2,000 Calories

Ever wonder what it looks like?

Health Canada recently put together a website called “My Food Guide” that tells you what you are supposed to eat.

So here’s how it works

You enter your gender and your age and it tells you how much of each food group you are supposed to eat.

For me it was:

8 Vegetables and Fruit

8 Grain products

2 Milk and Alternatives

3 Meat and Alternatives

Next you get to pick the food you like…

For Fruits and Veggies I chose:

• Asparagus
• Broccoli (x2 servings)
• Sweet Potato
• Sweet Pepper (x2 servings)
• Apricots
• Apple

For Grains I chose:

• Bagel ( 0.5 bagels is a serving)
• Oatmeal (3/4 cup is a serving)

For Milk and Alternatives I chose:

• Milk
• Cheese
• Yogurt

For Meat and Alternatives I chose:

• eggs
• Chicken

Now that hard part…putting these things into meals:

Breakfast: 900 Calories

• 2 egg omelet with asparagus, avocado. (1 meat, 1 veggie, 2 fruit)
• 1.5 cup oatmeal (2 grain)
• glass of milk (1 Milk)
• 3 apricots ( 1 fruit)

Lunch: 650 Calories

• 1 Bagel ( 2 grains)
• 1 apple (1 fruit)
• 1 Yogurt ( 1 milk)

Dinner: 300 Calories

• Chicken breast (2 meats)
• Sweet Potato (2 grains)
• Broccoli

Snack: 200 Calories

• 1 English Muffin (2 grains)

My grand total calories for the day  would be 2,050 Government approved as healthy as you can get Calories!

Actually this number isn’t that bad for me.. it’s a little low for weight maintenance for my current weight..but like I said..it’s not too bad.

But here’s the deal… Take a look at how BORING those meals are..

A plain bagel? A plain English Muffin?…nothing in your oatmeal?

B-O-R-I-N-G Honestly….I couldn’t eat like that.

So if we spice them up JUST A LITTLE BIT, while still trying to do the typical North American version of “eating healthy”

Breakfast: (ADDS 250 Calories)

• 1 ounce organic cheddar in the omelet (0.3 of a dairy serving)
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar, 2 TBS Almond milk in the oatmeal (wouldn’t count)
• 1 medium coffee with 1 cream, 1 sugar (really..wouldn’t count)

Lunch: (ADDS 50 Calories)

• 1 tablespoon low-fat cream cheese for the bagel (not sure..maybe 0.1 of a serving?)

Dinner (ADDS 100 Calories)

• TINY bit of Butter for the sweet potato and for the broccoli

Snack (ADDS 200 Calories)

• No sugar added natural Peanut butter for the English bagel (0.5 of a meat serving)
• A glass of organic skim milk to wash it down. (1 extra dairy serving)

Now the meals are actually looking like something I MIGHT eat..and I’ve bumped the Calories up to almost 2,700!

Lastly, lets add in one  little ‘indiscretion’…a mid morning Starbucks run to get:

• 1 Cafe Latte
• 1 Apple bran muffin ( 1 extra grain serving)

So now you have Mid Morning Snack (ADDS 500 Calories)

This is a great example how an average person trying to eat healthy can still eat over 3,000 calories every day…but THINK they are eating closer to 2,000 (And according to the Canadian Food guide!)

This is WITHOUT any beer watching the game, cookies with the kids, chips at break time, chocolate bars for charity, wine with dinner, snacks at the office…etc.

It Adds up Quick!

BP

PS- Of course, the easy way to get around all of this is to simply choose not to take part in these shenanigans once or twice a week! (cough, cough, subtle nudge..>Eat Stop Eat)

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Too true? Too Harsh?

What are your thoughts?

BP

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How to Lose Weight…

Let’s cut straight to the heart of the matter.

We want to lose weight, and we want good advice.

Eating less to lose weight makes sense.

But we get told differently.

‘Eat less’ turns into ‘Eat better’ and then into ‘Eat healthy food choices, eat frequently to keep your metabolism revving and your blood sugar stable and DON’T SKIP MEALS!’

‘Eating Less’ becomes STARVATION MODE and METABOLIC SLOW DOWN and LOSING MUSCLE and all sorts of other things that are so bad for you they warrant all capital letters.

So what’s going on?

Is the scientific community actually THIS split on the issue?

Nope.

