Something crazy is happening to me right now. And in a weight loss journey, this can happen. I can't remember any time in my life where I have been more confident in myself. Yes, alot has to do with losing weight, but a lot has to do with just being happy with the person that I am. There is a clear difference in my thinking, and the way I approach the world.
I can remember in high school, I was always pretty confident, but I was a kid. I was just going about life as a teenager. I really started losing a lot of confidence after high school, because there was no more sports, and I was getting bigger. Getting in to college was a confidence booster, but my lack of female interaction really hampered my confidence. Plus, I was getting up in weight, and out of shape. Not looking like my old self when I was in high school. Towards the end of school, and the years after, my confidence was at a all time low. I did a lot of soul searching and through years of personal therapy, I feel like a new me. Still the same person...the happy go lucky, always smiling, sympathetic to other people's needs type of person that I developed through my earlier years, but a more confident man. I believe that God makes everything happen for a reason. Because going through most of my life as an overweight or obese man, you see life differently. You develop a defense mechanism to hide your insecurities. Always being nice, because you feel that deep down in side, you have nothing to offer, so you're overly nice to people, especially women. And they do sense things like that. Women are very intuitive. They can see if a man is confident or not. And my lack of women was due to my confidence. But like I said, after a lot of soul searching, my confidence came back. A lot of it had to do with overcoming my insecurities and being more happy in my own skin. Even before I started dating more than I've ever had in my life, when I became more confident, then the weight loss process was easier, and meeting more women became much easier. It's kinda hard to explain, because you would think that being more happy in my own skin, then I should of been happy with my weight at the time. But I wasn't, because I wanted to reflect a confident man, and there is a stigma with looking more fit, especially with women. Granted that no matter how you look, if you exude confidence, then you are bound to find a woman. But for men who look fit, it comes a lot easier, and that's just the cold hard truth. Plus the have a wider selection of women to weed out, and find the right one. But with that confidence and that need to lose weight, the process became easier because I was OK with being patient about the process. In the past, I wasn't patient. I wanted quick results, and if none was shown, I just gave up. But I looked at dieting different. Instead of looking at it for a period of time, I wanted to change my lifestyle, and how looked at food. Instead exercising to lose weight, I looked at it as training to be a fit human being, and do the things I love to get peace of mind. With that process, the weight started shedding off, and the confidence grew.
It is like it's night and day for me in terms of my confidence. And for you Big Dawg, it's time for you to look inside and do some soul searching. Because the mind is the first muscle to get in shape for a weight loss journey. But if you have patience, and trust the process and science of weight loss, you will lose weight. And I can't explain how great life is now sense I've started my journey. You have to experience it yourself. Because of the life I led as an insecure obese man, I have a new appreciation of life. And the lessons I learned from that life is making me a better man for the life I'm living now, and in the future. I'm still a nice guy, but I'm confident, and whatever they say about nice guy finish last is bullshit. Because again, the stigma with nice guys is that they're overly nice because they're insecure. I definitely a man that will more times than I used to speak up, and said what needs to be said, and not care what anyone thinks. And that mentality helps with meeting women, because once you get that you're not gonna impress everyone, then you quit trying, and just be yourself. Some people gonna like you...some won't. And for woman, just have the mentality of if she turns me down, then she's missing out...then you won't care, and meeting women is much more easier. I urge you, if you're ready to make a change, then do it...because it is well worth it.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
For the first time in my life, I'm semi-happy with my body...
