Good habits pay off

This past week, I went back to tracking, cardio and strength training. Voila': lost 2 pounds. 

So, this is my game plan moving forward and should be at my goal by August. Hope everyone else is doing well too!

Gerri Nisi

I'm still here!!

So, I haven't posted in a while, but I am still in the game! I was on vacation and have had a bit of a grueling schedule lately, so I haven't been tracking, exercisizing or weighing myself as much. Good news: I haven't gained back an ounce. Bad news: only lost 2 ounces. 

But that's ok; I am back and forging ahead with a vengeance, as I need to catch up. Here I go!

Gerri Nisi

Still losing

Last week, I lost .6. I guess my body was exhausted from losing 4 pounds the week before. Although I must say I was not able to exercise quite as many days that week, so it likely had an impact. Food was the same. 

Looking forward to seeing what happens this week. 

Gerri Nisi, LCSWR

Response to Dr. Shapiro

Ha! Do not underestimate the power of Team Trimtastic or that of Gerri Nisi (remember I am lifting weights now!). I too am down 20 and my team will collectively take the Sliminators DOWN!

Very respectfully,

Gerri Nisi

*excuse me while I get back to my winning combination of daily cardio, resistance training and healthy eating. 

Oh, and, congrats to you too, Dr. Shapiro. I would never want to be accused of poor sportsmanship 

Dr. Shapiro responds to Gerri.

Congratulations Gerri, but Sliminators will reign supreme.

Down 20# this morning.

Oy, the gym is calling out my name. Very foggy out but can't use that as an excuse.

- Dr. Shapiro

Woo hoo!!

Last week I stayed the same, but this week I lost, not one, not two, not three, but four pounds! I am
ecstatic!! What is really interesting is that I did absolutely nothing different than the week before when I lost no weight at all.

Interesting how the body works. 

Gerri Nisi

Down 11 lbs total as of last week.  The first half certainly came off faster than the second.  With all the snow, outside work-outs are limited but trying to focus on high protein/low carb foods.

Flipping the script for success

So, rather than hibernating, becoming sedentary and eating out of boredom, I have been taking advantage of all of this snow and extra time I have on hand to do more in my exercise regimen. Today, for instance, I have a late start so instead of only doing only 30 min on the bike and 15 min of weights, I have doubled the time allotted for both. Just trying to make lemonade out of lemons!

Hope everyone is well and safe!

Gerri Nisi

Tough to stick to a regimen

So despite my best intentions too many dinners out and snowstorm induced trips to the refrigerator are sabotaging my weight loss.  2 lbs up 2 lbs down- not gaining because of discipline in the gym but not losing also.  Well meaning patients have also brought the most delicious homemade cookies and my will power is just not there.
It is a new week and I am overally down by 3.5 lbs.  another 10 to go.  Will have to try harder!

Lori Tindel-Kahn

Big loser!!!

Lost 2.8 pounds this week. Need I say more?????

I did it by doing cardio every day, weights every other and staying slightly low carb. Yippee!

Proudly,

Gerri Nisi

Exciting changes!

Just wanted to report that adding the weight training is creating exciting changes in my body. I am starting to see a lot of muscle definition I haven't seen in a very long time. So exciting!!

Are we losing mmomentum? Except for Gerri ,who is doing well, anyone else losing? I didn't weigh in this morning,will do so tomorrow,but haven't lost any up till now. I was at the gym this weekend and I am kinda liking it. Doing circuit weights. My goal is to strengthen and tone. I am making progress.

Nithya and team leaders: can we get numbers on weight loss Per team?

Gail DeLasho

Still losing

I am losing approx 1.5 pounds per week which I am very happy about. I just did 13 miles on the bike and half an hour of strength training. At this rate, I will be at goal by July, two months before a very significant birthday. Yay!

Gerri Nisi, LCSWR

how are we doing?

Will there be updates on the weight loss (monthly?) . Would be nice to know how the teams are doing.
Knowing how our team stands might help keep us going.

Adding weight training

Ok, this weekend I am stepping things up. I am adding weight/strength training to my exercise routine. I already have weights at home in varying sizes from my "fit and fabulous" days, so I am doing upper body today, lower tomorrow. 

Fit and fabulous, here I come (back)!

Gerri Nisi

weight creep

I'm new to posting but have been on team Trimtastic for several weeks.

A few pounds of weight gain over the years (some after having kids, some after moving to the suburbs and not walking everywhere) has added up to about 13 extra pounds at my heaviest. Working at the Ridge Hill location has made it super easy to eat low fat, low carb. I'm using Arbonne Vanilla protein powder with unsweetened almond milk, frozen organic berries and a tbs of almond butter for a yummy sustaining breakfast and eating food for lunch and dinner.

