Honesty...integrity...and your diet.

San Antonio, am I calling you a liar to your face?

Maybe I am...let's find out. (This post may hurt, so if you're sensitive...you might want to skip today)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently did some research wherein 524 men and women were asked to estimate how many calories they ate each day. Of the group, some were overweight and some had a normal BMI (body mass index). From their estimates the researchers made comparisons to their actual caloric intake, as determined scientifically using a proven method.

Self delusion or pathologic lying?

The verdict? Astonishing might not be a strong enough term.

The subjects, on average, misinterpreted how many calories they ingested daily by 11%.

Let's put that into perspective: If someone believed they were eating just 2,000 calories, in reality they were eating 2,200 calories.

Multiply that by 21 days (three weeks) and you will have eaten more than 4200 extra calories...or about a pound and half of fat.

And that's not even the worst of it.

The folks with the normal BMI? They only miscalculated how many calories they ate by 3 percent.

In essence that means that the overweight folks in the study actually under-reported the number of calories they ate by MORE than the 11 percent average.

Is it any wonder why these folks can't lose the fat?

The reality of the situation is that most people who are overweight are in that position because they eat too much and exercise too little. It's not because of "bad genes", or bad metabolism or any other "bad" thing.

It's quite possibly because of self delusion and lying to themselves...and this research backs up that assertion.

How do we set about fixing this?

Stop lying to yourself, your training partner and, especially, to your fitness trainer.

How? By keeping a record of everything - and I do mean EVERYTHING - you eat. Put it in writing in a journal or notebook.

And it includes EVERY handful of grapes, bite of do-nut, chips, etc. It also includes all of the leftovers you "clean up" from kids plates that happen to land in YOUR mouth.

This will most likely be an uncomfortable, shockingly descriptive eye-opener for you.

My suspicion is that you will discover that you are eating more than you think you have, the steps to break the cycle should include:
A) Getting and following a specific meal plan.
B) Preparing your meals ahead of time.
C) Getting some support from friends, family and training buddies.

Once you find out where the issue is, then you can rectify it. But you must be willing to do the work. And it will require work, make no mistake.

But what a great pay-off in the end.

Steve

Steve Payne is San Antonio's premier fat loss expert. If you're really serious about fat loss, then please consider San Antonio's finest fat loss "boot camp", the Firestorm Fitness Systems Fat Burning Fit Camps, The 28 Day Miracle Fat Loss Program or you can e-mail Steve here for more information on his many GUARANTEED success programs.