Armand, I started doing the modified pushups, and I definitely can tell that I need some upper body work. I added around 50 yards to my walks. I felt a little tightness in my lower back after the walk Friday, but the stretches and exercises seemed to help.

Sharon, I maintained an average of about 30 fat grams this week. Friday, everybody wanted to have barbecue for lunch, so I went along. Luckily, the place we went to served barbecued white meat turkey, which was quite tasty and not at all greasy. Of course, the half a link of sausage that I had wasn’t exactly light, but at least I kept the portion small.

I appreciate the encouragement, everyone. I feel good about how the program has gone so far.

Great job! You managed to eat a variety of food, keep fruit in your diet, and lose a couple of pounds each week. You handled the barbecue well. I noticed you are keeping the high-calorie foods to small amounts: one-third of a cup of potato salad, etc. This is a good plan. Watch out for the guacamole; it tastes good but is also very high in fat!

It seems that you eat when you are hungry and stop when you are satisfied, which is very reasonable. This is an important habit to have for keeping your weight off. I notice that you do not seem to have a sweet tooth. Are there tempting foods in your environment that you are passing up? I am glad you are eating a small amount of nutritious food in the evening — maybe this keeps you from snacking later.
Keep up the good work! Have your friends noticed your weight loss?

Good luck this week!

I am extremely happy with your progress and your attitude! Having a positive attitude is important in making permanent lifestyle changes. As you continue to progress, I am confident that you will feel even better and this will continue to feed your desire to improve, thus cementing your commitment to healthy living.

Continue to try to increase your distance with walking, keeping the duration the same. With your abdominal curls, try to perform one more repetition each session and see how you make out. Make sure you maintain proper form with your push ups. For example, be sure to lower yourself slowly while keeping your back flat.

To combat the tightness in your back, continue to do your low back stretches, and hold each stretch for 30 seconds.

Again, great job. Keep it up!

A hungry shopper in a supermarket is like Indiana Jones stranded in the middle of the desert without food or water. Temptation lurks around the corner of every aisle. At first you may say to yourself, “I’m strong, I can resist all this temptation.” Then, when you’re feeling confident in your ability to stick to your shopping list, you turn the corner and bump into the nice lady giving away “free” samples of Mr. Cheese’s Cheesy Pizza. A small piece won’t hurt, after all it’s not like you’re going to buy a pizza and eat it right there. So, you politely take a piece and scamper down the aisle, past the frozen foods and the soft drinks. And just as you’re feeling good about not buying a pizza you turn the next corner, and guess who? Another sweet lady with her toaster oven baking up a storm offers you a Mrs. Chips chocolate pecan cookie. You feel like melted butter and simply can’t resist buying the delicious cookies. Just when you think you’re just about through every aisle, right by the dairy section where you go to get your low-fat yogurt sits the nice HAAGEN DAZS lady. At this point all restraint is gone.

Shop only after you have eaten. You will find yourself making better food choices and sticking to your shopping list. You may also be amazed about how much grief this little strategy will prevent.

Avoid the Saturday Rush
Do you remember the last time you went to the supermarket on a Saturday morning? This is the prime time when most food advertisers have those nice ladies in the supermarket, tempting the shoppers to buy their products. The temptations on Saturday mornings can be more than even the most restrained shopper can resist. The best strategy is to avoid these types of temptations all together.

Watch the Prepared Foods
In recent years the supermarket shelves have become increasingly stocked with prepackaged or prepared foods. These foods tempt you to eat at an instant’s notice without giving much thought about the choices you are making—automatic eating. Many of these types of food items are loaded with calories and fat. If you do buy prepackaged foods, be sure to read the food label carefully. The best strategy is to buy foods that require preparation.

JS: Well, we’re going to remember the good times in this interview!
KW: Those were indeed good times. That’s one of the most memorable parties ever, graduation or not.

JS: Where did you go instead of the usual dinner and dance organized by the grad committee?
KW: My friends and I went to a star party instead. [stargazing party]

JS: Where was that?
KW: There are lots of different star parties organized for amateur nightsky gazers, but by June they are usually overbooked and booked in advance for a few years. We went to a deep-sky observatory instead of a mountain filled with cars and families, just so that we could get some privacy and really party.

