Weight Loss Total Second Week

I started this current weight loss attempt on 14 August, if you slide down the page you can see how things have been going since then.

The second week is over. In my head I hear Chairman Kaga of the Iron Chef declare "Time is up and the week two battle is ooovvver!"

That is what each week is a small battle unto itself. Sometimes you win the battle sometimes you lose the battle. But the war wages on.

This week I definitely won the battle. I didn't succumb to the lure of the dancing Cheez-its as I had done last week and was anxious to see the final tally. So I got up and stepped up to the scale and was amazed by what I saw.

In only one week I had lost 16lbs!

I know it's hard to believe but the scale doesn't lie.

How could this be? Did the law of physics change during the week?

Did the weight loss fairly visit me during the night and magically reduced my weight?

My wife got on the scale and she also lost double digits for the week. I got on the scale again and this time the results were different but still a massive weight loss. Every time I got on the scale the numbers were different. While my scale doesn't look as bad as the one pictured here it operates just like it. Obviously they are both broken.

Payday is coming up and a new scale will be purchased. Hopefully the new scale will show about the same weight as the last when it was working. I filled in 2lbs for a loss on the thermometer because the second week of any attempt when I have been this good easily equates to 2lbs.

Hopefully this week will be a continuance of last week. I am currently on the second to last hole on my belt and I am ready to start using the third hole from the end. Wish me luck.

Journaling To Success

One Weight Loss Tool & Technique From My Bag

Here is an article that talks about what I indicated in last Sunday's post that I was going to do to assist myself in losing weight. Marc indicates that you must know and keep track of what you are eating and its caloric value to move in the direction you wish to go.

I let Weight Watchers count my calories for me. I punch my weight into my Palm Pilot and it tells me each week how many points I am allotted. This week I am allowed 30pts a day plus 35 extra points (for the week) to used as I see fit.

The points system is essentially a way of tracking your caloric intake. How much is a point? Well they have a formula, you enter in fat, fiber and calories and out pops how many points an item is.

I have a calculator also on my Palm Pilot that lets me punch in the figures and determine the point value. The program also has a way to enter your daily food, look up points in a database of thousands of existing items. Plus a database of 90% of the local restaurant menus with all of the point totals.

I only calculate the points one time and the item is remembered for future use. Take a Ham sandwich, 2 slices of high fiber bread toasted, 2 slices of lean ham, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles and mustard equals 4 points. If I use the same ingrediants each time I will just have to enter the starting letters then scroll down and select the previously entered item.

Weight Watchers has this also online for a small fee, it makes tracking your intake easier. You can find out more about Weight Watchers method here.

If You Don't Track Your Diet… You Are Wasting Your Time
By Marc David

Frankly, I'’m puzzled whenever I hear this from somebody who'’s frustrated with their lack of gains:

Me: So what are you eating? How many calories per day and how many do you need?

Them: I don'’t know. I just eat.

Huh?

Yes, it'’s true. People don'’t track their diets, donÂ’t calculate their calories and just guess at what they need. They have no idea where they are going, very little facts on how to get there and yet are frustrated and mad when 6 weeks later they don'’t see the results.

Imagine, for a moment, that'’s it'’s 6-months from today. And youÂ’ve made no progress. Wouldn'’t you be frustrated?! I sure would.

But here'’s the deal, there'’s a real simple method to make sure you don'’t end up like so many people you'’ll hear about. Please donÂ’t be the person who just “eats” or does whatever without a plan. If you arenÂ’t tracking your diet you are wasting your time!

Let me explain…

In order for your body to change, you must do something different. Let'’s suppose that you want to burn as much fat as possible. What'’s the first thing you should do now that you have a long-term goal in mind?

Here'’s a h-i-n-t!

Make a plan!

A quick plan for losing fat:

1. Determine how many calories a day you need based on your situation

2. Track your daily food intake (yes you should count calories)

Bodybuilding manuals go into great detail about how to calculate your caloric intake, giving formulas and such.

Anyway, a typical conversation might go like this:

"Excuse me? My wife made spaghetti bolognaise yesterday, I can't be asked to weigh my meals in order to count the calories, can I? (What would she think about me (not to mention what I would think about myself ;-) ?)

I tried to go to fitday.com and calculate the calories, but it totally eluded me how many grams they were and looking for pasta and meat in different categories is a hassle anyway, so the site was no use for me with that.

Good heavens, there must be a way to go without the calorie counting, mustn't it?"

Despite what you may have heard…

Tracking your diet (counting calories) is important and I'll tell you why and how you can get around the whole calorie counting ordeal.

You see, in order to lose fat or gain muscle you need to know what you are eating in order to do such.

Let's say you need 3000 calories a day to maintain your current weight at your current activity levels.

Now you decide you want to lose fat.

Training more and more, more cardio, longer sessions will just tire you out. You can bump up the cardio and do certain fat loss tips and techniques but overall keep in mind:

Where do I burn the fat:

80% of fat loss comes from diet and 20% from cardio.

As you can see, the area you want to manipulate is the diet.

Back to the example.

You decide to lose the fat. You know you need 3000 a day to maintain. You do some calorie calculations and find that you want to be aggressive and cut your calories by 20%. It's aggressive but it's just enough to get fast results without making your body go into a 'starvation mode' and hold onto everything it's got.

Except you don't want to count calories.

That's sort of like saying...

I want to start in New York and get to California but I don't want a map or directions. I just want to drive West.

It just won't work. You might zig zag here and there. Maybe one week you'll eat less and lose a pound. The next on vacation you'll overdo it and gain 5 pounds. Who knows. You won't.

