My New Weight Loss Plan

Ok so now it’s time to post my new weight loss plan.  I didn’t post it when I first started over because I was still working on it.  I wanted to have the first week to try it out and see if it needed any tweaks.  This plan is a little bit different than my last one, and some of you may be surprised at some of the items on my list.

The Usual Stuff – If you ran a search on Google for “Weight Loss Plans” most of the sites you would end up at would have some variant of these first 8 items on my list:

1. Exercise every day – No big shock on this one, you need to exercise to lose weight.  My plan is to get at least 30 minutes of exercise every single day.  It can be any type of exercise (cardio, strength, walking) as long as I am doing it specifically to get my daily exercise
2. Track calories and stay below my target – I debated this one quite a bit.  I hate keeping track of my calories, but the truth is I do much better when I’m recording what I eat.  My starting target is less than 2500 calories each day.  That might seem high to some people, but over the years I’ve learned that I don’t have to starve myself to lose weight.  I also have learned that if you try to restrict your calories AND increase your activity all at once, you can very quickly get overwhelmed.
3. Eat 5-6 Meals each day – It has become conventional wisdom that you are better off eating lots of smaller meals rather than just a few large meals.  It helps to keep your metabolism going and you are less likely to binge if you are getting something to eat every 3-4 hours.
4. Have some protein at every meal – Protein stays with you a lot longer than carbs and fat, plus it helps to rebuild muscle when you are strength training.
5. Limit processed and pre-packaged foods to once per day – Pre-packaged foods are full of stuff you really don’t need.  Though I’m not swearing off pre-packaged foods entirely, I am going to limit them.
6. Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day – Besides being great for you, you can also eat a lot of fruits and vegetables for very little calories.
7. Set both Long and Short Term Goals – I’ll be posting my goals here in the days to come, but rest assured there will be long term and short term goals.  The short term goals will support the long term plan and all the goals will be SMART goals.
8. Regular Weigh-ins but not too often – I’ll be weighing myself every 10 days.  It’s plenty of time to at least see some sort of progress and not so long that I become obsessed and start sneaking peaks in between dates.

The Not-So-Usual Stuff – These next 10 items are more tailored to me and my personal style:

1. Establish a clear morning routine – This one might seem a little weird for a weight loss plan, but there is a method to my madness.  I will be writing a post in the near future about Keystone Habits, but for now you’ll have to trust me when I say this is probably one of the most important aspects of my plan.
2. Drink 100 ounces of water every day – You always hear how you should get 64 ounces of water every day.  I truly believe you need much more when you are trying to lose weight.  I know that 100 ounces sounds like a lot, but my most successful weight loss endeavors have come when I’m drinking lots of water.  It keeps me feeling full and helps flush out all the bad stuff from your system.
3. Eat a big breakfast  – This one might seem counterintuitive, but in order to get started on the right foot, you need fuel first thing in the morning.  Plus, if you skimp on breakfast you spend the rest of the day hungrier (my opinion anyway) than if you have a full meal.  My typical breakfast will be between 500-600 calories and will include protein, fruit, and complex carbs (such as oatmeal).
4. Post on my Blog Regularly – Submit posts on my blog at least weekly.  This helps me to stay accountable and connected to others that are fighting the fight.  It also keeps me thinking about being healthy.
5. Reduce Digital Entertainment – This one is designed to get at my evenings.  My typical evening involves me coming home, eating dinner, and then plopping my ass on the couch until bedtime.  My goal is to have no more than 2 hours of digital entertainment (TV, Wasting time on the computer, non-active Wii games, cell phone, etc.) each day.
6. Set Monthly Progress Reviews – I’m taking this page from work.  Every month I meet with my employees and we discuss their progress.  With these monthly reviews I can identify areas of concern and if I need to adjust my plan I can do that as well. 
7. Get Plenty of Sleep – You can find research just about everywhere that shows people who get enough sleep do better at losing weight, yet no one ever makes it part of their plan.  I’m going for at least 7 hours each night.
8. Prepare for failure – There will be times when I just completely fall off the wagon.  In order to be prepared for it, I have created a failure analysis form to fill out (taking another page from my work).  The idea is that if I sit myself down and go through the form right after a major failure, it will help me to prevent the same failure from happening again.  It’s also a way of holding myself accountable and getting myself right back on the wagon.
9. Allow Cheating – 1 to 2 meals each week can be anything I want.  This helps me to not feel like I’m being deprived of anything.  Note this is not considered a reward for healthy eating.  One of the biggest pitfalls in healthy eating is that sometimes people want to reward good behavior with bad behavior.  If you want to reward yourself, do it with something that isn’t bad for you.
10. Pay myself for success - One of my rewards will be cold, hard cash.  $10 will be going into an account for every pound I lose.  At certain milestones I will allow myself to use some of that money (no unhealthy purchases) to buy something and when I hit my ultimate goal, there will be enough in there for a pretty decent island vacation.
The last part of my plan isn't really about my weight loss, but rather about my life in general:
Enjoy Life and be Happy!  Afterall, what’s the point of being healthy if you are miserable?
 
