It is September 4th, 2010
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Would you be surprised to find out that you are actually overweight? I was very surprised and then when I wanted to lose weight I discovered a number of questions that I found to be quite common. I lost some weight and then plateaued, how was I to reach my goal? Was my initial resistance to counting calories hurting my weight loss program? What is the single quickest way to lose and keep off the pounds?

One new years eve about five years ago I was bringing in the new year at a friend’s house. He had a National Geographic magazine that featured an article about the average Body Weight Index (BMI) of people who lived in different countries. I had always considered myself as a fairly svelte person and certainly not overweight, however, after reviewing the article I found that my BMI was about 29. To put this discovery in perspective anyone with a BMI of over 25 is considered to be overweight. A BMI of over 30 is considered to be obese. A BMI of under 19 is considered to be underweight. Below is a chart similar to the one in the article. I am just over 6′2″ and at the time weighed about 230 to 235 lbs.

Body mass index

How did this happen I thought. I did not feel particularly overweight but the chart does not lie. I was overweight and by a considerable margin. In fact, I was in danger of being considered in the obese range if I let the weight continue to be put on. What I realized is that over the years all it takes is 2 to 3 lbs a year and in ten years I had put on an additional 20 to 30 lbs. Further calculation indicated that all it took was an average of 20 to 30 calories a day to gain those 2 to 3 lbs a year. To put that into further perspective a small cookie is about 50 calories. So half a small cookie (or a teaspoon and a half of sugar) a day more than I needed over the years had put me in this position.

My goal

As a young adult, in my very early 20’s I weighed 175 lbs. Almost thirty years later I weighed 60 lbs more. That is about a two pound weight gain per year, or less than half a small cookie or about three almonds a day. I was astounded that such a tiny amount of additional food intake would have such an impact over the years. I realized that if I continued to gain weight that I would be considered obese in a couple of years.

After reading the article and it being new years eve I decided to make a resolution to get my weight down to below a BMI of 25. For me that meant I needed to lose over 40 lbs to get to under 195 lbs. My goal was to weigh between 190 to 195 lbs. I gave myself one year.

Weight control is largely a numbers game

As you read through this article you will see a lot of numbers. Weight control involves numbers and if you would like to lose weight you would do well to become familiar with some of them. There are some important numbers that I knew right from the outset. One pound of body weight equals 3,500 calories. In order to lose one pound I would have to lower my food intake by 3,500 calories below my activity level. For a food comparison, one pound of butter is equivalent to 3,500 calories.

There are several other important numbers that will assist you to reach your weight regulation goal.

Cut out the sugary drinks and the salty snack foods

The first thing I did was to analyse my diet. I knew I was eating many foods that were not nutritious and unnecessary to good health. These included sugary pop drinks such as cola and salty foods such as potato chips as well as high calorie snacks like taco chips and buttered popcorn. I was not a big pastry or dessert fan but did indulge from time to time in these as well. Fruit juices were big on my list of foods.

I looked at all these foods and decided that the pop, salty and buttery snacks and fruit juices had to go. I know that fruit juices are on a lot of people’s list as a nutritious food, however, when I read the labels I discovered that there seemed to be much fewer nutrients than I had thought and that although much of the sugar was naturally occurring it was sugar nonetheless. A twelve ounce can of pop or fruit juice had almost identical calorie values at 130 to 150 calories. By simply substituting water for pop and juice I was going to reduce by about at least 500 calories a day.

As I mentioned I was not a big pastry or dessert fan so I did not focus a lot of attention there but did cut out the few things that I did eat.

Increase activity levels

I then decided that I needed to increase my activity level. I joined a gym and started to go 4 to 5 times a week. I went in the early morning, although I was not a particularly early riser at the time I found that I looked forward to the daily workout routine. I would always start out with an aerobic activity such as cycling on a stationary cycle, rowing or walking/running on a treadmill. I then would work out with dumbbells. I would do an upper body workout alternating with a lower body workout on different days. I would do abdominal lifts on a captain’s chair at each workout. I later switched this to bicycle crunches while lying on mat on the floor.

This was my workout regimen at the time.

• 30 minutes of aerobic
• two sets of twelve reps of deltoid lifts, bicep curls, tricep lifts, bench presses and rows. I would often throw in other lifts as well.
• On alternating days I did squats and lunges.
• Abdominals every workout day.

I drank at least a litre of water at each workout and up to three litres of water for the day.

The initial workouts were quite difficult, especially as I was carrying the extra weight but I persisted and the pounds started to melt away. I even started to alternate walking and running on the treadmill. I had not run in years and since a car accident about ten years earlier I did not think I would run again, however, as I lost the weight I found myself once again started to feel the urge to lift my feet and break into a run as I increased the speed of the treadmill.

The weights were a lot of fun. I could feel the change in my body after almost each workout. I built more muscle and it was starting to show. I had move from a 38 waist to a 36 waist, but the best was yet to come.

