Epiphany in Baltimore

2002-10-12

Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com

The following is a bunch of random sort of tips for losing weight that I compiled from personal experience over the last two years or so while losing 100 or so pounds. I get a lot of e-mails about this topic, so I figured I'd put this up. This is what worked for me, so it's all my personal opinion for the most part. That's the disclaimer. I'm trying to be helpful with this. Many of the things are things I wish people had told me. In fact, I wish someone had grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me, shouting, "Don't you know what you're doing to yourself?", but I finally was able to shout that to myself. My health tips are below. Oh, and you should definitely read Hugasoul's similar entry about this topic. She's also lost a ton of weight.

1. Not to be all Nike about it, but� just do it. That�s what worked for me. One day, on a total whim, I joined a gym. Bought a full year membership. Knowing I had paid for it made me use it. It took me over a month to work up the courage to go to the gym once it had opened. Then, it took me almost six months to extend myself beyond just sitting on the exercise bikes peddling away. I moved up to the treadmill, then to the eliptical machine. Finally to the weights. I did it all in stages, but I never would have done it if I hadn�t made the spontaneous decision that one day.

2. Eat breakfast. That�s one of the most important things I did. I never used to eat it back when I was fat, and starting to eat it was one of the best things I did. Eating breakfast starts your metabolism for the day going and makes you eat less throughout the day and throughout the night. Seriously, it does. Most people find that they�re hungrier after they eat breakfast. This is common � it�s because your metabolism is higher!

3. Eat often. You should never let yourself go five or six hours between meals. Your body begins to try to conserve its resources and your metabolism lowers. Eat small portions six times a day. Meal, snack, meal, snack, meal, snack. Don�t starve yourself.

4. I began concentrating on making all my calories count. It�s all about empty calories. Drinking pop is totally empty calories. You�re getting nothing for it. Ditto candy and most other junk food. Make your calories count. If you�re going to eat something high calorie � which is okay � make sure you�re getting something for your calories. A pear is fairly high in calories, but you�re also getting a buttload of fiber and some vitamin C there. Nuts are high in calories and fat, but it�s the good kind of fat and you�re getting fiber, iron, and protein.

5. Drink as much water as possible, and eliminate other beverages if possible. Juice is highly overrated in terms of health. You�re much better off going with the actual fruit; they eliminate a lot of the good stuff from fruit when they make it into juice (and usually they add sugar). I never drink juice. Regular pop should not be part of the diet of anyone who is overweight. It�s got a ridiculous amount of calories and no nutritional value. Diet pop is fine (in fact, sometimes I feel like the carbonation in it helps to fill up my stomach). The problem with these beverages � juice, pop, coffee with sweets in it � is that people drink it and take in all the calories, but then don�t adjust their food consumption because they subconsciously figure that it�s just a drink so it�s not real food.

6. Drink lots and lots of water. Always have water with you, wherever you go. It fills you up, and you burn calories running to and from the bathroom. This is sort of tough when you�re a teacher, though.

7. I think most fat free foods are dumb. If you�re going to splurge and eat something sweet, do it right. Otherwise, you won�t feel satisfied. It�s a lot better to eat two Oreos than it is to eat twelve Snackwells. There is a time for fat free stuff � maybe you�re going to a party and everyone else is going to be having Doritos, so you bring along the Wow! Doritos � but for the most part they�re just a bunch of empty calories and don�t really satisfy the craving you had. It�s okay to have cravings and even to act upon them, just make sure you limit yourself and work out just a little bit harder the next day.

8. Beer is one of the ultimate empty calorie foods. When I know I�m going to be drinking, I skip a meal so I can fit in the extra calories. (This is a joke. Sort of. Seriously, beer is not good for someone trying to lose weight, so when I drink, I just make sure I have lots of fun. I rarely do the �have a beer or two� with dinner type of thing. Usually, when I drink � and it�s usually once a month or so � I get a bit sauced.) Also, don't forget about Michelob Ultra Light. It's real good, and has only 90 calories and 2 carbs per. (The fact that that is a good number for beer should alert you to the fact just how bad the regular stuff is for you in terms of carbs/cals)

9. Learn the difference between good fat and bad fat. Good fat is the type in nuts, avocados, peanut butter, almond butter, etc. Bad fat is the type in meat, cake, etc. I don�t have the scientific background to explain the difference, but you can look it up. The good fat is important, because it gets you full. One thing I�ve been doing lately is having a handful of roasted almonds about twenty minutes before I eat dinner. It helps me get full quicker and prevents overeating, and gives me some protein. Good fat is important stuff.

10. Foods you can have in high volume and that take up a lot of room in your stomach are your friends. This is mainly vegetable type foods. A typical dinner for me might be a whole bag of broccoli and something else for some protein. Something like broccoli, you can pretty much eat however much you want and be fine. Other vegetables like carrots, sugar snap peas (my new favorite veggie), cucumbers, etc, are also like this. You can have almost limitless amounts, and they�re good for you. If you�re the type who, like me, sometimes find yourself in the mood to be eating or doing something with your hands, find some of these foods that you like.

