Why I'll never join Weight Watchers

My sister-in-law joined Weight Watchers and is having great success on the program. In six weeks, she's lost 26 pounds. How do I know this? She told me. Every five seconds. For three days straight.

My sister-in-law is diabetic, so losing weight is a big deal for her. She's been able to avoid insulin, and reduced the amount of medications signficantly. I'm very happy for her, and I told her that. I thought that would be the end of the conversation.

Oh how wrong I was.

At dinner, she told me the news. Later on in the dinner, she told me she was cold because she's lost 26 pounds. Still later, for no reason that I can ascertain, she told me again. Later, after we'd made our plans for the following day, she realized she had to change the plans because she had a meeting she'd forgotten about - she was doing Weight Watchers and she had to go to a meeting, and her normal meeting fell on Christmas so she had to find a new meeting. And she had to go to the meeting because she's lost 26 pounds already and reduced her medications.

In case she hadn't already mentioned it.

The next day, we had to scrap our original plans to accomodate her meeting (I was fine with that). We had drama to deal with trying to coordinate everyone's schedules and preferences, namely from my mother-in-law, and made a new plan and then headed out to lunch together. And then came the menu selection and determination of number of points of each entree - because my sister-in-law was doing Weight Watchers, the new plan that Jennifer Hudson followed to lose her weight, and she'd already lost 26 pounds in six weeks. Then we went shopping, and she was trying to find new clothes because nothing fit because guess what? She lost 26 pounds in six weeks doing Weight Watchers.

I think Weight Watchers is a cult.

I don't know if it's the commercials or the meetings, but this seems to be a common thread for anybody I've known who has done Weight Watchers (or really followed any specific weight loss plan that is working). They talk about it constantly, and want everybody around them to know that A) they've joined Weight Watchers, and B) how much weight they've lost as a result of their participation in the cult. The constant need to share and talk about food and exercise and points and their program concerns me. Being conscious of what you're eating is one thing - obsessing about it is completely different.

Plus, I really don't care.

I don't tell people I don't care - at least not to their faces. I'm happy for people who set a goal and obtain it, I really am, and I will tell them that I am. But I won't ask for details, and I generally won't reciprocate with my own story. I will occassionally share if I think it's important to a story I'm going to tell, such as stories of gym whores knocking out the power on my treadmill or, more likely, because I want to complain. But generally speaking, I don't like to talk about exercising (because I hate it) or a weight loss journey (because I'm not on one). To me, asking about that stuff is like asking if I shaved my legs today (no, I didn't and they're very hairy. Aren't you glad you asked?). It's a task to be checked off, but does not need to be discussed regularly. And it's none of anyone else's business to ask. I'll share if I want. Otherwise, back off.

I'm pretty sure I feel this way because of my social work background, and the time I've spent around people with eating disorders and addictions. I'm sensitive to the relationships people have with food and exercise and counting calories, and I worry about people who display obsessive thought patterns about the topic. It's not healthy to think about food and exercise constantly - it's not healthy to think about any one thing constantly. And I distinctly remember that group therapy for eating disorders can be dangerous, especially for young women, because the group members sometimes try to one-up each other on who consumed the fewest calories or exercised the longest. It's a slippery slope from support to competition, which only exacerbates the overwhelming desire for control and perfection that is commonly exhibited by people with eating disorders. So the more someone wants to talk about exercise or food or weight loss, the more I suspect all is not well.

I am the opposite of what most health and fitness experts (or just random people who write about health and fitness) say: I don't want your support. I don't want to share my goals. I don't want to be held accountable. The more you ask, the less motivated I become. In fact, I'll think you're nosy. And I'll assume you're projecting your own issues on me, and I'll probably diagnose you with an eating disorder.

So I highly doubt you'll ever see me at a Weight Watchers meeting. But congratulations if it's working for you. Just please don't tell me about it.

Date night at Vida

Greetings from a snowy Charlotte!

We have a snow day today and it's a legitimate snow day, not a fake southern snowstorm. Now, if this was happening in the Midwest, it would be business as usual - it's predicted to be 2-4 inches with some freezing rain this afternoon. Thankfully, this is Charlotte and people in Charlotte freak out when they see the white stuff falling from the sky so I'm getting a paid holiday. Hooray!

And hooray for you because you get a Monday morning blog.

I had a great weekend. I didn't do much, but I did get to hang out with my husband a lot. In fact, we went on a date. In fact, he asked me out on a date. Saturday morning, while we were driving back from the gym, my husband asked, "Can I take you out to dinner tonight?"

My husband and I go out on a lot of "dates" in that we go out to dinner a lot, but these dates usually originate with "I don't feel like cooking. Let's go out." I think that is a lot different than my husband actually asking me to go out. I don't care how long I've been married, I will always like being asked out on a date.

We went to Vida Mexican Kitchen y Cantina in the Epicentre in Uptown Charlotte. I love Mexican food, and after living in Michigan which had absolutely NO Mexican food, I appreciate any decent attempts at authentic Mexican cuisine. My husband is generally not a fan, but he's lived with me long enough that I've convinced him that he does like it despite twenty-some years of evidence to the contrary.