JS: Why did you choose not to be in a group party with classmates?
KW: Well, most of my friends were in IB [International Baccalaureate], so a lot of the people who came to the party were my classmates anyway. Those who wanted to go with the rest of the school’s organized grad parties could do so, but [shrugs] the party I went to was way better. We waited till we were done all our exams so that we could concentrate on our schoolwork during the schoolyear, then when it was over we could really go all out and party.

JS: Were the observatory physicists surprised when you asked to book it for a few days?
KW: Yup, they thought it was a prank call at first. [laughs] Then they were really enthusiastic and supportive about it when they found out what we wanted to book it for.

JS: It’s certainly unique…how did you get all the food up there?
KW: Well, you know the answer to that, we cooked so much of the food together! But, umm, there’s like a schedule that you can figure out. Obviously we made sure that the observatory had, you know, microwaves and stuff, so that we could reheat things there, but the perishables, like frozen yogurt and sorbets and lemon granitas were brought up to us by you on the second and third days, so…it was all fine! Pizza straight from the oven is pretty good too, Jasmine!

JS: Why did you choose these foods specifically?
KW: Well, you can eat chocolate chip ice cream anytime…we wanted nutritious food that was easy and really fast to make, and easy to reheat in the microwave. I mean, life’s meant to be enjoyed so I don’t get why lots of girls go on diets and stuff and buy or rent dresses that don’t flatter them…and then they go to eat food that’s badly cooked! All the stress over makeup and weight and everything just ends in a disappointing night. So I wanted my grad to be different, and that means enjoying the eating part of the party!

JS: Your grad party is also unusual because it lasted a few days and nights.
KW: Like I said, make it memorable because life is short!

JS: What else did you do besides some star- and galaxy gazing?
KW: Well, we did a whole lot of that, but we also danced and drove down to a private beach during the days when, obviously, stargazing is a little difficult. [laughs] We had tons of stuff to do, like, beach volleyball, swimming, canoeing…we built sandcastle, went rollerblading…so it was really lots of fun. There was one night the skies were overcast at the observatory, so we just went down to the beach and had a great beach party with torches and everything! It was looking kind of tribal there. [laughs]

JS: Did the foods fit all these activities?
KW: For the most part, yes, because they were portable and there’s lots of energy packed into them. We put lots of water and lemonade into coolers, so we never had to drink seawater or anything…Plus you can eat them in any order, so…

JS: Do you remember having a favorite food?
KW: You know, they were all good. I bow to your superior culinary skills [laughs]. The salmon salad was so good, I couldn’t believe you made it from leftovers. The fudge and cream brownies were really good, and all the pizzas and salads were good too!

JS: Foodwise, what do you think makes for a good grad party?
KW: Well…we had the ahi…ahi, right? That was from Japan, but you know, you don’t have to go around ordering stuff from Japan to make the food special. I remember the chicken noodle soup tasted incredible outdoors, and the chicken ravioli too. I mean, these are ordinary healthy foods, but if you can enjoy them and eat a variety of foods that all taste good, you’re going to have a good party! On the food side of things at least.

JS: What did you wear in the observatory? You can’t tell the readers that you wore a Versace dress climbing up and helping to adjust the telescopes!
KW: No, of course not! Just, you know, a more formal than usual dress that didn’t billow everywhere or get caught on anything.

JS: What do you call formal?
KW: Well, the lighting in the observatory is like, white light, so vibrant colors were called for, and very little makeup which just looks gross in white light. So…the morning before the dress I chose was a little black number that was loose enough to feel comfy, but formal enough in design to look elegant.

JS: What about shoes?
KW: What about them? We didn’t wear any on the beach…and we wore semi-formal slippers, like satin slippers and oxfords and stuff, at the observatory.

JS: Did you go outside to see the view from the observatory?
KW: Oh, yeah, I forgot to say that. [laughs] It’s just really amazing because you can see for miles and miles, and we got up at sunrise and didn’t go to sleep very early because the Northern Lights were so incredible!

JS: They were more incredible last year, though.
KW: Still, there’s nothing like a view from the summit at sunrise and sunset that reminds you how much you love life and being on this earth. They say that we have to do good acts on Earth so that we can get to Heaven. As far as I’m concerned, why wait? Make this Earth, in this moment in time, your own Heaven.

Read next: “List of Eats at Kate’s Grad Parties”