This morning was definitely one like no other. As you may have read, I've been on a weight loss journey that has shown recent success, but for my whole life, I've had body image issues. From my weight, to my penis size, there was always something that made me feel not sexy at all, and had nothing to offer. I always remember from when I was a kid never being satisfied with the way I look. I thought I was a decent looking man, but my weight always made me feel unattractive. Yes, I did some things that gave me confidence like sports, and as a teen, I did have my fair share of women. But not as much as I could of, because of my insecurties. This morning had me thinking of how long it has been since I've been satisfied with what I'm seeing in the mirror, and all I can think is I have never been satisfied with what I was seeing in the mirror. It's kind of sad when I think about it. I was able to deal with it more as a kid and teen, but in my 20s, it was pretty bad. I remember always saying I need to lose weight, blah blah blah. But never knew how to go about it, and I was too impatient. I hated every inch of fat on my body, and still do. It drove me crazy, and I was in denial for a long time about my body. Always trying to hide it in my clothes. Never able to take off my shirt in public. When I got in my 20s, and my weight was really getting out of control, the constant rejection I recieved really took its toll. But I blame myself for not having any confidence in myself. And was just insecure about alot of things. I never thought I could ever be the man that I know I could be. Maybe alot of it had to do with never having a dominant male figure in my life to show me how a man is supposed to be, and carry himself. My mom, bless her heart, is a woman. A religious woman at that, trying to show me how to carry myself. I think she did a great job in raising a moral man, because my morals come from her. But the other little things I had to learn for myself. And that learning came really late for me. Things like discpline, practice, patience, who a man should carry himself, how to impress a woman, etc. are things that a dominant male figure should tell a young boy. A collection of things that led to me living an undisciplined life. But even with the way my life shaped, all I can say is I am grateful for life.
I'm a true believer in everything happens for a reason.
For the first time in my life, I can say that I'm semi-happy with my body. As I'm looking in the mirror this morning, I'm seeing changes in my body, and the hard work is really paying off. Even recently, since I have been losing my body fat, the changes weren't too noticable unless I was on a scale or measuring inches on my waist. But now, I see my skin tightening, face getting smaller, seeing the outline of my torso. It's really a trip to me. I haven't been this weight since high school, but I definitely have more lean muscle mass which is looking good as I lose body fat. I really think that for the first time ever in my life, I can take off my shirt with confidence. Listen, I know my body isn't perfect, and even when I get to my ideal weight and body fat, that it won't either. The point is that I do want to look fit. Even if I do have stretch marks that I will have for the rest of my life, I will use them as a reminder of where I don't ever wanna go again. Plus, I'm hoping that they will become less noticable as my skin gets more tightened, but I won't trip if it doesn't. I know I have alot more to go. I'm sitting at around 35-26% bodyfat and weighing 232 (I've gained about 5 pounds in the past couple of weeks, and it seems tha I've kinda plateaued. I was worried at first, but I'm losing inches around my waist, we leads me to believe that I'm gaining muscle which is great. Because even with the weight gain, I see noticable changes in my body). My goal is to get to about 15% bodyfat. With my unscientific calculations, I expect to be around 215-200 range to be at that.
Body image I believe is key to the well being of the human mind. Everyone wants to be percieved in a postive manner. I believe that because I thought I was hideous in the mirror, I would overcompensate by being nice to people. But there are alot of people who are percieved well by themselves when the look in the mirror. It took alot of soul searching, even before my weight loss of the past few months to get that. Instead of hating what I saw in the mirror, and believing this was the way the cards were dealt to me, I started to say that I liked what I see in the mirror, but was not satisfied with some of the things that I knew I could control like my body fat. So as the perception of myself got better, everything else came in place. I have never be more sexually confident than I've been in the past few months. Because I let alot of my insecurties go and it has paid dividends, and I have never been happier in my life. I'm still am not satified by what I see in the mirror, and I think that is a postive thing, because even though I'm ok with how I look now, I know I can do alot better. I'm still a little insecure about my body, but not hating it as much. I think insecurities is the mind's way of saying that something is not right about yourself, and you need to do something about it if you can. Some things you can't, and you must try to move past them. For an example, my penis size was something I was very insecure about. But when I decided that if I continue this thought, I will be a lonely man, and never have kids like I always wanted, I later found out that not only was my mind in my way, but I was very much well endowed. I think watching porn, and going to the gym made me too insecure about my size. I know that why I'm not on "rock", it's nothing to right home to mama about (kinda weird), but when it's game time, I'm very well endowed, and have been complimented lately on my penis. And making a woman cum has to be the best feeling for a man. I've been doing that consistantly with my partners, which lets me know that I can get the job done. My body image has improved because of my sexual confidence now. Actually now that I think about it, my sexual confidence has surpassed the confidence I have in my body, but getting my body in shape is a longer process. But my overall body image is a postive one for the first time in my life, and I can't tell you how happy I am. The things in the past that would get me down, don't get me down as much as it used to. I really feel like that I'm the man I always wanted to be. Yes, I'm still learning as always, but I think I'm finally at that point in my life where I wanna be mentally.