Yesterday was Dr. Cohen's birthday and Dr. Janeway treated us to Deli to welcome our newest collegue, Veda Tyson, but I stuck to my eating plan (salmon, spinach salad, brown rice), and did not feel deprived. There will always be another cake, there will always be another deli day. I like that my smaller sized clothes are starting to fit again. Go team!

Melinda Massoff

Making Progress-
Despite dinners last weekend with foodie friends have tried to stay on the straight and narrow.
Have avoided bread, pasta and rice except for a taste here and there. Lots of veggies. Sharing main dish at restaurants and veggie sides. Weight down to 170.6. More amazingly - cholesterol down this week to 169 from 225 last year- just due to diet.
Have a great weekend.
Dr Meix

Dr. Shapiro's Journey Continues: The Tortoise Will Always Defeat the Hare!

Slow, but steady progress with Ideal Shape protein smoothies (fruit or vegetable) twice a day. Exercise up to four days a week, alternating cardio and circuit. At least one bad treat per week. Down 13 pounds, settling in at about 2.5 pounds per week. Definitely more tortoise than hare.

Barry Shapiro

Doing well

I have been losing a pretty steady 2 pounds per week, which is exactly the pace I wanted to establish. I am on the stationary bike every day: on weekends I can do an hour each time and on weekdays, I do anywhere from half an hour to 45 min. In terms of food, I am tracking on a great App called iTrackBites so I can keep tabs on what I am eating. 

Proud of myself!

Dr. Finegold's latest update.

Monday 2/09/15 weigh in: 162.0.  It's been frankly a struggle given the 50th bday celebration one weekend followed by the Superbowl (wings, Italian Hero, home made cookies)...hoping to get back on the wagon after return from mid winter vacation.

On WVOX radio’s “United on Health” show on January 21^s,  Dr. Patricia Calayag, an OB/GYN with WESTMED Medical Group, discussed with host Maria Gordon Shydlo the importance of maintaining a healthy weight to avoid weight-related diseases. Dr. Calayag is also one of the leaders of WESTMED’s “Doctors Diet,” a 90-day diet challenge with 3 teams of WESTMED doctors in healthy competition using different diet plans.  Those interested can join in and can follow their blogs, describing their ups and downs.

Was doing pretty well on the diet down 2 lbs by increasing the exercise-getting to the gym 4-5 days/week but got derailed by snowstorms.  Not good to be at home staring at the refrigerator all day!  My husband can eat everything and anything he likes without putting on an ounce so he'd come home and open up great wines to have with dinner on the snowy nights and my will poser just faded.  So now, only down 1 lb!  Have to get back on the wagon-It sure is much easier to put it on than to take it off!

Lori Tindel-Kahn

10 days into my Contrave medication I have decided to stop it. I initially had fogginess boardering on dizziness. When I increased to the twice daily level, I had nausea that was getting worse. I did not take my doses yesterday and today and already feel better. Was the point of the medication to make you nauseated and therefore not eat? I just couldn't get through my day like that.
I am frustrated with the weather. It is not reasonable/unsafe to run where I live, so I have not done so in 2 weeks. I finally went to the gym to get aquainted with the machines and will go tomorrow to work out.
With the reduced exercise I will have to decrease caloric intake more. Sigh!
Maybe we should have started this in April when running outside would be easier!?
Gail DeLasho

Road to Fitness

Two weeks since starting Mission Slimpossible (and simultaneously beginning a weight loss competition with my wife, double the motivation, double the results?) and things are moving in the right direction. So far, down 7 lbs with a target weight loss of 20 lbs.  Started with motivation to return to the weight when I ran the NYC Marathon in 2009 (using the picture above as my screen saver on my cell phone serves as a constant reminder of my goal).  I must admit that I am not following a specific diet but rather following some general guidelines to lose weight and eventually maintain a healthy weight going forward.

Some general changes which have helped me thus far:

• Exercise: Running 3x/week for 25 minutes
• Avoiding carbs
• Eliminating diet soda (seems counterintuitive, but feel much less hungry)
• Avoiding eating late at night (no food past 8pm)
• Eating nuts (Kindbars) for snacks as needed
• Loading up on proteins and fish at meals
• High fiber foods (beans, oatmeal, fruits) help me feel full without too many calories
• Drinking lots of water

Best of luck to all teams!

-Dr. Mattern

Was it the Paleo or the Oreo diet I was following?

