Slow and Steady Can Win the Race

People frequently ask me, “What is the most important weight loss tip you can give me?”  That is virtually an impossible question to answer.  Losing weight and being healthier involves so many things:  diet, nutrition, calories, exercise, hydration, etc.  Everything you do works together to promote health and weight loss.  It is hard to pick just one thing.

But there is one thing I have learned that applies to virtually every aspect of weight loss – don’t rush it!  Use common sense, be methodical about your decision making and take your time.  To lose a lot of weight effectively, and in a healthy way, you are going to need to make a lot of changes in your life.  There is no reason to make all of these changes at once.  In fact, making too many changes too quickly will likely lead to unhappiness and ultimately failure.

I made lots of small changes over a long period of time.  Here some examples:

·         Soda - The first step on my weight loss journey was to give up Coca Cola.  After about three months without drinking soda, I felt confident that I could make another change.  Next, I gave up all drinks with sugar in them (e.g., Gatorade and iced tea among other things).  Three months later, about six month in all, I was ready to add more water to my diet – actually in my case it was Crystal Light Pure not plain water. At first I made sure to drink at least 16 ounces of water a day.  After successfully doing that for a couple of weeks I starting drinking 32 ounces of water a day.   Eventually, I was drinking at least 64 ounces of water a day! 

·         Eating More Often – Like many obese people, I skipped meals.  I rarely ate breakfast and more often than not I did not eat lunch.  This meant that dinner was frequently my first meal of the day; accordingly I almost always overate.  A huge meal was often followed by something sweet, then a snack and then maybe some leftovers before bed.  And I did all of this eating at the end of the day when I was relaxing and least likely to burn any significant calories.  I changed all this by deciding to eat three meals every day.  At first, I didn’t pay attention to what I ate – only that I was eating three times per day.  After a couple months of success I started adding snacks.  I eventually ate three meals and three small snacks (about 100 calories each per day).  My snacks were usually high in protein since they are more filling – a couple ounces of ham/chicken/turkey, a piece of part skim string cheese, yogurt or some nuts.  After six months or so I was eating three meals and three snacks every day.  Once that became a habit, I started to slowly make changes to what I was eating at every meal – e.g., whole grains, more fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, calories counting, etc.   

·         Exercise – For most of life I never exercised at all.  I started exercising by walking my dog Sammy.  At first it was ten minutes a few times a week.  Slowly, our walks got longer.  Over many months I transitioned to six forty-five minute walks a week with Sammy.  Once I established walking as a habit, I started to focus on walking faster – then further.  Eventually, I was able to walk four miles in 56 minutes.  At that point I realized that if I could learn to run, I could spend the same amount of time exercising but go much further and burn more calories.  So that is what I decided to do.  At first I would walk seven minutes, jog one minute and then walk seven minutes.  After a couple of weeks, I would walk six minutes, jog a minute and then walk six minutes.  Over many months, I slowly was able to run an entire mile, then two miles then three – and eventually I ran a half marathon.  It took me almost two years to move from no exercise to a half marathon, but I did – the slow and steady way.

All of these slow incremental changes allowed me to lose about fifty pounds during the first two years of my journey.  By the third year, all of these changes came together.  I was eating a healthy diet, hydrating regularly and exercising a lot.  I lost the last fifty pounds in six months. 

Making lifestyle changes is not easy and it does not happen overnight.  It is important to make small changes and establish good habits slowly. In the end you will improve your health, protect yourself against injury and most importantly you will lose the weight that you want to lose and hopefully enjoy your experience.

I am living proof.  Sometimes, slow and steady really does win the race! 

As Much Time As It Takes

Throughout my weight loss journey people have asked me a lot of different questions.  Perhaps the most common question is, “How long did it take you to lose all that weight?”  When I tell them that it took me the better part of three years to lose one hundred pounds people often respond by saying, “That is a long time.” 

Over the years I have come to learn that like it or not, losing weight takes a considerable amount of time.  And the time that is needed takes many forms:

·         Healthy, Effective Weight Loss Should Be a Slow and Steady Process – Generally speaking, depending on your size, it is not recommended that people lose weight rapidly.  FITDAY discusses six advantages of slow weight loss.

