Welcome to the GR-8 Gastro-Economic Summit addressing Economics of Scale. My topic; how to create a deficit and reduce inflation. Let's tighten our belts without biting off more than we can chew by accepting that in most cases, our eyes are bigger than our stomachs and it is better to nibble away at our problems than gobble them up whole.
Aren't mixed metaphors fun?
Whew, almost dozed off for a second there. Here's the thing, losing weight efficiently and effectively and keeping it off requires that I eat fewer calories than what my body requires to sustain itself- the exact opposite of my behavior prior to my decision to change my life way back in May, 2007. Fourteen months and 152 pounds has taught me that it is just that simple and that dramatic results require very little drama. It's more like that monotonous infomercial you just can't kick completely out of your head (mine is "You just set it and forget it." Thanks, Ron Popeil!). Eat less, move more. That's all I have to do- over and over while my body takes care of the rest.
There is a never-ending parade of programs and products that promise to help me do just that and they're all good in one respect or another. It's just that I have to ask myself whether or not I could sustain any of them over the long run. Programs wax and wane in popularity while products flip-flop in toxicity. The only constant in the equation of me (minus) the extra pounds is "me" and I had to decide what I could do day in day out for the rest of my life without external pressure or encouragement. It all boils down to a simple equation:
Steve + Eat Less, Move More = Less Steve
Eating less just means consuming the recommended number of calories for a guy the size I wanted to become and exercising each and every day. Easier said than done. I learned a lot along the way (my 50 tips) and am still learning as I work towards losing the last bit of weight (40 pounds) between now and next June (2009).
Today I am focusing on the specific activities that have been effective in losing the weight I have so far; eating the right things in the right quantities and sticking to my exercise routine. This morning was a slightly less than typical workout at the gym followed by my usual protein smoothie. Tomorrow I'll add a session of bleacher-running to my usual gym routine.
7/7/08
Some people say I'm funny- which makes me feel good until I realize that looks and smell are all I've got. -Raunchy Johnson
A quick inventory of fingers, toes, and eyes revealed that my clan had survived yet another Independence Day weekend unscathed and, try as we might, off the Darwin Awards or Epic Fail websites. Our family motto, "Cheating death since '88" still holds true.
We spent the weekend out amongst the flora and fauna that makes the Pacific Northwest such a great place to live. Camping was never my thing growing up but has become some kind of an obsession with me now and so that's what we did- pack up the camper and head for the hills. Good times, bad eats, nature and whatnot.
Now I'm back and refocused. This week I'm all about intensifying a healthy lifestyle, staying on track with diet and exercise. I worked out at the gym this morning, focusing on free-weights with intensity. It was a tough workout that I followed with my usual smoothie. Once I kick the cookie habit I'll be golden.
Good stuff:
I spent my workout pumping iron in the midst of a mental spank-fest. The scale, you see, is my friend. Not the kind of sycophantic friend that tells me look great even when I have a booger on my chin and spinach in my teeth but the kind of friend that smacks me upside the head when I mix prints with plaid and flat out tells me, "No, it's not the jeans that makes your ass look fat- it's your ass."
This morning my friend the scale reminded me that slacking-off doesn't shed pounds and brownies aren't health food. I'm grateful for the scale no matter how grim the news- it's an early warning device, letting me know what's happening before something a little less friendly chides in... the mirror.
#29 - Weigh In Regularly
Not necessarily every day but often enough to change course if what I'm doing isn't working.#30 - I Ask Again, "Do These Pants Make My Ass Look Fat?"
No, eating too many brownies makes my ass look fat. True-dat! Note to Steve: "Cut back on the brownies."#31 - Fast Food? Fuhgeddaboudit!
We Americans have the best fast food in the world- and that ain't just my patriotism showing. Empires and an obesity epidemic have been built on it and testify to its' world supremacy. Salute foreigners, we rock! Now I'm not saying that fast food barons of capitalism are to blame for making my ass measurable in axe handles (we all know that fast food doesn't make people fat; eating too much fast food makes people fat), what I'm saying is that for me, I'm better off staying away from it entirely.#32 - Speed Kills Weight Loss
We all know that fast food is generally jammed full of fat, carbs, and Sodium. Wolfing it down like some kind of Velociraptor adds insult to the dietary injury. Eating slowly lets the body convince the brain that it's being fed. The result- I feel full even though I've eaten less. Who knows, it could have saved the dinosaurs.#33 - Reducing Intake Is More Effective Than Increasing Activity In The Short Term
OK, decision time. I'm at the order counter of my favorite fast food place deciding whether or not to spring for the 59-cent super-size upgrade. What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?Walk away! There's no way I going to do enough reps at the gym to balance out the equation. It's exponentially easier to exercise freedom of choice and avoid a 1,000 calorie mistake than try to work it off in the gym.
