Weight: 224.4 (-6.8)
Fat: 34.4% (-4.9%)
Meals: Not available
Exercise: Cardio (Treadmill 35:00 WL3 - 333 calories, 2.09 miles)
Pictures: Front/Side/Back

While there are a number of topics I want to discuss I really think it's important for me to take the next step in my program. I feel very comfortable with my cardio thus far. In fact I've been chomping at the bit to work harder. As such you may have noticed that I've been adding 1 minute per day. When I get to 40 or 45 minutes, I haven't decided yet, I'll reset back to 30 minutes and move up to the next level of the weight loss program. If at any time I start to feel like I'm pushing too hard, I'll freeze at my current level, but so far I've been finding my stride by the time I'm halfway through the workout. It's a pleasant change to get to the cool down phase of my cardio and be a little disappointed that it's over.

As I discussed in a previous post, cardio alone is not the best approach to weight loss. Paying more attention to calories is necessary to prevent undoing all my time on the treadmill, and calorie restriction is a good way to boost my weight loss. I don't want to go overboard however, for two major reasons: I'm trying to learn to live a healthier lifestyle and not just continue the cycle of dieting and eating, and too severe a restriction will actually reduce my ability to burn my excess stored energy.

Since one of my as-yet-undefined goals is to burn fat and not just lose weight, it's important for me to engage in some strength training as well. Without working my muscles, I will lose lean body mass in addition to fat. The difficulty of burning fat while building muscle means it's probably in my best interest to separate out my fat burning from my muscle building goals, thus my focus on retaining muscle. Plus by setting a goal of building muscle after I've burned my fat, I'll be more likely to hold onto my fitness. That way reaching my weight loss goal is no longer the finish line, but just a checkpoint in my ultimate goal of reaching and maintaining fitness.

Diet and strength training will probably be each provide plenty of topics for blogging here, so I should consider choosing one to focus on, at least for the purpose of writing. Seeing as I'm already exercising, and that diet is more important to weight control, I'm going to start planning on eating better.

In the past, one of my big mistakes has been to dive head first into the deep end of eating better. And there's something to be said for making a clean break from my current eating habits. But everyone responds differently to change and having tried different approaches in the past I think I'd like to go for a smooth transition this time around. So instead of worrying about balancing macronutrients, eliminating or reducing processed foods, concerning myself with vitamins and individual food characteristics, I'm going to worry about two things only: calorie reduction and appetite.

Calorie reduction is the name of the game, the necessary component of weight loss. Eventually reduction will no longer be necessary, and I need to focus on simply controlling my intake. When I reach my muscle building phase, I'll actually probably need to increase my calorie intake, so learning control instead of simply depriving myself is necessary.

Appetite is much more tricky. There are multiple ways to control appetite, none of which is a comprehensive solution to eliminating it entirely. Drinking plenty of water to keep my stomach from being empty is important and something I'm already doing. Adding a few foods that are less calorie dense to my diet will also help prevent hunger. But I also think it's important to provide a safety valve for cravings. Too many diets fail because we set unrealistic goals and say we are just going to ignore our cravings. It's better to find a way to satisfy a craving without building up so much pressure that we end up binging.

One of the primary considerations in my regular diet has been convenience. Quick to prepare, doesn't require many ingredients (especially ones that spoil quickly), few or no dishes that need cleaning, can eat when traveling or busy with work. As you can imagine, fast food drive-thrus satisfy most of those requirements, and as such have been a staple of my diet. I'd like to change that but I have reservations about eliminating it entirely, especially in a cold turkey fashion.

Using the above ideas, we can start to formulate what characteristics that our ideal eating plan entails:

  • Flexible - allowing us to change caloric intake, add and adjust foods as we focus more on nutrition
  • Filling - provides some foods that will help us feel full without adding too much to our calorie budget
  • Satisfying - instead of focusing on denial, gives us options to enjoy favorite foods and the occassional treat
  • Easy - the more work is involved in planning and/or preparing a meal, the more likely I am to revert to old habits

Tomorrow I'll discuss diets that I've tried in the past, how success they've been, and compare them to this criteria to see if I can find out where they failed. Additionally, that post mortem might turn up new requirements for my eating plans.