The Half-a-Sandwich Plan

As someone who has lost a modest amount of weight by obsessively counting calories, I have an insight into certain things that most people might not notice. Several of these insights are with regard to dining at restaurants, the most important being portion size.

Everywhere I eat, it seems that the caloric values of the food being served per person is much, much too high. An example is a burger with fries; regardless of which place you are eating, if it is a chain restaurant like Chilis, then you should expect a meal that consists of about 1300 calories, and that is without considering any additional condiments you might add after (like ketchup or ranch.) On my diet, both past and present, I have set a caloric intake value of 1500 per day. Thus, if I want to eat out, I have to know ahead of time and eat only minuscule amounts the remainder of the day, or the other option I have recently adopted: eat only half and take the rest home.

Even if not on a diet, I'd be amazed if it could be shown that anyone actually needs to consume 1300 calories at one meal. Mathematically, most men probably need no more than 2500 per day. If you eat 1300 in one meal, you are left with only 1200 for the rest of the day. So, while it is doable, the meal would necessarily be huge (more than twice as much) as each of the other meals for the day (assuming three meals). Eating out twice in one day (which happens frequently to those who travel for business) means eating more calories than one needs. And, most people like to snack at various points along the day, which becomes trickier.

A reasonable strategy is the one I listed above: eat only half the meal. A good rule of thumb is: if you are looking at your plate and think it looks like enough food, it is likely more than you need. If it looks like it isn't enough, then you are likely eating the right amount. Half a meal always looks too little, but it is plenty big enough. Take the other half home and eat it for dinner or lunch the next day. Or, if you really don't care for leftovers, either split with someone or just throw it away. Remember, it isn't a waste if you really don't need the food. I have had some limited success with convincing the guys I go to lunch with that we might consider ordering one thing and splitting it between two. If enough people did this, I am certain restaurants would change their portion sizes accordingly. Until that time, I am content to get a half-off deal on all my lunches.

I wonder why portion size is so ridiculously large in the US? I suspect it has to do with the concept of getting your money's worth: the more you get the better the deal. It also likely has to do with the cost of food to the restaurant: food is cheap, but the markup on it for being served is significant, and even more of a markup can be included if a larger portion is served. It might also have to do with the balance of quantity and quality: when I eat at the nicer restaurants, the portion size always seems much more reasonable.

As I briefly insinuated above, I have taken up my caloric restriction again; I had stopped keeping track and found it was very easy to return to my old ways of eating. A couple of months ago, I decided I needed to re-do my diet before it got way out of control. At 200 lbs, I wasn't even close to approaching my original pre-diet starting weight of 230 lbs, and I have already dropped back to a more reasonable 186 lbs. My intent is to get my weight to 180 lbs and then schedule my yearly free "healthy checkup" with my doctor. At that time, I'll discuss what a reasonable weight for me is. According to BMI, I'd need to drop to about 170 lbs to be at the top of the "normal" range, but BMI isn't a very accurate way to determine if you are at your ideal weight.

The May Report

May was very slow and steady. I have been much more relaxed about calories this month; although my target value was 2000 per day, I allowed myself to go over by a hundred or two if I still felt hungry. Still, as long as my daily intake is less than the daily requirements, the diet continues to be successful.

The end of May saw the first dip below 190 with 189.5. Currently, two days into June, I am at 188.5 (for the record, my scale is accurate to half pounds, thus it is either going to end in '.5' or '.0'.) Other noteworthy events include moving from my 34 waist jeans to my size 32, which is the size I had in highschool. Now, if only I had kept those jeans, I'd be able to wear all of my fashions from the late 80's/early 90's.... maybe it is better I outgrew and got rid of them. :) My belt is really starting to look ridiculous, since it is on the smallest setting and the excess needs to be folded back over or just hang. I need to punch a new hole and trim the excess (although, Kendra thinks I could just get a new belt... nah. ;) )

Since my success at weightloss, my opinion about other weightloss programs and pills has become very negative. Especially when the "program" is taking pills bought from some commercial on TV. Their claim that the pills "really work" is not what I take issue with. The question is, at what cost are these pills working? So far, the pattern seems to be that the weightloss pill is released, becomes popular, and then is declared dangerous, to either the heart or other organs. It is unfortunate that such "supplements" don't need FDA approval; shouldn't that be warning enough that you don't want to take this? Look, people, you don't need a pill to lose weight; some careful planning is all you need. I swear to you, it really isn't as hard as you think. If you need some help, just let me know and I'll give you a hand, but, for the sake of your health, don't rely on weightloss pills.

