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Hey everyone.  Jason here.  I came across Dave's podcast about 2 weeks ago and I've listened to every one possible on iTunes.  He read my email about supplements a week or so ago.  I decided to come check out the forum.

As I said in the email, I changed my life about 3 months ago.  Fed up with being unhealthy and overweight, I joined a gym and started researching everything I could read on the internet.  So far, I'm almost at the 40 lbs. mark (Woohoo!).  Here's a few things that have made the impact for me:

1) Replace soda with water.  Of course, this, like all of my game changers, are somewhat obvious.  I was drinking around 6 sodas a day minimum.  I cut down to one a day (Diet Coke), and I only do so after drinking 4 glasses of water.  

2) Record all caloric intake and exercise.  Another no-brainer.  I use SparkPeople on my iPhone.  Like what Dave says about exercise ("The best exercise is the one that you do!"), the best program is the one that you use.  I know Dave's a fan of DietPower.  Haven't tried it, and, frankly, I'm stuck in my ways now.  I also believe that logging your exercise is also critical.  Know what you lift, know how far you go on the treadmill, and use that info to challenge yourself on the next day at the gym.  My gym (SNAP Fitness) has sheets for logging that are filed there for you, so that makes it that much easier for me.  There are phone applications, but I haven't found one that I care for.  

3) Protein. Protein. Protein.  Figure out what you lean body mass weight is.  Take your weight and subtract your body fat percentage from it to figure out your lean body mass.  For instance, if you are 210 lbs and 20% body fat, your lean body mass is (210 – (210*.20) = 168 lbs.  This means if you had 0% body fat, you should weigh 168 lbs.  So what?  Well, eat like you have the body you want.  So, I shoot for 168 g of protein per day.  That's hard to do with my caloric intake goals, but I utilize whey protein shakes for some quick, lean protein.  Grilled chicken is your best friend.  Also, look for good protein in milk, eggs, and fish (like tuna).  

I'll add more as I think of them.  Just keep in mind that one day doesn't make or break you.  One great day of exercise and healthy eating doesn't make up for a week of bad eating and no exercise.  Wake up everyday wanting to take care of yourself.  Good luck!

Agreed.  I try to enter what I ate right after I ate it.  My one problem with SparkPeople is that it doesn't have copy/paste like abilities for the days you eat similar meals.  For instance, during the week when I'm at work, I typically eat very similar meals all week long.  I have to enter each item for each day.  Small grievance, but one nonetheless.

4) Take an active interest in your health and fitness.  Join a forum (like this one), research online, and read as much as you can on the subject.  I'm a mixture of OCD and ADD, so I get very obsessed with a subject for a week or so (usually), then move on.  I've been eating as much info as possible on nutrition, weight loss, exercise, etc. whenever I can find it.  All of this gets me excited to get back to the gym to try new things and ideas for different foods to try.  Not everything works for everybody.  I realize that Greek yogurt is wicked healthy for you.  I just can't stomach the stuff. 

5) Incorporate technology.  I'm an iPhone guy.  It does just about everything I need it to do for me.  I use SparkPeople on it.  I have a few different programs showing different exercises.  It has my music, podcasts, and audiobooks on it.  Something you can try is find some kind of media that you are interested in.  For instance, I have  "Zombie Survival Guide" in audiobook format on my iPhone.  I would only allow myself to listen to it IF I was doing cardio.  If I wanted to get thru that next chapter, I was going to have to stay on the elliptical a little bit longer.  

More to come later!