My Weight Loss Regimen - Part 1

Ok, now that you're done with my manifesto LOL, you're probably wondering what is my regimen for my weight loss. Well, let me tell you Big Dawg, it is vey simple, but it is not easy. But if you do your research, you will find out that it is alot easier then what you hear or read out there. The Weight Loss industry is a billion dollar industry, and confusion is what makes them profitable. If people would understand how simple it is to lose weight, than we might be a much fitter nation. But unfortunately, do to the demands of this society; work, constantly on the move, the quicker the better, the temptation of bad foods, and other factors has led to a nation of mostly overweight people. Its funny that I look in the past, and my craving for calorie rich, filling foods, and how misguided I was, and I wish someone ingrained this into my head. But it is what it is, and it's time to stop living in the past, and look towards a brighter future. First of all, I'm not nutritionist, or weight loss guru. I don't possess some zen like ability to maintain my calorie deficit, because I'm just a man with my faults. I'm actually unemployed, smoke weed, sit a watch TV most of the day if I'm not running errands, but I do find the time in the day to get a good workout in. I'm just an average man that was tired of being trapped in this body. I know what your thinking Big Dawg, that these fit people with this fine bodies probably put themselves through rigorous workouts, and eat just veggie foods to look that good, and you don't have the willpower to do that. Let me tell you, that's far from the truth. I still in the midst of my journey, but I have a mindset now that is tunnel vision, and I will not allow myself to let off. And I'm not even doing anything to crazy, or fighting cravings, or starving myself. So how do I do this? Well, you know that from reading my journey post, that it is a mental challenge more than anything. You have to have a made of up mind, and I'll touch on the more. But let me say it again, THIS IS NOT HARD TO DO AT ALL. So here are some aspects of my regimen that I'm currently doing.

The Mind

Before you even think of trying to lose weight, you have to prepare yourself mentally. Now, I don't mean that you have to mentally prepare for some hardcore diet. What I mean is that you have to prepare your mind to adapt to changing your life, and having a do whatever it takes attitude to obtain your goal. For an example, I eat about anywhere on average 4 meals a day, ranging from 250-500 calories. I don't allow myself to go beyond that, and if I do, then I don't beat myself over this. You may have some insecurities that I mentioned, and I know that this a huge hurdle in it self. You have to try your best to do some soul searching. But once you have a made up mind, then the rest of this stuff I'm going to mention will come easy. I'm in a mindset to where my cravings for calorie-rich foods have dropped drastically, and I have cravings for healthier and smaller portions. What these people are doing with that bypass surgery with shrinking their stomachs and paying big bucks to do, I'm doing it free, with just the power of my mind. My stomach feels smaller, and I'm satisfied with my smaller portions. All of this comes with he power of the mind.

Calorie-Deficit

If I had to rank the importance of weight loss, the mind would be 1.a and maintaining a calorie-deficit would be 1.b. This again the most import thing besides a made up mind that you can do. MAINTAIN A CALORIE DEFICIT MAINTAIN A CALORIE DEFICIT MAINTAIN A CALORIE DEFICIT. And just in case you missed that, let me say it again. MAINTAIN A CALORIE DEFICIT. All the fad diets, and weight loss programs (i.e. atkins, south beach, weight watchers, nutrisystem) all like to sound like their revolutionary, but that's far from the truth. Each one of these fad diets and programs have one thing in common. The individual must maintain a calorie-deficit, they just hide behind something they claim it's revolutionary. They have money to make, so they have to stand out from the other fad diets. And they're banking on people's lack of knowledge, and our culture quick and easy. Just to touch on this a little, this journey will not be quick. It will take months, and even years to get body you want. But if you have a made up mind, you will start to eat better not just because you're on diet, but you more in tune to what you put in your body. To understand a calorie-deficit, it's good to know some biology of weight loss. I would suggest going to Lyle McDonald's blog and read on the science of this, but I will try my best to sum it up.

