How to lose weight - a story to motivate you

If you want to lose weight, here's a story to help and motivate you.

I always knew that good food with fewer calories and exercise are important to manage your weight, but when he was young did not follow this advice. My diet included lots of rice and very little exercise. So, over many years, bit by bit, I gained weight. When I was 44, my weight was over 200 pounds. Around this time, I had a stroke of good luck. My youngest daughter wanted to run in a 5K race and asked me to run with her. I agreed and started running on the treadmill to get ready for the race. Soon I was running five kilometers in less than 30 minutes ans was so proud that I could run five kilometers!

At the same time, I saw a TV show where a doctor discussed how to improve your diet. He said it is important to eat plenty of vegetables, fish and white meat. I changed my diet after watching that program. I substituted rice in my diet with green leafy vegetables. For breakfast and lunch I ate vegetable and chicken (or fish) soup. For dinner, I ate salads with fish and grilled salmon (but without any dressing). But I made sure that I ate the same volume of food as before, so I was not hungry even though I was eating salads instead of rice. By the way, I also started drinking black tea instead of coffee with milk and sugar.

So, overall, I made two changes at the same time: started doing more exercises and reduced the calorie intake (because the veggies had less calories than rice). The body responded by losing weight. Within a few weeks I lost over 30 pounds. I really liked this because I could see the results very soon. I could also continue the program of diet and exercise because I was not hungry. I really felt better than I ever felt before.

Even though I have been continuing this program since 2003, my weight has gone up some. Over the past eight years, I have gained weight about 8 pounds. But it’s still a great way to lose weight and manage your health. When I think why the weight has gone up despite maintaining about the same diet and exercise, all I can think is that the body has a mind of its own and it fights your attempts to lose weight.

If you are thinking about trying to lose weight, I recommend that you make two changes in your life: start an exercise program and change your diet by replacing carbohydrates with veggies. Stop eating too much rice or pasta and eat a lot of salads with fish (or chicken) but skip the dressing .Remember that to succeed you should eat the same amount of food as you ate before making these changes because it is very important to not be hungry. Good luck!

Here's some more information to help you...

You may find my previous video on weight loss helpful:

To lose weight, think of the human body as a syste...

Cómo perder peso

Si quieres perder el peso, aquí está una historia para ayudarte y motivarte.

Siempre sabía que buena alimentación con menos calorias y ejercicios eran importantes para manejar su peso, pero cuando era joven no seguía este consejo. Comía mucho arroz y hacía poco ejercicios. Así que, hace muchos años, poco a poco, me gané peso. Cuando tenía 44 años, pesaba más de 200 libras. Al rededor de este tiempo, fue una buena suerte que mi hija menor queria correr en una carrera de cinco kilometros y me pidió aue la acompañara. Estaba de acuerdo a correr con mi hija y empecé a correr en la cinta para estar listo. Muy pronto estaba corriendo cinco kilometros en menos que 30 minutos. Estaba orgulloso de poder correr bastante rapído como eso.

Al mismo tiempo, ví un programa de televisión donde un doctor discutió comó mejorar su dieta. Se dijo que es importante para comer muchas verduras, pescado, y carne blanco. Decidí cambiar mi dieta despues de ver ese programa. Sustituí arroz in mi dieta con verduras de hoja verde. Para el desayuno y para el almuerzo comía sopa de verduras y pollo. Para la cena, comía las verduras con pescado como el salmón a la parilla. Es como una ensalada sin aderoso. La comida tenía el mismo volumen como antes de cambiar la dieta. Asi que no tenía hambre a pesar de que comía verduras en lugar de arroz.

Así que hice dos cambios al mismo tiempo, hacer mas ejercicios y reducir las calorias de comidas. El cuerpo respondió con la perdida de peso. En unas semanas perdí más de 30 libras. Me gustó mucho porque pude ver los resultados en poco tiempo. Podía continuar el programa de dieta y ejercicio porque no tenía hambre. De verdad me sentía mejor que antes.

Aunque continuaba esta programa desde 2003 el peso se sube un poco. En los últimos ocho años el peso aumentó 7 u 8 libras. Sin embargo este ha sido un buen método para perder peso y manejar tu salud. Cuando pienso en porque el peso sube a pesar de las mismas dietas y ejercicios, creo que el cuerpo tiene una mente propia y lucha contra de bajar el peso.

Todavia si no trata de manejar el peso, te recomiendo que hagas dos cambios en tu vida: comienza un programa de ejercicio y al mismo tiempo cambia tu dieta reduciendo los carbohidratos. Deja de comer demasiado arroz o tortillas y come mucho ensaladas con pescado (o pollo) pero sin aderezo. Recuerda que para tener éxito debes comer el mismo volumen de comida que comías antes de hacer estos cambios porque es muy importante no tener hambre.

To lose weight, think of the human body as a system, but with a mind of its own

What with the holiday season approaching, many of us will face the chore of managing our body weight. In 2003, I had been able to lose 30 lbs by thinking my body as a system and making abrupt changes to its inputs--food intake and exercise intensity. Here’s how.

Being an engineer by training, I thought of the human body as a system that takes in food and exercise and produces a body weight as output. In 2003, after seeing a show on public television (“The Perricone Prescription”), I decided to change my diet -- primarily by replacing the carbohydrate (rice) with lots of vegetables, mixed leaves, etc. and by starting the day with a hearty breakfast soup. I also stopped drinking coffee with creme and sugar, and switched to black tea. At the same time, I increased my exercise level abruptly -- from running on treadmill at 12 minute a mile pace to 10-minute miles for 30+ minutes. I made sure that the volume of food at each meal (with mostly veggies now) was similar to what I ate before so that I didn’t feel hungry and could sustain this diet.

As you can see in the graphics, my actions caused two abrupt changes in the body’s inputs -- somewhat less food and somewhat more exercise, both at the same time. Consequently, the body weight did drop and, for those of you with engineering background, the body behaved in a manner similar to many systems --  the weight dipped down and up and gradually settled at a steady level. I lost over 30 lbs this way.

The problem, however, is that the body is not a dumb system -- it has a mind of its own and it reacts to loss of fat etc. and, after the initial shock of weight loss, tries to preserve and regain fat and weight, even though I continued to eat and exercise about the same. So the weight does tend to creep up over time, but this seems to happen slowly over many years -- e.g., a gradual gain of 5 lbs or so over 8 years for me.

In summary, you can initiate weight change by thinking of your body as a system and making a small, but abrupt change in diet composition and exercise level. BUT the body has a mind of its own and will fight back, so it’s a constant struggle, but hopefully a pleasant one :-)

Here's some more information to help you...

Typical plates of food and bowl of hearty soup :-)

Mixed greens with grilled chicken breat

Mixed greens with salmon, avocado, and grape tomatoes

Hearty soup (veggie, bean curd, salmon, sausage)

Here are some books by Dr. Perricone that got me started... in case you want to check it out: