Write It Down!!!

During the last thirty years or so I have occasionally found the motivation to lose weight.  With few exceptions my inclination was not to diet but rather to eat healthier.  During one of those periods I met with a nutritionist.  She asked me to keep a food journal that recorded everything I ate/drank for a couple of weeks.  I remember thinking to myself, “Why waste my time?  I am eating and drinking a lot of stuff that I shouldn’t be.  That is why I need a nutritionist.”  Unfortunately for me, I didn’t take her advice and I never returned for a second visit.   In retrospect, that was a mistake.  One of the biggest and longest weight loss maintenance studies ever conducted was done at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research.  The study found that people who kept daily food journals lost twice as much weight as people who did not keep journals.   WebMD not only summarizes the results of this study, but it also discusses why food journals work so well and it provides tips for effective journaling.

There are many ways to keep a journal.  Pen and paper can work.  But more technologically savvy people may want to take advantage of one of the many excellent free apps that can be accessed from your computer and/or smart phone.  I use Myfitnesspal.com.  This particular app offers several nice features.  For example it: (1) will use your age, weight and sex to calculate how many calories a day you can consume to meet your weekly weight loss goal; (2) allows you to journal your daily food consumption through menu driven check boxes; (3) provides an exhaustive list of foods (including thousands of fast food restaurant menu items- extremely handy when eating out) and nutritional information for each food that you eat;  (4) allows you to use a smart phone to scan the bar code of a food if you can’t find the food in the site’s data base; (5) allows you to add your own personal recipes and it calculates the calories/nutritional values per serving;  (6) charts your weight loss, nutritional profiles, and exercise, and it automatically recalculates your calorie/nutritional goals as you lose weight; (7) provides a space for you to write notes on a particular day’s eating/exercise entry.

An honest, complete food journal will help identify eating habits – good and bad.  If you use an app, it will quickly educate you about the calorie and nutritional content of everything you eat/drink.  For most people, eating is such a habit that it often becomes a mindless activity.  Unless we purposefully pay close attention it is easy to lose track of what, or how much, we eat.  People often forget about certain things that they eat or drink – alcohol and chewing gum for example; or they don’t realize that vitamins and other nutritional supplements can be a significant source of calories. 

Whether it is eating with friends, passing along a family recipe, a holiday celebration or pure pleasure, food plays an important role in most people’s lives.  But too often we actually forget that food is fuel. What we eat, how often we eat, how much we eat and the quality of what we eat directly impacts how we feel and function. 

My food journal was critical to my initial weight loss success because it made me a more educated and thoughtful eater.  It provided me with the information I needed to make better dietary decisions, monitor progress (both nutrition and exercise) and develop weight loss/exercise goals.  Food journaling also held me accountable for my behavior.  Finally there is just something about seeing my success in writing that kept me motivated to meet my goals.

Write it down!  Consider keeping a food journal for a couple of weeks.  There is a good chance that you will learn a lot about food and about yourself.  And you might just discover a very effective weight loss (and weight management) tool.

Move It Just A Little Bit

As I reflect on my weight loss I think one of the secrets to my success was to make a series of small changes over many months.  Eliminating soda was first.  But right around the same time that I gave up soda I started to become more active.  For a lot of people, particularly exceptionally overweight people, even the thought of exercise can be overwhelming.  I was large enough that few exercises were possible, let alone comfortable; they often led to discomfort and soreness. In addition to practical limitations there may be psychological barriers as well.  I was always too embarrassed to exercise in the presence of others.  I had convinced myself that everyone was looking at me – even laughing at me.  

But no matter the obstacles I knew that to have long term weight loss success I had to get more active. Exercise burns calories, which is critical for weight loss, but exercise also provides lots of additional benefits that can improve both physical and mental health.  Depending on the exercise routine you choose, potential benefits might include improved cardiovascular fitness, increased strength, better flexibility, higher energy levels, improved mood and decreased stress/anxiety

There are almost limitless ways to incorporate exercise into your daily routine.  Helpguide.org offers some excellent suggestions for making exercise a fun part of your life.  Consider your age, health (consult a doctor before starting any exercise program), fitness level, physical abilities/limitations, likes, dislikes and daily schedule.  Evaluate all of your options and then take action.