When I think of the saying, that everything happens for a reason, I truly believe that. I try to think of the life I could of had if I was in shape, and had a better body image of myself. I may have done things differently, may have had a different personality, other things of that nature I wonder how I would of been. But to me, it seems that I'm reborn, and the life ahead is gonna be great. It seems that I have the sexual libido of a 18 year old, and I'm almost 30. I wonder if having so much sex and doing it so many ways could stall your sex drive compared to your age. Just my hypothesis, because it seems that I can go on for a while, and it amazes me. When I write this, I hope that there something that strikes a nerve with you as I'm pretty much pouring out my guts in this blog. Something that I can't do or talk about with any of my closest friends or family. I just hope that through my reflection, that you can see that I was just like you, and that I'm no more special than you. I just decided to put a little more self discipline in my life, and that you can do it too. I've overcomed what you are going through, and still on my journey to a better me. And I know this is so cliche, but fuck it. If I can do it. I know anyone can...
I'm a true believer in everything happens for a reason.
For the first time in my life, I can say that I'm semi-happy with my body. As I'm looking in the mirror this morning, I'm seeing changes in my body, and the hard work is really paying off. Even recently, since I have been losing my body fat, the changes weren't too noticable unless I was on a scale or measuring inches on my waist. But now, I see my skin tightening, face getting smaller, seeing the outline of my torso. It's really a trip to me. I haven't been this weight since high school, but I definitely have more lean muscle mass which is looking good as I lose body fat. I really think that for the first time ever in my life, I can take off my shirt with confidence. Listen, I know my body isn't perfect, and even when I get to my ideal weight and body fat, that it won't either. The point is that I do want to look fit. Even if I do have stretch marks that I will have for the rest of my life, I will use them as a reminder of where I don't ever wanna go again. Plus, I'm hoping that they will become less noticable as my skin gets more tightened, but I won't trip if it doesn't. I know I have alot more to go. I'm sitting at around 35-26% bodyfat and weighing 232 (I've gained about 5 pounds in the past couple of weeks, and it seems tha I've kinda plateaued. I was worried at first, but I'm losing inches around my waist, we leads me to believe that I'm gaining muscle which is great. Because even with the weight gain, I see noticable changes in my body). My goal is to get to about 15% bodyfat. With my unscientific calculations, I expect to be around 215-200 range to be at that.
Body image I believe is key to the well being of the human mind. Everyone wants to be percieved in a postive manner. I believe that because I thought I was hideous in the mirror, I would overcompensate by being nice to people. But there are alot of people who are percieved well by themselves when the look in the mirror. It took alot of soul searching, even before my weight loss of the past few months to get that. Instead of hating what I saw in the mirror, and believing this was the way the cards were dealt to me, I started to say that I liked what I see in the mirror, but was not satisfied with some of the things that I knew I could control like my body fat. So as the perception of myself got better, everything else came in place. I have never be more sexually confident than I've been in the past few months. Because I let alot of my insecurties go and it has paid dividends, and I have never been happier in my life. I'm still am not satified by what I see in the mirror, and I think that is a postive thing, because even though I'm ok with how I look now, I know I can do alot better. I'm still a little insecure about my body, but not hating it as much. I think insecurities is the mind's way of saying that something is not right about yourself, and you need to do something about it if you can. Some things you can't, and you must try to move past them. For an example, my penis size was something I was very insecure about. But when I decided that if I continue this thought, I will be a lonely man, and never have kids like I always wanted, I later found out that not only was my mind in my way, but I was very much well endowed. I think watching porn, and going to the gym made me too insecure about my size. I know that why I'm not on "rock", it's nothing to right home to mama about (kinda weird), but when it's game time, I'm very well endowed, and have been complimented lately on my penis. And making a woman cum has to be the best feeling for a man. I've been doing that consistantly with my partners, which lets me know that I can get the job done. My body image has improved because of my sexual confidence now. Actually now that I think about it, my sexual confidence has surpassed the confidence I have in my body, but getting my body in shape is a longer process. But my overall body image is a postive one for the first time in my life, and I can't tell you how happy I am. The things in the past that would get me down, don't get me down as much as it used to. I really feel like that I'm the man I always wanted to be. Yes, I'm still learning as always, but I think I'm finally at that point in my life where I wanna be mentally.
