for Fitness & Weight Loss
The Sassy Program is a fitness and weight loss program I have devised for myself which combines the tried-and-true techniques of calorie counting and calorie cycling (a.k.a. "zig-zagging") with dedicated exercise. There is nothing magical or revolutionary about the Sassy Program and I am not claiming that I invented these techniques. It's essentially the old-fashioned way of losing weight and getting into shape - i.e. eating less and exercising more or "calories out exceeds calories in". There are no magic pills here. I simply found a way to operationalize these old-fashioned methods. I am posting this program on-line because recently I have been getting lots of requests for specific information on my program. People see my results and want to know the specifics of how I am achieving my them. I am happy to share! Before considering this plan for yourself, please first read the following disclosures:
Disclosures: I am not a medical doctor and this program is not meant as medical advice. It has not been medically tested. You should speak with your doctor before starting this, or any, exercise and diet program. In speaking of specific results of this program, I am referring only to my own personal results and do not make any claim that you will have similar results. There may be health risks to this program. Participants in the program do so at their own risk. I am not liable for any health or other problems that arise as a result of any individual using this program.
Now that that is out of the way, here's the program:
ADVANTAGES OF THE SASSY PROGRAM
This program has several advantages over other programs:
1. No foods are forbidden. You can eat carbs. You can eat sugar. You can eat salt and snacks...you can eat any food you like. In fact, I regularly eat all my favorites including ice cream, chocolate, pizza and cheese. The type of food is not restricted in any way.
2. You are not required to eat any particular foods. You don't have to eat a certain number of vegetables or fruits, a certain number of this, a certain number of that. You eat whatever foods you want.
3. Calories are the only thing that are counted and controlled. You do not have to monitor fat, fiber, carbs, protein, salt or any other component of food - only calories.
4. Once a week you get a splurge day where you eat what you want. Special occasions, dining out and other events where it's difficult to count calories can be accommodated with a weekly "splurge day" (explained in detail below).
5. Difficult days do not spell disaster on this program. If you "mess up", you can usually shift your calorie values around to rectify the situation. There's no "all or nothing" psychological defeat on this program because there is always a remedy to a slip-up.
THE PROGRAM IN A NUTSHELL
The Sassy Program has 2 components - calorie counting (using a method called "calorie cycling/zig-zagging") and exercise. Both of these components are important to achieving results. In my experience, the dietary component is the most critical and is 85% responsible for success. How do I know this? I have always been an avid exerciser, working out at least 5 days a week and yet I never lost weight until I incorporated a structured dietary plan into my regimen. Exercise is important, though. It contributes about 15% to your success, supports weight loss and muscle toning. Does that mean you can skip the exercise altogether and just do the diet? Sure, and you'll probably lose weight (albeit more slowly than if you include regular exercise) but adding regular exercise will boost your metabolism, increase lean muscle mass (which burns more calories at rest than fat), speed your weight loss results and provide you with healthy muscle tone to support your overall health, fitness and appearance. Of course there are also many additional health benefits to exercise which you are probably already well aware of. I strongly encourage the exercise component for optimal results. You don't want to be thin and flabby. Make exercise a priority!
Detailed instructions will follow, but here is a quick summary of the program: You will first determine what your daily caloric requirement is to lose weight. Once you determine that, you will plan a weekly calorie schedule outlining how many calories you are allowed each day. Using basic tools like measuring cups, a scale, a calculator, notebook and pen, you will calculate the calories for everything you eat and will keep track of your daily calories by writing them down, limiting yourself to a particular total of calories for each day. You will not be eating the same number of calories every day. Some days will be higher in calories than your daily allowance, others will be lower. This is called Calorie Cycling or "zig-zagging".
Calorie Cycling has a couple advantages. First, it keeps the body from getting used to a particular calorie level and going into "starvation mode" (holding onto weight and plateuing). Because your calorie level will be fluctuating every day, your body will not "get wise" to the diet and slow its metabolism down as a way to adjust to "starvation". Secondly, calorie cycling provides you with the opportunity to schedule a "splurge day" (high calorie day) each week. Having a splurge day is probably one of the most critically important components of this program. First, because you can indulge one day a week, you won't feel deprived on this diet. With other dietary programs I have tried in the past, I eventually threw in the towel because I couldn't stand being deprived anymore and got tired of being hungry all the time and always having to maintain perfect control.
The splurge day is critical for a second reason. It allows you to accommodate those special occasions such as dinners out, parties, holidays, luncheons, etc. when calorie counting is very difficult or not practical. On those occasions you just want to eat what you want to eat without enforcing such control.
THE SASSY PROGRAM - DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: Determine your Daily Weight Loss Calorie Level.
Click the link above which will take you to a Daily Calorie Intake Calculator. Input your information and the calculator will calculate what your daily caloric requirement is to lose weight. It will base this calculation on your age, gender, height, current weight and exercise level. Hereafter I will refer to this as "DWLCL" which stands for Daily Weight Loss Calorie Level.
