Today I had a totally un-American idea!  This will be a tough one to swallow - LITERALLY!  My wife often says I am such a "romantic" when I take her out to fine restaurants such as Hy-Vee Chinese!  Even though she is joking, this IS one of our favorite places to eat.  The food is good, and best of all, it's pretty inexpensive.  Recently, however, I had a thought when I was ordering my food - I wanted to tell the young man dishing up my Black Pepper Chicken and Sweet & Sour Chicken - "Please, not so much on my plate...."

At that point my inner-American kicked in!  You see, I think we all have this thought at places like Hy-Vee Chinese as the young man or woman are dishing up our food behind the counter - "I'm paying good money for this food, you better give me my just deserves and then some!"  It seems that naturally we are offended if our plate is not heaping.  How dare they only give me one scoop of rice!  The notion of me telling the young man dishing up my food to hold back seemed to hit me at my very core - THAT'S JUST NOT AMERICAN, GIVE ME MORE!  

However, like so many times before, after I eat and then figure out my calories for that meal - why didn't I just tell him not to give me so much!  Hold the extra Crab Rangoon.  Give me just half the rice as normal.  You see, I am starting to figure out this whole "weight loss and eating-the-right-way-thing", it's not hard when it comes down to it, but we have to be smart about our choices, including, we need to know when to say, "Hold the Rangoon"!  

So let me give you a couple of suggestions to avoid being un-American.  When they ask you "For here or to go?" say "YES!", have them put 1/2 in a togo container and 1/2 on a plate for dining there.  If you know it is something you will not eat later as left-overs, then tell the person dishing up your food, "Just give me 1/2 the normal amount."  I guarantee that it is still probably too much, plus, you won't waste the food if you don't eat it.  Finally, some places will offer "Lunch" portions, these are usually smaller and cheaper, and a great alternative.  Good Luck!

• A Wheat Bagel
• Light Cream Cheese
• Green Pepper
• Bacon (ok, so maybe that wasn't the best idea)
• Baked Potato Chips
• Diet Coke

Sounds good - RIGHT?  Wheat Bagel, Light Cream Cheese, Baked Chips? Well, after I finished I decided to record my meal calories.  To my astonishment that meal was 607 calories!  This Calorie Thing Is Hard!  Who new?  Not me!

So what are you suppose to do?  I had already had 447 calories from breakfast and a mid-morning snack!  Should I not eat the rest of the day? No, that would be just as bad.  Walk 10 miles?  Yeah right!  Plus, my wife's cousin and his family were coming over for Zoey's pizza tonight!  This was not going to be a good calorie day!  I was defiantly going to go over my calorie budget for today.

In general, what I try to do is make up for my calorie overages over the coarse of the week.  If I go over by 500 calories on a particular day, I will try to shave off 100 calories a day for the next 5 days.  That way it all works out in the end.  

So, the next time you find yourself in line at Bruegger's, be careful, you may think you are ordering the right stuff, and instead you're ordering almost half of your day's calories!  

Also, many restaurants will give you a nutrition guide that explains the calories in their foods.  Just ask if they have a Nutrition Guide.  I have read that this will eventually become mandatory for all restaurants to provide this on the menu.  Some restaurants are already doing this (i.e. Panera Bread).  

P.S. Weight Loss Since Jan 6th, 2011 = 26.2 POUNDS! (See My Weight Chart)

We will hopefully be using Twitter to keep patients informed of new medical information and health updates.  

I'm still fighting off FaceBook!  

I've joined the 25 pound club, I am down 25 pounds from Jan 6th, 2011.  Had to buy new pants last week - what a bummer!   One thing that I have learned as a part of this "learning how to eat", it is extremely important to track every calorie you eat.  I use a website to do this: LoseIt.com

LoseIt.com is FREE, EASY, and IT WORKS.  I would and have recommended it to several patients.  

COMING SOON: "I'm a Loser" T-shirts.  Let me know if you'd be interested on the poll on the home page.

So you have your scale, your ready to start this journey.  I am going to introduce the next most important tool you'll need...  THE MEASURING CUP!

Essential to knowing how many calories your putting in your body is knowing the amount of food you are putting in.  I initially felt like I had a good grasp on portion sizes - boy was I wrong!  I was way off.  This is where the measuring cup comes in.  I recommend that when you sit down for a meal, you have your plate, cup, utensils, and your trusty measuring cup.  Before it goes on the plate, it needs to go in the cup.  Quickly, you will start to learn portion sizes.  

Along with the cup is the other essential too...  THE FOOD SCALE.

This is key for measuring out things like meat.  

My wife initially chuckled when I would sit down for dinner with my measuring cup and food scale, but I have to say, this has been one of the most important steps for me to take.  I truly had no idea how much I was eating.

My Weight Loss Since Jan 6th, 2011: 22.1 pounds!

Weight Loss Tools:
1. A Scale
2. A Measuring Cup
3. A Food Scale
4. A Calculator or Computer
5. Time / Patience

Are you shocked? Surprised? Disappointed?  Sorry, no magic here.  We will get into how each of these items are essential to weight loss over the next few weeks. 

Scale

You'll need a good scale to weigh yourself.  I recommend spending a little extra on this one. You do get what you pay for.  Also, I recommend a digital scale.  You can spend anywhere from $20 to $200 on a scale.  I have tried several scales over the years and recently found a scale that I really like.  It is produced by a company called Withings.  Now, many of you know that I am somewhat of a tech-geek, so this scale was right up my alley.  Check it out here.

I recommend weighing yourself everyday - Yep, EVERYDAY!  You should do it at roughly the same time (I recommend in the morning right after you use the restroom).  You want to create a standard for your weighing.  What I mean is, weigh yourself every day at the same time, wearing the same thing (or preferably, wearing little or nothing), and the same scale.  

After you weigh yourself, chart it.  You can create a spreadsheet on your computer or just us a simple piece of paper.  

The changes will be slight, perhaps only a few tenths of a pound each day, but you will see a trend.  Here is my latest trend:

I'll tell you, seeing this trend is very motivating.  If it is going down you feel very successful and want to keep it up.  If it is going up you tend to pay more attention to what your doing / eating.  

Update: My weight loss since Jan 6th, 2011: 12.5 pounds

So what is the plan?  What's going to happen?

Well, I am going to share what I have done and learned about weight and weight loss.  I am going to share personal information about my weight.  I will introduce some important points about weight loss and how to effectively and safely lose weight.  

The first important point: Don't use the D-word!

The dreaded "DIET".  "I'm on a diet!" "That's not part of my diet!"  The thing about a diet is - it is temporary.  You start a diet, you fail a diet, you try another diet.  There's the South Beach Diet, the Atkins Diet, the Jenny Craig Diet, and so on.  I would challenge you first to get rid of the "d-word" from your vocabulary.  The second you start a diet, you have failed.  I would suggest that you look at this as a change or a plan.  So the first step is, are you ready for a change?  Are you ready to plan your success?  Let's get started!  Stay Tuned For More.....

My Progress:
Here is my weight curve, I'll talk more about it in the future.

Weight Loss Since Jan 6 2011: 10 lbs.  

Fact About Dr. Beer: Did you know that Dr. Beer's hobby is photography?

Please Note: Dr. Beer will not be in the office on Feb 3rd, 4th, or 7th, 2011.  If you need to be seen on one of these days, please call (319) 365-7521, and one of my staff can assist you.