Depending on your life style (sedentary, moderately active, very active) you body is always burning calories. A man burns more calories than a woman, and this can range from 2500 to 2700 for a sedentary man any a given day. Lets take me for an example, with my current lifestyle, with a workout of 30-60 minutes, I burn close to 3000 calories a day. So with that in mind you can estimate what type of calorie deficit that you will have on a given day. So in weight loss, YOU MUST MAINTAIN A CALORIE DEFICIT. So with that in mind, I know that for me to obtain a calorie deficit, I must consume lower than 3000 calories. So for me to maintain this, I choose to eat foods that are not as calorie dense as I used to, and I do this for 4 meals a day. So lets do some simple math. I know I burn close to 3000 calories a day. Let say my four meals a in a week, I total a caloric intake of 400 calories. So that's 1600 calories that I have consumed for the day. So I have a deficit of 1400 calories (just subtracting the total calories burned in a day with the amount consumed). So with with that in mind, I know that there is 3500 calories in a pound. With my calorie deficit, my body will respond to my deficit by burning fat stored in the body. So I know in a week, if I keep my my current intake for the whole week (which I don't. My calories burned from day to day vary, as well as my intake. No one is perfect, and I will not ask you to be. Using this calculation is just for the sake of showing you a simple example) I would have a calorie deficit total of 9800 calories. You divide that by 3500, now you have lost 2.8 pounds that week! You see how simple of a notion that is? Just by maintaining a calorie deficit, you're always burning fat. Depending how much you want to lose in a week depends on your caloric intake. Sounds easy right? Well, it's simple, but not easy.

What this requires me to do is to watch what I eat throughout the day. I try to stay away from calorie-rich foods (i.e. fast food meals, pizza, processed foods) that will cause me to eat a high calorie meal. For an example, I know alot of people are going through hard times, and I know that when you're on a budget, it's may be hard to buy foods that are healthier, nutritious, and are less calorie dense. Lets take a look at McDonalds dollar meal. Like I said in my journey posts, a staple meal for me when I was broke was a double cheese burger and a McChicken, and a lot of times, one more of either or. Looking at the McDonald's nutrition facts online, I found that a double cheese burger is 440 calories and a McChicken is 380. Lets say I go with 2 double cheese burgers and a McChicken. That's a total of 1260 calories! And you've only paid 3 bucks. Now lets look at a meal that I love now. I love chicken breast, especially when it's grilled. Who doesn't? I like to make chicken teriyaki. I would get teriyaki marinade, and let it marinate for a certain time. I will crank up the grill and grill the chicken, pouring some teriyaki sauce flavor. I will boil some brown rice, and cut up the cooked chicken, and put it on top of the rice. Now, let's estimate that an average chicken breast can have anywhere between 180-200 calories. I'll go with the high side, and say the breast I ate is 200. The one serving of brown rice is about 250. So I've just had a great tasting meal, that is very satisfying and it's was only 450 calories! You see what I mean? To me, the key is to find great tasting food that I like that are not as calorie dense as some foods. It's really as simple as replacing these calorie-rich meals with healthier ones. And portion size is key too with some foods. If you could be satisfied with one cheese burger, then you would only be consuming 440 calories. But I know Big Dawg, that is not the case for you. If you're like me, I would need at least two to feel satisfied. And with those two, you have consumed about double of what you would of if you would just have the chicken teriyaki with brown rice. So it's really about altering your brain to craze these types of good, nutritious, low calorie meals. Once I figured this out, it was easy to trade in my pizza, pasta, potato chips, fast food meals and find healthier options that YOU LIKE! You don't have to eat foods that you don't like for the sake of your deficit.

