Foot & Fitness Part 2: Have a Goal that's Bigger than Your Appetite

fitness

By Dr. John Cuay

I hear a lot of people say, “I don’t know why I’m fat.” Well, I do. You eat too much and burn too little. Fat doesn’t just materialize from nowhere. At some point you ate something that was never used up so it compiles and compounds.

So one basic truth about food: Eat right, and that usually means eat less.

Cutting off one’s food quantity is the hardest part of losing weight, or I would even say one of the hardest parts of being healthy. Configuring your mindset to choosing healthy alternatives is like depriving yourself from the best things in life. Just imagine yourself in Spirals: the biggest buffet table in the country, with an array of different sumptuous food to choose from. If you follow a no carbohydrate diet, around 80% of the options will be eliminated! Imagine that surge of temptation especially if you’re with a company of buffet lovers. If you don’t have the strength to resist from the appetite boosters and nicely plated offerings, don’t even look. You don’t stand a chance. You’ll end up falling and regretting it after. Here’s what I suggest when you find yourself in this scenario: motivate yourself with a goal that’s bigger than your appetite. Good examples of these are:

1. I’ll be healthier to do more of the things I really want to do.
2. I’ll be able to live longer and enjoy more time with the people I love.
3. I won’t be so envious of all the healthy people.
4. I’ll prove to myself that I can be disciplined with something.

Whatever it is, choose a goal that promises greater satisfaction than your stomach. Don’t think about what you’re depriving yourself of. Think about what you’re gaining by becoming a little bit more healthy.

It was a roller coaster ride for me before I finally stayed on the path of healthy eating. With every episode of failure, I made it a point to remember the exact scenario, and decided not to do that exact plot again. I tried all the fad diets out there. “Atkins”, ABS, etc. Name it and I tried it. Based on my experience nothing is long term in those said diet and I will not personally recommend that to my clients or to anyone.

The best way to start losing weight and to having a healthier diet is to watch what you eat. We just have to be aware of the amount of calories that we need for us to lose weight. Depending on your activity level one should be eating less than the calories that you’re capable of burning.

Use the formula to know your daily calorie requirement:

Your age in years _______ X 9.53 = ________(A)

Your weight in kilograms (1 pound = 0.45 kilograms) _______ X 15.91 = ________(B)

Your height in meters (1 inch = 0.025 meters) _________ X 539.6 = _________(C)

Your activity level (Use 1, if you’re inactive; use 1.11 if you do 30 to 60 minutes of daily moderate activity; use 1.25 if you do at least 1 hour of daily moderate activity; or use 1.48 if you do at least 1 hour of daily moderate activity and 1 hour of daily vigorous activity, or 3 hours of daily moderate activity) _________ (D)

Subtract A from 662. _______ (E)

Add B and C, and multiply the result by D. ________ (F)

Add E and F, for your total daily calorie needs. _________________

Once you get the result, be watchful that your calorie consumption should be at least lower than your daily requirements, that’s if you want to lose weight; stay on the above result if you want to retain your weight and if you want to go far beyond the requirement then you know what to do!