As promised, I'm going to talk to you about the things that have helped me get to where I am and where I want to go.
The first thing I needed when I got started was to throw away some of my old thought processes about how to eat properly. I used to think calories in, versus calories out, was the only thing that mattered if you broke it down to the core. I learned the hard way that, though it was correct in a sense, it was incomplete. It's kind of like the old saying, "Practice makes perfect." On the surface, it makes sense. However, if you really think about it, practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect--permanently.
With eating, you only get the results you want if you learn the best way to do it correctly. The calories you take in need to be the right kind of calories. They need to be consumed in a manner that makes the most sense to your body. The intake needs to be spread out over the course of the day so that you don't get the highs and lows that mess up your mind and so that your metabolism doesn't get out of whack. It sounds difficult, but it isn't. So look at it this way; Think of your body as a garden hose. Think of the food you consume as the water you need for your garden to grow properly. And remember that all the water you have for a given day to water those plants, the proper amount, is dependent on how you transfer that water through the hose.
Now, in order for the analogy to work, the connection between the hose (your body) and the water (the calories you consume), the connection has to fit properly. You are responsible for how that water flows through the hose. You are responsible for how the hose is connected to the supply. There are no screws to hold it in place. The only thing putting it together is your ability to hold the hose against the water supply and hope that nothing leaks out.
Your body can only absorb so many nutrients at any given time. Just like a water hose can only take so much water through it at a given time. If you try to force too much water through the hose, it will spring a leak and you will lose nutrients needed for growth. If you apply too much pressure, you will lose water. The trick for the human body of getting everything you consume to work for you is to do it slowly over an extended period of time.
Figure out how many calories you need to take in during the day to remain healthy and productive and how many calories you need to burn in order for weight loss to happen. Then spread the food out over many meals. Don't skip meals. If anything, increase the number of meals you have. If you only eat two meals a day because they are big meals, then eat four times a day and spread the nutritional intake at a rate your body can absorb. What you will find is that when you start doing this, your body will start telling you that you don't need to eat as much because it's getting what it needs from all of the smaller meals. You will actually slow down, or lower, your intake because the extra food that has been wasted and not absorbed, won't be needed anymore.
Maybe look at it this way; If you are eating 4,000 calories a day, but your body is only absorbing 2,000 calories of nutrients, then your absorption rate is 50% of consumption. All the rest you take in is either turned into fat or passed through. (The technical term is poop, but I didn't want to gross you out.) Now, spread the meals into smaller meals several times a day, reduce the intake to 2,200 calories and your absorption rate skyrockets to 90% or more, you will have a lot less fat building or waste to work out. Add to that, an hour of exercise. Blow off 400-500 calories and low and behold, you're losing weight.
It took me forever to get this idea into my thick brain. I knew for a fact that if I cut down my calories, as Connie wanted me to, that I would starve to death. I'm a big guy, and I needed big meals. It was simple physics. I was wrong. I didn't need big meals. I needed a lot of little meals, of the right kind of food. I know I'm spending a lot of time on this point and you're probably starting to nod off. Just keep this in mind; I'm not telling you this so you can lose weight. I'm recording this so that you can lead a healthy life and live a lot longer and happier. I don't yet have the six pack I desire, but I no longer have a keg either. And that's progress.
Next week I want to talk to you about some of the meals I'm consuming and how to eat REAL food that you don't have to pay a fortune for and cook it so that that it is healthy and tasty.
Lannie