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Accountability

I saw a video on Yahoo! that reported the results of a study that found obese patients who received phone calls from registered dieticians lost 9% of their body weight compared with 5-6% for patients who received e-mails or no communication.

I'm not surprised. The phone calls hold dieters accountable to their plans.

February 16, 2009

Weight = 139
Target = 135 - 140

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays. March through June must be amore months, because there sure are a lot of birthdays in January, February and March. With birthdays there comes lots of good, tempting food.

February 2, 2009

Weight = 136.8 pounds
Target range = 135 - 140 pounds

The double chocolate cupcakes at Starbucks on Saturday looked good. I managed to get away from the counter before I bought. Doritos at dinner tasted good. It was hard to stop, but I managed to stop after a few.

February 1, 2009

Weight = 137.8 pounds
Target weight range = 135 - 140 pounds

We had pleasant weather this weekend, allowing me to make up for one skipped workout and ride my bike outside twice. Before that, I've ridden outside once in the past few months. Getting a break in the routine like riding this weekend helps my body and mind feel fresher for workouts to come.

I decided to practice what I preach and report my "target weight" as a range rather than a specific number. Weight naturally fluctuates from day to day, morning to night. Listing my target weight as 137.5 pounds implied an impossible level of control. I target a five pound weight range. When I get near the top of the, I evaluate if my habits have changed and course correct if necessary.

January 29, 2009

Weight = 136.4 pounds
Target weight = 137.5 pounds

The end of my least favorite month is near. Despite global warming predictions, the last two winters have been wintry, which takes the toll on those of us who like to exercise outside. I can't stand stationary equipment. For those who solely use such equipment, I understand why it's hard to maintain consistency - boredom. My mind is never short on supply of excuses to keep me off the exercycle.

I found my recent iPod purchase helps pass the time, though songs grow stale fast. I'll need to find some interesting podcasts on iTunes. If you know of any, please let me know in the comment section.

With the iPod, two magazines and the TV, 30 to 45 minutes on exercycle is bearable. If you need something to have on TV in background while exercising, listening to your iPod and flipping magazine pages I suggest recording naked native shows on the Travel Channel.

I skipped 4 workouts this month. I have a strong urge to write excuses, but I won't. Excuses will just make it easier to skip. I did better than December and did well in controlling the most important part of weight control - eating the right portion sizes and adjusting my food intake for lower activity level.

January 10, 2009

Current weight = 137.2 pounds
Target weight = 137.5 pounds

Something happened the past few days to drop my weight. Perhaps there was something to the salt/water-retention theory after all. Also, a week of consistent exercise and a few days back on my typical food routine likely contributed to the drop in weight.

New tempations. A grocery store opened across the street from where I work. They have a lot of good food. It has a coffee island and a case full of donuts and pastries. Luckily for me, it's a tad bit expensive and I'm cheap, so that helps subdue my temptations.

January 7, 2009

Weight this evening = 140.2 pounds
Target weight = 137.5 pounds

"Other than the circus, nothing packs up and leaves town quicker than Christmas spirit" - Lifted from my local newspaper quote section the day after Christmas.

The holidays are over and the old routine is returning. Everything has trade-offs. Routine is boring, but it's comforting and makes it easier to exercise and eat right. I'm seeing a lot of New Year Resoluters on the trails and in the gym. The predictability is stunning. But, it's nice to have company in the dark depths of winter. I'll miss them in a few weeks.

If you're looking for a way to turn your New Years resolution into a life change, take it easy and slow. You must first strengthen your habit "muscle" by simply doing something. No need to be beach-ready by February. Make your goal for January to build the base of a sustainable routine by simply prioritizing the time to move your body at a moderate level. As you move your body more, you will feel comfortable in gradually increasing workout intensity over the course of several months to a year.

I'm still 140 pounds. So much for the Mexican food, water retention theory. My wife pointed out: too many Hershey's kisses (along with bad poor portion control). I didn't want to hear it, but, it was the truth.

My 7 kiss (special dark) per day (140 calories) habit has crept up to 15 (300 calories) to 20 (400 calories) kisses a day. Chocolate isn't the only culprit. The same slip in willpower on my Hershey's kisses has been present at meal and snack times as well.

I don't obsess over two pounds. It's simply feedback I'll act on. When your car drifts to the left you make a small correction by turning the wheel right to avoid catastrophe. That's what I need to do, make a small correction. I'd much rather do that now than in 20 or 30 pounds.

When my wife told me, I grunted and shrugged her off. My mind involuntarily came up with multiple reasons why it was okay. "Chocolate is good for you." "I'm exercising." "I'm still close to my target weight."

Now, I'm going to thank her.

