You 2.0

I was recently asked by a friend what diet I'm on. I told him I wasn't really on a diet just that I was eating better things and watching what I put in my mouth. After giving this a few days thought, it was not only totally unhelpful to my friend it was also not really true. I'd say I'm not on a diet because it is a permanent change of what and how I'm eating. However my diet has changed and for the better! So I'm giving my diet and exercise changes a name. Welcome to You 2.0 or Y2 for short. This could already be a name of a diet, I didn't check - if it happens to be the two aren't related. All I know is that once you give something a name it is harder to kill (Thanks Chris!)

So let's talk the new you, You 2.0 - most of us start with You and go to You 1.0 after our first few years of life. We better ourselves  and make positive and sometimes negative changes in our lives. You 2.0 is simply making changes for who you want to be NEXT. Please note the all caps next, you can't change overnight and if you could it would be a bad thing because it would be too easy to change back. So let's get started.

Planning - You have to have a plan, we are trying to build a new normal and habits and you'll need a plan to get you there.

Let's start with exercise - I recommend 30 minutes a day for at least 5 days. Let's define exercise - something that gets your heart rate up for longer than a few seconds. I'd strongly recommend getting a fitness tracker, they are super helpful at tracking how you are doing and well worth the money. I'd even go so far to say for me it has been required.

If you don't live an active lifestyle and you wouldn't be alone in that. Ramping up to 30 minutes a day of exercise for 5 days may seem like a huge leap - it is, sorry not sorry. Maybe I can ease the blow by giving you my reasoning - you see exercise helps to curb your hungry, it also reminds you how hard it is to work off even a small amount of calories - most of us eat well over 1000 calories for lunch. I've been exercising regularly for months now and even with two workouts a day I've never burned 1000 calories just from working out. Never! Walking for an hour and a half gets me about 680 which is the closest I've gotten. Not to say it can't be done, but I think you are getting the point - if not here it is - exercise will help you lose weight, but it won't make you lose weight. Exercise will help you to be healthy, but if your goal is weight loss the battle is won or lost in the kitchen!!

So recap - we are exercising to be more fit, curb our hunger, free up some calories and to treat our bodies like we should be, we only get one treat it right.

I'm going to take a side step for a minute - if you have a kid or kids and they were sitting on the sofa not moving for hours on end and over the course of a few months they gained weight and looked like their quality of life was getting lower - would you sit back and let it happen?? Probably not - so treat yourself with the same standards, you could be saving your own life and your kids will be thankful for that later!

OK - let's talk diet.

First things first you need a food scale, I have two one I use for ounces and the other for grams, it just happen you needs one for grams for sure and you could probably make due with just that. You could buy one that does both as long as it is easy to change. I measure most prepared foods in ounces, cups or tablespoons - you will do this a lot so make sure you buy enough measuring spoons and cups I have at least four sets of each. Most packaged foods I measure in grams like cereals or chips (I don't really eat chips now but I'll get to that later)

Let me talk about that chip comment for a minute - If you want to lose weight you have to make changes to your diet, that isn't to say you can't have chips anymore, but I also want to make it really really clear that you will never get to eat like you do now. I think some people either believe or are told that once they lose weight they can eat their "normal" diet again, you can if you want to go back to You 1.0. If you aren't interested in making this change forever then I personally wouldn't bother. That said, the change is worth it and you will find that how you feel and your quality of life will prove that to you.

This post is already getting pretty long so I'm giving to give you some tips to get you started and address specifics in later posts.

I'm on a low carb diet - not really but I think it seems that way. I'm on a low bad carb diet - I skip the bread at restaurants, I don't eat chips at lunch - pasta is really a distant memory (I'll cover this later, it isn't a completely sad story), most importantly the fried foods have got to go!! That breaded deep fried goodness has so many calories you could be on a treadmill for hours and still but hurting - also put the tortilla shells by the way side, those 3 shells you just ate are close to 300 calories a piece, not including the greasy meat inside!

I promise to write about finding the right carbs soon. For now - replace rice with cauliflower rice, replace the chips with carrots and a serving of air popped popcorn (little to no butter), I recommend smart pop white cheese it is 35 calories for a cup. Buy low calories bread and some Oscar Myer  roasted chicken breast for 50 calories for 2 ounces. For breakfast eat no more than 300 calories and make sure it is packed with protein and fiber -  you'll need both to stay full oh and have (black)coffee it will help to keep you full.

Target around 1500-1600 calories a day for most men, ladies I suggest starting with this as well, but some research says it is much lower. NOTE: You have to eat to lose weight, if you eat too little your body thinks it is starving and won't let weight go - seriously!!

Hopefully this random information is helpful - stay tuned for more.