Recipe #4: Chicken Fajitas

Hello everyone, just wanted to give a personal update in case anyone is interested:

• On the exercise front, I have been doing a lot of the stuff I have talked about before: running, biking, weight training, and basic punching bag exercises/jumping rope. This weekend, I did a duathlon each day; I ran a mile, biked about 10 miles, then came back and ran another mile to finish it out. It's a good work-out and I felt good afterwards.
• My diet is going really well; I feel like I am staying very committed and hitting my target calorie and fat intake almost every day.
• I also added ground turkey breast to my "Black Bean Chili" while also increasing the recipe size and it worked out really well.
• I weighed in at 165 lbs. late last week, which tied my low a couple weeks ago, and since I weighed in this morning at 168 (1 day after my binge day), I feel like I will be able to reach a new low this week. We'll see what happens.
• On that note, if anyone is experimenting with/implementing any part of my plan or another weight-loss plan I would love to hear about any experiences, positive or negative.

On to the recipe. This is another pretty easy one, kind of like all of mine.

Ingredients: 1 package (about 2 lbs.) of boneless chicken (either breast or thigh filets), 1 medium white onion (sliced thin), 1 red bell pepper (sliced thin), 1 green bell pepper (sliced thin), 2 clove of garlic, 2 tbsp. vegetable/canola oil, 1 package fajita spice (I use McCormick)

-There are positives and negatives to breast or thigh meat: breast is less fat and calories but more expensive, thigh meat is a little less healthy, but is juicier and cheaper.

1. Cut the raw chicken into thin, bite-size strips. (Be careful to wash your hands after handling raw chicken and don't cross contaminate your kitchen/utensils)
2. Mince 1 garlic clove, pour the oil into a large frying pan over medium heat, and add in the garlic.
3. After letting the garlic roast for about 30 seconds, add the chicken to the pan and brown on all sides.
4. Remove the chicken.
5. Repeat Step #2, and add in onion.
6. After about a minute add in the peppers, let the veggies cook for a few more minutes (you don't want them too soft).
7. Add the chicken back to the pan with the spice packet and stir, you may need to add as much as a half-cup of water to get the spices to dissolve.
8. Bring to a simmer and cut off the heat.

You now have a few meals that, depending on your chicken choice, 1,000 to 1,400 calories. Similar to my sausage and peppers, I like to put it in Tupperware immediately and get out individual servings. If you want to make this even easier, you can substitute the frozen bag of peppers for the fresh, and it's really quick but I don't think it's as good.

Get Outdoors #1: City of Raleigh Greenways

A great way to get active and burn calories is to integrate your "work-outs" into your recreation and leisure. One way to do this is to play sports, which are great, but most of the time take more than one person to be fun and sometimes it can be difficult to organize a group activity. Outdoor sports such as hiking, trail-running and mountain biking offer the flexibility of being fun individually or in groups.

I am about as much of a North Carolina native as one can be; at least part of my family arrived in the late 1700s and everyone has been from the state for a few generations. I bring this up because North Carolina lends itself particularly to outdoor pursuits, having a huge variety of different land formations and scenery to explore. I am partial to North Carolina, but you can find fun and interesting outdoor experiences anywhere and can even modify them to fit an urban setting.

City of Raleigh Greenway System
I have lived in and around Raleigh all of my life and have even worked for the City of Raleigh for a year and a half and have only discovered this greenway system in the last 2 months. Here is a link to the main greenway page on the city's webpage; about halfway down there is a map of current and planned greenways. You can run, walk, or bike almost anywhere in the city. I have ridden my bike from my house in northeast Raleigh past Crabtree Valley Mall on the northern section of east-west greenway. I have also parked at Pullen Park and ridden to and into Umstead Park (Umstead offers a lot of semi-wilderness to explore on it's on, if you haven't yet, check it out); all these trails essentially avoid roads as well if you are uncomfortable around vehicles. Many more miles of trail are currently under construction: there is planned route of the NC Museum of Art to downtown and a more northeastern trail that will invite faster moving.

If you live in Raleigh, I urge you to check out the greenways; they are very clean and well kept up and you'll see some different things.

Wherever you live, I urge you to check out your local outdoor opportunities and park systems. I have been all around the east coast to explore the outdoors and, in general, our tax dollars have lent themselves effectively to a great park system. The local, state and national parks each offer something to be enjoyed and something that you can burn calories while doing.

Tips for Effectively Using Salad Bars

I eat at the salad bar at Harris Teeter near where I work 4-5 times per week and have developed a pretty good routine of what I like and genuinely enjoy the meals I have there. The only real downside to it is that it is kind of pricey. Also, I notice others making some choices at the salad bar that I would consider mistakes so I wanted to post some pointers so you don't have to be one of those people.

• If you are choosing to eat a salad, and only a salad, for you meal, do not try to make it overly small. If you try to eat a small salad, you are potentially putting somewhere around 100 calories in your body and this is not enough for a meal unless you're planning on eating again immediately. I always eat over a pound of food in my salad an always keep it under 500 calories, usually well under.
• Stay away from: cheese, bacon, and fatty dressing. If you need these things to make your salad edible, then just eat something else, it will be healthier and you will enjoy it more. If you look at nutritional facts, you can easily put 500 calories of just these toppings on a salad (normal dressing alone is 150 calories per 2 tbsp.). 
• Make sure you get some source of protein and a good amount. Some healthy options at my salad bar are: tofu, cooked soybeans, black bean salad, grilled chicken breast, and boiled eggs. Protein will help add some good calories and help the meal fill you up, allowing you to stay satisfied until your next meal.
• Eat as much healthy vegetables as you would like and try to use darker greens as your base. There is nothing wrong with iceberg lettuce but it has no real nutritional value, it's pretty much just water.

 So here's my normal salad:

• Large bed of baby spinach with julienne carrots, sliced cucumber and broccoli florets.
• Depending on what they have I will add a couple of proteins. Usually a 1/2 cup of grilled chicken breast, 1/2 cup of tomato in sun-dried tomato pesto, a spoon of black bean salad, and possibly a boiled egg.
• 2-3 tablespoons of no-fat, low calorie sun-dried tomato dressing

And as I said before, it usually comes in at a pound to a pound and a half of food and is always under 500 calories. So salads can be an effective low-calorie meal if you can find one that works for you but just be aware of the pitfalls at any salad bar and if you can't stay from the most high-calorie options, then just eat something else.

Recipe #3: Turkey Sausage and Peppers

Now for a real recipe. As I have said in previous posts, it's sometimes difficult to cook for one person. I know it is certainly hard to buy fresh meat amounts for one person without freezing leftovers. So my strategy is generally to cook a family-sized meal and eat it over a few days. I usually have a meal ready to go that I can eat a few minutes after deciding I am going to have it.

My previous recipes have been simplistic but this one qualifies as an actual meal.

Ingredients: 5 turkey-Italian sausages (near 2 pounds, I usually get fresh Harris Teeter brand), 1 package frozen pepper stir-fry mix, 1 small jar spaghetti sauce, olive oil, Spices: garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, basil, parsley, cayenne pepper

1. Pour about 2 tbsp. olive oil (not extra virgin) in a large frying pan over medium heat.
2. Brown the sausages on all sides. This should take a little under 10 minutes.
3. Remove the sausages to a cutting board.
4. Pour 2 more tbsp. olive oil in the pan and up the heat to medium high.
5. Add in the entire bag of the pepper mix, still frozen, and let it cook for about a minute.
6. During this time add in a solid dash of all your spices and stir.
7. As that is cooking, cut your sausages into bite-size pieces and return them to the pan.
8. The sausage pieces will still be a little pink in the middle so just make you turn each piece at least once.
9. After the sausages are no longer pink, add about 1/2 cup to a cup of your spaghetti sauce, stir and bring to a simmer.
10. Turn off the heat and let cool for a minute.