It's biochemistry, physics, neuroscience, genetics, and a whole host of bio-science sub-specialities mixed with equal parts voodoo-logic.
Now if I were a thinking man (a little late for me to start now) I might be tempted to lock myself up in a lab somewhere and analyze the bejeebus out of what EXACTLY is the mechanism for weight loss. Instead (and I'll borrow this from a bygone ad for the PacBell Yellow Pages) I let my fingers do the walking and other, more intelligent folks do the heavy thinking and clickity-clack my way through the internet to find out just what I need to know to shed the extra pounds from my aging carcass.
Say what?
#34 - Find Out What Others Are Doing
The blogosphere is a most excellent place to witness what's working and what isn't for people fighting similar battles. I'll be reviewing a few as the days wear on to examine just what can be gleaned.
Please let me know if there is a site out there that you think is a good source for weight loss info- I'd love to take a look at it. I'll start posting links as soon as I get the bugs worked out of my template.
I'm riding the curse of the extra brownie(s) this morning. No wonder the scale mocks me. An extra brownie or two makes me very mockable. Nyah, nyah! Brownies can really wreck a diet. Here's the thing, though--
#41 - Don't Diet
"Diets" are typically thought of as SHORT TERM EVENTS. Unless your life is a short term event, you're going to get fat again once you stop dieting. For me, it's been better to focus on adapting a healthier eating pattern that I can sustain for the long run- that is, the rest of my life. And guess what? I can have a brownie if I want. I can have anything I want as long as I maintain an overall pattern of moderation and sustained exercise.
#42 - Create Habits
Good ones this time. It takes about three weeks for me to start doing things habitually- it's just making it through that initial three weeks- especially when it is something that requires real effort. Once my subconscious was wired toward the new habit, watch out, it was hard not to do it. This really helped when it came to going to the gym on nasty days, avoiding sweets, and eating certain vegetables.
Ah, the age-old boggle; how do you survive a holiday party without porking out on garbage food?
My second-favorite method is to place enough stuff on my plate to dissuade my adding anything else. How does that work? Well, I just make sure that it is stuff I would never eat; stuff I find so distasteful that if it were to touch something I would eat, I wouldn't eat it. Herring and cold lil' Smokies for example. I also make sure that I avoid high-carb drinks by sticking with water.
These props ensure that no one offers me more stuff to eat or drink simply because my plate and glass are full. With the pressure of abundantly available food and drink no longer a threat, I can focus on polishing my social skills.
We all know how much I enjoy that. Now what's your favorite way to avoid excess holiday calories?
I once considered sandwiches the perfect meal; an insignificant envelope of bread transporting piles of filling material (what I thought the “meal” part was) past the lips and over the gums, look out stomach, 'cause here it comes mash-up of mouth-watering, appetite-staving, worry-free, nutritional-horn-of-plenty, Dagwood of goodness. Perception is a sun-shiny pixie chock-full of misconception, hallucination, and ignorance. Reality can ultimately become a consequence-ridden bee-atch.
That Jared guy didn't get thin pounding foot-long subs. He did it by cutting 8,000 calories from his daily diet and basically eating just a foot-long and a half. A guy could get fat on submarine sandwiches if you ate enough of them (a foot-long club is about 1,280 calories). Their sandwiches are pretty darn good- definitely a threat. Jared's self control is what I applaud and aim to emulate. Not necessarily with sandwiches but definitely with calorie control.
Personally, I've all but given up on sandwiches. It's the bread that scares me. I used to think nothing of it, using thick slabs of bread to keep my hands clean of condiments. Sometimes content juiciness required a lot of bread (think meatball sub) and all that bread, as it turns out, is made of calories. Don't get me started on pasta. I mean, who hasn't made a spaghetti sandwich? Because noodles are basically bread (ingredient-wise), that's like making a bread sandwich. I don't do that anymore.
In my imagination, Jared lived a Subway diet because of convenience. The company supplies nutritional information for all their sandwiches, so tracking calorie intake would be pretty easy. Convenience isn't necessarily a bad thing (for me) until it becomes the focus of a lifestyle and in my personal experience doing things a certain way just because it was easier or convenient never lasted. There is always something easier and more convenient being created and pushed by advertisers and the old me can get a little fickle.
