Since beginning my weight loss quest a little over a year ago, I've since become very passionate about gaining fitness and nutrition knowledge. So here is a condensed list of some of the best tips, facts, and tidbits that I've come across.
1. Strength training (weight lifting) is one of the best exercises you can do because while building muscle, it also keeps your metabolism raised for hours after you finish your workout as well. (When dieting you're going to lose muscle as well as fat, so it's important to maintain or grow you muscle mass.)
2. It takes 3500 calories to make a pound of fat and you burn 50 more calories per day for every pound of muscle gained.
3. Push-ups just might be the best strength training exercise you can do with no extra equipment. (I do 4 sets of 25 along with some ab crunches on days that I don't have time to do a full-blown workout.) A simple jump rope can make for a great cardio workout too.
4. You really can't go wrong with fruits, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, low fat dairy products, and lots of water.
5. Spinach, tomatoes, blueberries, oatmeal, yogurt (if not loaded with sugar and fat), nuts, eggs, and legumes are some of the best foods for you on the planet.
6. Never skip breakfast. It's important to kick-start your metabolism in the morning. Furthermore, studies have shown that people who eat a hearty breakfast with protein and/or whole grains consume fewer calories throughout the course of the day. I ran across this saying once: "Eat like a king at breakfast, a prince at lunch, and a peasant at supper."
7. Eating smaller portions more frequently keeps you metabolism up and can help keep your blood sugar more constant. (Spicy foods can help to stimulate your metabolism too!)
8. Using a smaller plate helps to create the perception of larger food portions.
9. The only two cooking oils you need are olive and canola.
10. Read the labels! Eating products that use whole wheat flour instead of refined white flour, and that have less sugars than similar products are the best bets. It's amazing what these small substitutions can do for you. (By the way, the Eat This, Not That! books are loaded with this kind of information to help guide your choices.)
With proper knowledge and the right mindset losing weight really isn't that difficult, or at least that was the case for me.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Friday, November 07, 2008
Under 200 Pounds!
It has been over a year since I've felt compelled to blog, but I finally have something that I think is worthwhile to say. At the beginning of this year I decided to read a book that a co-worker of mine had talked about. The book was The South Beach Diet, by Arthur Agatston, M.D. I'd been thinking about losing 20-25 pounds for quite some time...I just lacked the real motivation to do it. I knew that when I finally decided to get serious about it, I would be able to do it though. I figured I would have to make some diet changes and exercise more, but really, I didn't think my diet was all that bad to begin with. And because of that, I didn't think my 20-25 pound goal would be easy to accomplish.
However, when I read the book, it really made sense to me. The South Beach Diet isn't just a low-carb diet, but works more because of the glycemic index. The lower the glycemic index value of a food, the less it impacts your insulin level. Once I read the book, and understood the science behind why the diet works, it just seemed to be a safer and healthier option than other diets, such as the Atkins Diet.
Really there are just three main things I concentrated on avoiding on the South Beach Diet.
1. Sugar
2. Potatoes (and other starchy foods)
3. Foods with bleached enriched white flour
These foods were avoided completely for the first two weeks of the diet, which is considered phase one. In phase two, certain foods were allowed that contain sugar, mainly fruit. I had always been a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so instead of a potato with my meal, I'd just double up on the vegetables. Another key part of the South Beach Diet is to eat smaller portions more frequently. This keeps the metabolism and blood sugar at a more constant level. So I always eat a healthy snack between meals. Other little changes that helped me lose weight were:
1. Instead of 2-3 glasses of milk with supper, limit myself to just one.
2. Use a smaller plate to create the illusion of more food.
3. Convince myself it is okay to throw away food the kids don't eat, instead of cleaning their plates for them.
I began the diet at the end of January 2008. By the end of March, I had already accomplished my goal of 20-25 pounds, so I needed to set a new goal. My revised goal was to get below 200 pounds, which is something I don't think I've been able to claim since sometime in middle school. Well I'm happy to announce that after 41 weeks, I have lost a total of 44 pounds and am now at 198 pounds!
Since I'm still kind of a math geek at heart, I tracked my weekly weight loss in a spreadsheet and made some charts to help track my progress. Here are a couple of those charts.
Prior to July, my weight loss was with diet alone, but beginning in July I added more exercise into my routine. Since that time I have been lifting weights three days per week and taking walks every day, if possible. While I may gain muscle mass, and perhaps weight, by lifting, I've also read that for every pound of muscle gained, you burn 50 more calories per day. So at this point, I'm less concerned with my weight and shifting my focus to shedding the little bit of belly fat that I have left. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to achieve the coveted 6-pack abs, but that remains in the back of my mind for something to strive for eventually. I'm basically just trying to make my body a more efficient machine now.
Of course I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish, and my self-esteem has been through the roof for most of this year. However, when I started this adventure, I had several reasons for doing it.
No weight loss story would be complete without before and after pictures, so I close this blog entry with just that. (These aren't necessarily the best pictures, but they are pretty similar photos and you can still see the results in my face at least.)