When I think of the saying, that everything happens for a reason, I truly believe that. I try to think of the life I could of had if I was in shape, and had a better body image of myself. I may have done things differently, may have had a different personality, other things of that nature I wonder how I would of been. But to me, it seems that I'm reborn, and the life ahead is gonna be great. It seems that I have the sexual libido of a 18 year old, and I'm almost 30. I wonder if having so much sex and doing it so many ways could stall your sex drive compared to your age. Just my hypothesis, because it seems that I can go on for a while, and it amazes me. When I write this, I hope that there something that strikes a nerve with you as I'm pretty much pouring out my guts in this blog. Something that I can't do or talk about with any of my closest friends or family. I just hope that through my reflection, that you can see that I was just like you, and that I'm no more special than you. I just decided to put a little more self discipline in my life, and that you can do it too. I've overcomed what you are going through, and still on my journey to a better me. And I know this is so cliche, but fuck it. If I can do it. I know anyone can...
Monday, December 14, 2009
Why I feel that I'm not on a diet
When people tell me I'm losing weight, and how I'm dieting, I kinda cringe, because I really hate calling my weight loss journey a diet, because to be honest, it really doesn't feel like I'm on one. In our society, the word diet comes with so much baggage. Pain, shame, challenge, etc. When we think of someone on a diet, we think of someone eating lettuce leaf, fight craving tooth and nail, and running miles to get in shape. Now, my lazy, video playing ass wouldn't be caught dead running miles and just eating vegetables all day. But this is the vision I had in my mind every time I thought about dieting was the struggle that it was going to be.
Boy, was I wrong.
This thought, along with my lack of knowledge about weight loss more than often led me to say fuck it, and say, "well, this is the way I'm gonna be my whole life, better learn to love it..." or try, and give up on the diet after a few days or weeks. But it's funny what motivation can do for you. If you read my journey post, then you will know what things that happened in my life to motivate me. These things led me to wanna change my life. And that is the point I want to make. This is why I don't feel like I'm on a diet, because a diet to me, and I'm sure most of you means the things I mentioned, but it also meant that it was a temporary thing. The way I'm eating and exercising now is something I can easily see myself doing for he rest of my life. I really enjoy the foods that I eat now. And what is intoxicating is the energy and the geniuine happiness I feel right now in my life from just eating better, and doing exercises that I love to do. It's like an addiction, but a good one. I really understand is being happy in your own skin and have a better body image of yourself is the key to happiness. I'm way more intimate relations with the women because of the confidence in myself that I have. Just thinking about last year around this time, how messed up I really was. But only now, do I realize how down I was. I thought that life was a motherfucka, and you're played the cards you're dealt. But it doesn't have to be. Once I started realizing that, then the skies have been the limit. The thing I love is when people who only see me from time to time compliment me on how great I'm looking. It is motivating, because you know you're making progress. But what is really motivating is that you know that I'm not done yet. 2 years ago, I was at 290 (may have been more, but this was when I got on the scale and said "oh fuck!") and at the beginning of this year, I was around 280. I'm down to 227 when writing this. I really started hear the compliments when I got sub 240, and that kept me rolling. Then finding Mr. Low Body Fat gave me the support to keep pushing.