Got an "interesting" item in your weight loss plan?  Leave a comment and tell me about it.

Healthy Simple Snacks

If you want to keep your metabolism stoked, you really need to eat often throughout the day.  Having snacks doesn't have to be limited to granola bars and 100 calorie snack packs that are low calorie and leave you starving in an hour.  Snacks can be very satisfying and nutritious; you just need to be a little creative.

My typical day includes 3 small meals and 3 snacks in between.  All of my snacks have some protein and either a vegetable or piece of fruit.  The protein helps to sustain you longer and the fruits and vegetables give your body the nutrients it needs.  You may also notice that almost every one of my snacks come from whole foods.  Processed foods come with a lot of things you don't want or need so I avoid them as much as possible.  For fruits, I enjoy Apples, Oranges, Bananas (only occasionally), Cantaloupe, Pineapple (fresh), Watermelon, Grapes, and Kiwi.  Note - These snacks are targeted for my calorie intake, you may need to adjust the amount to suit your own needs.  Here are some of my favorite snacks:

2 Oz Cheddar Cheese
1 Cup of Grapes
286 Calories

I really like the combination of cheese and grapes.  You get that sharp cheddar flavor followed by the sweet grapes. 


1 Apple
2 Tablespoons Natural Peanut Butter
280 Calories

Slice the apple up and spread the peanut butter on the slices as you eat them.  This is a delicious snack; just be sure to use natural PB to avoid extra salt and sugar.


2 celery stalks
2 ounces of Cream Cheese or 2 Tablespoons of Natural Peanut Butter
1 cup of Cantaloupe
254 Calories (Cream Cheese) 264 Calories (PB)

Spread the cream cheese or PB on the celery and eat.  This is great if you are looking for something crunchy. 


1 Can Albacore Tuna
1 Banana
210 Calories

Yes, many people have told me this sounds disgusting, but this one of my favorite snacks!  You just can't beat the low calorie, high protein can of tuna.  I used to have a few crackers with it, but crackers are high in calories so now I just eat the tuna plain. 


4oz Boneless Chicken,
1 Cup Pineapple
216 Calories

You can prepare several of these whenever you have chicken for dinner (see below). 


4oz of your favorite lunch meat
1 Orange
196 Calories (Oscar Mayer Shaved Turkey)

If you don't have time to cook, just pack up some lunch meat.  I just squirt some mustard on it and eat it plain slice by slice.  One warning, lunch meat is high in salt so do this snack sparingly.  


1/2 Cup Lowfat Vanilla Yogurt
1 Cup frozen blueberries
220 Calories

Throw the frozen blueberries in the yogurt and by the time you are ready for the snack it's melted enough to give you a nice cold treat. 


4oz. Steak
2 Small Kiwi
320 Calories

Got a little extra steak from dinner?  Heat it up at break time and enjoy it as a snack.


1 oz. Almonds (about 30)
1 Cup of Watermelon
206 Calories

This is good snack when you just need a little something to hold you over.  There's not a lot of nuts so you definitely don't feel full when you are done. 


