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Maintain Your Ideal Weight

Two weeks ago I got on the scale and made a decision. I am carrying nearly 15 extra pounds that need to go. My target weight through my adult life has been 175 pounds. Several times I have allowed myself to hit 190, then I got serious and took it back to 175. Dropping the weight was much easier in my 30’s. I just cut out heavy carbs like bread and pasta, stopped eating dessert, and the pounds would come off. I have found that after 40 it becomes much more difficult to maintain your ideal weight.

I started thinking about the best way to do this. My biggest challenge is portion control. When I eat dinner out, I’ll typically have an appetizer, an entrée, a glass of wine or two, I’ll eat the bread and pasta if it’s there. Every once in a while, at a great restaurant, I’ll eat dessert. Even though I normally eat healthy food, I am still ingesting over a thousand calories.

I was thinking of a time where I was in a doctor’s office with an ex-girlfriend. She was consumed with her weight (even though she had no reason to be) and was always searching for the “best” diet. She asked the doctor about how she should be eating. She was expecting a profound or scientific answer. He looked at her and said, “It’s all about how much you put in your mouth. If you want to lose weight consume less food. It’s that simple. If you eat more than your body needs, make sure you burn enough to compensate.”

Since I’m already exercising a lot, the only real solution for me to eat less. Through some research I determined that at 2200 calories per day, I should be on track to shave a pound a week.

Now that I know the target, I need a way to measure calories in and out. The required tools needed are: a smartphone, a Bluetooth heart rate monitor, and 2 apps.

The best heart rate monitor I’ve have found is the Scosche Rhythm Plus. You wear it on your forearm a few inches above where a watch would be. It‘s very accurate, much easier to deal with than a chest strap, and connects to most smartphones through Bluetooth.

The first app should help you track what you eat. I’m using “My Fitness Pal”. It’s easy to use and works well. It can calculate your ideal consumption and help you track your intake.

The second app should track what you burn. I like “Cyclemeter” or “Digifit”. Both of these sync with the heart rate monitor and track your caloric burn.

My goal is to have a weight management system I can use for life that helps me to manage my ideal weight. I know fad diets can work—eliminate carbs completely and you’ll lose weight. But most are not healthy or sustainable long term. It’s all about moderation. If my allowance is 2200 calories, I decide how I want to spend it. If I choose to consume 3000 calories I know I have to burn at least 800 calories though exercise.

You just have to make the decision, get disciplined and be accountable. It always helps to have others hold your feet to the fire. Since I am posting this, I am now accountable to you. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

If you have found a method to maintain your ideal weight, I would love to hear about your success. Please email at [email protected]

Posted by Joel Brookman in Diet, Exercise, ideal weight, weight and tagged diet, exercise, weight loss.

 

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