The snow day was my  undoing. Being around the kids and their oreos was just too much temptation.  Not good. My daughter decided to make a homemade cake after serving us all oreos and milk. It went from bad to worse. But the coco krispies was the coup de gras. A banner day - no eating for the rest of the week. And to think I started the week 2 lbs down.

Patricia Calayag

A week in and over 50,000 steps later I am down about a full pound. Nothing earth shattering but not bad for the middle of winter when we are all tempted to continue our holiday habits of food and wine to pass the time. Meals out continues to be a challenge, ordering a salad followed by an vegetable side is a reasonable approach without making my diet the center of the conversation, Americans have been come obsessed with food allergies and intolerances, it is unclear how much of this phenomenon is real and how much is imagined.  What is clear is that we can't get away with eating the fatty over processed foods we did in our youth and expect to feel well and fit. There is growing evidence that artificial sweeteners are as big a factor in obesity as sugary sodas, water or unsweetened tea are far healthier. Larry Summers lost 30 pounds when he gave up diet coke, seems that stuff just makes you hungry.
  The sun is out so I am going to try to get in an hour walk, the Blizzard of 2015 has been more of an annoyance than a disaster, lets see what the rest of the week brings.
                                                               Dan Fass

The journey continues.

After one week the hunger pains are gone. Using Ideal Shape shakes twice a day, no prescription medication. Biggest problem is finding sufficient time to exercise at least four times a week. I like to alernate cardio and weights but office work is so time consuming. Looking into under desk mini stepper as supplement to more rigorous cardio.

Down seven pounds.

Go Team!

Barry Shapiro

Great week

Had a very good week and am down 2.2 lbs. Very proud of myself! I am up to 35 min on the bike, burning 300 calories. Amazing how easy that bike is getting.

Continuing on my journey....

Baby it's cold outside

It’s cold out. It’s tough this time of year to exercise either out of doors or simply getting into the cold car to get to the gym.  And sometimes we are just too busy. But keep in mind bouts of exercise as short as 10 minutes have cardioprotective effects (and I am not talking about high intensity or insanity workouts). Just go for a 10 minute walk. And if you can do that 2-3 times a day, even better. 

Exercise is simply a subset of physical activity. You put on special clothes. You go to a special place, like a gym. And for a set amount of time, you exercise.  But moving throughout the day, being physically active, is just as important as regular exercise. AND prolonged bouts of sedentary behavior are an independent risk factor for heart disease i.e. sitting at your desk all day. Perhaps already you are taking the stairs, parking your car farther, anything to add a couple of more steps to your day.

2 suggestions.

Since being sedentary is bad for your health, try a standing desk. I am not sure how people can get work done on a treadmill desk?! but a standing desk is just as good.  So I have raised the screen and keyboard on my COWs (computer on wheels) in my exam rooms. This way I can stand while updating information into the charts.

Although I have a nice ergonomic chair in my new office, I have brought in my 75 cm stability ball. Makes a great chair. A little core work and some bouncing and fidgeting when no one is looking. (Does anyone remember Hippity Hop? Or am I dating myself!) And it does come with an exercise guide if you feel like do some planks when everyone else has left for the day!!

And I am also a big fan of early morning exercise! Not so great when the alarm goes off, but you are a little sleepy for the first 10-15 minutes. And by the time you are fully awake, you are in the zone, back at home and done for the day, all before getting to the office. And who has time to eat before anyway?

Calories out!!

Julie Dunne

Exercise in the morning on an empty stomach!

From NY Times, January 23,2015:

“The optimal strategy to prevent increases in body weight is obviously to combine a healthy, well-balanced diet with a physically active lifestyle,” he said. But if you are cheating on the healthy and well-balanced diet part, “we demonstrated,” he said, “that early-morning exercise in the fasted state is more potent than an identical amount of exercise in the fed state” for maintaining healthy waistlines."
  
Unfortunately, I didn't get to exercise on a full or empty stomach this weekend. Will try harder this week.

Patricia Calayag

I fell off the wagon!!!
Was doing beautifully-weight down from 178 on 1/19 to 174.2 on 1/23. Was eating yogurt and fruit for breakfast, salad and hard boiled egg for lunch and a protein, veggies and salad for dinner. Snack- nuts. No food after 9 PM. Some excercise. Looking good....

Then Saturday night started well at Italian restaurant with Barb and friends- 1 glass red wine, a salad for appetizer, and a branzino and veggies for dinner. No dessert. Went back to friends house before movie (American Sniper) and BROKE DOWN- basically raided their fridge and cupboard. Handfuls of salty nuts, tomatoes, berries and 2 slices of bread. Couldn't stuff it in my mouth fast enough.
Feelings of shame. Just thankful other teams are doing so poorly.
Weight today 175+ a little more. Back on track.

