So the evil contraption pictured above is no longer your trusty friend and has actually become down right insulting every time you step on it. Good Lord, there is but only one thing to do, and that is to go on a diet, right?

Do you know how?

Or, do you only think you know whats best. After all, everyone is unique, and only you know your body.

Or, maybe you only think you do…

An excellent question came up today which I am going to answer, as well I believe I will segue an announcement into my answer. Going forward on David’s Way, soon after the first of the year, possibly in the spring, there are going to be significant changes on my blog to better assist you in your journey to weight loss and management. If all works as planned, this blog sight is going to rival that of Weight Watchers, or we will surpass them in due time. Weight Watchers is an excellent program for weight loss, yet it is lacking in a few areas such as:

• They are quite vague for many of their members in how to best manage their Free Style program. Too many do not grasp the program as it has not been explained well enough. Especially for their online members. At David’s Way, I am going to put this to you straight so there is no misunderstanding how to best lose weight. Quit Consuming Refined Sugar, Simple Carbs and Processed Foods! Eat Whole healthy Foods Only!
• Weight Watchers will not tell you to not eat sugar, they tell you to eat what you want, track it, and oh by the way, here are 200 “ZERO” point foods you can eat. They do not explain that weight loss, no matter their point system, is still a matter of Calories Consumed versus Calories Burned.

On Weight Watchers, if you believe you can eat sugary and processed foods while not exceeding your daily points, and then be able to eat as much “ZERO” point foods as you want, then you will never lose your weight successfully. You Can Not Do This and Be Successful!

Life Style

Weight Watchers, while not claiming to be a diet, is still kind of a diet. At David’s Way we are promoting a Life Style of Health and Wellness. I promote a diet of high protein and a lower amount of complex carbohydrates. Do not avoid eating fat, because it is “fattening” Our bodies need good fats. I am not going to tell you what to eat. I am telling you to not eat refined sugar, simple carbs and processed foods full of ingredients you need to do a Google search on in order to not only pronounce them, but to know what they are. I have already written extensively in other articles on the effects of our dietary habits on our health.

In order to lose weight effectively and permanently, you need to track everything you eat for calories and macro-nutrients. This may seem to be a hassle at first, but in a short amount of time it becomes habit. Just something you do. You have to know how much you are eating in order to get your weight down and to be healthy. Tracking is a part of a healthy life style.

I know the question now is, if I track all my calories and macros, why can I not eat cake if I track it too. Well, you can eat what ever you want, no one is going to stop you. In fact, your family and friends will likely encourage you to eat cake from time to time. They might even make you feel guilty for not joining them in cake. You can go ahead and do what you want, but know that if you are the type who is really addicted to sugar and simple carbs, then you will only be sabotaging yourself. Those sugar cravings will soon return. This is really as simple as, and no different than giving an alcoholic a drink and then expecting them to not have cravings for more. A good many will give in and go on a bender. Sugar addicts do the same. You have to ask your self; If I got obese because I had no control over my diet in the past, how can I reasonably believe I can now have control over those same demons?

A healthy tool I promote for weight loss besides what has been said is Intermittent Fasting on the 16:8 protocol. Sixteen hours fast, eight hours to feed where you eat all your daily needs in calories and macro-nutrients. Besides the fat burning benefits as your body consumes it’s glycogen stores, as you fast, your body repairs itself on the cellular level. Another reason to use intermittent fasting besides fat burning it is a great way to learn to become disciplined in regards to your dietary habits. Trust me, once you have quit sugar and processed foods, fasting is a whole lot easier than you may believe it to be.

As a part of the Life Style, we promote vigorous exercise a minimum of three days a week for a minimum of a half hour. This is just a minimum we encourage as it would be hard to make anyone believe you can not set aside one and a half hour for yourself and exercise each week. As you are able, I encourage all to step up the intensity and duration of their exercise. What you do does not matter so much as that it is an activity that will raise your heart rate to an aerobic state. Of course, ensure you first get clearance from your doctor before beginning any new exercise program.

Lastly, I encourage you to get as much quality rest each day as you can. Sleep is paramount to recovery from exercise, and will certainly help you to feel better than you would in a constant fatigued state. Rest your mind as much as possible, get rid of the clutter in your life that causes you stress. Learn to Make Your World Small. What I mean by that is to not allow yourself to get consumed with too many outside influences which you have little to no control over. An prime example would be all the negative news every time you turn on the television. People get so worked up over politics, tragedies and other issues. Then with 24/7 news, you get to hear the issues reported in the morning, then commentary about the issues for the next three to four hours. Then at noon, the entire cycle repeats, then again at five o’clock, then again and nine and midnight. Be informed, pick a time of day to get your news, then shut that stuff off for the rest of the day. Pick up a book and read it. Go for a walk outside. Do anything besides allowing yourself to get consumed with stresses which you have no control over.

Learn to live your life in the principles of the Serenity Prayer, even if you do not believe in God. The principle still applies. Lord, grant me the Serenity to accept the things which I can not control. The courage to change that which I can. And the wisdom to know the difference.

Do I Have to Eat Really Low Calories to Lose Weight?

That was the question that was brought up. Do I have to eat really low calories to lose weight? Especially if I have a lot to lose.

The answer is an emphatic NO you do not, nor do you want to eat too few calories!

Eating too few calories a day will only serve to sabotage your efforts by slowing your metabolism as your body will think it is being starved. This will also set you up to binge in time.

Effective weight loss is going to come from a couple things which must take place in the beginning of your journey. First, find out your body fat percentage. Let’s not stress on the number on the scale, lets worry about getting to a healthy level of body fat and lean muscle mass.