1 Cup of Green Tea with Honey
1 FiberOne bar
210 Calories

I have this almost every night for my evening snack.  It's a nice little treat to end the day.

Preparing your snacks

When you have to eat 3 snacks each day, you could easily spend a bunch of time just preparing them.  Here are a couple suggestions to save some time:

1. Invest in a bunch of small plastic containers to keep your snacks in.  I've got some that perfectly hold 4 oz. of meat or 1 cup of fruit.
2. When you cook dinner, just throw in an extra 4 or 8 oz. of whatever meat it is you are cooking (be sure not to eat it at dinner!).  When you are done you can just cut up the remaining amount and throw it into containers.
3. On the weekend I (my wife) cuts up a whole pineapple or melon or watermelon.  Then we (my wife) put it into a bunch of small containers so it's ready to go.
4. Keep a box of FiberOne bars and a can of almonds in your desk drawer at work.  That way if you forget to bring snacks you'll have something to hold you over.

These are some of my favorite snacks and they are all healthy and satisfying.  I've found that if I eat every 3-4 hours, I'm never starving at meal time and it makes it easier eat a healthy size meal.  As I said above, snacks don't have to be weak and boring; with a little creativity you can find lots of healthy ideas that don't have a lot of calories.  Got any healthy snack ideas that you like?  Leave a comment; I'm always looking to try new things.  Stay Strong!

My Exercise Plan

I’ve put it off for long enough, finally I’ve created my exercise plan. I’ll start on Monday; here’s the plan:

Time of Day – Mornings (6:00AM – 6:45AM)

Amount of exercise each week – approximately 160 minutes each week spread over 5 days

Type of exercise – Strength Training (M-W-F), Cardio Training (T-TH)

Strength Training Specifics – I’ve made 3 distinct strength training workouts for each of the days during the week. Each workout is a complete body workout, but each day adds focus to a specific area of the body. Monday has extra focus on the upper body, Wednesday has extra focus on the abs and back, and Friday has extra focus on the legs. Each workout is made up of 8 exercises; at 5 minutes per exercise it should take about 40 minutes to complete a workout. For each exercise, I plan to do 3 sets with a minute rest in between. The number of reps will vary from 10-20 depending on the weight used. As a certain weight gets easier I will increase the reps until I get to 20, then I will add more weight and drop the reps back down.

Cardio Training Specifics – The cardio training is going to be a little less formal. It will be 20 minute elliptical sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays. When I work out on the elliptical, I tend to favor a type of workout known as interval training. Simply put, interval training is when you go hard for short bursts and then give yourself a small amount of time to recover. I Usually warm-up for about 3 minutes and then I do 15 minutes of intervals where I go hard (60 rpms) for about 60 seconds followed by moderate work (45 rpms) for 60 seconds. The workout is followed by 2 minutes of cool-down.

Duration – I plan to do this exercise program for 6 weeks. After 6 weeks I will take a 1 week rest and then start a new program which may or may not be similar to this plan. I’ve learned that you need to keep things fresh and after 6 weeks I tend to get bored with my routine so I’ll definitely need to change it up somehow.

What if I miss a workout? - I do not plan on missing any workouts over these 6 weeks, but inevitably something will come up that could cause me to miss a workout. My first line of defense if a workout is missed is to make it up later in the day (after work). That is one of the benefits to working out in the morning. If I miss the day entirely, then my new schedule depends on the day missed. If it is a cardio workout day, then I will just skip it, move on to the next day of strength training, and then make up the cardio workout on the weekend. If it is a strength day, then the whole schedule will shift by one day. For example, if I miss Wednesday, then I will do the remaining strength training workouts on Thursday and Saturday and I will do the cardio on Friday. This might seem strange at first, but the reason for making the scheduled make-ups this way is to avoid ever having to lift weights on consecutive days. When you lift weights, you need to give your body time to recover; most experts recommend taking 1 day off in between workouts.

