I’ve seen blog posts around the Internet about the best and worst ways to lose weight.  They are a dime a dozen and there are very few that actually add anything new to the age-old weight loss struggle.  Unless you’ve been living in a cave in Afghanistan, few of them tell you anything you don’t already know.  That is not to say these bloggers don’t have good intentions but there are only so many ways you can repackage the same information.

We all know that fad diets, diet pills, fat loss surgery, and the others are not the “suggested” way you should lose weight for a variety of reasons.  I have detailed the 7 Reasons Why Most Diets Fail which mainly dealt with my ‘worst ways to lose weight’.  And, if you are a regular reader of Dave’s Press, then you know I’m a huge advocate of finding a diet that is sustainable in the long run.

So what can sabotage your weight loss efforts once you do find a sustainable meal plan?  What are some of the things to look out for that may help increases your chances of success if you know what they are?  I’m glad you asked!  Here are some ways I’ve identified:

1.  Relying solely on willpower

Some level of willpower is a must during any weight loss process.  Obviously, if you are going to lose weight, you’re going to have to give up some of the foods you currently love to eat and you’re going to have to display willpower at some point in time.  However, you need to give yourself a break!  Get that bad stuff out of your fridge and cabinets.  Avoid you’re favorite eating places if you don’t know that you can withstand the urge to splurge. 

If you have a spouse and kids, this can be extremely challenging.  When you go on a diet, they basically go on a diet as well.  This was tough for me since one of my kids was very young at the time and has always been extremely picky about what he eats.  Also, I didn’t want to deny them the foods they liked.  My advice is to communicate and compromise.  Dealing with this situation is actually going to be my next post on Dave’s Press so stay tuned!

2.  Thinking you are the expert

Thinking you are an expert and that you don’t have to look to anyone for advice is a mistake made by many.  Much like creating your own fitness routine if you are new to weight lifting, you should also avoid trying to create your own ‘eating routine’ if you are ‘new’ to dieting.  If it has been years since you’ve attempted to eat healthy, it is entirely possible that what was ‘healthy’ and ‘promoted weight loss’ years ago may have actually changed or it could have been a myth to begin with!  Remember, at one time cigarettes were thought to be good for you.  Do your research and be willing to listen to others that know more than you do. 

I’ve heard people say, “I know my body best and I know what works for me.”   I guess it is possible you are right but most likely you just don’t want to listen to anyone because this is a way to limit the amount of change you need to make in order to lose weight.  If you know your body best and what works for you, how did you end up in a situation where you needed to lose weight?  I would actually bet money that those that feel this way try to “do what works for them” and then wonder why they aren’t making progress.  Any takers?

3.  Being consistently inconsistent

This one is fairly obvious.  The key to creating good habits is consistency.  If you don’t do something long enough, it won’t become a habit.  If you don’t consistently work to break bad habits, they won’t be broken. 

Here is an example:  I highly encourage anyone that is beginning a weight loss program to keep a journal of their food intake.  As I’ve said before, my favorite tool for this is FitDay.  If you aren’t consistent in logging your food after every meal then it won’t become second nature and you won’t be able to adequately track your calorie intake.

4.  Assuming “healthy” foods are low in calories

Advertisers are masters at marketing “healthy” foods.  They use phrases like ”whole grains”, “low fat”, “low cholesterol”, “low sodium”, “heart healthy”, and many others.  We have been groomed to see these phrases and think, “hey, I can eat that and not feel guilty!”  Whoooooaaaaaa!  Slow down a moment and read the labels.  While these foods may or may not have health benefits, they aren’t all meant to be consumed on a low calorie diet.  In fact, some may actually be higher in calories than it’s “not as good for you” counterpart.

For instance, the other night I noticed my wife bought some whole grain bread with all the nuts and seeds that make it “healthy”.  Yes, nuts and seeds are healthy in moderation but they add calories.  When I looked at the nutritional information, I found the bread actually contained 160 calories PER SLICE!  When I brought that to my wife’s attention, her response was, “But it has so much ‘healthy’ stuff in it!”  I then point out that the plain Jane, Kroger brand whole wheat bread had only 60 calories per slice.  What I was trying to drive home was the fact that ‘eating healthy’ and eating to lose weight are NOT always the same thing.