At this point, I usually put the meal straight into Tupperware for saving. If I'm going to eat a portion, I try to make sure to serve myself an individual portion in a separate bowl in order to avoid over-eating. This whole dish is about 1000 calories and will make 2 very large meal-size portions or the parts of multiple meals.

Motivation, Goal Setting, and Measures of Health

As I said in my earlier post, it was a good weekend as far as my leisure time went. My teams won (NC State, Everton) and I got to watch some boxing and MMA.

Floyd Mayweather knocked his challenger out in a technically legal fashion but it wasn't very sporting as Ortiz was looking away and then proceeded to almost get in a fight with a 70 year old man immediately afterwards. There were also some pretty eventful MMA fights in the UFC event. I mention these things because this does tie-in to my health and fitness routine.

My Motivation
My initial reason to start changing my eating and work-out habits was not fitting into my clothes anymore. Medium shirts had started getting very tight on me and I was going to have to start buying new clothes if I got any bigger. Ironically, I have actually had to buy smaller clothes but I guess that's a problem I will accept.

I also mention MMA and boxing because, beyond being something that I am interested in and entertained by, the fighters in those sports seem to be some of the best conditioned athletes around. They follow work-out and diet plans in order to make a certain weight. So through my transformation, I have been able to set goals at different weights in order to be able to meet certain fighters in the ring theoretically. That brings me to my next tool, goal setting.

Goal Setting
Goal setting is a very important part of weight-loss and becoming more healthy. It is important to challenge yourself and have a "finish point" that you can work toward.

Your goals can be almost anything that you would like that is health related. Mine generally have been related to weight but I have also expanded them to other things as I have been more successful.

My first goal point was to drop from 207 lbs. to 185 and my attitude initially was not a do-or-die, get there at all cost drive. I was thinking "Let's see if I can do this." because I had never really lost that much weight before. Once I started losing quickly though it definitely became a specific goal. When I reached 185, I saw that I wanted more muscle definition and still had some weight to lose so I set my next goal at 175 and tentatively at 170. When I reached that, I was happy but it was at that point that I challenged myself to get to 155 and changed my diet to a more extreme level.

I chose 155 because it is the weight limit for 1ightweight fighters in UFC and I have said if I can get to 155, I will have an MMA fight at that point. I have also looked at more things that I would like to do that are now possible because I am in better shape. I would like to ride my bike to Wilmington or to Hanging Rock State Park, camping along the way. I have also looked at duathlon events (run-bike-run instead a triathlon's swim-bike-run), there are several around the state and I would like to do a few within the next year.

So your goals can be pretty much anything, it is just important to have them just as long as it is something that you want and something that is important to you.

Measures of Health
I am adding this final section into this entry because there are some alternative measurements to physical health than just weight.

The most basic, after body weight, is size, as in waist, neck, wrist, etc. If you are dieting and working out you potentially could be stagnated as far as weight loss but you could be seeing results elsewhere. I have gone from wearing 36 inch pants very tightly to now wearing size 32 pants. My neck and head have also shrunk several inches in circumference.

Another very basic measurement is Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI was developed by the insurance industry to determine a person's health and is based solely on a person's height and weight. You can find out you BMI here. Numbers between 18.5 and 25 are considered healthy and the official definition of overweight and obese are also determined by BMI. Obviously, since this is based solely on height and weight, it is not close to the best health indicator but it is an okay starting point.

The one that I like the best is body fat percentage. It is exactly what it says, the percentage of your total weight that is fat. You can get an estimation of your body fat here. A more accurate measurement of your body fat can be had using electronic devices that are available commercially, even on some scales. But the best way to accurately measure your body fat is through a caliper pinch test that measures your skinfold. I am currently trying to get a body fat percentage of under 10%. For people ages 20-40, a healthy percentage for men is 8-19% and 21-33% for women.