Bigger things are at play.

Here’s the giant pink elephant in the middle of the room that nobody wants to talk about:

Americans spend OVER 1.6 TRILLION ON FOOD PER YEAR.

Nobody wants to give up those kinda profits!

If you eat less, profits suffer.

1.6 TRILLION….that’s a LOT.

If you eat less, people lose their jobs.

If you eat less, you pay less taxes to the government..I’m not sure what 1.6 TRILLION would net in taxes, but my guess is, it’s a very big number.

The bottom line is that if you choose to eat less, your are choosing to swim against the current.

But we all know the current is NOT leading anywhere that we want to be.

If the US food supply is currently around 3,900 Calories per person per day, then swimming with the current is going to lead to obesity, self esteem issues, diabetes and a host of other lifestyle related diseases.

(And at 3,900 Calories…It’s not like you can simply ‘exercise away’ these extra calories.)

So Choose to Eat Less, and understand why when you go looking for support you may be met with nagging and ‘you’re doing it wrong’ type advice (see my last post on Social Support to get an idea of what I’m talking about)

BP

PS- The easiest way to eat less, that allows you get amazing results without having to broadcast your diet to the world? Eat Stop Eat.

(The 1.6 Trillion figure can be referenced to here: Plunkett Research (2008). Food industry overview, 2008.)

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I’ve come almost full circle on my opinion of needing social support for weight loss.

Personally I don’t want (or like) social support.

Because my diet is my business.

It creeps me out that people feel the need to discuss how I eat or what I eat.

One of the things I like the most about Eat Stop Eat is that it’s private.

I eat when I want, and I don’t eat when it fits my schedule.

This is what works for me…and it works really well.

(I’ve been at my ‘goal weight’ for almost 4 years straight.)

Now, for some people, social support is important

Having all of your friends and family, and coworkers and Facebook friends and twitter buddies knowing that you are trying lose weight… some people may need this.

But for others, (like me)… I enjoy knowing what works for me, and while I enjoy the support, I have found that support and lecturing are pretty close cousins.

I accept the fact that some people may think that sugar is poison and that they choose live your life eating almost zero sugar or refined carbohydates…

I accept that fact that some people may be vegetarian, or vegan…

I accept the fact that some people think fruits and vegetables are actually bad for you, while others eat almost ONLY fruit…

I’m cool with it.

But, I want to live life and lose weight while eating brownies occasionally, drinking scotch occasionally, and overall eating without hesitation.

True social supports is accepting this, not lecturing on it.

So here’s my take…

True social support is just that…support, and this is extremely rare…since ’social support’ seems to have become…’I support you but you’re doing it wrong’…

And sometimes the best support comes from having the ability to keep things to yourself that you want kept private.

After all, a really good diet plan shouldn’t require you to have to broadcast it to the world in order for it to be effective.

BP

PS- What’s your take? Do you like social support or do you prefer to keep your diet private?

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I arrived home from my family trip to see my newly finished kitchen floor.

It was beautiful.

I remember thinking to myself..I’m finally getting this fixer-upper to somewhere approaching respectability.

I wasn’t planning on doing the floor, but the old tiles were splintering, and with Ro Wilder crawling, they were becoming a safety hazard.

So I felt really good that everything was finished and was done really well.

Of course that was Friday Night…And this is Sunday Morning.

And this Morning this was the scene in my basement:

I’ll spare you the picture of the pool of water on the ground, but needless to say, I’m not a happy camper.

I’m also not fasting.

I WAS fasting..

In fact when I found the pool in the basement I was about 17 hours into a fast

By 20 hours into my fast I was eating.

Why?

Simple: Stress….horrible, illogical stress.

Eating will not change the fact that water seems to be flowing from somewhere (I’m guessing roof) into the house, along the support beam and finally pooling in the corner of the basement.

Eating will not change the fact that the carpet in the living room is wet.

Eating will also not change the fact that I simply can’t fix this on my own.

But it’s a stress response, and we all have it.

Luckily for me, I’m usually good at handling stress. On a day to day basis, I’m pretty stress free.

So stress doesn’t really affect my eating.

But I pity people in stressful jobs, stressful relationships, stressful life situations…because I know they are probably also overeating.

And I don’t have any reasonable solutions either.

Except for one.

If you can get rid of the stress, do it.

