as it does to many, find a way to incorporate the same key ingredients into slightly different recipes or juggle your meals – what is lunch one day is dinner the next – to help you save money on groceries, be able to pre-prep meals but dodge monotony. The fundamentals are always the same – create a calorie deficit while achieving good nutrition and being accurate and accountable with your calculations. Don’t guess, don’t eyeball portions, have a plan for your whole day in place before you wake up in the morning. Take these principles and find what works for you.