Stop Dieting and Start Losing Weight...

...with the help of your H/PC!

The top button on my pants finally popped off and shot all the way across the room -- something needed to be done NOW!

By Bil. Alvernaz

Note: Bil. is not a physician nor is he recommending a specific weight loss regiment for any particular individual. If you have questions about this, consult an experienced health professional.
For quite some time it had been getting harder and harder to "cinch up" my bulging waist, but there was no more ignoring it! That was several years and many now-lost pounds ago. Since then my wife and I have worked out a system to eliminate pounds and keep them off.

The real issue is that, as adults, there's no one to tell us what to do. We can buy any food we want, snack any time we want, and go back for seconds and thirds whenever we want. We have to be the ones to say "NO!" and that's where the H/PC comes in handy as our "Calorie Conscience!" Get it off and keep it off by the numbers

My wife and I talked to nutritionists and doctors and they all agreed: People need to permanently change their life style to get rid of extra weight and, more importantly, keep it off. This is accomplished through a combination of regular exercise and watching what you eat. We quickly learned that this combination works when we started dropping pounds! It needs to be noted that our system is designed for normal, healthy people who want to lose a little extra weight, and it doesn't tell you what kinds of food you should eat. If you have questions about what you should eat, or if you have serious weight or health problems, consult your doctor or a nutritionist.

Since our weight-loss system is based on simple math, it's well suited to a Pocket Excel spreadsheet on the H/PC. We use it in combination with an Excel spreadsheet on the desktop PC. It's very simple, and easy to maintain.

It all comes down to calories

Each day your body burns off a certain amount of calories. It does this rain or shine, whether you exercise or not, just to keep the metabolism going. So on any given day, if you don't want to gain weight, you MUST break even. That is, you've got to consume no more calories than you burn off.

For example, because of my body size and life style, I burn off 2,000 calories per day. That means that I can have a 300 or 400 calorie breakfast (cereal with nonfat milk), a 500-calorie lunch (a cheese burger with NO fries), and a 1,000 calorie dinner (a piece of chicken, a slice of bread, potatoes, and a vegetable) and come in just under 2,000 calories for the day. I don't lose any weight and I don't gain any weight. If I choose to have a snack or two during the day, on top of breakfast, lunch and dinner, I'll go over the 2,000 mark and my body will store the extra calories as FAT!

However, if I exercise during the day (cross-country skiing on my Nordic Track for 45 minutes), I burn an extra 600 calories. This gives me more calories to play around with in my diet, making room for a snack or two. Better yet, if I avoid the snack, I burn more calories than I consume. My body metabolizes FAT to provide the extra energy needed and I lose weight. One pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. Eat an extra 3,500 calories above your metabolic needs for a week and you gain a pound. Eat 3,500 calories less over a week and you lose one. This math brings us back to using the H/PC as your "calorie conscience."

Your H/PC "Calorie Conscience"

My wife and I designed our system to be easy to use and take with us wherever we go, and the fact that it's with us all the time is the most important feature. You know it's there and you know you're keeping track of your calories. This causes you to be more aware of what you are eating (and shouldn't be eating). It keeps you on your toes and it keeps you from adding on extra calories BEFORE you have to worry about burning them off!

Screen 1 shows our Fitness Log Excel worksheet as it is displayed on my desktop PC. The column labeled 1-Apr shows a typical day using my fitness log. I had a light breakfast (granola bar at 150 calories and half a grapefruit at 45 calories, total 195). For lunch I had a cheeseburger (350 calories). For Dinner I had chicken, rice, and a salad (800 calories). During the day I had a bag of chips (250 calories). That put me at 1595 calories for the day. The spreadsheet then subtracts my average daily calorie intake (more on that later) and extra calories I may have burned from exercising (45 minutes on the Nordic Track = 600 calories) and shows the total Burnoff as 1005 I lost weight.

If I had had a desert or a couple extra snacks, or hadn't exercised, my calorie intake would have exceeded the amount I expended and my Burnoff figure would have been a PLUS figure. That's something I don't want to see because I store those calories as fat!

The worksheet looks complicated, but it's mostly formatting. The math is pretty simple. Formulas in the row labeled "TOTAL" add up the calories for the day (e.g., =SUM(B4:B7) in Cell B8). Formulas in the row labeled "BURNOFF" subtract the calories burned off that day from the calories consumed (e.g., =+B8-B10-B11 in Cell B12). The row labeled "Metabolic Factor" simply lists the average number of calories I burn off each day. The "Workout" row lists the extra calories I burn off when I do a particular exercise (listed in the lower-left table). To enter extra calories burned off, I select the "Workout" cell for that day, enter an = sign, and tap on the exercises calorie count in the table. It's easy. I finish off by weighing myself each day and enter that into the WEIGHT row.

I use the chart feature in the full desktop version of Excel to display a chart of the weight lost in a given month.

