Setting goals, eating healthy and feedback on reaching goals are accomplished with weight loss software and simple tools
Scales and measuring cups, measure twice eat once
Sorry for the delay on part 3 of the series Losing weight when you have a disability.
It was sunny and warm on Saturday. I out-did myself mowing up the leaves. Typically after over exertion with Post Polio, Sunday was spent recuperating from my enthusiasm over losing 11 lbs of that “30-lb-turkey”.
Yes, the diet is paying off! Today I clocked in at 189.6 lbs, down from 201 in September!! This whole thing is about feeling better and losing 10 lbs feels better.
I’m pumped and that’s important because you can’t lose weight unless you feel good about losing. Food is too much of a reward to ignore. It feels good to eat. When we are down or depressed, food is a comfort.
Substituting weight loss goals can provide an emotional reward that beats another bowl of ice cream. (OK that one is hard to beat.) Feeling better about ourselves is important: take the positive feedback.
So set a goal and measure your success.
Measure twice, eat once
Talking about measurement, there are few tools needed in a weight loss program: a personal scale, measuring cups and a food scale. Measure twice, eat that steak once right?
You will want to weigh yourself every day, at the same time every day. I do it first thing in the morning before breakfast. The actual time is irrelevant but consistency is important since weight goes up and down all day.
Standing on a scale is tricky if you have poor balance. I lean against the wall until the last second. You might get someone to steady you. Does anyone have experience getting your body weight if they aren’t able to stand?
It is recommended that the scale double as a Body-Fat Percentage measurement, which is the percentage of your body that is fat. The good numbers are between 18% to 31%.
There are plenty of scales available. I checked out what other people liked on Amazon.com and ended up buying a mid-priced Tanita BF680W Duo Scale Plus Body Fat Monitor which was $57 at Amazon.com. (See the link at the bottom of the story)
The Tanita had the most accurate BF monitor. You may find another one that suits you. Mine has lasted 8 years without a hitch and doubles for another person’s BFM.
The concern is that losing weight can also result in losing muscle mass. We don’t want to lose what muscle mass we have so watching the numbers is helpful. I won’t tell you how bad mine was at 201 lbs. but it dropped to 45% today, more positive feedback.
The measuring cups are used to re-learn what food portions you are eating. How much is a 1/3 cup? I don’t remember until I practiced using the measuring cups. Now I can guess by the amount of food on the plate or in the bowl.
A food scale is handy but not essential. It is helpful to weight portions of food like meat since that’s how it’s sold. The EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale, Silver costs $25 from Amazon.com. It does grams and ounces which is handy in Canada with our part metric / part Imperial system.
Weight loss software
Does this sound like work? You bet it is. You will need to learn a few new tricks to track your weight, the food you eat and the exercise you do.
It’s not hard and doesn’t take more than a few minutes a day. Recording this information is made easy with weight loss software. The real value is teaching us how our food intake controls our weight. Everyday the software forces me to look at why my weight is up or down.
When someone says they can’t control their weight because they are disabled they are fooling themselves. Everyone can control their weight if they want to and the software gives you the feedback to learn the process.
When I started losing weight years ago, I researched the software market and chose Dietpower. I used the program faithfully for 2 years then figured I knew it all. At which point my weight crept back up. I lost interest in the day-to-day habit of recording what I ate and stopped using the program. The result was the “30-lb-turkey” jumped back into my arms again.
I found using the software was better than going to weight loss classes. I could work on the program night or day and the feedback is instantaneous. If my weight went up, I could trace it back to too many calories and where they came from.
Last year in June at 197 lbs I half-halfheartedly said I would get back on Dietpower but the summer slipped by.
I finally got my resolve in September but didn’t start the software until last week. So for 2 months my weight went down, back up, back down, back up like a yo-yo.
What was missing was the daily feedback of my eating mistakes.
This article is long enough but I promise to keep writing and finish how Dietpower works within the day. Stay tuned.
More stories in the series
Losing weight when you have a disability
Getting real with calories disability and the 30
-lb-turkey
Software is your personal coach in losing weight
In adopting any diet you should consult a professional dietitian for special medical conditions. That being said, I’ve never found anyone who knew how
to help someone lose weight when you can’t run around the block.
Leave a Reply