5.  Depriving yourself of the occasional cheat

The operative word is “occasional”.   Some have a very difficult time with treating it as a cheat. If you are someone that cannot control the urge to over indulge, your best option is to abstain.  However, you’re body does become accustomed to your diet and adjusts.  You could find that you hit a weight loss brick wall because your metabolism has accounted for the lack of calories and actually slows to preserve itself by burning fewer calories.  Having the occasional cheat may be just the thing that keeps your body guessing to the point where you can bust through that brick wall.

There are those that say you are not predisposed to being overweight and then there are those that are right.  Now, this is not to say that you HAVE to be overweight if you are of a certain body type, or underweight if of another, but the forces of nature are not working in your favor.  I am a firm believer that your pre-disposition to having man boobs or a skinny butt are etched in your DNA in the form of your God-given body type.

The three different body types are mesomorph, ectomorph and endomorph.  We’ll get into the definition of these in a moment but I want to impress upon you the importance of identifying which you are.  It probably won’t be hard to do but this is another exercise in honesty because your success depends on determining which fight you are fighting.  To determine you’re body type, you can take the self test at Bodybuilding.com.

In the rest of this post, I’m going to use the body type definitions from Bodybuilding.com since there is no real need to invent the wheel here.  However, me being the aforementioned ‘endomorph’ (in the title), I will give my commentary on each to try to give you and idea of an endomorph’s perspective.  First, here’s a nifty little diagram that gives you a visual of the explanations:

The Endomorph

From Bodybuilding.com

An Endomorph’s biggest concern should be the losing of fat and adopting a lifestyle that keeps it off. Strength training should be done to get a better muscle to fat ratio and therefore improve metabolism. Use moderate weights at a fast training pace (very little rest between sets and exercises). You should lower your calorie intake (but not try to starve yourself) and should eat frequent but small meals. Sugars, sweets and junk food should be eliminated from your diet. Engage daily in some activity like brisk walking, biking, etc., and try to increase the amount of time you spend each week.

Dave’s Commentary:

Yep, that’s me but I swear I didn’t pose for that diagram!  I gave up the whitey tighties years ago.  Since I’m writing this post, I am going to take the liberty of stating, as fact, that endomorphs drew the short straw when it comes to the gene pool.  You can blame your parents, your grandparents, Obama…whoever.  It still won’t change the fact that your stuck with a body type that is pre-disposed to struggling with excess fat.  The sooner you come to this realization, the sooner you can get on with maintaining a healthy lifestyle and defying the odds. 

Another fact is that those with the other two body types just flat out suck.  Being as this is written from an endomorph’s (me) point of view, you’re going to find out just why the other two body types suck (read: why we endomorphs consider you lucky).

The Mesomorph

From Bodybuilding.com

A Mesomorph has a naturally fit body but to maintain it or improve it they should exercise and diet correctly for their type. Strength training can be done more often and for longer sessions then would be good for an Ectomorph, but you must still be careful not to overdo it. You should train with moderate to heavy weighs and at a moderate pace, not resting too long between sets. You will find you gain muscle quite easy (some women and even men might not want to get too bulky, but this won’t happen suddenly. When you are happy with your muscle size simply train to maintain it). Stick to a good healthy diet to keep you lean and muscular, and watch for any slow creeping fat gains. Engage in and enjoy aerobic activities, sports, etc. but do not overdo.

Dave’s Commentary:

Congratualtions, Mesomorph, you won the DNA lottery!  However, you get the dubious honor of both endomorphs and ectomorphs thinking you suck because of it.  Everyone knows this person.  He’s the one that looks like he’s weight trained his entire life but really on hit the weight room in high school twenty years ago.  What makes you really suck though is the fact that you like to share how little you have to do to keep your athletic physique.  It’s ok, though.  Having a naturally fit body is great and all but you won’t get the satisfaction of achieving the same body would you have been an ectomorph or an endomorph!  Yeah!  Ok, so that’s not much to hang my hat on but I’m struggling to find a down side here.

Wait, there is one more thing.  It isn’t unheard of for a mesomorph to gain some fat!  So, in the end, they should still be careful.  “Luckily” for them, though, it is easy for them to drop the fat (argh!).

