Doug Losing Weight


Time to Start Counting
May 5, 2010, 6:42 pm
Filed under: Nutrition, Thoughts and Observations | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Ok.  One more week closer to the end of the Biggest Loser, and I heard it again.  In fact, of the whole show I remember them being so inspirational to the participants in the 5k, and this one quote…

“You have to count every calorie that goes into you”.

Bob was talking to a woman that needed to lose five more pounds to get to her goal, but it seems like every time I watch the show, I hear that phrase in one way or another.

Generally I’ve found in life that when one certain thing keeps making itself “heard”, keeps making itself manifest to me, it tends to be an answer to some question I have, or don’t know I have yet…

Did that make sense?

Well my delete key is broken, so I’m not going to edit it.  But what I’m saying is I think the fact that I keep hearing “count calories” in my life, and I’m on this quest to find a way to lose this weight…  well I’m taking it as a sign.

I think I’ll go back to http://www.myfooddiary.com/ and pay the $9 a month.  I don’t love it, but I hate everything else I’ve tried.  In the past it’s helped to regulate my food intake when I’m keeping track of everything going into me.  At least I can go back and see my history and where I need to do better.

I know what you’re thinking – c’mon Doug, can you really count calories for the rest of your life?

I hear you.  The way I see it is I need to really slow down, take a look at what I’m doing, and start to form some new habits.  Once the new habits are formed, I’ll take off the training wheels and try to live like a big boy again.

Until then, I start logging what I eat.

Now what would really be interesting is if I could take a Facebook approach to this.  That is publish my food diary for the world to see.  I wonder if I’d think twice about those pop tarts when I knew that all four of you that read this would see it –

I suppose I could just add it to the blog, but that would be a pretty intensely boring blog I must say…

Off to log my calories for the day…

2 comments


It’s Really Helped
March 26, 2010, 4:43 pm
Filed under: Inspiration, Nutrition | Tags: , , , , , , ,

My thinking continues along the line of fear vs. faith, and my body vs. my mind.

I spent 12 years in school, barely graduated (that’s a story for another time for sure!) and went into the world.  I had spent 12 years teaching my brain to get into the mode of learning.  Every morning, sit in the desk, consume knowledge in some fashion – learn part of it.

Then I got a job, went on a mission for my church, came back and became a truck driver.  One day I was sitting in my truck waiting to be loaded and it hit me.  I really really wanted to learn again.

Fast forward to 7 months later and I’m sitting on my first day at the University of Utah in a Chemistry class with 100 or so classmates… excited to learn.

It didn’t take me long to realize that I was out of shape in the learning department.  I had let my mind “coast” for 7 years – not being in a formal learning environment that whole time.  (I have to say that I’ve always loved learning, and did not spend that 7 years simply reading comic books and watching Brady Bunch reruns).  It took a few weeks to come up to speed on the learning, the new work load, the rigors of full-time college.

My brain had just coasted.  I needed to teach it the good habits again.

Now I think about my body.  For the first 25 – 30 years of my life I ate, I played, I slept enough or more, I had a rhythm of exercise and activity.  Then I learned how to express my creativity through a computer.

My body just started coasting.  Now it’s 17 years later and I’m trying to whip my body into shape, get it used to the rigors of losing weight.  A decade longer than my brain had to slump into it’s ways earlier in life.  No wonder this is hard!

So when I see the cookies, I’m going to try picturing the battle between my body and my brain – realize that my body has habits that are so ingrained in me that I just feel instead of think it through.

I’m going to start thinking it through so it becomes a conscious decision again.

That’s why a program.  That’s why I spend the money to drink the shakes and stop eating the bad stuff.  I’m retraining my body.  I have to have that discipline in my life for a while as I teach my body the good habits it once knew.  When I’ve learned, I’ll take off the training wheels and I’ll be fine.  If I slip, I know where to get more shake mix.

Sorry for all the drama yesterday – sorta.  I think we need to be honest with each other on how this really feels.

I’m not sure who’s out there reading this – I hope it helps you.  Taking the time to sit down and try to explain to you, to have to think it through enough that I feel I’m communicating what I’m going through – well…

I appreciate you listening.  It’s really helped.  🙂

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