The April Report

The chart:

Now at a daily intake of approximately 2000 calories, the results of April are much less dramatic, yet just as meaningful. Although it is taking longer than anticipated, it is worth noting that a diet need not be extreme to work.

At this point, I would classify myself as being in the same category as most of America, slightly overweight. The difference between me and most of America, however, is that I still know the "secret" to losing weight.

The Late March Report

Here is the belated March chart:

The consistent, downward trend is comforting. I was even more motivated than usual this month, as there were four days where I actually took part in the exercise portion of the diet. I still need to find a time during the day where I can routinely exercise. However, my focus is still on weight loss; an exercise routine may be easier to accomplish when it is my main focus.

There is a certain amount of pride that I feel regarding my weight loss. However, when it is analyzed, I am actually feeling pleased with myself for achieving a goal which should never have been necessary. In reality, I should never have been overweight, thus returning to an appropriate weight seems like what should be expected, not something to celebrate. I suppose the key to this is not whether I should have ever been overweight or not, but that I identified a problem and found a solution for it. And, the solution was not short term or quick; it required a great deal of patience, discipline and understanding.

Today, April 11, 2004, I am at a weight of 195.5 lbs. Several items of note regarding this:

• I started at a weight of 231; I have lost 35.5 lbs in three months.


• I am over two-thirds of the way to my goal of 180 lbs.


• The last time I recall being this weight was in high school, over 11 years ago.

In March, I increased my daily caloric intake to 1900 calories to slow my rate of weight loss. My estimate for when I should be around 180 lbs is June 18th.

The Second Month

Let's begin this month's analysis with the chart:

As you can see, the inclusion of a trend line is a valuable asset with regard to psychological effects during weight loss. Using just the weight does not provide enough information to determine if there needs to be a caloric adjustment on a day to day basis. However, looking at the trend, it becomes clear that the diet is effective, regardless of the day-to-day weight fluctuations.

A couple of other notes regarding the graph: the caloric daily deficit is correct, but is an average across the entire month. Many times, it was higher, but I increased my caloric values from 1500 to 1700 per day half way through the month after I realized that I would overshoot my weight loss goal, since it is recommended that caloric intake is increased by about 200 per week. Since then, I have noticed that my loss rate has decreased, likely because the caloric intake to maintain 231 is more than it is to maintain 206.5. At any rate, I expect to be close to completion somewhere in the middle of April.

I had a question regarding the Y-Axis on the right of the graph. Amusingly, I had not even noticed it and had to take a look at the Excel sheet I am using to figure out what it represents. Simply, it is the "ladder rung" of the exercise program suggested by this diet. This month, as I really didn't exercise at all, there is no use for it. However, the dashed line in January indicates that I was a ladder rung 1 and never really advanced with it. I suppose this is a good indicator that exercise is not necessarily required for weight loss.

People have made comments to me regarding my statements about the ease of my diet. Apparently, this frustrates some people, and I can understand why. What is important to remember is that I started with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 31, which is classified as "Obese" (I am now at 29, which is just "overweight.") It always seemed to me that it would be relatively easy for someone who was extremely obese to lose weight faster than someone who was only five to ten pounds overweight, since it takes a much higher amount of calories to maintain the extreme weight. I was never extremely obese, but I had enough extra weight that it made it easy and quick to lose a bunch of it. But, I think it will remain fairly easy to stick to my diet for another reason, too.

The Legend of Zelda series of games for the various Nintendo platforms are all very similar. You go around, looking for pieces of the Triforce and fight with bunches of creatures along the way. There are always several dungeons, at the end of which is always a main "boss" creature to fight. The boss is unable to be hurt normally, except by a trick, which is normally related to the new weapon you found in that dungeon. Once you figure out the trick, the boss goes from being impossible to beat to fairly easy. This is how I feel about my weight loss; now that I know the trick and have the right weapons, it has gone from something that seemed impossible to something which is inevitable.

Inevitable and noticeable, my clothes are starting to look too baggy and I am almost out of holes on my belt. At some point I will need to get new pants, but I don't want to buy them only to replace them with smaller ones in a month.

There are some other things which are noticeable, too. Kendra has commented that the muscles in my legs are very well defined now and that my face looks thinner. I have noticed that my tolerance and duration for sitting on hard surfaces has decreased (ahem.)

