Eight Steps on the Road to Reduction

A quick summary of the Eight Steps on my Road to Reduction. (A fuller discussion is here.)

1) I found out how much I weighed and how much I was eating to stay that weight.

2) I recognized that I could not control how much I ate on my own, and started a calorie log to provide a realtime, artifical method of telling me when I had eaten enough.

3) I started removing "bad" foods from my diet. I was NOT on a diet, I still ate pretty much the same things as I always ate, but at my own speed, I removed one unhealthy food after another. In due time, my cholesterol reached 155, my trigliceries 91, and I had no blockages in any artery. And, I managed to lose about 35 pounds and kept it off . Finally, during this period, I became aware of and interested in nutrition and healthy food.

4) I made the final committment to a healthier life: I devised a plan to control my calorie intake.

5) I found my target weight, and I determined the daily calories necessary to both reach and maintain that target weight.

6) {here's the diet!} I use my calorie log to limit my daily calorie intake to that determined in step 5. I can eat anyting I want, as long as I log it. If I go out, to a party , a restaurant, whatever, I carry a notebook and calculate my calories as best as I can when I get home. I measure everything, I leave nothing to my "eye" or my judgement.

7) I continually evaluate my exercise plan, and make sure that I maintain sufficient exercise for my calorie intake (EG, as I get faster on my walk, I increase the length of my walk in order to maintain the same duration; and I slowly increase the weights in my resistance exercises to reflect my increased ability).

8) I pay attention to the nutritional details of my diet. In particular I watch my fat intake. I make a real effort to exclude trans-fats (that means, for example, no commercially baked cakes etc) and to limit salt. I try to make sure I eat the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. The net result is that although I can eat anything I want, there is a growing list of things I don't want to eat.

The whole plan is meant to be dynamic: to change as I learn more, to accomodate new ideas, to adapt to changes in my circumstances. There is no "maintenance" step in this plan because when I reach my target weight I will already be doing all the necessary things to maintain that weight.