Thanksgiving Is Coming: Are You Ready?

Hello weight losing fans...

Today I stepped up onto the Magical-Mystical-Digital Scale weighing in at 176.4-pounds.

David, are you lying? How did you shed 6-pounds in three days? There is an easy explanation for that. It's this, I never regained 6 pounds. That food I ate for my birthday had to go through it's normal cycle for digestion. When I went back to 1,500 calories the next day after my celebrating, my body did the rest of the necessary work.

Again, up until that one day, I've held pretty close to 1,500 calories each day. The one exception was, when I went out of town. I did my confession, and absolution for that.

I keep writing, it takes more than one day of stuffing oneself like a Thanksgiving Turkey to put back on the extra weight. We get into trouble when we treat everyday like it's a day for celebrating. It's those days when we don't pay attention to the amount of fruit-loops we put in our bowl, and the amount of milk we add, and the big hamburger, and French Fries, with chocolate shake, that add on the pounds.

It's a strange phenomenon here in America: We have to be so cautious about how we drive, we have to be so cautious about what we do at work, we have to be so careful counting our pennies, and dimes, but we don't pay attention at all to how much food we consume. We don't assess what we are eating, when we eat, and how much we eat. Then when the years of neglect catch us, and we find ourselves in the doctors office listening to that news about our new disease, we are baffled.

I am not writing that there aren't diseases that won't be attributable to outside events. However, if you are suffering from a disease like obesity, the odds are real good, you did it to you.

Well, I had people strapping me down everyday, and pouring milk shakes down my throat, and stuffing Oreo cookies in my mouth. Then they forced me to sit still all day in one place. It was truly a nightmare. (It wasn't my fault, Honest.) Then I got loose, and was able to quit those habits.
OK... I get it...

Nope, I did it to me. I can remember two years ago eating a bag of Oreo Cookies. I can remember eating a full size frozen pizza. I can remember going to a buffet, and going back three of four times for plates loaded with food. I can remember then returning after eating all of that food to the dessert counter, and consuming three or four plates filled with sweets. Oh my those were the days...

I have written about this before. It's nothing new for anyone who is checking in my blog.

If you check in on me often, you will find that I drum that same drum, with the same beat. I don't put if real fancy. If I did, then taking the proper course of action would be far too complicated.

This isn't rocket science. It's not as if we are calculating the potential skin temperatures of the space shuttle when it reenters the earth's atmosphere.

Well, if it's not rocket science, and it's so simple to understand, then why can't I do it? Why, after years of trying, do I still have this big belly? Why do I, after years of trying, still have these thick legs?

Here is why, understanding the phenomenon of weight loss is easy compared to applying the principals. It's easy to say, "Well I will only eat 1,500 calories today." It's not easy to keep eating only 1,500 calories a day.

It's easy to decide to lose weight. It's not easy to practice the necessary steps after making that decision.

There are a lot of external sources that will unwittingly try to keep you from following through with your decision, and action. I could make a list. But, I don't have the time today.

Your biggest detractor: YOU. You aren't convinced it's worth it to you. You don't want to do what is necessary to lose that weight. And, the odds are real good, you are probably doing it wrong.

Well, Mr. Smarty Pants, how do you know I am doing it wrong? Well, I have been there. Only, I didn't start this weight loss adventure, or season as I call it, unarmed. I had years of reading weight loss books, and diet books behind me. I had years of wrestling with my weight behind me. I had years of going up and down.

My biggest failure was, I let my guard down. I thought that once I arrived at the weight I wanted I would stay there. I thought, I could go back to the old way of eating.

Oh, no, no, that's not so. You can't go back to the old way of eating. My old way of eating is what got me into trouble. I ate too much food. My body said, "OK, watch this." I began to balloon up again.

I also had some misconceptions. I thought that the only way I could lose weight was doing the Doctor Atkins's diet. I had super success with that. Only, I couldn't keep eating only meat, eggs, and fat. When I quit doing the Atkins's diet, I began to regain the poundage.

When I tried to reapply the Doctor Atkins's diet I ran into some real stiff resistance in my body. I had reached a point where my body wouldn't respond to a high protein diet.

