Losing Weight–Start By Counting Calories
Tucked away in the registry's database is information about the weight-control behaviors of more than 3,000 American adults who have lost an average of 60 pounds and have kept it off for an average of six years. How do they do it? These successful weight losers report four common behaviors, says Wing.
They eat a low-calorie, low-fat diet, they monitor themselves by weighing in frequently, they are very physically active, and they eat breakfast.
Eating breakfast every day is contrary to the typical pattern for the average overweight person who is trying to diet, says Wing. "They get up in the morning and say 'I'm going to start my diet today,' and they eat little or no breakfast and a light lunch. Then they get hungry and consume most of their calories late in the day. Successful weight losers have managed to change this pattern."
Six years after their weight loss, most of the registry's successful losers still report eating a low-calorie, low-fat diet. They also exercise for about an hour or more a day, expending about 2,800 calories per week on a variety of activities.
More at length: I can eat about 1697 calories per day (that's a corrected figure) as my basal metabolic rate is estimated to be about that amount by the health club fitness/nutrition counselor.
Man. My usual pattern is no breakfast, two big mugs of coffee with creamer, a late lunch (due to work schedule constraints), the occasional afternoon soda pop and candy bar, and then all hell breaks loose at home foodwise. I've got some menu plans and food tips to share with David on this one…
I have absolutely lost significant weight by counting calories. When I count, I lose. When I stop counting, I start gaining again. Awareness is all.
I’ve also heard (and you can hear about anything if you look for it in the diet biz) that skipping breakfast puts the body into “Hmmm — famine ravages the land — better slow my metabolism and stop burning as many calories” mode, which is also counterproductive.
One of the biggest diet-busters for me is working from home (as I am, cough, today) — my lunch habit is broken, my lunch walk doesn’t take place, and there’s nibbles all over the damned place.