When I started this quest, I was given really great advice by my buddy, Ed Huff. Ed had already worked the magic and transformed his body. Today, he has completed several triathlons, including a half Ironman. And, he is still working hard to get better at training his mind and body.
The advice Ed gave me was to read labels on packages and to work at a caloric deficit. In other words, know what each food was made of, consume less calories, and watch the fat melt away. Truth be told, that was difficult for me at first. I enjoyed reading the labels to determine which fats and sugars were in foods, but the calorie counting seemed a momentous task. I did my best to track what I could and, though, I was losing some weight, the process seemed to be taking a LONG while.
Then it happened, one of my mentors, a former prosecutor turned defense attorney, turned me on to a program called "Lose It." It's a website and, if you have an iPhone, an app that let's you build a profile of where you are; your ultimate goal; how you'd like to reach that goal; and, most importantly, a handy-dandy way of tracking the foods you consume. The app pulls in dietary information for many store and restaurant brand foods and let's you "create" foods that are not already in the database.
So, why should you care? Great question. Here's the answer. Both the website and app assist you in creating the habit that will eventually turn into your lifestyle. Before I got an iPhone, I would religiously enter my daily weight, food choices, and exercises onto the website. Doing so let me see firsthand what I was consuming, as I consumed it, daily. I had no choice but to stay within my daily calorie budget. And, before I chomped down on a meal, I knew precisely where it would leave me at the end of the day. More so, I could see how many calories I burned with each workout and how many calories I had remaining for the day. Now, although I still log each meal, I have a general idea of how much each meal will affect me (calories ingested versus calories remaining), even before I enter it into the program (partly because I eat the same meals on a regular basis)....Because I've developed the habit of focusing on just how many calories each meal consist of, I am intentionally focusing on what I put into my temple. For example, I'm a big fan of Subway's tuna sandwiches, but Loseit highlighted for me that each 6-inch tuna sandwich is approximately 525 calories, versus approximately 329 calories for a 6-inch coldcut combo. At current, my daily caloric intake is just over 1500. Result, before adding any sort of chips or drink or exercise, that one 6-inch sandwich was burning 1/3 of my daily calories. Eye-opening, isn't it?
I know, i know...sounds like a lot of work, huh? Well, it is? Likewise, isn't it a lot of work to balance your checkbook and monitor your bank account to ensure that you're spending within your budget? Well, I look at it this way. If I don't balance my checkbook, I could go into the red and end up owing the bank a lot of money in fees. That would be both painful and inconvenient. But life would move on. Whereas, if I don't actively monitor what I'm ingesting, I could land in the neighborhoods of high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes, etc. Unlike paying overdraft fees, life, in this example, might not go on.
If you're serious about making a total body transformation, take a look at www.loseit.com . It could change your life like it changed mine...by making it a bit more convenient to develop the habit that must become your best friend, if you're to see the results you desire.
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