What Do 300 Calorie Meals Look Like? May 11, 2007
Check out this great page of photos of 300-calorie meals. If you’ve ever wondered what healthy portion sizes look like, this is for you.
Low calorie food doesn’t need to be boring!
5 Easy Daily Habits To Put Your Weight Loss On Autopilot May 10, 2007
This post is part of Darren Rowse’s “Top 5″ group writing project over at Problogger.
Weight loss is not about dieting, denial, punishment, guilt and sweating. If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you need to modify your ‘default’ daily habits and adopt a healthy lifestyle.
If the habits you currently have are making you fat, you can’t expect to lose weight without changing them!
The good news is that you don’t need to make drastic changes to begin having an effect on your weight. Just a few simple changes, which you can phase in gently using my 30 day trial technique, will make a good start.
1. Eat Breakfast
Start your day properly. Get in the habit of having a good, healthy, satisfying breakfast that won’t leave you feeling hungry by 10 o’clock.
I usually have a bowl of oats topped with a handful of chopped dates for flavour. You can make it up using hot water or milk - I use water, just to reduce the calories a little more, but low fat milk would be fine too. Honey works well if you want to sweeten it, although the dates do a pretty good job of that by themselves.
Oats are a classic ‘low-GI’ food, meaning they take a while to digest and will deliver energy over a longer period than high-GI foods. This means they’ll fill you up, and you won’t feel hungry again in an hour.
If you have juice with your breakfast, make it a small glass. Drink a large glass of water if you’re still thirsty. This leads into my next habit…
2. Avoid Drinking Calories
It’s easy to slip hundreds of extra calories into your daily intake through poor drink choices. A can of Coke has 155 calories. One cup of orange juice, although seemingly healthy, has 100 calories. One cup of whole milk has 150 calories, while a cup of fat-free milk has around half that (85 calories).
Make a simple rule for yourself to avoid drinking calories as much as you can.
Drink a lot of water. This is good for you in many ways, besides just quenching your thirst. As you lose weight, the breakdown of your bodyfat will release toxins into your blood which are filtered out by your kidneys. Drinking lots of water ensures these toxins are flushed away efficiently rather than concentrating and causing problems.
You can drink as much black coffee or tea as you like. If you’re used to having cream and sugar, try reducing them slowly over time. I used to have coffee with milk and two sugars; I cut out one sugar, then a few weeks later cut the other, and some time later was able to get rid of the milk as well. I do still enjoy a latte occasionally, but my everyday coffee is now black.
Diet softdrinks are fine, if the chemical cocktail they contain doesn’t bother you.
3. Reduce The Junk Snacks
I used to eat a lot of cakes, biscuits and muffins during the day. If you read the packets, you’ll probably be surprised to see how many calories are slipping into your mouth when you’re not paying attention!
Just one Tim-Tam (my favourite chocolate biscuit) has over a hundred calories! And who eats just one anyway? 
Cut out the junk snacks and you could remove hundreds of calories from your daily intake. Instead, eat fruit and raw vegetables (carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, etc are great). Popcorn (without the butter!) and pickles are two very low-calorie snacks.
4. Don’t Get Hung Up On Daily Weight Measurements
Measure your weight every day, but focus on your 10-day moving average rather than your daily measurements.
I use PhysicsDiet.com to track my weight. They also have great forums where you can swap tips with others.
5. Pay Attention To Calorie Labels On Your Food
Have a look at the back of the packet on all the foods you eat. Take note of how many calories various foods contain.
For my height and weight, I burn roughly 100 calories for every kilometer I run. So if I eat 3 Tim Tams, I have to run 3 km to burn off the calories. A can of Coke would mean another 1.5 km. It adds up quickly!
Read about about how many calories various foods contain, and then read about how many calories various exercises burn.
While you’re looking at these numbers, bear in mind that 1 pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. So if you can remove 500 calories per day from your intake (or burn 500 extra calories per day), you’ll lose around a pound per week. That’s a good, healthy, sustainable weight loss goal.
Just being aware of how easy it is to eat hundreds of calories, and how hard it is to exercise them off, made a big difference in my attitude to eating.
Summary
You don’t have to dive in boots-n-all to start losing weight. Ease into it by taking on a few of these daily habits. It really doesn’t have to be painful!
If you can make your everyday habits healthy, you can enjoy the special occasions without guilt. You’ll be confident in the knowledge that the consequences of any dietary ‘lapse’ will be corrected within just a few days once things get back to normal.
