Whats more I would hazarda guess and say that fad diets of any genre do [...]]]> The word “diet” is becoming passe like vampire movies. Everywhere I turn there are diet pills, commercials, books, websites (yes this I guess is one more to a point) and people espousing the latest, greatest diet! I am sick of diets!!!

Whats more I would hazarda guess and say that fad diets of any genre do not work. Now wait a moment – I’m not saying you cannot lose some weight with many of them, I am saying that if you are trying to reverse obesity – diets are not going to do the trick.

Here is what I have found to work. Eat or burn less calories than you take in. Now how you decide to do that is the only trick. You can pay some company the big bucks to “do their plan” or figure it out for yourself. The cool thing is if you figure it out for yourself (hopefully) you will find a compromise (yes – there will be some hard decisions) you can live with!

Now I happen to like eating less and exercising more because this is a good strategy for getting fit. But the devil is in the details. In this post I will go over how my diet is helping my overall fitness level and will not focus too much on exercise (see other posts for that). To start the conversation I found a couple of videos stating that diets do not work for your perusal.

While I agree with most of this video and really like how the focus is not on diets, I will say that one can try and eat healthy, love them self, increase activity levels, lose weight slowly, and still love themselves! I do understand that liking/loving yourself is the first step to making healthy changes.

I also agree that diets do not work. If the focus is short term to loose the love handles to strut your stuff at the beach and then go back to the “normal” way of eating – that is an unhealthy attitude I think (I’m not a health professional).

I think making “lifestyle changes” is the proper approach. This includes moving more and eating less calories than one burns (assuming you need to lose some fat). I don’t think anyone should starve themselves because how can someone eat like that for the rest of their lives? No what I am talking about if changing your food choices from high calorie to lower calorie choices (cumulative over the whole day) that meet your needs. If you need to lose fat, then you would eat less calories than you use reasonably.

What is reasonable? I would guess a pound a week for most people is doable without too much pain after they get used to the idea. Exercise should make this easier too such as walking for 30 to 60 minutes a day. Most people have tons of down time they use up watching a tv show they don’t really like. Why taking the dog out for a walk daily would accomplish exercise for you and your dog!

Here is what I ate yesterday.

• Breakfast
  • egg sandwich with cheese and low-cal margarine
  • glass of orange juice
  • banana
  • orange
  • coffee with half and half & splenda
• Lunch
  • 1/2 torpedo roll with 3oz roast beef, slice of cheese and low-cal mayo
  • diet root beer
  • banana
  • orange
• Dinner
  • turkey burger with slice cheese on full torpedo roll
  • two red potatoes
  • two carrots
  • diet orange soda

The calorie totals are about 650 for breakfast, 450 for lunch, and 600 for dinner or a grand total of 1700 calories. You see I am shooting for 1500 to 1800 calories a day. I was not hungry all day and I did a 45 minute boxing workout on the bag.

The trick is consistency for me. I find if I jump off of the reservation too many times a week – I will have a wash in calories but the way I eat is not really a diet (I don’t count anymore while I am doing it) but rather a way of eating I’ve grown accustomed to doing. We have junk food for my son but I mostly stay away from that.

This doctor makes a good point about seeing a health professional for advice. If the doctor does not feel comfortable making recommendations he or she can refer you to a nutritionist. The main point here is if you find yourself obese, you probably have not been making good food choices so you will have to “adjust” what foods you already like to ones you CAN eat for life!

Another good point is to visit USDA website for approved dietary guidelines so you can see the latest recommendations for healthy eating choices!

So I say Diet Smiet! Go figure out how to transform your diet into YOUR healthy living plan.

The acre back yard in the last house was my exercise track. Three to four days each week [...]]]> I started out in 2008 blogging in part about my progress getting into acceptable shape! I figured this would take about a year to re-teach my body how to accept exercise and get used to eating less food.

The acre back yard in the last house was my exercise track. Three to four days each week I would run the newly worn path for an hour or so. The wife and I started buying leaner meats and substitutes and I started counting calories and fat (so I could keep my diet 20% calories or so).

I used to think I had strong will power because in the 1990′s I was able to lose all of my weight and keep it off for several years by doing a low-fat and walking program. I lost that “will power” after starting up college (while working full time and throwing two adult paper-routes).

Will power? Is that something needed to successfully lose fat and increase endurance? I used to think so and I would continually create short-term plans based on my will power.

I was successful each year through each Spring. I went from 260 to 224 the first year but by January I had gained almost all of it back and weighed 255 pounds!

The next year (2009) I went from 255 down to 229 pounds and thought everything was wonderful!!! I was working out from 14 t0 20 hours a week to keep the pounds in check during the holidays. I ate all of the cookies and pies and still managed to only have a slight gain starting 2010!