The numbers on the chart above are what matter most. Reaching a certain number on the scale is a vanity goal and is too much of a stress to so many. People freak out over the normal fluctuations of body weight which can be on average about five pounds because of water or bodily waste retention. There are many online body fat calculators which are quite effective for your purposes. The best are the ones used by the US military. You measure your neck, your waist and if female, around your hips. Simply enter those measurements in the calculator along with your gender, age, height and weight and touch the calculate tab. You do not, DO NOT, need to go buy calipers or get your body analysed through electronic means or in a pool. That is too much to stress over and can be expensive if you are on a budget. Buy a cheap tape measure and good bathroom scales and have a loved one take your measurements for you. It is truly that simple.

Next up is you need to know your Basal Metabolic Rate in order to know how many calories a day you need to consume. Your TDEE, or Total Daily Energy Expenditure. When you shop around the perimeter of your grocery store and only eat whole healthy foods, you are going to be surprised at how much you have to eat in order to meet your daily caloric needs.

WHAT IS BASAL METABOLIC RATE (BMR)?

Everybody requires a minimum number of calories to live. This minimum number is called the basal metabolic rate (BMR). Your BMR is the number of calories your organs need to function while you perform no activity whatsoever. You can think of it as the amount of energy you’d burn if you stayed in bed all day.

Since your basal metabolic rate is based largely on involuntary functions like breathing and pumping blood, changes in your day-to-day activity don’t do much to raise or lower this number. However, increasing muscle mass does increase BMR, because muscle is metabolically “hungry” and it takes more energy to maintain more muscle. This means that when you have a lot of muscle mass, you’ll burn more calories at rest.

WHY DOES YOUR BMR MATTER?

Once you know your BMR, you can use it to calculate the calories you actually burn in a day. From there, you can determine how many calories you need to eat to gain muscle, lose fat, or maintain your weight.

The overall number of calories your body uses on a daily basis is referred to as your “total daily energy expenditure” (TDEE). It’s determined based on your BMR as well as your activity level throughout the day. This varies significantly based on your activity level, age, and sex. Generally, men have a higher TDEE than women because they have more muscle mass, and both TDEE and BMR tend to fall regardless of gender as you age.

You can use a TDEE calculator to find this number, or calculate it manually to get a more specific result. Keep in mind, though, that it’s impossible to know your exact TDEE, as your activity levels will change day to day, and the only way to get 100 percent accurate BMR numbers is through laboratory testing.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BMR AND RMR?

The term BMR is sometimes used synonymously with RMR, which stands for “resting metabolic rate.” The difference is that while BMR only measures basic processes of breathing, blood circulation, and temperature regulation in a completely resting state, RMR also includes energy expended by digestion and non-exercise daily movements, like getting dressed and lifting your fork to your mouth.

Since the calories you burn digesting food and doing things like brushing your teeth tend to stay around the same range on most days, either number can be used when you’re just trying to get a rough estimate of how many calories you burn not including your workouts. Unless you’re being tested in a lab environment, both of these numbers will only be estimates, but they can still give you targets to shoot for when you structure your meal plan and workouts.

BMR and RMR numbers are typically close enough to be interchangeable, but if you’re calculating your needs in order to gain or lose weight, pay attention to which number an equation calls for. If it’s based on BMR, you can use the calculator above to get an estimate. If the equation uses RMR, use this RMR calculator, which will give you a higher number.

HOW TO USE YOUR BMR TO LOSE FAT OR GAIN MUSCLE

Once you use your BMR to determine your TDEE, you can make sure that the nutrition plan you follow is appropriate for your level of energy expenditure and that it isn’t giving you too many or too few calories. Being armed with this knowledge, rather than guesstimating or blindly following a plan without scaling it to your individual needs, can make or break your muscle gains or fat loss. (1)

Once you have figured your caloric needs in order to manage your weight, know that if you are in a 500 calorie a day deficit, then you will lose 1 pound per week. This is true of everyone, with the only caveat being those with a diagnosed medical health issue that truly impacts weight management, along with certain medications. Still, even if unhealthy and on meds, you can work at preventing weight gain even if weight loss is a true problem.

Know also, that 500 calories a day over your caloric needs will cause you to gain a pound in a week. This is why tracking is so important. And in order to make it easier here is what is in works for David’s Way sometime next year, hopefully by spring.

• You will be able to come to my blog where I will have a Body Fat calculator for you to use. This will be 100% private for you. You will be able to enter your data, hit calculate and no one will ever know unless you want them too.
• Next in my plans is to have a BMR calculator in place for you to use in order to fully manage your journey in weight loss/management and in health and wellness.
• Next, there is going to be a forum put into place where you can interact with others where there will be slim chance of anyone trolling you. My forums will be family friendly and heavily monitored. Loosely there will be categories for:

1. Nutritional needs
2. Physical Fitness
3. Stress Releif
4. General discussion of just what ever as long as they not divulge into ugliness towards one another over politics or religion. All will be accepted no matter of gender, age, race, sexuality and any other equal opportunity flash points.

• Lastly, I’m working towards you being able to track your calories and macros on the sight. This is the biggest hurdle I am working on in regards to the blog.

In the next month or so, Brenda Sue and I will both be finishing our certifications as AFPA (American Fitness Professionals & Associates) Nutritional Wellness Consultants and will be straight away going into work on certifications through AFPA for Weight Loss/Management Consultants. There is also more in the works which will be announced in due time.

Thank you to all our faithful readers. We truly appreciate you.

(1) https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bmr_calculator.htm