I'm going to focus now on weight loss and more importantly a healthy lifestyle.
I was a skinny kid - in fact gaining weight was at times a challenge. A few year ago that stopped being so much of a challenge, if I look back it was even starting after I got married almost 15 years ago - I still remember my doctor saying my weight gain was "happy fat" because I was happy with my life or some other BS - I've had great doctors most of my life, but I don't know that most of them paid enough attention to weight gain and diet as problems. Instead they focused on symptoms like high blood sugar or high cholesterol levels - h and heart burn, terrible terrible heart burn.
So a few month ago I wasn't OK with my "happy fat" or taking medicines for 5 different "problems". I didn't like how I looked or felt and the term Dad bod hit too close to home. I should take a step back - this all really started with exercise and that started because of a book on self-improvement main in the area of better practice and skill building. Basically it said if you weren't exercising and eating right you weren't using your body in the right way and you wouldn't be able to preform at your best or learn more effectively. Well i had started a new role at work and I needed to be as sharp as I could be because I had super limited time to devote to learning. So exercising started - walking and jogging on the treadmill. The came diet -
My diet changes came about with the help of a program offer by my employer, while I won't discount how much it impacted my life there are only a few key details that anyone needs to know to lose weight and I'm going to share those with you.
Weight lose or gain is basic math - it is that simple on paper, in practice there are some other things to consider. If you want to lose weight don't lose more than 2 pounds a week (sometimes you will lose more, but try not to, I'll explain more) Try to lose at least half a pound a week, again you may not lose but .1 pounds or even stay the same, it will happen, look for any reasons things didn't go to plan and try to correct for next week, no guilt or self-bullying.
Ok so how much do you want to lose in a week - well you can roughly say that a pound of fat is 3500 calories so you need to shave off 3500 calories in a week. Which works out to about 500 calories a day. I'd suggest starting out with this goal and base it off of a 2000 calorie a day diet, a word of warning, few of us eat 2000 calories in a day, most eat much more, but our bodies burn about 2000 with a normal level of activity. (In my personal experience) This is the bit where I tell you that you should probably talk with your doctor on how many calories you should eat as 1500 calories a day is too little for a man, but woman can take it even lower.
Want to lose more than a pound a week? I suggest doing a pound in the kitchen and a pound in the gym. The one, two punch of diet and exercise really is a secret to success. Your workouts help keep you on track by reminding you how hard you have to work to burn 200-400 calories and working out also helps to curb your appetite.
So diet + exercise = less of you, and in this case less is more! Figure out some goals for you to lose a pound or a half a pound next week.
Here are a few food tips to get you started -
If you drink soft drinks or sugar filled coffee - stop cold turkey, this wasn't an issue for me so I won't be much help here - I don't have any thing good to say about diet soda but nothing bad either. If you do have them track them, it may help you give them up. Remember the reason you are trying to lose weight and know that it is better than that cold Dr. Pepper.
Protein and Fiber are your friend - I eat greek yogurt and fiber buds for breakfast everyday it is only 160 calories, nice and sweet - portable and healthy overall (still has a lot of sugar) most importantly it helps me to stay full - speaking of staying full in the morning - don't skip the coffee - coffee can help you feel fuller longer!
Pickles - they are zero calories in most cases which on hard days can be a super blessing!
Don't eat late! Let your body use that food during the day, not while you are sleeping.
Save calories for when you are the most hungry - for me that is at night so half or more of my daily calories go toward dinner and after dinner snacks.
Carbs aren't bad, but there are bad carbs - that basket of bread at the table or those chips at your favorite Mexican restaurant those can turn a successful day into a disaster faster than Leo can say iceberg off the port side! Eat good carbs like baked potatoes or rice, but watch the portions and measure everything! (I'll talk more about this later) Just don't cut out all carbs, this is a lifestyle change not a prison sentence.
More to come!
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