The ABC’s of Weight Loss

My second son… George- Jorge as my friend Rocky calls him…. is learning his ABC’s—– this is a rudimentary exercise that all kids do- it is a building block to reading and further advancement. (I know… I sound like a teacher)- Anywho…. George is learning to talk and Beth and I have started going through his alphabet.

So, with this in mind… an idea came to me. Why not come up with an ABC’s of weight loss? I did the 31 Habits (make sure to scroll down)  not long ago and this will be more of the same…. except, you will have to tune in each day to see what is next. I will just go in and mysteriously edit the post. Funny enough… it is also the network that my show was on.

So- join me for this- Here we go!!

A- A is for APPLE (did you really think I would come up with anything else here?) Apples are good for you…. you know there is a reason that we have sayings like this one…. it is because they are at least partly true. In this case, it is all the way true…. have one each day and it keeps the doctor away. The thing is, really any fruit will do the trick. They are much better for you than Twinkies and are almost as good. Check out this information on apples.

B- B is for BEER.  If you are ANYTHING like me… the thought of not drinking beer is just simply …. NOT an option. So I had to come up with something. If I am out mowing the yard or doing something where I just want a little beer kinda sorta taste, then I go with the new Budweiser Select 55 beer- BUT- If I want a real good micro brew- I go with Sam Adams Light. It has a few more calories (o.k.- about twice as many) than the Bud, but it is well worth it. Closest thing that I have found to a “regular” beer.

I guess you could also say that A is for alcohol- So… there were two for A—- “O.K., You got the bonus plan!”- don’t get used to it!

C- C is for COFFEE or CAFFEINE- This seems to be the thing that gets me up in the morning these days. When I wake up, it is the first thing that I think of.

Well- as it turns out coffee can supercharge your workout. Check out this Article from Yahoo Health…. I have heard this before. Apparently, caffeine gives you more stamina— in other words you can run further which equals more calories burned.

D- D is for DIET. But not the diet you think. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say that I am not and have not been on a diet since I was in the People Magazine Weight Loss Challenge. The thing is…. I don’t really want to stop eating the things that I like. I just have to find some things that I can live with. What are they?

Well, for starters…. I don’t order 20 wings… I order 6. I don’t have 5 regular beers… I have 3 Light beers. I don’t have a WHOLE sandwich at the deli… I have a half- and BAKED chips. OH—- and a DIET COKE. I just had to find some alternatives and have LESS!

E- E is for EXERCISE…. of course. You need at least 5 hours a week of exercise. That is my rule… you know what- I am going to stop quoting the experts and doctors on this. According to me— you need 5 hours a week. And remember, the faster you do it, the faster you will get it over with. LOL!!

F- F is for FRUCTOSE- get it from fruit! I have said on more than one occasion… avoid the High Fructose Corn Syrup. A study by Hepatology stated that when given fructose water, rats had a tendency to become obese. AND THAT WAS JUST WATER… we eat this stuff in our bread…. it is everywhere!! Read your labels and AVOID it!

G- G is for Grapefruit. Have a grapefruit and you are likely to lose more weight… faster. Subjects of a study done by the Journal of Medicinal Food that ate half of a grapefruit before each meal, lost more weight at the end of 12 weeks than those that did not. On the other hand…. I HATE GRAPEFRUIT. And by the way…. I have seen commercials for some crappy diet pill based on grapefruits. They say that grapefruits are super-foods and that they take more calories to burn than they contain. THIS IS CRAP! NOT TRUE! Don’t buy into this!!!!! G- G is for GOOD!!! Like GOOD food—- NOT GRAPEFRUIT! Or G- G is for God. He helps you lose weight!!!

H- H is for High Fructose Corn Syrup- Just don’t eat it. I can not tell you how many times I have been asked over the last couple of years about my diet… what did I follow? How did I make food decisions. If you can lay off of the HFCS…. you are WAY ahead of the game! Not only is this stuff NOT exactly like sugar, but your body does not metabolize it the same way. IT WILL MAKE YOU FAT! AVOID IT!!