Target heart rate

I calculated my target heart rate. It was 220 minus age times 80%. In my case it was 135 beats per minute. I would get to my target heart rate as quickly as possible and then hold it there. I invested in a heart rate monitor that would pick up the signal from the treadmill or stationary cycle and I would have instant and constant feedback as to my heart rate. It was a frill that I enjoyed, but I could just as easily have used the hand holds on the treadmill to learn my heart rate. I must say though it was very nice to be hands free while running.

My resting heart rate has always been quite low, however, with the exercise I was finding that I was able to achieve a resting heart rate of 42.

The plateau - know your basal metabolism rate (BMR)

By June of that year I had lost 19 pounds and was at 216 lbs. I was very pleased with the progress that I had made. I weighed myself regularly at the end of each workout and almost each week I could see the difference in the scale and in the changing nature of my body. I had become noticeably thinner and I felt healthier. As the summer progressed, August arrived and I continued to workout and had even modified my eating habits to include healthier food such as yogurt, nuts, and more vegetables, however, it seemed as if I was stuck. I was at 216 pounds for almost three months.

I could not understand it. Why was I not continuing to lose weight. After all I was continuing to workout. I had cut out all the non-nutritious foods and was eating much healthier. I resolved to find out why. I asked the question, was my daily calorie intake too high to lose any more weight? What had always puzzled me from the very beginning was how much should I eat each day. What was the level of intake that I required. I did some research and found the answer.

There is a calculation you can perform that gives you your basal metabolism rate or BMR. Your BMR is the number of calories your body requires to maintain your current rate when completely at rest. In other words, if you did absolutely no activity during a day your BMR would be the number of calories required to prevent weight loss and keep you alive. If you go below your BMR in calorie intake you are actually going into starvation mode. The body thinks it is starving and you will experience a profound desire to eat.

Now non of us are completely inactive. We have varying degrees of activity levels from largely sedentary to world class athlete preparing for the Olympics. Add on anywhere from 20% for largely sedentary to 90% for world class athlete and you get the actual daily calories required to maintain body weight.

The reason this is all so important is that there is a sweet spot for weight loss that is somewhere between your BMR caloric expenditure and your activity level caloric expenditure that optimizes weight loss and reduces hunger.

In my case my BMR was around 2000 calories a day while I estimated my activity level to be at about 1.35 (I had underestimated a bit as I was working our 4-5 days a week. Multiplying 2000 times 1.35 gives my upper calorie range for a day. In this case it is 2700 calories. My sweet spot for weight loss was 2200 to 2400 calories per day.

Count calories

I had resisted counting calories up to this point, I could not be bothered. It seemed such a chore to look things up in the calorie table and measure the food I was eating, but I realized that I was no longer losing weight. I could not increase my activity level any more than I had already done. The only place to look was at my daily food intake.

I did not really want to do this. I wanted the easy gains of the first few months to come back. I did not really want to decrease my food intake and struggle with what I thought would be inevitable hunger pangs, however, I needed to do something if I was to reach my goal of 195 by the end of the year. And so I resolved to do just that and count calories.

Smaller meals and more of them

Now the key is to count calories and keep them somewhere between your BMR and your daily maximum required calorie intake. I did not want to eat less than my BMR of 2000 as I did not want my body to go into starvation mode and I certainly did not want to eat more or the same as my maximum which I had now calculated at 2700 calories. In my case I determined that the sweet spot was about 2200 to 2400 calories. Some days believe it or not, I would actually eat another portion even though I did not feel particularly hungry because I had not consumed enough to reach my BMR.

As I headed down this road of counting calories I found that eating smaller meals more frequently was a tremendous help in keeping me from feeling hungry. I found that too much time between meals often led to “binging” or eating more than required to satisfy that compelling hunger. I started to eat six small meals a day. In my case each meal was 300-450 calories. This might be a couple of hard boiled eggs and two slices of bread (approx 400 calories) or a cup of plain yogurt and 8 or 9 almonds with a quarter cup of raisins (about 350 calories) or an apple and banana (200 calories).

Beside the benefit of reducing hunger and on most days virtually eliminating hunger, I found it much easier to count calories. Calories are easier to count in small amounts and once I knew the value of certain items such as a 2/3 cup of yogurt or a quarter cup of raisins or10 almonds I did not have to keep looking them up. I just kept a mental tally of each meal for the day by adding the new meal to the current total for the day. My motivation kept that total fresh in my mind.

Portion size

I was amazed with how my sense of portion size was completely distorted prior to implementing my strategy of smaller meals. Our affluent society with super size this and super size that has conditioned us to think of a portion as much larger than what is needed to sustain ourselves. I can remember thinking that if a restaurant gave an extra large portion that was good. I am now very careful about restaurant meals as the portions are much larger than are desirable and certainly much too large to do the six meal a day thing.

I found a take out Chinese restaurant where I could buy a reasonably sized plate of stir fried vegetables and often had that for lunch as most other options just presented too large a portion. I often took my own lunch to deal with the issue of portion size. After counting out your calories for a while you will find that you have a much more realistic idea of what a portion size is. For instance I started to use a tea cup as a way of portioning out my yogurt, nuts and raisins rather than a bowl which often tempted me to put too much into it.