Please don't interpret anything a say as critical of Jared, Subway, or anything but my own habits and weaknesses. I think they're all awesome, just not me. My renaissance thus far has been focused on personal change without gimmick or shortcuts. It's been simple, sure, but simple doesn't necessarily mean easy or convenient. It's been all about conditioning myself to do what I need and want without relying on things external. I believe lasting change develops in spite of, rather than because of, what advertisers try to sell you.
Good wich? Bad wich? I'm the guy with the gut.*
*(my apologies for the bastardized Army of Darkness misquote)
I like people, I really do. Not a lot- but somewhat. It's definitely not a love thing. More a nod and a wave kind of “I'd help you if you need it but probably not take a bullet for you” thing with humanity as a whole.
Let me try that again.
I appreciate people.
I appreciate their differences both physically and in personality; all sizes, shapes, kindreds, and tongues. I appreciate that people are individuals who sometimes want (sometimes desperately) to be identified as belonging to some subset of humanity. Good for them. I recognize and appreciate that. I also appreciate their desire for personal vindication through incessant recruitment for their subset. Their belief that my joining them will somehow validate their choice- that in saving me, they are justified in what they do- no matter how ridiculous their current fad may be.
I'm most definitely not saying that what everyone else is into at the moment is ridiculous, nor am I saying that what I'm into isn't. I am a remarkably ridiculous individual, a disappointment to my mother, and a mysterious enigma to those who have breached the perimeter of my meager influence. I'm most surely no prize and my personal esteem is without measure- that's right, nothing.
But I'm good with all that because there is nowhere to go but up, nothing to do but improve, and little to say but, “Thanks, but no thanks!” when it comes to invitations designed to miraculously change my life.
All the programs, classes, diets, trainers, pills, powders, and miscellaneous voodoo are just not for me. I'm about transformation; lasting change, and permanent modification. In my mind, all the quick-fixes are short term.
There is an aerobics class that meets right next door to the weight room. It's an enthusiastically loud group with an outrageously loud teacher who constantly yells and screams her students through their workout. “Good for her,” I say. “Good for them,” I say. “Join us,” they say. “Thanks but no thanks,” says I.
I can only imagine what relief I would feel once the class was over and the teacher was no longer around to scream at me. It would be like a vacation- which means that the class would be exactly the opposite; work under a screaming boss. Ugh!
But it might work, I might get into better shape- at least while I am in class. Outside of class my motivator would not exist, and without her I'd probably slack off.
What I'm getting at here is that, in my mind, it's up to ME to do the screaming and yelling. It's up to me to motivate myself through this renaissance. It's up to me because I'm the only one who is always going to be there throughout the entire process and I'm the only one who is going to stick around long enough to enjoy the results.
As of this morning I've lost 89 pounds since May. Me. I did this. Not a pill, a trainer, or a program. Me. I'm confident that if I stay my course I will reach my goal. Would someone else's fad diet, trainer, or pill help me? Possibly, but I think I'll pass. What I'm doing is working for me- any distraction will probably slow me down.
Maybe you should be doing what I'm doing. Hey, I can get you started.
Gotcha! You do whatever you want. I appreciate your motivations. I appreciate your individuality. Hell, I might even like you...
But let's keep it casual. You do your thing and I'll do mine.
I was a jerk in college. Scratch "was", I'm probably still a jerk. You can't really outgrow that can you?
Some of our fun little frat-boy games involved embarrassing ourselves and others in the supermarket. One way we'd accomplish this feat was to crowd around the shopping cart of some hapless individual and shout out, "Good Gawd, look at what these people eat!"
Now this statement was rarely appropriate to what was in the cart. It didn't matter; we were jerks. What followed was several announcements over the intercom and the addition of several items of our own choosing until the completion of our beer purchase had been made by our designated non-player/guy-old-enough-to-buy-beer. We'd leave the store laughing like idiots and high-five-ing each other while some housewife tried to regain her composure and restock her cart. Trust me, it was freakin' hilarious (only to us).
This and a lot of other shenanigans practically guarantees I'll have a few talking points during my inevitable stay in purgatory.
This confession will now segue into one of my favorite energy sources: the smoothie.
I love my smoothies; they're quick, cold, and taste great. The ingredient list is short and I always have stuff on hand, and with my Magic Bullet, it's oh-so-easy.