Vida definitely exceeded my expectations. Typical of restaurants in the Epicentre, the restaurant itself looked upscale which adds to the total dining experience. They offer tableside guacamole which was great. At first, I thought it needed more salt, but after our waiter brought us a fresh batch of tortilla chips, I realized it was the chips and not the guacamole that needed seasoning. We also shared a red chile chicken chopped salad, which was good but nothing special, and chicken tinga, which was outstanding. It's chicken and chorizo simmered in tomatoes that created a spicy stew that we ate with tortillas. Y-U-M. After one bite I told my husband that I had to learn how to make it, and my mouth is watering just thinking about it. We also shared a mango crisp which is exactly like apple crisp but with mango, and that makes it even better. The service was okay - not awesome, but it didn't detract from the overall meal - but the food definitely made up for it. Plus, the prices weren't outrageous. I'm told this place has excellent tequila and margaritas, but we didn't try anything. Maybe next time!

I highly recommend checking this place out - I think it's one of my favorite restaurants in Charlotte, and I like a lot of Charlotte restaurants. Make a reservation though (the restaurant is on Open Table) if you're going on a Friday or Saturday night because it gets crowded - probably because it's a great place to go on a date.

Pizza craving

One thing that really bugs me about Charlotte is the abundance of New York-style pizza places and the complete absence of Chicago-style pizza places. It makes me very, very sad.

My husband and I have lamented over the lack of Chicago-style pizza places quite often, and some helpful but generally clueless soul always makes a recommendation of "the best pizza place" that ends up being a New York-style joint. We've tried to describe Chicago-style pizza to people who've never had it, but that usually ends up with people thinking it's some sort of double-dough thick crust pizza, made with two New York-style pizza crusts on top of each other. Not even close.

We have a lot of brick oven pizza, and even more New York uber thin crust pizza. It's not that I have anything against New York-style pizza, it's just not my preference. I don't like to fold my pizza like a taco and eat it, and nobody's going to change that. And the difference between New York-style pizza and Chicago-style pizza is not thin versus thick crust, or really even thin crust versus deep dish, which most of the people around here seem to think is the case. No. No no no.

I remember watching something on Food Network or Cooking Channel or maybe Travel Channel about how the water makes a difference in the flavor of New York pizza crust, and that's why each pizza joint has a slightly different flavor. Apparently New York pizza is all about the flavor of the crust, which makes sense when the pizza is pretty much just flatbread. This is also why the mistake is made when trying to compare New York and Chicago-style pizzas and the resulting misperception that the dough in a Chicago-style pizza is thicker because it's deep dish, and therefore the most important part of the pizza.

Chicago-style pizza is not about the crust.

Oh sure, the crust is distinctive because it kinda looks like a pie. And Chicago-style pizza is often referred to as "stuffed," but the reality is that if you can taste a top crust, it's not true Chicago-style pizza (and a lot of places don't actually use a second top crust either). And the crust can make a difference in the overall flavor of the pizza, but really, if the pizza is made right, you don't really taste the bottom crust.

Crust is a really funny word.

No, this pizza is all about the toppings - the sauce, the cheese, the spices, the meat - because it is almost entirely made of toppings. In my opinion, the crust on a Chicago-style pizza is the equivalent of the crust on any pie - something to hold in all the good stuff, and almost completely unnecessary, especially when there's all that good filling. Look at all that cheese! Look at all that sauce! Yummmm. I'm in heaven just looking at it. Maybe it's because I have Wisconsin roots, but there's something about how that inch of cheese is just stacked on itself that makes my mouth water. And the sauce - this is where I think Chicago-style pizza places differ. The sauce is about creating the right consistency and the right balance of seasonings to complement all that cheesey goodness.

Clearly this isn't a pizza that just any place can make - it's a special dough, cooked in a special pan, and nobody in Charlotte knows how to do it right - I don't think anyone even understands it, let alone attempts it. Charlotte has all sorts of amazing restaurants but not one Chicago-style pizza place to satisfy my craving, and that is definitely a drawback to Charlotte. On the other hand, it gives me something to look forward to when we head back to the Midwest for visits.

If someone wants to franchise a Giordano's down here, you'll make a fortune. And I'll love you forever.

Breakfast of champions

This week, I joined in with many stay-at-home moms and started packing lunch for my kids. Except it's for my husband, not my kid, and it's breakfast not lunch.

My husband has a gym in his office building, and he works out regularly before work. This means that he doesn't eat breakfast at home. He participates in a breakfast club, which involves club members taking turns bringing breakfast for the group on Fridays. Sometimes he remembers to grab a protein bar or a banana on the way out the door, but most days he goes without breakfast. Because he exercises in the morning, I firmly believe he needs something to get him through the morning, so I started packing his breakfast at night, leaving it in a plastic bag next to his wallet and car keys so he'll remember to grab it.

Breakfast of champions.