Alright, everyone, we’ve reached the final part of our three-post series, “Monitoring Our Weight Loss Plan,” and I’m confident that you’ll be somewhat familiar with the following monitoring options.

Let me start by saying that I find surprising how many personal trainers overlook the importance of tracking short-term progress. As someone who is obese, I understand the strong desire for results and how a small boost at the end of the first week can make all the difference between sticking with the program or giving up.

To understand and track short-term results effectively, close monitoring is essential. With that in mind, here are the three levels of monitoring I recommend:

LEVEL 1: This is the most basic level, assuming you already have a digital scale that measures weight and fat percentage (as recommended in previous posts). Simply step on your scale, record the readings along with the date in a notebook. The best time to do this is in the morning, right after waking up.

In summary:

1. Wake up Monday (try to start at the beginning of a week) and take your weight and fat % readings and jot them down on a notebook or even a piece of paper.
2. The next Monday morning, take again your weight and fat % and compare them to your last Monday readings.  CELEBRATE YOUR RESULTS!!

Note:  Remember than 1-2 pounds is perfectly normal as a weight loss rate.

LEVEL 2:  The second level of monitoring involves doing Level 1 plus using software that acts as a fitness diary. Level 2 requires discipline to fully utilize the software, as it often involves logging meals, measurements, and workout sessions. The reward is the wealth of information you gain, such as macro percentages, calorie data, reports, and graphs. I recommend the excellent “My Fitness Pal,” which boasts the largest meal database, extensive output information, and availability on all platforms. Checking out a few reviews, such as on YouTube, is always a good idea to understand the product and how to use it effectively.

LEVEL 3:  Level 3 monitoring is the highest level of commitment, combining the previous two levels with using a Smart Watch or Fitness Band to track personal fitness data. For example, if your daily goal is walking 10,000 steps (a goal that could merit its own discussion), these devices let you know whether you’ve hit your target and, if not, how much you fell short.

Keep in mind, Level 3 encompasses the earlier levels as well, so simply owning an Apple Watch or Fitbit doesn’t mean someone is fully committed to the regimen. For us, Level 3 signifies genuine dedication and consistency. The best part is that these devices can sync with MyFitnessPal, automatically transferring all your recorded steps to the workout section—a super convenient feature.

When it comes to choosing a device, it really depends on what you’re looking to get out of it. Do I need a $400 Apple Watch just to track my daily steps? Of course not! But I’m not ruling out the idea that you might want a device with a range of features, allowing you to explore and grow by using them one step at a time.

At the time of writing this, I recommend the following:

Fitness Bands (less expensive basic devices)

Xiaomi Smartband 9     4/5
Fitbit Inspire 3   3/5
Samsung Galaxy Fit 3   5/5

SmartWatchs (Full fledge advanced monitoring devices)

Samsung Galaxy Ultra (2025)     5/5
Apple Watch Series 11   5/5

AAs always, it’s your choice how to stay on top of your progress, make the decision and start following through. You can begin with Level 1, then move to Level 2 and stick with it until you’re comfortable, and only then advance to Level 3. Or, if you feel Level 1 is sufficient, that’s an option too. Just don’t overlook these powerful tools that can significantly boost the chances of your plan’s success.

Goodbye and good monitoring!

One of the things that I love about science is that is always renewing for the better.  There is no stubborn pride in keeping things being done a certain way when there is evidence that the old way was the wrong way or at least, not the best way.

And there is evidence to support that keeping your insulin levels high all day is far from healthy.  With that being said, many meals a day (including snacks) was considered a very healthy way to feed our body. Now we know that fewer meals are better and that the quality of those foods matter the most.

The super important hormone known as Insulin goes to work every time we eat, taking glucose from our blood stream to our cells. But keep eating constantly modern food and soon enough, your body will start resisting the work of insulin, so our pancreas creates more insulin to complete the job. If this cycle keeps repeating for enough number of years, and you might end up with “Insulin Resistance” also known as the first step to become a Type 2 Diabetic. With that being said, maybe the 5 or 6 small meals a day might not be the best after all. In fact, is just the opposite.  Reduce your meals and get them no so far apart and that will translate to benefits.

