Ever see that movie “Groundhog Day” with Bill Murray?
Chili Cheese Fries... oh boy. Photo by Robyn Lee
Every day he wakes up to the same day.
Ever feel like that?
If you find yourself waking up every day for months or years and don’t see any fat loss in the mirror, it’s might feel like that movie.
But there’s a shortcut to ending that cycle…
What is it?
It’s the one thing that separates the uber successful boot campers from the ones who just meander around. It divides those who see body fat literally melt off their bones and those who lose a couple pounds here and there.
And it makes the difference between staying in boot camp for a year or more with little fat loss to show for it, or losing as much as 20lbs in a months time.
What is this miracle?
Writing down what you eat in your food journal.
Yes.
Once again, I’m here to say: “A food journal is the most valuable tool you will ever use for fat loss.”
Why?
Because it is brutally honest mirror. It’s your true friend who isn’t afraid to tell you the truth. It’s your spotlight in the fog.
Really.
Want proof?
Glad you asked!
A few years back, while training at 24 Hour, I had a client who was with me for 2 years. She got ridiculously strong. Very flexible. Fast. You name it.
But that wasn’t her goal. Her goal was to SLIM DOWN. She wanted to lose a meager 10lbs.
Ten little pounds.
Really, losing 10lbs is a breeze.
Well, time went on and I kept saying “write it down”. And she kept saying, “OK, I will.” And then finally… I’ll never forget it. I walked up to her while she was warming up for one of our workouts and she said…
(yes, this really happened)
she said, “You know what? I figured out why I’m not losing body fat.”.
“Really?” I replied.
“Yeah! I decided to write down all the little bits of food I eat while making dinner. And you know what? I have been eating over 200 calories of snacky bits before I even eat dinner!”
Hot Dang.
Long story short, she started journaling and lost those pesky twelve pounds pronto. (she had actually gained a couple over the 2 years) This time she did it all in less than a month.
Crazy.
So let’s look at this for just a second.
Pop quiz.
How many calories would you burn if you ran a crazy long way… like, say, 19 miles?
Cue Jeopardy theme…
Go ahead make a guess…
The answer is shocking…
Ready?
After running all that way…
and feeling like a truck ran over you…
you would have burned a meager 1900 calories.
So what does 1900 calories look like in terms of food? Well, if you attended a big party at a pizza joint – and while you were busy celebrating you just ate with abandon you’d need to eat something like:
- A garden salad with dressing
- 3 bread sticks while you waited for the pizza
- 3 slices of pizza while you chatted with the party
- 2 12 oz beers
And you’d probably leave feeling very full.
Now…
To burn off those 3 bread sticks alone you’d need about 2 hours of walking or an hour of jogging. To burn off those 3 slices of pizza you’d need to jog for another hour and half or walk for almost 4 hours. Those two beers are another half hour of jogging at least. And the salad would be another 40 minutes of jogging.
Ahhhh, hold the phone…
You’d never eat that much food in a sitting you say?
Maybe not. But take a look at this:
1 single side order of chili cheese fries at Applebee’s is 600 calories.
Now that is just the side dish. Or appetizer. Yet you’d have to run 6 miles to burn that off. Well perhaps you shared that with a friend so really you only at a few bites and only need to run a mile or two to burn it off. But what if your main dish was a Sizzling Skillet Fajita Combo? Well, my friend, that is 1400 calories or 14 miles of running. And don’t forget the appetizer. Even if you just had half, you are up to 17 miles now.
Wait…
I STILL know what you are probably thinking:
“I’m telling you, I DON”T eat that much food, Coach D!”
Fine. Maybe so.
But let’s say you’re out with family. Outback Steakhouse. You want to be good and set an example, so you order the Atlantic Salmon with Seasonal Veggies. That still comes in at a whopping 760 calories… or nearly EIGHT miles of running.
WAIT!
Wait!
I hear you saying, “But Coach, I eat at home, cook my own whole, healthy food and never eat out like that.” That is awesome! Congratulations! You are WAAAAY ahead of the curve. But do you KNOW how many calories you are actually eating? Or are you “eyeballing it”? If you are eating a more than you burn for the day, your body fat won’t budge.
So what’s the lesson here?
It’s putting ink on paper and tracking what you consume.