I this moment in my life, I eat to live, not live to eat. That was my former self. I guess you can say I was only a boy mentally until recently. I had to go through some struggles personally to get where I am right now. And even though I was always a good person, I was sad for years and didn't even realize it. I really have a new zest for life. Sucks that I had to get like this toward the end of my 20s, but I plan on having an awesome rest of my life. All of this, because I'm losing weight. I feel more energetic, which makes it easy to do things in life. I'm having more sex than I've had my whole life combined. All because of my weight loss. Big Dawg, if you take this journey, and get your mind right, you can feel the same thing. The funny thing is that in the past, I wanted weight loss to be quick, painless, and easy and was to naive to the fact that patience and practice are important virtues to have. Practice, because losing weight requires some practice, because I don't think anyone can just completely change the way they eat over night. I remember back when I would try to attempt losing weight, that weekend was a smorgasbord of whatever I wanted to eat, since I was going on a diet that Monday. And the night before, I would dread the next day because of the not so tasty foods I was going to have to eat now. But in this weight loss journey, it was a gradual progression, and the researching, and motivating factors that are driving me. And plus with my knowledge, I know that it is a simple process that we have overcomplicated (have to remember to write about the conspiracy theory I have about obesity in America). Now, I love the foods I eat, because it's the foods that I've always loved, but never had the patience to buy and cook my foods. I look forward to my workouts, because I love challenging myself. And seeing the results of my hard work helps enormously. Patience because this should be no rush. To get where you want to get in terms of your body is not quick fix. You shouldn't look at your progression from day to day, or even week to week. Think more in months. If you're too impatient to wait a few months, then you are doomed to fail. If you look at success stories, you can see that people can loss significant weight within a year. Some guy loss 200 pounds on the biggest loser in 8 months. I think that's a little extreme, but you get my drift. Even without excersising, you can lose a lot of weight within a year. But even with that said, my advice would be not to even trip. What I do is monitor my weight and take mental notes. I only have pictures to show my weight a month ago. No notes, or anything. But I can see with my own eyes the changes I see in the mirror. I think this journey is kinda cool, and in no rush to get it over with. Maintaining the weight seems like it's gonna be boring. Trying to keep my intake below 1800 is at times challenging, but I succeed on more days than others. Some days, I'm way below. Some days, I'm right at it. And there are those rare days that I exceed that. But that's the challenge in this. I'm not saying that I feel terrible when I eat an I-N-Out burger, but when I start to think of the food I ate for the day, I do kinda take note that my intake was over 1800 and I have to do better the next day. But on those days, my intake was probably only 2200, which only means that my deficit won't be that much on that day, but I'm still losing weight. The compliments I receive from family and friends feels great. And can't wait until months from now where I'm at my ideal body fat percentage and how ecstatic I'm gonna be. With all of that in mind, that is why I don't feel like I'm on a diet.
Boy, was I wrong.
This thought, along with my lack of knowledge about weight loss more than often led me to say fuck it, and say, "well, this is the way I'm gonna be my whole life, better learn to love it..." or try, and give up on the diet after a few days or weeks. But it's funny what motivation can do for you. If you read my journey post, then you will know what things that happened in my life to motivate me. These things led me to wanna change my life. And that is the point I want to make. This is why I don't feel like I'm on a diet, because a diet to me, and I'm sure most of you means the things I mentioned, but it also meant that it was a temporary thing. The way I'm eating and exercising now is something I can easily see myself doing for he rest of my life. I really enjoy the foods that I eat now. And what is intoxicating is the energy and the geniuine happiness I feel right now in my life from just eating better, and doing exercises that I love to do. It's like an addiction, but a good one. I really understand is being happy in your own skin and have a better body image of yourself is the key to happiness. I'm way more intimate relations with the women because of the confidence in myself that I have. Just thinking about last year around this time, how messed up I really was. But only now, do I realize how down I was. I thought that life was a motherfucka, and you're played the cards you're dealt. But it doesn't have to be. Once I started realizing that, then the skies have been the limit. The thing I love is when people who only see me from time to time compliment me on how great I'm looking. It is motivating, because you know you're making progress. But what is really motivating is that you know that I'm not done yet. 2 years ago, I was at 290 (may have been more, but this was when I got on the scale and said "oh fuck!") and at the beginning of this year, I was around 280. I'm down to 227 when writing this. I really started hear the compliments when I got sub 240, and that kept me rolling. Then finding Mr. Low Body Fat gave me the support to keep pushing.
