My Tips for Weight Management

It is well established that there is an epidemic of obesity in the United States. While I am a huge proponent of exercise as a method of weight control, exercise alone will not prevent a person from gaining weight. One needs to develop good habits and stick to them. I think a big reason many people ignore their bodies is that it requires work to maintain them, and gee, I work 8+ hours a day to earn a living already why should I have to work on myself?

It is work—at least initially. Some people have grown into adulthood not knowing how to cook, having no knowledge of good nutritional practices but believing that life is so hard that we must give ourselves treats every single day, and because the excess weight itself is not accorded disease status, the pounds just pile on until they do create a disease like hypertension, Type II diabetes, achy or worn out joints, shortness of breath or cardiovascular disease. If you are nearly or already obese, you will develop one or more of these diseases, guaranteed.

So what are people supposed to do? I say buck up and do some work to acquire knowledge and get some discipline going so that you can go through the rest of your life with increased health and vitality. Towards that end, here is a list of 10 common sense things to choose from that I think anyone can do to help manage their weight:

1. Swim once a week or so in a public pool. Sometimes wear a 2-piece bikini (Speedo for a man). Embarrassed to be seen in a swimsuit? You should be. Lose some weight, fatso.
2. Do NOT keep more than one size of clothing for yourself. Fit into what you have—if it starts becoming tight, lose some weight, fatso.
3. Make your treat/cheat foods something you don’t keep in your house. EVER. Why? You know you are weak—we all are. Always go out to buy it at the time you want it. Will the extra effort to go foraging for it be worth it every single time? Probably not.
4. If you are in your car and having a craving for something, drive right past the place where you can get it and keep going for 5 minutes. If you still want it, then go back for it. Betcha many times you won’t turn around.
5. Always have something that is healthy and really tasty available in your house that is either already prepared or takes minimal preparation. You know you love many good, whole foods that are super tasty—you just need to surround yourself with them.
6. Learn what it feels like to actually be hungry every now and then (except at breakfast time). If you think you’re hungry, drink a big glass of water. If 5 minutes later you still feel hungry, then you really might be.
7. NEVER skip breakfast. If you are eating correctly, you should wake up hungry—not eat-everything-in-the-fridge hungry, but you should need something. Not giving your body, and particularly your brain (which runs on sugar) something to overcome the fast that you just had (that is why it’s called BREAKfast) makes you more likely to make poor choices as the day wears on. Unfed brains make stupid decisions.
8. Always have a piece of fruit (or 2) 2 hours after breakfast. At least you will have eaten one serving of fruit for the day, right? And if you ate your breakfast and the fruit, maybe you won’t make bad choices for lunch.
9. Try to plan 1 or 2 of your meals each day, either the day before or in the morning. That way, if the 3rd one goes to hell, at least you did well for 2 out of 3. It’s easiest to plan breakfast and lunch, and if you get adequate calories there, you are less likely to pig out at dinner time.
10. Learn how to cook. It need not be elite French restaurant quality food; just simply prepared, whole foods like baked or grilled lean meats, steamed vegetables and salads. You can live on just those foods, you know. As you learn about cooking techniques and seasonings, odds are you will discover that simply prepared food is quite delicious and doesn’t always require the addition of butter, cheese or breading.

Notice that several of these tips involve the dreaded planning—yes, that’s right. You might actually have to make a list before you go to the grocery store, you might actually have to peruse recipes every now and then, but I like to think of it more as being mindful. People become fat because they aren’t mindful of what is going in their mouths and how it makes them feel—and then they go on a “diet” that requires all sorts of planning and restrictions yet somehow that work is OK with them. That is just messed up. What is a good habit if not work that has become routine? I think it’s easier and simpler (and less stressful) to practice the good techniques until they become habits than it is to go into defensive mode repeatedly.

Do I fall off the wagon? Every now and then. But I only allow myself 4 pounds in the wrong direction (my current baseline weight is 110, so 4 pounds is 3.6% of it). That is my signal that I have been eating mindlessly. I saw that number about a week and a half ago. I am down1.5 pounds and feel better already since I'm not eating so much sugar (leftover Halloween candy). So I'm not perfect. And there's a lot more to me maintaining my weight/body composition than the average person, but sometimes it comes down to the basics, just like for everyone else.

I eat a very varied diet. I prepare my breakfast and dinner on most days--lunch is usually a Lean Cuisine (yes I could do better but even I err on the side of convenience at times). My typical snack foods are fruit, string cheese, sometimes pretzels, sardines, a bite of leftovers. When I'm training about 15 hours or more in a week, I find I need to supplement with some more sugary foods, even candy. But I still try and keep 2500-3000 calories per day coming from good, clean food sources (including deliberate sports nutrition). I "cook" usually just on weekends--microwaving something from the freezer or throwing a piece of fish or meat into the oven or making a salad doesn't count as cooking to me, and I have precious little free time during the week like many people, and not just because of my training.

I only note this because I have the same weaknesses as anyone else when it comes to food--I don't have "good genes" or anything like that. I have to work at weight maintenance just like anyone else. I have just tried my best to ingrain good habits. Time was I ate like complete and total crap, and I felt like crap for it, too. I do love cooking, and reserve my high fat treat foods like deep-dish pizza, cream-based pasta sauces and Italian deli wonder sandwiches on focaccia bread for times when I have rather big workouts scheduled. So in a sense I train to eat! But even before triathlon, I could eat those things on my one cheat day per week, and it worked out just fine.

Maybe you can find 1 or more things in this post that you want to add to your arsenal. If you have other ideas, feel free to comment as well!