Category Archives: Jill Adler’s Personal Blog

The End Is Near

What shall I eat on my first day as a free woman? It’s done! The ‘after’ pictures will be snapped tomorrow and then I’m cut loose.

I had my final weigh-in today. Four weeks, 60 pills, 12 training sessions and I’ve lost 9 pounds. The weight mostly came off my thighs, arms and, as my mother points out, my face. My competitive self is a bit disappointed. I had a goal and a deadline to meet. I was aiming for a nice round 10. But, I remind myself, just because the ‘experiment’ is finished doesn’t necessarily mean I’m done losing. However, there’s Chinese food, cheesecake, French fries and breakfast potatoes with my name on them.

I have lived in depravity long enough that I will feel intense guilt the minute I forget what got me to this place.

I feel good. It’s been decades since I’ve been this little and I want to stay at 115. Maybe go for 112? Yet, as I introduce pasta, bread and potatoes back into my life will everything go to hell? I did cheat a little on my Fairmont Hotels trip to Banff, Canada, last weekend but to my astonishment I still lost weight. Maybe the -32 degree temperatures helped me burn off the baguette and chocolate fondue I caved for. I even had my first glass(es) of wine in three weeks on that trip.

A stay at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise begs for fine dinners and wine. In fact, Executive Chef JW Foster in The Wine Store held a private wine pairing dinner in honor of our final night.


Dessert, well, I would have to be a zombie to resist. Deconstructed s’mores with homemade graham crackers. But I didn’t finish it!

Turns out you can still lose weight through portion control and cardio. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical machines in the gyms at both the Banff Springs Hotel and the Chateau. I also hiked two hours through Johnston Ice Canyon with a sore foot.


Jeff Sproul, my nutritionist and trainer from Xcel Fitness in Midvale, weighed me in at 115 and pinched 3 percent less bodyfat. He said the supplement definitely made a difference; that on average his female clients lose one pound a week. So, me losing two could be attributed to the carb blocker. (My competitive inner child cheered). Personally, I think it was the fact that I went to bed starving every night but what do I know? I also lost the most weight out of the other women in the study. (Another cheer rises). Can I still be good in the face of Christmas parties and cookies? My biggest fear is that I take those ‘after’ photos, go out to dinner, have my first full meal in weeks and explode like Violet.


I still haven’t decided what morsel of deliciousness will tickle my tongue first tomorrow. Stay tuned. Hopefully, Basic Research shares the “before and after” pics so I can share them with you. I’m curious to see if you’ll be able to tell a difference.

West Bound and Down- Vysera Weightloss Update

Another pound gone. That’s two weeks, five pounds, 28 pills, six trainer sessions and 14 days of pure starvation. This is one of the hardest tests of willpower I’ve ever had to experience. We’re not just talking about abstaining from McD’s French fries (which I did in ’09) but withdrawing from every type of food I’ve grown to love for decades. Bye bye pasta, Chinese food, breakfast potatoes, brownie sundaes. Sniff Sniff. I miss you dearly. I look in the mirror and don’t really notice a change. Ryan hasn’t said anything either. But my clothes do fit better. Does that mean I’m meant to be 115? I haven’t seen 115 since college. And, hell, what will become of this ‘test’ as we roll into Thanksgiving?

Sage and I are off to San Diego in the morning to share the holiday with my parents. My parents who eat out four nights a week, cook with tons of butter, fancy themselves amateur sommeliers and stock their pantry with chocolate covered pretzels and Oreos. Jeff the trainer says I can “sample” everything and that keeping to the plan is about portion control. Fingers crossed I don’t come back with those five pounds I lost!

Two more weeks and I’m done. The goal is to weigh 110 and sport 16 percent body fat. I’ve learned a ton about my diet but I don’t think I’ll stick with this one. Especially not in the winter. I’ll be way more active skiing than I have the past three months with the broken foot so I’m hoping it’ll even out. I better not blimp out like Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when I start to add carbs back into my diet. Just saying….

Trainers Hurt So Good – Day 2 of Study

I went to bed hungry. After dropping Sage off this morning, however, all I had eaten was a banana. It dawned on me. We have no food in the house I’m allowed to eat. You want carbs and processed sugars? Come see me. Raw nuts, Greek yogurt, fresh fruits and veggies? I had to make a run to Park City Market pronto.

Fifty Five dollars later I had food for the week. Healthy food is unhealthy for my wallet. I got home, tossed back a few raw nuts, cooked up all chicken breasts for the fridge, boiled the hard-boiled eggs and made myself a half a turkey sandwich. I could only eat about ¾ of it before feeling full. It’s just not the same without chips or French fries.

I took my pill, did some house stuff then headed out for my first workout. First in three months since wrecking my foot and first on this trial. I was nervous. We did a five-minute warm-up on the elliptical and moved to the machines- chest press, front rows, dumbbell curls, skull crushers, inverted crunches, three sets starting with 15 reps and going to fail. We wrapped it all up with a 30- minute-interval sesh on the elliptical. Not only did I survive but the foot never bothered me. She’s back! We’ll meet again on Friday and Saturday.

Dinner? A teeny weeny WOW bar, Greek yogurt and an apple. Yes, I’m going to bed hungry again.

