When you lose anything over 20lbs and keep it off people always ask you "how'd you do it?". In my case, I went from 221lbs down to a low of 165lbs, but maintain at a healthy 175lbs. Which is a total lose of over 45lbs. HOW DID YOU DO IT DUDE???
1. Nutrition
2. Exercise
3. Statistics
Nutrition will always be the key factor in losing weight (and keeping it off) and exercise does not much more than to supplement it. Take these stats into account- 60% of our daily caloric burn is from our natural movement + bodily functions (heart beating, lungs breathing, etc). 30% is from what we put into our bodies, ie: a calorie deficit that we intentionally create to lose weight. 10% (yes only 10%) is from additional exercise (running those miles on the treadmill, lifting all those weights). So out of these three factors we cannot really affect the first one (our heart will continue to beat at its normal rate, our lungs keep working the same every day). Nutrition and exercise are clearly within our realm of affecting, but it's clear that nutrition moves the needle more. Simply put, if you understand what goes into your mouth (really understand it) then you have the power to lose weight.
So how did I manage the nutrition leg of my calorie deficit? I tracked everything that went into my mouth. When I say "tracked" I mean that every single thing that I ate. A lot of failures come from the fact that people think they know what they are eating but don't really understand the calories (and fat/carbs/protein composition) of what they are eating. It's not just about calories obviously, and this is the subject of many debates, but count calories is not enough. Weight Watchers (TM) is so successful because it combines all the nutritional data you should be following into one number. People find it easier to track just one number, but you can still do the same using a various of other websites (livestrong.com, myfitnesspal.com) that have a huge database of foods and will let you know when you are too high in a certain category. So that's how I did it. Just don't be in the red, and you will lose weight. Otherwise, eat whatever the hell you feel like (but case in point you eat three donuts in the morning you not only overshot your calorie intake but you failed to meet your healthy fat/protein intake and that counts as a failure). When you are eating to lose weight, 90% of your days should be successes.
1. Nutrition
2. Exercise
3. Statistics
Nutrition will always be the key factor in losing weight (and keeping it off) and exercise does not much more than to supplement it. Take these stats into account- 60% of our daily caloric burn is from our natural movement + bodily functions (heart beating, lungs breathing, etc). 30% is from what we put into our bodies, ie: a calorie deficit that we intentionally create to lose weight. 10% (yes only 10%) is from additional exercise (running those miles on the treadmill, lifting all those weights). So out of these three factors we cannot really affect the first one (our heart will continue to beat at its normal rate, our lungs keep working the same every day). Nutrition and exercise are clearly within our realm of affecting, but it's clear that nutrition moves the needle more. Simply put, if you understand what goes into your mouth (really understand it) then you have the power to lose weight.
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| Focus on what you can control and what moves the needle the most! |
So how did I manage the nutrition leg of my calorie deficit? I tracked everything that went into my mouth. When I say "tracked" I mean that every single thing that I ate. A lot of failures come from the fact that people think they know what they are eating but don't really understand the calories (and fat/carbs/protein composition) of what they are eating. It's not just about calories obviously, and this is the subject of many debates, but count calories is not enough. Weight Watchers (TM) is so successful because it combines all the nutritional data you should be following into one number. People find it easier to track just one number, but you can still do the same using a various of other websites (livestrong.com, myfitnesspal.com) that have a huge database of foods and will let you know when you are too high in a certain category. So that's how I did it. Just don't be in the red, and you will lose weight. Otherwise, eat whatever the hell you feel like (but case in point you eat three donuts in the morning you not only overshot your calorie intake but you failed to meet your healthy fat/protein intake and that counts as a failure). When you are eating to lose weight, 90% of your days should be successes.
A typical day for me:
Breakfast:
Protein Shake (30g protein)
Oatmeal/Tsp Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Slice of Turkey Bacon
Snack:
Banana
Handful of nuts
Lunch:
6 slices of turkey
Arnold Selects
Mustard
WW Cheese
Spinach salad (1/2 tsp of non-fat dressing)
Apple
Snack:
Apple w/ Peanut butter
Dinner:
Protein Shake (30g protein)
Salmon or Steak or Chicken (6oz)
Spinach/Broccoli
Quinoa/Black Beans/Onion <---friggin amazing with some cinnamon/cumin on top!
Snack:
1/2 bag of 97% fat free popcorn (guilty pleasure)
So, in summary, focus on what goes into your mouth and keep track of it.
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| Typical dinner. Eat smart, eat often. |
Exercise then comes into play as an excellent way to supplement your weight loss. A know so many people that tell me "I run 10-15 miles a week and the weight does not seem to be coming off." Well buddy, your body reaches a point where the daily activities you are doing become a part of a routine. You are eating the same, and the exercise is doing virtually nothing to actually reduce your weight. So, I added running/biking/swimming/weight lifting and the honest truth is that it simply created a message in my mind that I shouldn't eat as much post workout for "fear" of ruining what i just accomplished. But even though that wasn't the truth, it helped curb my appetite. Now, many of the endurance athletes out there (which I currently am training for a marathon and Half Ironman) will disagree with this. But this isn't for them. Its for the people that want to take that first step and get to a point where they are healthy again. Exercise is not the key, but simply part of the overall equation. Keep that in mind and you will end up enjoying exercise rather than fearing it. Trust me I know that feeling of dreading my daily workout, but you will get to a point where (if you put more emphasis of nutrition than exercise) you will begin to treat it like your release. It really becomes the time of day where you are free of everyone/everything else and its just you and your sweat. Enjoy that struggle as the late Rachael Townsend said. Enjoy it, because that is our gift as humans. To push ourselves farther each day and see progress. I always get confused when I see people that incredibly intelligent but fail to put that same level of intelligence to the only true thing that they can control: their body. I was one of those people...and I know the excuses that come up. Fuck excuses.
Statistics helped me as i mentioned before because I was able to see progress. When I say statistics, it isn't anything complicated. Dailymile.com tracked my workouts and mileage and allowed me to view progress on a week to week basis. Livestrong did the same for my nutrition plan. It is a psychological thing to see your progress each week, but psychology is what got us here in the first place. By ignoring what changes we were going through, we were blind to our health. Take a 180, and start opening your eyes and understanding what the trends show and you will see progress.
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| Visualize your progress. You will be motivated! |
Finally, i will leave with this: Weight loss is not a thing, event, moment. It is a lifestyle change that is as momentous as starting a new job, having a baby, buying a house. It requires you to forever change your habits not just for a "diet" period. DIET by definition is the things you habitually eat....not, just during a certain time period.
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