I this moment in my life, I eat to live, not live to eat. That was my former self. I guess you can say I was only a boy mentally until recently. I had to go through some struggles personally to get where I am right now. And even though I was always a good person, I was sad for years and didn't even realize it. I really have a new zest for life. Sucks that I had to get like this toward the end of my 20s, but I plan on having an awesome rest of my life. All of this, because I'm losing weight. I feel more energetic, which makes it easy to do things in life. I'm having more sex than I've had my whole life combined. All because of my weight loss. Big Dawg, if you take this journey, and get your mind right, you can feel the same thing. The funny thing is that in the past, I wanted weight loss to be quick, painless, and easy and was to naive to the fact that patience and practice are important virtues to have. Practice, because losing weight requires some practice, because I don't think anyone can just completely change the way they eat over night. I remember back when I would try to attempt losing weight, that weekend was a smorgasbord of whatever I wanted to eat, since I was going on a diet that Monday. And the night before, I would dread the next day because of the not so tasty foods I was going to have to eat now. But in this weight loss journey, it was a gradual progression, and the researching, and motivating factors that are driving me. And plus with my knowledge, I know that it is a simple process that we have overcomplicated (have to remember to write about the conspiracy theory I have about obesity in America). Now, I love the foods I eat, because it's the foods that I've always loved, but never had the patience to buy and cook my foods. I look forward to my workouts, because I love challenging myself. And seeing the results of my hard work helps enormously. Patience because this should be no rush. To get where you want to get in terms of your body is not quick fix. You shouldn't look at your progression from day to day, or even week to week. Think more in months. If you're too impatient to wait a few months, then you are doomed to fail. If you look at success stories, you can see that people can loss significant weight within a year. Some guy loss 200 pounds on the biggest loser in 8 months. I think that's a little extreme, but you get my drift. Even without excersising, you can lose a lot of weight within a year. But even with that said, my advice would be not to even trip. What I do is monitor my weight and take mental notes. I only have pictures to show my weight a month ago. No notes, or anything. But I can see with my own eyes the changes I see in the mirror. I think this journey is kinda cool, and in no rush to get it over with. Maintaining the weight seems like it's gonna be boring. Trying to keep my intake below 1800 is at times challenging, but I succeed on more days than others. Some days, I'm way below. Some days, I'm right at it. And there are those rare days that I exceed that. But that's the challenge in this. I'm not saying that I feel terrible when I eat an I-N-Out burger, but when I start to think of the food I ate for the day, I do kinda take note that my intake was over 1800 and I have to do better the next day. But on those days, my intake was probably only 2200, which only means that my deficit won't be that much on that day, but I'm still losing weight. The compliments I receive from family and friends feels great. And can't wait until months from now where I'm at my ideal body fat percentage and how ecstatic I'm gonna be. With all of that in mind, that is why I don't feel like I'm on a diet.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Calories Count!
Whatever they tell you, this is the basic principle of weight loss. It's scientific law. If someone says that they don't count, they're BSing you. All the lose weight quick schemes are BS, or if it does work, it's not the weight you wanna lose. The more the caloric deficit you have, the more faster the weight you lose. And if you're doing it at a healthy and steady weight, you can lose 1-3 pounds a week! It's all science, and if you do your research, you can find alot of info the back up what I'm saying. But I'll try to explain it a nutshell, but read this to get a better understanding on the science behind it.
Energy can't disappear. It has to be used, or stored. Based on our individual metabolism, calories (energy) varies, and some burn more than others. So let's say that you burn 2700 calories a day. If you consume 3500 calories through food, than the remaining 800 calories is stored as fat. That's what you see around your belly. Energy that wasn't used, so it's stored on your body. And vice versa for fat loss. If you burn 2700 calories, and you consume 1700 calories, than the body will use other sources of energy since the food is not enough fuel the energy used in the day. So the body will take the fat from your body that was stored or even muscle protein to make up for that. That's how you lose weight. With that said, I know the goal is that you want to lose body fat, and keep lean muscle mass. It is important that if you want to lose weight, and keep lean muscle mass, lose the weight at a steady pace and eat plenty of lean protein. You see some folks that lose weight, but they just become a skinnier fat (i.e. Jared from Subway). That's because their lean muscle mass is not much. Maybe they're not working out much, or not getting a steady supply of protein. But this is something I will touch on a little bit later, but wanted to touch on that a bit.