Keep it Handy on the H/PC

I keep the Fitness Log worksheet in Pocket Excel on my H/PC and enter calorie information there most of the time. It's always ready to remind me how many calories I've consumed so far and how many I have left. It's easier to say no to a piece of cheesecake when I see that the BURNOFF number will go positive in a big way. It's essentially the same worksheet, but the H/PC can't display the chart (see Screen 2). I eventually move it all to my desktop PC so I can display the charts and free up space on my H/PC.

Screen 1: The Fitness Log as it appears on a desktop PC in Microsoft Excel. The chart (lower right) shows weight dropped. The table (lower left) shows calories burned off by different types of exercise. Enter the calories per meal in the top of the worksheet and it automatically calculates the total for the day, and the projected burn off.

Screen 2: The Fitness Log worksheet as it appears on a

What you need to do

The real work! This worksheet doesn't tell you what you should eat, it just helps you keep track of how much you eat and the price you are paying for it, in FAT. The spreadsheet doesn't care what you eat just as long as the calories balance out in the end. You have to give some thought about eating a balanced diet.

You don't have to be nearsighted about the spreadsheet. If you go over one meal fine! Go a little under on the others. For example, when I know I'm going out to dinner with friends, I know I'll be eating more than normal. I make it point to do more exercise that day and go light on the other meals, as well as avoiding KILLER between meal snacks. You can even spread a big meal out over the next two or three days. Think a week at a time, instead of always focusing on the day. You can stay trim and still have fun.

One of the first things you'll have to do is find a place to get your body fat and metabolic analysis done. It costs about $35 and lets you know the percentage of fat on your body and what your metabolic rate is (i.e., how many calories you burn off each day without doing any exercise). Health clubs and medical clinics are the best places to get this done. (The health clubs may try to sell you a membership.) It doesn't hurt or take much time, just get it done.

No quick fixes

There are no magic answers or "quick fixes" when it comes to your weight. Since weight gets put on over time, you can't expect it to disappear over night. In fact, the safe and smart way to permanently lose weight is to drop it gradually over time. Aim at losing a pound every five to seven days. If pounds come off faster, great! But don't be in a rush. Remember that you are not on a diet, you're changing your way of life. I need the H/PC to be my conscience, constantly showing me where I stand in terms of calories consumed and calories burned. My goal is to end each day either with calories burned off or to break even. I have found that if I get away from keeping my fitness log, I immediately start adding pounds. Start it and keep it up.

A copy of the Fitness Log Excel spreadsheet is available on the Handheld PC Magazine Power CD, at http://www.thaddeus.com, or directly from Bil. Email him at bil@elite.net. It includes charts and tables along with the calorie counts for dozens of fast food items.

Common Sense About Losing Weight

What you don't eat, you won't wear (i.e., store as fat)! That means if you eliminate between meal snacks and extra portions, you won't have to worry about burning off those calories.
If it isn't in the house, then you can't eat it! Eating smart also means shopping smart. Don't go shopping on an empty stomach and DON'T bring home all of those things you love to snack on.
If the question comes up, the answer is "NO!" Even if you don't keep a fitness log, you can still do something significant about your weight by eliminating between meal snacks. If you EVER find yourself asking the question, "Do I want that snack." The answer is NO.
Exercise is the answer! When you're getting your metabolic analysis done, ask for a list of activities and the calories they burn off. The truth is that you can't expect to lose much weight unless you exercise. Exercising speeds up your metabolic rate for several hours afterwards. That means you not only burn off calories during the exercise, you keep burning them off at a higher rate for some time after. When you combine eating "smart" with exercising, you have a winning combination.
Know what it's costing you! It's not hard to find out the calorie counts for the foods you eat. Most of us are creatures of habit and don't eat that much variety. Figure out the cost in calories of the food you eat and write it down in your H/PC. You'll become calorie savvy in a relatively short period of time, and better able to "eat smart."

Look at any can, box or bottle of food and you'll find a food nutrition label. On that you'll find the total calories in the container or the number of calories per serving. It's fairly easy to figure out how many calories you are consuming. There are food items without labels (vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, etc.). For these there are paperback books that list foods and calories per typical serving size. Some of these books even list calories of items sold by specific fast food chains (McDonalds, Wendy's, KFC, etc.). You can get calories counts from any company by calling 1-800-555-1212 and asking for that company's 800 number. Once you get the company, ask for customer service. They will usually give you specific calorie information over the phone or you can have them send you the calorie counts for all of their menu items. ALL fast food companies and most restaurants are glad to provide this information. You just have to make the effort to ask for it.

About The Author
Bil photo gray Bil. works as a consultant and writer for a wide variety of companies. He has written for USA Today, PC Magazine and other trade publications. Bil. is a host on Microsoft Network's Windows CE Forum, helping people learn the ins and outs of working with Windows CE units. He also manages the Windows 95/98 Forum on MSN.