I've gained 20 pounds in 18 months. Assuming the conventional 3500 calories per pound, that means I consumed an excess 120 calories every day for that year and a half. That's a soft drink or half a candy bar or a table spoon of Chocolate Moose Tracks ice cream. Or it might even be a pound of stir fry vegetables or a 4 oz. chicken breast or just over half a cup of rice. Or maybe my metabolism slowed drastically after graduation and I simply failed to account for the reduction in my diet. Whatever the case, an extra serving here, a slice of red velvet cake there, over time those calories accumulated and now I'm faced with a choice.
Do I take control of my health or do I continue down the road of denial and irresponsibility?
There are many ways to get the excess energy into our bodies, healthy and unhealthy alike. Regardless of the vessel its still an excess. We don't use it so our bodies store it as fat. It builds up over time while we're distracted by life: going to soccer games, watching television, playing video games, and stressing out over deadlines at work. In order to lose the weight, we have to break the cycle and reverse the process. Every little excess adds up and to break it down we have to create little deficits. The larger the deficits, the faster we burn the excess, but the higher the risk to our health. So to lose weight properly we must sustain our determination and initiative. We must have a plan.
The Plan
Gaining twenty pounds over eighteen months doesn't sound too absurd. As I mentioned above, it only takes an extra serving or self-indulgence per day. However, taking eighteen more months to lose that twenty pounds does sound absurd. It sounds absurd because we're accustomed to the luxury of immediate gratification. I want to declare it unacceptable, a waste of precious time in my youth to be stuck with the baggage of my irresponsibility. I want the weight gone and I want it gone now.
That's a lovely, exciting, and emotionally charging declaration of desire, but its just not realistic. History has shown that unearned rewards are rarely utilized wisely. People win millions in the lottery and find themselves poor six years later. Just like they lose weight only to gain it back six months later. We see this reversal because people rarely learn from windfalls. They don't know how to maintain the fortuitous gift they've received. Even in the case of losing weight at the gym, earning the reward with hard work, if it isn't habit you probably won't keep it off.
After all, maintaining something is merely habit. If you have good money habits, you're far more likely to invest your lottery winnings and sustainably withdraw it over the span of your life (and leave it to your heirs). Similarly, if you build good eating and exercise habits then you're far more likely to lose the weight and keep it off. By hitting the gym every day for two or three hours and losing the weight in a two month marathon burn, do you really have the discipline to keep it off? Can you sustain that exercise schedule or any exercise schedule for that matter? Is it habit?
Honestly, I don't like exercising in a gym. I don't even like making it a point to exercise every day. If I lose twenty pounds by exercise alone and don't develop the dietary habits to maintain a proper weight then you'll be reading this again in another eighteen months. So I'm going to take the long view on this. I'm going to correct my dietary habits to support consistent and gradual weight loss and then maintenance. When the fat's gone, then I'll look at building muscle. But its all going to be framed by the long view.
The plan is simple. First, I need to determine my daily caloric needs. How much food do I need to sustain my current weight and get adequate nutrition? Second, I plot the caloric deficit necessary to lose the weight over the same length of time it took me to gain it. At first blush, that seems like 120 calories, considering it was a 120 calorie excess that got me here. Third, I take that deficit from my daily needs and restrict my diet to the result, starting immediately. However, that's not all. I also need to figure out a regular cardiovascular routine that burns the same number of calories on average in just 30 minutes per day. I'll execute the routine three days per week. So ultimately, I'm creating a 120 calorie deficit per day and also burning an extra 360 calories per week via cardio. Assuming I'll falter with the cardio and miss some sessions, that should be a running deficit of 840 calories in the worst case and a full 1200 in the best. Thus, it may take me another eighteen months to lose the twenty pounds I've gained, or it may take just over a year. Either way, I'm committing myself to a gradual schedule with a disciplined diet and sporadic exercise.
That's a weight loss plan that fits my psychology.