The Ectomorph

From Bodybuilding.com

Ectomorphs should concentrate on gaining weight in the form of good lean muscle tissue (some women that are too thin may also want to put on a little fat to look more feminine). Weight training should be done but not too often or for too long each session. Weight should be fairly heavy and workout pace slower (longer rest periods between sets). Diet should be high in calories (good quality food not junk) and you should eat more then you’re used to and often. Aerobic and other activities (sports, dancing, etc.) should be kept to a minimum, at least until you are happy with your weight and looks.

Dave’s Commentary:

Ok, ectomorphs, you don’t suck quite as much as the mesomorphs but you do come in a close second.  Ectomorphs are the guys that are always complaining that they just can’t gain weight.  “I just eat and eat and eat and I can’t gain a single pound!” … SMACK!  I’m not advocating violence and I’m generally non-confrontational but hearing this really makes me rethink my ways.  Please, ectomorphs, if you feel the need to whine about your struggles and your self image, an endomorph is NOT the person to turn to. 

Most of the endomorphs I know would pay money to spend time as an ectomorph just to experience the freedom of eating food like pizza and wings while feeling no guilt.  I’m sure you have your own cute little struggles and I wish you the best.

Some Final Words

I’ve written some pretty serious posts lately and I just wanted to loosen things up a bit.  Obviously, my commentary above was meant to get a chuckle or two but I hope you were able to take something away from this.  All of us fall somewhere on the line between ectomorph and endomorph and it is important to figure out just where on that line we are in order to determine how best to achieve our goals.  To quote old school Saturday morning cartoons: Knowledge is Power!

I’m always interested in hearing what anyone has to say on any of my posts so feel free to post your thoughts in the comments below.

In February of 2006, I spent three hours in my Doctor’s office undergoing a blood glucose tolerance test.   I had previously been in for a routine visit and my blood sugar level had been over 300 mg/dl.  Just for clarification sake, a normal reading should be between 80 mg/dl and 120 mg/dl (some say 120 is actually a bit high).  So, you can see mine was incredibly high and this meant that, in all likelihood, I had Type 2 Diabetes. 

The blood glucose test was really only a formality to prove what we already knew.  I was a shade over 300 lbs, ate like crap and didn’t exercise.   It was really a no-brainer.  Still, they sent off my blood to the lab…all 8 vials of it.  One drawn from each arm every hour after I drank the closest thing to pure sugar I’d ever had.  It didn’t take long to get the results.  My blood was, as suspected, only a shade away from being a syrup you could put on pancakes.  Ok, sorry for the visual but there was a lot of sugar in my blood.

If I had to choose one question that I’ve been asked the most over the past few years it is this:  how have you kept the weight off?  Of course I get those ‘how did you do it?’ questions but mostly it is the ‘how do you continue to do it?’ questions.  Here is my answer:

I focused on my habits.

I have heard, and have even used myself, the phrase ‘I did it by changing my lifestyle’ but rarely is there any real explanation of HOW someone went about doing that.  Your lifestyle is just an accumulation of habits that you’ve created over a lifetime.  Obviously, if you’ve found yourself in a position where you are overweight, not all of those habits have been good ones. 

In an effort to try to answer the question of how you change your lifestyle to increase your chances of long term, or sustained, weight loss success, I have compiled a few ideas that I hope will help.

Over the past four weeks, in an effort to break through a fat loss plateau, I endeavored into the world of low carb dieting via the Men’s Health TNT Diet.  I’ve dabbled in the low carb world a few years back.  I tried the Atkins diet back in the “day” (the 300 lb day).  I made it one week BUT that was the longest I’d actually stuck to any diet.  That at least gave me something to hang my hat on.

You may or may not be familiar with the theory behind low carb dieting so I will attempt to explain it in plain English…or at least in my Georgia version of plain English.  Your body has a pecking order for burning calories.   Before it will turn to burning fat, it will first turn to your “glycogen stores”.  Your body essentially does three things when you consume carbohydrates: 1.) it burns them immediately for fuel  2.) it stores them as glycogen in your liver and muscles or 3.) if the glycogen stores are full, it is stored in your fat cells.