Once you enter your information, you will notice that the calculator gives you two caloric values: "Fat Loss" and "Exteme Fat Loss". For this program, your DWLCL will be the "Fat Loss" value (don't be tempted to use the "Extreme Fat Loss" value - we all want to drop the weight quickly. You will lose weight plenty fast using the "Fat Loss" value and you'll be healthier and more comfortable on the program - i.e. not starving - and therefore more likely to stick with it. Most importantly, the weight will stay off better than if you drop too much weight too quickly).
Take the DWLCL figure and round either up a little or down so it's a nice, pretty, round number. For example, if your DWLCL is 1817, round it down to 1800. If it's 2158, round it up to 2160. In other words, we want your DWLCL to end in a zero so it will be an easy number to work with.
Step 2: Determine your Weekly Caloric Allowance
Multiply your DWLCL value by 7. This is your Weekly Caloric Allowance. So for example, my DWLCL is 1800, so 1800 x 7 = 12,600. My Weekly Caloric Allowance is therefore 12,600.
Step 3: Set Your 7-Day Calorie Zig-Zag Cycle.
Now comes the fun part. You are going to devise your 7-dayCalorie Zig-Zag Schedule. This is where you can be a little creative. Take your Weekly Caloric Allowance from Step 2 and divvy up that number into 7 smaller values - one value for each day of the week - some higher and some lower. So using my example of 12,600 calories per week. I divided my days like this:
1400
1500
2000
1500
3000
1400
1800
_____
Total for the week = 12,600
If you add up those values you will see that even though there are high calorie days and low calorie days, when added all together they total my weekly caloric allowance of 12,600 (the same as if I consumed 1800 calories every day). I didn't use any particular formula to divide my days that way. I just decided that I wanted to have 1 very high-calorie (spluge) day which I determined should be 3,000 calories and another fairly high calorie day (2,000). From there I figured out how many calories were left and spread them out over the remaining days.
The goal with devising your 7 day cycle is to have a nice variance in the calorie levels. Your goal is to zig-zag the calorie amounts, i.e. go up and down. Having 7 days straight of 1800 calories will not give you the calorie cycling benefits we discussed above. You want some lower values and some higher values and most importantly, you want at least 1 very high calorie day for your Splurge Day.
Step 4: Purchase Your Diet Tools
You will need the following tools for this program:
Food Scale
I recommend the Escali Primo Digital Multifunctional Scale
or a similar type of digital food scale. Your scale should be able to weigh in ounces and grams and have a "tare" feature. This means you can put a bowl on it and "tare" it to get back to zero, then what you add to the bowl is accurately weighed not counting the bowl. You can continue to "tare" the scale for each separate ingredient you add, thereby calculating the weight of each separate ingredient separately.
Calorie Counting Book
I highly recommend Calorie King's book. It's the bible of calorie counting. You can also use Calorie King's web site to look up calories but I like to have this book on my kitchen counter so I can quickly look up calorie values as I am preparing my meals without having to run to the computer.
Spiral Notebook
You'll be using this to keep track of your daily calories. I keep mine on the kitchen counter so I can record my foods and calories as I prepare my meals.
Calculator
You'll need this when calculating calories and working with nutritional information on prepared food packaging to figure out calories per gram.
Measuring Cups and Spoons
You'll need these for measuring portions, particulary liquids.
Step 5: Devise your Exercise Plan and Get Moving!
First, it is always advisable to meet with your physician before starting any exercise program, especially if you are not used to exercising. If you're new to exercise, aim for 3 days a week to start. Gradually build up to 5 days a week with an eventual goal of 6 days a week. I am a longtime regular exerciser and my personal weekly exercise plan usually follows this schedule:
Monday: Total body Strength training (45 min - 1 hr)
Tuesday: Cardio (45 min - 1 hr)
Wednesday: Total Body Strength Training (45 min - 1 hr)
Thursday: Cardio (45 min - 1 hr)
Friday: Total Body Strength Training (45 min - 1 hr)
Saturday: Choice (I usually do yoga, swimming, pilates or dance-inspired workouts)
Sunday: Rest
I aim for 6 days of exercise a week but occasionally I miss one day if I am feeling run down and like my body needs a rest. I consider myself on track with exercise if I do 5 days/week.
Choose exercise that you enjoy. I am lucky that I generally love to exercise (especially strength training) and it's become as much of a part of my routine as eating. I admit, though, that I don't enjoy cardio exercise that much. In fact, I hate traditional cardio exercise (like step and floor aerobics) and I am not crazy about walking or running either, but I discovered I love rebounding (mini-trampoline) so that is the exercise I usually do for cardio. I also love to ice skate, roller skate and dance so whenever possible I do those for my cardio workouts.
I belong to a gym but only go there for the pool and sometimes yoga class. My personal preference is to exercise at home. It is quicker, easier, no commute involved and I don't have to worry about how I look (which, if you saw me first thing in the morning, would realize is a good thing). We turned one of our bedrooms into a home gym. I have a large collection of exercise equipment and fitness DVDs and most of my daily workouts are done in my home gym with fitness DVDs. I am a morning person so I usually exercise first thing in the morning when I am the most energetic. I like to get it out of the way so I don't have to worry about it later. I am good for nothing in the evening.
