Wednesday, August 20, 2008

A Little Secret

Well, I've had a pretty good results so far and I feel that I have to come clean. I am kind of a professional weight looser. I've been doing it off for about 7 years and because of this, I have special tools at my disposal.

One of them is a methodology from Weight Watchers (another is my experience from being a wrestler - but I wouldn't recommend, or use those tactics anymore). Basically, I journal the food I eat each day. Each item of food has so many points...once I reach my limit (based on my age, weight and sex), I stop eating. Oh, and if you exercise, you get points added to your daily allowance, so riding my bike to work, gives me a little wiggle room, plus it's good for me. I keep track of the points on an old Palm I had laying around–here is the free software if anyone is interested:
http://www.freewarepalm.com/medical/dietcalc.shtml

Pretty simple, the trick is staying on it. The great thing is that if you do it for a few months, it really becomes a habit of eating well and exercising and it's really about being aware of what you eat. Over the last two years, though, I haven't done a good job of keeping track and I've gained some weight, that's why I was excited to join Drop 10. I knew it would give me the incentive get going again.

For anyone who is interested, you can find the points value of most food in on the Internet. I usually just search, for example, "Weight Watchers Points Subway" if I want to know how many points my 6 inch Subway Club will cost me. If you can't find it on the Web, as long as you have the nutritional information, you can calculate the points yourself with the above software or online here:
http://www.webmilhouse.com/pointcalc.php

So there you have it. I feel much better now. ;^)

7 comments:

Dig said...

I read this post while eating an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie from potbelly. i'm in trouble.

Linden said...

There is another person that I know (who shall remain nameless, but also to whom I am currently engaged) who has had super good luck with the same process over the spring and summer... losing over 20# already.

there's nothing like a system.

BoomBoom said...

I would have to say that for the most part weight watchers points works. I've done it before, too. However, I think I found that they gave me too few points... like 21. That's more or less 1200 calories a day. It worked the first time I did it, but recently it did not. Honestly, 1200 calories is hard to do and not feel hungry. So, I still claim that the link at the bottom right, which calculates your necessary calories for maintenance, existence, and then weight loss works better. It told me that I needed 1440 just to exist. So, 1200 put my body in starvation mode and held onto calories after a while. Just for your consideration...

Okumura said...

Good comment about watching out for going into starvation mode from eating too little... although I'm pretty certain that mode hasn't triggered for me yet.

By the way, I caught that comment Paul!! I did hear a rumor about earlier - Congratulations on your recent engagement!!

Dig said...

there is a wired article on the weight watcher's new online program. apparently, it is like a role playing game.

http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/commentary/games/2008/08/gamesfrontiers_0811

Dig said...

btw, what is up with boomboom posting a pic of me as her id pic. she must like men with moves from behind.

BoomBoom said...

Ha ha... well, what can I say? No, I just think the photo is hilarious... drunky pants.