One major factor in a person failing miserably at a diet is the inability to sustain a regular regimen of daily exercise. The common excuse is that one is too busy to be able to focus on staying fit. While it may be preferable and more macho to go to the gym, lift weights, run on the treadmill and speed on the exercise cycle, there is a more simple and pleasant way to exercise: walk. There is a misperception that walking is not a good enough exercise and won’t do much for one’s body in staying fit. That is a completely false assumption to make and it would do you some good to get in 30 minutes a day of walking outside.

CNN says the following:

Walking is not just a weenie activity for the nonathletic, says Michelle Look, M.D., national medical consultant to the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk and a physician who specializes in sports medicine in San Diego, California: “It’s good for just about anybody, and the health benefits are particularly significant for women.”

The article goes on to list 8 healthy reasons why walking is important.  I try to get in at least 30 minutes a day of walking and several times a week I  do power walks of nearly 4 miles in one and a half hours. Bringing the iPhone and catching up on my podcasts and listening to music makes it for a more pleasant experience. And it does wonders in relaxing the mind and thinking about things you often don’t have time to think about. A good excuse to day dream.

I have found that walking for 30 minutes burns up an amount of roughly 90 calories. When eating just 1,200 calories a day, that goes a long way.

In case you aren’t convinced yet:

• http://www.coolwalking.com/benefits.html
• http://www.new-fitness.com/walking.html
• http://www.trivia-library.com/a/president-harry-s-truman-physical-description-and-behavior.htm

When it comes down to it, whatever diet you choose, whether it’s a low fat, low sodium, low carbs or low whatever diet, there’s no avoiding the fact that you must always consider the number of calories you are putting into your system. If you eat foods that contain a high number of calories, you will gain weight. If you eat fewer calories than the daily recommended intake of 2,000 calories, you will more than likely lose weight. This is my diet in a nutshell.

Starting on January 1 of this year, I decided to start a diet. It’s a resolution I made in the past, but as a majority of Americans do, I failed. This time I can say I was a little more focused than in previous attempts, since in just 6 months I managed to lose 50 pounds. At the beginning of my diet, I weighed 208 pounds. When July 1st rolled around, I weighed in at 158 pounds, a weight I had not seen since the beginning of college over 20 years ago.

There were a few reasons I wanted to lose weight. My 20th anniversary high school reunion was coming up, and I wanted to go back in time as best I could (ironically, my old high school friends said I hardly changed a bit … if they only knew). The second reason was a more serious matter: my doctor said my bad cholesterol level was too high and I was at risk of heart disease, diabetes and other ailments.

For most people, the number of diets to choose from is long and complicated. There is Atkins, South Beach, Sugar Busters, Protein Power, the Zone Diet, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, the Sonoma Diet, the Paleo Diet, the Caveman Diet, Body Fat Solution, the Glycemic Impact Diet, Weight Watchers, The Master Cleanser, Detox, Metabolic Balance, Bridal Bootcamp, the Spectrum Diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, the Cardio Free Diet, the Idiot Proof Diet, the Low Sodium Diet, the Oprah Diet, Slim Fast and so on and so on. I don’t deny that these diets work for some people, but the majority of those embarking on a diet eventually fail for a variety of reasons, chief among them simply being laziness. But for me the idea of paying a corporation to send me food and printed materials on a regular basis telling me how to lose weight just didn’t sound right for me. I wanted as natural an experience as possible, one where I could be more proactive and learn about the foods I was buying and eating. I wanted no processed foods, lots and lots of fruits and vegetables and smaller portions of meat.

As I will write about in future posts, I keep a daily diary of what I eat each and every day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks are all recorded in my iPhone app Lose It! I remain completely honest with what I eat, even on days when I splurge and go over my limit (failure to do so would make the exercise a complete waste of time). I set a daily limit of calories per day (1,200 calories per day when wanting to lose 2 pounds a week, 1,500-1,750 when looking to maintain my weight with minimal loss of weight) mixed in with a weekly regimen of physical exercise. If on a particular day I eat more than 1,200 calories, I increase my exercise regimen to bring me under my daily calorie limit.  If I am under my daily limit, I reduce my exercise load.  The diet essentially becomes a numbers game, something that can be much easier to follow in real time than murky weight loss philosophies that are difficult to follow.

I end this post by showing you a picture of myself before and after the first 6 months of my diet: