- Decide what you want. A vague “I want to lose weight” won’t get it Specificity is key. Your brain cannot help you get what you want if you only have a fuzzy notion. Describe the result you seek in terms you can quantify and visualize and then state the goal in the present tense with a specific date for attainment. For example; My body is lean, strong and flexible with a bodyfat percentage of XX% on XX date.
- Be very clear about why you want the result described above. If it is for health reasons, why do you care about your health? Get specific. Why is health important to you. Do you want aesthetic results? Why? Do you want to improve your ability to do things like having the energy, strength and athletic ability to play with your children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren? Are their activities you used to really enjoy but are incapable of today because of the state of your body. Are the activities you enjoy today that you would like to enjoy for decades to come? Just about any “what” can be achieved if you have a powerful enough “why”.
- Determine your baseline caloric needs and desired macronutrient mix. A calorie is a unit of energy. You need energy just to breathe, digest food and keep your body at 98.6. More energy is needed to perform normal daily tasks such as bathing, going to work etc. etc. etc. Additional calories are needed if you exert yourself through exercise. A solid exercise program can burn several hundred extra calories per day which will allow you to enjoy a bit more food while you are losing bodyfat. Jenny Ruhl has posted a calculator that can help you with this. Here is a link to her calculator. http://www.jennybrown.net/Calculators/DietMakeupCalcNew.htm Any calculator is at best an estimating tool. Mileage varies from human to human. Your metabolism may be more or less active than most people and as a consequence, you may have to make some adjustments. We will cover that later. Beware of any diet that is too restrictive. Keto, carnivore and vegetarian are all popular these days. Each leaves out a lot of things that will make it difficult to get all of your nutritional needs met. Extreme diets may be necessary for certain circumstances but they should be studied carefully. get input from proponents and critics. A vegetarian diet can be incredibly healthful as long as it is highly disciplined, carbohydrates are kept within limits and supplements are used to provide the missing critical nutrients. Failure to do this can have major health consequences. Fasting can also be powerful as a way of reducing body fat and promoting health. Doing a fast correctly and safely is beyond the scope of this article but I encourage you to study this subject further.
- Quantify yourself. I use a Fitbit Versa 2 to track activity and sleep, a Fitbit Aria 2, wifi connected scale to track weight and bodyfat and a diet tracking program called Lose-it. It is possible to connect the devices and programs to create a dashboard that tracks calories in and out along with weight and bodyfat percentage. My steps during the day are tracked by the watch. My walks, yoga sessions or gym workouts are all tracked. I start each day by entering the food I plan to eat in Lose-it. I have entered my goal and desired nutrition profile into Lose-it so it can compare my planned intake for the day with the goals I and make adjustments as needed. If I deviate from the eating plan I set in the morning, I need to go to Lose-it and make the adjustments to see where I am for the day.
- Work the program. Set your daily food plan and activity plan and weigh in at the same time every day. Each day notice how you did. If you did not follow the eating or activity plan you set, what got in the way? What will you do differently tomorrow to prevent another disappointment? The mindful awareness provided by tracking food and activity is powerful. I have found that a diet containing a pound of non-starchy vegetables has the advantage of being a lot of food with lots of nutrients and fiber but not a lot of calories. Add some good proteins and tasty and healthy fats up to your budget levels and hunger should not be much of a problem as the bodyfat melts away. Protein and fat are very important for satiety. Protein is particularly important to prevent muscle loss. Muscle builds slowly (slower with each decade) but it can be lost quickly. Muscle burns fat. Losing muscle can lower your metabolism and make you susceptible to a number of problems. In seniors loss of muscle mass results in loss of function that can have serious quality of life and health consequences.
- Prepare as much of your food as possible in your own kitchen. Factory and restaurant made food contains a lot of things you do not want and is missing a lot of things you do want. Manufactured food can be made to appeal to the senses through the addition of salt fat and sugar. Loading up on fresh and frozen vegetables. Frozen vegetables and berries are great. They are picked at their prime and put into suspended animation until thawed or cooked. Avoid frozen vegetables with sauces etc. They will be loaded with salt, fat, and sugar.
- Exercise is great for burning a few more calories and for a wide range of health benefits but you cannot out-exercise your mouth unless you are prepared to train at the level of the Tour de France cyclists. Body composition is 80% diet and 20% exercise. Go for 150 minutes a week of light cardio, whole-body resistance training 3-4 times a week and balance and flexibility work such as yoga as close to daily as possible. The list of benefits from this regime is way too long to cover here. Health, longevity and quality of life are all dramatically impacted. It is imperative that you ease into exercise a little at a time and that you do it correctly to avoid injuries that will set back your efforts.
- Sleep is an important component in changing body composition. Poor sleep or not enough sleep can seriously impair success. We use our Fitbit watches to track sleep and to assess the effects of things we do to improve sleep quality.
- Drink lots of pure, plain water. It is ok to add tea and coffee to the mix but still get plenty of plain water. A few packets of stevia a day are OK but artificially sweetened drinks increase appetite and should be avoided. All sugar should be avoided.
- Hunker down for the long term and be patient. Make adjustments as necessary so you are enjoying food and your life as you are improving your health, wellbeing, and appearance. Analyze setbacks as they occur and look for simple hacks to make sticking to the plan easier. Rinse and repeat.
Your Life – an Owner's Manual
Living the Good life