January 3, 2009

Current Weight 140.2 lbs
Target Weight 137.5 lbs
Weight with BMI = 25 146 lbs (A BMI of 25 or greater is considered "overweight")

By weighing myself regularly, I've learned it's normal for my weight to fluctuate by a few pounds. I ate a salty Mexican dinner on New Year's Eve. The salt causes my body to hold a pound or two of water weight for a few days. I weighed 136.2 pounds a week ago. I'll continue to watch to make sure that I'm right.

Nice weather today. I rode my mountain bike nine miles at a moderate pace for 40 minutes. I haven't ridden outside in a few months. It was a nice break from running. Running has been leaving my body sore and me less motivated to exercise.

January 2, 2009

I'm getting over a cold and haven't exercised for a few days. I'm feeling better now. I jogged my typical 3.5 miles this evening.

I plan to restart tracking my exercise this year. I stopped tracking it two years ago because I felt confident about my weekly routine and I stuck with it until the past few months. It's grown easier to skip work outs.

I hope the act of typing into the computer again will give me extra accountability to regain my consistency. It worked before. I already felt a tinge of missed opportunity when I typed "none" in the Activity column for January 1, 2009.

I also plan to write more here. I'm going to share my inner thoughts about exercise and food. Others tend to resist my advice because they think I don't like food, a quality they don't believe they'll ever possess. I do like food very much. I hope others will identify with my struggles and, maybe, that will make them that much more confident in their ability to achieve their weight goals.

Oprah

Oprah's feeling fat again. On the previews for her upcoming back-to-reality BestLife show, Bob Greene said that she wasn't listening. I think he said it seemed like she wasn't there. My take: she shut off food feedback.

Now she's back on track and she's going to show us everything she's doing to lose weight. I hope she figures out how to keep herself honest and stay out of the food cacoon where she shuts off accountability and feedback.

Good luck Oprah! For all the healthy food and exercise you do, it's really about learning how to make the size of your plate match the desired size of your waist. I've never advocated going cold turkey on the food you enjoy. I think it's more effective to learn how to enjoy these foods in the right amounts.

Accountability and Feedback

Any problem can be traced to two causes. The first cause is lack of knowledge or, worse yet, having incorrect knowledge. The second cause is lack of accountability and feedback.

Why was I fat? Two reasons. First, I lacked the proper knowledge for how my body worked and I believed in some incorrect knowledge (myths) of how my body worked that were doing more damage than I realized.

My book and website (http://fewbites.googlepages.com/) can teach you the knowledge I used to lose my weight and control it ever since.

Second, I lacked, or blocked out, accountability and feedback. I discounted my BMI results. I figured I was special somehow and the BMI didn't apply to me. I didn't get on a scale often. I even had enablers. People who didn't tell me the truth or were simply unable to see the truth themselves or tried to convince me that weighing a reasonable amount was for the birds, a fools game.

I fixed the knowledge part. That's the basis of my book and much of the rest of my website. I also fixed the accountability and feedback problem. I get on the scale every morning. The scale doesn't lie. It's hard. Some mornings I want to avoid it. But, it's a needed dose of reality to keep me on my path. Without that measure of accountability I would veer off course.

I'll be writing more on the subject. Until then, consider how accountability and feedback may be holding you back. If you think you have the knowledge to lose weight, but haven't had much success, then accountability and feedback may be the next areas to focus on.

"Core Motivation"

A few months ago, a writer for a local newspaper wrote about a meeting she had with one of the trainers from the Biggest Loser. The writer has struggled with her weight and often writes about it. The Biggest Loser trainer told her that the reason she hasn't been successful is because she hasn't found her "core motivation."

I thought that was interesting. I started thinking about what motivates me to keep the weight off, but I couldn't come up with anything profound. I simply don't care for being overweight. If that's my core motivation, fine. But, it's simple enough and it's not some deep seeded psychological thing that happened to me in childhood. Or, if it is, I don't know about it yet.

The more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea of "core motivation". To me, the concept is an enabling mindset - as in, it enables you to be overweight because you can use it as an excuse: "I just haven't found my core motivation yet."

I'm much more of the Nike mindset: Just Do It.

Own Your Life

Who else is going to own it?

Guilty by association - BMI

Click here for story.

According to this story, a study of 3,362 people showed that blood pressure and BMI were associated with heart failure.

Not surprising, since the BMI was a model developed to predict the risk of suffering from weight-related illnesses such as heart disease. That means the orginal BMI researchers took a group of real people and tracked their health and looked for factors that related to their health outcomes. BMI was such a factor.

But, do we really need researchers to tell us that being overweight is bad for your health?

Few Bites Expands on the Web!

I'm sorry it's been awhile since I've posted.

