Now it's time for "less" of me and I don't mean blogging

The time has come. I've know that I need to make a change. A change in how I decide what to eat. You may think I'm talking about going on a diet. Not quite, this has to be a change of what I choose to eat from now on. I'm not going to go diet crazy, my diet is to be part of my daily life, not a short-term plan to lose a set amount of weight. At 52 years old, taking medicine for high cholesterol, a heavy gut, frequent heartburn, BMI at 27, lower back pain and a possible abdominal wall strain and no magic wand available. The solution is a new thought process and action change.

First I'm working at getting my weight down by 25 lbs, I've started at 205. I'm beginning by learning about calories, reducing calories consumed and increasing calories burned. Pretty basic. Amounts of fat and other factors will follow but calories are my first priority. I don't think I'm reinventing the wheel here, just finding my way to feeling better physically. I'll reassess whether to continue reducing my weight or to maintain once I get there and prove to myself that I won't regress.

According to what I've learned so far, to maintain my weight at 205 lbs I need to consume about 2600+ calories a day. We'll, once I started looking at the food I eat and how many calories each food item provides I found that the basic stuff I eat if I don't over eat and snack unnecessarily I fall over 400 calories short of maintaining 2600 calories. Then add in some vigorous walking or other exercise and I'll actually "burn" off additional calories - great, simple math, just my speed. OK, as my weight drops I'll readjust the the number of calories to maintain and continue to monitor calories consumed and burned. The tough part so far is trying to put together the calorie values of the odds and ends items I eat. Foods that are a combination of items, serving sizes, is something measured in cups, ounces, volume has been the real work. The good thing is it distracts me from thinking about being hungry. Losing the weight fast is not part of the plan, slow and consistent progress is how I want to do it. After five days things are going well. Carol has been a giant help with food values and discussing different aspects of what I'm doing. Watching Ian eat an afternoon dish of ice cream helps make this a challenge.