Before (Sept 2007):
After (Aug 2008):
However, when I read the book, it really made sense to me. The South Beach Diet isn't just a low-carb diet, but works more because of the glycemic index. The lower the glycemic index value of a food, the less it impacts your insulin level. Once I read the book, and understood the science behind why the diet works, it just seemed to be a safer and healthier option than other diets, such as the Atkins Diet.
Really there are just three main things I concentrated on avoiding on the South Beach Diet.
1. Sugar
2. Potatoes (and other starchy foods)
3. Foods with bleached enriched white flour
These foods were avoided completely for the first two weeks of the diet, which is considered phase one. In phase two, certain foods were allowed that contain sugar, mainly fruit. I had always been a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so instead of a potato with my meal, I'd just double up on the vegetables. Another key part of the South Beach Diet is to eat smaller portions more frequently. This keeps the metabolism and blood sugar at a more constant level. So I always eat a healthy snack between meals. Other little changes that helped me lose weight were:
1. Instead of 2-3 glasses of milk with supper, limit myself to just one.
2. Use a smaller plate to create the illusion of more food.
3. Convince myself it is okay to throw away food the kids don't eat, instead of cleaning their plates for them.
I began the diet at the end of January 2008. By the end of March, I had already accomplished my goal of 20-25 pounds, so I needed to set a new goal. My revised goal was to get below 200 pounds, which is something I don't think I've been able to claim since sometime in middle school. Well I'm happy to announce that after 41 weeks, I have lost a total of 44 pounds and am now at 198 pounds!
Since I'm still kind of a math geek at heart, I tracked my weekly weight loss in a spreadsheet and made some charts to help track my progress. Here are a couple of those charts.
Prior to July, my weight loss was with diet alone, but beginning in July I added more exercise into my routine. Since that time I have been lifting weights three days per week and taking walks every day, if possible. While I may gain muscle mass, and perhaps weight, by lifting, I've also read that for every pound of muscle gained, you burn 50 more calories per day. So at this point, I'm less concerned with my weight and shifting my focus to shedding the little bit of belly fat that I have left. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to achieve the coveted 6-pack abs, but that remains in the back of my mind for something to strive for eventually. I'm basically just trying to make my body a more efficient machine now.
Of course I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish, and my self-esteem has been through the roof for most of this year. However, when I started this adventure, I had several reasons for doing it.
- I wanted to set a good example for my kids.
- I didn't want to have the burden of being overweight, and associated potential health risks looming over me anymore.
- I didn't like the way I looked when I saw myself in pictures. This really became more of an issue for me in 2007. My passport and driver's license photos are particularly unflattering.
- I wanted to inspire others. I've always been heavy and I thought I always would be because "that's just who I am." But I've proven to myself that with a few rather simple changes, that doesn't have to be me. If I can do it, so can you.
- I saw that my body/frame had potential, it had just always had some extra fat on it. I want to see what I can transform it into, and that's what I'm working on now by reducing my body fat and increasing my muscle mass.
No weight loss story would be complete without before and after pictures, so I close this blog entry with just that. (These aren't necessarily the best pictures, but they are pretty similar photos and you can still see the results in my face at least.)
Before (Sept 2007):
After (Aug 2008):
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Quick Thoughts 6/26
- Yes, it is still illegal to wear headphones while driving a car. Pass the word because based on my observations, this is happening a lot more often now. (Thanks iPod.)
- Is it really too hot right now to shut your car's engine off while filling up with gasoline? I bet it will be a lot hotter when it explodes.
- Do people really care what Paris Hilton was wearing when she was released from jail? Is that really news? For that matter, is anything she does news-worthy?
- Oh, here's a press release about the project I'm working on.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Quick Thoughts 6/21
- Hopefully I still have a few readers left after my blogging hiatus.
- I realized the other day that being a Cubs fan is like being married to an abusive spouse. You love them, and firmly believe that they will change, so you endure the pain they inflict on you. But when it's all said and done, they just make your life miserable.
- Don't go picking a bouquet of wild parsnip.
- Take a live look at what's going on at Rochesterfest.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Theme Music
Blog inspiration struck me yesterday while attending a Rochester Honkers baseball game. It seems that these days, all baseball players have a song that is played when they come up to bat, or in some cases, closing pitchers have a theme song too. So that got me thinking, what would I use for my theme song when I come up to bat? I have narrowed it down to intros of the following three songs:
- "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC
- "Enter Sandman" by Metallica
- "Stand up and Shout" by Steel Dragon (Theme to the movie Rock Star)
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Cody Christopher Evans
Please welcome the newest member of our family, Cody Christopher Evans. He was born at 12:19 PM on April 3, and weighed in at a hefty 9 lbs 6 oz, with a length of 20.25 inches. Holly did a great job and had a much easier labor than what she experienced with Payton. She was able to give birth without any medication, and from start to finish, labor only lasted about eight hours this time. More pictures can be found here.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Ping
I just downloaded the new BlogJet 2.0 software. Ever since I switched over to the Blogger Beta in October, my old BlogJet software stopped working. I’m not a big fan of the default way of posting via the Blogger website, which is one of many reasons I haven’t posted much lately. So maybe this will jump-start my blogging again.
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