We all realize that it’s that time of year again – the beginning of the Holiday Season! We’re planning for Thanksgiving the day after tomorrow. Then, it’s a mad dash of shopping, cooking, eating, drinking, parties, family get togethers, religious events, perhaps traveling, and lots of joy (and possibly sadness depending on our circumstances) until after New Year’s Day. In other words we’ll be incredibly busy and have little time for ourselves, and, even worse, our daily routines will be disrupted for months! Despite this, the Holidays are a good thing. We just have to plan. This is not a time for thoughts such as “I’m not going to gain weight!”, or, “It’s impossible so I won’t even try!”, or, “I’ll wait until after the New Year!”, or “I’ll skip all those parties!”, or, whatever. The truth is we’ll all party and eat and drink – some of us will maintain our weight but most of us will gain at least a few pounds despite our best intentions. By planning, however, we can minimize the damage and enter the New Year healthier by doing a few simple things. We must be honest with ourselves because we know what’s going to happen otherwise. The first thing we must do is try to get at least and extra 30 cumulative minutes of physical activity each and every day. This can be simply walking while shopping or visiting. Next, since we are planning to snack and drink more, we should cut back on our regular meals and try to keep the accumulation of goodies in our homes and work spaces to a minimum by taking inventory and throwing them out daily if necessary. We all know what to do – we just have to do it. Thirdly, we should keep some type of record or diary of what we consume and where we’re going to go so we know what we’ve done and what we’ll probably soon do. This sounds too easy and it is, but, we’ll only do it if we begin now.
Archive for the ‘Maintaining and Losing Weight’ Category
The Holiday Season Need Not Cause Weight Problems: We Must Begin Planning for the New Year Now!
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011The Weight Loss Blues Affect Everyone – Even “Experts” Like Me!
Thursday, October 13th, 2011“Too much knowledge is a dangerous thing” a sage once said. This is the way my wife and I feel now. Since we’ve recently cut way back on our professional activities we’ve had much more time to travel. In fact, we’ve spent over four of the past eight weeks traveling – 31/2 weeks driving to Oregon and back and last week driving to northern Wisconsin for a blissful week in the gorgeous north woods. Even though we kept active – kayaking, swimming, hiking, horse back riding, etc. – we both gained around 4 – 5 lbs. which we are having a devil of a time taking off. This despite our knowing what to do and being very knowledgeable in calorie counting. I get on the scale frequently and know how my patients feel when dieting. It’s frustrating! However, why we gained the weight isn’t a secret if we think about it. Firstly, although we were active on our trips, the physical activity was more intermittent and not as constant during the day. Secondly, we were, of necessity, eating out a lot and our food choices were not the best for weight control. Thirdly, we usually eat only two meals a day – a late breakfast or early lunch and a dinner later in the day. When traveling, the norm is, more often than not, that we eat three meals a day plus snacks which are more difficult to control when away from home. So, our problem was not one of ignorance or lack of knowledge of what we should have done, but one of our not planning and anticipating what would happen to us. Because of this lack of preparation, we blew it. Even the old cliche “Eat, it’s OK you’re on vacation,” doesn’t change the outcome. We now have to lose those pounds! It would have been better to not have gained weight by planning and applying the principles we know so well. Until we do this we will be forever flumoxed by our weight management.
To show how much I haven’t changed, I reread my previous post of January 20, 2010 where I lament my new year’s weight gain as well as my post on February 9, 2010. You should read these too.
My Patients Ask – “How Many Calories Per Day Can I Eat and Still Maintain My Weight?”
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010I’m always thrilled when a patient asks me this question, because, I believe, an individual’s understanding of how many calories he/she needs to maintain current weight is the first, and most important, of the three “anchor points” that we must embrace if we are to be successful maintaining weight, losing weight or maintaining weight loss. The second “anchor point” is using the scale regularly (weekly is best) to monitor how we’re doing weight wise and the third “anchor point” is the performance, on a daily basis, of as much physical activity as we can do – preferably a cumulative hour plus per day.
Estimating (its not an exact science) the daily calories needed to maintain our weight is easy – for women, multiply your weight by 10 - 11 calories per pound and for men by 12 – 13 calories per pound.
A woman who weighs 150 lbs can eat only 150 x 10 – 11 = 1500 – 1650 calories per day.
A man who weighs 180 lbs can eat only 180 x 12 -13 = 2160 – 2340 calories per day.
