Confessions of a Fat Man, Part 2 - My System

Where I am now:
I decided I had to do something, anything, to get control of my health. I took a $285 risk to buy a months worth of Nutrisystem food. I did indeed begin to lose weight on the system, but it was unpleasant. The food was marginal in terms of taste and paltry in terms of quantity. The system requires you to supply the fruits and vegetables and other things, so it is not a complete system as suggested by the advertising. I am not going to purchase anymore Nutrisystem food, because one can buy better tasting diet foods in the supermarket. Also, the advertising on TV suggests that you can eat large portions of delicious food that is specially formulated for losing weight. The portions are not large and the food is so-so (except for one or two items). However, I am glad that I tried it because it taught me one very important thing. One must count calories in order to lose weight, and I learned how to do that.

The formula is simple.
Step 1: One must know his/her BMR. Go here to do that.
Example: 2500 calories (the example is arbitrary and does not reflect my own situation)

Step 2: Find your daily caloric need based on your activity level.
In accordance with your activity level, the noted webpage will give you the amount of calories you need to consume in order to maintain your current weight.
Example: Lightly active > 3200 calories
This arbitrary example means that 3200 calories must be consumed in order to maintain the current weight.

Step 3: Set a goal as to how fast you want to lose weight. 1 or 2 lbs. per week is reasonable.
Since 1 pound = 3500 calories, one must cut 3500 calories out of his/her weekly diet to lose 1 pound. I have set my daily intake to 1000 calories below my daily caloric need. This means that 7 days x 1000 calories is 7000 calories or 2 lbs. lost in one week. (Don't cut your daily caloric intake to less than 1500 calories. I think that is quite unhealthy.)

Key points:
1. Learning to count calories is essential. Almost every product has a nutrition label where you can see the calories per serving. Fresh produce or fast food that does not include nutrition info can be found one the Internet. I use an iPhone app called "Lose It!," but if you don't have an iPhone, you can add an iGoogle app to your iGoogle page (which I encourage everyone to use, it's extremely handy!). The app is here.
Admittedly, it was annoying to have to research, record, and calculate every little thing that I ate, but I learned how 'every little thing that I ate' really adds up fast. I have actually come to enjoy calculating the calories and working with a calorie budget.

2. Exercise. Some people hate the thought of it, but I guess my younger days of running long-distance track and cross-country helped me to enjoy such activities. I don't mind sweating, getting out of breath, and getting tired. In fact, the endorphin rush after exercise is quite exhilarating. Depending on speed and effort, I typically burn 1000 to 1300 calories on two hour bike ride. I get to subtract those calories from my consumed calories, which opens a big gap in my calorie budget. This allows me to each more food, if I wish, but such exercise suppresses my appetite, and I end up replacing only a fraction of those burned calories.

3. Between dieting and exercise, I have cut about 73,500 calories out of my life in 35 days. That is about 2100+ calories per day (half from dieting, half from exercise) or 3/5 of a pound per day = about 4.2 lbs. per week = 21 lbs. in 5 weeks.

4. Not all calories are created equal. One could sit down and have a large slice of cake and pie and ice cream, and still be slightly within the caloric budget for the day. But that meal would be your only meal of the day, and your body needs proteins and other nutrients to be healthy. High protein foods are the best because protein is used to repair damaged tissue, but can also burned as energy. Carbs are the body's favorite energy source, and 50 to 60% of your diet should consist of carbs. Fat is just that, fat, but a small amount is essential because some vitamins are fat soluble (i.e., can only be absorbed using the fat as a carrier). Not to worry though, it is nearly impossible to nix all fat from ones diet, so low-fat no-fat foods are still the way to go.

5. Always have a high-protein meal before exercise. My favoritie is chocolate whey powder mixed with milk. As you exercise, your body will burn little or no fat until the energy stored in the liver and muscles is used up, but if you exercise on an empty stomach, your body will need another source of energy after your muscle-stored energy is used up, and surprisingly, your body will not dip into fat stores exclusively, because the fat cannot be converted to energy fast enough for immediate energy. Your body will turn instead to the muscles and and other tissues and burn that as energy. Burning muscle for energy is like tearing wood out of your home to burn in the fireplace to stay warm. It is totally counterproductive. Fat is burned most efficiently when the body has time to convert it to energy. That means having some food in the ol' clinker when you exercise, and if you exercise for several hours like I do, it means eating something midway through the exercise session.

Post Script: I have a long way to go, but I understand the system now and I feel confident that I can get my weight down to a healthy level.