Adventures in Hedonism

The results are in! Last month I decided to do a little weight loss experiment of my own.  I decided to take Advil PM every night for a month and find out if better sleep actually promoted weight loss.

I did all other things the same and I ended up losing right at 6 pounds!  Success!

What I learned:

I had in no way been getting enough sleep before.

The sleep I was getting was disturbed and broken.

I feel SO much better after a good night’s sleep.

I am more motivated to get up and going in the morning after sleeping well at night.

I’m going to continue to take the Advil PM.  I was already taking advil for my arthritis, so instead of taking it during the day, I’ll just take it at night with the PM formula.

I’ll keep you guys posted on the weight loss thing, but honestly that’s secondary to how good I feel after a full night’s sleep!

This Christmas is going to be extremely difficult for many people.  Those who were living from paycheck to paycheck (as over half of Americans do) are finding it hard to pay the bills, let alone buy junior that toy that he asked Santa for.

We, like so many other families this year, are struggling.  We are eating in and enjoying the warmth of the house and the company of friends.

It’s easy to focus on the negatives.  I won’t be able to buy my family presents.  Rent is going to be late.  My paycheck has been cut in half and things are not looking good.  I want to die.

Focusing on these things does not accomplish one damn thing.  Instead, we are trying to make the most of our situation and be very grateful for the nice things that do come our way.

We are sushi lovers.  We are lovers of steaks and wine.  We treat ourselves when things are going well.  Lately, we have been eating  a lot of peanut butter sandwiches.  This week, though, we decided we would eat out one night.  Cracker Barrel.  It was the best meal we had eaten in a while.  Not because the food was inexplicably delightful, but because we appreciated it more.

We could not believe that both of us had eaten biscuits, bacon, grits and more and had only a $13.00 bill.  For both of us! We brought home a plate of biscuits that were left over and had them for breakfast the next morning.  They were still good and we were still happy.

We will have sushi again one day.  After Christmas and the bills are caught up. But until then: yay, biscuits!!

Let’s begin by saying that this week of experimenting was not quite as scientific as I would have liked.  Due to excessive drinking, I did not take my Advil PM two nights.  So the experiment is only valid for 5/7ths of the total time accrued. (Is that even a real fraction?!)

Anyway, for those of you who haven’t been following this experiment,  I decided to find out if improved sleep really does promote weight loss.  I have been taking Advil PM (almost) every night for a week and the result is:…………………………………..

I’ve lost one pound.

Not amazing, I know.  But, hey, I’m a pound lighter than I was last week.  I’m going to keep it up through the month of December and report back to you guys weekly.

Wish me luck!!!

It’s day 5 of my weight loss/sleep experiment and I can tell you already that I am liking the results. Though I have not yet weighed, I can tell you that I have been feeling better than I have in a long, long time.

I missed my Advil PM last night because I was out late with friends and thought it would be too late to take them when I got home.  I paid for it, too.  I didn’t sleep well and I woke up feeling yucky today.

All the other days though, I have had energy all day and have felt nice and ready to wake up in the mornings.  I won’t forget to take the Advil tonight! I’m exhausted! 

The weigh in comes Sunday.  Check back to see the results!

Today is the third day of my December Sleep/Weight Loss Experiment.   I have to say that I’m feeling pretty good, too.  If you want to read the details of the experiment, you can click on the link above.

I can tell that I’m getting deeper sleep and more sleep, which is awesome.  I’ve been feeling super refreshed when I wake up in the mornings and am better able to start my day off in  the right way instead of feeling grouchy like I usually do.   I have more energy during the day and have been able to fall asleep a little quicker at night.

I have not weighed myself yet.  I intend to do that 7 days into the experiment.  That’s when we’ll find out if all this new energy = a better metabolism and therefore a little weight loss.

Anyone care to join me in trying this?

We’ve all read the recent studies on how getting a good night’s sleep prevents weight gain and I’m ready to put it to the test.

I could stand to lose about 50 pounds and I’m going to do a little experiment of my own over the month of December.  I am already taking Advil daily for arthritis in my hand, so instead of taking the regular kind, I’m going to try taking the Advil PM every night for the month of December.

I think that I am ideal for this kind of experiment because I have a lot of trouble falling asleep and usually wake up many times throughout the night.  I am interested to see how I feel in the mornings after getting a good night’s sleep…assuming the pills do their job.

Aside from feeling better during the day, I hope that I will also get the added benefit of a little weight loss.  I have a very active day job where I get lots of exercise and I’m not planning on changing my eating habits during the next month.  I will up date here on a weekly basis and we’ll see how it goes.

Aside from drinking my way toward alcohol poisoning this month at different events, I have had the opportunity to attend several potluck dinners with friends.

At a wine tasting recently, I tasted an awesome cheese snap concoction that my mouth fell in love with.  I found out that the recipe was from a fundraiser cookbook for our local NPR station, so I bought one.  Those damn things are awesome! Everyone I’ve tried them on so far has wanted the recipe.  Even my mother, southern cook extraordinarie called and wanted the recipe.

So, in the interest of the betterment of society, I’ll share the cheese snap recipe with my today.com readers.  Enjoy!

1. Cream 1 cup of butter.

2. Add in 2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and cayenne pepper.

3. Add 3/4 cup of chopped pecans.

4. Add 1/2 pound of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

5. Roll into teaspoon sized balls and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 20 minutes at 350.

Let me know if you try them. They’re fantastic!

What’s this, you say?  Well, I tell you, it is a truck laden with fruits and vegetables.  My vegan friend Leslie will be appreciative and impressed.

I saw this photo on a website today called Funtasticus . This is from today’s post entitled Extreme Transportation.

In my humble opinion, this is what is missing from our society today.  Trucks that are weighted down with fruit and veggies that are travelling the highway looking for vendors.

I have to wonder how he can see to drive.  Although, someone with this amount of determination would find it easy to make it work.  I like that there’s a scale on top of the truck, too.

I wish we had local markets in our community.  There is almost nothing better than fresh fruits and veggies.  Here’s to not going to the local wal-mart to buy fruit today…

Cheers!

This morning I went to the grocery store to purchase Bananas because a couple of days ago I read on yahoo news about the Morning Banana Diet.  (then immediately posted my own articles about the diet on eHow and Suite 101 …they have done quite well!)

ANYWAY, I was in line checking out my bananas and the fixings I bought to make caramel apples tonight when I spied an older gentleman in the checkout line next to mine.  He was a spiffy dresser and he looked quite content.  So, of course, I had a look at what he was buying.

Crossing the conveyer belt was what I consider the be the dream diet of a hedonist living alone.  There were 10 or so frozen dinners, a huge bottle of wine, some bloody mary mix and 3 packs of Starbucks double shot espressos.

This guy clearly knows the secret of growing older.  Eat crappy boxed diet dinners every day, but drink as much as you want.

He was a lot thinner then me.  Maybe I’ll give his diet a try and ditch the bananas.