Maggie picks and eats an apple

About Me

Hi. Thank you so much for visiting my blog! I’m Maggie. Say Yes to Salad is a blog about living a healthy life – for me that includes delicious, wholesome food (low sugar, minimal grains, lots of veggies, meats, seafood, and some whole milk dairy); lots of yoga and walking; and keeping a reasonable budget while living in New York City.

My Weight Loss Story

Back in college I put on the freshman 15… err, actually, the freshman 25. I knew how much weight I had put on but I didn’t have any clue how to get rid of it! Somehow I didn’t connect the boozey weekends and study snacks of peanut m&m’s to my expanding waistline. I finally made an attempt to lose weight, but I was impatient and wanted the weight off quickly.

The final turning point was actually influenced by my husband-to-be: I met Bobby in my sophomore year, and by spending time with him I learned a lot about intuitive eating. I started eating more meals with him, and not thinking about the food so much. To lose the weight I simply swapped in salads for my dinners, fruit and yogurt for breakfast, and salads or sandwiches for lunch. I also stopped snacking. It took me about 5 months to lose ~25 pounds. I didn’t do much exercise aside from walking. (Love walking!) I did lose more weight, but when you are that skinny it’s easy to focus too much on the food. I stabilized back up at the -25 mark.

I would say you could summarize my weight-loss diet as a low-carb, moderate-calorie diet. At the time I didn’t know much about what was healthy and what wasn’t. I always ate healthy (not processed) growing up, so losing weight for me was mostly a matter of portion control.

You want more history? I have been an off and on vegetarian since I was in my early teens. I never felt that good about eating meat (for ethical reasons), but my body does not feel good without it. I was even near-vegan for a period of time (around late 2008 – early 2009). That didn’t work at all for me. I also tried the raw diet (summer 2009 – way too much sugar in the form of fruit), macrobiotics (early 2009 – too many grains!), and too much exercise (periods during 2008-2009 – exhausting!). I always go back to what works for me – no sugar, minimal grains, lots of veggies, and a fair amount of meats, seafood, and whole milk dairy (bacon, steak, butter, eggs, salmon, and broccoli are some of my favorite foods).

I’ve kept off the weight for about 5 years now. I am 5’9/10″ and around 128 pounds, give or take 5 pounds either way.

For more about how I eat, please check out this post: How I Eat and Move, Part 1.

What will you find on Say Yes to Salad?

Fun and simple recipes, juicy yoga tips and routines, and other things that make me laugh and smile. I live in Manhattan with my husband, Bobby, and our two cats, Cous (short for CousCous), and Bo (short for Kabocha). I work as a programmer during the day (so does my hubby) and my after-work activities include singing in a local choir, going to yoga, and reading voraciously.

On our wedding day: July 24, 2010

To contact me, email me: maggie (at) thesaladgirl (dot) com.

Fun Facts

• I am married to the most wonderful man in the world. His name is Bobby.
• Bobby and I are the proud parents of 2 fatsos cats: Koos (short for Couscous) and Bo (short for Kabocha).
• I live in New York (City). I have also lived in Ithaca, NY (college); New Jersey and Pennsylvania (growing up); and California (the Bay Area – right after graduating college I lived in Mountain View and then Sunnyvale for almost 2 years total).
• I am scared of the dentist.
• I love linguistics. (I have a seldom-updated linguistics blog.)
• My favorite food is kabocha. I also like butter, bacon, and whipped cream.
• I’ve been vegetarian, vegan, raw, and macrobiotic. None of those work for me so now I just eat everything. If you had to put a label on it I’d say it’s close to paleo/primal.

Featured posts, recommendations, reviews, and more…

• What is kabocha squash?? - my favorite thing.
• Best of Say Yes to Salad - most popular posts, recipes, exercises, reviews.
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
• Product Reviews - send me food and other stuff. I write reviews. Yum!
• Blogroll - my favorite blogs (not just health and fitness).
• Yoga Recommendations - my favorite (mostly free) yoga resources.
• (Free) Exercise Ideas - I will never join a gym because I think exercise should be free. Here’s how I stay fit. Check out my favorite free workout resources.