Quit your job, leave the relationship, do whatever needs to be done within reason.

And, if you are like me and have to wait helplessly doing your best to problem solve until the experts arrive, realize that it’s out of your control…and remember to breath.

Stress…it’s a vague thing, but I will tell you this…. In my opinion too much stress is the antithesis of Health.

A little bit of stress is good, but too much stress will send you to your grave early, and probably overweight.

Do your best to remove it from your life.

BP

P.S. If you’ve been holding off on purchasing your very own copy of Eat Stop Eat, now would be a great time to go ahead and pick it up!

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You’ve probably heard this logic before:

Low-fat diets failed because eating low-fat doesn’t work for weight loss.

I’ve always wondered about this logic, as it seemed to go against the common sense that eating more calories then we need to is what makes us fat, not the source of these calories.

So I decided to look into EXACTLY what happened with the whole Low-Fat trend.

The Low-fat foods trend really started picking up popularity in the early to mid 1980’s, and by the mid 1990 Low-Fat was all the rage.

EVERYTHING was low fat…even cookies…and ice-cream.

During this time, the population of the USA also got fatter.

A LOT fatter.

So what gives?

Was not eating enough fat to blame?

Was it replacing fat with sugar that was the mistake?

Nope.

As it turns out, it’s still highly correlated to Calorie Control.

According to the USDA food availability data charts, there was an average of  3,200 Calories per person available in the USA in 1980. (Even thirty years ago this was much more than we needed).

This is about when Low-fat really started to take flight, thanks to aggressive marketing and government support.

You don’t need to look any further at the massive increase in skim milk production in the 1990’s to the see the drastic effects that
the low-fat movement had on the food industry.

Total milk intake decreased over the 90’s but intake of low-fat milk skyrocketed by comparison.

Yet a funny thing happened with the introduction of low-fat foods.

We didn’t eat less fat…

We just ate MORE food.

Over the next two decades the amount of calories available per person increased up to roughly 3,900 Calories per day.

Yet, according to the USDA databases our total fat per capita never really went down.

In fact, it slowly crept up from 145 grams to 155 grams per day.

Our ratios of Saturated Fat to Mono-unsaturated and Poly-unsaturated fat also all stayed relatively the same over this time.

So we didn’t replace fat with carbs….We just ate more…more everything.

Carbohydrate intake went up. Protein intake went up… and fat intake went up.

Bottom line, low fat foods didn’t make us fat…simply having more food to choose from did.

More convenient foods like Snack Well Cookies, that we were lead to believe were “guilt free” …after all, they were low fat.

Basically, allowing food companies to Market Health and Weight loss back to us is what caused us to eat more, not eat differently.

No matter which way you cut it, eating more is the culprit to our weight gain.

Thus, the cure is always going to be eating less.

The trick is to find a way that you can eat less long term.

A way that is enjoyable.

Don’t let the marketing fool you, EXTREME dietary manipulation isn’t needed for weight loss, we just need to learn to take a break from eating every once in a while.

If your goal is weight loss, remember concentrating on one Macronutrient (protein, carbs or fats) does not necessarily mean you are eating less.

People who have successfully changed their body did it by eating less and exercising.

And have done this around the world, from a variety of different places and cultures. Eating different foods, in different ways.

The bottom line is: To lose weight you have to eat less.

This is the most successful approach to weight loss. (And, I believe The EASIEST way to eat less is Eat Stop Eat.)

You do not need to eat low fat, low carb or low protein…you just need to eat a little bit lower EVERYTHING.

After all, in my opinion your BODY should be low-fat, not your ice-cream.

BP

The GOOD stuff

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Let me be your tour guide through this little piece of marketing.

Firstly, “Studies Show“…You see so much “Studies Show”, “Science Says” and “Experts Think” that it is now an ambiguous term that really has no meaning…at least to me…in marketing.

Next, the word “MORE”…in big capital letters…actually it’s “MORE WHOLE GRAIN”

There is no confusing what the word MORE means. And, whole grain is obviously referring to a characteristic of the product in the box.

Then the soft words…in small “can help”….these are the words that make everything…vague. Kind of like when a friend asks you if you will help him move on the weekend and you reply “Possibly”.

Then the BIG FONT “manage weight”..not capitals…but bigger then any other letters on the entire front of the box..except for the product name.

