The Ed Plan
SoldierDad
Posts: 1,602
Hello my dear friends! I hope this day finds everyone well. A few of my MFP friends asked me for (and when I quarried the rest of my friends a few also thought it would be cool) my weight loss tips. So I bring you the "Ed Plan". First let me preface it by saying I am not suggesting anyone follow my plan as I am not a doctor and (not yet) a licensed personal trainer. This is what I do and what works for me. I am not really looking for rude feed back. If you have a differing opinion and can be polite about it that's awesome. If not please move on. Also on another note, I am not even close to being a writer. I am a former soldier and a working stiff so expect many grammatical errors.
The beginning of my plan involves prayer. I see God as my best friend so it is important to me that I pray to Him about my goals. I ask Him for strength, and I praise Him for my triumphs. God is a big God and wants to be involved in everything. David is a great example of a man who treated God as his best friend. He asked God for guidance and reminded God that promises had been made to him. The word of God reminds us that God has promised us victory in all things. Will there be defeats? YES! But if we are faithful and accept that He has a bigger plan we will see the victory in all things. Even if we do not like the timing or methods at times. God is sovereign and in control!
Now my plan has a lot to do with nutrition. Part of a healthy lifestyle (get diet out of your head, this is a lifestyle change) and weight loss is 75% nutrition and 25% physical activity. What we eat/put in our bodies matters a LOT! So while my plan is a lot about moderation there are some definite NOs on my list. Cigarretes and drugs are no goes. I am sure I do not even have to explain that one. The other big NO-NOs are sodas and energy drinks. Diet or not those things are just poison for your body! Energy drinks increase heart rate and are full of sugar. When you drink those its like turning on a glucose fountain in your body. Your body is flooded with sugar and that causes fat retition. Sodas have the same effect but also leach calcuim from your bones. The caffenine in them are not in themselves a bad thing.Caffeine (especially before a work out) is a great stimulant. That doesnt mean you should drink 20 cups of coffee a day but there is no real issue with moderate use. Green tea is another great source of caffeine and is a great drink to sip on. Added extra salt is also a BIG no-no. We get enough salt in our daily diets with out adding table salt on top of it. Also fried meat are a big NO. You don't need that extra grease in your body.
The rest of my plan is real simple. Stay with in your calories first off. It is ok if you eat your exercise cals back, but I would try to leave a couple hundred cal window everyday. After all the goal in weight loss is to consume less that you burn. This also revs the metabolism. Speaking of that (while research is very inconclusive to the benifits) I believe in eating 5-6 small meals a day with breakfast usually being your biggest meal. I don't have my dairy set up to reflect it but I almsot always have breakfast, snack, lunch, second lunch, snack and then dinner. In each of those meals (excluding my snacks) I try to incorprate protein and carbs. The snacks are usually fruit or a veggie (carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, whatever). Your carbs need to come from a healthy place (like fruit, veggies, brown rice, whole grains). I am gluten intolerant so unfortantely I can not follow that as close as i would like but i am modifying to reach that (you will find, much like I have, that a lifestyle change is always a work in priogress). Protein should come from lean sources. Things like skinless boneless chicken breast, fish, and turkey. Peanut butter and nuts are also a great source of both healthy protein and fats. Beans are also terrific. I tend to stay away from red meat but having it every once in a while is not a bad thing. I tend to eat a lot of the samethings (thats just my nature, I do not love change) but there are so many combos you can make out there. A good meal (and cheap) would be 4oz of boneless skinless great value chicken breast, half a bag of great value asparagus stir-fry, and a cup of brown rice. The important thing is to control your portions of this stuff so that you stay under your calorie goal. A food scale can really helpo with this. You can get one cheap almost anywhere.
If you have a lot of weight to lose really watch how much fat you take in no matter what. Yes there are healthy fats of course, but if you have a lot to lose you want to burn the fat on you with out putting a lot more in you. That means a lot of low fat foods. At my heaviest I concentrated on keeping my daily fat under 25 and saturated fat under 10. Even if you reach your weight goal that saturated fat level needs to stay very very low.
Next, water. Learn to love it. Your body reallllllllllly needs lots of it. Try ti\o get down at least 64ozs a day depending on your weight. A good guideline is ".5 x your body weight = how many ounces to drink a day". Put some lemon or sugar free flavor in it if that helps. let's not forget a good multi-vitamin to. No "diet" pills. I covered that earlier.
Another contravercial topic is eating times. Research will say a calorie is a calorie no matter when you eat it. That is totally true. But ask most trainers (not body builders they want huge mass) or ppl really into fitness and they will say a 7pm cut off for eating is perfect. that's because most ppl go to bed at 10pm. Never eat right before bed. Your body needs time to start processing what you just put in. I know not everyones schedule can accomadate this but it is what it is.
Finally ,I recommend staying away from "cheat days" or using food as a reward. You are doing a lifestyle change. Fit events and the food into your life and weight loss goals. You don't need food to have a good time. Eating half a pizza does not make the "big game" any better. You make the game better just by being there. Does that mean you can't grab an icecream cone every once in a while? Nope, go for it. I am just saying do not give yourself a day a week or even 1 day a month when you just eat garbage all day.