SMART Goal – I’m always harping about setting SMART goals, so I need to set one for this plan. My goal is to complete the entire 6 week plan without missing a workout. Note that for this goal, “missing a workout” means that I do not get my 5 days of working out in during the week. It’s OK to miss a day two for legitimate reasons as long as they get made up over the weekend. The reward for this goal is not completely defined, but it will have something to do with improving my music capabilities in my home gym. Currently I have a beat up old boom box with a coat hanger for an antenna. I’d like to start listening to my MP3s down so my goal will be to buy something to provide the capability.

In addition to my SMART goal, I’m also going to track my progress on all my exercises. I have no specific targets on how much improvement I want to see on each exercise, but at least I’ll be able to look back at the end of 6 weeks and see how far I got.

Diet Modifications – Since I will be lifting weights, I may need to add a little more protein to my diet. Most likely I will add a scoop of vanilla protein powder to my morning oatmeal, and if needed (depending on how tired my muscles feel) I may increase my lunch protein from 4 ounces to 6 ounces.

As you can see, my main focus is more on strength training (120 minutes/week) than it is on cardio (40 minutes/week). This is not simply because I am male and like lifting weights, new research is coming out all the time showing that strength training is far more effective at losing weight than cardio training. I tend to believe this and I have always had more success when I use weights in my exercise plan.

So this is my plan and I’m really excited to get going. I’m following my own advice from my article on starting an exercise plan and I will start this first week at very low weights so I don’t end up sore or injured. If anyone is interested in my specific exercises, please feel free to email me and I can send you the spreadsheet.

                       

Starting an Exercise Plan

Now that I’ve started exercising, I thought I would do an article on setting up an exercise plan. Exercise is an essential component to getting the weight off. When you exercise you burn more calories and it goes beyond just the time you spend working out. The extra calorie burn goes on for hours after you workout and after it becomes a regular habit, your body will react by anticipating your normal workout and it will begin burning calories before you even begin. In addition to burning more calories and increasing your metabolism, you will also feel better.  Exercising releases endorphins that can help to make you feel happier and more relaxed than you were before you worked out.  Of course losing weight will also help boost your confidence and self esteem.  Below are some tips to help you get started:

Know your limitations and take it slow – Before you even begin you have to be realistic about your abilities. If you have existing conditions that might affect what you can do, talk to a doctor about your plan. If you haven’t exercised in a long time, don’t expect to be able to lift weights or run for hours like you might have done in high school. If you overdo it in the beginning, at best you will end up really sore and at worst you will injure yourself. If that happens you will lose the momentum while you recover and have to start all over again.

Make a plan – Are you going to workout at home or at a gym? Are you going to workout in the morning, midday, or in the evening? Make a plan that fits you lifestyle. Try to shoot for 3-5 days each week.  Also, don't forget the weekends.  Sometimes we get hung up on working out during the normal work week and we forget that often the weekends have more free time to get a couple workouts in.

Include Strength Training – The best form of exercising for losing weight is strength training. As your body builds muscle it requires more calories each day to maintain that muscle. Every extra pound of muscle burns an extra 50 calories each day. Strength training will also give your metabolism a boost as well. Even if you are a woman, don’t fear strength training. You won’t bulk up and 30 minutes of strength training will beat 45 minutes on a treadmill any day of the week when it comes to losing weight.

Be ready to make changes in your workout – One of the biggest problems people have with working out is that they end up getting bored. Plan ahead for this and come up with ways to mix things up. I have about 10 different workout plans so when I get bored I switch from one to the next. The changes don’t have to be huge. For example, in workout “A” I do a bench press. In workout “B” I do pushups instead. In workout “C” I do pushups on a flipped over BOSU ball. Even small changes in your routine can help to break the boredom and it also has the benefit of making your muscles work in different ways.

Adjust your diet – When you do strength training, it’s best to get some protein in within the first hour after working out. If you work out in the morning you might need a small snack before you start too. Be prepared to adjust your diet slightly to accommodate your increase in activity. If you find yourself constantly sore or feeling tired all the time, you might even need to eat more calories.