But do you have to count each calorie? And especially when you look at homemade items that have some many ingredients? What do you do?

While this isn't the most accurate method, I just basically get a good estimate by looking up the general food item, quantity I consumed and input that.

Over time, because I eat a lot of the same things for breakfast, I already know the calories and I don't need to track it anymore. I know via portions that a bowl of oats is such and such calories and how it adds into my total daily allowance.

I personally do not weight each piece of food. I will go to lunch, look at what I'm eating and know generally what portions of what I ate.

At the end of the day, I know roughly that I'm 20% below my maintenance for fat loss and 20% above for weight gain.

The problem that most people have is exactly what you describe.

They DO NOT want to track what they eat.

The bottom line is, if you don't know where you are, and where you are going, you really don't know how you'll get there and it's no wonder so many people are frustrated.

Look, you don't have to track every single piece of food you put into your mouth. And I know that when there's a home cooked meal, you aren't likely to know what's in it. But you can and should generally get an idea.

Eventually you can track your portions if you tend to eat a lot of the same things every day.

If you don'’t track your diet, you are wasting your time.

Marc David is an innovative fitness enthusiast and the creator of the "The Beginner’s Guide to Fitness And Bodybuilding" method. He can show you how to reduce your body fat thru diet, how to gain weight or create more muscle thru an abundance of workout tips by training LESS! Not more. He dispels many "bodybuilding myths", tells you what most people never realize about nutrition, and what the drug companies DON'’T WANT YOU to know. Go here to find out more about The Beginner'’s Guide to Fitness And Bodybuilding.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Eat Junk Food and Lose Weight!

What's Your Cheat Meal?

I found the below article on the net and it is used here with the author's permission.

The title says it all "The Miracle of a Cheat Meal."

I guess there is a greater good that can come from allowing yourself one cheat meal a week. It is part of Weight Watchers (WW) current plan.... ....sort of.

With WW you are allowed X amount of points (points are calculated based on calories, fat & fiber) a day plus a large amount of at-large points that you can use any time during the week. Each week you start off fresh.

Just to give you an idea, based on my current weight I am allowed 30 points of food a day, plus I have 35 points in the bank to be used during the week any way I want. This can easily fund a cheat meal once a week.

The truth is that you can eat anything in moderation and this concept of at-large points or a "cheat meal" is a way of moderating your junk food intake. As Martha says, "It's a good thing".

So what is your cheat meal?

Mine is a veggie pizza, unfortunately funds are short, maybe after payday. Computer tip of the day: Drool and keyboards don't mix.

The Miracle of a Cheat Meal
By Gerald Gore

One of the greatest tricks that I use to stick to my diet is to allow myself a cheat meal once a week. For that one glorious meal I can have whatever my heart desires. I can eat pizza, cake, and ice cream, anything I want for that one meal. I believe that anyone who plans to diet for long periods of time should follow this principle. There are several reasons why I feel cheat meals are the key to dieting success.

First of all, we are all human. No matter who you are, you are going to have cravings for foods that you are not suppose to eat. The longer and stricter the diet, the more temptations you will have. It is human nature to want something that we are not aloud to have. Dieting is no exception to this.

The cheat meal approach to dieting allows us to break down and control our temptations. If we are craving pizza on Wednesday and our cheat meal is on Sunday, we know that within four days we will be able to satisfy our craving. We tackle our temptations with the approach that we can hold off the additional four days before we eat what we have been craving four. Under the traditional diet programs, we would not be aloud to cheat at all. From my experience with dieting over the years, the temptations for foods we want do not go away. In my case they become stronger over time. Having a cheat meal once a week allows me to stick to my diet by controlling the beastly temptations before me.

Another advantage to a cheat meal is that it is an award for us. Dieting is not an easy task and we should never expect people who are changing their eating habits to all of a sudden loose the desire to eat unhealthy food again. Dieting is a goal that should be rewarded not only physically, by the way your appearance will change, or mentally, the increase in self-esteem, but also should be a reward for the taste buds as well. Each week should be like a little goal to try and make it to the next cheat meal without breaking your diet. If you succeed, you eat whatever you want without any feelings of guilt whatsoever. You earned the right to that sixteen-ounce bowl of ice cream and you should not be ashamed to eat it either.

There is another benefit to the cheat meal approach in dieting. After time, you body will adjust to the current caloric intake that you are on. If you eat the same thing everyday, or the same amount of fats, proteins, etc., your bodies metabolism will eventually slow down to adjust to the current caloric intake levels. Cheat meals along with some other changes I make to my diet in the week allow me to shock my system. I keep my body guessing throughout the dieting process. I constantly adjust my carbohydrate, protein, and fat levels to keep my metabolism from slowing down. The cheat meal, if done once a week, is another way to effectively shock your body into maintaining a high metabolism.

In conclusion, if a cheat meal is to work effectively it has to be done once a week not once a day. The main objective of the cheat meal is to allow an individual a process or tool to use to defeat temptations that may arise during a diet. The second advantage to a cheat meal is that it is a weekly reward for all the hard work you put into your diet. The final advantage is the cheat meal is another way to shock your body. You keep your body guessing as to what your daily caloric intake is, therefore allowing yourself to maintain a higher metabolism.


Gerald Gore is the owner of the online fitness review site One4Fitness. For more health and fitness related tips and reviews on workout equipment visit GeraldÂ’s site at http://www.one4fitness.com. One4Fitness also offers a FREE Health and Fitness newsletter, subscribe here.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/