I- I is for INSULIN. Of course diabetes is where I am coming from here. If you increase your exercise and watch your diet, you will have a decreased chance of getting this disease. I know… this is all very insightful, but it is something that HAS to be said.

J- J is for JELLY! OMG!!!! Have you had the smuckers with Splenda?? Fabulous!!! (Said that just like Jack from Will and Grace!)—- O.K. here is the deal. I LOVE PB&J. My wife gets on to me all the time for eating it. I practically grew up on it. My Dad used to say I was going to turn into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich– or a Pop-Tart.  I still eat ‘em. But here is the thing….. I have CHANGED it. I eat whole wheat bread, Smuckers with the Splenda and reduced fat PB. OH—- and I only eat one now… instead of two. I think that this is a great example of a small change that you can make and come out ahead!!! Just change your favorite thing— to something slightly better (oh, and don’t eat as much!!)

K- K is for KETOSIS. This is actually a real medical-type term (don’t you just love how smart I sound) that I had never heard before. Ketosis is actually the point at which your body runs low on carbs and starts burning fat. Ketosis is what your body goes into if you go on the Adkins diet (you know, low carbs). Studies show that people that resist carbs loose more weight initially than those that avoid fats…. however, after about a year, their results are comparable. As I have said before, the problem is that you can’t resist bread and pasta and sugar your whole life.

L- L is for LEPTIN- This is a hormone. It is responsible for telling your brain when you are full. Researchers have found that if you don’t eat enough…. or if you starve yourself, then this will lower leptin levels- thus prompting you to eat more.

A study published recently suggests that the consumption of high amounts of fructose causes leptin resistance and elevated triglycerides in rats. The high-fructose diet rats subsequently ate more and gained more weight than controls when fed a high fat, high calorie diet.

So- for the love of God…. eat your snacks and lay off the High Fructose Corn Syrup!!!

M- M is for- Mojo- We (and when I say this… I am talking about the people that I work out with) talk about this all the time. Or we might say that someone has not “flipped their switch”. What we mean by this is you have to get it in your head…. you have to get motivated, you have to become AWARE of what you are doing. You have to get your Mojo to lose weight! Don’t lose it!

N- N is for—– Numbers. Ta-da!!! Amazing isn’t it? O.K.- I have two things to say about numbers.

1. Numbers are like numbers on the scale- keep weighing in. I like to do it once a week- keeps me honest.

2. Numbers are like Weight Watchers numbers- keep up with those points. I think that WW is an excellent way to watch what you are eating and the best program they have is with their POINTS.

O- O is (well, it is a tough one)- How about omelet? Work for you? Omelets are one of the best things that I eat. O.K.- little story—— before I lost any weight, back in the day when I didn’t really care what I was eating it was kind of a family tradition to go out for breakfast on Saturday mornings (this was the only time that I ate breakfast). I would ALWAYS get pancakes. I have news for you…. pancakes are not that good for you (especially if you do ‘em like I did ‘em with real maple syrup and butter)—- so here is the deal… when I started working out and living a bit more on the healthy side—- my family did not want to stop going out for breakfast. So I just decided that I would find something better to eat…. I landed on omelets.

Now I always have a western omelet…. no meat— just ’shrooms, peppers, tomatoes, cheese and eggs. Sometimes I go egg whites, but that is tough. I think that this is an excellent example of something that you can do to “keep on doing what you want to do”…. just change it a little!

P- P is for Pistachios- Lots of em. This is another good example of a substitution that I have made. It used to be that I went to the movies and got a coke and a big thing of pop-corn with butter on it. Do you have any idea how BAD that is? Well, it is horrible. Anyway—– now I take in a bag of pistachios with me and get a Diet Coke. Of course I also save 7.00 for the corn– and pistachios are kind of expensive.

Q- Q is for—- oh, wow… didn’t think about this. I can’t think of anything. How about Quick Work out. Studies have shown that even if you don’t have time to spend an hour running or walking…. then just spend 5 minutes. According to one article, if you work out 5 minuts at a time 6 times in one day…. that is JUST like working out for 30 minutes. Also- I know that once your heart rate gets up from doing aerobic exercise, it is quite some time before it will come all the way down….. this HAS to benefit you.