Challenge yourself – Keep track of your progress and try to do a little more each week. Set short term and long term SMART goals to give you purpose. You can even set benchmarks before you begin; see how many push-ups and sit-ups you can do or time yourself to run or walk a mile. You will be surprised at how much you can improve in just 6 weeks time.

Don’t lose the momentum – Getting started is one of the hardest parts; once you get the ball rolling, don’t let it stop. If you feel like taking a day off, instead consider doing a “light” workout. Even if you only workout for half the time, you at least keep the momentum going. Once you start skipping workouts, it gets easier and easier to skip more often and eventually the momentum is completely lost.

Getting regular exercise is an essential tool in the battle to lose weight. However, don’t just limit yourself to increased activity for just one short duration every day. Look for ways to increase your activity level all the time. Find fun things to do that also provide exercise. Go swimming, ride a bike, play tennis, or just go for a walk. There are all sorts of opportunities for you to increase your activity level each and every day. What are you waiting for? Get started today!

Journal Update 12/6/09

This was quite a satisfying week! I lost back everything I gained during Thanksgiving plus another pound for good measure. I mentioned before I thought I might have been retaining water last week and it appears I was correct. Normally, I would have looked at my weight last week and decided to give up, but I knew how well I had done on my trip and I decided to push on.


My eating was pretty good all week long and I drank a lot of water (probably about 60-80 ounces each day). I did have a couple cookies early in the week (remnants from the prior week) but for the most part I stuck to my plan. In a typical day I eat 5-6 times throughout the day:

1. 7:00AM My morning starts with oatmeal and blueberries.
2. 9:30AM A small protein snack and a piece of fruit.
3. 12:30AM Lunch (usually the leftovers from my previous night’s dinner) and a piece of fruit
4. 3:00PM Another small protein snack and a piece of fruit.
5. 6:00PM Dinner consisting of 4 ounces of protein, 1 cup vegetables, and a ½ cup of some carbohydrate
6. 8:30PM A Light Snack – Usually a fiber bar and a cup of green tea

A few times this week I missed one of my snacks, but it didn’t seem to bother me. I think my body is getting used to eating less food each day. It used to be that if I went more than 3 hours without eating, I would be starving and end up overeating the next meal. That wasn’t the case this week.

I still didn’t exercise regularly; I came back from my trip with another cold! I’m not sure why, but this winter has been tough on me with regards to being sick. Toward the end of the week my cold was diminished so I worked out on the elliptical trainer on Friday. I got a good 30 minutes in doing an interval workout.

I really want (and need) to get going with the exercise. This week I’m going to try to get at least 3 sessions in and then go from there. I have free weights in my house and of course the elliptical trainer so I really have no excuses not to get started.

One thing I have to say is that I’m really happy with my progress so far. I know it’s only been 4 weeks and I still have a long way to go, but I feel like I’ve found a nice balance here. I’m not feeling deprived and yet I’m still losing weight regularly. I think If I can just incorporate the exercise, I’ll be good to go. Wish me luck.

My Weight Loss Plan

Now it’s time to share my plan. So far this week I’ve been eating healthy, but eating healthy is just a start. In order to be successful I need a good plan that includes how much I’m going to eat, exercise, and how I’m going to track my goals. It also needs to include how I plan to reward myself as I progress through my plan. So without further ado here’s the plan I’m going to start with:

1. Keeping track of what I eat - I’m going to track my calorie intake each day. Now I know what you are thinking “keeping track of calories is a lot of work”. I used to think that as well, but I’ve found a method that seems to be pretty easy. I bought a little notebook a while back and I carry it with me everywhere I go. Every time I eat or drink something, I write it in my little book. Then when I have time I enter it into a spreadsheet I made on my PC. Putting it in the notebook takes no time and entering it into my PC takes less than an hour. I’m going to do a post on tracking calories within the next few weeks, so for now we’ll leave it at that. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t get hung up on every single calorie I consume. Having the optimum calorie intake for weight loss is not an exact science and I know that most people under-count how many calories they get. For me it’s more about getting into a range and taking into account the fact that I might have missed some calories here and there.