Recipe #2: Black Bean "Chili"

Hope everyone has had a good weekend so far. Mine has been good, had a true "binge-day" yesterday. Satisfied all of the cravings of the week: beer, cheese steak, wings, pizza, etc. I estimate it at about 4000 calories, a little extreme probably but I'll definitely be back at it today and the rest of the week. (If you have any questions about my diet, you can check out the diet post).

Looking for some variety, I decided to experiment with some black beans today and it turned out awesome. So here's the recipe for Black Bean "Chili" (It's really just spiced black beans that taste like chili).

Ingredients: 1 can of black beans, 2 tbsp. salsa, 1 tsp. mexican-style hot sauce, dash of: onion powder, garlic powder, ground cumin and chili powder

Once you have your ingredients, it's really quick and easy, just like the pinto bean recipe.

1. Mix all ingredients together in a soup bowl.
2. Place in microwave and cover with a paper towel.
3. Cook on medium-power for 2 1/2 minutes.
4. Stir and eat.

It's about 350 calories all together and loaded with protein and fiber and no fat.

My Typical Strength Workout

Along with my cardio, I do like to do a basic strength workout a few times a week in order to tone muscles and the work my upper body which sometimes gets ignored in my cardio routine.

The great thing about my routine is that anyone can do it at home and it can take as little as ten minutes (or as much as you would like depending on what exercises you choose to add).

Materials needed: 2 - 15 lb. dumbbells (or whatever weight you choose, although I would skew way light), a bench (only for certain exercises)

*Discipline and proper form is what makes this workout effective.*

For every exercise you move in slow motion, 5 seconds up and 5 seconds down, and you go until you burn out (can't go anymore). Don't worry about the numbers you put up, just try to burn out.

Exercises I use: 

• Push-ups
• Sit-ups (I use more of a hesitation here instead of 5 up-5 down)
• Curls (Both double handed simultaneous and alternating just depending on the cycle)
• Shoulder Press
• Butterfly (on the bench)
• Bench Press (with dumbbells, on the bench)
• Dips

I usually try to burn out twice, so I will cycle through all the exercises twice. I also don't always do every exercise just depending on how I feel and I will throw in some jump rope reps too to get my heart pumping.

Trust me though, if you stay disciplined with moving through slowly, you will feel it in a short amount of time and it will give you results.

Recipe #1: Pinto Beans

I can confidently say this will be one of the easier recipes I post, but it is one that I eat almost every day.

Pinto beans are definitely a great addition to any diet, some of the specifics can be seen here Web MD: Beans. They are high in protein and have no fat and are a great meat substitute.

Anyways, here is my go-to bean dish:
Ingredients: 1 can of pinto beans, 1 large tbsp. Mrs. Campbell's Chow Chow (available in pickle section of grocery stores), 1 tbsp. Sriracha Chile sauce

1. Put beans in a soup bowl, cover with a paper towel, and place in the microwave.
2. Cook on medium power for about 2 1/2 minutes (Atleast in my microwave but it is pretty powerful)
3. Pull bowl out, add chow chow and chile sauce.
4. Stir and eat.

This dish is about 300 calories and can fill in the space of an entire meal. It has a good mixture of sweetness, saltiness, and spiciness. You can certainly adjust the amounts of any of the ingredients or add your own. This is meant to by a starting point for ideas for healthy meals that can be tailored to your diet.

Shopping/Meal Schedule

A lot of my meals and shopping trips have a repetitive feel to them, I feel like it is easier this way. I have found a few things that I like and will eat them over and over. This is not to say that I never eat different things or never tweak my diet; I constantly look for ways that I can make my intake more enjoyable and potentially more nutritious.