“Manage” is an interesting term. It doesn’t mean lower, it could mean increase, more than likely it means ’stay the same’

When you manage your bank account, I’m assuming you are NOT trying to make it shrink.

When you manage your debt, I’m assuming you are NOT trying to make it bigger.

so when you add it all together you get “Studies Show” which is meaningless in my opinion (again as a marketing claim)

You have “MORE WHOLE GRAIN”

Then you have “can help manage”

and WEIGHT – This is what makes everything OK…you’re doing it to manage your weight…whatever that means.

to me, this whole claim boils down to “MORE” and “of the product”

really, it’s just a giant call out on a box for you to EAT MORE.

BP

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Here is something that I think a lot of people overlook in their quest to lose body fat:

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Some ‘quick and dirty’ math today.

Here is a hypothetical situation for you…

Your basal metabolic rate is 1,500 calories (Remember, this is just an example I’m not saying that YOUR BMR is exactly 1,500).

If you include your daily exercise, and the costs of eating, your total daily energy Expenditure is 2,200 Calories per day.

So the total amount of calories that you burn in a day is 2,200.

Now in this hypothetical situation, you’ve decided that you want to lose some weight.

You read around on the internet and discover that if you eat 500 less calories per day, the over the course of a week you should lose 1 pound of fat.

So you give it a try.

You count your calories meticulously. With precision that would make NASA engineers jealous.

You know for an absolute FACT that you ate 500 less calories EVERY SINGLE DAY.

But you still didn’t lose weight.

What gives?

Did you slow down your metabolism?

Is your metabolism broken?

even worse…did you enter Starvation mode?

Actually…. It’s none of the above.

You’ve been eating 2,900 Calories for the past year (part of the reason you are trying to lose weight in the first place)

2,900 -500 = 2,400

Bottom line: Even with you’re new diet, YOU ARE STILL OVEREATING BY 200 CALORIES!!!

This is why the old saying ‘eat 500 less calories to lose weight’ doesn’t work….because it’s not a complete sentence.

it should be:

“Eat 500 less calories per day THAN YOU BURN”.

I know it seems overly simple, but this example may help a lot of people who are struggling to lose weight. You can be ‘dieting’ and still overeating.

The amount you need to eat is probably a lot less then you might think.

BP

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Here’s a fun trick for you…

I want you to lift your shirt up…just a bit…and yes, I’m being serious.

Make sure no one is looking and just take a quick look at your stomach.

What’s staring back at you?

Maybe 6 pack abs…..but probably not (just guessing)

Your probably thinking:

‘Fat. Brad right now I’m staring at extra fat, at least a little more fat than I WANT to be seeing’

Let’s face it, the MAJORITY of us have at least a little more fat siting around our midsections than we would like, but I want to point something else out to you..

You are also looking at your DEBT.

Yep, that’s right – You PAID HARD EARNED MONEY for every single one of those calories sitting in the form of fat on your stomach!

Each roll, each dimple and every single ‘pucker’ the fat you don’t want, you paid for.

AND, even more devastating is that you pay HARD EARNED MONEY to keep every single one of those calories!

If you are not actively losing weight then you are PAYING to stay heavier than you want to be!

After all, fat represents nothing more than Extra Food that you ate at some point in your life.l

Food that you payed money for.

Bottom line – Learning to Eat less can solve a lot of problems, it’s the quickest way to get lean, and it’s an important way to get
your financial life in check.

You can’t control the mortgage rates, or the price of gas for your car, but you can control how much money you spend on food,
especially when you really want to be lean anyways!

So I guess what I’m trying to say is, the next time you go out for a quick bite to eat, you need to ask yourself “Am I actually PAYING
to be fat?”

It’s harsh, but it’s also a great motivator to keep your eating in check.

And remember – If you start spending money on fad diet schemes your Fat is actually DOUBLE DIPPING into your wallet. You are paying for the calories to keep you fat, then you are paying for the Acai berry products, Goji berries and Personal Trainers…

OK, so this is the real bottom line – Remember weight loss should be free. You can lose weight without spending ANY extra money. NO special supplements, NO special diets, heck…you don’t even need to “buy organic” to lose weight.

Don’t let your fat double dip.

BP

PS- I realize the irony of telling you that ‘Weight Loss is Free’ yet at the same time hoping you’ll buy my book, so for the record: weight loss is free, but sometimes education costs money.

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