There is no real recipe, just a list of ingredients I combine in different ratios to create a certain calorie range (140 - <300). They are:
1. EAS Protein Powder - chocolate tastes best imho
2. Unsalted Natural (peanuts only) Peanut butter - drained of excess oil
3. Frozen berries (my favorites are blueberries and marionberries)
4. Banana
5. Unsalted Natural (almonds only) Almond butter - drained
6. Nonfat Yogurt
7. Water
8. Ice
Initially I logged into Fitday.com and use their food journal to create the right ratios based on their nutrition database. After a while I just had an idea of what to combine to get the desired calories and protein/carb ratios. For example, a full serving EAS Protein is 140 calories + 1/2 (3 inches) banana 46 calories + 1/2 cup blueberries 41 calories = AWESOME + 227 calories.
Values for each ingredient are on the website and experimentation is a must. Also know that it takes very little (a teaspoon = 35 calories) of an ingredient like peanut butter to make a dramatic difference in the flavor. Even the protein blended only with ice is pretty good.
So, that's it- my favorite diet fuel. It may not be all that exciting but hey, food is supposed to be just that- fuel. If you have any additional ideas, please let me know. And to all those people I've been a jerk to throughout my life; my apologies. Please find comfort in knowing that I plan on expanding my renaissance beyond my waistline.
Today was a track day and I was lucky to have been accompanied by my wife. She's been recuperating from her first race last Saturday and was feeling good enough to give it a go. I'm really proud of her. She started running less than a year ago and she's already competing- and placing. She placed 6th in her first race and is completely jazzed about continuing on to more competitions. She's awesome!
With that kind of inspiration how can I possibly fail?
Easily. It's all about choice.
I could have chosen to stay in bed this morning; cuddled up in my nice warm comforter, pillow just-right, room just cool enough. I chose instead to head to the track, hand in hand with my wife, to burn some calories.
I could have loaded up on pancakes, eggs and sausage for breakfast this morning. Instead I chose my usual protein smoothie.
I could sit here and snack on M&M's while I work, but I won't. I choose to stick to my plan and eat small, healthy meals at regular intervals throughout the day.
Choosing is such a simple activity. “I choose to make the right choices.” There, done. How simple was that? Notice I say simple rather than easy.
Choosing becomes easier when I consider the consequence/reward resulting from my choice. I know what happens when I sit all day and pound the M&M's. I know how much better I feel after going to the track or the gym. I know how great I feel when I'm putting on a pair of pants that haven't been able to wear in ten years- and they fit! I know. I know.
A simple choice yields either failure or success. I choose success.
Today is Friday- and I love Fridays. It's the day my wife and I usually have the most time together. And now that the kids are back in school, our attention is typically focused on just each other. It's not like we're running off to Monaco or anything outrageous, usually we work on some home improvement project or run to Costco or something equally non-exhilarating- but it's time spent together, and that rocks.
I ran across a website the other day that is run by an Australian motivational speaker/health club owner/who-knows-what-else by the name of Craig Harper. He's made some videos that are a little off the cuff snippets that shed some light on his attitude about self-improvement, weight loss, and life in general.
Most of what he has to say really makes sense in a no-BS kind if way-- once you get past all the playing around on-camera.
That's the question people keep asking me. They see the weight coming off and they want to know what program I'm using or what pill I'm taking. People think that the only way to successful weight loss is paved by someone or something else.
Well, Im here to tell you that the only way to change your life (and that's what weight loss does) is TO DECIDE TO AND TAKE ACTION. There are tons of weight loss gurus out there, probably thousands of diet plans, pills, and potions.
Guess what?
THEY ALL WORK and NONE OF THEM WORK
Truth be told, no matter what you do, it's all you, baby! You decide each and every moment what your outcome is going to be. You choose to take action or not. Whether you're fat or thin, successful or not, or whatever you are versus whatever it is you dream you should be, you only have YOU to thank or blame for it.
When I say "you" I really mean "me" because as I type this I'm pretending that the monitor is a mirror because, whatever the reflection of myself shows right now, I have only ME to thank or blame for it. I believe I'm changing my life for the better each and every day since that personal wake-up call on May 21st. I am taking action to improve myself- I say it, not only to the mirror, but to the entire world because I am accountable, I am responsible for what I'd become am the direction I'm now taking.
No one ever told me I was fat. I don't know if they were afraid to because I might sit on them if they did, ir they were just being polite- it really doesn't matter. Had they told me earlier on that I was fat, would I have blossomed to the level of enormity I had achieved? It doesn't matter; it's not up to anybody else to remind me that I'm getting fat. My body condition is my responsibility. I am fat and it's ALL MY FAULT. I can't blame genetics, my wife, my doctor, or anybody else. It's all me baby!