Shopping Strategy
I eat most of my meals at home because it's cheaper and easier for the diet. I have certain staples that I try to always have at the house to eat as snacks or make meals out of. The way I usually prepare for the week is, unless it is something that can be prepared very quickly, cook a family-sized meal, put it in the fridge, and eat individual portions of the next few days. Here are some things from my typical shopping trips:

• Fresh vegetables such as baby spinach, baby carrots, and broccoli florets. All can be used individually or as part of salads and have very little calories.
• Pickles are good as low calorie snacks.
• A protein for meals such as chicken breast, thigh filets, or turkey sausage.
• Pre-cooked chicken or turkey breast for snacks or to add to salads.
• Cans of low-sodium pinto beans are definitely a staple of my diet and I will usually eat one a day as a low-fat, high-protein option.
• Eggs are a versatile high-protein food that can be eaten alone or as part of a meal.
• Nuts like peanuts and almonds are good snacks but it's important to not eat too much because of their high fat content.
• Coke Zero is my main non-water beverage during the week.
• Frozen vegetables, like stir-fry peppers, to add to my proteins for meals.

Typical Meal Schedule
Here is my typical meal schedule, including what I ate today:

• 8:00 am - Breakfast: Today I had a boiled egg and two links of turkey breakfast sausage (200 total calories). I try to keep my breakfasts high in protein and from 200-300 calories.
• 12:00 pm - Lunch: Today I had Harris Teeter salad bar (Spinach, peppers, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, grilled chicken breast, a boiled egg, and no-fat, low-calorie dressing. About 400-500 calories). I eat a salad for lunch most days I go to work; I try to have a good bit of protein because it helps me not feel too hungry too quickly.
• 4:00 pm - First Dinner: Today I had a can of pintos (recipe to follow. About 300 calories). Sometimes I will add a salad to this meal as well.
• 8-9:00 pm - Second Dinner: Today I will eat at Hibernian Pub in Cary following my Wednesday 5k. I will eat Hummus with vegetables instead of pita pieces (About 500 calories) and will probably have 2 glasses of red wine (About 300 calories). Most days I eat a portion of the meal that have prepared in fridge.
• Throughout the day when hungry - Snacks: I will eat about an ounce of nuts or some vegetables as snacks between meals (About 200 calories).

So that would put me at about 2000 calories for the day. The wine will put me over where I would really like to be but because it is a once-a-week kind of thing it's certainly okay with me.

So this is my basic plan every day, I eat 4 meals and try to snack sensibly in between when hungry. I definitely eat when I'm hungry, if I had to go any length of time feeling hungry, I don' think that I would be able to stay on a particular diet.

Exercise Plan

As discussed previously, diet is most important for weight loss, but that doesn't mean that exercise is not important in order to be healthy. It certainly aids in weight loss as working out and being active certainly burn calories in addition to your BMR. It also boosts energy levels, aids in burning fat, and makes your heart function at a higher level.

If you are looking for weight loss as your primary goal, your cardio work outs and activities are the most important. Some weight training is still a good idea but for pure calorie burn, your high level of cardio is definitely the way to go. (You can look at the list of activities link I posted yesterday and see that the cardio activities burn the most calories Activity List)

My Current Workout Routine
Recently, I have become more and more "obsessed" with working out and being active. It has just become habit for me and part of my recreation and leisure time. I really like to change up and do different activities in no certain order. Like I said before, I definitely concentrate almost solely on cardio. Currently, I average about an hour of working out per day, anywhere from 30 minutes up to 2 hours on rare occasions. I feel like it has gotten to this level for a few reasons: I love the results I see, I have found  a variety of activities that I enjoy, and feel awesome after working out.

Here are some of the activities that I do on a regular basis:

