Jerry the Blogger

Since I started living a healthier lifestyle almost a month ago I've discovered the toughest hurdle on my road to losing weight: my office. Why is my work environment so dangerous in terms of nutrition? Here is a quick overview of my daily routine:

• Morning donuts, cookies, and candies, all provided for free by my very nice boss
• A break room refrigerator filled with 12 varieties of high-calorie soda (and occasionally some Coke Zero)
• At least one staff lunch each week at a not-so-healthy restaurant or fast food joint
  
• Food ordered for lunch meetings, usually Donato's pizza (34 grams of fat and 630 calories per serving) and we usually order three or four large pizzas for a total of six to eight employees (meaning each person eats two or three servings).
• Baskets of chocolate bars, cookies, or fudge sent by business partners and freelance writers trying to get on our good side
  

Add to that list my usual lunch consisting of two Arby's ham and swiss melts (5 grams of fat and 268 calories ... per sandwich) and a large curly fries (37 grams of fat and 631 calories), and you can see why work has been a problem. In short, on any given eight-hour work day I would eat 100 or more grams of fat and several thousand calories. Basically, in eight hours I was eating the same amount of fat and calories that I should have eaten over a two or three day period. No wonder I weighed more than 300 pounds!

Now, rather than diving head first into all those high-calorie snacks and fatty foods, I head directly for my secret weapon ... my desk drawer filled with healthy snacks I've brought from home. My secret stash of healthy snacks includes:

• Individual serving size packets of almonds
• Individual serving size packets of low-salt pretzels
• Freeze-dried fruits
• Individual serving size packets of low-calorie trail mix

The key (for me at least) has been the "individual serving" size. I've learned the hard way that if I just have a can of almonds in my desk that I'll sit there and eat the entire can in less than an hour. On the other hand, I'm not likely to open up more than one little plastic bag of nuts as a snack since it reminds me about the serving size. Freeze-dried fruits also provide fiber and a quick sugar fix when I'm craving something sweet. In addition, I now bring a healthy lunch from home every day rather than going out for lunch ... which helps my weight loss and my wallet.

Sure, I feel temptation every time I walk past the boxes of chocolates and candy at work. Likewise, it isn't easy to watch a coworker eating a Big Mac and large fries while I'm eating a whole wheat pasta and chicken meal that I brought from home. The bottom line is my waist line. By that I mean to say that losing weight and staying healthy is more important to me than indulging in fatty foods and empty calories at the office.

I've lost 15 pounds in three weeks doing nothing but eating healthy and riding a stationary bike for 30 minutes at least five days every week. In truth, every day that goes by I find myself less tempted by junk food. I can honestly say that I love my new healthy lifestyle even more than I used to love Arby's.

Earlier this month I faced my first serious hurdle on the road to a healthier me: I had to attend the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas for work. Attending one of the biggest trade shows in the nation might not sound like a big deal on the surface. In fact, visiting Las Vegas is one of my favorite things to do. Unfortunately, business travel usually means working long hours, and having breakfast, lunch, and dinner meetings where I'll be tempted with tasty (fattening) foods.

Seeing as I had only been following a healthier lifestyle for a few weeks I knew this trip was going to test my willpower like never before. Just eating 10 corn chips and two tablespoons of cheese dip as an appetizer means eating as much fat and as many calories as a single healthy meal ... without the fiber or other nutritional value. To make matters worse, I knew that I'd be offered many high-calorie, high-sugar foods and drinks both on the flights to and from Las Vegas as well as during my business meetings.

Exercise is more important than ever when traveling, and luckily for me I was able to exercise more than usual because CES covers almost the entire Vegas strip. At any given hour I was running from a meeting at the Las Vegas Convention Center to a meeting at the MGM ... and then running to another meeting at the Venetian or Cesar's Palace. Thank goodness I brought some comfortable shoes.

To help me resist the temptation to ruin all that exercise by eating fast food or appetizers loaded with fat and empty calories I traveled with an assortment of healthy snacks. Some of my favorites include:

• Freeze dried fruits
• Low calorie/low sugar energy bars
• Unsalted, roasted nuts (divided into individual serving sizes using plastic bags)

Of course, it's also important to stay hydrated so drinking bottled water whenever possible is essential. Water not only keeps you hydrated but also helps regulate your metabolism ... helping you to lose weight. Overall, if you keep these basics in mind you can look forward to travel instead of letting a vacation ruin your healthy lifestyle.

In the end, I came back from by business trip weighing less than I did before I left, so I'd have to say the trip was a success!

My journey to a healthier me started with stepping onto a scale for the first time in almost a year. After brushing the layer of dust off the scale and bracing for the shock I looked down and discovered I weighed 301 pounds. Wow.

Even before setting foot onto the scale I knew my goal weight was going to be 190 pounds (my weight back when I was playing high school football) but I had no idea how much weight I was going to have to lose until that moment. I need to lose triple digits: 111 pounds.

As jaw dropping as that figure might seem, I immediately knew what I had to do. The basic principles of weight loss are always the same: Nutrition and Exercise. For me, that means following some simple guiding rules:

1. Eat vegetables and/or fruit at every meal. Not only are fruits and veggies part of a balanced diet, the high fiber content helps your metabolism and digestive tract.

2. Redefine "dessert." Cookies, cakes, candy, and ice cream with high-fructose corn syrup are just empty calories, sugar, and fat. Grab a bag of freeze-dried fruits or a sugar-free popsicle.

3. Snack healthy, snack often ... in moderation. Don't let hunger drive you to make bad choices. Grab some unsalted/roasted nuts, some veggies, or fruit rather than a candy bar or a bag of potato chips from the office vending machine.

4. Drink water. Water is the perfect zero-calorie beverage that hydrates and regulates your metabolism all at the same time. You can even add zero-calorie flavoring with a PUR water filter to help make it taste more like a treat.

5. Watch portion sizes. Here in the United States most people eat portion sizes that are much too large. Restaurants often serve enough food on a single plate to satisfy two or more people. Eating portion sizes that are much too big is one of the main reasons I'm overweight. Don't overeat simply because food is "available."

6. Exercise at least 30 minutes every day. "Exercise" can mean a number of things, from walking around your neighborhood to riding a stationary bike or playing baseball with your kids. The most important thing is to keep moving and keep your heart rate elevated for more than just a couple of minutes. You can't be a "couch potato" if you aren't sitting on the couch.

These basic guidelines are extremely simple and we could easily add a number of things to this list, but I've found these are the most  important for me personally.

After the first week, I stepped onto the scale again and saw the numbers drop down to 293.5 pounds. That's right. I lost 7.5 pounds in 7 days doing nothing more than eating right and exercising. It's a great start, and I'll keep going from here.