·         Shopping, Preparing and Cooking Your Own Food – It is very challenging to eat at restaurants a lot and lose weight.  While many restaurants offer some healthy menu options these days, the selection is often limited.  Even worse, it is almost impossible to know what is in restaurant food.  More often than not, restaurant foods contain preservatives, lots of sodium and lots of other things that do not support a healthy lifestyle.  If you do your own shopping and your own cooking, you and you alone control the quality, nutritional value and portion size of your food.  You will also probably need to spend time researching healthy recipes for meals and snacks.  All of this takes time, but it is time well spent. 

·         Journaling – One of my previous blog entries highlighted the importance of journaling.  WebMD summarizes a study that found people who keep a daily food journal lose twice as much weight as people who do not keep regular food journals.  Yes, it takes time.  But again, it is time well spent.

 

·         Exercise – A regular, well-rounded exercise routine will speed up your metabolism, build muscle, increase fitness, burn calories, help support weight loss, give you energy and generally make you feel good.  My workout routine was 50-60 minutes a day six days per week during my peak weight loss.  This is a lot of time, but in the end it was worth it!

I understand that most people are very busy.  Free time is a luxury.   But if you are serious about losing weight, especially a lot of weight, then you will need to find the time.  The time you dedicate to weight loss is an investment, not a cost. 

My mother used to say, “Son, people have a way of finding the time to do the things that they truly want to do.”  No matter how much time it takes, if you really want it, your health is worth the time investment and you will find the time.

 

Sometimes A Little Selfishness Can Be Healthy

Like most things in life success requires strong desire and a sense of purpose.  You must prepare yourself to succeed.  It was well over thirty years before I was “ready” to lose weight, get more fit and lead a healthier lifestyle.  But once I was ready, the determination, focus and discipline necessary to succeed came more easily than expected.  As it turns out, to a large extent, habits are habits.  Once established, healthy habits are not that much more difficult to maintain than unhealthy habits.  The more good habits I developed, the more disciplined and more successful I became.

And while I was surprised by my rapid progress, I was also surprised by the guilt I sometimes experienced.  My initial transformation from a sedentary, unhealthy lifestyle to a more active and healthy lifestyle required a substantial degree of selfishness.  During the late stages of my weight loss - summer 2012, the last forty-five pounds or so, I put myself and my commitment to weight loss before everything and everyone else in my life – including my family.  Since I did the cooking, my family ate what I ate.  I asked my wife and children not to keep certain foods around the house.  If we went out to eat, it had to be somewhere where I could eat a healthy meal.  No matter where we were or what we were doing, even on vacation, my diet and exercise were priorities.  At one point, I jokingly referred to summer 2012 as, “the summer of Bill.”

At times, I struggled with my selfishness. I knew that I was being selfish.  I worried about it.  I felt bad about it.  Sometimes my selfishness even made me feel bad about myself.  After all, selfishness is ordinarily not considered a virtue.  But in the short term, for me at least, I sincerely believe that a certain degree of selfishness was a key to my success.  And in the long run, that selfishness gave me the freedom to do what I needed to do to be successful.  It allowed me to lose weight, get active and become healthier.  But I was not the only person who gained something from my selfishness.  My family gained a happier, healthier husband and father; a person who has the energy and desire to fully participate in everyone’s life – hopefully for a very long time to come.

If you want to truly be there for your friends and family, you first need to be there for yourself.  Sometimes, a little selfishness can go a long way toward a healthier you!

 

Tidbits, Tips and Tricks

There are so many little things that can make a big difference when it comes to weight loss success.  Here are few things that I have learned:

·         Be Prepared – It is difficult to eat well and lose weight if your house is not well stocked with the things you need.  Take some time to think about what you enjoy eating.  Search the internet for healthier versions of those foods.  Shop often, buy fresh whole foods and make sure that your refrigerator and pantry are always full of the healthy food/snack options that you enjoy.

·         Cook Your Own Food – While most of us eat out from time to time, restaurant food is generally full of unnecessary fat, sugar, sodium and other things that are not good for us.  Also, it is almost impossible to know exactly what is in restaurant food.  By preparing your own food you control portion size as well as your food’s taste, quality and nutritional content.

·         Find Some Go To Recipes – No matter your particular taste, you can build a set of simple, versatile, recipes that you can use regularly.   For example, I love guacamole and citrus black beans.  Guacamole can be eaten separately as a snack, used as a filling for hard boiled eggs, or added to a salad, wrap or sandwich.  Black beans can be made in large quantities and eaten in many ways - by themselves, with rice, in an omelet, or in a burrito.  Hummus is another great dish that can be used as a snack with some whole grain crackers/flatbreads or added to a vegetable wrap.  Finally try marinating and grilling chicken.  Make plenty of extra so you can use it throughout the week – as a snack, for chicken salad, in a burrito/wrap or as a hearty addition to a garden salad.  How about a black bean and chicken burrito with some fresh guacamole and a dab of Greek yogurt – yummy!  Add some fresh salsa for another healthy and flavorful touch.  Save the extra salsa for a flavorful snack.