If you ppl like this I will post about exercise next. Again I am not recommending/telling you do this, as I am not a doctor, but it is what I have done. It has really worked for me as I have lost nearly 75 pounds (I am no longer actively seeking to lose weight). I hope each and every one of you know how proud I am of you. You are a beatiful bunch of hard workers and God shall bless that.
Love and Blessings,
Ed
God bless you!
The beginning of my plan involves prayer. I see God as my best friend so it is important to me that I pray to Him about my goals. I ask Him for strength, and I praise Him for my triumphs. God is a big God and wants to be involved in everything. David is a great example of a man who treated God as his best friend. He asked God for guidance and reminded God that promises had been made to him. The word of God reminds us that God has promised us victory in all things. Will there be defeats? YES! But if we are faithful and accept that He has a bigger plan we will see the victory in all things. Even if we do not like the timing or methods at times. God is sovereign and in control!
Now my plan has a lot to do with nutrition. Part of a healthy lifestyle (get diet out of your head, this is a lifestyle change) and weight loss is 75% nutrition and 25% physical activity. What we eat/put in our bodies matters a LOT! So while my plan is a lot about moderation there are some definite NOs on my list. Cigarretes and drugs are no goes. I am sure I do not even have to explain that one. The other big NO-NOs are sodas and energy drinks. Diet or not those things are just poison for your body! Energy drinks increase heart rate and are full of sugar. When you drink those its like turning on a glucose fountain in your body. Your body is flooded with sugar and that causes fat retition. Sodas have the same effect but also leach calcuim from your bones. The caffenine in them are not in themselves a bad thing.Caffeine (especially before a work out) is a great stimulant. That doesnt mean you should drink 20 cups of coffee a day but there is no real issue with moderate use. Green tea is another great source of caffeine and is a great drink to sip on. Added extra salt is also a BIG no-no. We get enough salt in our daily diets with out adding table salt on top of it. Also fried meat are a big NO. You don't need that extra grease in your body.
The rest of my plan is real simple. Stay with in your calories first off. It is ok if you eat your exercise cals back, but I would try to leave a couple hundred cal window everyday. After all the goal in weight loss is to consume less that you burn. This also revs the metabolism. Speaking of that (while research is very inconclusive to the benifits) I believe in eating 5-6 small meals a day with breakfast usually being your biggest meal. I don't have my dairy set up to reflect it but I almsot always have breakfast, snack, lunch, second lunch, snack and then dinner. In each of those meals (excluding my snacks) I try to incorprate protein and carbs. The snacks are usually fruit or a veggie (carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, whatever). Your carbs need to come from a healthy place (like fruit, veggies, brown rice, whole grains). I am gluten intolerant so unfortantely I can not follow that as close as i would like but i am modifying to reach that (you will find, much like I have, that a lifestyle change is always a work in priogress). Protein should come from lean sources. Things like skinless boneless chicken breast, fish, and turkey. Peanut butter and nuts are also a great source of both healthy protein and fats. Beans are also terrific. I tend to stay away from red meat but having it every once in a while is not a bad thing. I tend to eat a lot of the samethings (thats just my nature, I do not love change) but there are so many combos you can make out there. A good meal (and cheap) would be 4oz of boneless skinless great value chicken breast, half a bag of great value asparagus stir-fry, and a cup of brown rice. The important thing is to control your portions of this stuff so that you stay under your calorie goal. A food scale can really helpo with this. You can get one cheap almost anywhere.
If you have a lot of weight to lose really watch how much fat you take in no matter what. Yes there are healthy fats of course, but if you have a lot to lose you want to burn the fat on you with out putting a lot more in you. That means a lot of low fat foods. At my heaviest I concentrated on keeping my daily fat under 25 and saturated fat under 10. Even if you reach your weight goal that saturated fat level needs to stay very very low.
Next, water. Learn to love it. Your body reallllllllllly needs lots of it. Try ti\o get down at least 64ozs a day depending on your weight. A good guideline is ".5 x your body weight = how many ounces to drink a day". Put some lemon or sugar free flavor in it if that helps. let's not forget a good multi-vitamin to. No "diet" pills. I covered that earlier.
Another contravercial topic is eating times. Research will say a calorie is a calorie no matter when you eat it. That is totally true. But ask most trainers (not body builders they want huge mass) or ppl really into fitness and they will say a 7pm cut off for eating is perfect. that's because most ppl go to bed at 10pm. Never eat right before bed. Your body needs time to start processing what you just put in. I know not everyones schedule can accomadate this but it is what it is.
Finally ,I recommend staying away from "cheat days" or using food as a reward. You are doing a lifestyle change. Fit events and the food into your life and weight loss goals. You don't need food to have a good time. Eating half a pizza does not make the "big game" any better. You make the game better just by being there. Does that mean you can't grab an icecream cone every once in a while? Nope, go for it. I am just saying do not give yourself a day a week or even 1 day a month when you just eat garbage all day.
