In April, Denise and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. And, as you can imagine, we celebrated for more than just one day. We had a trip to San Francisco, festivities with family and friends, and intimate dinners for just the two of us, where we said stuff like, “Well, how often are we going to get the chance to celebrate our 20th anniversary?” Needless to say, we enjoyed March and April quite a bit, but it’s time for me to get back on track.

The good news is that I actually managed to lose a half pound over the course of those two celebratory months. But the pace of losing ½ pound every 2 months isn’t really going to get me where I need to be—at least not this decade. So, I’ve decided to give myself the challenge of losing 21.5 lbs. over the course of the next 8 weeks. That would put me at my goal weight of 200 lbs. by July 1st, the first day of the 2nd half of the year. This means making a conscious effort to do a better job of sticking with my California Chef meal plan—not the go out and celebrate like an idiot meal plan. This really shouldn’t be at all hard since I really enjoy my California Chef meals. I just need to cut down on how often I go out. In addition, I need to make a serious effort to carve out some time to exercise. And, lastly, I need to carve out some time to routinely update my blog to keep me honest on my new efforts. So, let the cutting and carving begin!

Many people have a more pronounced weight loss in the first week or two of a new diet regimen, and that’s mostly because they’re fanatical about trying to stick to their new meal plan—even if it entails far too few calories and is ultimately unsustainable. This heady early weight loss, however, usually helps provide the motivation for sticking to the program—at least in the short term—because people do a quick calculation projecting out a few weeks or months and think, “Oh my God! I am going to be at my goal weight in no time! Who cares if I have to eat tripe and seaweed with every meal?”  A few weeks down the line, though, most people start losing significantly less weight than at the beginning, and they’re sick of always feeling hungry and/or eating foods they would never choose on their own if they weren’t on a diet.

That was not my issue. My issue was almost the opposite. Because Denise and I had one of our closest friends staying with us for 5 nights during my Week 1, I had a hard time sticking w/ my California Chef meals at night and our celebratory evenings out involved decadent food choices and way more alcohol than any diet would ever allow. (In our defense, we hadn’t seen this friend since Christmas, we were celebrating her February birthday, and we felt like we had to make the nights more fun than usual to repay her for the fact that she was helping us out in the kitchen during the day to fill in for an employee who was unexpectedly out of service for the week.) However, by sticking with my Cal Chef meals during the day, I was able to mitigate the damage we did by night. Against that backdrop, I’ll take the weight loss I was able to manage—and, going forward, I will resolve to try to keep my deviations to a minimum for a while. I’ll even try to get back on schedule w/ my blogs.

1. The premise seemed a bit hokey. After all, Denise did a long-running blog about herself on a diet, which was interesting, entertaining, and well liked, but that’s because she’s the chef and a good writer. I wondered, “Is anyone really going to be interested in the husband of a chef trying to lose weight?”
2. Unlike everyone who’s writing a blog nowadays, I have no real desire to share all that much about myself with the wider world. I barely even post anything on facebook, and that only goes out to my “friends.”
3. I’m illiterate. So far I’ve been incredibly lucky randomly pounding out strokes on the keyboard, but I knew my luck couldn’t hold forever. OK, this reason is a complete fabrication, but I remember from a long ago English class that rhetorical flourishes work best in three’s, and I honestly only had two legitimate reasons for not wanting to do the blog.

But Denise—the chef, my wife (thus the clever title for this blog)—urged me to give this experiment a try. She insisted that people would be interested in getting the perspective of another person trying to lose weight on the California Chef diet plan. And, since many of our clients are men, Denise also thought that a male’s perspective would help illustrate that diets are not just for women—especially our diet plan. Denise does not believe in deprivation, ours is not a crash diet, we include plenty of healthy carbs, and eating often is part of the plan. Hell, you can even enjoy pizza and tacos if you want!

