Don’t get me wrong, I could not be happier living with FoodieChick. Each day is a culinary delight and I am exposed to more new foods and restaurants than I can keep track of. But, like all good things, they must be done in moderation. Eating included.

Here in the harsh climes of Massachusetts, weather events bring mounds of snow and the sharp bite of winter drives many of us to hibernate. Although, when bears hibernate they eat as much as they can to store up fat and nourishment to get them through the long winter.

We humans – well – we sorta just eat our way through it.

Starting with November 2008 in Italy and continuing through last week, I’ve packed on literally dozens of unwanted lbs. It was only the finest meats, buffets, breads and desserts for this guy.

Massive consumption of food coupled with a crippling basketball injury, rendered this usually healthy wannabe-athlete a fat blob. A notion FoodieChick would probably dispute, but nonetheless, it’s a fact.

Over the past few months I’ve scarffed down a dizzying array of “birthday party” foods, including, but not limited to, an egregious amount of pizza, burgers, dogs, ice cream, chips, fries and cake. It’s time the madness stopped. It’s time for FoodieGuy to right the ship with short stint of calorie deprivation.

With that, I wanted to offer up a healthy meal of mine (see photo above and recipe below), plus some tips for making the most of time spent sans birthday party foods. A lot of these tips have been widely reported and I’m sure you’ve heard them all before, but here they are again.

1. It’s the calories, dummy. That’s exactly what I tell myself when starting a, um, weight losing routine. Losing lbs. is a very simple equation. If you burn more calories than your body needs, you lose weight. Figure out how many calories your body needs, then eat foods that keep you under that number for the day. I use a free website called FitDay.com to track each and every morsel of food I put into my mouth. Same thing as a food journal. It really is startling when you consider how many calories you eat in a day – verses how many you actually need. Some people might call this naive but I don’t care what foods I eat, as long as I am under or matching my caloric needs for the day.
   
   
2. Exercise an hour a day. Even for avid workout people, this is harder than it sounds. If you run for 45 minutes and lift for 15 -- great. If you run for 30 minutes and lift for 20 – no good. That’s 50 minutes. See where I am going here? You need to move for an hour a day. You have 24 hours each day. Use one for exercise. If you are trying to lose weight, RUN. If you can’t run yet, walk. Then gradually run. Someone asked me once, “Have you ever seen a fat runner?” Nope. Mix in some weights if you can. But, if you can only do one thing, run. Plus it’s free.
   
   
3. Eat this, not that  has some merit. Where I work, they offer us a huge cake on the first Monday of the month. “Milestone Monday” they call it. The biggest milestone I achieved this month was not eating three slices of it. I picked up an apple instead. If you don’t want to save calories on your meals, just do it with your snacks. I would never substitute a side salad for fries. Forget it. But, I would bring in a bag of carrots instead of eating six mini Mr. Goodbars/Special Dark/Krackles. (Man, do I love Hershey's miniatures.)
   
   
4. Drink a lot of water. I told you you’ve heard all of these things before. But, you need water to give you the sensation of being full. Plus, it will help flush you.
   
   
5. Disappear. Until you are confident that you are on the right track, drop your cell phone in a toilet. This might be easier for some people, but going out to eat or drinking kills you. It just derails everything you are trying to accomplish. You go out to eat, have a few drinks, have a few more drinks after dinner, and the next thing you know you're at T. Anthony’s at 2 am for four really delicious slices. No shot you are working out the next day. So, you’ve crushed about a week of hard work with one night out. Harder for some, but if you are really serious, decline some offers to go out ‘cause it’s only temptation out there.

A lot of “experts” say dieting does not work. I tend to agree with them. You really need to change your lifestyle if you want to keep weight off. If you exercise regularly, eat normally and drink a lot of water, you should be fine. Unless eating “normally” is Phelpsian.

For those of you looking for diet foods, here is something I cook up that is delicious, nutritious, filling and can be low calorie if you do it right. Basically, it’s rice and beans. Clearly, this is a lot more than one serving. And this is something every male human can make in 10 minutes.

Stir until hot.

Enjoy!

Optional: Throw in anything else you find that you like. When dieting stay away from the red meats.

Happy dieting, uh, dining!

FG

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