Steve Meixler

I am on board

So I just joined the group. I have chosen to take a weight loss medication ,along with calorie
restriction and exercise. I just started Contrave which is a new medication, a combination of Wellbutrin and Naltrexone.
One starts with one dose daily and gets to 2 tabs twice daily.
In the fall I used Qysmia, which is another new weight loss medication. It is a combination of Phentermine and Topiramate. I took it for 10 weeks and lost 10 pounds! I had no side effects. I did have a eating plan before starting the medication. For 5 out of 7 nights a week, I ate either a bag of salad or a steamed bag of vegetables. I would add either an avocado, tuna or cheese.
I think the medication allowed me to say no when I was tempted to eat things I did not want to or to snack.
There were times I was hungry and could have eaten anything/everything in sight. But I was able to step back and say NO!
I also stepped up my running time. Now that the weather is cold , I just signed up for a gym. I plan to do weight training, that is, when I finally get there. I will run when the weather is agreeable, but will go to the gym other times. I don't even run very much (or very well)..but I do anyway.
I decided, with Julie Dunne, my coach, to try Contrave this time, even though I was happy with the results of the Qysmia. We want to compare the 2 in regards to weight loss and side effects.
I will keep you posted.
Gail DeLasho, MD

Weekly blog

Trying to overall be healthy without any drastic diets. I am doing my best to follow the Mediterranean diet. Cutting out my weaknesses-fries, chips, etc. I am also trying to fit in a few work outs a week. I recommend downloading the 7 minute work out app. It's free and great if you are short on free time to work out.

-Heather Schultz

The last Hurrah, I mean Syrah! Now it's time to get serious. Got to fit into those 👙by spring break.

- Patricia Calayag

Caption- After putting some spinach in my protein shakes and you might as well call me Popeye. (I know I'm dating myself.)

- Patricia Calayag

Back from vacation...

New year, new resolutions!  Back to the gym for pilates and elliptical sessions.  Low carb diets are always tough the first 3 days while the body gets rid of those sugar cravings!  I am very motivated by my colleagues and hope to motivate my patients, especially my diabetic patients, to live a healthier lifestyle in 2015.

Dr. Tindel-Kahn

Gone Vegan

Yesterday was Day One in new office at 3030 and Day One of my new diet healthy lifestyle changes! Both a little bumpy for my vegan diet. (It was my medical assistant's birthday and I had to have a few bites of her birthday (not vegan) cake)! But made it up with Spaghetti Squash Primavera for dinner. Doing some reading on the vegan way of life and will keep you all up to date. Just need to make sure I am getting enough protein so have added a scoop of vegan protein powder to my triple berry/soy milk smoothie. Tasty but a bit gritty. 90 days without sushi will be the hardest part. And I was very happy to wake up again to slightly above freezing temps this AM for my morning run. 

Go Sliminators!

Coach Dunne

...in the trenches with my team

Tracking

Tracking my food each day which is very helpful. This morning, I did 15 minutes on the stationery bike. This evening I made a delicious turkey chili that was both filling and healthful. 

Feeing very motivated!

Gerri Nisi

Weekly blog from Jonathan Finegold

Day 2 of weight watchers. Won't be checking my weight 'till next Monday. Will be challenge to stay on diet in two weeks with Super Sunday Seatle vs New England.

- Jon Finegold

DASH diet, day #2

I actually think this might work.
This whole Slimpossible business just makes me more aware of food choices.
Yogurt for breakfast, fruit for snack, salad and egg for lunch, protein and veggies for dinner. NO added salt.
No food after 8 PM.
Wearing my FitBit and walking more.

And..... I'm starving!!!
But maybe that's good.
All WestMed patients- please join us- why not make healthier choices for 2015???

Will check in in a few days- weight was 178 to start.

- Steve Meixler

Mission Slimpossible

Dear Patients,

Welcome to the Westmed Doctors Diet blog. Over 30 Westmed physicians are joining Mission Slimpossible - a 90 day diet and exercise challenge with some healthy competition among the physicians. Please follow along as we blog on our trials and tribulations, successes and failures and friendly competitive rivalry. Eventually, once we have found our way to losing some weight we will ask  you to join us and add your weight loss to our team totals.

So far we have three teams:

The Sliminators from Ob/Gyn and Surgical Specialties

The Trimtastics from Medical Specialties

The Meaningful Losers from Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Urgent care.