How To Lose 20 lbs Of Fat In 30 Days May 1, 2007
Tim Ferriss has been popping up all over the place lately, mostly in relation to his new book The 4-Hour Workweek.
Of more interest to us here, though, he recently posted an article on How To Lose 20 lbs Of Fat In 30 Days.
His basic strategy is a “slow carb” diet with four simple rules:
- Avoid white carbohydrates (bread, rice, cereal, potatoes, pasta)
- Eat the same few meals over and over again (concentrating on proteins, legumes and vegetables)
- Don’t drink calories (lots of water, no juice, milk, or soft drinks)
- Take one day off per week (keeps the metabolic rate up - my favourite rule!)
I’m going to try this out for the next month (doing one of my 30-day trials!). I probably won’t be too strict about it, since I have to fit in with other people’s eating habits, but I’ll stick to it as much as I can. I’ve found in the past that controlling my ‘default’ diet (i.e. what I typically eat day in, day out, when nothing special is happening) is the key to permanent weight loss.
I’ve already changed my lunch from a cheese sandwich to canned tuna and beans, which seems to fill me up better as well. I’ve cut milk from my coffee again, and am drinking heaps of water. When I am served white carbohydrates, I’m only eating half as much of them as I used to and loading up on the vegies.
I’ve been doing this for about 4 days now, and my daily weight measurements have dropped 1.5 kg in that time. Time will tell whether it’s a trend or a glitch!
Julie Bonner is also trying out this diet. Good luck, Julie!
Health And Fitness “How To” Articles September 26, 2006
Darren Rowse over at Problogger.net hosted a group writing project last week. He managed to get 343 people to write articles on the topic of “How To…”.
Quite a few of the articles were health and fitness related, so I’ve collected links to them below. Makes for some interesting reading!
- How to handle morning workouts - we could all use a few tips on this topic!
- How To Make Exercise A Permanent Habit In Your Life - an approach similar to my 30-day trial technique.
- How to make a healthy and filling sandwich - dissects the construction of a great sandwich, with detailed breakdown of calories added with each type of filling. Yum!
- My Quick Tips on How to Lose Weight Successfully - tips from personal experience.
- Free Yourself from Chronic Pain - I hope you don’t ever need this.
- How to use High-Intesity Interval Training - good tips on how to get started with HIIT. Surf around the rest of the site for more interesting articles.
- Get Healthy in 30 days! - great tips for kick-starting your journey towards better health.
- One simple knot that keeps your shoes tied - maybe it sounds silly, but this article teaches you how to tie your shoelaces for running.
- A Simple Formula for Weight Loss and Long-Term Maintenance - very much along the lines of The Physics Diet.
- How To Live a Short, Miserable, Unhealthy Life - err, so do the opposite and you’ll live a long, happy, healthy life!
- How to jump start a new healthy lifestyle - good information on getting started.
Besides the interesting articles, the group writing project is also a great way to find out about other blogs on the topics you’re interested in. I spent way too much time surfing around just the sites listed above!
I Threw Out Leftover Chinese Food! July 17, 2006
This is probably a first for me. We had Chinese takeaway for dinner a few nights ago, and I didn’t gorge myself. I had one nice-sized plateful, and didn’t go back for seconds. It turns out, you don’t actually starve to death during the night if you do this.
The leftover food, as always, was put in the fridge. Leftover Chinese is one of the greatest breakfasts there is!
The next morning, though, the food just didn’t look that appetising to me. The thought of all those calories, the greasy sauce and the stringy meat just sapped the joy out of it. I actually preferred to eat plain old rolled oats!
I kept the containers in the fridge for a few days, you know, just in case. I considered eating it for lunch a couple of times, but chose not to.
In the end, the food got thrown out. I don’t think leftover Chinese has ever lasted more than a day in my fridge before, let alone been kept long enough to require throwing out!
The Power Of Commitment June 22, 2006
Wow, who would have guessed what a difference a “kick in the pants” would make?
On Sunday I resolved to get tough on my diet and try to get my weekly weight loss moving again. I stated that I wanted to lose 0.5 kg this week, and 1 kg next week. As it turns out, I’ve already met this week’s target, and it’s only Thursday!
My daily weight measurements for the past three days have been 91.5, 91.0 and 91.0 kg (previously they had been for a while around 92.5 or 93.0 kg), so the moving average weight loss still has some room to drop before it catches up. This should give me the momentum to reach my target next week as well, and potentially far exceed it if I keep doing what I’m doing. Fantastic!