Try to schedule your workouts when you are most energetic. If you're a morning person like me, try to get up early and work out in the morning. If you're an evening person, schedule your workouts in the evening. If you are so busy that you have neither mornings nor evenings free, exercise on your lunch hour. If you're a person who likes to watch t.v. at night, exercise while watching the tube.
If you'd like to learn more about exercise DVD's, I recommend the following web sites:
Collage Video
On-line retailer that specializes in the sale of fitness videos. Their site features 60-second video clips where you can preview workouts. Their prices tend to be high, though, so I usually purchase my DVDs at these sites:
Half.com
Overstock
DeepDiscountDVD
Amazon
Ebay
Step 6. The Nitty Gritty of Following the Program
Prepare Your Weekly Plan
On Sunday evening, plan your daily calorie values and exercise plan for the upcoming week. Get out a piece of paper list each day of the week. You are going to plug the 7 values from Step 3 into your weekly plan. Look at your calendar and determine which day you would prefer to have your splurge day (high calorie day)...do you have a special event to go to? A dinner out? A party? Plug that value in first. Then, plug the remaining values in, again, based on what's going on that week.
Then, plug in your workouts for the week. So here's an example of one of my typical Weekly Plans:
Monday
Exercise: Strength training
Calories: 1400
Tuesday
Exercise: Cardio
Calories: 1800
Wednesday
Exercise: Strength Training
Calories: 1500
Thursday
Exercise: Cardio
Calories: 2000
Friday
Exercise: Strength Training
Calories: 1500
Saturday
Exercise: Yoga & Swimming
Calories: 3000
Sunday
Exercise: Rest
Calories: 1400
Hang your Weekly Plan on the refrigerator and every day that you have accomplished your goals, put a big star next to that day. You earned it and it's motivating to see the list of stars lined up in a row.
Each Sunday you will plan for the following week and rearrange the calorie values and workouts to fit that week. This is a feature of the plan that really makes it more flexible than other plans. So, for example, one week your plan look like this:
Mon: 1400, strength training
Tues: 2000, cardio
Wed: 1500, strength training
Thurs: 1500, cardio
Fri: 3000, strength training
Sat: 1400, cardio
Sun: 2000, rest
and the next week, your plan might look like this:
Mon: 2000, cardio
Tues: 1500, strength training
Wed: 1400, rest
Thurs: 1500, cardio
Fri: 1800, yoga
Sat: 3000, strength training
Sun: 1400, cardio
In other words, each week will be arranged in a way to suit your planned activities. Schedule the higher calories for the day(s) you will be eating out, celebrating a special occasion, etc. and schedule the lower calorie days on days when nothing special is going on. Likewise, schedule your workouts in a way that best accommodates the other things going on in your life.
(As an aside, I do not count calories at all on my 3,000 calorie day. Since that caloric level is SO high, I just assume that no matter what I eat, the odds are I won't eat 3000 calories and if I do, I won't go much over. I enjoy having the break from weighing, measuring, counting and writing everything down and I think that is another thing that keeps me on the program...that once-a-week psychological break. I should state that I don't gorge myself on my Splurge Day. I eat whatever I want and I don't count calories but I also don't stuff myself to the point of sickness or discomfort.)
Follow Your Weekly Plan
Each day, do your scheduled exercise.
Each day, keep a running tab of the calories you consume. To do this, use your Calorie King book and nutritional information on prepared food packaging to calculate calories. Use measuring cups and spoons and your scale to measure the food so that you can accurately calculate calories. Write down everything you eat and the number of calories making sure that at the end of the day, your grand total is within your daily calorie allotment.
I have found it is helpful to think ahead and mentally plan out the entire day when possible. Sometimes I even make a couple of my meals ahead of time - for example I might pack my lunch the night before (sometimes using leftovers from dinner) and have it ready so that there is less rushing around in the morning.
DEALING WITH "SLIP-UPS"
Nobody is perfect and despite the simplicity and flexibility built into this plan, you are a human being and there are going to be days when you will "slip up" and fall off the wagon - it happens to me at least a couple times a month, sometimes more. The beauty of this program, however, is that it is very flexible and slip-ups can actually be accommodated in a way that prevents negative consequences on your results.
Let's suppose it's Tuesday and your scheduled calorie allotment is 1400. You are doing well all through the day but after dinner you fall of the wagon and overeat an additional 400 calories. Normally, on most other programs, this would be cause for distress and a feeling of failure and would possibly send you spiraling even further out of control with the mindset of "well, I already screwed up so what the heck" as you plow into a package of Oreos. But on the Sassy Plan there is no need to despair. You look at your calendar and see that you have an 1800 calorie day scheduled for Saturday. Simply switch Saturday's calorie allotment with today's and your problem is rectified. Of course, when Saturday comes, you will be limited to 1400 calories that day, not the 1800 that was originally scheduled.