Because…
Those 20 almonds you like to snack on while writing emails are 139 calories. That single glass of wine is about 140 calories. And those little scraps of food you nosh while cooking dinner are probably 150 calories. And that’s before you sit down to eat. Next thing you know, you are eating, and probably quickly. And you’ve gone over the limit before your brain had a fighting chance to register just how much you have eaten, (it take the brain about 20 minutes to catch on, so chew slowly).
Here’s the reality.
If you aren’t writing it down in your journal you might forget you ate those little bites. And perhaps you popped those almonds just a couple at a time while talking on the phone. You may remember it as 5-10… but you really ate 20 or more. Or was it 30? At 827 calories a cup, you can’t afford to munch mindlessly on almonds. And wine…who really drinks a single glass of wine anyway… isn’t there always another half glass afterward? Maybe a couple extra on the weekend? Not dissing wine per se, but do you know how many calories you actually are drinking?
Folks, we can’t do it all in our heads. Memory is faulty. Eyeballs and hungry stomachs conspire against you. And yummy foods whisper your name from the cabinets as you walk past.
Hold yourself up to the objective scrutiny of a good old fashioned journal and ink pen. And reap the fat loss rewards faster than you ever dreamed possible!
Need help with this? Just ask. I have a food scale and it’s such a breeze to use.
The funny thing is, when you actually start doing it, it gets very easy and even a little fun. Try it. And if you forget,or if you fall of the wagon, or, heaven forbid, the wagon actually falls on you — just write it down and get back on.
It’s the closest thing to a “shortcut to fat loss” you’ll ever see.
Coach D
Fat Loss Fibs and Fishing Fables
When I was
a little kid we used to spend a portion of each hot summer at the lake in Michigan.
It was a family place in the Upper Peninsula. Everyone there sounds a little Canadian, eh?
Anyway…I had this cousin who always seemed to be there. He was an avid angler. A fisherman.
Well…actually he was probably more of a lazy bum who liked to fish. A lot.
Right. Really, I think fishing was his clever way to avoid being productive. At any rate, he was fond of telling us (over and over again) about the time he caught a fish “THIS BIG”. And for whatever reason, I remembered him and his stories today.
Well, yesterday I was thinking fondly of the summers up north. And my cousins fishing fables, when suddenly realized: tall fish stories are like the fat loss fibs people tell about losing weight on commercials.
Think about it.
When you watch a commercial for a weight loss product on TV you hear exaggerated claims of weight loss. Just like how fisher-folk like to spin yarns about giant fish that got away… Seems to be human nature.
Which begs the question: what is reasonable? What is realistic? What is the truth? Well…
If you are on a fad diet where you eat only 800 calories a day, your body will drop water and muscle like crazy. At the end of your first week of starvation, your body can lose dramatic amounts of weight. The scale will seem to show the most amazing success in the world. The scale, if it could talk, would say, “WOW!” .
Now, at this moment of psychological triumph… it is the perfect time for an unscrupulous marketer to swoop in and grab a video testimonial. Which usually goes something like this: “My name is Jenny Lostalot. In my first week on Super Fat Incinerator I lost 25lbs! Friends all think I look the best I ever have. Blahbiddity fib-diddly fib.”.
And then 50,000 people rush to buy a bottle of Super Fat Incinerator and the thigh master to sculpt their inner thighs. (Impossible to spot reduce…but that’s another post for another time) All the while, knowing somewhere deep inside, that it is all a fabrication.
A hoax.
A bamboozle.
A fable.
Sigh.
It makes my job of being honest about body fat loss tougher. And a lot less glamorous. After all, I have to fight the colorful tales in the media and tell the truth.
You say you want the unvarnished truth?
Yay! OK, then here it is. Or at least this is what data says:
A good rate of body fat loss for permanent change is about 1 percent of your current weight per week or so. So if you currently weigh 180lbs, you might expect–by following a properly constructed food plan, tracking calories with a food journal, performing regular metabolic conditioning workouts (like boot camp), getting lots of motivation, accountability, and proper guidance –to lose approximately 1.8lbs per week. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less since body fat loss is never like clockwork.
Gee whiz. I wish it were as easy as creating a pill or radical fad diet plan which would magically cause 25lbs of body fat loss the first week. I’d be a billionaire overnight. Because I’d patent that shinola.
But alas. The only way I know to lose 25lbs in a week legitimately, is to amputate your leg.
Or throw back that giant tall-tale trout.
Coach D