Well, I thought, we truly do have wonderfully delicious offerings and I would like more people to learn about them and give us a try, so, damn it, I’ll do that blog! So what if I get discovered on the Internet and then have to do my own incredibly successful reality TV show and upstage the Kardashians who will then dump an entire tub of buttered popcorn and three large drinks on me to vent their rage when we run into them at the movies ?(What? It could happen. They really do just live in the next town over.) So what if I have to post nude before and after photos of myself every week on our site? So what if in the not-too-distant future when I’m delivering to Dwayne Johnson (a real client of ours), he notices what incredible shape I’ve gotten in and offers to cast me as his arch-nemesis in an upcoming movie he’s doing and I have to spend four months on a movie shoot in Bolivia? Well, I thought, I’ll just have to take those risks!

So, here it goes. My name is Michael, and I need to lose some weight. I’m 6’ 4”—any way you measure me. No, just kidding. I’m not that overweight, but I should be at right around 200 lbs., and I’m currently weighing in at 226.5. I also have a family history of heart disease. My dad had a heart attack and quadruple bypass back in the 90’s, and my mom has had—and I know this is going to sound callous, but it’s true—I lost track of how many heart attacks. Let’s just say she’s had at least 3, with a few episodes of congestive heart failure thrown in just to make sure my panic response to any late night phone call stays sharp. But wait, there’s more: She also has type 2 diabetes and has lost some toes in her body’s tug-a-war between insulin and glucose. Not a pretty picture.

Well, I love my mom and dad, but I don’t want to spend anywhere near as much time as they do in hospitals and doctors’ offices. I’m 47 years old and have done a pretty good job trying to keep at a healthy weight and watching my cholesterol numbers, but this past year, things just got away from me a bit. OK, a good bit. My wife and I love California Chef, but like almost any small business, it can be incredibly taxing on its owners. We work crazy long hours (she far more than me, I’ll gladly admit), and it’s highly stressful trying to make all the numbers add up week in and week out in this economy. So, I found that the most fun and least time-consuming way to deal with that stress was to go out for dinner and drinks as often as possible after work. Unfortunately, that combination of sleep deprivation, high stress, indulgent food, and excessive drink helped me put on 20 lbs., gave me high blood pressure, and knocked my cholesterol numbers into the “Do you really want to end up like your parents?” column.

I’m not comfortable in that column. So, I’ve decided to make some big changes to get me back to where I need to be. And, if you’ve really read this far, I’m inviting you to join me on that journey. I’ll do the best I can to arrest my slide toward ill health, and I’ll pass on to you what I learn on the way, trying to keep you interested and entertained all the while. And don’t worry, I was just kidding about the nude before and after photos. So, with that fear safely out of the way, are you interested?

Enjoying holiday cheer is good. Repeatedly saying “Cheers” and knocking back cocktails all night long—not so much. In addition to being loaded with lots of useless calories, alcohol often leads to lousy food choices. So, limit yourself to maybe one drink at the party or family gathering, and otherwise stick to low-cal soft drinks, sparkling or still water.

Choose what you eat carefully—and then savor the flavor. At parties or get-togethers, consider choosing only those foods that are special this time of year, and skip over the items you can have any old time. Make a point of taking in the look and smell of your special choices before digging in. Then enjoy them slowly to maximize the experience. Doing so should give you big-time enjoyment with minimal caloric intake.

Don’t forget the stocking stuffers. Don’t throw all your good eating habits out the window this time of year. As you’re hitting the buffet table, remember to grab some of those vegetables that are probably sitting next to the dip and whatever fruit might be available. Drink plenty of water too. Having these “stuffers” alongside your chosen special treats will help you feel fuller faster, leading to less overeating and weight gain.

Get enough ZZZ’s to balance out the Ho Ho Ho’s. During this hectic time, it’s key to get enough sleep. When you’re feeling run-down or tired, you might be tempted to grab some high-sugar or high-fat foods to try to give yourself an energy jolt. But the rushes that result are only temporary—the pounds hang around for a good while longer!

Give yourself the gift of understanding. The tips above should help you avoid gaining weight this holiday season, but don’t get too down on yourself if you slip up a time or two. Do your best, but acknowledge that this is just a challenging time of year for eating right. Enjoy the company of family and friends, the—perhaps—unusual good humor of certain workmates, and the sights and sounds of the season. Things will be back to normal all too soon.