This same flexibility applies to exercise. If it's Tuesday and your goal is to do a strength training workout but for whatever reason you just don't do it, make it your rest day and do the strength training on the day you originally planned to be a rest day.
This flexibility really comes in handy for days that your willpower is severely challenged, or you fall off the wagon for whatever reason. It should be pointed out, however, that this flexibility has to be used sparingly since there are only so many higher-calorie days (and exercise rest days) to be swapped. There isn't enough flexibility in the plan to accommodate going off the wagon several days a week. For people who are generally able to remain commited to the program but have occasional days of slippage, this flexibility works wonders. Best of all, the problem is so quickly remedied, there's no need to fly off the handle in despair.
SASSY'S DIETING TIPS
Here are some random things I have learned, products I have tried and tips that I have found help me continue to make positive progress on the program.
Calorie Calculation Tips and Tricks
How to calculate calories when you are cooking multi-ingredient meals such as casseroles: Weigh and/or measure each ingredient in the entire recipe and write down the calories for each individual ingredient. Add up the total calories in the whole recipe. When the entree is finished cooking, weigh the entire entree. I prefer to weigh in grams since it's a smaller unit of measurement. Divide the total number of calories of the entire recipe by the total weight in grams. This will give you weight per gram. Then, when you dole out a serving to yourself, do so on the scale in grams and you can calculate how many calories are in your serving.
How to Calculate Calories in Liquid Recipes, like Soup
As you prepare the soup, calculate the calories for each individual item that is going into the recipe. Calculate the grand total of calories for the entire recipe. When the soup is finished cooking, take a measuring cup and scoop out one cup of soup at a time into another large bowl, counting the number of total cups in the recipe. Then, once you know the total cups in the recipe, divide the total recipe calories by the number of cups in the recipe and you will have the calories per cup. So for example, if the total recipe calories are 2,100 and there are 10 cups of soup in the recipe, the calories per cup is 210.
Using your Digital Scale's Tare Feature: Use the "tare" feature on your scale to your advantage. This is a feature that allows you to put a bowl on the scale, push a button and the scale will read zero (it subtracts the weight of the bowl). Each time you add an ingredient and weigh it, you can then set it to zero again and add the next ingredient so that you can weigh each ingredient separately, as you add each ingredient to the bowl. Also, after being on this program for a long time, I came to realize that the scale was easier and quicker to use (and less mess) for most calculations than the measuring cups and spoons. If I want to have a bowl of cereal, I just put the bowl on the scale, use the "tare" feature to set it to zero and then add my cereal using the weight to guage how much I want. Set it to zero again and add my nuts or fruit or whatever other ingredients I want to add. No need to dirty measuring cups.
Calculating Calories when Dining Out
Dining out poses a challenge. It's difficult to count calories when you not able to weigh and measure what you are eating. How to deal with this challenge? Whenever possible, I try to limit dining out to once a week and make that my splurge day so that calorie calculating isn't an issue. If that's not possible and you must dine out more than once per week, carry your Calorie King book with you and try to estimate as best you can using the book to look up caloric values. Plan ahead! If you know you will be dining out for one of your meals, adjust your calorie levels lower for your other 2 meals. You may even choose to eliminate one of your meals to accommodate the dining out meal without going over your calorie allotment.
Calculating Nutritional Information from Packaged Foods:
Suppose it's the end of the day and you have 127 calories left for your daily allotment. You'd like some pretzels and the package says that a serving (56 g) is 170 calories. You need to figure out how many pretzels you can eat for 127 calories. Simply divide 170/56 to get the calories per gram (3.04) and then divide your alloted calories by that figure (127/3.04 = 41.78). That means that you can get eat about 42 grams of pretzels for the 127 calories.
TRACKING AND RECORDING YOUR PROGRESS
When followed consistently, this plan yields excellent results in both fitness and weight loss. There's nothing more gratifying and motivating than really seeing your results and the best way to do this is to diligently tracking and recording your progress.
Tracking your Weight, Measurements and Physique: Before you begin the program, put on some exercise clothes or a bathing suit and take some "before" photos - full body front view, full body side and back views, close up of your face and upper body. Weigh yourself and take your measurements. I keep track of the following measurements: bust, waist, stomach, hips, thigh, arm. On the first of each month I weigh myself and take my measurements and I write them down to see my progress from month to month (I take photos every 3 months). Each person has their own preference for frequency of weighing themselves but I have found that the once-a-month weighing and measuring provides a good psychological boost (because there are almost always positive results after a month on the program) and prevents the frustrations that occur from daily or even weekly weighings which are more likely to reveal and and down fluctuations that can be psychologically defeating. Taking photos every 3 months or so really reveals the visible results of the program and provides a real boost of motivation to continue on with the program.
OTHER IMPORTANT TIPS THAT YIELD SUCCESS (and keep you healthy)
Drink lots of water!
Take a multi vitamin daily!
