Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I'm loving this, but it's still too spicy for my tastes. I ditched the jalapenos, but it's still tasting too hot. Which spice is accounting for this? Anyone know?

Why don't you try discreetly spitting out some of the food you have to taste for work purposes? Food scientists/technologists and sommeliers do it all the time.

Ed, you'll be fine. :-) Think long term....one week is not going to destroy everything you have worked (and will continue to work) for. There should be no guilt in eating.

Okay Ed, I love what arm1970 said, "you eat for a living..stop being so hard on yourself" and cybercita, "you're eating a lot of stuff that isn't low and beating yourself up about it".
That said, the episode on Top Chef this week pissed me off, they did such a disservice to vegetables and vegans, the product available for the chefs to cook with was such a small selection it got me really, really mad!!! It just stereotyped the issue with vegetables which is not true!!!!!!
So, I don't hear anything about tasting vegetables, farmer's markets, don't get me wrong, I love a good burger(I loved the write-up here on Prairie Grass)..but Ed..quite seriously...what do you expect when all you are tasting is fatty foods....I am all for not dieting and eating sensibly...but if your palate is trained to love fatty foods and that is all you eat, you are going to go back up, up, up....
I seriously love vegetables and more and more each year as I realize how many heirloom varieties there are out there of everything, Nichols Farm here in Chi-town is a magician in terms of what they grow, there are so many different tastes and different vegetables, the world is huge.
So, I am all for not depriving yourself, eating what you love but until you really make a major food shift in taste and start yearning for green things as well as great burgers and don't get me going on Chinese food...I am sorry to be a little stern but as I said I was Seriously pissed off how vegetables were portrayed on Top Chef, and not hearing any vegetables play a role in your eating this week..well..enough said...

Imo the only solution is to get your exercise time up to 2 1/2 hours a day or so, an extra 20 minutes isn't going to get the job done.

Burn 850-1,000 calories a day exercising and you'll be fine.

Stuff happens. You'll eat better at your next meal. Best of luck, as always!

i hope you enjoyed every single bite of what you ate! if you''re eating a lot of stuff that isn't low cal and beating yourself up about it, it only makes it harder to keep your resolve. double up on the exercise, eat salads when you're not working, watch portions, and keep us posted.

i've always had such an out of control feeling about my weight. but you know what? last summer i ate myself right out of my jeans. i was making tons of fruit tarts and pasta pomodoro and was lazy about the gym. then when the cold weather hit and i had to wear my jeans instead of elastic waisted linen slacks or skirts, i couldn't get them over my knees. so i just switched to only eating raw fruits and vegetables, hard boiled eggs, canned fish packed in water, and steel cut oats for a couple of weeks. my clothes fit perfectly again, crisis averted!

to those who suggested mark rippetoe and stumptuous - these are great sources for beginning weight lifters! smart, sensible and no-nonsense weightlifting advice with a focus on technique. i haven't read starting strength but i've meant to.

as a sort-of-new weightlifter, i've found rippetoe's youtube videos for basic exercises (squat, deadlift, etc.) invaluable! i also really like the way he talks, incidentally. he has the cadence of a really good, perceptive teacher. it's weirdly soothing to me.

"A recent article in Time magazine actually said that excercise does not help you lose weight and that it is all diet. "

BTW, this article has been debunked 10 ways from Sunday. The author is totally wrong, didn't do any research, and based his conclusions on the fact that he used exercise as an excuse to eat junk afterward because he "craved" it. Exercising is NOT an excuse to go out and eat fries and ice cream and cake. If you are hungrier after lifting weights (and I'm always ravenous) eat HEALTHY foods, and make sure you get a good bit of protein in after your workout - when your muscles are most receptive to metabolizing that protein for strength and muscle growth.

I am surprised and delighted to see several other commenters recommend Crossfit.com before I even had a chance to do so. Crossfit is my religion. Forget paying attention to your weight, Ed - just try it for a few weeks and you'll marvel at the way this program turns you into a superhero.

I lift weights 4-5times per week, have been doing so for 3 years. At 57, I'm the strongest i've ever been in my life. There's a sign in my gym that says "I workout so that I will be better at the things I like to do". Hope this motivates you to give it a try.

if you're not a member of a gym, i'd second the jillian michaels suggestion. you do need to invest in some free weights, but her workouts are GREAT. you WILL be sore the next morning, but think of it as a good thing! if you can get yourself to stick to the 30 day shred routine, good for you - her 'no more trouble zones' dvd is also fantastic. i saw a difference in my arms within a matter of weeks. the dvds are usually between $8-10 on amazon. give it a shot.

i just started a kettlebell training program, and i love it so far. it's lifting heavy things but still manages to get and keep my heart rate up, so it feels like i'm getting weights and cardio from the same exercise and thus have to spend less total time exercising.

while i do think it has effected my metabolism somewhat, it's not in a way that promotes weight loss. it basically just ups my appetite in accordance with how much i'm lifting/swinging. but i think there are enough other health benefits that i'm not really concerned with that.

most experts on weight training agree that it's very difficult, if not impossible, to both gain muscle and loose fat at the same time. muscle gains always come with a little bit of fat gains and fat loss almost always means a little bit of muscle loss. serious bodybuilders alternate between 'bulking' and 'cutting' cycles, but for the rest of us that seems sort of unnecessary and unpleasant.

though it's primarily geared for women (in a no-bullshit way that is unlike most weight training resources geared towards women), stumptuous.com is a really great resource for anyone interested in starting with weights. it demystifies things in a really helpful way.