Food for Thought - My August Challenge to my Group

My TnT Fitness community has shared some great goals so far, but everyone participating in the August challenge needs to make sure you are specific if you are going to be accountable for your eating. I get a ton of people saying they can't lose weight, but when I ask them to tell me how many calories they burn in a day, what they are eating and the portion size, they either have no clue or they don't respond at all, probably because they are in denial. Putting things out here will hold you accountable, and you will see success...if you are honest about it. It's a simple matter of mathematics folks: for every pound you want to lose, you need to burn 3500 MORE calories that you consume. Knowing what you take in and what you are burning in a day is vital to understanding how much weight you can expect to lose. There are two reasons for this. The first is that you can set realistic goals for yourself. Whether your goal is to lose 5 lbs or 20lbs in a month, if you are burning 2500 calories a day but are eating 2200, you will only be able to lose just under 3lbs in a month. If that is your goal, then great. But if your goal is more toward the 20 lb range, you are going to be greatly disappointed and could be negatively affected so that you want to throw in the towel. The second reason is that people often don't realize just how much they are eating, or the quality of the food they are consuming. By recording it, you may start reading the food labels that you have neglected for years, thus beginning your education on healthy eating.

Look, I eat plenty of food every day. I would wager that I eat more than 90% of what everyone in this group eats. The difference is that I eat a large quantity of food in intervals about every 3 hours. That's 5-6 meals a day (anywhere from 300-600) calories per meal, and I don't deprive myself of food that I love to eat. What I try to do, however, is make sure the ingredients are healthy choices. If I'm having a burger, maybe I choose to have a turkey burger instead of beef, or have an extra lean beef patty (that I make myself) with a wheat bun and heavy on the veggies to make it filling (light mayo). Hopefully you will pay attention to what I document as my daily diet will help you understand what I am talking about over the next 31 days. I can't wait to see what everyone else contributes to the challenge, and hear about the success they have after finally holding themselves accountable for their actions.