Inside Fatherhood

Hey Dads Want to Lose Weight?

by steve on January 21st, 2007

I thought I would share with you guys on how I personally lost weight. I am still not at my ideal weight but have lost 30 lbs over the last 2 years. It doesn’t seem like much but if you want to lose weight and keep it off you need to take your time and do it properly. In those 2 years I sometimes even gained back a few points when I slacked or I maintained my current level. That’s because I wasn’t always dieting and exercising. But right now I am 166 pounds. My ideal weight is 155. I plan to lose the next 10 pounds in a matter of a couple months. When I am actually dieting and exercising on a consistent level I can lose anywhere between 1 pound and 3 pounds per week.

But, It wasn’t until I lost my first 15 pounds I realized what actually worked and what didn’t and it took me nearly a year and a half to come to this conclusion. The last 15 pounds I lost in the summer. But just like everybody tells you there is no secret potion, or magic ingredient. But I will tell you what works for me and hopefully if you take my advice it will work for you.

Not only have I lost 30 pounds but I was able to bring my blood pressure down to considerably. The first thing you have to tell yourself is that what you are currently doing is not working. It just simply isn’t cutting it and you have to be willing to change. This change means both diet and exercise. If you are not willing to change your food habits or increase your activity level then you will not lose weight. This mean you will have to cut out beer (not completely) and you will have to get outside for at least an 45-60 minutes 5 or 6 times each week.

If you can accept those things then the next thing you have to tell yourself is that whatever changes you must make are NOT temporary. You have to accept the fact that whatever you change you will plan to do this for the rest of your life until the day you die. The reason crash diets don’t necessarily work is because once they lose that 10 pounds in 3 weeks they feel they have reached their goal and will not continue what is needed to maintain that low weight. It is fine to make goals and reach milestones, but you have to extend those goals beyond a summer, or a year, and make them for the rest of your life. This is a lifestyle change, at least it is for me. The hardest part of losing weight is becoming mentally prepared. Once you are ready mentally the physical challenges are really easy.

But here is my routine day when losing roughly 2 pounds per week:

1) I wake up and immediately drink a tall glass of water. This helps get me hydrated and water actually stimulates your metabolism. Prepare to drink lots and lots of water. It will keep you hydrated so that all of your bodily functions work properly. There are so many things water does to your body it is highly needed. Carry a water bottle if you must. Always be sipping on it. But start your day off with a tall glass of water.

2) Eat a great big bowl of fruit for breakfast. Eat a banana while you make a fruit salad. Grapes, cantalope, banana, watermelon, strawberries. blueberries, oranges, apples, etc. Don’t put anything on it. No sugar or whip cream. Just enjoy the fruit in its natural state. Don’t worry or count much of the calories. I have never known a person to get fat from eating too much fruit. I know there is sugar in fruit but it is the good sugar. Eat it and fill up and don’t eat again until lunch time.

3) At lunch time prepare a sandwich of some sort. Your sandwich should have some meat in it. This is when you start counting your calories. I personally try not to go over 500 calories for lunch. This will include a tall glass of low-fat or fat free milk. I drink 2% myself. So here is a typical lunch I will have:

- 2 slices of bread. I sometimes will eat white bread which has more calories but I will usually wheat or some grain bread. For me it doesn’t really matter what color it is.
- One slice of bologne
- One slice of low-fat cheese
- Couple slices of tomato
- Few pieces of lettuce in there
- Mustard
- Tall glass of 2% milk

The milk has a lot of calories in it but it is definitely needed. They are good calories and will help you build muscle and lose weight. Then I will take the rest of the tomato that I cut those few slices from and put a little salt on it for flavor and eat it. This meal should not exceed 500 calories.

4) After I eat my lunch I have assumed that I have eaten no more than 800 to 1,000 calories from both the large quantities of fruit and my lunch. It is time to start my exercise. I normally do 5 sets of 20 sit-ups. I either spread them out over the day or do them within an hour of each other. I don’t really worry about it. I just do them when it is convenient. I also do curls. You don’t have to do the normal amount you do at the gym. Just use 20 pounds and do 5 sets of 20 but do these only every other day. The stomach muscle can be used daily and will have plenty of rest. The bicep should have a day to rest and repair.

5) In the afternoon I will have a cup of green tea. I don’t put sugar or milk in it. Just caffeine free green tea. This is supposedly good for you and will help boost your immune system. With my tea I will peel me a nice big fat carrot and eat it or have an apple. If I am still really hungry and don’t think I can make it until dinner I will peel me a cucumber and eat the entire thing. Always remember too, that you will burn more calories eating a stick of celery than you consume. So if you like celery you can snack on that in the afternoon. Sorry no cream cheese or peanut butter on it. Nope! Plain…. Then I do not eat until dinner.

6) Dinner time I should be done with my exercises. Here is a meal I will prepare for the family:

- Steak
- Mashed Potato
- Peas or green beans
- Milk

Season steak as normal. Peel and bring potato to a boil and cook until soft. Mash it and put in 1 or 2 tablespoons of butter. Salt and pepper. No sour cream sorry. This meal should not exceed 600 calories. I try not to go over 500 but when counting numbers sometimes I get close to 600 or even 700 calories. Once dinner is done I will not eat again until the next day. If I am starving around 8pm I either peel an orange or I drink a tall glass of water.

7) I usually wait an hour before I go for an hour walk. When I walk I move right along usually around 4 miles per hour. When I first started I was doing 3 1/2 miles per hour but as you get into shape and shed some pounds you can go at a pretty good clip, maybe even up over 4 mph. Pick a route and do the same walk each night. It is a good way to gauge your progress if you can bear the boredom of walking the same route each night. Walking 4mph for an hour I was burning just over 400 calories. Not only is it great for burning calories but it is good for your heart and blood pressure.

8) Before going to bed I take a bath, jump on the scale, and dive between the sheets.

So for the day I consumed (average estimate):

Morning Fruit: 350 calories
Lunch: 500 calories
Afternoon Veggie Snacks: 250 calories
Dinner: 600 calories
Total: 1700 calories

Also for the day I have burned some calories (average estimate):

Situps, Pushups, and Curls: 200 calories
1 hour walk at 4mph: 400 calories
Total: 600 calories

Now take 1700 calories and subtract 600 calories. This leaves me on a typical day balancing out at 1100 calories. When you are dieting and exercising that number should never fall below 1,000 calories. When you want to maintain the current weight that number should not fall below 1500 - 1600 calories.

When I follow this schedule I lose about 2 pounds each week and feel great from the exercise. So as you can see this doesn’t include the sometimes chocolate cake I have once per week or that extra glass of tall milk I decide to have with dinner. When I maintain this schedule and splurge every so often, I don’t have to feel guilty and I know I haven’t hurt my diet. Having small helpings or an occasional sweet is actually healthy and more fun, because you can enjoy it. But the biggest part of this diet is you can’t just sit down and each nachos, melted cheese, and salsa 3 times a week and eat an entire plate of it. You have to stop drinking beer regularly. Alcohol is fattening. A glass of wine once a week is manageable, but not every single night.

I am sure there are other ways to lose weight but this is what I do to lose 2 pounds each week and feel great.

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POSTED IN: Advice, Inspirational