Change

This will relate to diet.  I promise, so please bear with me.

Change is hard.  It is difficult.  In my life, I have encountered two TYPES OF CHANGE and within those, there exist TWO SUBTYPES.  From those I have discovered, anecdotally, that I have to understand what changes I am encountering and then, from that, plan my way forward.

Types of Change

So how does one categorize change into two main types? Change happens as basically as the sun rising and setting. That is change.  But I simplify the categorization of change as two basic types.

Received Change

This is the one that we probably initially fear.  These are the types we usually do not see coming so they can carry a negative connotation.  Some examples of this can be changes to your health or perhaps the loss of a job. It can be a house fire or even getting T-boned by another car in an intersection.  

All that made sense, but it can also be winning the lottery or meeting the person of your dreams at a house party.  

Projected Change

This is the change we make.  We know its coming and have, to some degree, prepared for it.  The outcome is not guaranteed to be positive but its more likely to be perceived as positive. This change can stop at your skin, in the sense that you change how you feel about yourself or it can be further in the sense that you buy a new car or paint your living room.  

Subtypes of Change

The subtypes can apply to either type but they tend to align in a predictable manner - mainly because it's habitual.  The description of my types of change uses these to help you relate to them. Its feeling and feeling is merely emotional perception.  Anything can feel good or bad depending on context or relation to other changes.  

Feels Good Change

Often we feel good about the changes we make. Not always, but emotionally we are more likely to perceive them as a positive thing.  Projected change usually feels good to us. We needed it.  We made it.  We feel empowered. Sometimes hesitance for the unknowns that follow make us feel apprehensive and that is confused as feeling bad - but that is a different emotion that blurs the focus.

Feels Bad Change

Obviously, received changes are mostly unplanned and unexpected so we have to make rapid adjustments to find some stability.  When this happens, it can be justified to feel bad - especially when the change is tragic.  But often its the sheer numerosity and various levels of intensity of unknowns that drive levels of apprehension and then fear.  

Why Understand Change?

I have found, that for me when I have my hands on the stick and throttle, I am more likely to feel better about them.  As advanced primates, we still respond to positive reinforcement and our feelings, or perceptions can be the positive reinforcement we need to continue.

When you change how you eat you are making a substantial change.  You are changing not only how you operate during the day, but how you interact with family or coworkers.  As we encounter received changes (questions, attitudes, habit adjustments like not going for takeout) to our projected change, we may be placing more relevance to the negative perception of the most recent change.  

This cycle can muddle our feelings and interfere in the positive reinforcement cycle.

Change and Diet

How, what, and when we eat is the most simple projected change we can make.  We will encounter received change during that process and that can impact our success trajectory in the sense that it can make it a shallow climb, or even in the worst cases, completely derail us.

Make your changes and embrace the power of your control. Be aware of the pitfalls and navigate them because as we learn to anticipate the changes that follow their impact feel less important and we can continue forward.  The sun rises and sets but we don't control it. We do, however, anticipate it and adjust our days around it.  

Change is good.

Some Basics

I do not subscribe to any particular diet as I think there is probably a percentage of each that can prove beneficial to any person.  What works for me may not work for someone else.  As a matter of fact, what worked for me 10 years ago, may not work for me today. 

This is why I want to view the diet as a holistic concept and stick to some basic truths.

Quality and Quantity

Well, that seems like a no-brainer but I have always said that if I were to write a book on eating healthier it would be basically two stages:

1. Get your appetite to a controllable level
2. Then improve quality.

I take that approach - in a general sense - because I always felt really challenges when, not only am I eating carrot sticks, I am now eating less.   I have never felt that the body likes too much change too quickly and when you drop those two on yourself, it can be challenging.

I don't truly feel this is as big an issue for me anymore as I think that my Carb-control sidesteps a few of the triggers that made dieting difficult.

Timing is Everything

For many years, and during my heavy weight lifting years, I had always known that I could easily drop weight merely by not eating after 7 pm.   

I think this has to do with the fact that as your body prepares for rest, many systems start to power-down and prepares to shift resources.  Any energy source received after the shutdown sequence starts is mostly packaged and stored for later.

There is more to this and I have found that, for me, WHEN I eat is as important as WHAT I eat.  I'll expand on the concepts of intermittent fasting at another time - its probably my favorite technique so I will revisit many times in the coming weeks.

Substitution is Bullshit - Try Replacing

I know the first thing I started to do was listen to people who said: "Pigs ears make great Nachos" or "Pork Rinds are great instead of chips".

No.

Nachos are just gone. Finito. Done. 

If I am going to change my diet, I merely find OTHER things that I like in the low-carb world.  One of my favorites is Genoa Salami and Cheese.  If you know me well, then you also know that I love hot sauces, so the right hot sauces, mustards, or spices become a fun adventure.

Note:  After a long phase of low carb, then moving to maintenance and keeping carb intake to under 100-150g per day (keeping in mind timing) can allow some of that back but the concept of portion should be remembered.

There are no Cheat Days for me.

Achieving a pattern of weight loss requires I can't derail that momentum. It's hard to pick up speed when you fall off.  While some can, and perhaps it works for them (or so they may think) it does not work for me.  Perhaps it's more a psychological thing in which some people want to feel comforted - but if you do this right, there is no reason you cannot find the right food that works for you and you enjoy.

Find Your Favorites

After some time you will discover you have a few go-to snacks and meals you like.  For me, I have a couple of Go-to that are easy to make and simple to have.

One example, for me, is cooking taco meat and then freezing it in Ziploc snack bags.  I can then just take it out - nuke it - and drop it on a salad with some salsa (being mindful of amount and carb content) with sour cream and plenty of heat like Franks and some Dijon mustard.   You could also just add that meat or even chicken strips to a general salad to jack up the protein and good fat intake.

Track Everything

Whether you use Fitbit or another app/resource try and log everything so you can get comfortable thinking of options for the future and to find what works over time.  

Cardio Health

It goes without saying that, while exercise is probably only 20% of weight loss, its a good opportunity to take advantage of being lighter and using bigger muscles to burn more energy.  As your weight drops, so will some of the supportive muscles (legs come to mind) so there is a wave front that you can ride in which you are using bigger and more energy-hungry muscles before the reduce size as they are not needed to do as much over time.

If you look after your heart - everything else will follow.

Reading Labels

I think one of the greatest challenges is just understanding how to read nutritional labels.  Personally, I look every time, and then I can have an idea of what I am eating.

What is interesting is that the Typical Salad has some carb in it, and when you look at the label you should understand where the carbs come from. 

In this case, the 9 grams of carbs is actually 7 grams as two of it is dietary fiber and not digested (mostly).  But if you look at the contents, there are little tostido strips in there, so just don't add those.

Finally, I add some chicken strips that have been tossed in some oil and cayenne pepper (but even taco seasoning works well).

Later, I also add some jalapeno and Franks Hot sauce.

When I do that, I have a very low carb meal that I really enjoy. 

 You can even cook taco beef with ground beef and just place it in Ziploc bags (as mentioned earlier) and freeze them for later use.

This chicken method is super easy and lots of flavor.

About Me

So, last year I started a Keto-based approach for limited Carb intake to control weight and it worked quite well.  I went from 325-ish lbs down to 262.  In the last year I eased and maintained about 275-285.  Now its time to start again.

To keep myself honest, I have decided to track progress here - in a blog.  I will post a periodic summary and occasional recipe for my progress.