Weight Loss Wednesday: Have a Weight Loss Plan

Happy Wednesday friends! I hope you have had a great, successful week of being healthy and getting fit! Before I jump into my weekly post I want to point out a few changes that I have made to the site.

First, I am going to stop talking about my personal progress at the beginning of each post. I have added a new image to the sidebar of this blog that will track my progress to date. I might occasionally talk about my personal progress, but I think the blog will be easier to read if there is less of that at the beginning of the post. More content = a better read!

I have also added a counter to the sidebar to track the collective weight that the readers of this blog have lost. (Yes, I know I still need to work on the overall layout of the blog... but I need more time in my day to make it look as nice as I'd like it to. Eventually I will tweak it.) You amazing people have lost 160 lbs so far! If you'd like to have your weight loss added to the ticker:

• Send me a tweet - @chimtot or http://twitter.com/chimtot
• Email me - chimtot@gmail.com
• Leave a comment anywhere on this blog
• Send me a Facebook message

I have said before that I'd really like for this to be an interactive blog where we share ideas, support each other and together achieve things that we could not do alone. The interactivity depends on each of you!


This week I want to talk about the importance of having a plan in weight loss. Losing weight is like any other project we take on. The first thing I do at work when I take on a project is to meet with the members of my team, or sit down with my handy, dandy notepad (Evernote is amazing for this) and organize my thoughts. I write out a goal, a time frame to accomplish it and the metrics I will use to get there.

Photo courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Why is it then that when I want to lose weight I just say to myself "OK. Time to get serious and get in shape. No more junk food, no more sugar and no more fried foods." I then proceed to lose focus, slip on those general goals and never accomplish anything. I obviously know how to make a commitment and set goals. I do it at work. For some reason with weight loss I just don't take the time to do the things I know will make me successful.

Three times in my life I have been very successful in losing weight/getting in shape. The first time was as a young man in high school. I was on a 6 week weightlifting and cardio program as a part of school sports. It was very regimented and planned. I also had a team of coaches making sure that we all stuck to it.
The second time was when I lived in Argentina. This was not so much weight loss by program as weight loss by there-was-no-other-option. We lived on a meager amount of money, ate meager meals given to us by church members and walked many, many miles each day.

The third time, the one I want to focus on in this post, was when I went on the HCG diet (Link leads to a PDF file outlining the diet by the man who created it) last year. Say what you want about this diet, it leaves no room for conjecture or variation. If followed correctly, you can know what to expect. It gets right to the details of what makeup ladies can wear and what lotion and medicine is compatible with the diet.

The thing all three of these experiences have in common is the consistency and structure associated with my daily habits and diet. There are a ton of diet plans out there, and they all share this consistency and structure. A few that I can think of are Jenny Craig, Atkins, L.A. Weight Loss, Weight Watchers... there are just too many to name. CNN even did a story on a guy who lost 27 pounds on a "Twinkie Diet."

No matter what plan you choose, or if you work with your doctor to come up with something tailored to you (please consult with a healthcare professional. Diets can be unpredictable and volatile), I think the power in the diet, the ingredient that helps us lose weight, is the structure. We have a set of rules, and promised results for following the protocol. Let me say that again in a separate, bold, big font:

The power of diets to help us lose weight is in the plan and the structure.

This is nothing new. We know it works. It works in business, building and architecture, writing and it will work in weight loss. The goal is met, the budget broken or the task accomplished in the planning phase. Take the time to plan out the details. Plan your meals, your exercise routine, your water intake... all of it! I would even suggest planning out what meals you will order at some of your regular restaurants so that you are not caught off guard when a client or colleague invites you to break bread.




Thanks for coming out and reading today's post! Leave me some comments about the most successful weight loss or fitness plans that you have been able to stick to!

Photo courtesy of http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Now a bonus mini-blog thought...People have asked me why I do not go back on the HCG diet that I was so successful on. The honest truth is that I remember hating it. It was producing such wonderful results that I just powered on through, but the memories are all of hunger pangs and annoyance with all of the rules.That being said, I am going to try it again.

More than for the weight loss, I thought it would be interesting to try out a few of the diet regiments that are out there and record my experiences. I plan to make a short post on how I felt dieting each day. Don't worry Facebook friends, I am not going to spam your feeds with my blog posts each day. I am doing this for me. Feel free to stop by and read my experiences. Don't worry if I miss a day. I'll probably miss a lot of them as I live a busy life.

I am just going to do this so that I can know what works for me. My memories fade, but if I can ready my own words each day, that should give me a feel for each of the diets when I am done. After 60 days on HCG and a short time to readjust myself I may try Weight Watchers, Body for Life or any of the other multitudes of diets out there.