Counting calories is easier said than done. There is no way to get an exact caloric calculation, because your metabolism varies day to day, and calorie counting is not an exact science. But you should be able to know what neighborhood your in. You should research different types of foods to get an approximate amount. But using the nutrition labels is very important if you get packaged foods. And also, if you decide get some fast food, before you go, go to their nutritional facts page to see about how many calories you're going to consume. But if you consume more whole foods (lean meats and veggies), then you know that you're caloric intake will always be not as much as getting some type of processed foods, fast foods, or foods high in carbs. Like for an example, an ideal day for me would be a veggie omelet with whole wheat English muffin on strawberry preserves. I know with eggs (2) being about 75 calories, and with the mixed veggies, I add 50 calories, and then for the muffin, I add 100 calories, I figure tha meal is about 300-350. Then the second meal, I try to make it the biggest meal of the day, since after this meal, will be the time where I will be the most active. So I'll eat a grilled chicken with a garden salad and mixed veggies which I figure around 400-500 calories. Then I might eat a Trader Joes burrito which is about 350, and then depending on my appetite, eat a 4th meal that I try to keep under 350 calories. So if I can keep my intake between 1500-1800 calories, then I know I will have a great calorie deficit that day. Nobody is perfect, and you shouldn't try to be. I just explained an ideal day. There are days where I might wanna get a big mac, or get a nice sandwich. That's fine, as long as I keep mind of what I ate. The other day, I had that egg omelet breakfast I talked about, but I a craving for a Whooper for my second meal. I got a Whooper with cheese, no mayo which is about 560 calories, small onion rings which is about 150 calories, and a diet coke which has 0 calories. That is 710 calories for that meal. With that in mind, I knew that my 3rd a 4th meal (if I have one) will have to be alot lower. I had a 350 calorie burrito later, and that was it. I consumed only 1400 calories that day! What tends to get people fat is that with the Whooper, they will get cheese, mayo, with a large fries and soda which could be almost a 1400 calorie meal. And they multiply that caloric intake over 3-4 meals a day, and have a lot of calories consumed for the day, way above what the body has burned. So what the key is to be consistent with your nutrition, because you can never go wrong by eating right. And you must get it into your mind of eating less, and eating better foods. If you can get those two things ingrained into your mind, the rest will come easy. And it will come to the point to where you might want to indulge once and a while, and that's fine. Some of the food that is high in calories are very good. But to indulge everyday all day is not a good way in trying to lose or maintain your weight. I indulged all the time throughout my life. I was very implusive, and lazy and didn't want to cook, so I would go out all the time. Even to this day, it's hard for me to eat out, because I tend to go for foods that I shouldn't be getting. I think it was Muata that said be mindful of your pitfalls. In other words, no what your kryptonite is that triggers eating habits that are good for you. Since I have that in mind, I make sure I spend alot of money on groceries, because I'm very good at just buying good food at the grocery store. I love going through the vegetable isle and picking out all the vegetables that I love. And sense I spent a good amount of money on food, I know there will be no reason for me to eat out, because I just spent that money on food.
So please, be mindful the amount of calories you are consuming. Even before you start "dieting" just start be counting the calories you're consuming now, or think is this meal good or bad. We're all men, and we know what we know which foods are better for us. I always think of this line: Eat for purpose, not for pleasure. Even though what I'm eating gives me alot of pleasure, I think of that line when I get cravings.
