Views on weight tend to evolve as one goes through various stages in life. People go from not really worrying about it, to worrying just a little, to worrying a lot, to outright panic, to ignoring it (cycle through the these in an infinite loop). All of these are affected by the place you are in life mentally, emotionally, financially etc.

I think the evolution of my own attitude is fairly typical. I was quite skinny when I was growing up in Africa. In my mid-to-late teens, gaining weight – or more precisely, muscle – was a major concern. I wanted it. You could say I was in the “worry just a little” phase. Here, losing (or gaining) weight might positively affect some part of your life, but it’s not a huge deal. In my case, the desired effect was straight-forward. I didn’t think I was particularly pretty, so I had to work on the other departments. Hot girls dig manly guys. So, me + muscles = mucho hot women. Simple. Putting on the weight to turn into muscle was hard though. I ate a lot, but I couldn’t seem to gain much. Those were innocent times. I eventually gained the weight (even a little bit of muscle…bonus!) before I turned twenty. Then I hit the peak. Once that happens, it’s all downhill from there. As you can imagine, putting on the pounds is no trouble these days.

Fulltime employment is the real killer though. Working as a consultant, like I do, can wreak havoc on your diet and all-round health if you’re not careful. In this line or work, I began to eat and drink out more often, and spent even more time at a desk on a computer. Every now and then I would look in the mirror and notice the bulge slowly forming. At times like these, I would spend a week or so trying to do some sit-ups when I awoke in the morning. That was the scope of my efforts to control my diet. It actually worked as well. So, it could be a mild inconvenience after a period of sustained eating, but wasn’t so bad in general.

All of that went to hell once I hit the States. My first 4 months in the US were spent in Kansas City. Meat and Beer rule in Kansas City. My “Consultant’s Belly” became a permanent fixture. I was now firmly in the “Worrying a lot” stage. I went to the gym at the hotel once to look around, then never went back. It was just too much trouble. Plus it was next to the hotel bar, a much more welcoming place. Instead, I began skip meals. So, I would skip breakfast, have a decent lunch, then only have starters for dinner (never mind the fact that the starters would often be a bunch of chicken wings). The next day I would have breakfast and dinner and miss lunch. Needless to say, this tactic wasn’t sustainable. and I fell back into my standard habits. I later conquered my phobia of hotel gyms (peer pressure can be good sometimes), but it didn’t do much good back then.

I have never made it to the “Panic” stage. That might be when the weight is now starting to cause serious issues in your life, health or otherwise. I really don’t want to get there. However, I didn’t make much progress either in my attempts to lose weight as the problem increased; not until I began to take measurements. Yes, my friends. Discovering the magic of Counting Calories is like…well…magic.

You see, if you have to walk 50,000 steps on a particular bearing to get to your destination, it is perfectly fine to just hit the road and head in the general direction of your target. However, if it is really important to make it there at a certain time, then you take some tools, like a compass and a pedometer. With the compass, you can check the direction; with the pedometer, you can check how many steps you have walked so far. This also means you can check your progress each day, and work out exactly how many steps you take each day on average. If that average isn’t enough to get you there in the time you have left, then you can work on increasing the number of steps. Many people take a compass on their weight-loss challenge, but most leave the pedometers at home.

This is the way success works. You have to be able to measure progress towards your goal, unless it’s something abstract that can’t necessarily be quantified…like love. I digress. You have to be able to calculate the results of your actions. The more precise, the better. That’s what test-runs are for; that’s what schools do with quizzes; that’s what organizations do with annual reviews (as painful as they can be). All are attempts to allow one to see where one is, see where one needs to be and, hopefully, identify what needs to be done to get there. If you are having trouble with weight, then you could benefit from counting.

I get it. Measurements are boring; especially when it comes to something like food. I mean do you really want to have to calculate the amount of calories in icing on that juicy chunk of cake? Well, yeah. I was mortified to find that I was consuming 250-300 calories per day in the sugar I was putting in my coffee alone. I suppose I knew I was taking too much, but having figures removes any illusions. It’s about honesty. When I go out to Steakhouse and get the 16 Ounce Ribeye, it is helpful to know that is might cost me way over 1000 calories that day.

So, back to the theme of simplicity. From what I have learned so far, an average man needs 2000-2500 calories a day to function correctly (more personalized numbers are available online). This is also influenced by the amount of activity you engage in each day. Do some running and you can add hundreds of calories to your daily allowance. If you consume more than you burn on average, you add on some weight, and vice versa. That’s it.

What to do? Be aware of what you eat. Take an honest look at your diet over the last month. In five minutes, you can find out what the general calorie content is for most of the meals and snacks you eat (the wonders of Google, eh?). I think most people who have trouble with weight will find that they are easily over their limits. When you “cut down” on what you eat without measuring, you might find that you have simply dropped within the range you should have been in anyway. To actually LOSE weight you will have to cut down more.

So start small. You don’t have to give up everything. Remember, this has to be sustainable. Go down to one egg instead of two; try getting a smaller steak; cut down the amount of sugar. For each step you take, note how much you are cutting from your diet. Down from 5 sugars to 1…that’s about 150 calories each day. Chicken Salad for lunch (watch the sauce!) instead of a burger…that’s another 200 calories cut. Stay at each stage until you are confident enough to add more to it. It took me 3 months to go from a full breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausages…the works) to two slices of toast with butter and a boiled egg. I did it in stages, cutting bits out until I didn’t feel bad about it anymore.

Gradually, you can build up good eating habits that will help your health, as well as cut down the pounds.

Here’s to your good health…

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It struck me that, to a large extent, success is determined by what we focus on. This is not an unusual concept. We hear this all the time from Self-Help gurus and motivational folks. We all know it’s true in that abstract, distant way we know things. The point is, it’s not a radical thought. However, on this night (early morning really; it’s about a quarter to one as I write this…Lord, I hope this isn’t the onset of insomnia), I have been thinking about a project I am working on. I say “working on”, but what I really mean is that I have been “thinking about starting work” on it. I just realized that the reason I am not doing much is that the statistics say only a small percentage – think 5-10% – will succeed at such a task.

Well, that’s something, isn’t it? Such a small chance of success is daunting. When you factor in the sacrifices you might have to make to begin such a venture, you would be forgiven for wanting to wait and plan and wait some more…just to make sure everything is right before you plunge. You would be forgiven, in the face of such odds.

Hmmm…but are those really bad odds? Look around you. In every walk of life, in every field, there are those that do better than others. There are those who achieve reasonable results, and then there are those that excel. Check the other statistics…the ones that say that 20% of the world own 80% of the wealth (I am hacking the 80/20 rule by Pareto for my own benefit) and so on. If you have a job, can browse the internet and own a phone, then chances are that you are closer to the top 20% in those numbers. Basically, you are probably better off than you think, in the grand scheme of things.

It is life as we know it. Things are skewed that way. We need to see it for what it is. There’s no need to be afraid of action…measured, calculated action, of course. We do the research, we find out what it is that distinguishes those at the top end of our path from the rest, and we work towards that. That’s what I need to focus on…not the scary numbers. The achievement will always require me to get into the higher percentages, no matter what. Everyone else that got there (well, most of them anyway) navigated their way up the numbers as well.

So, I’ll go back to bed and get some rest now. Tomorrow, I’ll go past “thinking” about starting and actually “begin” the process of starting. No, really. I will. You’ll see. Okay, I might just go over my plans…just one more time, you know…?