If you ppl like this I will post about exercise next. Again I am not recommending/telling you do this, as I am not a doctor, but it is what I have done. It has really worked for me as I have lost nearly 75 pounds (I am no longer actively seeking to lose weight). I hope each and every one of you know how proud I am of you. You are a beatiful bunch of hard workers and God shall bless that.
Love and Blessings,
Ed
God bless you!
0
Replies
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Thanks ED!!! :flowerforyou:0
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That was great, thanks!!!0
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Thanks! I enjoyed that!0
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Nice, my plan has been similar to yours and I'm starting to see results. We all should watch our food intake and exercise for our health and wellbeing. Looking good after you start shedding the pounds is one of the noticeable changes you will see. The other changes that are benefits of keeping healthy eating habits and decent exercise plans are the benefits to your heart and not to mention the natural high you get from seeing your results. Mind, Body and Soul that's what we have to take care of.
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i am thankful you posted this
and God is my first number 1 source for strength too
food is not my 1st source anymore
these are good tips and helpful
...going to save this for future reading
thankyou0 -
Ed, you are amazing! I admire you so much...........and I think the main reason for that is that you never EVER forget who your real "boss" is....you keep God at the top of your mind and a centerpiece in your life, and that's just awesome. I'm not there yet :ohwell: ........I still keep trying to tell myself that I don't always "need" God - when we all know that we all do!
Okay, sorry - didn't mean to take the religion tangent.
Well, all of that sounds great...........and like a really really good plan.
But, see, here's my problem. Not that you asked for my problems, and I'm not asking for your help (not necessarily :laugh: )
I get one of those things going, and the thing that I HAD going goes to hell. Like.......the beginning of this journey, back in March.....was very good with my calories, but had to put exercise on hold until my body figured out what was going on. Started putting exercise back in, and I started craving more food than what I needed. Then, just when I think I had both under control (kind of), I try to get my sodium/ carbs under control....no can do.
I probably beat myself up, and I know that no one is perfect........but I've stalled as of late and it's frustrating!!!! :explode:
Anyway. Hugs to you :drinker:0 -
Thanks Ed for writing this for us !! Your an amazing man!!
It took me 10 months to lose 30 lbs and I stalled out after that and I know its the "cheat days" that got me ! So glad you talked about that!! I am here now and really trying to stay with the program.I am struggling now with my workout.I took a brake to take care my daughter after her surgery and now it hard to get started again,So I would love to hear about your workout too!!0 -
I am glad you wonderful ppl got something out of ym post. :-) I will try to have part 2, on exercise, up tomorrow. :-)0
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Thanks Ed for taking the time to share your information with us. You are sooo right, we need to keep God first! I too pray and ask Him for strength and support. I could not do this without Him.
I am so glad you have had such great luck, but it really is not luck, the reason for this is because you are making all the right choices; God, health, fitness, good nutrition and happiness. So many of us battling to loose weight are doing so because we made the wrong choices. As for me I gave up on myself for so long and stopped taking care of myself. All that has changed and I am loving myself again and doing what I need to do to take care of ME! God is at the center of that and my 70 pound weight loss would not be happening without Him.
Stay strong Ed,
Love ya,
Molly0 -
Thanks so much for this post! Your plan aligns with a lot of what I am doing (or trying to do, in some cases). I really appreciate you typing it out... I'd love to see an exercise post! 0
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Your plan is pretty much what I did to lose my weight and it was done over a period of time, switching out one thing at a time (especially when I was focusing on cutting sodium way down). I also agree with your point about staying away from "cheat days" or using food as a reward, hence my 2nd quote in my sig block!
Looking forward to your exercise post!0 -
Ed,
This was so great! Thanks for sharing. You are inspirational and will surely be blessed for sharing your faith. Thanks for reminding us who is in control. Looking forward to your exercise post tomorrow.
Fab0 -
Very Nice!0
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Thanks Knight,,,, I needed that......0
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Wow that was so helpful and inspiring............Thank you so much for sharing your expirience and advice it really r means alot...........I to believe that God moves when you move!0
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great post Ed
cant wait to read the exercise part0 -
great post. Logical, simple, no frills, no "shortcuts". Love it.0
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Amen0
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Your eating plan is pretty much what I follow: I have Celiac's Disease as well, so can't get whole grains & other foods like most people, but I've learned to adjust in the last 10 years. You're right, though: it's not "diet" it's "lifestyle change" - that really is the best way to look at it since once you finish your "diet" & hit your goal, where do you go? Lifestyle change keeps you on track for life
My Brother-in-law also just opened his own health food store & has an entire Gluten-Free section (me, both my sisters & Mom have the same allergy!) so we're finding a lot of new Whole Grain healthy snacks that we never knew about (almost all of what he carries are certified GF in dedicated faclilities). I agree totally on the salt thing: I don't cook with it and very rarely will add it to anything (unless it's a dire craving for salt which I've learned is my body's way of telling me I'm deficient in something). Your exercise plan posting sounds like a great idea: I'm desperately trying to lose my last 11 lbs & maybe something you've done or been doing will work for me: while I'm holding steady & not gaining, obviously something I'm doing is not working.
Thanx for the words of wisdom & support, we all need the push sometimes :happy:0
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