Get a full night's sleep every night!
Keep a journal or blog and write about your daily successes, challenges and results.
Find a Program Partner to do the program along with you. Be a support system to for each other.
Create a reward system for yourself! Each time you reach a specified goal, give yourself a reward.
Accept compliments graciously without gloating too much ;)
GOOD LUCK! Please let me know how you do...post comments or questions here and keep me updated!
Disclosures: I am not a medical doctor and this program is not meant as medical advice. It has not been medically tested. You should speak with your doctor before starting this, or any, exercise and diet program. In speaking of specific results of this program, I am referring only to my own personal results and do not make any claim that you will have similar results. There may be health risks to this program. Participants in the program do so at their own risk. I am not liable for any health or other problems that arise as a result of any individual using this program.
Now that that is out of the way, here's the program:
ADVANTAGES OF THE SASSY PROGRAM
This program has several advantages over other programs:
1. No foods are forbidden. You can eat carbs. You can eat sugar. You can eat salt and snacks...you can eat any food you like. In fact, I regularly eat all my favorites including ice cream, chocolate, pizza and cheese. The type of food is not restricted in any way.
2. You are not required to eat any particular foods. You don't have to eat a certain number of vegetables or fruits, a certain number of this, a certain number of that. You eat whatever foods you want.
3. Calories are the only thing that are counted and controlled. You do not have to monitor fat, fiber, carbs, protein, salt or any other component of food - only calories.
4. Once a week you get a splurge day where you eat what you want. Special occasions, dining out and other events where it's difficult to count calories can be accommodated with a weekly "splurge day" (explained in detail below).
5. Difficult days do not spell disaster on this program. If you "mess up", you can usually shift your calorie values around to rectify the situation. There's no "all or nothing" psychological defeat on this program because there is always a remedy to a slip-up.
THE PROGRAM IN A NUTSHELL
The Sassy Program has 2 components - calorie counting (using a method called "calorie cycling/zig-zagging") and exercise. Both of these components are important to achieving results. In my experience, the dietary component is the most critical and is 85% responsible for success. How do I know this? I have always been an avid exerciser, working out at least 5 days a week and yet I never lost weight until I incorporated a structured dietary plan into my regimen. Exercise is important, though. It contributes about 15% to your success, supports weight loss and muscle toning. Does that mean you can skip the exercise altogether and just do the diet? Sure, and you'll probably lose weight (albeit more slowly than if you include regular exercise) but adding regular exercise will boost your metabolism, increase lean muscle mass (which burns more calories at rest than fat), speed your weight loss results and provide you with healthy muscle tone to support your overall health, fitness and appearance. Of course there are also many additional health benefits to exercise which you are probably already well aware of. I strongly encourage the exercise component for optimal results. You don't want to be thin and flabby. Make exercise a priority!
Detailed instructions will follow, but here is a quick summary of the program: You will first determine what your daily caloric requirement is to lose weight. Once you determine that, you will plan a weekly calorie schedule outlining how many calories you are allowed each day. Using basic tools like measuring cups, a scale, a calculator, notebook and pen, you will calculate the calories for everything you eat and will keep track of your daily calories by writing them down, limiting yourself to a particular total of calories for each day. You will not be eating the same number of calories every day. Some days will be higher in calories than your daily allowance, others will be lower. This is called Calorie Cycling or "zig-zagging".
Calorie Cycling has a couple advantages. First, it keeps the body from getting used to a particular calorie level and going into "starvation mode" (holding onto weight and plateuing). Because your calorie level will be fluctuating every day, your body will not "get wise" to the diet and slow its metabolism down as a way to adjust to "starvation". Secondly, calorie cycling provides you with the opportunity to schedule a "splurge day" (high calorie day) each week. Having a splurge day is probably one of the most critically important components of this program. First, because you can indulge one day a week, you won't feel deprived on this diet. With other dietary programs I have tried in the past, I eventually threw in the towel because I couldn't stand being deprived anymore and got tired of being hungry all the time and always having to maintain perfect control.
The splurge day is critical for a second reason. It allows you to accommodate those special occasions such as dinners out, parties, holidays, luncheons, etc. when calorie counting is very difficult or not practical. On those occasions you just want to eat what you want to eat without enforcing such control.
THE SASSY PROGRAM - DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: Determine your Daily Weight Loss Calorie Level.
Click the link above which will take you to a Daily Calorie Intake Calculator. Input your information and the calculator will calculate what your daily caloric requirement is to lose weight. It will base this calculation on your age, gender, height, current weight and exercise level. Hereafter I will refer to this as "DWLCL" which stands for Daily Weight Loss Calorie Level.
Once you enter your information, you will notice that the calculator gives you two caloric values: "Fat Loss" and "Exteme Fat Loss". For this program, your DWLCL will be the "Fat Loss" value (don't be tempted to use the "Extreme Fat Loss" value - we all want to drop the weight quickly. You will lose weight plenty fast using the "Fat Loss" value and you'll be healthier and more comfortable on the program - i.e. not starving - and therefore more likely to stick with it. Most importantly, the weight will stay off better than if you drop too much weight too quickly).
