Food Calories Consumed
Eating 30-50 percent less than you normally do is nice when you realize that you can eat almost anything. (Rule #3) The exception is those pesky sugary foods that are OFF THE LIST. The goal is to eat less and exercise more.
In the very beginning of Health Challenge I woke up with my stomach growling. I was reminded of Lee Ann Womack’s lyrics, “You get your fill to eat, but always keep that hunger.”
Food Goals
Before starting the Health Challenge I formulated a plan to lose two pounds a week. By doing some rough math: losing 2 calories per week requires a reduction of 7,000 calories, which works out to 1,000 less calories per day.
And for those of you who are worried about me cutting that many calories, I’m taking a multi-vitamin/multi-mineral supplement, making sure I get enough protein, and generally trying to eat a balanced diet, albeit with modest quantities.
Water First
One key for me is to drink my water first and then, on a regular basis, keep it going throughout the day. My food plan is contingent on having water before any food is consumed, and to drink at least 8 glasses every day.
Keeping Track
A second key for me is keeping track of everything I eat. Write EVERYTHING down. No guessing. Just the facts ma’am. After all, the goal is to reduce the number of calories. How do you KNOW if you are eating less if you don’t keep track?
I use the Lose It! app on my iPhone to keep track of food intake. The data is uploaded to the Lose It! web site where you can get lots of neat reports.
The iPhone app Water Your Body is great for helping me drink my daily quota of water. I also use the Restaurant Nutrition app to gather info on food eaten while dining out.
Exercise Calories Burned
I shared my exercise goals in an earlier blog post. Essentially five days a week I’m doing 200 core exercises and 50 push ups; six days a week: 30 minutes cardio and 30 minutes walking; and light weights three days a week.
I also use the Lose It! app to keep track of all my exercising. (I use the Walkmeter app to track all outdoor walking.)
Break Exercise Into Small Bites
200 core exercises sound like a lot, but I’ve been doing them for quite some time. They are made up of 10 different core exercises, 20 reps each. The problem exercise for me is push ups. I hate push ups!
My strategy here is the same: break the 50 push ups into manageable chunks. Start with five reps at a time, and do 10 sets. It works. I can do that. But I still hate push ups.
Push Yourself to Get Started
Starting that one exercise you have an aversion for, like push ups, is a hard thing to do. I have to set a schedule and then stick to it as best I can. Sometimes it’s just a matter of forcing yourself get started, period.
Kind of like cleaning the toilet (or some other equally horrendous task that must be done). You know it needs to be done. It’s not the most pleasurable task in the world, but you make yourself do it anyway.
Besides, the “after glow” 
makes you feel better when you’re finished.
Measurements (day 14)
Core exercises: 2,200
Push ups: 550
Cardio: 5.5 hours
Walking: 6.6 hours
Light Weights: 6 times, 12 sets, 10 reps each
Weight Loss: 5.0 pounds
Technology Aids (Apps for the Health Challenge)
The iPhone apps mentioned above help measure food calories, water consumption, and exercise output. They are integral to my success with the Health Challenge.
Lose It!
This app is $0.99 and is well worth it’s weight in gold. One place to store information for food, exercise, and weight data.
When you start a free account at loseit dot com all data from the app is synced with your web account. There are several web site reports, listed below, that help you understand how eating and exercise choices affect your weight.
3 Summary reports: Daily Summary, Weekly Summary and Over/Under Calories.
2 Food reports: Food Calories Trend and Favorite Foods
2 Exercise reports: Weekly Exercise Calories and Favorite Exercises
A Weight Trend report
Restaurant Nutrition
Instead of guessing at nutritional information for foods at various restaurants, I use this FREE app to get the data. They update the database regularly and the app will even locate the nearest restaurant.
I use the calories, fat, carbs, and protein information as input for the Lose It! app.
The list of restaurants is more than just fast food. Here are some restaurants to give you an idea of the variety available: Arby’s, Auntie Anne’s, Boston Market, Chili’s, Dairy Queen, El Polo Loco, Fazoli’s, Macaroni Grill, McDonald’s, On The Border, P.F. Chang’s, Panda Express, Panera Bread, Quizno’s, Schlotzsky’s, Sonic, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, just to name a few.
Water Your Body
This app is $0.99 and is probably overpriced for what it does (functionally), but I have a major weakness in drinking my water so for me it’s well worth the price.
You plug in your weight, activity level and answer a few questions to set up the app. It calculates the amount of water you are to drink daily. (My 8 glasses of water was increased!) You then set the volume of water for a container, such as a cup, glass, or bottle.
Each time you drink some water you open the app and tap the table, which sets a container on the table with a time stamp. When you close the app there is a badge with the remaining number of containers you are to drink today.
It also charts your percentage of attainment to the goal each day on a monthly graph and gives you a daily grade from F to A, as well as an overall grade.
For me it’s simple, and effectively drives me to drink.
Walkmeter GPS Walking Stopwatch for Fitness and Weight Loss
This app is $4.99, which is far more than I usually pay. However, it’s easy to use and does everything very well.
Fire up your iPod, open Walkmeter and then start walking. It keeps track of walk time, distance, current pace, average pace, and calories.
Keep your iPhone in a pocket and hear that information through voice announcements that can be set up by time and/or distance.
View your progress on a map. Set up and save a route and Walkmeter will track and compare your progress with all previous walks. Send information to your Twitter feed.
Besides walking, you can select other activities: cycle, hike, run, skate, ski, or swim. I could go on, but hopefully you get the idea.
Related posts:
- 44 Days of Health Challenge 2010
- Halfway Point of Health Challenge 2010
- Health Challenge 2010
- Last Day of Health Challenge 2010
- Lose It! App Review
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