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7:00 PM, Saturday, November 2nd, 2013:   The truth is, I probably needed her to say it. It hurt... but there's truth to it and I really need to make this clear. So we get an entry that hopefully helps someone.   So a friend of Jess's lost a bunch of weight after her pregnancy and posted pics. Talya was impressed and asked:  "What did she do!?!? How?!?!?"   <blink>   She has seen me lose weight. She knows exactly how. We've talked for YEARS about the simplicity (not to be confused with ease) of how bodies retain or lose weight. She's actually done it right along side me but of course, got pregnant and that ceased being a goal. Suffice to say, she will have zero issues getting her baby weight off and this entry isn't about her question, but what she said after I looked at her quizzically explaining exactly what I just wrote here...   "Adam, you're good at everything, it just comes easy to you. It's nice to see normal people be successful."   You honestly don't know whether to smile or cry. I mean, to be at a point where my ability to control my weight is seen as easy to anyone who has known me for years is a miracle. I goddamned miracle. I guess I do make it look easy. 'Cause when I put my mind to it, I usually have maybe 1 or 2 false starts and then BOOM - I'm a machine. But her line made me realize that the "machine" part is where people disconnect. The implementation of direction shouldn't mask the direction. Just because someone can follow directions to build a HOUSE doesn't mean that if they actually DO IT, those directions were somehow magic. No, the directions just are. And what I'm finding is that by losing weight well I'm actually damaging the message. Even to my own wife. It makes me want to scream.   Jess's friend simply ate low carb and walked... or as scientists like to call it: "created a caloric deficiency". How you do it doesn't change that fact. If you were trying to save money and you simply put every $1 bill you came across in a jar - you could call that the "$1 bill strategy"... but the denomination doesn't really matter. And, in fact, for someone who isn't a waitress/waiter or a stripper - this would probably be an awful way to save money. Much in the same way someone who tends to have a protein heavy diet anyway, isn't going to do much by cutting out carbs. No matter what you read, low carb diets are literally a way to sell you a low calorie diet with a different cover on the book. That's just the science of it...   ...and the walking part? Other than the fact that you mentally feel better and provide yourself more motivation to eat right? Does very, very little for you calorie-wise. It has other benefits, sure... but as I mentioned earlier this year with the shirtless running video? I did that to show off, not to maintain my weight-loss. At that weight? Running 1/2 hour burned something like 300 calories. <blink> That's nothing. And I bring this up - not to tell you to stop being active (duh) it's so people actually understand and don't BURN OUT trying to do too much. It's the biggest issue with people tackling their weight - they think it's hard because they're wrapping their head around too much. Throw in the money analogy...   You're trying to save money... but at the same time you're trying to make sure you only buy items that are local and you decide to cut out all drinks with caffeine and alcohol and only see movies that start with the letter P. (sigh) At some point? You're just gonna say fuck it and buy whatever you want and worry about saving money later. The reality is, although it is nice to buy local and have discipline with luxury items, you simply need to bring in more than you send out. That's it. But often, you'll see people do the same thing with their money that they do with diets. "I just cut out my Starbucks for a year and bought this car!". How many fucking lattes did you drink man? I mean, that's great - glad that worked for you... but we all seem to understand how that's partial to that person's lifestyle when we're talking about money... when it comes to food and exercise however - there is a block.   And honestly, hate to keep saying it - when it comes to creating a calorie deficit? Exercise barely helps. In fact Matthew McConaughey just explained it perfectly when talking about how he drops a lot of weight for a role:   "I'm doing cardio but I'll tell you what, the more I've learned is—and I think it comes with age too—is it's 90 percent diet," McConaughey went on. "It's 90 percent amount and then what you're eating because right now I'm not losing any more weight if I burn 1,500 calories, two hours of cardio in an afternoon, or if I don't. It doesn't matter. It's a matter of how much I eat or how little I eat."   Now what he probably also isn't taking into account here is that at the weight he got to (a ridiculous 143 pounds for a 6 foot, normally 190 pound man) was he wasn't burning 1500 calories in 2 hours of cardio. Those numbers plummet as you lose weight and at 140? You're lucky to be burning 500 calories an hour no matter what you're doing - your body simply can't afford it. It will literally shut down before it burns anymore...   ...now that role he took was an AIDS vitim, but the point is people needing to lose any amount of weight really don't have to work that hard. You take stock on where you're at now (yes, counting what you eat and what you weigh) and you cut back accordingly. What's accordingly? Ya gotta figure it out. Takes a little time but after a little work you can see where you lose and believe me, if you think you should be eating 2500 calories a day you're out of your mind. Unless you're 250+ pounds, 2500 calories a day will make you gain weight. A lot. Of course I'm incredibly lucky because I have spreadsheet after spreadsheet that shows exactly what my intake should be for whatever weight I happen to find myself at. The only shitty part? The numbers get lower and lower the older you get. Welcome to life.   Anyway, the point of this was to dispel the myth that it's some mystical power I have or in this particular case... that someone else has actually found a different way to do it. They haven't. Ever. In the history of mankind. If you're overweight, it will take some will power - but what it won't take? Is killing yourself at the gym or eating fucking RICE CAKES.   Ahem:     You can eat whatever the hell you want, just COUNT it and budget it. If I had to eat fucking rice cakes all day I would never be successful.   Grrr.   Alright, let's see if I can't knock off a few pounds before the kid comes in a couple months. 'Cause I sure as hell ain't losin' any at the beginning of 2014. Sheeeeeei, Vienna's first 3 months without sleep gained my tired ass 20. Just my body. I've learned to live with it and I guess? I've learned to impress people with how EASILY my body can lose weight.   What. Fucking. Ever. (sigh) My body aches to be 200 like no man I've ever seen other than my father. It takes a ridiculous amount of will power to maintain the calorie deficit and it will always be temporary. My ass will never be 150 for longer than a month or two because I simply don't want it. I don't want to be too far, but I'm not gonna eat 1300 calories a day and run 15 miles a week to maintain that. Who the hell wants to live like that?   But it sure is fun a couple times a year to try and get there. ;-)   Adam