Take the DWLCL figure and round either up a little or down so it's a nice, pretty, round number. For example, if your DWLCL is 1817, round it down to 1800. If it's 2158, round it up to 2160. In other words, we want your DWLCL to end in a zero so it will be an easy number to work with.
Step 2: Determine your Weekly Caloric Allowance
Multiply your DWLCL value by 7. This is your Weekly Caloric Allowance. So for example, my DWLCL is 1800, so 1800 x 7 = 12,600. My Weekly Caloric Allowance is therefore 12,600.
Step 3: Set Your 7-Day Calorie Zig-Zag Cycle.
Now comes the fun part. You are going to devise your 7-dayCalorie Zig-Zag Schedule. This is where you can be a little creative. Take your Weekly Caloric Allowance from Step 2 and divvy up that number into 7 smaller values - one value for each day of the week - some higher and some lower. So using my example of 12,600 calories per week. I divided my days like this:
1400
1500
2000
1500
3000
1400
1800
_____
Total for the week = 12,600
If you add up those values you will see that even though there are high calorie days and low calorie days, when added all together they total my weekly caloric allowance of 12,600 (the same as if I consumed 1800 calories every day). I didn't use any particular formula to divide my days that way. I just decided that I wanted to have 1 very high-calorie (spluge) day which I determined should be 3,000 calories and another fairly high calorie day (2,000). From there I figured out how many calories were left and spread them out over the remaining days.
The goal with devising your 7 day cycle is to have a nice variance in the calorie levels. Your goal is to zig-zag the calorie amounts, i.e. go up and down. Having 7 days straight of 1800 calories will not give you the calorie cycling benefits we discussed above. You want some lower values and some higher values and most importantly, you want at least 1 very high calorie day for your Splurge Day.
Step 4: Purchase Your Diet Tools
You will need the following tools for this program:
Food ScaleI recommend the Escali Primo Digital Multifunctional Scale
or a similar type of digital food scale. Your scale should be able to weigh in ounces and grams and have a "tare" feature. This means you can put a bowl on it and "tare" it to get back to zero, then what you add to the bowl is accurately weighed not counting the bowl. You can continue to "tare" the scale for each separate ingredient you add, thereby calculating the weight of each separate ingredient separately.
Calorie Counting Book
I highly recommend Calorie King's book. It's the bible of calorie counting. You can also use Calorie King's web site to look up calories but I like to have this book on my kitchen counter so I can quickly look up calorie values as I am preparing my meals without having to run to the computer.
Spiral Notebook
You'll be using this to keep track of your daily calories. I keep mine on the kitchen counter so I can record my foods and calories as I prepare my meals.
Calculator
You'll need this when calculating calories and working with nutritional information on prepared food packaging to figure out calories per gram.
Measuring Cups and Spoons
You'll need these for measuring portions, particulary liquids.
Step 5: Devise your Exercise Plan and Get Moving!
First, it is always advisable to meet with your physician before starting any exercise program, especially if you are not used to exercising. If you're new to exercise, aim for 3 days a week to start. Gradually build up to 5 days a week with an eventual goal of 6 days a week. I am a longtime regular exerciser and my personal weekly exercise plan usually follows this schedule:
Monday: Total body Strength training (45 min - 1 hr)
Tuesday: Cardio (45 min - 1 hr)
Wednesday: Total Body Strength Training (45 min - 1 hr)
Thursday: Cardio (45 min - 1 hr)
Friday: Total Body Strength Training (45 min - 1 hr)
Saturday: Choice (I usually do yoga, swimming, pilates or dance-inspired workouts)
Sunday: Rest
I aim for 6 days of exercise a week but occasionally I miss one day if I am feeling run down and like my body needs a rest. I consider myself on track with exercise if I do 5 days/week.
Choose exercise that you enjoy. I am lucky that I generally love to exercise (especially strength training) and it's become as much of a part of my routine as eating. I admit, though, that I don't enjoy cardio exercise that much. In fact, I hate traditional cardio exercise (like step and floor aerobics) and I am not crazy about walking or running either, but I discovered I love rebounding (mini-trampoline) so that is the exercise I usually do for cardio. I also love to ice skate, roller skate and dance so whenever possible I do those for my cardio workouts.
I belong to a gym but only go there for the pool and sometimes yoga class. My personal preference is to exercise at home. It is quicker, easier, no commute involved and I don't have to worry about how I look (which, if you saw me first thing in the morning, would realize is a good thing). We turned one of our bedrooms into a home gym. I have a large collection of exercise equipment and fitness DVDs and most of my daily workouts are done in my home gym with fitness DVDs. I am a morning person so I usually exercise first thing in the morning when I am the most energetic. I like to get it out of the way so I don't have to worry about it later. I am good for nothing in the evening.