Am I too hard on myself? Am I damaging my self esteem? Am I depressed?
Hell no! I am determined. PERIOD. I finally realized that my clothes weren't shrinking over time, that I couldn't gorge myself at meals and feel good, that it wasn't normal to feel winded getting out of a chair, and so on and so on- and that I was the only one whose was responsible for the way I felt and how I was going to correct it and I'm taking action.
What it all boils down to is that, in my case, HOW is less relevant than WHY.
How am I losing weight? I just am because I decided to. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Come hell or buffet.
P.S. Today was a track day. I walked the track at a pretty brisk pace and climbed the stands four times- that is, every other lap around the track.
I haven't weighed myself in few days, so the -56 may not be entirely accurate. I also am in a transition period right now schedule-wise, so it's anybody's guess at this point.
My wife joined a ladies' running group recently- and since I'm the center of my universe (sarcastically speaking), that brings about minor change.
My normal schedule has the two of us going to the gym Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; Tuesdays and Thursdays we circle the track at the local high school. Now the schedule has switched and we'll be spending Saturdays at the gym.
This is a good thing!
Right off the bat I'll be increasing my weekly walking distance- and what does that do? Shifts the equation! Again, a GOOD thing.
I've also started climbing the bleachers as art of my circuit. I can't wait to see how this impacts my equation.
I also have a shameless product plug to post. I just can't say how much I've come to enjoy Adam's Peanut Butter. It's all-natural and has no added sugar or other fillers. Just peanuts and a little salt. I buy the big jars at Costco- making it fairly affordable. I usually pour off the peanut oil that has collected at the top of the jar and use it in stir-fry dishes.
It's not my fun day.
I actually like Mondays. It's the day I get back to the gym after two days off. I get to check my progress on the scale. I get back to the challenges and opportunities of work. I, well, you know the drill.
I stepped on the scale today and discovered I had lost a little over half a pound since Friday. That is definitely not a bad thing considering that our garden is really starting to put out now and I went a nuts with the figs and salsa over the weekend.
Since I started down this road, I've come to appreciate a number of different foods and flavors. Peanut butter has become one of my favorites treats now- whereas before, I really couldn't stand it- not even in a Reese's cup. Celery too has become a favorite, and the two together? Forget about it! Brocolli? Superfood! Plain yogurt? Awesome! The list goes on.
I believe what has truly helped are the associations I've come to make with certains foods. I think about all the misery being fat has caused me over the years and how it truly has made me feel. Then I mentally and emotionally make the connection between overeating- and especially overeating things like sweets, pizza, fast food, and the like- really acknowledge the pain.
No more will I pig out on pizza or fast food; never again will I ask for that second enormous hunk of cake or bowl of ice cream, never a second pile of spaghetti or lasagne, and never, ever, will I agree to a super-sized anything. It's just too painful.
On the other side of the coin are the rewards of a healthy lifestyle; the pointer on the scale moving counter-clockwize, fitting into a pair of pants I haven't worn in years, climbing a set of stairs without feeling winded, seeing the difference in the mirror, and just feeling BETTER. The road to health is fantastic.
Losing weight, at least for me, has been like time travel. Being a packrat of sorts have allowed me to wax nostalgic on many occasions. Looking at this hunk of brick-a-brack or listening to that slab of vinyl can really take you back.
My closet is full to overflowing with clothes I just never parted with. It becomes a little overwhelming no and again- especially when you realize just how long ago some of the stuff was purchased. I mean, once you have several pairs of shoes several years older than your kids, you realize just how old you are.
What's so cool now is that I'm actually beginning to fit into some of my old clothes. I can now, after 9 weeks, I can comfortably wear clothes I coulding cram myself into 4 years ago. You might say that I'm not waxing nostalgic, I'm waning it (this probably makes no literary sense at all. What I'm trying to say is that I'm shrinking into the past).
This morning was a gym day. I really look forward to this more than anything else. It feels good to move the weights. It feels GREAT to know that what I'm doing is EFFECTIVE.
I had a protein smoothy after the gym this morning. These are things I've really come to enjoy. As a matter of fact, I've decided on some new favorites foods; broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, protein powder, and almonds. Not together in a smoothie, I just never thought these would replace things like pizza and lasagne.
Tomorrow is a walking day.
I have a few friends that recently joined weight-loss programs. Among these friends, Weight Watchers, South Beach Diet, LA Weight Loss, and Fit for Life/Medifast were all represented. Miracles occurred- well perhaps not miracles, but all my friends lost weight. Some lost HUGE amounts of weight over relatively-short periods of time.
