Mark’s 10
Commandments for Being Your Ideal Weight
I
thought it might be helpful to pass along 10 of the most beneficial changes
that assisted me in my personal transformation.
1. Thou shalt only make
sustainable changes.
Gimmick diets may
work for the short term, but let’s be honest, how long can you go only eating
pork products? Before you make a change in your life ask yourself if it is
sustainable for the rest of your life. If the answer is, “No,” then don’t do
it.
2. Thou shalt lose
ounces not pounds.
No one loses or
gains fat in pounds; we lose and gain in ounces. There are about 3,500 calories
in a pound of fat. So in order to lose a pound of fat you need to have a 3,500
calorie deficit in your diet. But since no one loses pounds only ounces (16oz
make a pound) let’s look at what it will take to lose an ounce. If you are
currently drinking 16oz of Coke a day and switched to Diet Coke (I suggest
water, but remember only make sustainable change) you would lose about 1oz of
fat a day. In the course of a year you would lose around 22.8 pounds. Small
changes, big results.
3. Thou shalt not eat
while watching TV, movies, or surfing the computer.
Reason: Mindless
eating can easily add a 1,000 calories (5oz of fat) or so a day.
4. Thou shalt not eat
fast food.
Processed foods
like the ones you find at McDonald’s are low in nutritional value and high in
calories. If you are on the go, run into a supermarket and grab some turkey
meat from the deli and some whole grain bread and make yourself a filling yet
healthy sandwich.
5. Thou shalt not eat
out of the bag/carton.
Portion control is
critical. If you are going to eat something that is from a bag/carton, don’t
eat it out of the bag/carton. This includes ice cream as well (sad).
6. Thou shalt read the
label.
Reading the label
before you buy it will help you decide how you want to spend your approximately
2,000 calorie daily quota.
7. Thou shalt think
through your eating.
Let’s face it,
2,000 calories a day is not a whole lot. That means to get the most out of your
calories you need to think through what you intend to eat for the entirety of
the day. For instance a 4oz skinless chicken breast has 110 calories and a 3oz
80/20 (lean/fat) hamburger patty contains 230 calories. I don’t know about you,
but I would much rather have 8oz of skinless chicken breast at 220 calories
than 3oz of hamburger patty (3oz, really!?) at 230 calories.
8. Thou shalt grill not
fry.
Frying adds fat and
calories and does not taste as good as grilling.
9. Thou shalt drink lots
of H2O.
If your belly is
full of water, you can’t fill it with food. It also flushes your system.
10. Thou shalt move.
I can’t live on 2,000 calories a day. OK, I could, but I really don’t
want to. So, that means something else must change.
That change is movement. I am 6’2” and 200 pounds; if I run a mile I’ll burn
about 150 calories (Exercise Calorie Counter http://www.prohealth.com/weightloss/tools/exercise/calculator1_2.cfm). Or another way to look at it is: I get to eat another chicken breast
at dinner. Simple math: If you want to
eat more than 2,000 calories, you gotta move to make up the difference.
If you would like to learn more about the relational gospel, please check out my book,
If you would like to learn more about pursuing a W.H.O.L.E. life is Christ, please check out my book,
You can get them both for free as PDFs at my author page on Facebook.