The starting weight in 2010 was 233 and I got down to 219 pounds by May! I thought this year was going to be the one that I finally transitioned to a healthy fitness level. But alas – stress and health concerns started rearing its ugly head.

We were trying to buy a house and not agreeing on much so the stress level was high and towards Summer I got real sick. I did not get better until the Fall.

During the sick period I stopped exercising and while I tried to not overeat – I still ate too damn much!

Fast forward to the end of 2010 and I weighed in this morning at 236 pounds – that means I’ve gone nowhere this year – a wash!

The cool thing about being human is we can learn from our mistakes and adjust our approach. In this post I will go over the winners and losers in fat loss ideas (for me) and post my new EASY diet and exercise plan for 2011. Please read on if this interests you.

Lets face it. Most guys and gals unless they have exercised regularly through out their lives – don’t get back into the exercise habit easily. One hears about aerobic exercise as the only exercise worth anything from all of the fitness “experts” but the truth is for most people – they will end up quitting in a month or two. Why? Aerobic exercise is hard and not only can make one sore but mentally it is even harder to make yourself do something that you know is going to be hard. Rationalization is something most people are good at. It is easy to talk yourself out of doing today what you can put off to tomorrow.

Weight lifting is another one of those lofty goals that fitness “experts” say you should do but most people join the gym, many hire the trainer and then they stop going by spring or summer. What was the point? I mean yes you have improved the bottom line for the shareholders of the gym but unless one has mentally prepared for the commitment – why set yourself up for failure?

I almost don’t want to mention the word diet because it has so many negative associations. Anyone embarking on a diet either trusts a friend or advertisement and just tries diets without too much forethought. I mean testimonials and hard-bodies are king! Yes I believe because the model tells me he/she did it on this plan and he/she looks sooooo goooood… I can do it too!

Diets don’t work! At least the way most people interpret them. If you view a diet as eating a new way that you are not prepared to eat for life then the “whatever” diet will fail for you. A better way of looking at a diet/life style change/new menu is to eat how you already eat but make some substitutions you can live with to lessen the calorie count. Thats it – not brain surgery or rocket science.

So to list the losers (at least at first while starting to get into shape):

• Aerobic exercise
• Weight lifting
• Diet

Here are the  winners:

• non-aerobic exercise (like walking at a comfortable pace – not too fast)
• house and yard work (cleaning and mowing)
• eat tasty foods you already like (not everything you eat is over the top)
• substitute ingredients for some foods you like to make them less calories
• figure out you failings (emotional/stress eater, will power, proximity of food, able to portion or not)

Ok – Now that I have got this out – I don’t think most will agree with me about aerobics/weight lifting and diets as being losers! Well let me say that I set myself up for disappointment by having unrealistic expectations. One example is bag work. I love the aerobic workout I get from kick-boxing the bag for 1/2 hour. I’ve tried to talk myself into doing bag work for five days a week but by the time I get to the third day – my middle aged body does not want to respond. I mean I cannot talk myself into doing it. I also usually end up breaking a knuckle or wrist because I like hitting so much (I forget to lessen the power of the punches).

Here is what I’ve evaluated that has worked for me over the past three years and what I am mostly going to do this year (2011):

• Eat 1500 calories on most days
  • my BMR (resting calorie usage) is 2100 calories
  • I eat three meals a day and I am not too hungry so long as I don’t drink caloric beverages too much
• Walk or bike at a comfortable pace for two hours a day
  • I will still do the occasional aerobic workouts – I like them and they help my blood pressure
  • I figure walking I burn 300 calories an hour – thats 600 extra a day
• Get plenty of sleep – try and reduce stress

You can see this does not seem hard. It is easy for me to talk myself into doing my exercise for the day and if I end up mowing the yard – it counts towards my total. I don’t ever clean the house but if you do  - that counts too.

The goal for me is to lose a pound every three days or so with my 1200 calorie deficit (600 diet and 600 exercise) or 3600 calories over three days. 3500 calories burned/dieted equals one pound lost!

So if you like what I’ve said or think I’m nuts – I’d like to point out my karate instructor’s words of wisdom he used to tell me – the proof is in the pudding! Come back on occasion and check the progress link at the top of this blog and see if my “Easy” diet and exercise ideas are working for me.

I wish you and yours a happy and prosperous New Year 2011!

At the time I thought the meatloaf was the normal way to make burgers but when I grew up I [...]]]> When I was a kid, I used to really look forward to hamburger night! My mom would basically mix meatloaf (bread, egg, milk, celery, onion and seasonings with hamburger) to make a couple of patty’s each!

At the time I thought the meatloaf was the normal way to make burgers but when I grew up I learned that real beef made teriffic hamburgers! In high school I learned that a Jumbo Jack with cheese was the perfect balanced meal, you know the four food groups (I’m dating myself).