Try to schedule your workouts when you are most energetic. If you're a morning person like me, try to get up early and work out in the morning. If you're an evening person, schedule your workouts in the evening. If you are so busy that you have neither mornings nor evenings free, exercise on your lunch hour. If you're a person who likes to watch t.v. at night, exercise while watching the tube.
If you'd like to learn more about exercise DVD's, I recommend the following web sites:
Collage Video
On-line retailer that specializes in the sale of fitness videos. Their site features 60-second video clips where you can preview workouts. Their prices tend to be high, though, so I usually purchase my DVDs at these sites:
Half.com
Overstock
DeepDiscountDVD
Amazon
Ebay
Step 6. The Nitty Gritty of Following the Program
Prepare Your Weekly Plan
On Sunday evening, plan your daily calorie values and exercise plan for the upcoming week. Get out a piece of paper list each day of the week. You are going to plug the 7 values from Step 3 into your weekly plan. Look at your calendar and determine which day you would prefer to have your splurge day (high calorie day)...do you have a special event to go to? A dinner out? A party? Plug that value in first. Then, plug the remaining values in, again, based on what's going on that week.
Then, plug in your workouts for the week. So here's an example of one of my typical Weekly Plans:
Monday
Exercise: Strength training
Calories: 1400
Tuesday
Exercise: Cardio
Calories: 1800
Wednesday
Exercise: Strength Training
Calories: 1500
Thursday
Exercise: Cardio
Calories: 2000
Friday
Exercise: Strength Training
Calories: 1500
Saturday
Exercise: Yoga & Swimming
Calories: 3000
Sunday
Exercise: Rest
Calories: 1400
Hang your Weekly Plan on the refrigerator and every day that you have accomplished your goals, put a big star next to that day. You earned it and it's motivating to see the list of stars lined up in a row.
Each Sunday you will plan for the following week and rearrange the calorie values and workouts to fit that week. This is a feature of the plan that really makes it more flexible than other plans. So, for example, one week your plan look like this:
Mon: 1400, strength training
Tues: 2000, cardio
Wed: 1500, strength training
Thurs: 1500, cardio
Fri: 3000, strength training
Sat: 1400, cardio
Sun: 2000, rest
and the next week, your plan might look like this:
Mon: 2000, cardio
Tues: 1500, strength training
Wed: 1400, rest
Thurs: 1500, cardio
Fri: 1800, yoga
Sat: 3000, strength training
Sun: 1400, cardio
In other words, each week will be arranged in a way to suit your planned activities. Schedule the higher calories for the day(s) you will be eating out, celebrating a special occasion, etc. and schedule the lower calorie days on days when nothing special is going on. Likewise, schedule your workouts in a way that best accommodates the other things going on in your life.
(As an aside, I do not count calories at all on my 3,000 calorie day. Since that caloric level is SO high, I just assume that no matter what I eat, the odds are I won't eat 3000 calories and if I do, I won't go much over. I enjoy having the break from weighing, measuring, counting and writing everything down and I think that is another thing that keeps me on the program...that once-a-week psychological break. I should state that I don't gorge myself on my Splurge Day. I eat whatever I want and I don't count calories but I also don't stuff myself to the point of sickness or discomfort.)
Follow Your Weekly Plan
Each day, do your scheduled exercise.
Each day, keep a running tab of the calories you consume. To do this, use your Calorie King book and nutritional information on prepared food packaging to calculate calories. Use measuring cups and spoons and your scale to measure the food so that you can accurately calculate calories. Write down everything you eat and the number of calories making sure that at the end of the day, your grand total is within your daily calorie allotment.
I have found it is helpful to think ahead and mentally plan out the entire day when possible. Sometimes I even make a couple of my meals ahead of time - for example I might pack my lunch the night before (sometimes using leftovers from dinner) and have it ready so that there is less rushing around in the morning.
DEALING WITH "SLIP-UPS"
Nobody is perfect and despite the simplicity and flexibility built into this plan, you are a human being and there are going to be days when you will "slip up" and fall off the wagon - it happens to me at least a couple times a month, sometimes more. The beauty of this program, however, is that it is very flexible and slip-ups can actually be accommodated in a way that prevents negative consequences on your results.
Let's suppose it's Tuesday and your scheduled calorie allotment is 1400. You are doing well all through the day but after dinner you fall of the wagon and overeat an additional 400 calories. Normally, on most other programs, this would be cause for distress and a feeling of failure and would possibly send you spiraling even further out of control with the mindset of "well, I already screwed up so what the heck" as you plow into a package of Oreos. But on the Sassy Plan there is no need to despair. You look at your calendar and see that you have an 1800 calorie day scheduled for Saturday. Simply switch Saturday's calorie allotment with today's and your problem is rectified. Of course, when Saturday comes, you will be limited to 1400 calories that day, not the 1800 that was originally scheduled.
This same flexibility applies to exercise. If it's Tuesday and your goal is to do a strength training workout but for whatever reason you just don't do it, make it your rest day and do the strength training on the day you originally planned to be a rest day.