May the best team win or should we say lose (pounds),

See below to see if your doctor is up to the challenge:

Sliminators:                                   Team Trimtastic:                  Meaningful Losers:

Coach Julie Dunne                        Coach Randy Stein               Coach Nitya Sharma

Barry Shapiro                                 Steve Meixler                        Steven Kubersky
Herb Gretz                                      Jon Finegold                         Barry Feuer
Jay Lupin                                        Bruno Discosmo                   Agastin Michael
Chris Mattern                                 Pretti Kishore                        Kimberly Carter
Steve Carolan                                 Edna Caraballo                     Naureen Zafar
Ranjan Das Gupta                         Roberta Fox                           Dawn Garcen
Bryan Blair                                    Heather  Schultz                    Diana Joy
Steve Greenberg                            Melinda Massoff                    Diana Mateus
Lori Tindel                                    Geri Nissi                                Martin Ortiz
Katherine Shen                             Dan Fass                                Victoria Merauti
Adora Fou
Seema Sharma
Sara Elias
Vanessa Grano
Patricia Close
Mary Morrissey
Patricia Calayag

- Patricia Calayag

Today I started my new program for a healthier lifestyle at Team Trimtastic. What have I gotten myself in for? Being me the first thing I did this morning is buy something, in this case UP24, a fitness bracelet. It seems to be the thing to do and there was a Radio Shack nearby so why not? The long and the short of it is I walked 13,014 steps  today , 30% more than my goal.

The first article I came across when I finally put my feet up was one claiming inactivity was twice as unhealthy as being obese. That is NOT an excuse for all of us to eat the way we did yesterday (way too much) but exercise is a big part of the equation.

As far as diet goes I elected to attempt the US News approach. As soon as I download it I will see if my meals fit the bill but I am continuing to control portion size by splitting a sandwich for lunch. American restaurant portions are obscene, I either take home half or just stick with an appetizer. ? Tomorrow I plan on whole oats for breakfast as long as US News thinks its Ok,,,

- Daniel Fass

New start

I will start this new weight loss journey with my coworkers. I am very excited and looking forward to the end results of this journey. I will do a modification of the Atkins diet.

- Edna Caraballo

Dr. Morrissey's Postpartum Journey

Day 1: Go Team Calayag!!!!

I am now 9 months postpartum so I have no more excuses.
Went to Soul Cycle this morning at 6:30am in Greenwich before my day at Greenwich Hospital delivering some babies.
Danced off some of my baby weight on the bike :) Great music and super fun.
Didn't see anyone from the other teams there !!!
I am doing some version of the Mediterranean diet, trying to decrease my intake of processed foods to lower my cholesterol.
I dropped the ball with breakfast because I had coffee and peanut butter. I improved mildly at lunch and had chicken breast (ok a leg and wing too) and some trail mix.
I plan to continue finding my soul and fit postpartum body at Soul Cycle in Greenwich, Rye Brook and West 77th.
Will keep you bloggers posted.

- Dr. Morrissey

The journey begins

The diet:

Ideal Shapes protein smoothies for breakfast and lunch.

Snacks - almonds, celery or Ideal Shape snack bars.

Dinner - South Beach phase 1 or phase 2 meal.

One Ideal Shape weight loss drink per day.

- Dr. Shapiro

Diet as planned today except had some Stew Leonards vegetable soup 6 oz, about 40 calories. Only one yogurt snack but put blueberries and 1 tablespoon super-oxide granola from gym. Yum. Branzino with homemade bread crumbs for dinner with broccoli. I feel I should be skinny by now, after all it's been 36 hours.

Plan for tomorrow: breakfast shake, shrimp ceviche left over for lunch, breakfast shake for snack. Will be tough as free lunch in office tomorrow.

Shake it off! Exercise after office hours. Fish for dinner.

- Dr. Calayag

Dr. Calayag Hits the Gym!

I’m back. At the gym that is. After a 6 month break for various reasons not worth reviewing, I have hit the gym again. Yikes, that scale doesn’t lie. This is not going to be easy, but we are getting on track. Dr. Sharma, Elias and I have started. We are going to “Shake it Off!”  Nutribullet coming to office, with the help of 17 day diet guidelines we are going to go healthy, have some protein shakes, low carb, low fat way of eating. WE are making it up as we go along for now.



Day 1
Tuesday 1/6
Work out early this am.
Plan for the day
Green tea ice tea with stevia
Breakfast:
Protein shake with black berries, chia seeds, vegan protein powder, almond milk, flax seed, a couple of chunks of pineapple.
Snack: more of the enormous shake
Lunch shrimp ceviche salad from gym
Snack- fat free greek yogurt with blue berries
Dinner- salmon- grilled with greens.
Snack- yogurt with berries.


- Dr. Calayag

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