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.

This weekend will be different. I really do want this. I will prove it to myself. I will be determined. Documenting that fact here is useless, unless I go out and do it. I could give a list of excuses why I fall apart, but that too is useless. I have no excuse.

Self-assessments work well for me because I am good at being brutally honest with myself. I had a tough conversation with myself this morning, but its what I needed. I will re-visit this topic next Monday and I know the tone will be different. I will break the cycle and be proud of myself for doing so.

Our first plan of attack is to not bring crap food into the house. We will not be buying girl scout cookies, cookie dough, butter braids, chocolate bars or any other junk food the neighborhood kids might be selling. It’s gonna be tough turning the kids away without a sale, but it’s something we must do for us.

This lead to writing down other planning activities, all geared at helping us achieve our weight loss goals. This includes weekly meal planning and time management planning for workouts. Will, desire and determination might be enough to succeed at weight loss, but why not give myself an even better chance? Why not prepare and plan? It can only help. Like the old saying goes “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.

We have been doing much better in our planning of meals and activities in the last few weeks and it has made a huge difference. Its nice to wake up in the morning and have a plan already laid out, and not running around like a mad man trying to figure out my day. While it might seem nominal, it has made a tremendous impact on my day-to-day routines.

There have been days where the plan I laid out had to be adjusted. And that’s ok. I don’t want to plan myself to death. My daily plan is a general guideline of what I’m going to eat, when I’m going to workout etc. Life gets in the way and I must adapt. Not adapting is what got me to where I am now.

Try planning your meals and workout time a week out, see if it helps. Plan for the future; don’t buy girl scout cookies!

I AM THE REASON I AM OVERWEIGHT

There is not another soul on the planet that made me overweight. I am to blame. I could continue to blame others, but that will get me nowhere. I did this to myself by not taking care of myself, not eating properly and not working out. I DID IT.

I continued to think about this for a few hours and it felt good to take responsibility for my actions. When I finally convinced myself that I was to blame, I started to think about how to correct past actions. The answer is easy…I have to fix it. There is not another soul, pill or institution on this planet that will lose weight for me. No one. Just me. It feels good to know that my weight loss rests on my own shoulders to achieve. I don’t have to depend on anyone to achieve my goals. Its all on me. I like it that way. I got myself into this mess, I’ll get myself out of this mess.

Once I understood that the blame and the reward belongs to me, its easier to tighten the shoelaces, roll up the sleeves and get to work. Fixing what I’ve broke. Take responsibility for your actions and take the appropriate steps to correct it. All you need is you!

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.

They hung in my closet for the last six months. I tried them on three times and they were as snug as when I first bought them. I have lost several pounds over the last three weeks so I gave them another try this morning. They fit!!! Not only do they fit, they fit great and they look great. I took another big step and wore them to work.

My attitude and outlook on the day was fantastic. I was wearing my goal pants! This is a victory! I’m pumped up, I’m motivated and focused. Today was a great day and well worth a moral celebration.

Ok…party over. Time to set a new short-term weight loss goal. I don’t need a pair of pants this time though. My mindset is different, I have more focus.

When people embark on a weight loss journey, their goal is usually for the long-term. By setting and accomplishing short-term goals, you will reach the finish line.

Be well. Feel Great.

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!

This is exactly what is happening to me. I have lost a nominal amount of weight in the last two weeks (2-3 pounds), but I have lost inches as my belt is not as tight and my once perfect fitting pants are now slightly baggy. To me, this is just as gratifying as seeing pounds drop from the scale screen.

Seeing and feeling that my clothes are fitting better, is an amazing boost to my mental state and motivates me to keep eating right and exercising. This is very important because I read a lot of blog and forums where people are frustrated about not seeing results. The majority of the time, their unit of measurement is the scale and not any other benefits. They might be losing inches, but they ignore that and focusing on just the scale. This can be depressing and lead someone to give up and going back to their habits that got them overweight in the first place.

The benefit of being in a great mental state in regards to losing weight is an amazing phenomena. Not only do I feel great, but I feel like I have a little bit more confidence and esteem that is projecting outwards. Like I mentioned, it also helps in wanting to keep going. A positive attitude is a huge factor in a quest to get healthy.

For all of you trying to lose weight, don’t just look at the scale…pay attention to how your clothes are fitting!

One night, my wife and I were out to dinner with a bunch of friends. One lady made it clear that she was dieting and was not going to order an entree, just a salad. Everyone was impressed. But then dessert time came around and she ordered the double decker chocolate extreme. Most people thought nothing of it cause she saved up her dinner calories for dessert. But the way I saw it is that she really didn’t want to lose weight bad enough. You don’t order a dessert like that if you truly desire to shed pounds.

It comes down to this age old addage: mind over matter. If you don’t mind, then nothing matters. If you don’t mind that you can’t eat a candy bar, than the candy bar really doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is what you mind. So put your mind to being healthy and losing weight and it will be the only thing that matters!

Now I have a confession: I write this post not only to motivate others, but as a reminder to myself. I am 100% guilty of going crazy over the holidays and justifying it to myself one way or another. I wanted to put this down eternally so I can refer to it and let it resonate in my mind.

What are your tips for staying on track?

Feel Great. Be Well.