A friend of mine asked me to share my diet and exercise plan that helped me to “lose weight”. What follows are the tools, resources, dietary, and exercise principles that helped me to accomplish my health and fitness goals.

Number One: Your Why

You need to figure out your why. What is the motivating force behind why you want to do this. It has to be so compelling that you won’t give up like all the other times that you’ve tried to do this. My why is my family. I want to live longer so I can have more time with them.

Overarching Goals

First of all, my journey is not about losing weight. Excess weight and obesity are simply visible results of an unhealthy cycle of overeating and a sedentary lifestyle. When I started my journey, I wanted to not just lose weight, but also shed excess fat as well as be physically fit. These goals cannot be achieved by diet alone. I believe diet without exercise is simply a waste of time.

Tools

1. Suunto t3c heart rate monitor
   * Tracks calorie burn during exercise
   * Helps monitor heart rate during exercise
   * More practical than Polar heart rate monitors because the batteries are self-replaceable
2. MyFoodDiary.com
   * Food database
   * Calorie counter
   * Assists you in determining how many calories you can eat with a given amount of exercise
   * See my review of this great tool
3. Gym membership
   * LA Fitness
   * 24HR Fitness
4. Personal Trainer
   * Personal training membership at LA Fitness is a monthly financial commitment for one year
   * Personal training at 24HR Fitness is purchased in groups of sessions, no monthly commitment
   * Costco and costco.com sell a 2-year 24HR Fitness membership at a great price, equals about $12/month

Dietary Principles

To lose weight in a healthy manner, you can safely lose two pounds per week. One pound is approximately equal to 3500 calories. So if you restrict your calorie intake by 500 calories per day, you should lose at least one pound per week. With exercise, it can be more. Typically, when starting a new diet and exercise program, a person loses a large amount of weight early on, but these large amounts typically are not sustainable, so restricting your calories by more than 500 calories per day is not wise.

Determine your normal daily calorie intake (this is easily researched online) based on your age, height, weight, and then decrease that amount by 500 calories per day. As you progress in your goals and begin to exercise more, you will need to increase your calorie intake so that your body has the fuel it needs.

Extreme calorie restriction does not work, and actually causes the body to retain fluids and weight because it thinks that you are starving, so your metabolism slows down when you eat less to the extreme. Summary: Do not restrict your calories by more than 500-800 calories per day; to do so is to “starve” yourself.

Diet Ratios

Generally, your diet should have the following proportions of fats-carbs-proteins: 20:60:20. If you use MyFoodDiary.com, it gives you a running count of these percentages as you eat your meals.

Ingredients

Focus on:

• Decreasing intake of red meats
• Increasing lean protein sources like white meat chicken, turkey, lean ham
• Increasing intake of fiber
• Eliminating simple sugars like white flour, white bread, sugars

Instead eat whole grains, complex carbs like fruits and vegetables. If you need to sweeten, use stevia, a natural, unaltered chemically, plant-based sweetener (not for cooking). Decrease, but do not eliminate fats. Some good sources for fat intake are:

• Almonds
• Non-hydrogenated, natural peanut butter
• Olive oil (in moderation)
• Avocado (in moderation)

Eat at least five small meals daily. Some say six, but I can never eat that last meal in the evening, so I do five. Drink at least one-half gallon of water every day.

Breakfast

• 1 bowl cereal (not sugary) – I like Honey Bunches of Oats. Cheerios may be a good start for now. Fill the cereal bowl half way with water, the other half with nonfat milk.
• Drink your 1st 16 ounces of water – Need to hydrate early in the morning because your body has been fasting and dehydrating while you were asleep.
• Green tea (32 ounces)

Snack 1

• 12 almonds
• 1 banana
• 3 celery stalks with peanut butter
• Water

Lunch

• Lean ham, low fat cheese sandwich made on 100-calorie bread (Sara Lee)
• 7 dried prunes
• 1 apple
• 2 other fruits of your choice
• Water

Snack 2

• Low-calorie yogurt (80 calories)
• Low fat granola
• Water

Dinner (keep it to 300-400 calories)

• Lean meat (avoid red meats, once in awhile is okay)
• Vegetables
• No bread!
• Water

Exercise

My exercise routines and plans are very complex, so I’m not going to write about them here. I strongly suggest you purchase a gym membership and sessions with a personal trainer. I could not have done any of this on my own. With a trainer, you can learn how to:

• Use the equipment
• Work out correctly
• Create your own exercise routines
  After you learn more about the gym and the equipment, use Men’s Health Maximum Muscle Plan to help you create your own exercise routines:

When I needed to lose the extra fat and get fit, I devised a three-phase plan:

Phase 1: Fat Loss

• Six days a week: cardiovascular exercise for one hour – Recommend the high-intensity spin class that all gyms offer
• Three days a week: weight training for half hour (including one or two sessions a week with trainer)
• Stay in this mode until you reach about 30 – 50% of your fat loss goal

Phase 2: Strength and Conditioning

• Three days a week: cardiovascular exercise for half hour or more: You can incorporate more outdoor activities safely now with decreased weight like running, and cycling outdoors.
• Three or four days a week: strength/weight training for one hour
• I would do this phase for the rest of your life

Phase 3: Athletic Training

If you really get into fitness, you may want to incorporate athletic events and races into your life. I know I need these events to stay motivated and have goals to strive for. Depending on what events you would like to do, there are lots of training programs and coaching advice you can find online and in books.

• Cycling: I completed my first 100-mile ride (Century ride) last October 2008, the Tour de Poway.
• Running: Never having been a runner before, I completed my first half marathon in under two hours last January 2009.
• Triathlons: I’ve started swimming. My first tri is in May 2009.