My dad will especially love this one. Every father’s hope is to leave a legacy for their children to follow. My dad has been especially successful at this. He ingrained in my brain from the furthest point back that I can remember, “What gets measured gets done.” Never has this been more important than in your daily routine of getting healthier, losing weight, maintaining weight, or just simply eating with what I like to call EWP – eating with purpose.
EWP takes some discipline, but I promise you that it is well worth the effort. EWP has transformed by body into something I wouldn’t have recognized 10 years ago. I am 42 and in the best shape of my life. Sporting less than 8% body fat with a 6 pack of abs makes 42 a dream compared to 24! If only I developed EWP when I was a kid. As a twin, it was always easy to tell us apart, my twin brother, Brian, simply was the thin twin and I was the fat twin growing up. I had no plan, and it showed. As soon as I developed a plan, the results surfaced. The bad news is that I waited until I was 34 do this. The good news is that you can start right now!
You can visit www.dailyscoopofhealth.com for resources on how to count calories. It simple – weight loss is all about burning more calories than you consume. Exercise, while not essential, certainly can speed up this process and I am a huge advocate of sweat equity (covered in another daily doable). As a board certified internal medicine physician, I can tell you that transforming your body will be one of the easiest tasks you undertake once you have the tools to do so. I have personally done it and it takes one overriding quality – commitment. If you can commit to one small change every day, it can lead you to a healthier body and a happier you.
So, what works best? Well, in order to know that, you have to first understand one principle. Remember, when we were told that we should have 3 meals per day? Well, whatever you learned about that, unlearn it and do it quickly, pretty please. Why do you ask? Well, without going into too much boring physiology, think of it this way – our body is like a car in that it needs constant fuel to run. The more fuel it gets, the more efficient it can be. Eating only 3 meals per day is akin to filling up your car’s gas tank one quarter of a gallon at a time. EWP preaches 6-9 small meals per day spaced out over 2 – 2.5 hours apart. The results will be dramatic. Hunger is public enemy #1 (covered in another doable) because it causes a surge in our insulin level, which makes our bodies make sugar, which starts the weight gain cascade. So, yes I am telling you that eating more will make you lose weight faster. I know it sounds crazy, but so did landing on the moon at one point. Implement EWP.