So again, MAINTAINING A CALORIE DEFICIT IS KEY TO YOUR WEIGHT LOSS! Once you have this ingrained in your mind, then weight loss will come easy. Do you wanna know how we got fat? It's easy. The reason is that we live in a sedentary society, and with alot of us doing work that requires us to sit alot is making an organism like a human being more sedentary than ever in human history. And living in a free market, the foods that are calorie dense are everywhere for the human on the go, and we're constantly bombarded by commericals showing us these delicious foods. I understand, it's easier to just pull up to the drive through, get a value meal, a go home, and watch TV. Now, lets say you eat a good sized breakfast that was about 1000 calories, you eat a whole salami sandwhich at lunch with chips and a soda which could be about a 1500 calorie meal, you get some chips, candy, and another soda some time before dinner which cold be 700 calories, then you go get a Quater Pounder value meal at MCD super sized, that can be a 1700 calorie meal, and then you snack something you like which could be about 400 calories. And lets say with your sedentary lifestyle, you are only burning 2700 calories on that day. So lets do the math. You add up the figures I mentioned, that totals 4900 calories. And you're only burning 2700, so you you consuming more calories than you body can burn, and so the extra calories are stored as fat. If you maintain that rate for a week, at 2200 extra calories a day, you are have an access of of 15,400 calories! Since we know that there is 3500 calories in a pound, if you divide that, you have gained 4.4 pounds that week! So you have to get this out of your mind, and learn to shop for good foods, or if you go to the fast food joint, find options less calorie-dense, or just learn to only eat half of the burger and a small fries, and a diet coke. Controlling portions is a great start to weight loss, and if you're not mentally ready to give up these foods, learn to eat on half. If you cut that intake that I mentioned by half, you have an intake of 2450 and you just obtained a calorie deficit. But I will strongly suggest that if you learn to cook a few things that good for you. In the long run, buying your foods will save you money, because you're not going out to eat that much. You may think it's cheap, but if you're eating out twice a day, spending 2o dollars a day, you spent 140 bucks on food. You could use that money to be alot of grocery that can last your for up to 3-4 weeks. And if you decide to get package food, study that nutrition label. Understand the serving size, and know what exactly how many calories your intaking. You probably noticed that I haven't said anything about a diet. I like to call it a calorie deficit, because to me, it really feels that I'm not on a diet, it's just that I've changed my lifestyle. There are times I crave bad foods, but I know if I do, then I'm mindful of it, estimate the caloric intake, and think about what I ate before, and what I will eat few hours after. Yes, my deficit would be shorter if I choose a better option, but still, the main thing is that I maintained a deficit for that day. So lets say that I heat a veggie omelet in the morning with some whole wheat English muffin, toasted with butter substitute and strawberry preserves and a fruit. That is a caloric intake of 350. Now lets say some co workers wanted to go out to lunch at the local burger spot, with limited options of good foods. I know alot of us go through this dilemma often. I know that it can be kinda embarrassing to say your on a diet, and you don't want to offend anyone by not eating anything, and say fuck it, and splurge. Let's say that I had an intake of 1300 calories. Instead of the regular soda, I got diet one, which cut my intake by 300 calories. So so far, I have intake of 1650. Oh shit, did I just slip up? Maybe, to a degree, if you decide to eat a dinner that is high in calories. But you can still recover from this meal, if you decide to eat salad for dinner, and maybe even some healthy snacks like fruits for an example, which only totals no more than 500 calories. So I had a daily intake of 2150. Yes, I didn't have a high deficit today, but the main thing is still having a calorie-deficit. So I'm still burning fat!

So Big Dawg, get it in your mind to maintain a calorie deficit. A good nutrition and a calorie-deficit is key to your weight. Way more than resistance training or cardio, even though those are things you should do to increase your daily activity, that isn't as important as this. You can lose weight without exercising. And too much exercise can somewhat bad for you, and I'll touch on that a little later in this series. Look at my cousin for an example. In my journey post, I mentioned how my cousin had a massive heart attack and was in a coma for a few weeks. The only thing they gave him was this medical protein that they fed him through a tube. In his very sedentary state, he was able to lose 60 pounds in 6 weeks with no exercising. Why is this? Because remember I mentioned that we are always burning calories to live. Breathing, thinking, moving, all requires calories. So even when he was in his coma, he was still burning calories for maintaining life. I would never suggest dropping weight like that. This was done for medical reason, and it required him to drop weight fast for his health. But the point is that you can lose weight without it, but at the same time, cardio and resistance is important in your journey. The Mind and Calorie Deficit deserves it's own post, because this is the to keys to your success. It has for me, and I guarantee if you master these two, you will lose weight.