The bathroom scale is your best friend - weigh yourself daily

I have heard some people recommend you throw the bathroom scale out the window when losing weight. I believe this advice to be absolutely false. I found I weighed myself several times a day. Weighing myself regularly was one of the most important things I did. It gave me the necessary feedback to monitor and improve my weight loss and weight maintenance habits. For instance I would not have known that I was at a plateau for almost three months if I did not weigh myself regularly. This information gave me the feedback I needed to move to another level.

I found that the most reliable weigh-in was first thing in the morning. I would go to the bathroom and then weigh myself. This is the time I took my baseline weight. I found that during the day my weight fluctuated wildly often being up to seven pounds heavier at night than in the morning, while on some days I was only a couple of pounds heavier. I assume it had to do with how much water I had drunk and the degree of activity I engaged in that day. The morning weight wass always most consistent.

I found that some days I actually went up in weight or for several days I stayed exactly the same, then I would see a big drop one day. No real rhyme or reason at times. I learned not to get too concerned if I seemed to be doing things well and went up a slight bit or stayed the same for several days or even a week. Weight seems to come off in bunches at times.

I found I looked forward to each weigh-in. I would often make it a game to guess how much I would weigh before I stood on the scale. I found I could often guess to within a half pound, being right more often than not. Funnily, this gave me confidence and sensitized me to my body.

The bathroom scale really did become my best friend as it gave me the information to know that I was successful.

Get out the tailor’s measuring tape

How my clothes fit or rather no longer fit was a huge awakening for me as to just how much extra weight I was carrying. I am now down to a 34″ waist, just two inches bigger than my weight in my early twenties. I was at 38″ when I started my weight loss plan and had one pair of pants that was 40 inches so I was continuing to creep up. When I reached my target weight of 195, non of my pants fit anymore. When I put them on it was almost comical as I pulled the waist out and could see the old me and the new me at once. I had to really cinch up my belt to keep my pants up

Instead of buying new pants I decided to have them all taken in. I wanted to eliminate all remnants of my old weight in my closet. By getting them all taken in I was signalling to myself that I was not going back. This was it, I was a new person.

However, the taken in pants did not really look good as they ended up being odd looking due to proportioning issues, so I ended up buying all new ones after all. But at least I had removed them from my closet. There really is no going back.

What a wonderful experience it was to buy new clothing. I thoroughly enjoyed putting on the new pants and seeing how well they fit. it was the new me.

A positive mindset - focus on results

Throughout the year I lost weight I maintained a positive mindset and I focused on my goal. I purposely stated my goal in positive terms. Rather than focus on losing 40 lbs I focused on weighing 195 lbs. I imagined myself at that weight, how I would feel, how I would look. As time went on and I found myself closer and closer to my goal I became even more focused and determined to achieve it.

I reached my goal by the end of October. The period of time between August and December of that year I lost another 20 pounds. By Christmas I was under 190, having lost an additional five pounds.

A healthy life style

I have been able to keep most of the weight off for the last three years. I am now 198 and so have creeped up a bit and will be re-focusing my efforts on getting to what I consider to be a healthy weight now. I had touched 187 at one point and felt the best I may have felt in my life. I am now making that my goal and will let you know how it goes. So as of May 7, 2008 I will focus on being 187. I will do this by October 7, 2008. That is five months.

The discipline of losing and maintaining a healthy weight results in a healthy lifestyle. I will not go back.

Take the long view - time is on your side

It is important to not see losing weight as a one time event, but rather as a long term venture in good living. The only thing you will sacrifice is large portions of salty, sugary foods, everything else is a gain. But as with many good things it does not happen over night, which actually has a silver lining. As you learn to lose and then regulate your weight you will inevitably change how you live. These changes will become part of you and thus much more likely to endure than if the changes accrued over night.

Rest assured that if you make the changes I have outlined above…you will lose weight. It is assured. Time is on your side, you cannot fail if you do as above.

Tips for losing weight

1. Know your goal and put it in terms of what you hope to weigh
2. Cut out sugar and salty foods and beverages
3. Calculate your BMR
4. Count calories
5. Control your portion size
6. Eat smaller meals more often
7. Increase your activity level
8. Know your target heart rate
9. Get to know your bathroom scale and the tailor’s measuring tape
10. Keep a positive mental attitude
11. Remember time is on your side - you will achieve your goal

2 Responses to “Lose weight”

1. FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog posted:
   July 28th, 2008 at 7:25 am

   Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival 60…

   Monday is Blog Carnivals Day. A Blog Carnival is basically a collection of articles or blog posts, all relating to a similar subject, that are gathered together for your viewing pleasure. You can quickly and conveniently see a list of Article Titles a…

2. the quickest way to lose weight posted:
   October 18th, 2008 at 12:15 pm

   the quickest way to lose weight…

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