• Road cycling- I fixed up a 30-year old Ross that was my dads and have ridden it for hundreds of miles so far. I usually ride this around my neighborhood, the streets around where I live, and a nearby business. I feel like I enjoy riding it because you can consistently ride at high speeds.
• Mountain Biking- I "mountain bike" around my neighborhood and have enjoyed exploring the greenways around Raleigh on it (here is a link Capital Area Greenway including a map). I look forward to getting more into riding off-road and seeking out local and not-so-local trails. Between my road and mountain bike, I generally ride between 70 and 100 miles per week.
• Running- I used to hate running, I still don't really like it, but it is a good way to get up your heart rate and get a good sweat going pretty quickly. I also meet up with a friend almost every Wednesday to run a 5k in Cary at the Hibernian. Altogether, I average about 10 miles per week running.
• Lifting Weights- I usually get in a strength work-out at home 2-3 times per week. The technique I am currently using is to run circuits of slow-motion reps (5 seconds up, 5seconds down) until I burn out on low weight (I use 15 lb. dumbbells). This gets in a pretty killer workout in about 15 minutes.
• Jumping Rope- I got a jump rope and will do either sets of 200 jumps and jump for 2 minutes straight and it definitely gives a good quick cardio burst.
• Punching/Kicking Punching Bag- I will do this in timed sets, usually a minute at a time.
• Push-ups/Sit-ups- Generally do sets of 50-60 daily.

Earlier Workouts/Tips to Get Started
I know that most people will not want to/can't find time to work out an hour a day (although I would argue you can always make some time) and might not want to start an intense routine so here are some things that started me on my path:

• Walking/Hiking- I started out in January walking in around the lake that was behind my house in Cary. It was easy and reasonably scenic. I would suggest walking somewhere that has an interesting setting if possible and keep you pace up as much as you can. When I walk, I target at least 3.5 mph.
• Do activities with others- Whether with a group or individual, I always find it easier to push myself when someone else is there.
• Play a sport- Even when I was at my biggest, I was playing soccer year-round. I am sure that this level of activity kept me from being even bigger. And going along with this one...
• Try to link "working-out" with you leisure activities- If you can participate in activities that you truly enjoy, it will seem less like working out. I always used to say that the only time I would enjoy running is if I was chasing a ball, this is still sem-true.
• Plan/Set goals for yourself- Try to plan and set time aside for being active every day. It helps me to have stuff as part of my routine and it will become habit.
• Choose activities that take little preparation/travel- At least for most of your daily activities, try to have them be something that you can pick up and do at a moments notice. This will limit your excuses of not having time. And this is why things like: sit-ups, push-ups, running, biking, etc. are so good because you can do them for as much or little time as you want and can do them almost immediately after making your decision.

I still struggle with making myself work-out at times, but once I start, it's totally worth it. I definitely get a "runner's high" after activities and you certainly feel better about yourself after doing it.

Before and After Pics

Here are the famed before and after pics:

First we have the fat pic. This is about 3 weeks into any behavior change, I would estimate that I was about 195-200 lbs. in this one (Early February 2011). Never too huge, but you can definitely see the changes.

Then there is the work in progress. I am at 167 lbs. in this one, about 7 months after the first picture exactly. Still as hairy as always.

I think P90x would have shaved me down in the second and had me looking sadder in the first one.

General Diet

As I said in the last post, in order to lose weight, a diet change is much more important than exercise. Your body is very efficient at using the calories you take in. You burn a certain number of calories every day just staying alive, without any activity, and this is your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). There is a calculator that might be a little high but it's a good starting point BMR Calculator. Beyond this rate you have to work out very hard for a good amount of time to make a big dent in your caloric balance. A good way to see a estimation of the amount of calories that you burn in certain activities you can go here: Activity List. If you look through that list you will see that burning calories in addition to your BMR can be tough.

My Current Diet
That being said, changing your habits when it comes to eating can be very effective. The current diet that I am on is pretty strict, it is based on the one outlined by Timothy Ferris in his book The Four-Hour Body; a outline of the diet can be found on his blog here: Four-Hour Body Diet.

