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These are all things that I have struggled with over the years so I posted this comment on his blog and I thought I would share it here – slightly edited – to show you how I have learned to change my behavior.  I also share these things in my LIF2 classes and whenever I am called into an organization as a Health Speaker.

Tom,

As a recovering ‘fast food – aholic’ I recognize that I held onto each of the reasons you cited at one point in my life.  I knew that fast food was basically bad.  But I never modified my behavior correctly since I really did not know all the facts or how to correctly apply the facts I did know.  Now I am at the point where I have been able to develop more wisdom about my eating habits. Here are my two cents on the topic.

Price

A head of lettuce costs approx .93 cents here in Michigan.  Add in bell peppers, other healthy toppings, light dressings etc and the cost per man size serving is still really low.

A 1/4 lb of lean ground beef is $1.00 when it is NOT on sale.  I could really talk alot more about price but that will have to come later.  I should mention that ‘bad’ foods generate an insulin response that usually cause us to eat more food.  So the cumulative cost of eating bad food can easily be much more expensive than eating healthy.  A friend of mine told my how when he shopped at Whole Foods he had to pay attention to what he put in his basket because the prices were higher and as a consequence he bought less junk food.  I was recently talking with a Casting Director for The Biggest Loser and it is amazing how many of us potential contestants use this argument and how easy it is to rebut with simple facts. We big folk like our lies

Taste

No one I know likes a ‘plain’ baked potato with nothing on it.  Or a patty of ground beef without the bun, ketchup, mustard, onions etc.  We all modify our foods to make them tastier.  Similar tastes (granted – not equal) can be obtained at home with a little experimentation.  A baked potato with butter spray and salsa etc.  96% lean ground beef with low-carb ketchup, chopped onions and a low carb – lo cal wrap ( I like La Tortilla Factory Tortillas).  Good tasting food is possible and as you mentioned, fast food is not gourmet!

Time

Side dishes take almost no prep time when you consider frozen or canned vegetables and the like.  So I spend a couple of hours on the weekend preparing the meats for my week and then I store them in baggies and prep my salads and sides each day.  It really can be ‘fast food’.

Now to be honest, packing lunch does take advanced planning but my new life has been worth taking the minimal effort since I know maintaining my health is easier then getting it back.

Other ‘Fast Food’

The other night while on the way to sit down and work at Starbucks I had a serious hunger craving.  Instead of hitting the drive through I stopped in the local grocery store and bought a couple pints of Strawberries and some baked chicken from the deli.  At other times I have bought a couple of huge apples and some chicken, turkey or corn beef slices at 90 calories per package.  It is always cheaper than Fast Food and ‘almost’ as quick.

Fast Food ‘Options’

To be honest I still go to a fast food restaurant a couple times per week when I have not done my grocery shopping but I simply make better choices.  At McDonald’s I will get the Grilled Chicken Asian Salad with Low-Fat Balsamic dressing and a Dbl-Cheeseburger (without the bun to save some calories) and a large diet pop or water.  I love the McDonalds nutritional website since it allows me to adjust individual parts of my meal.

Hope this helps you to be successful in your weight loss or weight maintenance journey.

Talk to you soon and remember,

There’s A Winner Within You!

By The Way – What do you do instead of driving into the closest fast food restaurant?

Photo courtesy gruntzooki

Coffee Photo Courtesy Refracted Moments

My schedule over the next 2 weeks is going to be ridiculous.  I literally have to speak on five separate occasions over a five day period, including twice in my Lose It Fast, Lose It Forever class, once on a conference call with Biggest Loser contestants, and twice at the University of Michigan, once to graduate engineering students and once at a career conference.

Then the Biggest Loser Casting Call and the Call Backs come to town. That means hundreds of my folk will be lining up to to become the next victims of Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels.  For me this means volunteering four more 10+ hour days in support of the Casting Directors in the hopes that more Michigander’s make it on the show. Plus regular stuff like an all day financial review of my business the day after casting calls and working on my product launch. You get the point.

So at this moment I am on my laptop in the gym and I have zero energy. Zero. I do not want to work out at all and I need to figure out why?

So, I do what I always do.

I evaluate.  This is the E in my S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals process that I teach when I speak publicly.

My conclusion is that I am low on sleep, somewhat stressed about this upcoming 14 day period and eating super clean (IE no processed carbs or ‘protein’ bars).  All which leave me in the state I am in. Listless.

So now I have evaluated the source of the problem and now I need to find a solution – thus the title of this post.

In my studies on caffeine I have discovered two basic findings:

• Caffeine in people who are obese can cause insulin resistance (this is bad). Of course we obese folk also load up our caffeine / coffee with sugar and creamer which produces an undesirable insulin response (spike) that contributes to our weight problems as well.
• Caffeine in people who are fit can cause a boost in energy which can be beneficial. Its thermogenic properties can be very helpful in pushing through a workout.

Now, as I do with everything I study, I have applied this to me personally and have discovered that coffee does indeed give me a boost when I take it about 30 minutes before working out.

So I am having two cups of coffee while typing this post and I plan to kill it in the gym.  My workout will relieve a good deal of my stress and I will address the rest issue by paying more attention to my sleep patterns. I am feeling more alert as I type.

In a future post I will delve more deeply into caffeine for weight / fat loss. To properly address the whole subject you really need to consider some of the following;

Purpose – Why are you taking caffeine?  Hopefully not for massive weight loss.

Delivery – How are you ingesting the caffeine?  Pill form, liquid, iv of coffee?

Additive / Stacking – What is included with your caffeine? Asprin, guarna, sugar, creamer etc.?

I am drinking coffee today for one reason and one reason only; to give me a energy boost to power through my workout.  You should only be using it for the same purpose.  You burn off enormous amounts of fat with your workouts. Not with the shivers.

In conclusion ask yourself these questions and send me your suggestions / comments.

1. What do you do in times when your energy levels are very low and
2. Are you using caffeine correctly or have you even thought about the subject before?

Talk to you soon and remember,

There’s a Winner Within You!

Replace the word Future with whatever you goal is.  Success, Weight Loss, Health, Fat Loss etc.

Takeaway – You need to take action on your habits, daily.

* Paraphrase of Mike Murdock – Men don’t determine their Future.  They determine their habits and their habits determine their future.

Talk to you soon and remember,

There’s a Winner Within You!