My personal commitment to exercise developed quite naturally.  About two and a half years ago my family bought a puppy – Samantha (Sammy).  She became a wonderful family pet and I became the main dog walker.  This simple thing got me on the road to a more active life.  Walking the dog was fun.  It didn’t really feel like work.  And for whatever reason, I was never self-conscious about walking Sammy the way I was about exercising in public.

In the beginning, we took 15 minute walks – less than a mile.  Inside a few months we were walking FOUR 15 minute miles!  With remarkably little effort I was losing weight, feeling good physically, feeling better about myself and I was more motivated than ever to keep losing weight.  Oh, and Sammy and I have become lifelong friends! 

In addition to getting more fit, I learned some valuable lessons along the way.  I learned that while people often did look at me as I struggled to walk (and eventually run), most of them were not laughing at me as I once feared.  For example, there is an older gentleman who rides his tricycle on a bike path near Lake Michigan where I do most of my running these days.  To this day, every time I see him he smiles, makes a fist with his right hand, gently pounds his chest three times then points at me with his index finger.  His gesture warms my heart every time.

People who exercise regularly are a family of sorts.  There are no style points for looking good or any bonuses for being faster, but in most cases there is instant respect for everyone’s commitment and effort.  Today, when I pass someone who is struggling to exercise, I usually do look at them, but I never laugh.  I admire them and deep down I cheer for them every step of the way.  And I know that a lot of people are cheering for me too.

If you are ready to lose weight, you need to move it just a little bit.  Add some daily exercise into your schedule.  Pick something that you do not dislike, that isn’t too painful (though a little soreness in the beginning is probably unavoidable) and stick with it.   Once exercise becomes a habit, you can start working on ways to expand your exercise program, increase intensity and burn more calories.  In about six months I went from walking the dog to running my first 5K race.  Within a year, I ran my first half marathon.  Anything is possible, but you have to start.  The more you move, the more weight you will lose and the more motivated you will be to continue your weight loss journey.

 

You Don't Have to Be Perfect, Just Be Better

If you are like most people you have lost weight before, but eventually you found yourself right back where you started.  While I was never much of a dieter, there have been times in my life when I tried to eat healthier.  I would do well for awhile and then I would have a bad day.  One bad day often led to two bad days.  Eventually, I was back to my old ways.  Anytime I ate something I should not have I would get discouraged. Somehow I convinced myself that one bad day ruined all the good days.

Then one day when I had lunch with Rick - a good friend of mine.  I described to him my pattern of failures.  Rick, who is very dedicated to health and fitness, said, “Dude, don’t be so hard on yourself.”  He explained very few people maintain a perfect diet. He said my goal should not be perfection.  Instead, the goal should be to make consistently better nutritional and fitness choices.  This was a simple, but powerful, insight.  Suddenly I realized that losing weight, and keeping it off, was about making “better” choices. 

My first “better” choice was the decision to give up Coca Cola.  I chose soda because at that time I was drinking over 700 calories of soda a day.  Making this one dietary change eliminated nearly 5000 calories a week from my diet.  With Coca Cola on one end of the continuum and water, which I don’t like, on the other end of the continuum I began considering the different beverages I could drink in place of soda.  Fortunately, there are many options in the middle.  Here are just a few: (1) soda half and half (half regular soda and half diet soda); (2) diet soda; (3) sports drinks; (4) sport drink half and half; (5) no calorie sport drinks; (6) no or low calorie soft drinks; (7) flavored waters; and (8) water or tonic water flavored with a bit of fresh juice – orange, lemon or lime.  Some are obviously better than others, but all of them have a significantly lower calorie count than regular soda. 

