But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about perception. About how many dieters think that since they fell off the wagon for one day, they need to continue the slide and gain a bunch of weight back. The perception that one bad day ruins your diet and everything you worked for up to that point. “Oh well, since I ruined my diet today, I’ll ruin it for the week and start again on Monday.” I did that song and dance for years and as you can probably guess, that next Monday never really happened and I continued to stuff my face until I finally dedicated myself to losing weight.

As it turns out, one bad eating day means nothing. It means nothing in regards to you gaining weight. Case in point…this past labor day weekend, while I tried to eat right, the moment got the best of me and I ate way more than I should have. All my friends brought a side dish to the BBQ. My wife and I brought a fruit salad and I tried to stick to that, but there was so many good dishes there that I had to sample.I had a great time; it felt good to unwind from weight loss for a day.

The next morning, I was nervous to see what number would appear on the scale. Much to my surprise, I hadn’t gained any weight. I didn’t lose any weight, but I didn’t gain weight. The next day, I ate right and did my exercises and I was back on the weight loss path.

This made me think about many of the popular diets on the market and how they allow (and some even mandate) a cheat day. It all makes sense now. The cheat day doesn’t hurt your weight loss, but it does wonders for the psyche. As I mentioned, it felt good to let loose and not worry about weight loss. I worried the next day. Weirdly enough, the nervousness of the scale helped me regain my momentum and get back on track.

Too many people let one bad eating day slow their progress towards their goal. I am here to tell you that one bad eating day doesn’t hurt your numbers, but it helps your mental state. Next time you think you have ruined it all with one bad day, step on the scale to see the effect and move on. Just know that you can give yourself a day here and there and still be fine. Just don’t have too many consecutive bad days.

Remember, your “One Day”…is today!

After the second week, my feelings went from mortified to concerned. Am I going to be able to do this for the long term? Eating right takes a certain education and understanding. What is the best way to track what I eat? How am I going to fare over the weekend?

After my third week, my feelings went from concerned to encouraged. I am going to try and keep doing this cause I’ve gained a little knowledge about food and my body. I think I understand the best way to track what I eat and understand cause and effect. I learned that if I ate ‘x’, then ‘y’ would happen.

Now, entering my 7th month of weight loss, my feeling is one of enlightened. I AM DOING THIS! This is my life. Tracking calories is quick and easy. Knowing what and when to eat is easy. Preparing food for those times takes minutes. I already know the effects certain foods will have and now I avoid them. Knowing what to avoid, while it took time to learn, is essential and is easy now that I have the knowledge.

Losing weight actually gets easier over time. It gets easier everyday. You learn what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat and when not to eat. You learn what certain foods do to you. You learn what emotions make you want to eat. You learn what and when to avoid foods and situations. You learn other ways to deal with emotions. Equipped with this learning, education and understanding, losing weight gets easier.

It take some time to learn and I fell down quite a few times in my education. But everytime I got back up, took away a lesson and kept going. Its easy to read “its gets easier” and say “yeah right, I want ice cream at 11pm”. But just know, if you can keep on track and learn things along the way, losing weight gets easier.

I told myself that I am making changes to habits that I have taken a lifetime to create. They won’t go away overnight. However, once my new habits take hold, it will be second nature. Just like, not too long ago,  it was second nature for me to pull into a drive through and gorge. New habits take time to develop, but as time goes by, it gets easier!

All of these events are the nemesis of people trying to lose weight. You can be doing so well losing weight, and then you go to a Labor Day BBQ, throw back a few drinks, eat a few burgers and before you know it, you are in a downward spiral and falling back into the bad habits that made you overweight in the first place.

When I read blogs and/or forums and I look for solutions to this seemingly complex problems, I read tricks that people have to avoid this situation. Some people say that you should go to the event, but resist temptation and just eat a salad. Some say that you should eat before you go so that you are full and won’t eat at the event. Some even say to avoid the entire thing and not go.

I went to a BBQ last weekend and I decided to experiment on how I handle the situation. Instead of resisting temptation, I allowed myself to eat a little of everything. This way, I didn’t starve and I didn’t have to resist temptation. I was worried what the scale was going to tell me the next day. Much to my surprise, it didn’t have any effect on my weight loss.