·         Eat A Salad and Drink A Glass of Water Before Dinner – Not only are salad and water good for you, they are filling and will help you avoid overeating.  Whether at home or in a restaurant, these are both good habits to develop.

·         Eating At Restaurants – Most of us eat out from time to time. The myfitnesspal.com app is a great tool for dining out.  I downloaded it to my smart phone so I always have it with me.  If I know where I am going to eat I use myfitnesspal to decide what I am going to eat in advance.  This way I can look forward to eating my meal and not be tempted by the many less healthy options on the menu.  If I can’t select my meal in advance I can still use myfitnesspal to evaluate the nutritional content of various menu items at a given restaurant.

·         Portion Control – A Health Magazine article discusses the importance of portion control and provides some great tips for learning how to cut calories by controlling portions.  Beyond normal approaches to portion control, in my experience, a little bit can go a long way.  At the height of my calorie cut down I still craved things like pizza, pancakes and ice cream.  Even though none of those foods were on my personal menu, my family continued to eat them.  Over time I discovered that stealing a couple bites from my wife or daughters almost always left me feeling satisfied.  To this day, I usually skip dessert and steal a bit or two from my girls.  This is an unconventional, but satisfying and effective way to help control portions.

Sometimes it can be the odds and ends that make all the difference.  Don’t forget to do many of the little things that will improve your chances for weight loss success! 

 

Being Healthier is Always Going to Be A Climb

When I was at my heaviest it felt like almost everyone around me maintained a reasonable weight.   Most of these people also seemed to lead active lives and consciously made healthy food choices.  At times I was jealous.  I frequently wondered why exercise and healthy eating came so easily to them, but was such a struggle for me.

After losing one hundred pounds I came to an important realization.  Just because something looks easy doesn’t mean that it is easy.  Eating a healthier diet and exercising regularly is not easy.  Our fast food, super-sized, extra-cheese, convenience oriented world presents daily obstacles for everyone.  

While losing a lot of weight and running a half-marathon were great accomplishments, they didn’t represent the end of my journey.  In many ways, they were just the beginning.

Many years ago Miley Cyrus released a hit song - “The Climb.”  Shortly after it came out, my daughters would often blare it from their bedroom.  Over time the song grew on me and I used to sing it with them in the car.  The chorus is: 

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Truer words were never spoken.  People often tell me that I appear to have won the battle with my weight.  I am winning, but the battle is not over and it is never easy, but it is easier now than it has ever been.  I have learned a lot, but there is still more to learn.  There are always obstacles that need to be overcome.

After I started running and eventually gained a reasonable fitness level, I was surprised at how hard running continued to be for me.  In the beginning I couldn’t run a tenth of a mile.   It was hard work.  Eventually, I was running over ten miles, but it was still hard work.  Like most people, once I accomplished one goal, I moved to another.  I always wanted to run faster and further; both of these things represent more mountains.  As long as you are pushing yourself, training will always be hard.  A year ago I ran a 14 minute mile.  Today, I can run an 11 minute mile.  That 11 minute mile feels every bit as challenging as that 14 minute mile once did.  A ten minute mile is my next mountain.

Getting healthy and staying healthy is a lifelong journey.  It will be filled with successes and failures.  Embrace them both.  Celebrate the successes.  View your failures as opportunities for future success.  There will be times, for whatever reason, that you gain some weight – summer eating, a vacation, the holidays, etc.  Sometimes life will get in the way and you will get out of your exercise routine – maybe for a few weeks at a time.  It happens to almost everyone.  There will always be another mountain.

When you are faced with a mountain, commit to moving it. Your journey will be filled with challenges.  Sometimes you are going to fail.  That is all part of the process.  Recognize it.  Accept it.  Improvise.  Adapt.  Overcome.  Get back on track and celebrate your success for doing so!!!

The Scale Should Not Weigh You Down!

Even if weight loss is the primary goal, don’t let the scale be the only tool you use to measure success.  Weight loss can be a mysterious and complicated thing.  Sometimes weight seems to come off easily from week to week.  Other times, even if you are eating well and working out progress can slow or even stop.  And even under ideal circumstance, people’s weight fluctuates from day to day.  So if you use the scale as your only way to measure success, you will be disappointed a lot. 