This flexibility really comes in handy for days that your willpower is severely challenged, or you fall off the wagon for whatever reason. It should be pointed out, however, that this flexibility has to be used sparingly since there are only so many higher-calorie days (and exercise rest days) to be swapped. There isn't enough flexibility in the plan to accommodate going off the wagon several days a week. For people who are generally able to remain commited to the program but have occasional days of slippage, this flexibility works wonders. Best of all, the problem is so quickly remedied, there's no need to fly off the handle in despair.
SASSY'S DIETING TIPS
Here are some random things I have learned, products I have tried and tips that I have found help me continue to make positive progress on the program.
Calorie Calculation Tips and Tricks
How to calculate calories when you are cooking multi-ingredient meals such as casseroles: Weigh and/or measure each ingredient in the entire recipe and write down the calories for each individual ingredient. Add up the total calories in the whole recipe. When the entree is finished cooking, weigh the entire entree. I prefer to weigh in grams since it's a smaller unit of measurement. Divide the total number of calories of the entire recipe by the total weight in grams. This will give you weight per gram. Then, when you dole out a serving to yourself, do so on the scale in grams and you can calculate how many calories are in your serving.
How to Calculate Calories in Liquid Recipes, like Soup
As you prepare the soup, calculate the calories for each individual item that is going into the recipe. Calculate the grand total of calories for the entire recipe. When the soup is finished cooking, take a measuring cup and scoop out one cup of soup at a time into another large bowl, counting the number of total cups in the recipe. Then, once you know the total cups in the recipe, divide the total recipe calories by the number of cups in the recipe and you will have the calories per cup. So for example, if the total recipe calories are 2,100 and there are 10 cups of soup in the recipe, the calories per cup is 210.
Using your Digital Scale's Tare Feature: Use the "tare" feature on your scale to your advantage. This is a feature that allows you to put a bowl on the scale, push a button and the scale will read zero (it subtracts the weight of the bowl). Each time you add an ingredient and weigh it, you can then set it to zero again and add the next ingredient so that you can weigh each ingredient separately, as you add each ingredient to the bowl. Also, after being on this program for a long time, I came to realize that the scale was easier and quicker to use (and less mess) for most calculations than the measuring cups and spoons. If I want to have a bowl of cereal, I just put the bowl on the scale, use the "tare" feature to set it to zero and then add my cereal using the weight to guage how much I want. Set it to zero again and add my nuts or fruit or whatever other ingredients I want to add. No need to dirty measuring cups.
Calculating Calories when Dining Out
Dining out poses a challenge. It's difficult to count calories when you not able to weigh and measure what you are eating. How to deal with this challenge? Whenever possible, I try to limit dining out to once a week and make that my splurge day so that calorie calculating isn't an issue. If that's not possible and you must dine out more than once per week, carry your Calorie King book with you and try to estimate as best you can using the book to look up caloric values. Plan ahead! If you know you will be dining out for one of your meals, adjust your calorie levels lower for your other 2 meals. You may even choose to eliminate one of your meals to accommodate the dining out meal without going over your calorie allotment.
Calculating Nutritional Information from Packaged Foods:
Suppose it's the end of the day and you have 127 calories left for your daily allotment. You'd like some pretzels and the package says that a serving (56 g) is 170 calories. You need to figure out how many pretzels you can eat for 127 calories. Simply divide 170/56 to get the calories per gram (3.04) and then divide your alloted calories by that figure (127/3.04 = 41.78). That means that you can get eat about 42 grams of pretzels for the 127 calories.
TRACKING AND RECORDING YOUR PROGRESS
When followed consistently, this plan yields excellent results in both fitness and weight loss. There's nothing more gratifying and motivating than really seeing your results and the best way to do this is to diligently tracking and recording your progress.
Tracking your Weight, Measurements and Physique: Before you begin the program, put on some exercise clothes or a bathing suit and take some "before" photos - full body front view, full body side and back views, close up of your face and upper body. Weigh yourself and take your measurements. I keep track of the following measurements: bust, waist, stomach, hips, thigh, arm. On the first of each month I weigh myself and take my measurements and I write them down to see my progress from month to month (I take photos every 3 months). Each person has their own preference for frequency of weighing themselves but I have found that the once-a-month weighing and measuring provides a good psychological boost (because there are almost always positive results after a month on the program) and prevents the frustrations that occur from daily or even weekly weighings which are more likely to reveal and and down fluctuations that can be psychologically defeating. Taking photos every 3 months or so really reveals the visible results of the program and provides a real boost of motivation to continue on with the program.
OTHER IMPORTANT TIPS THAT YIELD SUCCESS (and keep you healthy)
Drink lots of water!
Take a multi vitamin daily!
Get a full night's sleep every night!
Keep a journal or blog and write about your daily successes, challenges and results.
Find a Program Partner to do the program along with you. Be a support system to for each other.
Create a reward system for yourself! Each time you reach a specified goal, give yourself a reward.
Accept compliments graciously without gloating too much ;)
GOOD LUCK! Please let me know how you do...post comments or questions here and keep me updated!
