KEEPING THE WEIGHT OFF

Why do people work really hard for months and months to lose weight and then turn right around and gain it all back? Some people say they have lost and gained hundreds of pounds over the years. Why is that?

Fattening back up has happened to everyone I've ever known who has lost a lot of weight. A year or two later, that flab is back, big time. 

One buddy of mine was built like a beach ball. Then he went into a program at the local university -- walking, lifting weights, eating right. After a few months, he looked great. Now a few years later, he looks like the same old beach ball.

Not a long-distance runner, but a long-distance muncher.

Recently, I experienced that myself.  From March to November, I lost 15 lbs and 4" off my waist. From 174 lbs to 159 lbs, and from 44" to 39 1/2". I lost a protruding gut that looked like I had a basketball under my shirt.

I did it by counting calories for a few days and learning how to eat. My baseline is 2,000 calories. If I eat more, I gain. If I eat less, I lose. Simple as that.

Find your own caloric baseline:
http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm

My first day, I ate normally and added up the damage. I had consumed 2995 calories. That included chocolate coated almonds, plus various snacks, including raisins and nuts, adding 570 calories that one day. I consumed almost 1000 calories over my baseline. No wonder I had a gut.

Here is one way to find out how many calories are in the food you eat:
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calories_in_food.htm

The second day, I watched what I ate and consumed only 1715 calories. I cut out the chocolate and the nuts. Also, in addition to eating fewer calories, I exercised (climbed stairs, rode my stationary bike, went to the gym)  and burned off 840 calories, so my net intake was 875 calories. That was a huge difference.

Here is a good way to estimate calories you burn during exercise:
http://www.nutristrategy.com/caloriesburned.htm

So for the next few months I worked out three times a week and kept my calorie intake down. Cutting down the intake and increasing the out-go was easy. I didn't starve myself. I didn't sweat my brains out. I did not deny myself anything that I really wanted.

It was a lot easier than I thought. In fact, it was the easiest thing I ever did. Especially easy since everyone thinks it is so hard. I kept doing that, and the pounds came off. I felt pretty good about it.

Then in December, for some reason, I started making different choices. I ate some ice cream, a quart and a half of Breyer's Rocky Road. My favorite. Yum. Tasted so very, very good. M and M's Peanuts. Delicious. A cheeseburger here and there. An extra beer or two.

I tried not to admit that I was gaining weight. I tried to ignore that possibility. I didn't want to think about it. I just wanted to enjoy the food. Then I noticed that my jeans were getting tight again. I was on the third hole in my belt, not the tightest one. So I started to think about it. What was I doing?

I finally figured it out: I was in denial. I just didn't want to face the truth. (Put me on a river boat in Egypt, for I am the king of de Nile.)

I was hoping somehow that the extra calories wouldn't matter. Hoping I could get away with it. Maybe somehow, magically, I would stay lean. 

Well, guess what? I was gaining lard by the day, by the spoonful, by the pound. But I did not want to face it.

I think we are all like that. The road to hell is paved with you know what, the best of intentions. But intentions don't lose the weight or finish the job.

I don't know why we go into denial like that. I guess we want to avoid the unpleasant consequences of doing something that makes us feel good. We want to live it up tonight and not worry about tomorrow.

However, what we eat and drink today does matter. And it will matter tomorrow, and next week, and next year. Every single calorie matters, in or out. Yesterday, at the doctor's office, I was up to 164 lbs. On the road to Fat City. I had gained back 5 lbs.

It doesn't take much. All you need to do is eat 200-300 calories a day more than you burn up, and guess what, your weight goes up. (One pound = 3500 calories, on or off.)

So if I want to be thin, I have to face the facts. Calories do matter. In fact, they are the only thing that matters when gaining or losing weight. So back to eating 200-300 calories less than my baseline.

It's not easy, but it is a choice you make, every day, every time you face the food. Every time you think ice cream sounds good. Remember what you are choosing to do, spoon by spoon, gulp by gulp, each time you munch more than you need. Ask yourself: Fat or thin? Fat or thin? Fat or thin?

Do these choices matter? Yes, they do. They matter to me.

-- Roger

Copyright © 2013, Roger R. Angle