So what have I been doing? Not a lot, really. I think what was preventing me from losing much weight over the last few weeks was that I was straying from the ‘default’ eating habits I’ve installed over the last 6 months. I’ve been bringing leftover meals to work for lunch, instead of eating my normal healthier lunch. I’ve been having slightly larger meals at night than normal. My wife has baked a few cakes and muffins in recent weeks, and I’ve been bringing them to work as snacks. I also bought lunch at work (mmm, Chinese!) a few times instead of bringing my own.
All I’ve done this week is to go back to my normal habits. I’ve been bringing my normal lower-calorie lunches to work every day again, I’ve reduced the size of my evening meals, and I bring healthy snacks to work instead of cake and muffins. It really wasn’t much effort at all, but it seems to have made a huge impact.
I don’t have much further to go before my BMI reaches 25 (it’s currently 27.6), at which point I’ll officially no longer be overweight. My medium term goal is to try to reach that point before my birthday, August 15. Time will tell!
Daily Or Weekly Weigh-Ins? May 17, 2006
I’ve seen a lot of weight loss programs that recommend you only measure weight and body fat % weekly. From what I can tell, they do that because those figures can vary so much day to day (and even within the day), that people get discouraged by the fluctuations and find it hard to “stay the course”.
The theory is that if you only measure once per week, the cumulative effect of 7 days of weight loss should overshadow the day-to-day variances and you’ll see a drop in your weight. That’s more encouraging than the swinging “Yay! D’oh! D’oh! Yay! Yay! D’oh! …” reactions you get from daily measurement.
While the idea has some merit, I think there’s a much better way.
My weight measurements can vary by as much as 4 kg (9 lbs) over a single day, and my weight loss for a week is usually about 0.7 kg (1.5 lbs). So if one week’s measurement was slightly low (say because I was slightly dehydrated at the time) and the following week’s measurement was slightly high (because I’d recently had a drink, or hadn’t gone to the toilet for a while, or whatever) then I’d be left thinking I’d ‘wasted’ a whole week on diet and exercise only to gain weight. That’d be pretty discouraging! Similarly, if I’d gone off track I wouldn’t see the result until the end of the week, and I’d do several days worth of damage before getting any feedback.
See my article on When To Weigh Yourself for more information on daily fluctuations, and what time of day to weigh yourself.
By using the Hacker’s Diet averaging technique, each day’s measurement only affects your running average by 1/10th of that day’s variance. So it takes a few consecutive ‘bad’ days before your average starts to trend up. Now instead of hoping to make every day equal to or lower than your previous day’s measurement, you’re just aiming to have more days below your average than above it. If you can do that, the average keeps going down and you’re losing weight.
Daily measurements and a focus on keeping the average trending down is a much healthier mindset. It allows you a guilt-free day off every now and then, while still reminding you to do the right thing more often than not and giving you rapid feedback if your trend starts to change.
Technorati Tags: weight loss, weight, weight measurement, diet, dieting, motivation
Blog: Working Toward Health May 16, 2006
I just discovered, through the Biggest Losers list at PhysicsDiet.com, a brand new blog by user quotidianlight - Working Toward Health.
She’s only been using PhysicsDiet.com for a couple of days, and the blog only has one post on it so far (One Fat Vegetarian), but it’s a great one. It sounds like quotidianlight has had the exact same self-realisation I had back in December - nothing is going to change unless I take charge.
She describes a pattern of steady weight gain over a period of time, with several false starts and failed ‘diet kicks’ that just never seemed to stick for more than a short time. I had a very similar experience, and never seemed to be able to fit exercise and proper eating into my normal routine. Then one day I just woke up and decided that enough was enough. I could make all the excuses in the world, but the fact was that I was unfit, overweight, and not enjoying life to the full. If I didn’t make a change, who would?
So I started walking in the mornings. It was only something small, but it was progress in the right direction. Walking beats doing nothing. Gradually over the next few months, I started making other small changes to my lifestyle - cutting sugar out of my coffee, cutting snacks and biscuits, eating smaller meals, making healthier food choices, taking my children for walks, and I even graduated from walking to jogging.
Each of these changes I made using the 30 day trial technique. Although I only committed to each for 30 days at a time, I made sure I was making changes that could be incorporated into my lifestyle without major disruption. For example, something like visiting the local gym several times a week wasn’t going to work for me - it would turn my home life upside down. Getting up half an hour early to go for a walk was doable, though. Over time, each of these changes just became a part of my normal routine, so I’m able to stick with them for the longer term. I wasn’t on a ‘health kick’, I was slowly and gradually forming healthier daily habits.