Energy can't disappear. It has to be used, or stored. Based on our individual metabolism, calories (energy) varies, and some burn more than others. So let's say that you burn 2700 calories a day. If you consume 3500 calories through food, than the remaining 800 calories is stored as fat. That's what you see around your belly. Energy that wasn't used, so it's stored on your body. And vice versa for fat loss. If you burn 2700 calories, and you consume 1700 calories, than the body will use other sources of energy since the food is not enough fuel the energy used in the day. So the body will take the fat from your body that was stored or even muscle protein to make up for that. That's how you lose weight. With that said, I know the goal is that you want to lose body fat, and keep lean muscle mass. It is important that if you want to lose weight, and keep lean muscle mass, lose the weight at a steady pace and eat plenty of lean protein. You see some folks that lose weight, but they just become a skinnier fat (i.e. Jared from Subway). That's because their lean muscle mass is not much. Maybe they're not working out much, or not getting a steady supply of protein. But this is something I will touch on a little bit later, but wanted to touch on that a bit.
Counting calories is easier said than done. There is no way to get an exact caloric calculation, because your metabolism varies day to day, and calorie counting is not an exact science. But you should be able to know what neighborhood your in. You should research different types of foods to get an approximate amount. But using the nutrition labels is very important if you get packaged foods. And also, if you decide get some fast food, before you go, go to their nutritional facts page to see about how many calories you're going to consume. But if you consume more whole foods (lean meats and veggies), then you know that you're caloric intake will always be not as much as getting some type of processed foods, fast foods, or foods high in carbs. Like for an example, an ideal day for me would be a veggie omelet with whole wheat English muffin on strawberry preserves. I know with eggs (2) being about 75 calories, and with the mixed veggies, I add 50 calories, and then for the muffin, I add 100 calories, I figure tha meal is about 300-350. Then the second meal, I try to make it the biggest meal of the day, since after this meal, will be the time where I will be the most active. So I'll eat a grilled chicken with a garden salad and mixed veggies which I figure around 400-500 calories. Then I might eat a Trader Joes burrito which is about 350, and then depending on my appetite, eat a 4th meal that I try to keep under 350 calories. So if I can keep my intake between 1500-1800 calories, then I know I will have a great calorie deficit that day. Nobody is perfect, and you shouldn't try to be. I just explained an ideal day. There are days where I might wanna get a big mac, or get a nice sandwich. That's fine, as long as I keep mind of what I ate. The other day, I had that egg omelet breakfast I talked about, but I a craving for a Whooper for my second meal. I got a Whooper with cheese, no mayo which is about 560 calories, small onion rings which is about 150 calories, and a diet coke which has 0 calories. That is 710 calories for that meal. With that in mind, I knew that my 3rd a 4th meal (if I have one) will have to be alot lower. I had a 350 calorie burrito later, and that was it. I consumed only 1400 calories that day! What tends to get people fat is that with the Whooper, they will get cheese, mayo, with a large fries and soda which could be almost a 1400 calorie meal. And they multiply that caloric intake over 3-4 meals a day, and have a lot of calories consumed for the day, way above what the body has burned. So what the key is to be consistent with your nutrition, because you can never go wrong by eating right. And you must get it into your mind of eating less, and eating better foods. If you can get those two things ingrained into your mind, the rest will come easy. And it will come to the point to where you might want to indulge once and a while, and that's fine. Some of the food that is high in calories are very good. But to indulge everyday all day is not a good way in trying to lose or maintain your weight. I indulged all the time throughout my life. I was very implusive, and lazy and didn't want to cook, so I would go out all the time. Even to this day, it's hard for me to eat out, because I tend to go for foods that I shouldn't be getting. I think it was Muata that said be mindful of your pitfalls. In other words, no what your kryptonite is that triggers eating habits that are good for you. Since I have that in mind, I make sure I spend alot of money on groceries, because I'm very good at just buying good food at the grocery store. I love going through the vegetable isle and picking out all the vegetables that I love. And sense I spent a good amount of money on food, I know there will be no reason for me to eat out, because I just spent that money on food.
So please, be mindful the amount of calories you are consuming. Even before you start "dieting" just start be counting the calories you're consuming now, or think is this meal good or bad. We're all men, and we know what we know which foods are better for us. I always think of this line: Eat for purpose, not for pleasure. Even though what I'm eating gives me alot of pleasure, I think of that line when I get cravings.
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