This post appears as part of our Healthier 2021 series, following three WebMD team members as they strive to improve their health this year. You can follow their travels here.
From Bill Kimm
“Looks like I picked the wrong week to eat healthy again!”
Lloyd Bridges’ funny running joke from the 1980 movie Airplane! This week I kept popping up in my head as I officially began my journey to lose weight and get healthy. If ever there was time to stress-eat and maybe enjoy some adult drinks, it could have been the first week of 2021.
But I’m happy to say I haven’t succumbed to the temptation and Week 1 is going to be a success! That’s not to say things went perfectly – my training plan didn’t go exactly as I hoped it would (or not at all) – but I’ll celebrate my victories and aim for improvements next week.
I lost 8 pounds! I know that’s a big number for a week, and I can’t expect this every week, but still – I’ve lost 8 pounds! Like I said last week, I know how to do this, I just have to do it. It’s worth seeing how the hard work pays off.
An important factor in my weight loss is that I regularly log all of my food and stay below my calorie goal every day. Everything I eat and drink, even if it doesn’t contain calories, is logged (I use the Lose It !, app which I think works best for me, but there are many options). The moment I regained weight was when I stopped tracking my food, and there are several reasons for this. First, logging my food makes me more aware of what I’m eating. You’d be surprised how much you eat without realizing it. A snack here, some chocolate there – it adds up quickly. When I log everything I am forced to be accountable.
Logging my food also forces me to be specific. I like to think that I’m pretty good at seeing what a cup of rice or 4 ounce steak or a serving of french fries looks like. Fun fact: I am not. At all. The truth is, we all eat a lot more than we realize. I couldn’t lose weight without a food scale. There’s nothing special about it, a simple digital scale that lets me know how much my serving is in grams or ounces. But it’s imperative because I can’t trust my eyes and stomach as they will deceive me.
For the past week, I’ve had the privilege of speaking to one of the WebMD doctors – Dr. Bruni who specializes in weight loss – and she said something that was really close to my heart. She said, “The older you get, the different the calories, and the calories I used up 10 years ago are no longer used the same way in my body.” I didn’t notice that. I thought calories were calories and the less I use, the more I will lose. But it is not that simple. I also have to be selective about what I eat. While recording and weighing everything is great and a necessity, I now need to be more vigilant about WHAT I eat, not just how much I eat. It will be a challenge.
So in week 2, not only do I have to keep doing what I’m doing, but I also have homework. I need to focus more on the quality of the food I eat, not just the quantity. More importantly, I also need to stop apologizing and start exercising! I see my friend Mark has a head start on me. Knowing he’s crushing him on his peloton is just the kick it takes to hit the sidewalk and run again! This cheering dad is NOT outdone by a softball dad!
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