Logical Weight Loss Podcast

What's the Deal With Maltodextrin? So I noticed that in my new Advocate Spark (I love the grape) that it included Matlodextrin. Then I looked at their really yummy Chocolate protein drink. What did I find? You guessed it Maltodextrin. At first, I thought Advocare was trying to fool me (the box of Spark shows "Sugar-free." Then I looked at the awesome low priced Chocolate Wehy Protein from Equate (which is also delicious). What did I find? You guessed it Matlodextrin. Lastly, I pulled out some drinks from Slimgenics that I used to consume. There it was again. Maltodextrin. So I asked, "Uncle Google" and here is what I found If you’re trying to lose weight, you will want to avoid maltodextrin. It’s essentially a sweetener and a carbohydrate with no nutritional value, and it causes an increase in blood sugar. The levels of sugar in maltodextrin can lead to weight gain.  - www.healthline.com Maltodextrin is a food ingredient made from starch. It is used as a flavor carrier and to improve thick

Listen to the show at www.logicalloss.com/348 Thanks to "the Kims" who left some kick butt comments last week, and basically saying they encourage me to keep trying, but maybe Advocare is not the best way to go. In the end its Food, Water, Sleep, and Activity that lead to weight loss.  So I said I was going back to what I use to do. Then I had to take a look at what I am doing now and compare it to what I was doing when I lost weight. Sure, I eat a lot of chicken and vegetables, but if I REALLY look at what I do, some things have crept in.  I went MONTHS without Fast food, and now I was eating Fast Food two times a month. Now I might say, "Well, it's only two, but the bottom line is, I DIDN'T DO THIS AT ALL  when I was losing weight. Once a quarter I was now eating ice cream. This never happened when I was losing weight. I was being more active. While I'm not as concerned at getting 10,000 steps (as I'm looking more into weight lifting), that turned into not doing much of either

Today I took a long look at where I have been, what works and what didn't I lost 30 lbsa year ago. I went to a place called Slimgenics, and just about the time I was at goal weight I quit going. Why? It was expensive. Sometimes 300-400 a month. I wasn't sure what I was putting in my body. So here I am a year later and back where I was. I had to ask myself, do I really care how I lose the weight if I don't damage my body? The answer was no. The other factor is I hurt my back in such a way that I could move for two days. I thought to myself, "remember how this feels" because I didn't have that issue when I weighed less. I wasn't sick, and I had more energy. A listener to the show told me about Advocare and how he had used it to drop some weight. I looked into it. It has a definite "Amway/Multilevel" feel about it, but I was curious about the products and the price. It isn't cheap, but then again a Big Mac Value Meal is $6 and the meal replacements were less than that (for

In the past, I've said one way to achieve your goals is to break them into small baby steps. If you think about it, we really just need to worry about the next meal. Yes, exercise is important, but the food is the real place to focus. So here is what I'm going to do. My goal is 1900 calories. If I'm going to eat three meals and three snacks, I look at it as my snacks should add up to one meal.  1900 / 4 = 475 And if all of my snack for the day add up to 475 and I plan on eating three then 475 / 3 = 158 In using MyFitnessPal (or any of the other of the available apps) I can easily come up with meals that come in under those limits I looked at the ingredients of what I call "The Big Salad" (for all you Seinfeld fans)  -images on website at www.logicalloss.com/346 - To put this in English, I need to get a potential more calorie efficient dressing, lose the cheese and instead of dumping 8 ounces of chicken (the whole bag) cut that in half and that would cut close to 300 calories.  A typical lu