Today I happened on an article entitled The Worst Burgers in America, that gave me pause. I mean I grew up eating hamburgers and the schools served them for lunches! Is any one food bad or is this just because of these grease oozing examples of Wimpy’s fare of choice – the American Hamburger?

In this post I will try to answer the question are hamburgers any better or worse for you than any other food. Understand that I am looking through the prisim of middle age and answer that I come up with now might not have reflected my thoughts when I was a fit youngster.

When I was 21 I started to get a beer belly so I went on a diet. I only had two 1/2 pound burgers for lunch instead of four! That and cutting down my beer intake to a six pack a day lost the weight!

You see younger people have fast metabolisms and can indulge in bad habits without any apparent lasting effects.

The problem or challenge for me was I got used to eating massive amounts of food and when I hit my late twenties – I’ve had to battle the weight ever since!

Unfortunately I used to think the problem was I did not workout enough. That lead to massive workouts and more massive eating where I saw little weight loss.

Yes it is probable if you have a huge appetite like me – you will struggle maintaining your weight when you are older.

Does it have to be that way? NO!!!

But to transition your ying and yang into peaceful co-existance you will have to make some hard choices.

Here is what I’ve had to do about hamburgers. I don’t eat them any more for the most part. I think I ate one last year at a party when there was not anything else available.

I’ve found that I cannot simply eat one small hamburger and be satisfied so I don’t eat any! I’ve not been to Jack in the Box, McDonalds, or Burger King in years!

Its not that I don’t like hamburgers – I do. I do eat turkey burgers, boca burgers, salmon burgers, chicken breast burgers and any other lower fat cut of meat on a roll but I cannot eat the hamburger.

Why? Because if I were to eat a hamburger (unless I paid the big bucks for the leanest cut) I would eat twice the calories than my other choices.

I have another year to go before I reach my personal goal so I cannot afford the extra calories!

Lets examine the other part of this I implied in the title. Burgers to die for? I mean is any one food so bad that one would worry about ones mortality?

One of the burgers in the article happend to be a local restaurant - T.G.I. Friday’s Jack Daniel Burger. This burger has almost 1600 calories! That is the amount of calories I try to limit myself to in one day on my diet!

So the answer to the burger to die for in my case is Yes!!! I would have to worry that I’d start gaining fat/weight again and ultimately shorten my life span by consuming the “normal” fast food burgers – never mind these extreme burgers.

Having said this I would agree that a burger, including a fast-food burger can certainly be part of an overall healthy diet if one does not over do it.

So now that I’ve tempted your taste buds I’ll leave you with a hamburger that can really kill you. Enjoy!

A couple of areas my diet used to be lacking in was vegetables and fruits. [...]]]> As you might know, part of eating healthy is eating a varied diet. There seem to be six food groups in the food pyramid (adopted by the USDA) as follows:

1. Carbohydrates: 6-11 servings
2. Vegetables: 3-5 servings
3. Fruits: 2-3 servings
4. Dairy: 2-3 servings
5. Protein: 2-3 servings
6. Fat: use sparingly

A couple of areas my diet used to be lacking in was vegetables and fruits. It was not that I had anything against them but I like mostly sandwiches. Most days I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner on a sandwich! If it does not fit on a sandwich – I didn’t eat it.

In this post I will talk about strategies to transition your diet to encompass all of the food groups (unless you are on a fad diet that excludes some of the food groups for some reason – if so I will understand if you ignore my point of view).  First here is a quick video of what prompted me as a kid to like lettuce!

Not my tortoise but after watching Sulcata chomping down that tasty lettuce, don’t you just want to grab a head of lettuce and partake in some delicious, heavenly vegetables?!!

You see when I was a boy living in 29 Palms, California (the Mojave Desert), we caught a tortoise. We did not know what to feed him so we raided the refrigerator and found out that he would eat many veggies but loved lettuce!

Now I know plenty of men that for whatever reason do not like “rabbit food.” I am told (by them) that they would rather eat the rabbit who ate the veggies for their vegetables. I guess the logic kind of follows to a point but the fallacy I can see is the nutrition is not the same. I mean the whole reason for the different food groups is to get a nutritious diet.

Now for me – I am basically a lazy eater. I mean when I throw together a quick sandwich, if it is not close – it won’t make it in the roll. For the past year the wife and I have been adding lettuce and tomatoes into the sandwiches (along with the all important grilled onions)!

The new thing I’m doing is zapping a single serving of mixed vegetables in the microwave most nights so I can get three servings of vegetables.

Do you think getting all of your food groups daily are important? Please let me know how you have surmounted your challenges in you diet and remember – it does not matter the reason for why you like veggies – just that you figure out a way to eat them!