Dieting for the Real World

Here it is. I am frequently asked by friends how I lost over fifty pounds in under a year. "What did you do for it? Did you just stop eating carbs? Did you buy a program or hire a trainer? Did you take pills? Did you go crazy and just stop eating?" When I start to tell them *everything* I did, and the tiny, simple, boring particulars such as meal planning or working out, my questioners seem to get this disappointed look in their eyes, like they were expecting some hugely elaborate program, or something so exotic that borders on magical. For asking a question that they have long wanted to find an answer, they don't seem to want to hear it. It's as if diet and exercise are no longer in vogue, being the old-fashioned, outdated solutions that came from the earlier part of the century; after all, we are in an age where the hard work of churning the window-cranks in our car are taken care of with electronic buttons and hidden motors.

What people want are very broad rules of thumb, so nothing has to be memorized or even learned in too much detail. Sadly, to effectively and thoroughly lose bodyfat and get in shape, one has to thoroughly learn the basics and more, and to discover on one's own even more things that work. This is not the magic pill, the silver bullet, the red shoes that take you home with three clicks of the heels. Our lives may be modern and highly-evolved, but our bodies are not. The solutions that apply to influencing our biological machinery are not necessarily found in high-tech methods. Rather, we should have low-tech, organic and easily applicable solutions to train our human animal, so they may be applicable to our daily lives as well.

These did not come from a trainer or gym (in fact I do not even have a membership) but by educating myself with direct experimentation, and knowing what worked.

WARNING: When I say something is "simple" it is not to mean that something is also easy. Eating right and exercising do seem like simple solutions, don't they?

Here are the rules I found worked for me:

Rule #1 Have a Colorful Plate: If you forget anything else from this article, remember this one. Whenever you load up your plate, make sure that it is colorful. By this I don't mean for you to sprinkle M&M's, or add those green and red tortilla chips at your favorite Mexican restaurant. It actually means to add a diverse number of foods at each meal. Not counting junk food, this forces an adding of the most colorful foods: fruits and vegetables mainly, and some grains. The beauty of following this rule of thumb is by using number of colors as your guideline, you greatly increase your chances of getting a wide spectrum of nutrients in your diet, without thinking about it too much. Think of the typical large dinner: Steak, gravy, steak sauce and potatoes. Brown, brown, brown. Doesn't sound very diverse, does it? Now, think of a plate with chicken, peas, carrots, zucchini, string beans, bell peppers, and eggplant. Which sounds prettier? Which do you think is more nutritious?

Rule #2: Water, Water, Everywhere: Carry a water bottle with you in your purse or knapsack. We need close to 64 ounces of water a day, and more depending on individual differences. Water is an incredible digestive aid, cleanser, core-temperature regulator as well as a runner's (not to mention a dieter's) best friend. A lot of us are dehydrated without even knowing it, and our digestive systems are slow because of not enough water to irrigate the plumbing, so to speak. Result? We are constipated and cranky, but don't know why. When we drink other things that are not water, such as chocolate, coffee, soda, fruit-flavored juices and even those new-fangled energy drinks, the body will extract the water, but the rest has to go somewhere else, right? Now, have you ever woken up with a sitcky-feeling mouth, or a dry throat? That could be a sign your drink has left residues deposited in different places in your body. You have to drink water to give your body an internal shower. Sip water throughout the day, and you can't go wrong.
Does this mean no more soda or juice? You can have the occasional drink, although it would save you lots of money in unpurchased junk drinks if you cut them out for the most part.

Rule #3 Wear a Watch: This was a surprise for me when I found out that I had better discipline when I ate on a schedule, instead of when I felt hungry. I'm a very impulse-based eater who will get up and gobble all the ice cream in the house while watching television. Does that sound familiar? When you're hungry, your judgement is a bit impaired about what to eat, as well as how much. You tend to overestimate how many portions you want, and reach for the junk all too easily. Would you like to have your diet results decided completely by the random, impulsive thoughts of a hunger-crazed person? Eating systematically and regularly gives you systematic and regular results. (Note: if you think that takes the fun out of eating, refer back to rule #1). Finally, breaking up your daily calories into smaller batches keeps your metabolism and your energy up.
I tend to work best with a 3-hour interval, eating when it's 6, 9,12, 3 and 6pm (sometimes 9pm). And I try not to eat anything in between, trying to keep busy with work, errands or working out. By the way, did you happen to notice that I only eat when the hour is a multiple of 3? Using a schedule with 8-11-1-4, etc. will also work, but it won't be as easy to remember.

Rule #4 Turning Japanese: I heard of this concept called Hara-Hachibun. It literally means Stomach-80%. Diet-wise, it means to eat only until you are 80% full. It makes so much sense when you think back to those times you ate so much that you promised yourself never to even look at food again. Too many times we eat until it hurt, because we can't tell for ourselves if we are full. By the time our stomach gets around to telling us, it's always too late. By eating until a feeling of 80% fullness, we stop at just about the time we are getting our (comfortable) fill, with neither starving or bursting.
A meal is supposed to nourish and refresh us for later effort, not bust our belts with extra baggage, and send us to bed. If you think of your metabolism as a fire, and a hara-hachibun meal is a handful of kindling, then a "full" or "regular" meal would be a giant log dumped on a campfire. Think of this next time you eat: Imagine you are going to play basketball or go jogging in twenty minutes. How much of that pizza or spaghetti will you want held in your gut while you are bobbing up and down on the concrete?

Rule #5 Burn, Baby Burn: Here comes the four-letter word: Exercise! It's a double-edged sword. Exercise may be the magic beans that will lead you to your goal, but you'll still have to do some climbing. No two ways about it. Even a car has to be driven once a month, so simply giving it the best oil, coolant, and gasoline isn't enough. Fluids have to be kept circulating and not left stagnant in that hairy bag of water called your body. Fuels have to be consumed and converted into energy, not just left in storage. The human machinery was built to move, run, flex, stretch, swim, walk, climb, jump, dance, carry, skip, leap, sprint, jog from here to there, and all points in between. When you (re)discover the joy in regularly breaking a sweat in an aerobic activity you enjoy several times a week, you improve as an athlete and burn extra calories just for the pleasure of it.
For me it was running, very early every day, with some dumbell work afterwards. A great way to keep motivated was to have an upcoming public race in mind, and train to get in shape by that day. It gave me a much better mind-body feedback, and knowing the difference betwwen a genuinely fatigued body, and just me when I'm being lazy.

These are the rules that saw me through. They are simple and effective tips, but few people actually employ them. I followed them not because a trainer told me so, but because I found these out after literally years of experimentation and finding out for myself if they helped. I recommend educating yourself as much as you can in your fitness quest. Try these rules as best you can in the next few weeks, and find out if they work for you. In your own journey, may you find newer and more helpful rules.