Here is what I mean…

Arrange an 8-hour window to eat!
After that? Water, Water and more Water.  This is called Intermittent Fasting 16/8.

Before you go into shock and feed your mind with all kinds of defeating thoughts, please believe that this is something that you can do.  And it will help you to lose weight and in overall it will help you be a healthier person.

This is my Plan recommendation:

No Breakfast, but you can have black coffee (black as in no cream, sugar of any kind)
Good Lunch (of course of allowed protocol food)
Light and Healthy Dinner (just before the end of the 8 hours eating window)

Example:
Breakfast –   None, just have black coffee.  And remember, not Splenda or other Artificial Sweeter.
Lunch – Salmon with a green salad and half avocado.
Dinner – As much salad as you want and you can complete your dinner with some Macadamias nuts.

This can be a little hard in the beginning, so here are some tips to follow:

1. Water, as sometimes we might think that we are hungry and we are just thirsty.
2. Avoid going out at night the first couple of weeks. Keep away temptations for now.
3. Go to bed as early as possible.

AGAIN:  This is only hard at the beginning, resist and believe in yourself.

Last but not least, hop on the scale so you can monitor the results of your new tool.

Tomorrow, we start doing 16/8 Intermitting Fasting!

A new opportunity, life improving changes, a better you… No matter how I put it, a diet plan always starts with positivity feelings. You want to change something from you for the better. We know the science, we know the procedure and most importantly, we know the results.

As a very simple indicator, I am getting up on my scale and with that getting the following numbers:

Weight: 316.6 pounds
Fat %: 44.0

Not very different from our previous Profile, but this is our starting point for Keto.

Now, let us start putting the work to change those numbers.
There are many strategies to try, let us see how it goes.
On the next post, I will be sharing very important information from a blood test that I took a couple of days ago.

Ok, let’s Go! Start your Keto Engine Now!!! 🙂

How do you help someone that suffers from compulsive spending?

Many people believe they can fix compulsive spending by switching from plastic to cash. Seeing real money disappear adds a powerful psychological impact.

What about smoking? Do you gradually reduce your daily cigarette intake?  No, for most people, you stop smoking COLD TURKEY.  Hey, this one I know from personal experience. And for this one help from friends or family is recommended.

And what about drugs? This one is tough—it falls into a category where control is minimal, and people may go to extreme lengths to obtain drugs. So going cold turkey could be in pair with being locked down somewhere having all kind of terrible withdrawal symptoms.

Ok, so what do we do with sugar addiction and weight loss? Do we follow a vague plan and hope for the best? Do we rely solely on willpower and self-belief?

NO, WE DONT!

In seven days, we’ll begin a new way of eating—unlike anything you’ve tried before.

We are going to:

1. Stop Refined Carbs:  Bread, pasta, rice, tortillas, wafles, cake, crackers, etc.
2. Stop Starchy Vegetables:  Potatoes, corn, plantains, yams, pumpkin, etc.
3. Stop (for the time being) Fruits:  Yes, I know this one is very tough. And while you won’t be eating a banana, you can try berries, avocados, watermelons, tomatoes, peaches.
4.  Stop Alcohol and sugary drinks:  No drinking, not even a beer and also stop juices, soda and anything that have sugar.  Your new drinks will be water, coffee and tea.

Maybe after reading all these “Forbidden Things” you still believe that you can do it. Maybe you believe you’re up for the challenge and possess extraordinary willpower.

I am here to tell you that no matter how much you believe, you won’t make it alone.  So, choose a diet guardian that will help you uphold this very difficult challenge.

You have one week to stop believing that you can do it alone and get a failproof strategy that will help you in time of weakness.  Use this week to find out as much as possible about clean/healthy keto and get your support partner as I am telling you again, this won’t be easy and while you might believe in yourself, this is as close and you can be to having a drug addiction (sugar addiction is real) so get help.

GET READY FOR THIS CHALLENGE, YOU AND YOUR DIET GUARDIAN!