I purchased the Fitness Reality TR3000 Maximum Weight Capacity Manual Treadmill with ‘Pacer Control' & Heart Rate System on a black Friday sale. A manual treadmill means there is no motor. You make it go. Here are my thoughts: Listen to the show here The setup was easy. It took about 10 minutes. It is NOT like a motorized treadmill, so it's going to feel different. When I do a lot of walking on a motorized treadmill, the bottoms of my feet and knees feel it the next date. With this, my thighs felt it ( really felt it) as you're kind of pushing the belt along. It takes a while to get the right settings. It seemed at first that you had to have your hands on the railing to keep a consistent speed. This is bad as I have a Fitbit on my wrist, and it doesn't count steps if I do it this way (I can always put it on my shoe, pocket, etc). Once I got the right settings, I was able to "Just walk" on it and I didn't have to think too much about it. But the days of pressing start, and grabb

Step Bet is Complete I made it through all six weeks of my step bet and ended up making $9 (a 22% return on my $40).  Still Trying to Get Back on Track I've got over my cold but pulled muscles in my back. The bad news is I'm now really down to zero in momentum.  I realize that the next step isn't going to be easy. I'm back to square one. I know that but I also know if I push through.  Under Desk Baby Elyptical Not For Me I tried an elliptical that fits under your desk, but it wasn't for me. It was the Stamina In-Motion Elliptical Trainer, and while I wasn't trying it under a desk ( I was standing on it), in that situation it just worked my calves.  Manual Treadmills I watched a ton of videos looking into Manual Treadmills (no motor). I liked the Fitness Reality TR3000 Maximum Weight Capacity Manual Treadmill with 'Pacer Control' & Heart Rate System because there is a place for your water bottle. It's $179.  (Behind the scenes, this unit was lost during transit. I had or

Committed to Weight Loss Are You? What does commitment mean? According to Merriam-Webster: a :an agreement or pledge to do something in the future a commitment to improve conditions at the prison; especially :an engagement to assume a financial obligation at a future date b :something pledged the commitment of troops to the war c :the state or an instance of being obligated or emotionally impelled a commitment to a cause For me, it means acknowledging the importance of something and scheduling your life around it. Here is an example (and I don't want to get into a religious discussion). Back in the early 1970's when I was growing up, there weren't many stores open on Sunday. Most people were committed to going to church. Many businesses opened later (if at all) and often closed early. The biggest reason for this was many Americans went to church. It was important. We scheduled our Sundays around going to church. Some people say they are committed to walking a mile a day. Every day they put on thei

This week I didn't get to my weight lifting, I go all my steps in (more on that later) but I'm up .4 lbs. I'm not going to cry over that, but I need to get back to the gym. While you can't exercise yourself out of a diet, I want to continue with my weight lifting.  Do Fitbits Realy Motivate People? There is a study from Harvard about using Fitbits (or any activity trackers). They had a number of groups: use of a Fitbit Zip, a popular clip-on activity tracker (with payment of $3/week to continue in the study regardless of the number of steps taken) a Fitbit plus a cash incentive ($11 for taking 50,000 to 70,000 steps each week, or $22 for more than 70,000 steps/week) a Fitbit plus a payment to a charity (which was larger with increased activity) a control group that did not use an activity tracker; this group also received the $3/week for participation regardless of activity levels. In the end, the group that got good old hard CASH was more motivated.  Other reports show when you work activit

Get Paid For Walking with Step Bet Step Bet is the sister to Diet Bet. With Step Bet you put in some money, and it reads the data from your fitness Tracker (Fitbit, Garmin, Apple Watch) and assigns you a goal. You have active days (a smaller goal) and a stretch goal. For me, my goals are  9922 steps for active days and 12, 222 for a stretch days. (Your goals will be different based on your previous days). In a week you have four active days, and two stretch days and one off day. Do that for six weeks and you get a portion of the pot. My current pot has 600 people with a pot of 24,000. If 75% of people fail that means 18,000 will be divided between 150 people with a net of $120 (minus a cut for step bet). If money motivates you this scenario would bring a 300% return on investment (as I put in $40).   The key (for me) is getting up a litter earlier, and at night getting my steps in before doing any other activities (or by watching TV while on a treadmill). The real challenge here is the six weeks of consistenc