The basis of the diet is that you follow it strictly for 6 days of the week and have one day per week in which you can eat whatever you would like. Here are the basic  rules of the non-binge days:

• No carbs except for legumes (pinto beans, lentils, etc.) while limiting fatty legumes such as peanuts
• Eat low-fat proteins such as: chicken breast and thighs, white-meat turkey, certain cuts of beef and pork
• Eat as many healthy vegetables as you would like: spinach, broccoli, asparagus, peas, etc.
• He suggests finding what you like and eat those same meals over and over again
• Don't drink calories (although it does allow for up to 2 glasses of dry red wine per day)
• He also says take the above-mentioned one day off per week in order to keep your metabolic rate high and to increase the ability to remain on the diet

I have found foods one here that I enjoy and it is going well so far. I eat four small meals a day and stay satisfied, trying to always keep my caloric intake at or below 2000 per day. The main things that I struggle with is staying away from peanuts and other nuts as a snack food and trying not to drink beer during the week.

I have been on the diet for about 3 weeks now and have seen up to 5 lbs. loss (it's tough for me to gauge true loss because my water levels vary so much in a days time). I consider this a success because, since I had already lost so much weight, it is more difficult for me to lose more.

My Diet for the Majority of My Weight Loss
If you are not ready to commit to the Four Hour Body, which for me is probably the most extreme type of diet I could see myself doing long-term, you can certainly follow some of the tactics that I used previously. It was basically a less-committed version of the diet I am on now. Here are some tools:

• Portion control- I know that this is kind of a buzz word but it works. If you are eating at home, don't eat out of the dish that has the entire meal. Put it into a dish of portion that you think will satisfy you; if you are still hungry after the plate, go get more (Do not try to starve yourself, it will not work), at least you will have to go through the motions of seeing the additional servings. If you are at a restaurant, eat slowly and don't be embarrassed to take home leftovers.
• Eat low-fat, lower-calorie proteins- See above. Chicken breast, beans, etc. are filling and do not add too many calories.
• Try to eliminate white carbs- No white rice, white bread, white pasta, or potatoes. You can find whole-wheat and brown alternatives to most of these.
• Try to eat multiple vegetarian meals per week- One thing that was very effective for me was eating a salad for lunch almost every day I went to work. This was a healthy salad, not some excuse for cheese, croutons, and dressing, and I could eat over a pound of food with less than 500 calories and feel satisfied.
• Get in a habit of checking nutrition labels- Know what you are putting into yourself, after awhile it will become second-nature and you can pretty much know or guess the values of anything that you will eat.
• Don't get too down on yourself if you slip up- I never really had too much trouble with this but apparently a major problem with many dieters is that if they venture outside of their diet once or twice they scrap the entire thing. Just know that long term, every little bit helps and it really is a cumulative effect.

You can take anything that I have described above and use for your personal diet change. You can also apply it as much or as little as you would like. Obviously the more strictly you can follow a diet, the more results you will see, but I would suggest having a plan you feel like you can follow. As soon as you revert to your former habits full-time, any gains you will have made will evaporate.

So that's the basic diet; as long as you plan well, everything here can be easy to implement. I will give more specifics and personal examples in future posts but for now good luck!

Introduction

My name is Austin Cole and this first post is to serve as an introduction to myself and the topics that I hope to cover in this blog.

Purpose of this Blog
Starting in January of this year (2011), I began a lifestyle change that would lead me to lose 40 lbs. in about 7 months. When I talk to people that I haven't seen in awhile, this is obviously one of the first things we discuss because the change is visually evident (I will post before and after pictures soon). Everyone wants to know how I did it. Also, I always see advertisements and infomercials on different products, supplements, and other methods for weight loss and becoming more healthy and I didn't really use any of them or spend any extra money so I feel that people are always interested in new ideas for healthy weight loss. I have a degree in Sport Management from NC State and have many years experience working in the leisure and recreation field but I have no specific expertise in fitness and nutrition other than my personal experience and research, so take what I say with a grain of salt because it could be specific to my situation. With that being said, here is a list of things that I hope to cover in this blog:

• Nutrition and Diet
• Options for exercise
• New things that excite me in regards to my lifestyle change
• Specific details from my own experience such as recipes, activities, and techniques
• General things that I think people might be interested in

