It's important to be P.H.A.T.T. (Praising Him All The Time)

I'm not trying to be sacrilegious, but I couldn't think of a more fitting title for this post. P.H.A.T.T. by the way is the name of a Christian rap group I happened to see on one of the Christian TV channels while channel surfing several years ago.

In response to my "How do I bounce back when the wheels come off?" post, my friend Tom, who has done a phenomenal, consistent job of losing a lot of weight, offered a tip I believe to be among the most important (I'm embarrassed I failed to mention it after the the help I've received): "when I slip up, I pray about it, remember what I'm trying to achieve and how it will bless my life, then pick myself up and move on."

As I was losing, I asked God for help and tried to remember to thank Him as progress was made. I recognized that He gave me my life and I believed that He wants me to treat my body right, be healthy, and use my good health to help others. I still try to thank Him for my good health but should be more consistent.

I'm not trying to be preachy, but if you're serious about losing weight and maintaining, sincerely ask God for help if you haven't already.

Atomic Avocado recipe

Ingredients:

-1/2 avocado
-1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
-6 Roasted Garlic Triscuits

Directions: mash the avocado into the cottage cheese and put it on the crackers.

Yield: serves 1

Calories: about 350

Lindsey discovered the avocado and cottage cheese on Triscuits part. May her name forever be praised for this glorious gift to mankind! The other day however I was shopping for the ingredients and had a eureka moment, probably as powerful as the one experienced by Dr. Emmet Brown when he invented the Flux Capacitor...USE ROASTED GARLIC TRISCUITS INSTEAD OF REGULAR!!!!!, entered my mind. It was more thrilling than inventing the wheel- it was like inventing the Monster Truck wheel!

Try Atomic Avocado and let me know what you think.

Weird health trivia

If you eat too many carrots, you can turn orange.

I'm not kidding! Not only did the interweb tell me this is true, it actually happened to my brother when he was young. My mom took him to the doctor thinking he had jaundice and the doctor said, without any foreknowledge of the situation, "now there's a kid who loves carrots!" He was right.

How do I bounce back when the wheels come off?

My wife stared at me in awe as I ate piece after piece of white bread dipped in salad dressing last night. Yesterday the wheels came off- not only was I naughty in the evening, enjoying chocolate chips and white bread and butter, but during the day I went to a French bakery and indulged in a croque-monsieur (cheese-smothered ham and cheese sandwich loaded with creme fraiche, a FATTENING dairy derivative) and a pain au chocolat (a croissant-like pastry filled with chocolate). To top it off, I didn't exercise at all! How did this happen? I just felt like it dude, and I shutter to think about how fun it was!

So now what?

Well, I can choose to keep up the naughty behavior and let one slip-up turn into a snowballing mess, or I can choose to bounce back.

How do I bounce back?

I've found it's a lot easier to bounce back when I have good momentum and motivation firmly in place.

Here are some momentum and motivation tips for bouncing back that work for me:

-Establish a habit of eating healthy well in advance. An occasional, atypical disaster-day won't throw me off when I can easily fall back on healthy eating habits. For example, all of the food I have at work is healthy. I would have to leave and buy unhealthy food if I wanted to consume it.
-Keep short-term and long-term goals in mind. For me, maintain a certain weight and live a long, healthy life.
-Remember that tomorrow is a new day and its outcome is up to me.
-Exercise ASAP. For me, there's something about exercise that helps me want to eat and live better (I have to admit, it was an acquired feeling).

To give a little context, a disaster-day happens to me probably every few weeks.

The one good thing to come out of yesterday: I learned another way to get my wife's attention:)!

Please share any bounce-back tips that have worked for you.

How do I control portion sizes?

I used to think Weird Al's "Eat It" was just an annoying parody of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" until I realized two things: 1. it's actually an ingenious example of art imitating life and 2. Michael Jackson probably wrote "Beat It" as a parody of "Eat It." The King of Pop obviously won't be remembered for his attempts at comedy.

On the first point, I believe Weird Al was artistically commenting on his observation of America's growing weight problem back in the 1980s. One causal factor that he identifies in particular is growing portion sizes. For example, take this section of the chorus:

"I don't care if you're full
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Open up your mouth and feed it
Have some more yogurt, have some more spam
It doesn't matter if it's fresh or canned
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it"

One could argue that "Wise Al" is a more appropriate nick-name for Alfred Matthew Yankovic.

Now for the question I posed in the title, instead of just "eating it," here are some tricks I use to control portion sizes:

-I eat many (at least 5) small meals throughout the day. This keeps my metabolism high, my stomach used to small meals, and keeps my hunger largely at bay.
-I drink a lot of water throughout the day (personally I shoot for a gallon or more).
-I drink water before I eat.
-I try to savor each bite, allowing my mind to tell my I'm full before I've eaten too much.
-I use smaller bowls and plates.
-I chew gum or brush my teeth immediately after dinner (I seem to always want to graze in the evening).
-When I go to restaurants, I try to share with Lindsey or I'll eat half and take the other half home. Restaurant food is usually loaded with calories and salt.
-I pay attention to suggested serving sizes and keep the calorie numbers in my mind when I'm eating.

I want to draw from your well of experience. Please share any other tricks that have worked for you by comments or email. fitfattydaddy@yahoo.com

P.S. I'm very upset that Michael Jackson is no longer with us. If he were, he could possibly redeem himself on a comic level by writing a parody of Carrie Underwood's song, "Undo It," called "Control It," about controlling portion sizes. Based on his appearance and behavior, I think he would have been even more successful with country music than with pop anyway.

How do I control my eating on Thanksgiving?

The exercise guide is still coming, but today I had to write about the topic that's weighing the heaviest on my mind, the most glorious of glutton-days, Thanksgiving! As a fatty, I used treat it like a buffet- eat, lay down, eat, lay down, groan, eat, feel sick, eat. As fun as that was, being fit is better. Here's a poem I wrote about how I manage Thanksgiving now:

With Turkey-Day less than one week away
On how to control it I have much to say
I must in advance be prepared with a plan
And force myself to stick to it my good (wo)man
Before I eat I will drink lots of water
Which might make it hard to sit through Harry Potter (I probably wouldn't go to it after the meal anyway- too scary)
First I will focus on fruits and on greens
Then I will switch to plain yams and to beans
Go light on butter, salt, gravy, potatoes
Heavy on white turkey meat and tomatoes (even though I love the dark meat)
If I must have a slice of pumpkin pie
Or some pretzel jell-o, I'll try to be mellow
I'll try and I'll try and I'll try and I'll try!

Let me know what ideas have worked for you to manage Thanksgiving!

You Shook Me All Night Long

I know I promised an exercise guide (should be coming tomorrow) but wow!!!...the response to yesterday's post was fantastic! You sent me many reasons to be unfit, which will all be listed. I thought about them all evening- check out a few of these gems:

-It's funnier when fat guys fall down
-You love the feeling of your heart racing when you push yourself up off the couch
-Double chins are cozy

In all seriousness, thinking about how uncomfortable I was before I lost weight helps me maintain. For example, I remember when cutting my toenails felt like squeezing into a Smart Car full of sweaty clowns.

If you need to lose weight but haven't taken action yet, write down a list of every uncomfortable issue you're dealing with that weight-loss would improve. You might be surprised at how long it is.