Nutritionally speaking, mangos are high in fiber, Vitamins C and E, beta carotene, calcium, flavonoids, and amino acids. Translation: The health benefits of mangos include everything from cancer prevention to improved digestion, eye health, and some say even heat stroke. With the LA temperatures we endured last week, I say bring on the mangos!

Mangos are for sale everywhere in greater LA.  Drive up Kanan Rd on the way home from the beach and you can get a box for $6.00. Obviously, you can also get them at your favorite grocery store, or, usually, even at Costco. Get yours and get ready to make some mango salsa! Here’s the California Chef recipe:

1. Chop all ingredients separately in a food processor. If you don’t have a processor, by hand is fine. Besides being faster, a food processor will retain more of the juices. Pulse each ingredient and then empty into a bowl:

1 cup of mango, peeled

3 seeded Roma tomatoes

¼ of a red onion

2. To your bowl add:

2 Tablespoons of corn

2 Tablespoons of diced Serrano chilies

1 Tablespoon of lime juice

1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro

1 teaspoon of minced garlic

1 teaspoon of chili powder

This salsa is great as a dip for chips (for guilt-free chips, use the chips part of the recipe from my blog of February 10, 2010), or try it on grilled chicken or fish.  If you try it, let me know what you think at denise@californiachef.com

3 cups mixed salad greens

½ c new potato, sliced, patted dry

¼ c jicama, grated

¼ c cucumber, sliced thin in half moons

1 T feta cheese

2 T celery, chopped

2 T red onion, sliced thin

2 T craisins

3 1/8 oz. cooked, boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced

1 t parsley, chopped

¼ c fat free raspberry vinaigrette dressing

Layer ingredients in the order listed above. In the California Chef kitchen, we say “Willy Nilly” style, which means just sprinkle each ingredient on top w/o worrying about a particular design or placement. For the dressing, we like Maple Grove Farms’ version, which you can find at your local grocer. This salad not only tastes great, but it also looks beautiful. And with summer fast approaching, there’s no time like today to start eating right for more energy to get out there and enjoy the great weather!

1. I didn’t have to think about what to eat. All of my meals were planned for me.
2. My food quantities were measured out specifically for my calorie count.
3. I really did like all of my meals.
4. I didn’t have to go to the grocery store when I was hungry.
5. I ate out much less.

I didn’t intend to go on a maintenance plan at that point, but that’s what happened. I celebrated my birthday month (August) w/ lots of ice cream (my favorite) and weekend celebrations, but I compensated with extra exercise and staying on track during the week. I was amazed I never gained more than 2 lbs.

Then it seemed there were celebrations on top of celebrations: friends’ birthdays, a wedding, more relatives visiting, a bar mitzvah, Thanksgiving, my husband’s birthday month, holiday parties, Christmas, and now here we are. With all the festivities, I guess I forgot to go back on my diet! However, I am still in my maintenance range of +2 pounds. And after January 1st, I will start my diet again and go for another 10 pounds.

I, and everyone else at California Chef, wish you all the happiest and healthiest new year and the best of luck with all your goals in 2011—be they dietary or otherwise!

August is my birthday month (yes, I celebrate the entire month) and I refuse to be “on a diet.” I can be “on maintenance,” but I don’t want to have to worry about losing weight during the traditional celebratory period. So, that means I have to shed at least 5 lbs. in the next 3 weeks. My original goal was 30 lbs. Somewhere along the way I got a little cocky and decided I should go for 35, but 30 is much more realistic, and I decided to be happy if I reach it. What a great birthday present it will be to myself. Wish me luck!

Jalapeño Turkey Club Panini

2 pieces whole wheat bread

1 ½ slices fat-free Swiss cheese

8 slices shaved turkey

1 T chopped tomato

1 slice turkey bacon, cooked and chopped

5 slices pickled jalapeño peppers

2 sprays olive oil cooking spray

Assemble as a sandwich, with the cheese forming the first layer on each slice of bread. Spray the outward-facing sides of both pieces of bread with the olive oil spray and either cook in a panini maker or sear on both sides in a frying pan. Yum!