Surprised? When one understands that a meal of a burger, fries, and a soft drink averages 1000 + calories and that this equals 2/3 of the daily calories a 150 lb woman can eat to maintain her weight (leaving only 500 or so calories for the rest of the day) its no wonder women, especially as they get older, and especially if they áre physically inactive, have trouble not only losing but maintaining their weight. That same 1000+ calorie meal represents around 1/2 of a 180 lb man’s maintenance calories per day leaving 1000 to 1300 calories for the rest of the day.
Getting the picture? One has to deficit (not eat or consume) 500 calories per day or 3500 calories per week to decrease one’s weight by one pound. This means that a 150 lb woman would have to decrease to 1000 -1200 calories per day and the 180 lb man to 1600 -1800 calories per day to lose 1 lb per week!
I want you to think about all of this. I’ll discuss calories further as well as the other two anchor points in upcoming posts.
As usual, I’d appreciate your comments.
For My Weight Loss – Why “Eating Healthy” Was Not the Total Answer – “Good” vs. “Bad” Foods
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010First, an update on my own weight loss efforts – two pounds this past week by a combination of daily physical activity and less calories while going out to restaurants to eat three times, eating most of a triple fruit pie (a regular recipe without low calorie ingredients) that I personally baked, and having a daily cocktail. Am I eating healthy? What does this mean? Why did I lose weight?
I guess what most people mean by “Eating Healthy” is avoiding “junk” food (my pie and alcohol?) with its refined contents, sugars, chemicals, pesticides, and preservatives, and other “empty” calories plus avoiding trans fats, saturated fats, and cholesterol and replacing these with non processed (non refined) and ”organically” produced foods such as fruits and vegetables, whole grain cereals, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, seafoods as opposed to meats, less caffein, and perhaps taking vitamins and other “health improving” additives or supplements. It’s the same old refrain replace ”bad” foods with “good” foods – “bad” calories with “good ” calories. A lot of individuals are doing this to a more or less degree. Are they “healthier” because of this? Most definitely. Are they losing weight? Most are definitely not. Why? Because a calorie is a calorie is a calorie, “bad” or “good.” An ounce of high fructose corn syrup’s ”bad” carbohydrate has the same number of calories as an ounce of the “good” carbohydrate in whole grain cereal – an ounce of saturated or trans “bad” fat has the same number of calories as an ounce of the “good” monounsaturated fat in olive or peanut oil. An eight ounce glass of regular soda pop has the same number of calories as a glass of orange juice. Is the orange juice healthier? Of course it is! Will substituting a glass of orange juice for a glass of pop help you lose weight? Of course not because they’re calorically equal! Getting the picture?
Now, back to me. I lost weight while eating out a lot, eating home made pie, drinking alcohol - eating in a way most would consider “unhealthy” – because I consumed less calories than I needed to maintain my weight. Therefore, for me it was the quantity (total number) of calories not the type (good vs. bad) of calories which made the difference. Yes, I also performed daily physical activity but really no more than I had done before I decided to lose those pounds.
Remember, your “eating healthy” will result in weight loss only if, by “eating healthy” you are actually eating less calories than you need to maintain your weight!
I’ll discuss how we can easily calculate our daily calorie needs in my next post.
“Weighing In” the New Year Continued – Why So Difficult?
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010The sheer number of new articles, books, advertisements, diet programs, and other hoopla, blitzing us in the new year attest to the problem of overweight and its consequences being literally and figuratively a huge problem. As I mentioned previously, after gaining 5 pounds in the past 8 weeks or so I weigh more now than I have in awhile. Although gaining 5 pounds sounds like I really overate, in truth, my total daily average excess calorie imbalance (a combination of more food and less physical activity since Thanksgiving) was only around 300 calories a day! Doesn’t sound like a lot does it? It isn’t. An extra drink here, a snack there, a little less walking easily accounts for the 300 calories. That’s why its so easy to gain and so hard to lose those pounds. So, now, I’ve ramped up my daily physical activity and I’ve decreased my calorie intake by around 500 calories a day and I’m losing about a pound a week. Why does it work for me and why do others have such a problem? It has to do with understanding how many calories one needs to maintain weight and the sum total of all the calories one eats daily plus physical activity calorie expenditure. I’ll discuss how to calculate these parameters in my next post. I’ll give you a hint its not simply “eating healthy” – whatever that means.