I've focused my effort on expanding my the "Few Bites" web presence . I like blogging, but the drawback is that some good "how to" stuff eventually gets lost forever in the blog archive. I thought it would be helpful to put my key advice and info on weight loss on web pages that stayed put.

Please go to:
fewbites.googlepages.com

It's nothing fancy, but neither is weight loss. My hope is that this expanded presence will more effectively help others to conquer their weight problems.

"You on a Diet"

I'm currently reading the new book by Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz, You on a Diet. It's interesting. Much of their advice lines up with my advice and that of the Zone diet, which is really a repackaged diet that the medical community teaches diabetics to help them control their blood sugars.

The good doctors have a lot of good information - maybe a little too much. It can be overwhelming at times. They could learn from Dr. Sears, the author of The Zone diet, with his condensed book "A Week in the Zone". I read that book in less than 2 hours and it gave me much of the information that I still use today to control my weight.

The good doctors say much of the same things as Dr. Sears, and myself. Eat more often. Eat good foods. Eat in moderation. Exercise. They also provide a lot of details on how the hormonal systems work for you and against you.

You on Diet have a great section on diet psychology. They really should lead the book with this chapter. Getting your head in the right frame of mind is the most important thing. I'll write more about the psychology chapter in another post.

I recommend this book. However, I'd recommend reading "A Week in the Zone" first. And you can also read my short book, an electronic-copy is is available for free (see the link on the right side of the page).

4.3: What is metabolism?

This is the dictionary definition of the word metabolism (from Dictionary.com):
"the sum of the physical and chemical processes in an organism by which its material substance is produced, maintained, and destroyed, and by which energy is made available."

I like to think of it as life, because without metabolism we wouldn't be alive. Our bodies are wonderful automated machines. We put material in and our bodies break it down to repair cells and supply energy. We're just a bundle of billions and billions of simultaneous chemical reactions being guided by little biological Oompah-Loompahs. And, for the most part we're completely unaware of it. Good times.

Sitting around watching the tube our bodies burn about the same amount of energy as a 65 to 100 watt lightbulb. When we're exercising vigorously, we burn about the same amount of energy as a computer - approximately 150 - 250 watts on top of the 65-100 watts.

We're burning calories 24/7. On a typical day I burn 1,500 - 1,700 calorieswhile I'm going about my business. That's called my basal metabolic rate. Exercise typically adds another 300 - 400 calories.

Weight is simple math. If I consistently eat more calories than I burn, I'll gain weight. To control my weight I need to balance the 1,500 - 2,200 calories I burn each day with the calories going in my mouth.

Metabolism can be tricky. Your body likes new calories coming down the hatch every 3 - 5 hours while you're awake. If you do this, your metabolism is happy and stays fired up. Regularly go longer than this and you risk two things that can work against your weight goals. First, your metabolism will slow down in order to conserve the energy expenditure to help you make it through those long periods without food. Second, your body will be more likely to store fat because it's putting some fuel in the tank to draw upon when you skipping meals.

Going so long without eating is a common mistake. I hear of people skipping breakfast or not eating after 7 pm. I hear people say they're going to skip lunch so they can eat more at dinner. Simple advice - Don't do it.

I had such a weakness in my routine. I ate lunch and usually didn't eat anyting until dinner. Needless to say, I was usually famished. Simply eating a 100 - 200 calorie snack at 4:30 stoked my metabolism and kept me satiated until dinner.

The Ellen Show

Martina Navratilova recently appeared on the Ellen show promoting her new book, "Shape Yourself". Her and I share one secret to weight control - moderation. We also share a love of chocolate and have identical approaches to enjoying it without wrecking our waistlines. I eat a few Hershey's dark chocolate kisses each day. Since I know I'll enjoy more chocolate the next day, I don't feel compelled to eat a lot at one time. In fact, by eating it every day, it's even lost some appeal.

I don't believe in giving up the foods you like best to control your weight. That leads to binging and negative feelings about your diet, neither of which are helpful. Find ways to enjoy your favorite foods in moderation and often. You're not trying to become a nun. You're just trying to lose some weight.

Ellen's personal trainer, who is a Biggest Loser trainer, was also on her show recently. He finds that people have a hard time getting back on their exercise routine after falling off. I agree. His advice: Remember how you felt after the exercise, not before it. Good advice. I never noticed it before, but I do that. A few nights ago, I was dragging and not wanting to jog. But I remembered that in the past when I felt the same way, a jog made feel a lot better. I was right.

The Body Religion

I'm thankful for having the chance to live this life through my body and my mind. It seems proper to do my best to take care of both. I don't worship my body, but I do respect it. It's a wonderful gift. It's the least I can do.