Extreme Workout

a lifelong quest for fitness & health

Losing weight isn’t just about losing weight. The mental and emotional aspects are just as, if not more, important than the physical nature of weight loss. At every turn in my journey, I have learned something about health and nutrition, but I also learn new things about myself.

Understanding how I function, and applying it to life has proven to be very valuable. Each day, I learn how my body reacts to different foods. This is a very important observation. If you can pay close enough attention to cause and effect, you will be equipped to make better food choices.

I’m starting to get a pretty good grasp on nutritional value in foods. To me, having a firm understanding of this is like getting a weight loss diploma. With nutritional knowledge, all weight loss goals can be accomplished. I learn something new everyday about calorie density, sodium intake, grams of fat and so on.

This knowledge has lead to great food buying choices at the grocery store. Now that we make good decisions at the store, we no longer have crap food in our home. This is another point of education for me. I’ve learned that having good foods at home, its much easier to healthy. Its very easy to grab crap food if crap food is close by and is easy to eat.

One of the greatest things I have learned about myself is that of fighting temptation. I am tempted day in and day out. The thought of going to the gas station and getting a Snickers is always present. I’ve learned that if I fight that temptation until its gone, I can then tell myself “see, you are ok without it” and my day goes on. After a few of those episodes, the temptation for that particular item diminishes over time.

The more I learn about myself, the greater my chances for weight loss success. As I write this, I am down 14 pounds in 1 month 6 days.

If you have ever tried to lose weight, you know how hard it is to keep on the right track during the weekend. BBQ’s, parties, golf outings all make it very difficult to stay on track.I am no different. I fell of the wagon a little bit this weekend. The wheels didn’t completely come off, but I strayed from my path. I had less focus, and I’m not proud of it.

Why is it so easy to eat right, workout and be motivated during the week and then lose all progress during the weekend? I’ve realized that to be truly successful, I need to change from this being a diet, to being a lifestyle change. I need to tell my friends “no” when they ask to go to the bar. I need to limit my beer intake when I play golf. I need to ask for a side a fruit instead of french fries at the restaurant. It comes down to desire and will power.

I reflected on my weekend and I was a little angry with myself. Why did I let temptation get the best of me? I have no answer to this. Something good has come from me being angry at myself. I now know that I want it. I want it bad. If I wasn’t angry at myself for a bad weekend, I wouldn’t feel like it was important to me. Since my feelings are so strong about a bad weekend, I confirmed to myself that losing weight and being healthy is important to me. Its worth putting up a fight.

Will power.
Determination.
Focus.

Those words are so easy to write down; so hard to apply. But I want this. I must do this. I will do this.

Be well. Feel great.

There are thousands of methods to dieting. Just ask anyone you know and they will tell you their favorite way of dieting. Better yet, go to your local book store and look at the number of diet books on the shelf. They funny thing is, they all pretty much boil down to one fundamental principle: YOU MUST BURN MORE CALORIES THAN YOU CONSUME. Read that again. The only tried and true method to losing weight is to burn more calories than you consume. It’s a simple principle. Burn 3,500 more calories than you consume and you’ve lost a pound. To me, keeping caloric intake levels in check is the appropriate way to lose weight.

I’ve been using an app on my iPhone called LoseIt! to track my calories for almost a month now. I started on Juse 23, 2010 and have lost about 8 pounds since then. I speak to quite a few people who don’t understand how I can track calories for everything I eat. They also have a perception that people who count calories are hungry all the time.

In the short time that I’ve been counting every calorie, I have learned a few things:

1. Counting calories is easy. Easier than people think. There are numerous apps and websites that help. Almost everything has a nutrition label that you can gather information from.
2. Average portion sizes are HUGE. When you count calories, you understand that the size of a portion at a restaurant is enormous. I really don’t need to be eating that much.
3. Measuring food is a tedious, but very important and beneficial.
4. Eating three square meals while counting calories will result in you not sticking with it. Its way too easy to eat a lot of calories at once when you eat only three times a day. I eat a decent size breakfast, a decent size lunch and a decent size dinner. The key is to eat smart and healthy snacks throughout the day. Fruit, nuts and snack bars are my favorites.
5. When you count calories, you are actually getting nutritional education. You start to learn what is good for you and what is bad. Over time, you read less and less labels cause you know how many calories are in it. You know how big of a portion you can have.
6. MOST IMPORTANT THING I HAVE LEARNED FROM COUNTING CALORIES: it works. Plain and simple.

Counting calories is tedious, but its worth the effort. If you are serious about losing weight, take a look at what you are eating and document it. You will see patterns of self destruction which you can take actions to correct. Many of the opponents of calorie counting say that if your diet is calorie counting, you will have to do it all your life. This just isn’t so. I mentioned that learn along the way. At some point, you become an expert and you don’t have write everything down.

The most important thing is to find what works for you and stick with it. Counting calories works for me.

Be well. Feel great.