New Years Eve has come and passed, as have a good many resolutions to become a new person by losing weight and getting healthier in the new decade. These personal resolutions that were so heartfelt on New Years Eve, will by and large be empty promises by the time the 2020 swim suit season begins appearing in all the department stores. Possibly even quicker…

How do we know with absolute certainty how fast people with good intent jump off the weight loss wagon? We know this through personal experience of having had our own individual weight problems. We know this because of Brenda Sue’s past employment with one of the largest, if not the largest, weight loss companies in America. We know this because we have readers who privately confide these struggles with us through our  web site contact email.

How many of you might have tried a quick weight loss diet plan beginning New Years Day to find that you have already derailed your diet train right off the side of a mountain?

Have you tried a magical 7 day diet plan to only find yourself feeling even more hopeless when it did not work for you as you frivolously believed it would?

Years ago, in the “Old West” days in America, we had unscrupulous men traveling around the country with horse drawn wagons, selling miracle cures at every town where they were still unknown. These “Snake Oil” salesmen would often get run out of town when the local towns people figured out they were crooks cheating them out of their hard earned money. It would be nice to know these types have disappeared in the dustbin of history, but they have not. The “Snake Oil” salesmen are still among us. You can not turn to any type of media, whether television, radio, internet among thousands of other types of media, without seeing the evidence that these crooked bastards are still here. Except now, they have perfected their craft to be even more deceptive in their scandalous ways. There is an old saying that I think also can be applied to people who are desperate to lose weight as well. The saying is “a fool and his money are soon parted”.

There are a great many weight loss plans or schemes floating around, some good and some not so good. It is down right foolish, or naive to believe a good many of them will give you lasting results. Simply put, it is foolhardy if you have a weight issue to believe that you can just go on a diet and hurry through to get it over with in order to return to your old ways. And, this is the main problem with going on a diet instead of adopting the mindset to entirely change your thinking in regards to losing and managing your weight. You have to get “dieting” out of your mind and instead get your mind wrapped around the fact you have to reverse course and adopt an entirely new lifestyle of healthy eating if you want your weight loss to be permanent.

Not all calories are created equal!

At David’s Way to Health and Fitness, we tell people through our numerous articles, and through personal consultation that it is paramount to track their calories consumed each and every day. If you do not track what you consume, it is far too easy to find yourself stuck at a  weight loss plateau, or even gaining weight. You have to keep yourself accountable to yourself. You have to make personal accountability of your nutritional habits a lifestyle if you want to keep your weight off for good. If you find yourself eating only 500 calories per day over what your body requires for maintenance, you will find yourself gaining a pound of fat back each week. You have to be at a caloric deficit in order to lose weight, and then you have to  remain disciplined with your nutrition for the rest of your life. This is true for damn near every one barring there are not any legitimate health issues that will keep you from losing. But, know this, these type of health circumstances are not the norm. It is not likely there is anything wrong with your body that you cannot lose weight for good. You are not a special snowflake where the rules of nutrition do not apply. This is a painful truth for many. It is not your body that will not shed the pounds, rather it is your thinking that keeps you heavy. I tell you this not to be insulting, but to help you. This would not be my 700th article if I intended to be hurtful to anyone.

There are many ways you can track your calories. We provide a calorie and macro-nutrient chart on our website to assist with this, you just have to do a little of your own math. You can read labels, and you can find caloric information on many internet sources. One day, I will incorporate an app that will track all of your calories and macro-nutrients right here on my website.

But, you need to know that simply tracking calories is not enough because not all calories are equal in their benefit to your well being and health. It would be misleading to say that a calorie is a calorie no matter where it came from. For instance, a package of sugar laden Strawberry Poptarts and 8 ounces of skim milk is 483 calories with 90g carbs (76g of simple carbs), 10.2g of fat and only 12.3g of protein. This package of Poptarts has only 2g of fiber and 32g of sugar. There is absolutely no nutritional value to any variety of Poptarts which are so very popular across all of America.

Now, for roughly the same amount of calories you could have 2 boiled eggs, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 turkey sausage patty, and a cup of skim milk for 466 calories, 41.2g of complex carbs, 18.7g fat, 34.9g protein, 4.2g fiber and only 2g of natural sugar. This breakfast can be made ahead and warmed in a microwave in about the same time it takes to stick your Poptarts into a toaster. This breakfast will provide you with plenty of protein and fats to keep you satiated longer along with complex carbs to fuel your body longer than simple carbs from sugar will. Calories are not equal.

As you can see, some foods bring you benefit while others bring you nothing but immediate satisfaction of hunger or a craving. Some foods give you absolutely zero nutritional benefit, it is only wise to give these up in their entirety as they only serve to pollute your body and contribute to the onset of disease. Wholesome foods bring you vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, along with trace elements that keep your body healthy. These nutritional properties are not found in refined sugar, and not in sufficient quantities in most foods that are heavily laden with sugar.

Food quality directly influences the balance of nutrients verses pollutants that it provides!

Good peanut butter can be a nutritious source of protein, unsaturated fat, phytochemicals, and vitamins. Yet, cheap peanut butter of low quality will only provide you with a lot of refined sugar and harmful transfats. It pays dividends with your health to buy quality foods. The expense of healthy choices will offset the expense you would otherwise incur through costly doctors visits and medications. Being as many ailments are a direct result of dietary habits, most are actually preventable if you eat healthy and exercise some. You do not need to buy only the expensive organic foods, just use common sense when you shop. Read labels and you will find many medium priced options that offer a good compromise between optimal heath benefits and living on a budget.