About Me and My Journey So Far
I am 26 years old and have lived in and around Raleigh, NC my entire life. I have a great family situation and get along well with my parents and my brother. I live in Raleigh with one of my best friends, someone who is a constant source of information on all things nutrition and exercise. I worked at the YMCA with youth for 9 years and am currently working multiple jobs, trying to figure out what I really want to do and get some sense of security. I have played guitar for about 15 years and love going to live music shows. I also really like watching movies and have recently re-discovered a love of actually going to the theater to see them, As far as physical activities, I grew up playing sports and right now I play soccer year-round and have recently gotten into cycling, mountain biking and running. I enjoy doing anything outdoors and enjoy challenging myself. Also, I have colitis/Chrohn's Disease which is an autoimmune disorder that effects my small and large intestine. I am sure I will get into other things as the blog progresses but now onto my weight loss.

I have never been one to make New Years resolutions, the reason my diet-change started in January is pure coincidence. I started to not be able to fit into my size medium shirts and size 36 pants; this is really the wake-up call. I didn't want to have to by new clothes and did not want to wear large shirts.

I never really considered myself overweight and have never had significant issues with my self image. At the time, I was playing soccer once or twice a week although I do play goalie so it was not the workout that it could have been. At my heaviest, I weighed in at 207 lbs; I am currently at 167 lbs. This is the same size I was in junior year of high school, before I got sick with my condition and lost 30 lbs. Me getting sick is one of the reasons that I feel that my weight got so high; I never had a true baseline of what my weight should have been as an adult. When I was coming into college, I was still in the stage where any weight-gain was good news and even as my condition stabilized I continued to gain weight slowly over time.

In order to jump-start my weight loss and path to better health, I did two things: I changed my diet and made a conscious choice to be more active on a daily basis. I started slowly at first and built better discipline and techniques over time. Despite a slow start, the weight-loss was reasonably significant as I had so much to lose.

My Basic Plan and Things to Remember

I will go into more specifics in future blogs but the way that I started my diet change was to watch three things: carbs, fats, and calorie intake. When looking for weight loss, it is important to remember that changing your diet is the most important thing by far. Your body is very efficient at converting calories into energy and you have to work hard to burn off any calories that you put into yourself. In order to aid weight-loss and to be truly healthy exercise is also important but if you change your diet alone, you will see results. 

In the beginning, I got in a habit of checking all nutrition labels and being conscious of everything that I was consuming. I tried to keep my calorie, carb and fat intake under the recommended values for a 2500 calorie/day diet and in general, tried to limit all carbs (especially white carbs) and fats. I also started out walking around a lake that was behind my house every day for at least 30 minutes if possible and tried to do pushups, sit-ups, and pull-ups daily as well. 

I followed this basic plan for a long period of time getting more disciplined in diet and adding new activities as I continued to see results and buy-in further to my lifestyle change. I will get into more specifics later; my current routine might possibly be a little extreme for most but I will give details on that as well.

Important things to remember:

• The examples I describe are from my personal experience and research, if you don't feel like you can commit fully to the lifestyle, that's okay. Any change will see some sort of results and is better than doing nothing.
• People seem to get discouraged by diets and exercise routines because they don't like them, so they quit. It's important to find a plan you can commit to so make sure its something you can do. I suggest starting with small changes.
• It's important to remember that in order to see true results, it does have to be a diet change and not a diet. If you just diet in the traditional sense, you will gain the weight back as soon as the diet ends. In order to keep the weight off, it does have to be something that you can do permanently. This sounds tough at first, but it gets easier and easier over time. It's important to find healthy food options that you actually enjoy.
• If you are looking to lose weight, changing your diet is by far the most important thing and nothing you do really has to cost that 

There are no magic tricks to weight-loss. It does take discipline and hard work, but everything you put into it will be paid back to you. I certainly have struggled with certain aspects of the process and will address those as well but it's important to remember that if you slip up, it is no reason to totally abandon the whole process (which is very common among dieters).

I hope I can be informative, entertaining, and helpful to whatever lifestyle change you might want to make. Take or leave any bit of the information and customize a program that fits you.