R- R is for Routine. Get it in your day…. exercise that is. MAKE a time. Do it for a month— I swear it gets better. When I was going through the People Magazine Weight Loss Challenge, I had to get up every morning at 4:25 to get to the gym. Well, that pretty much sucked for the first 6 weeks or so. But I made it part of my routine and got used to it…. I made a commitment that I was going to do it…. and I stuck with it.

S- S is for Stress reduction. Scientists at Georgetown University fed two groups of mice identical high fat, high sugar diets. One group of mice were placed under stressors (don’t ask). The stressed out mice gained TWICE as much weight as the non-stressed group. The thing is…. that is not shocking to me. Now that I work out a lot, I can very easily tell when I have not.

T- T is for Time. MAKE TIME to work out. See R for Routine. Also see Q for Quick Work-out. When I was losing all my weight, I worked out for an hour a day…. usually averaging about 4.5 days a week. Maybe a little more…. Paul Lacoste’s class was Mon-Thurs then I usually met with everyone to run on Friday mornings. Not every Friday, but most. The key here was that I MADE TIME. I made it a habit. I made it a priority…. and all it took was one hour a day. Oh, and I did it early in the morning (which I still do now) so that I could not have any excuses later in the day to not go do it.

U- U is for Understanding. That is…. understanding of yourself. And I mean that in two different ways. First- by understanding yourself I mean- give yourself a break. I mean, it took you some time to get unhealthy (like I was) and it is going to take some time to get where you want to be. Understand that it is not going to be a perfect lineir road to health. There will be ups and downs. Secondly, understand that the best diet is one that you can stick to. That is why I HATE the word diet. I have said it a bunch….  there is no diet that I can work. I HAVE to have wings and beer…. I just can’t have it every day… or every week. No matter what “diet” you go on, you will off at some point… then what???? If you learn to eat in moderation, make some good choices and exercise—- understand that this is not a “diet” but it is a lifestyle change!

V- V is for Victory. That was easy. Here is the deal…. before going through the People Magazine Weight Loss Challenge, I never really thought about competition…. or winning at life…. or even being an athlete. However, Paul Lacoste taught me from day one to think of myself as an athlete. HEY- Like my friend Julie Laperouse says—– “Fake it till you make it!” With that said, Now I think about things like goals and winning at life. Win Rocky Win!

W- W is for Weightlifting. Gotta do it, Gotta do it, Gotta do it. Listen, I can do all the running and cardio exercise in the world and not loose much weight. However, add some resistance training in— it makes all the difference. What you are after here is raising metabolism. You lift weights and you are going to build muscle. Bigger muscles burn more calories—- even at rest. So just do it!!

X- X is for—- I can’t think of anything. Maybe x-ray. Hopefully you wont need one. But it does happen. I broke my leg recently— kept me from running for about 8 weeks. Oh, and X is for Xanax.

Y- Y is for Yoga! O.K.- I never thought I would say this, but I can see the value in Yoga. Now, keep in mind I never said that I didn’t think it was tough. I have been known to do a Yoga class and been sweating my proverbial ass off within 10 minutes of getting started. It’s just that I have never liked it that much…. and I guess I am just human in that I have a tendency to skip out on the things I don’t like. However, I know that it has benefits when it comes to weight control and stress reduction… you know sitting around in a dark room with space music on—- maybe that would help me avoid the Xanax…. Hummmmmmm.

Z- Z is for Z’s- Better get ‘em. This is going to effect your overall energy level, your mood and your health.

So, there you have it…. Get up! Get Moving! Have a better life!!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010 at 5:15 am and is filed under Diet, Exercise, WDS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “The ABC’s of Weight Loss”

Cammy@TippyToeDiet Says:
July 26th, 2010 at 7:36 pm

Oh, this will be fun!

My A would be apple, B for bananas, and C for caffeine, carrots, and canteloupe. Oh, and cupcakes! Same principles as the beer for the cupcake though.

Roxie Says:
August 24th, 2010 at 6:23 am

Hey Rob,

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I look forward to following yours!

And yes, that was the Eiffel Tower in the background!

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