When using the Doctor Atkins's diet program I could monitor my fat burning by using a Ketosis stick. When the stick remained beige there was no fat burning. This was usually because I might have eaten something with sugar in the mix, maybe a meat marinade.

When the Ketosis stick turned various shades of maroon, I was burning fat. The darker of a maroon color on the end of that stick turned, the more fat that I was burning. There were times when I would turn that stick a dark maroon color for days and days, back to back. Yet, I wasn't losing a single pound.

In fact I started going into full reverse. I reached a point where the body rebelled. I found that phenomenon where it didn't matter how much ketosis was taking place. I was still gaining weight.

I was baffled. It didn't take long for me to give up again. I was defeated. The one diet I knew I was so successful at wasn't helping anymore.

And, I can definitely say, this is one diet that won't work forever. Nope, sooner or later, you will say, I want my sweet roll. That's all it will take to crash you off course from the Doctor Atkins's diet.

So, what is the proper diet? Ummm....Are you ready? Here it comes: "Eat Less Food."

Well, how much food should I eat? Ummm... you'll probably have to eat a lot less than you do.

But, I don't know how much I should eat. Take your current weight, multiply it by 8. For example: if you weigh 200-pounds, 200 x 8 = 1,600 calories. That's a real good place to start.

But, will I have to keep it at 1,600 calories? Ummm, no... you'll have to drop the calories as you lose weight.

What, when do I stop? When you get to the weight you want. Then you stop dropping the calories, and add in some to get to a steady weight.

Well, do I have to weigh myself everyday like you do? No, you don't.
But, let me tell you how pilots used to fly their airplanes years ago before they put all of this modern navigational equipment in those planes. They watched that compass, the altimeter, and the artificial horizon constantly. They looked out the window, then they scanned those instruments.

If a pilot who is flying to a certain destination has to constantly monitor his instruments to reach that destination, then what do you think you'll have to do to reach your weight loss destination?

Even in this modern time of flight instrumentation, the pilot can't take for granted that plane is always tracking on course. He still has to monitor the instruments. He still has to make sure that plane is tracking to where it is supposed to.

You will have to monitor your weight loss progress. You will have to set the course, and apply the physics related to eating less food, in order to get to the weight target you want.

Well, do I have to do it all of the time? Again, would you want a pilot who sets up his instruments to fly a course, and afterwards pulls out the hot rod magazine to study it while the plane goes it's merry way?

Would you want a ship captain to pilot his ship with anything less than diligent seamen who aren't deliberate in the actions they take with that ship?

Here is where we fall to pieces. We seem to think that that we can eat anything that's put before us. We grab that muffin. Then we grab that piece of chocolate. Then we grab that ice cream cone. Then we grab that chicken sandwich. Then we grab those French Fries. Then we eat that bowl of soup.

We eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, and eat. Then we're so surprised when we find that tight tummy we had when we a teenagers turned into a bowl of jello. We eat, eat, eat, eat, and eat, then we are so shocked when the husband makes a snotty comment about our fat fanny.

We go into shock when we don't look so hot anymore. Well, how many finger sandwiches have you eaten over the years? How many bottles of wine did you consume? How many shots of liquor did you pass through the lips and over the gums. How many ice cream bars did you eat?

Can you remember what you ate two days ago? Do you know how many calories you ate two days ago? Do you remember what you ate for dinner last week?

I know how many calories I ate. I know what I ate two days ago. I can look in my food journal.
I'll tell you what I consumed.

It's because of this due diligence I have the success that I have so far. The hardest thing in it all, is getting used to the idea, "I ate more than I needed."

Yep, I am alive two years later. I am alive, and so far relatively healthy. (Watch, I'll get hit by a car outside.) And, I got here watching out for what I ate.

You can too. You can get that weight off. You can get to a reasonable weight. You don't have to have special surgery where they cut up your guts. You don't have to have a diet pill. You don't have to have a magic diet guru.

Yes, you can lose weight all by yourself. Here is how... "Eat Less Food."

That's it.

Number counter when I completed writting this post: 7503

Bye for now...

And that's the way it is...I'm David Dane