So after reading the book Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto, I got re-inspired to really try weight lifting. I HATE WEIGHT LIFTING due to the soreness that always follows. So what changed my mind? I shut up and did. I got up at six AM and went to the gym. The next day, as expected my muscles were sore, but I only notice when I move. So going from standing to sitting, sitting to standing, etc. Most of the time, I might notice a little plumpness, but in reality, on a scale from one to ten, it's about a three. Most of the day I don't notice it. I need to buckle up, suck it up and just do it. Physically inactive people can lose as much as 3% to 5% of their muscle mass each decade after age 30. Even if you are active, you’ll still have some muscle loss. I'm now 52, which means I may have lost ou tp 10% of my muscle. This loss of muscle even has a name, "Sarcopenia." Sarcopenia typically happens faster around age 75. But it may also speed up as early as 65 or as late as 80 In the same w

I was listening to a book (from Audible) (get a free book when you sign up) called the Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, and to summarize it: You can only have 1 number one priority. If you try to do everything, you may be able to do a lot of stuff, but you more than likely will not be doing any of it well. Thus, some things you have to blow off and not worry about it. I've mentioned before that you don't have to keep up with the Kardashians.  The author mentions that we often operate in the Motivation > Action > Results mindset. We wait until we hit rock bottom, and we get motivated to take some action. Those actions lead to results. Thos results motivate us to the take more actions, which brings more results (and it keeps on repeating). The author changes the trigger. Instead of waiting for rock bottom, change it to where step one is Take Action > Results > Motivation. That motivation then leads to more action. Thus to get the ball rolling DO SOMETHING.  This is especially true if you did

I've been listening to the Book, "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. It's an interesting book (get it on Audible.com)  Here are some key points: 1. You only have so much capacity to care without stressing out. Pick what you care about and apply it to those things that matter. 2. While things in your life may not be your fault, it is your responsibility to do the right thing. For example, what if someone put a baby outside your door. It's not your fault, but it's up to you to do the right thing. 3. Comparing your life to others can suck all the joy out of your life. 

If you've listened to this podcast you know last year I lost 30 lbs. I looked so much better, felt better, and just about the time I was going to reach my goal, I started reverting back to my old habits. I thought I would coast across the finish line. I listened to 25 Days: A Proven Program to Rewire Your Brain, Stop Weight Gain, and Finally Crush the Habits You Hate - Forever by Drew Logan (Author), Myatt Murphy (Author). In the book, he talks about how we often approach weight loss the same way we do a test in High School. We cram for the test, and the minute we hand in our paper we wipe away that information. I am also listening (I rarely read, I listen to most of the books) to The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Busines and in that book he explains how you don't get new habits, you replace old habits with new ones. A key point I learned (so far as I'm only into chapter three) is that the old habits are still there. Think of this like a river. Over years the banks of the river

Today we talk with Roger Anderson of the Kitchen Counter Podcast. The Kitchen Counter podcast is dedicated to helping aspiring home cooks grow their skills and confidence in the kitchen so they can start cooking up memories with their family and friends. Whether you want to learn to cook or just need some simple food inspiration, we will cover recipes, kitchen tools, and interviews with experts to help you on your home cooking journey! Roger has been a home cook for 20-ish years or so. I truly believe that learning to cook, and doing it as regularly as you can, is one of the single most important things you can do for your health, sanity, and wallet. There may be people who had parents who may have cooked when they grew up, they left home and get most of their food from a drive in window, or a cardboard box, or a microwave oven. For the person who knows they should cook more, but have zero in the kitchen to start home cooking, what are some of the tools they will need? What expectations should you set? What a

