Eat

Hopefully yesterday didn't push you all from reading again because today I will talk about eating. The way you eat is what determines if you will lose weight. What I'm saying is I often hear people say "I don't have time to exercise", and I will address that more in my next post, but YOU DON'T HAVE TO EXERCISE TO LOSE WEIGHT! For example, you don't see the half-ton man exercising to lose weight. Instead the doctors put the patients on a diet restriction.

Restriction is a word I hate. NEVER, NEVER, I REPEAT NEVER RESTRICT YOUR DIET. Also, never call it a diet. Diets are short, temporary, fads, trendy, whatever you want to think. Why do you think most people lose 10 pounds and gain 12 back after they stop the cabbage diet, or the apple diet, cookie diet... because they restricted themselves so much that when the weight was gone, and the temporary diet was over, the over-restriction got the best of their will. Eat what you want, when you want. In the past week I have had candy, desert, pizza, etc... The key is staying within your calorie count. You will soon learn it is easier to find healthy options and eat more, than to eat one greasy meal per day.

I have so many things to say about eating that it may take more than one post, but here are some points to think about.

1. Get some tools: measuring cups, measuring spoons, a food scale.

2. Get some books: If you are willing to invest, there are 3 books I would purchase again. I have several more, but I find myself constantly using these 3 books...

The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook. It has been such a wonderful resource for low cal recipes. They tend to be easy to prepare, quick, and budget and family friendly. Some of our favorites are the Buffalo Chicken Meatloaf, Sloppy Joe Meatloaf, and the Creamy Cherry Sorbet. I try and pick one or two new recipes every week or so to try. It's really worth the money.

Eat This Not That Supermarket Survival Guide. KEEP THIS IN YOUR CAR... otherwise, you will get to the supermarket and realize you forgot it. This book will help you chose the healthy alternative to things you already eat. It's sort of a temporary book because you will start to know what to look for, and you will need this book less and less.

Eat This Not That Restaurant Survival Guide. If you think you already have this one, double check. This book just came out. The first book like this had some restaurants in it, but this book is dedicated to restaurants. For example, you may be shocked to know that it it would save you 140 calories to go to McDonald's and eat a McDouble than a Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich! When you are only eating 1400 calories, that saves you 10% of your daily allowance!!! KEEP THIS BOOK IN YOUR PURSE... often times eating out is a spur of the moment, convenience thing. Whip this out, make your choice, and feel better for it.


3. Count and Log: This is the meat and potatoes of eating (no pun intended). You have to count your calories to know you are staying within them, and just keeping a tab in your head is nearly impossible. It has been proven OVER and OVER that weight loss is based on calorie count alone. Not fat, not carbs, calories. Like I said yesterday, your body has to burn more energy than it takes in to lose weight. That is all based on calories. Here are the quick steps to starting:

1. Figure out how many calories a day your body burns. Enter your stats here and be sure to click on SEDENTARY for your activity level. This is so if you have days when you don't do much, you won't gain weight.
2. Now that you know how much you burn each day, subtract 500 calories from that. It takes 3500 calories to lose a pound, so theoretically you should lose 1 pound a week by sitting on the couch, and not exceeding your calorie count... see, you don't have to work out! You could lose weight faster by adding workouts into your day, but we can discuss that later. ONE NOTE: Never eat less than 1200 calories a day. This is what a body needs to survive. Anything less than 1200 calories per day, and your body will go into starvation mode, and the whole plan will backfire.
3. Finally, LOG. This is the website I use to log my foods. It already has 80,000 foods input to the system, so it is rare I can't find what I am looking for. It takes a couple of weeks to get really good at this, but once you are used to it, I think logging your foods here should take less than 5 minutes per day. Make sure you log EVERYTHING you eat, including those 20 M&M's you ate for a snack. They count for calories also. Really take the time to set this website up for yourself. Try the tools, get on the message board. I know it was a key to my success. It even shows you each day how many calories you've burned vs. how many you have eaten, and if you click on Analysis, it will give you a food grade for the day.

Well, I feel like this has been a long one, but eating is very important. It makes this journey incredibly easy, or tough. I hope this has helped a bit. I plan on posting a little more about food in the coming days, but this was something to nibble on!