Losing weight and living a healthier more active lifestyle is tough enough without having to deal with a disappointing weigh-in.  It is too easy to see yourself as a failure, to lose motivation, become demoralized and abandon your weight loss efforts.

One of the best ways to see progress, stay motivated and feel confident is to understand that the scale is only one measure.  Identify multiple success measures.  Some measures might include:  (1) how you feel; (2) nutritional goals; (3) exercise/fitness progress; (3) vital signs and body measurements; and (5) how you feel in your clothes.

·         How Are You Feeling? - While losing weight is the ultimate goal, being healthy and feeling good, and more energetic, is also important.  As you get healthier, you will notice that you feel better.  Perhaps you less depressed or you have more energy throughout the day.  Being more efficient at work, getting more chores done at home and having more energy to spend quality time with family are all signs of progress. 

·         Are You Reaching Your Nutritional Goals – If you are keeping a food journal, particularly if you are using an app, it is easier than ever to monitor your nutrition.  You can record your daily/weekly calorie count as well protein, fat, carbohydrate and sodium intake – among other things.  If you are consistently meeting your daily and weekly goals in all key nutritional areas, that is an important sign of progress.

·         Is Your Fitness Improving – If you do not already, it is a great idea to keep a fitness journal.  Many nutritional apps also allow you to record fitness activities.  In my case I was always trying to walk further, walker faster, add running, run, run further and run faster.  It is so gratifying to track your improvement from week to week and month to month.  As you look back, you will be impressed with your progress.

·         Measure Your Body and Vital Signs – It is a good idea to measure your neck, chest, waist hips, thighs and arms every week.  During one phase of my weight loss I actually lost a full pants size without losing more than a couple of pounds – amazing!  Before I started exercising my resting pulse rate was 78; within a few months of walking my resting pulse rate dropped more than 15 beats per minute; my blood pressure also dropped significantly.

·         Check Out Your Closet – Pay attention to the way that your clothes fit.  You will start to notice that your clothes feel better.  Take a tour of your closet.  My guess is you will slowly start to wear some things you have not worn, or even seen, in a long time.  Enjoy the new wardrobe!

Feeling better, eating better, exercise, improved vital signs and better fitting clothes are all signs of progress no matter what the scale might say during any given week or month.  Celebrate progress in its many forms!

 

 

 

More Really Can Be Less

Aside from giving up soda, cutting things from my diet was more the exception than the rule.  Most people I know who are trying to lose weight spend the majority of their time trying to figure out what not to eat.  My weight loss journey took me down a very different road.  Instead of cutting lots of things from my diet, I actually started adding things.

An interesting Forbes article discusses nine habits that make people fat.  One of those habits is skipping meals.  Like a lot of heavy people, I never ate breakfast.  In fact, very often dinner was my first meal of the day.  Not eating regularly throughout the day depresses your metabolism and can increase overeating later in the day.  Also, most of us are least active at the end of the day after dinner.  As your metabolism slows down at the end of the day, your body has very little time to burn the calories you consume later in the day.

After conquering my sugary drink habit and incorporating regular exercise, the next thing I did was add meals to my diet.  I ate three meals and three small snacks every day.  Once eating six times per day became a habit, I started to pay closer attention to what I was eating.  My food journal helped me accomplish this.  Initially I added more fresh fruits and vegetables to my diet.  The goal was to eat at least three servings of fresh fruit and five servings of fresh vegetables per day.   

The next thing I did was to add water to my diet; the goal was eight glasses per day.  Water maintains our hydration and helps to keep us feeling full.   Drinking plenty of water has other advantages as well.  Caloriesperhour.com details many ways that water consumption supports weight loss.  If you don’t like water, you can try the myriad flavored waters on the market.  A fresh slice of lemon or lime in your water or sparkling might also do the trick.  Also, see Redbook for other good alternatives to water. 

After adding exercise, meals, snacks, fruits, vegetables and water to my diet an interesting thing happened.  I started to feel better - both physically and mentally.  The more good things that I added to my diet and exercise regiment, the more weight I lost and the more committed I became to a healthier lifestyle. Suddenly, and with very little effort, I was more motivated than ever to take control of my diet.  I was making better choices.  I was not perfect, but I was better.

Almost by accident, I discovered that when it came to weight loss, more really can be less.