Always have a toothpick handy!

Before reading this you should probably check out the previous post! 

OK, as promised, the first of the three disciplines is your diet.  Your diet, combined with aerobics and weight training, will have a major effect on reaching your target weight and level of fitness.  Now don’t expect me to give you some earth shattering, never before heard secret that will perform miracles.  There is no such thing.  There are already millions of internet sites and books promising that.   My solution to dieting is simple…but not easy.  It’s based on my history of over 60 years of eating and learning what works and what doesn’t.  I don’t have any credentials after my name but I can sure look you in the eye and swear that these three components will work every time if you have the discipline to follow them!  They are:

1. Things you should stop eating and drinking
2. Things you should start eating and drinking
3. Things to substitute for what you are currently eating and drinking.

The first one is the easiest to follow but the hardest to stick to.  You need to quit sugar!  That means, for example, no sodas, fruit drinks, ice cream, alcohol and a whole bunch of other great tasting stuff.  All simple starches like white bread and pastrys are also included in things you need to avoid like the plague.  I don’t mean you have to give up all these great tasting things forever…. unless you are making a great lifestyle change.  I am talking about quitting them just until you reach your target weight.  I am not going to give you the whys of how bad sugar is or tell you about the useless calories it provides.  You already know all that unless you have been living in a cave.  Don’t get me wrong…. I love sweets, brownies, cakes, twinkies, chips, chocolate, beer, wine and cocktails as much as the next guy but if you are truly interested in losing the weight you need to bite the bullet and step up!!  You have to develop the habit.  Eating all the bad stuff over the years has become a habit so we just need to develop a new habit.  You are what you do continually so until you get to where you want to be physically…you need to make the sacrifice.  Of course none of us are perfect….we are going to slip a little once in awhile.  Just understand that if you do have that rare donut from time to time to forget about it and get back on track. 

The second piece of the diet puzzle are things that you should start eating and drinking more of.  First on the list is to drink more water.  Most experts say to drink eight 8oz. glasses of water a day.  I am too lazy to try to keep track of 64 oz. so I just make it a point to not pass a sink or drinking fountain without having a drink.  I also substitute water for everything else as my drink of choice when I am out.  Pretty boring but it works.  I also keep track of the color of my pee.  If it is not totally clear then you are not getting enough water.  Any yellow tint at all says that you are not hydrated enough.  Pretty scientific, huh?   

Make sure you don’t skip breakfast.  I kill two birds with one stone by mixing a healthy shake that not only takes care of breakfast but tastes great and is ultra-healthy.  Mix in a blender the following:

• 12 ounces water
• one or two bananas
• handfull of frozen strawberries
• 4 heaping tablespoons of raw, uncooked oatmeal (not the 2 min. stuff)
• 1 heaping tablespoon of soy protein

You can substitute whatever fruits turn you on but the banana adds great texture and is tough to beat for vitamins and nutrients.  Pretty simple.  Everything we read tells us to eat more vegetables and fruits so I am not going to disagree here.  Eat as much of them as you wish…. just don’t skip breakfast.  That one meal kick starts your metabolism for the day!   That about does it for number two!  

Last but not least are things you need to substitute for what you are eating now.   Consider the following:

• Fat free instead of whole milk
• margarine instead of butter
• mustard instead of mayonnaise
• yogurt instead of ice-cream
• herbal tea instead of a cocktail

You get the idea.  Also, big in the news now is a whole group of healthy oils and foods with monounsaturated oils. (MUFAs)

According to a study that appeared in Diabetes Care, a journal published by the American Diabetes Association, a diet rich in monounsaturated fats (MUFA) may help reduce abdominal fat better than a carbohydrate rich diet.

When test subjects ate a carbohydrate enriched diet, they tended to accumulate fat in the abdomen. When they ate a diet that had more MUFA, abdominal fat concentration decreased, even without exercise.

What are some foods that are MUFA rich?

• Olives and olive oil
• Canola oil
• Nuts and nut oils (peanut, walnut)
• Seeds and seed oils (sesame, flaxseed)
• Grape seed oil
• Soybean oil
• Avocados

Who am I to argue with the Diabetes association.  Substitute the monos for the polys.   You can even think outside the box and add a little flaxseed oil in your morning cocktail shake!

That’s about it.  Simple but not easy.  You don’t have to turn your world upside down all at once but if you slowly wean yourself off of the bad stuff and gradually substitute and add the good stuff you won’t even notice the change.  What you WILL notice is the pounds starting to fall off and a renewed sense of well-being that maybe has been missing for a little while.  Especially when you add in your aerobics and weight training!  Tune in next time for a little bit about aerobic exercise.

I did it!  I stepped on the scale in the locker room after my workout today and was ecstatic to see the counter weight settle in at 179 3/4 lbs.  That is the first time in over 30 years that I have been under 180!!   My goal is 175 which I will reach within the next 6 weeks but the 180 mark is a personal milestone that means alot to me. 

A little background.  I am almost 62 years old and am 5′ 10″ tall.   This is the chart that the AMA puts out on ideal height/weight ratios for men.  I have a medium frame and you can see that I should weigh maximum 163. 