Some funny side effects that I hadn't considered include the amount of food needed to feel full. When dining at a restaurant, now I feel completely stuffed at the completion of just my entree, instead of having an appetizer, an entree, salad bar and dessert. Something that is kind of irritating is that now I am cold much more often, since there is less insulation, but also because my metabolism is likely a bit slower, too.

The First Month

As you may recall, on January 12 I started the Hacker's Diet. As I sit here eating a cream filled donut, I have concluded that dieting is really not that hard. With some careful consideration, it is possible to eat whatever you want. The trick is to monitor and plan calorie consumption. In other words, as long as you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. It is funny how simple that concept is, but it took so long for me to really "get it."

As you can see from the following chart, I am doing well so far.

My initial goal was to lose about a pound a week. Using a chart to estimate my caloric needs at about 2000, I divided the amount of calories in a pound of fat (3500) by seven and subtracted to arrive at my diet goal of 1500 calories a day. By examining the chart, it is apparent that my initial estimate of 2000 was very low. In fact, the analysis of my most recent data indicates that I am averaging a deficit of 2045 calories per day; on average, my body consumes 3545 calories per day. Amazingly, I am able to get by on the 1500 without really any hunger pangs. Thus, my plan is to continue at 1500 and lose the weight faster. My weight as of today is 214, 17 lbs less than when I started.

Diet tip of the day: frozen entrees make it VERY easy to count and distribute calories throughout the day. Diet pop is also very good, since it tastes like something, fills the belly, but has zero calories.

The only thing hard about this diet is going out to eat: it takes very careful forethought and planning for me to be able to eat out and still be within my caloric limit. For example, at Chilis, the Chicken Ranch Sandwich is about 846 and the fries that come with it are abour 440, for a total of about 1300. That leaves only 200 calories for the rest of the day (to get counts from Chilis, you actually need to call their hotline number (1-800-983-4637) as they don't provide any info on their website.)

Most restaraunts are very reluctant to provide the caloric values, which makes it even more difficult to eat out. There is one place that I have found that goes above and beyond when it comes to providing data, and that is Wendys. Wendys has a pdf file that contains all the nutritional info for their food which you can download, and they have a meal planner program on the website that lets you assemble a meal and get the nutritional breakdown, including the toppings for sandwiches and ketchup for fries. Heck, you can even see the difference between having crackers with your chili or not. I am very impressed with Wendys. Granted, you still can't eat a ton of stuff ( I limit myself to meal 1, the Classic Single with Biggie fries and then need to be careful the rest of the day) but at least you have the knowledge to make informed choices.

Regarding the reluctance of restaraunts to provide nutritional info, there is currently a bill in the House of Representatives regarding this. The Menu Education and Labeling Act (H.Are. 3444), or MEAL, would, if passed, force restaraunts to provide at least basic info (calories, salt, etc) on their menus for EVERY item. I would encourage you to contact your Representatives and ask them to vote in favor of this bill. As there are 14 cosponsors, it seems likely it will pass, but it is always good to make your voice heard.

A Beginning to a New Me

For awhile now, I have been wanting to lose some weight, and I like using the New Year as an opportunity to change for the better. So, starting on Monday of this week, I began the Hacker's Diet. The appeal of this diet is the person who wrote it, John Walker (no, not the terrorist) is the founder of AutoDesk, the AutoCAD company. As an engineer, he took a very analytical approach to losing weight and with the knowledge and tools he provides, it seems to be a fairly straightforward process that allows you to proceed with confidence.

According to the calculations provided, I should drop from 231 to 180 by 1/11/2005. Of course, the end goal may change as I get closer to that weight and determine what is appropriate for me. Additionally, it may take more or less time depending on the actual number of calories my body burns daily (until a couple of weeks pass, I only have an estimation for that value, which I have placed at 2000.) I'll be sure to post my progress here.

Baby and Me

My little Katy is a cutie-poopsie-pants. She is noticeably bigger now and can more quickly tire the arm of the one holding her. She smiles and laughs and likes to grab and play with her toys. She still doesn't pay too much attention to the kitties, but she sure likes her mom and dad. :)

Katy's baptism will be on Sunday, January 25th at St. Francis of Assisi parish in Ann Arbor. We thought it would be nice for her to be baptized at the same church Kendra and I were married in. Plus, St. Francis is the church we still feel the strongest tie to.

On the TV

With Survivor done (alas poor Rupert... happily, he'll be back on Survivor All Stars, I have turned my attention to a new show, the Apprentice. Interesting in that Donald Trump is the one who decides who leaves the losing "company". Reality tv makes me so happy. :)