Not every choice is right for everyone.  For example, there is a lot of research highlighting concerns about artificial sweeteners.  CNN.com recently ran an interesting article on the sugar vs. artificial sweetener debate.  If you are uncomfortable with artificial sweeteners then avoid them.  Otherwise feel free to use them as a tool.  Within three months, simply by making a combination of better choices, I eliminated regular soda from my diet.  In that three month period, doing nothing else but eliminating soda (and eventually almost all sugary drinks), I lost 25 lbs!!!  Over time I applied this philosophy to all aspects of my diet - with lots of success. 

Pick a problem area in your diet. Consider the range of lower calorie/reduced fat options available – e.g., lower calorie versions of your favorite foods.  Runner’s World has some great tips and substitutes that will help you cook healthier versions of your favorite foods.   Kath Eats REAL FOOD and Cheap, Healthy, Good are both great blogs dedicated to healthy food.  The web is full of ideas for preparing healthier food.  Take some time and do a little research.

If you want to start losing weight try to identify the biggest problem area in your diet.  Commit to making better decisions regarding this specific area.  You do not have to be perfect, just be better.  Make consistently better choices.  Stay dedicated to making this one effective dietary change.  Once you have made that one change a habit, you will be ready to tackle your next challenge.

Getting to the "Why" of the Matter

Until recently, I could not remember a time in my life when I was not extremely overweight.  When I was in elementary school we used to have a class Valentine’s Day party every year.  Each student would give everyone in the class some candy and a card.  In those days, we used to exchange small, cartoonish cards - maybe 3 by 5 inches in size.  One particular year I remember bringing all of my candy and cards home in a bag.  I rushed home and excitedly opened up all of my cards.  But excitement led quickly to tears when I realized that out of the roughly twenty cards I received, all but a few had a picture of an elephant on the front of the card. 

By the time I was in high school my parents, friends, neighbors and teachers alike started to ask me “why” I don’t lose weight.  I didn’t have an answer.  The older I got, the more the questions turned to more direct pressure.  Once while visiting my grandmother in a nursing home my father asked me if I noticed anything about the people there.  In a questioning voice I replied, “They are old.”  My dad said, “No, none of them look like you.  People your size don’t live long enough to end up in a place like this.”  And it didn’t stop with my father.  Despite the fact I have always been blessed with good health, as a young man, more than one doctor told me that if I didn’t lose weight I would likely not live long enough to raise children.  In the end, it seemed as though a lot of people in my life had identified reasons “why” I should lose weight.  But when continually confronted with that question, “Why don’t you lose weight?” I never had an answer.

When faced with a significant life challenge like overcoming substance abuse, getting out of a dysfunctional relationship, losing weight or whatever, it has often been said that people can’t be successful until they are ready.  While that sounds good, for a long time I am not sure that I ever knew exactly what that meant. But at some point, for reasons still unknown to me, I had an epiphany.  The reason I could not answer the question, “Why don’t you lose weight?” is because I could not give people the answer I thought people wanted. It seemed like people wanted me to lose weight so that I would feel better, so I would be healthier, so I could live longer, so I could have more energy to play with my children, etc.  While any or all of these may be perfectly good reasons to lose weight, they were not my reasons.  Only when I was able to identify why I wanted to lose weight did I become motivated to start this life changing journey. 

So why did I decide to lose weight?  It all started while I was out to dinner with my wife one evening a few years ago.  I was looking around the restaurant when I realized that, yet again, I was the biggest man in the room.  Through most of my adult life, almost no matter where we were, it seemed like I was the biggest person in the room. It felt like a crushing, miserable and inescapable reality.  Over the years, this simple fact wore on me.  But for whatever reason, on that night, I realized that there was nothing inescapable about my situation.  If I wanted to live a different reality I could make that happen.  At one point I turned to my wife and said, “I no longer want to be the biggest man in the room.”  It was in that moment that I discovered why I wanted to lose weight.

If you are thinking about trying to lose weight, find your motivation in a reason that makes sense to you, not to the people in your life who may want you to lose weight.  Once you have that reason, you have the key that will open the door to your own weight loss journey.