I haven’t weighed 163 since high school!  Good thing I don’t have a small frame!  As an adult I have always had no problem carrying 180.  You would think with all the excercise I did that I would weigh less….and you would be right except for one small problem.  I love to eat!  I ate alot!!  But, because I exercised so much I never gained weight.  I was so fit I could eat a bathtub stopper and not gain weight.  I know there are alot of folks out there that manage their weight the same way that I always did.  And that weight maintenance plan works great when you are in your 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and maybe your early 50’s.   Unfortunately, things start to change as we get older. 

First off, let me say that I have never been what anyone would call fat or overweight.  I have been a “jock” my whole life and have always exercised…many times to excess!  I have run over 20 marathons and was a top tournament handball player for over 25 years.  I tell you this not to impress you, but to impress upon you, that no matter what level of fitness you have right now or whatever your current weight is that Father Time is constantly at work behind the scenes undermining your best efforts.  He is like the great and wonderful Oz behind the curtain!  However, instead of dishing out courage, wisdom and heart, he is dispensing fatigue, weakness and the inability to do things that you used to do so easily.

I have always prided myself on my fitness but I had noticed lately that the old engine was starting to show its age and my weight was starting to head north of where I wanted it to be.   I also was not exercising as much as I had due to arthritic hip replacement surgery and a blown achilles tendon.  (If I had been a horse they would have shot me!)  Unfortunately, I was still eating the same.  The bottom line is that my weight had slowly crept up to 195!  I was, according to the charts, 30 pounds overweight and not at all happy with the way I looked or with how my clothes were starting to fit.  I decided to take the action necessary to get it all under control again. 

Hopefully, You are still reading this mea culpa because you want to change the way your body looks and feels or you just think that I tell a great story.  And that is both brave and bold. It takes guts to face your body and decide that it is time for a change.  Millions of people simply choose to ignore their bodies. (See Motion creates Emotion). You don’t have to.  It is a simple process but it does require effort.  It’s about the choices we make.  We can chose to love ourselves by taking the time necessary for exercise or we can choose to spend the same amount of time on the couch or at Starbucks.  Also, I might add, if you are a baby-boomer and think it is too late I am here to tell you that it is not.  The human body is tremendously forgiving.  All it takes is your commitment and a little time.   The rewards will be life-altering and will spill over into all other areas of your life. 

Weight loss is a very achievable goal. You can have the body you want much sooner then you think.   I am proof.  Imagine having a tight and toned body; a body that feels as good as it looks.  Imagine being able to watch your waist line shrink. Permanent weight loss is just around the corner and I can show you the way.   

The most compelling reason for weight loss is the way it makes your body feel.  When you start to lose weight your body begins to respond in a positive way. It’s exciting.   As you lose weight and gain muscle your confidence soars, your energy goes up and you will feel better about yourself than you have for years.

You have seen hundreds of diets, fad exercise routines, gimmicky eating plans and really unhealthy diet supplements.  The internet is filled with sites that promise you the world and consistently fail to deliver.  They exist only to separate the desperate from their money. Let’s face it, they insult your intelligence with their infomercial style sales pitches.  We all know what it takes to lose weight in a healthy manner and keep it off.  It’s doing it that is the challenge.  These are the 3 things that you positively, absolutely must do!

1. Watch your diet

2. Aerobic exercise

3. Weight training

 I started my program on December 17th, 2007.  Just 9 weeks ago!  As of this morning I have lost 16 pounds in 9 weeks thanks to the above mentioned 3 disciplines.  I set as my goal to be at 175 on March 19th.  In my next 3 posts I will cover each of the 3 absolutely necessary things you must do to achieve the weight and fitness level you desire.  Stay tuned for the keys to your magic kingdom.

AND, if we will get our butts off the couch once in awhile and move around a little bit we might find that not only will our emotions get better but we might just burn off a calorie or two!

I mean, we ought to be ashamed of ourselves.  I sure don’t need the Surgeon General to tell me that we Americans are killing ourselves with our forks.  All we need to do is sit on any street corner in America or any mall and gape with wonderment at the mass of overweight human protoplasm shuffling along in their endless search for the next nacho plate or twinkie.  It is amazing.  The kids are no better.   I now understand why some animals in the wild will eat their young to improve the species!

It doesn’t have to be that way.  All it takes is the decision to make better choices.  Of course any change is going to be met with resistance.  (See the post on homeostasis)  The key is not to try to do too much too soon.  That’s why 80% of the New Years resolutions to lose weight have already been broken less than 2 months into the new year!  A pound is 3,500 calories.  So to lose a pound we need to eliminate 3,500 calories either by cutting back our intake or increase our burning off of calories.  Small changes are the key.  Just move around an extra 30 minutes a day and choose to knock off one or two lattes a week or some other little treat that does nothing for us and we can easily realize a pound or two loss each month.     That’s about 15 pounds a year with no muss or no fuss.   That’s not very much you say.  Well, just look at the alternative.  If you do nothing but continue with your same sedentary lifestyle and eating habits I can almost guarantee that one year from now you will be about 10-25 pounds heavier than you are now.  The choice is yours and a no-brainer.  10-25 more or 15 less.  Net loss of 25-40 pounds of ugly fat in one year!   Next case!