Celebrating with the Biggest Loser, a decadent diet and a diet without dieting
First female “Biggest Loser” talks to Ellen
Ali Vincent celebrated being the first ever female winner of “The Biggest Loser” by appearing on Friday’s “Ellen” show. Vincent said she’s proud to be the first but not surprised it’s taken this long for a woman to lose the most weight in the televised competition.
“It’s not right, wrong or indifferent, it’s just what’s so,” she said. “I mean, men lose weight at a faster rate so given the same time frame girls have to work twice as hard.”
Vincent was eliminated from the show in week four and told everyone she would come back as the winner, which she did after losing 112 pounds (she started out at 234). Her body fat percentage also went down from 47 percent to around 12 percent.
“I visualized it to a T,” she said of her victory. She even had a dress made so that reality could look the same way she imagined it.
A competitive synchronized swimmer in her youth, Vincent says she never replaced training with other physical activity after giving the sport up. “I never learned how to work out at a gym, I wasn’t one of those girls,” she said. For her, succeeding on “Loser” was all about deciding she was worth losing the weight. “It helped me regain control of my life,” she said.
Decadent diet tricks taste buds
The April 28 edition of Woman’s World features a look at the Most Decadent Diet, featured in a book of the same name. The idea is to replace common comfort foods with healthy replicas that fill dieters up with protein and carbs without all the fat and calories.
For example, a breakfast smoothie is made with fat-free soymilk and yogurt, a burger is made with 96 percent lean beef and a small portion of light cheese, and a whole-wheat baguette is used instead of pizza crust topped with light cheese, low-sodium sauce and turkey pepperoni.
Devin Alexander, the brains behind the diet, says it helped her lose 55 pounds. It’s also been used by former “Biggest Loser” contestant Rasha Spindel-Chapman, who had gained back all the weight she lost on the show and has since lost 30 pounds again.
Reports from happy dieters say spouses and kids don’t notice they’re eating healthier options, saving on kitchen time and helping family members lose weight even when they don’t think they’re doing anything differently.
Dieting without a diet
The idea of a no-diet diet seems to be pretty popular these days, and while these sorts of plans might not tell you what or how much to eat, they still come with rules.
One featured in the May issue of Woman’s Day magazine says it’s designed to make people more mindful of what they’re eating, which will automatically help them lose weight.
It suggests taking some time to be quiet and get in tune with your feelings to prevent emotional eating, to note where you are on the scale of hunger and fullness before, during and after meals, and to take a break between bites to help you judge when you’re full.
The plan also says to eliminate distractions while eating and to always eat at a table, to focus on the quality of a decadent food so you aren’t as likely to eat a huge amount, and to accept yourself and the fact that some days you’ll make mistakes.
It’s diet advice we can all live with, regardless of whether we’re on a diet.
(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
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