I really resonate with quotidianlight:
I had done this several times but there was a huge difference, this time… I wasn’t punishing myself. Weight loss would not be punishment for bad behavior that I enforce on myself only to fail. This time weight loss would be one prong of several changes to modify my life and bring me in balance.
And the future is looking great, because now we’re in control of our own destiny:
I look forward to becoming a strong swimmer. I look forward to learning to run again. Somehow I will learn to balance exercise, eating and life.
Easter Weight Gain! April 19, 2006
So, how did everyone go with their diets over Easter?
I put on nearly 2 kg (4.4 lbs)! Although my weighted average is only showing about 0.1 kg (0.22 lbs) gain. I hate seeing that red on the graph, and will be working extra hard to try to get the weight back down before the end of the week.
Easter turned out to be a perfect storm of calories this year. Last weekend was my daughter’s first birthday party, and that involved a lot of junk food and leftovers for the following week. We were also going away for 5 days over Easter, so we had to eat down the food in the fridge and cupboards.
We stayed with friends for 5 days over Easter. They own a restaurant out in the country, and are fantastic chefs, so we ate a lot of cooked breakfasts, roast lunches and dinners, huge BBQ steaks, delicious desserts, etc. We also visited an open day at a local winery, attended the town’s annual festival, drank a lot, ate tons of chocolate, and enjoyed their daughter’s seventh birthday party.
I took my running gear with me, thinking it’d be really nice to jog on the flat country roads (my coastal town is very hilly). Between looking after the kids, the late nights, the alcohol consumption, and the chilly autumn mornings, I didn’t get out for a run even once!
I decided early on to just ditch the diet for this past week. I knew I’d probably gain a couple of kilos, but it would be worth it to spend quality time with friends we see only a couple of times a year, and to enjoy Easter, the parties and the festivals with our kids. It’ll take me a couple of weeks to burn those kilos back down, but that’s OK. Sometimes you just have to enjoy life!
Technorati Tags: weight loss, dieting, chocolate, Easter, weight gain
Surviving A 1st Birthday Party… April 12, 2006
…with your waistline intact!
Having just survived my third daughter’s first birthday party, I thought it a good time to give some tips on making it through a party without ditching your diet and bursting your belt.
- Give yourself permission to eat junk food, drink a little, and have some fun. It’s only for one day.
- Only eat during the hours of the party (e.g. 3pm to 6pm). No snacking while preparing food, and no eating stuff while cleaning up afterwards!
- Serve some healthy food and eat smart (at least a little bit!). We prepared several plates of healthy stuff like raw vegetables and dip, dried fruits, water crackers and salsa, and fruit salad with dessert. If you’re just nibbling while you talk, try to go mostly for this stuff. Other parents will also appreciate the gesture, and one of the kids might surprise you by eating celery instead of chips!
- Sit or stand at the far side of the party from where the food is being served. If you stand right next to the food table, you’ll unconsciously keep reaching for more and you’ll eat way more than you need to. Make your laziness work for you!
- When eating junk food, go for the sugary stuff (lollies, jelly, meringues, etc) more than the high-carbohydrate/high-fat stuff (cake, donuts, fairy bread, chips, sausage rolls, mousse, cream, chocolate, etc). You can still enjoy a bit of both, but try not to overindulge on the fatty stuff.
- Enjoy the junk food that you do eat. Eat it slowly, and really savour the sweetness and flavour. You probably haven’t eaten much for a while, so don’t waste this opportunity for indulgence by just gulping it down!
- Don’t drink too much. It’s a kids’ party, don’t go overboard and get drunk. Besides, there are more calories in alcohol than you’d think. Jogging the next morning won’t be fun with a hangover, either :-).
- Get involved in the games. It’ll take you away from the food table, and you’ll burn a lot of that sugar off running around, playing musical chairs, dancing, etc. And the kids will love you for it! At the end of the day, the kids are a big reason you’ve been working so hard on getting fitter.
- Give away as much of the leftover junk food as you can after the party. Send cake home with the kids, give away all those half-packets of lollies, give parents leftover/unused food, soft drinks and desserts to take home as a thankyou for helping. The less of this stuff that stays in the house, the less you’ll have to eat over the next few days!
- If you do end up with a lot of leftovers, freeze what you can. There’s no point pigging out on leftover sausages all week when you could freeze them in small batches and use them in moderation over the coming weeks.
- Make sure you get up in the morning and go for a walk or jog. You’ve got to burn off those extra calories!
Technorati Tags: weight loss, dieting, parenting, diet, calories
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