I lost thirty pounds last year, and while it's taken me months to do this, I've now found 20 of those pounds and stuck them right on my belly. When I went over 215, I really scratched my head. I was still drinking lots of water, getting 7 hours of sleep most nights, and eating vegetables, chicken, etc (most of the time). You Don't Age Most of the Time - You Age a Little Every Day So I thought about my year when I lost weight, and I thought about the number of times I ate fast food. I would say less than once a month, and if I did skipped the fries and the coke and got a chicken sandwich with water. Now I probably get fast food twice a month, and it's the whole nine years. I've said it before when you do the wrong thing you are practicing at it. This practice started with getting an egg McMuffin with water. That lead to getting an Egg McMuffin with hash browns (and I'm not sure why as their hash browns are basically a deep-fried grease sponge). That lead to getting a coke with the meal.

Keeping Your Self on Track - Revisiting Beeminder I was using the free trial of Beeminder. I use a wi-things scale, and I love that when I wake up and weigh in I can see if I'm on track to meet my goals (via wi-fi it logs my weight). So I had a friend of mine who had a death in the family. As always when there is an event in people's lives we meet together with food. So I helped my friend for about a week and sure enough skidded right off the track. Using Beeminder, I was able (in fact I was notified) that I was off track. If had pledged any money (for an incentive, I would lose the money). While I hate their graph (it's got WAY To much information, I do like that I can see if I'm on track to meet my goal and adjust accordingly. This article explains how it work more in depth   Avoiding the Rip Tide I was reading the book Living Forward by Michael Hyatt (technically I was listening to it via Audible) and he shared the story about a surfer who wasn't paying attention and got sucked into a r

Call into the show 888-563-3228 I've watched a ton of movies on Netflix in preparation for this episode. Cowspiracy - which explains how much resources it takes to create a cow (acres of land, gallons of water) What the Health - Which shows the benefits of eating a plant based diet (both of these movies are done by the same team). Overfed and Undernourished - Examines a global epidemic and our modern lifestyles through one boy's inspiring and personal journey to regain his health from the inside out. After heartache, Liam Gollé weighing in at over 176lbs turns to his Aunty & Uncle for help, and embarks on a journey that promises to transform his life forever. Vegucated - A movie that shows a few people from different walks of life who attempt to go Vegan for a week. It also has some pretty brutal video of slaughter houses. All These Health Organizations Are on the Take This movie shows how agencies: The American Diabetes Association -  was taking money from Dannon who make Yogurt, Kraft Cheese, Os

A new episode

Today I share my first impression with a new app Beeminder which I'm using to replace the PACT app. The pact app was slick, polished, and I loved it (you pledged to give money if you didn't hit a goal and it was distributed to those who made their goal). Beeminder works similarly in that it takes money out of your bank account if you don't hit your goal every time you miss your goal (so it could get expensive) and it's not giving any money back. Their intro video look at first like someone is going to share ghost stories (there is no official beeminder channel only the channel of one of their creators). I get they did the best they could with whatever budget they had, but why does someone with a lapel mic sound like it was recorded in a bathroom (and putting music in the background doesn't make this point go away). Then they give you a ton of information on a graph that looks like you ate a mouthful of Skittles and then sneezed them on to a piece of paper. Here is a sample To understand th

I've heard a few different people talk about the Five Minute Journal and how it changed their attitude, their lives, and their productivity. According to the creators, "With a simple structured format based on positive psychology research, you will start and end each day with gratitude. Side effects may include increased happiness, better relationships, and becoming more optimistic."  Their Amazon listing states: "THE SIMPLEST WAY TO START YOUR DAY HAPPY - Using the science of positive psychology to improve happiness, The Five Minute Journal focuses your attention on the good in your life. Improve your mental well-being and feel better every day. COMPLAIN LESS, APPRECIATE MORE - The Five Minute Journal helps you cultivate gratitude. It changes how you feel, alters the actions you take, and therefore the results you will create...negativity be gone! FINALLY KEEP A JOURNAL - With a simple structured format that takes just 5 minutes, The Five Minute Journal is simple, quick, and effective. What