I’m a Guinea Pig

Ten pounds, 30 days. Game on. I walked in announcing to Ryan that he was on his own for dinnertime carbs starting tonight. Let me tell you, the shit hit the fan. WHAT?! That’s right; it’s all chicken and veggies for the next month. If you want potatoes, noodles, rice, you’re on your own. We fought for the next 20 minutes and I finally revealed my hand.

I was going to be part of a research project to test the effectiveness of a nutritional supplement. The project involves taking a pill twice a day with meals, restructuring my diet and working with a trainer three days a week. How could I say no? I’m finally walking again after breaking my fifth metatarsal in August and it’s only now that I can start working out again. With ski season only weeks away, why wouldn’t I jump at the chance for the best preseason training I could hope for? I would get into shape, look hot for the holidays, help with a company’s campaign and do it all for free. I was made for this.

Ryan thinks I’m going to die taking some unknown ‘drug’ but the truth is I had the cancer doc go over the list of ingredients before agreeing to sign up and I read all sorts of info on the product (I can’t reveal what it is until I get that cleared by the company). It’s been on the market for a few years and it’s even sold on Amazon. No negative side effects were discussed but there were various comments to the effect that the pill is untested. Not anymore! TMG sent a handful of actors over to the offices to see which of us would make good candidates. We had to want to lose 10-15 pounds (no more), be willing to take the ‘before’ photo (that means me standing in gym shorts and a sports bra without tightening my tummy muscles), workout at least 3 times a week with a professional trainer, 30 minutes of cardio at least 5 days a week, follow the diet, take the pill and take some “after” pics. It sounded doable.

The photos on Friday were painless. Today, however, I met with a trainer at Xcel Fitness who went over my new diet. No sugar, no carbs at night, no milk (almond milk in my coffee is ok), no juice, no melon, no chips, no pretzels, no noodles. Let me give you an example of a typical food log for Jill:

Breakfast-

2 pieces of bacon

2 pumpkin pancakes w/ maple syrup

Coffee w/ skim milk and Truvia

Lunch-

Plain regular-sized beef hotdog and Ruffles

Dinner-

Cheese tortellini w/ tomato sauce

Broccoli

Garlic biscuit

Sm. Piece of pumpkin Bundt cake from Corner Bakery

Snacks-

Jello

Orange

Chocolate truffle

1 can of diet soda

This is my food log starting tomorrow:

(6 mini meals)

1 slice of whole wheat toast w/ honey

2 eggs

Orange

2 oz Turkey

Apple

5 almonds

½ c. brown rice

3 oz chicken breast

Broccoli

Greek yogurt w/ 1 Tbs Agave

5 almonds

Chicken

Broccoli

Snack

Almond Milk breeze w/ protein scoop.

Luckily, coffee is ok (w/ almond milk and Truvia) but all that Halloween candy is off limits. Yep. The hardest part is going to be the diet.

Tomorrow, we’ll see how the exercise part goes. No pain, no gain, right? Or should I say loss?

P.S. My 5’6″ frame currently weighs in at 120 lb- naked, in the morning. Why do I want to lose 10 pounds you might ask? I want to get ripped and strong; right now I’m soft and weak from my summer of ‘healing’. 🙂

Takoda Takes Third

Oh Wow. I think I just had my first, and last, conformation dog show. What was I thinking? The experience was beyond humiliating. In fact, I was borderline tears more than once. It wasn’t the people there; or the judges. It was the scene. I was so out of my league and clueless; and, of course, it showed. Maybe if I was 8 like a few of the girls handling their Aussies, it would have been a different day altogether.


Two days ago I got wind of an ASCA dog show in Murray Park. I figured what the hell? For 10 bucks I could have a judge look over Takoda and tell me what kind of aesthetic shape he was in. I didn’t know that it would be as much about me as the dog. I had to borrow a collar and leash (I’ve never ever used what they had); someone trimmed up his ears and rear for me; another nice woman gave him a quick brush; I happened to have a Lickety Stick in the car so at least I wasn’t begging for cheese bits as well.


All of the ladies there were super and I got a crash course in conformation handling. I’m betting this is something you and the dog can’t learn in an hour?

We quickly taught him to stand instead of sit in front of me (which is what he does for obedience) but I neglected to learn what I was supposed to do in the ring. Apparently you always stay behind the other dogs even if one stops or goes off course. I trotted past and was ordered to get back in line.


You don’t run, you walk fast to get your dog to trot alongside of you. I looked like I was running.


When the time came to go up against two other male pups, Takoda did decently for his first time and I sucked bigger than a teenager getting a helium hit. I struggled to keep him standing. At the end, he placed third- out of three.

I did ask the judge for feedback which was the whole reason I chose to do this in the first place. He said, “An experienced handler can make a new dog look like a champ. An inexperienced handler can make a champ look like a [loser].” I was that inexperienced handler. L Did I mention that I was in jeans and everyone else was dressed for a corporate job interview?


To his credit, the only thing the judge saw as a negative was that my dog’s chest wasn’t as “full” as it could be; but he said it wasn’t a dealbreaker. So I guess Takoda could be a contender if I wanted him to be. I don’t. We’re going to work on obedience, rally and agility instead. Perhaps I won’t feel like such a complete loser.

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