11. Limit your healthy snacks. Foods like pretzels and dried fruits are fairly healthy and are part of my diet. I just make sure that I limit my consumption. Don�t eat the whole bag. Pour some into a bowl before you eat them so you know how much you�re having. It�s easy to make a healthy snack like this unhealthy by overeating.

12. Work out in the mornings. This is what worked for me. I was never, ever a morning person before this, so I don�t buy the excuse, �I just can�t.� I hated it for a while, too. But then I got to love it. The problem with me was that whenever I said I would work out in the afternoon, I was just too tired/busy/overwhelmed/whatever to do it. I�d skip far too many workouts. It was extremely, extremely helpful for me to get into a morning routine. Having a good morning workout starts your day off on the right foot and makes you feel like you can take on the world even before your actual day starts.

13. I recommend mixing up cardio and weights. Do it on alternate days, if you want. Weight training is important for anyone, because it continues to burn calories for three hours after you�ve completed (compared to cardio, which burns for just under and hour after you�re done). Cardio is also important, because it decreases your heart rate and burns calories at a very accelerated pace while you�re doing it. Mix them up.

14. It doesn�t matter what kind of cardio you do, as long as you�re enjoying it. Running on a treadmill (inclined up) is the best form of cardio, but eliptical is probably the funnest (at least for me). I also love to read while I�m doing non-treadmill cardio; it definitely helps pass the time and gives me something to look forward to. If you can�t reel and peddle at the same time, books on tape work great.

15. The most important part of your workout routine is that you make it your own, and that you make it enjoyable. It�s got to be something that you like doing. It eventually gets addicting, and it�s a great feeling.

16. Find out things that motivate you. For me, it was the fact that I realized that I was on a path to a heart attack death at the age of 40. Not fun. Did you know that for every pound that you�re overweight over your ideal weight, it�s an average of 34 days off your life? Isn�t that ridiculous? That was a motivator for me.

17. A great motivator is buying new clothes once you start losing. Buy them for slightly smaller than what you are, so you�ve got something to work towards. Bring your old fat clothes to goodwill.

18. Subscribe to a health magazine and start learning as much as you can. I recommend Men�s Health, and I�m sure there are some good ones for women.

19. Set goals, but don�t make them weight based. Make them health based. Are you feeling better? That�s the most important thing. The weight will come off as long as you�re getting the exercise and increasing your overall health.

20. Do situps while watching TV.

21. Run at dusk with your dog.

22. Great foods are fat free cheese (because sometimes you just gotta have cheese... I can't tell the difference between this stuff shredded and the real stuff), spray butter, Splenda/Equal (I go through a box of Splenda every two weeks; I eat it on my cereal), kiwi (eat the skins... tons of fiber), almonds, peanut butter (one of the healthiest foods on the planet. don't get the reduced fat stuff, because they just cover up the lack of fat with more sugar/calories. I usually get the "no sugar added" kind they usually have in the diet aisle. It tastes pretty much the same), cottage cheese (skim or lowfat), milk (skim or .5%), celery (they make your teeth tingle and give you tons of fiber), and bananas (I read an article once about how they fool your body into being full, and it's true). Use olive oil, not corn or canola oil.

23. Be an aware eater. Know what you're eating and what worth it has to you.

24. Take a multivitamin, and take it with food. You've got to be some sort of scientist to get everything you need every day without one. Everyone should take one.

25. If your pee has color to it, you're not drinking enough water.

26. Don't weigh yourself too often. Concentrate on your mental and physical health and how you're feeling. Weighing yourself every other day or something ridiculous like that won't give you accurate feedback on your health, because it'll be mostly water retention fluctuations.

27. Foods high in fiber make you full. Ditto foods with good fat. Try these for appetite reduction.

28. Personalize your weight loss plan. Make it your own.

29. DO NOT CALL IT A DIET. This is so important. It's not a diet; it's a lifestyle. If you think of it as a diet, it's a temporary thing. Only start something if you can maintain it for the rest of your life.

30. This seems obvious to me, but eliminate all fast food except for the occasional sub from Subway or Blimpie's. Pizza also is pretty terrible for you in all sorts of ways. Also, remember that restaurants tend to put a bunch of fatty stuff in their foods to make it as good as possible. This is not to say don't go to restaurants, but be aware that a lot of restaurant fare isn't the healthiest in the world. And they tend to give huge portions.

31. Eat slow. It takes 20 minutes for your body to tell itself you're full.

32. These are a lot of specific things that I did. The most important thing is you do something that works for you. If this is Weight Watcher's or LA Weight Loss or Richard Simmons or running around the block in the evening or playing sports or whatever, it's alright as long as you're doing it. Find what you like, and do it every day in a consistent manner. That's key.