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24 June 2010

Day 14 of my diet

It is time to reflect on my experiences during the last two weeks since my diet began.

When I was about 19 years old I had the dubious experience of being weighed by a freight scale. For those of you who may be familiar with Ketchikan Alaska this particular freight scale was the one at Taquan Airline's float plane dock where my friend Matt used to be an employee. They used it to weigh tourists' luggage so they would know how to balance the plane so it wouldn't flip over in flight. I had stopped by after work to visit Matt and saw the scale so I decided to step on it.

"238 pounds!" I exclaimed, "That can't be right!"

"Oh, sometimes that scale has problems weighing loads under 400lbs so it probably isn't accurate for you." he said.

Turns out Matt was right. That afternoon I went down to the drug store and purchased a bathroom scale. Yes the freight scale was inaccurate, unfortunately the bathroom scale wasn't. I was in fact 245lbs...a fact verified by putting my 25 lb dumbbells on it. That day was my very first weight related rude awakening. Sadly my response to this wasn't too constructive.

Up until that point my diet had largely consisted of: McDonald's, frozen pizza, Subway sandwiches (not the "Under 500 calorie" kind), and dinner with friends at whatever greasy spoon local restaurant was popular that week. My very first diet was a predictable response to this kind of eating:

Low-fat, low-cal, low-sugar, low-taste, munching on plain lettuce all day long. A diet where red meat and cheese were verboten and "whole grains" were promoted with gusto. Not surprisingly I was miserable and that diet failed miserably.

It was about that time that I heard about a new diet trend taking hold: The Atkins Diet. I tried Atkins and enjoyed a great deal of success with it. I found that the Atkins diet made me feel fuller and it was easier to stick to the prescribed meal plan. There were of course some things with Atkins that made me think twice about continuing that diet as a "lifestyle".

Atkin's premise was that Carbohydrates were the actual enemy that made you fat. That reasoning didn't hold up in my opinion because if that were true vegetarians would actually be the fattest people on earth. Another telling flaw of the Atkins diet was that there was no emphasis on counting calories. In fact I was told that "Calories didn't matter" because the dogma at the time was "carbs make you fat" and as long as you're not eating carbs there's no reason to count calories. To be sure carbohydrates like bread and starchy foods like french fries, rice, and pasta have a lot of calories. But so does 16 ounces of steak smothered in onions, mushrooms, and jack cheese even though that probably has less than 4 grams of carbohydrates.

One day when I was still on the Atkins diet I had a hunch, so I found the nutritional value tables for the foods I was eating on Atkins; my mom happened to have a food scale which I borrowed and I kept track of the calories I was eating. The results of that experiment were revealing to say the least. I had discovered that the caloric value of the foods I was eating on Atkins was less than the 2,500 recommended daily value. Atkins "works" for exactly the same reason every other diet "works". You burn more calories on these diets than you take in. And that's all there is to it.

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23 June 2010

Weigh-in: 235.0 lb

lost so far: 10.0 lb

still to go: 35.0 lb

Diet followed reasonably well

add comment losing 5.0 lb a week

20 June 2010

On the importance of a "Cheat Day"...

Yesterday Ben and I went out for dinner at Chili's. I was tempted to try a 100 calorie margarita but I opted instead for Coca-Cola Zero. Ben thinks Coke zero is repulsive but I find it fairly comparable to regular Coke. I don't care for diet Coke which is sweetened with aspartame. No matter how cold it is it tastes like warm coke that has been watered down. But I digress. What did I have for dinner? Surely I picked one of their "under 750 calories" dinners? Nope. I had the 1140 calorie Classic Bacon Burger and fries.

I discovered a while back that I'm more apt to stick to my diet during the week if I have what I call the "Cheat Day". Since I'm in a steady relationship now with Ben (4 years) "Cheat day" has somewhat morphed into "Date Night". The premise behind cheat day is that after a week of discipline you reward yourself with a night of debauchery.

Cheat day really helps break up the monotony of the week and serves as a time to reflect on your accomplishments during the week, and, reward yourself with a little treat. Of course it doesn't mean you eat five cheesecakes in one sitting but going out for dinner and drinks is not out of the question.

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19 June 2010

I was talking with my boss this morning about a friend of his who had been having some health problems. He mentioned that he had been doing the "Fit for Life" diet for over a year and had lost 55lbs. Conveniently the weight loss also helped alleviate some of the pain he was having from his back and from his sciatica. I don't know much about this diet except that it has some kooky rules about not eating protein and carbs together. Apparently this "cancels" out the nutritional value of both foods (I don't understand how that is possible but whatever). There are some points of the diet I do agree with however.

Namely: Eating fresh fruits and uncooked vegetables whenever possible (I enjoy munching on carrot sticks and raw broccoli as a snack) AND: Portion control.

I have always maintained that the problem Americans have with their weight isn't because of what we eat per se, but because we eat so much of it.

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16 June 2010

It is approximately one week from the time I started my diet so it is time for my weekly weigh-in. This event turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me. I had "lost" 5 lbs overall. I know not to get too excited at this point. When I have dieted in the past I've discovered there is an initial spike in weight-loss that first couple weeks. After that there is a more even progression.

I mainly attribute my success this week to ending my 6-pack of beer a day habit. Also I have been cooking more meals at home and I've been trying to incorporate more fresh vegetables, fewer high-carb food items, and foods that are higher in lean protein. This is the diet that has worked well for me in the past.

There was a time when I weighed less than 190lbs. I accomplished that by using a similar diet. That was in 2006 so it has taken me roughly 4 years to put on 55lbs. I was ALSO in my late 20's then. I'm now approaching my mid 30's. In order to preempt liver/heart disease in my 50's its time to make a change. And this first week is an important step.

Weigh-in: 240.0 lb

lost so far: 5.0 lb

still to go: 40.0 lb

Diet followed reasonably well

add comment losing 5.8 lb a week

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