Okay look, I’ll admit it. I ate like an army when I was in Seattle. Fish, french fries, artisan cheeses, delicious local gastronomy. The restaurant at the Sheraton was “The Daily Grill”, a personal weakness of mine. They make the best meatloaf and chicken pot pie… and yes, one night I got in late and ordered a Daily Grill Hamburger delivered to the room after 10 o’clock. Not to mention I was like, two blocks from KuKuRuZa gourmet popcorn, and I got an almost crack-like addiction to dark chocolate caramel popcorn, as well as enjoying a delicious bag of swedish fish from the  Candy Store at Pike Place Market.

And I don’t regret a single bit of it.

I did realize, however, that I can’t take that type of diet lightly, and I certainly can’t sustain the combination of not riding/exercising (I was in pretty brutal shape from my accident days before) and eating like a roman soldier on leave. So I knew when I got home I was going to have to buckle down and get back to the discipline needed to get my weight back down to a manageable level. Doc says I need to be about 165-170, but we agreed that 170-175 was probably a more reasonable weight for me, and when I got home I was way off that… by um, about 25 pounds. I actually came back from Seattle the heaviest I’ve been in over two years. I was just north of 200 (201).

About the same time I came home from my trip, I read a blog post somewhere about the secret to achieving your goals, and one of the  tips was to “be specific”. Don’t say, “I’ve got to lose weight”, say, “I’ve got to lose X pounds by Y”. Make it realistic and specific. So, knowing I was going to Atlanta tomorrow for the “Event Apart” conference, and feeling very strongly that I didn’t want to go to Atlanta in bad shape, I used it as an opportunity to try and be as specific as I could. I went back and looked at my weight history (yes, I keep a weight history at FatSecret.com, as well as a diary of everything I’ve eaten over the last two years) and told myself, “okay, you’ve got about three weeks before you leave for Atlanta. You need to lose 20 pounds and be at least 180 before you go”. This would give me only about 5-7 pounds I’d need to lose when I get back before I’d be back down to my healthy weight. A lofty goal, but looking at my weight loss history, and knowing how much I’d ride and the discipline I’d need, it seemed a good goal to set.

Weighing myself this morning, and I’m 177.4 pounds. Not bad. Exceeded my goal by about 2 pounds.

So what were the lessons? Fairly straightforward, actually.

1. Weigh yourself. Often. I read this a lot, and it’s true. If you’re attuned to your weight, and you weigh yourself as often as possible – I started weighing myself every morning – you’re more apt to be aware of what you’re doing throughout the day. It’s just a psychological tool, but it’s a pretty powerful one. I noticed that when I don’t weigh myself frequently, I simply don’t make the connection between my diet, my exercise, and my weight.
2. Keep a Food Diary. This one’s huge. I don’t really care what “diet” you’re on, whether it has a “name” or not, I don’t really care how much you exercise. I only know one thing. It’s a simple matter of calories in vs. calories out. It’s no more complicated than that. Your body requires a certain number of calories to power it for 24 hours. If you consume more than that, your body converts and stores it. If you increase your physical activity and burn more calories than you take in… the opposite is true. I happen to burn a LOT of calories, and if I keep a dietary diary, if I keep track of everything I eat throughout the day, I just naturally consume fewer calories. This is very closely tied to portion control, but you’ll find that when you have to actually write down everything you eat, and the quantity, you just sort of naturally practice much tighter portion control. Also, I bet you’ll surprise yourself by how large your portions are.  Serving sizes really ARE serving sizes. They’re not just there as a “recommendation” or a “suggestion”. I really do only eat 4 oz of chicken when I eat chicken breast, and yes, I actually weigh it… or at least I did… until I learned what 4 oz. of chicken looked like and can now eyeball a single serving of chicken with remarkable accuracy.
3. Don’t eat at night. Seriously. Don’t do it. I eat about every 3 hours. I eat roughly 300 to 400 calories at each meal. I eat at around 8, 11, 1, 4, 6, and 8:30-ish. I consume about 2000 calories or more a day, and that last snack at 8:30 is it. No more. I don’t snack at 10. I definitely don’t eat anything before I go to bed, and if I eat at 8:30, I won’t go to bed for at least 2-3 hours after that last meal. This has been huge. I always eat breakfast, and trust me, if you don’t eat anything after 8:30, you will too.
4. Exercise. All of the above is well and good, but if you’re not increasing your metabolism with exercise, then you’re only doing half the work. I’m not talking about walking around the park, or taking a leisurely bike ride around the neighborhood. You need to get your heart pumping. Do whatever suits you… but do it.

So I did those sort of basic things. That was my discipline. I kept my eye on my weight, I kept a food diary, I wasn’t snacking late at night, and of course… bike, bike, bike. Made myself a nice, somewhat challenging, but realistic goal, and kept to it. Sure enough, it worked.

Now… my next goal is, “don’t gain any of the weight back while I’m in Atlanta…”

Fingers crossed for this one, I love soul food.