2. Setting calorie limits - I’m going to target my calories to a specific daily level. Again, I will be doing a post soon on determining ideal calorie levels so for now I’m not going to say what that level is just yet. It will probably be somewhere between 2000 and 2500 calories

3. Spreading out the calories - In addition to having a target for daily calories, I’m also going to spread the calories over the entire day with the majority coming before dinner. It does no good to starve all day long in order to have a 2500 calorie dinner at 7:00PM. If anything, I would rather eat more in the morning and have a chance to burn it off during the day.

4. Balance the meals - My eating will consist of 5-6 meals each day. The meals will be spread out 2-4 hours apart. Each meal will contain a balance of protein, carbs, fruits and vegetables.
Drinking Water - I will also be targeting my water intake to 80-100oz each day. That might sound like a lot, but that’s really only 1 20oz glass of water between each meal. I’ve done this before in the past and have found drinking a lot of water has been one of the most important parts in determining my level of success.

5. Exercise Regularly - In addition to eating right, I also need exercise. I am currently developing a workout plan for at least 30 minutes of exercise each day. I’ve started getting up at 5:30AM each morning so that when I’m ready, I will do my workouts first thing in the morning. My workouts will be a combination of strength training and cardiovascular work. I’m fortunate enough to have an elliptical trainer and a weight bench so the majority of my exercise will take place in my home. The plan is going to be dynamic (I’ll share in a later post) so that I can change it up every few weeks to reduce boredom.

6. Slow Down - I’ve learned through experience that one of my biggest problems is eating too quickly. To address this, I’m trying to focus on eating more slowly during my meals. This is hard; when I eat I have to consciously focus on how fast I’m eating. I’m trying to note the time I start eating and then the time that I finish so I can make sure I’m not going too fast. This will take a little getting used to.

7. Eat Fresh Foods - My diet will consist mostly of fresh foods. I’m not a big fan of pre-packaged foods because they are always loaded with salt, fillers, preservatives, HFCS and generally other bad things that don’t help your body. Going totally 100% fresh is impractical but I will be eating fresh food as much as possible.

8. Finding Balance - I feel like part of a healthy lifestyle is about having balance. If you eat too much all the time, you gain weight. On the other hand, if you deprive yourself of too much, you end up resenting the lifestyle and go on huge “binges” (and still gain weight). This is something I have learned through many failures. I’ve discovered that weekends are the toughest for me so I plan to cut myself some slack on the weekends. However, this comes with a few strings attached; As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m going to weigh myself every Saturday morning. If I’ve met my goal for the previous week, then I will allow myself to indulge a little over the weekend (keeping in mind that these indulgences will have an impact on my next weigh-in). These indulgences can include going out to eat, but not more than once over the weekend. They can also include some of my favorite foods, but they need to be in moderation. Finally, no matter if I met my weekly goal or not, I am going to allow myself 1 meal where I can have anything I want (again, it must be in moderation).

9. Dealing with Changes in the Routine - When I go on vacation or out with friends, I will not force myself to suffer. Instead of depriving myself I will feel free to eat whatever I like but will try to keep everything in moderation (probably going to be one of my toughest challenges). I will also continue to exercise either directly (hotel gyms) or indirectly (long walks or fun activities that involve moving around).

10. Monitor my state of mind - People think that dieting is all about physical actions (eating less, exercising, etc) but they don't realize that's only half the problem. The other half has to do with your emotional state. How many times have you eatned because you were depressed? mad? stressed? Recognizing these times and being aware of how they affect your healthy lifestyle is a very important thing. This is something that I have given little attention in the past so I need to be cognizant of my state of mind. This blog is a great way to capture those things as I will be doing regular journal updates.


So that's it; piece of cake right? It’s important to notice that this plan is not so much a rigorous diet as it is a lifestyle plan. There’s nothing in here that couldn’t be done for the rest of my life. Now maybe when I hit my goal I might stop counting calories, but the idea here is to create a healthy lifestyle plan, not just something I’m going to do short term to lose weight. That’s why most diets fail, they are designed to provide short term results; not geared toward long term living. As I progress through my journey I might find that I need to tweak this plan a little but for now I think this a good start.