I can’t really stop holidays, weddings, birthdays BBQ etc from happening…I just need to control myself at these events. The old me would have devoured everything in sight and would have went back for a second plundering. I am proud of myself, I was able to control what I ate and, at the same time, I ate until I was full. I didn’t go overboard.

Controlling what I put in my mouth, in hindsight, was actually quite a bit easier than I thought it would be. I basically showed myself that I can go to an event and eat right and be happy.

During this past weekend, a friend asked how I was losing weight. I taught her about Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and how eating less than your BMR results in a caloric deficit which results in weight loss. Then I showed her how she can adjust her consumption to lose weight as fast or as slow as she wants. After she computed her BMR, she said “that’s too few of calories, how am I gonna survive with only eating that much”?

I chuckled at her response. When she asked why I was laughing, I told her that her reaction was the same reaction I had when I computed my BMR. She then asked “How did you do it? How are your surviving on much fewer calories?” I didn’t have an answer ready. I never really thought about it. So I shrugged my shoulders.

Not knowing how I am doing it was bothering me, so I gave it quite a bit of thought. And the answer I came up with? I just am. I don’t know how I did it or how I keep doing it. I just am doing it. And that’s what it takes. The desire and determination to just do it. Day in and day out.

If you want it, you’ll do what it takes.

As I stood there and watched, one guy stood out to me. He was my height and looked to be about the same weight/proportion I was 4-5 months ago. It dawned on me that I was actually looking at myself. If I didn’t make the decision to lose weight and get healthy, I would have been in that line looking for a carrot cake cupcake, without a doubt.

I started to wonder about this guy. Does he have sleep apnea causing him to wear a C-PAP machine when he sleeps? I do. Does he have gout from his unhealthy eating behaviors? I do. Does he hate that he can’t tie his shoes without it being a chore? I do.

I smiled and went on my walk. I was proud of myself. I didn’t fall to temptation. In fact, I wasn’t even tempted to order a cupcake. I know that it probably tastes like heaven, but now I know better. I smiled because that is no longer me. I am a different person that I was 4-5 months ago. I like the new me. I like eating healthy.

I like tying my shoes.

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.

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.

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.

If you take a look at any nutrition label, you will find that most foods and beverages that you consume has Sodium in it. Couple that with the fact that we put table salt on everything, and Sodium intake is through the roof! Lets be honest, do you immediately reach for the table salt when a plate of food is put in front of you without tasting if first? I know I do.

Sodium is naturally present in a lot of food, probably food you eat on a daily basis. Eggs, tomatoes, plant foods (lettuce) and animal foods (pork, beef etc). If you consume any of these on a daily basis, you probably don’t need to consume any via table salt. Too much Sodium can have a very negative impact to your health. Water retention and an increase in blood pressure are two of the immediate impacts.Not to mention the long term damage to kidneys, bladder and liver.

There is a great debate going on. One side says that Sodium is essential to living, while the other side says that there are races of people that would be extinct if that were true. Since I have found no way of escaping eating salt, I just need to keep in under control and not eat too much.

So how much Sodium should you consume on a daily basis? This is were my research breaks down as I couldn’t find a concrete answer. Most of what I read indicates that you should be in the 2,300mg range, however, I think that’s still a little too high. Most of what I found online states a range of 1,000-3,000mg per day. The less you consume, the better!

I have consumed about 1,900 each day over the last few days. It would be much lower if I stayed away from beef jerky.

I did a little research on the effect of weight loss when you drink alcohol. I read a bunch of articles and blogs, but I thought the best summation came from Liz Noelcke in this article.

Her article states alcohol is a determent to weight loss for the following reasons:

• Alcohol is not metabolized the same way as food
• Alcohol is a diuretic
• Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram and offers No nutritional value

Take a look at her article for a full description of how the above list negatively impacts your chances of weight loss.

I know I can lose the weight, but I must not give into temptation. More specifically, if I give into temptation, I need to only have one or two beers and not go overboard. In fact, I think its okay to give into temptation once in a while. Giving up everything you love will make it difficult to stick to your plan. Just be smart and know that you can only have a smaller amount of what you love.

Alcohol is not good when trying to lose weight. Alcohol is not good when trying to lose weight. I just need to keep telling myself that!