How many times have I heard that in the last 16 months? Too many for me to keep track of. My 1st instinct is to say, "it's not a diet it's a lifestyle change" but then I sound like a guy on an infomercial. By the way, I could so do an infomercial. Here's a handy dandy meal plan. Look at me, I lost 80 lbs in 6 mos and I was never hungry! For only 4 easy payments of $39.95 I'll send you the plan. But wait, call now and I'll knock off 1 payment. That's 3 easy payments of $39.95. Call now! Wait, hold on, I can do better, call now and I'll send you this calendar and handy dandy tape measure. That's the meal plan, the calendar and the tape measure for only 3 easy payments of $39.95. You know what, I can do better than that. If you call right now I'll throw in my personal workout plan. That's the meal plan, the calendar, the tape measure and my personal workout plan for 3 easy payments of $39.95. You know what, if you call in the next 10 minutes I'll double your order, just pay extra processing and handling. Ok, I got that out of my system, now back to our regularly scheduled program.
As soon as people around you find out you are trying to lose weight they WILL start to sabotage you, not on purpose, mind you. But it will happen. The 1st thing that they will do is bring in food you probably shouldn't eat, then tell you that you can't have it. But you know what? You can have it. Not alot of it, not every day. Moderation, the key is moderation. Remember, it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle. But is it? Should it be? If I lay out 14 days worth of meals for you, tell you you can rotate them any way you want as long as you only eat the meals i lay out. You pick a breakfast, a lunch and 3 snacks every day. I'll set it up, 1300 calories for men, 1000 calories for women (sorry again) would you lose weight? What if I give you 4 days of workouts? Do them in any order you want, go twice a week and do 2 workouts each time, go 4 days in a row, then take 3 days off. I don't care how you do it, just get in the 4 workouts every week. Will you lose weight? Anybody, Bueller, Bueller. The answer, of course is, YES! The real question is, How long will you stick with it? A week, a month, longer? I'd be lucky to make it a week. Part of the "lifestyle" thing is correct. If you are trying to lose weight/get in better shape there's one thing we know. Your current lifestyle got you to where you are now. In that sense you really do have to make a lifestyle change. Although, I'd like to say I changed my habits. Instead of a Big Mac and fries, now I choose a turkey sandwich and light chips. Instead of 2 bowls of pasta with meat sauce, a cup of mozzarella cheese on top, 2 or 3 slices of cheesy garlic bread, I have grilled chicken, steamed peas or green beans and a salad. Instead of 3 brownies with a pint of ice cream and some caramel sauce, I have 3/4 cup of sugar free light ice cream, or some sugar free pudding. Instead of sitting on the couch, I get in a workout. Now, back to where we started, I've reached my goal weight, when we have Teacher Appreciation Day, or Thanksgiving for that matter, I can have some food that is different from what I normally eat. I still avoid the sugar, I eat much smaller portions. I can tell you that it's much easier to keep the weight off,than to
take the weight off. If you're in the early stages of losing weight, you're doing the hard part, easier days are ahead. Stick with it. Set small goals. It's the 1st week of August, Halloween is 12 weeks away. Set a goal of losing 10 lbs by Halloween. Set goals in your workouts as well. I don't set goals of lifting more weight, I set goals that have to do with cardio, or with reps. For example, if I've been dumbbell benching 100 lbs, 3 sets of 10, my goal may be to get to 3 sets of 12 or 3 sets of 15. Then I might decide to go up in weight. One of my goals for this fall is to run a mile in 7 minutes flat. The best I've done so far is 7:30, so I've got to work on my cardio endurance to reach my goal. What are your goals? If you are trying to lose weight set short term goals, but have a target weight in mind as a long term goal. When you meet a goal, reward yourself, but not with brownies and ice cream. I'd like to leave you with one last nugget of wisdom, but all I've got is "Hooch is crazy" A little something for you Scrubs fans.See you at the gym.