Details Galore--Take Your Pick, Use What Works for You. Today: Numbers

Allen here. I'm so happy to see my sweet sis has begun to share her insights here as well. Two heads are indeed better than one! What a great balance: both a man's and a woman's perspective on how to really find success in the weight loss game. Did you know that, between the two of us--my sister and I--we've lost a combined total of 140-lbs? Wow! and it was all by El and EM (no, not the cigaretts you silly!).  That reminds me, my sister and I are going to have to get some before-and-after photos up here before long so you can actually see the success we achieved through the ELEM-6 method. It might be a bit of a challenge due to the fact that seriously overweight folks don't exactly have a love afair with the camera. In fact we tend to scoot out of the frame whenever possible. When we fail to do so and later see the photo--OMG--we are shocked to see how we look from the side, or behind or from nearly any angle: "That's me? Yikles!" Anyway, painful as it willbe, we'll  both try to pony up some  "fat photos" to show you how far we've come. I have a photographer buddy who I will have take a current photo of Lauren and me. And I promise: no PhotoShop--just the real deal!

OK, here is my detail/tip for the day: One number--once a week--is all you need. 
This tip (which I will explain more fully in a moment) comports with one of the fundamental ELEM principles: Keep it Simple Slimpants! Look, if you really need to schlep around a calorie calculator everwhere you go or you are compelled to assign points to every item on your plate, and you find it a big help, then I'm not going to discourage you. I'm good with whatever works. For me personally though, I am not into weighing my meals on a scale or getting out the green eyeshade to count every calorie. Hey--I can tell a big serving from a moderate serving from a small one--no problem. So I'm not going to talk about calorie counting here, but speak to the issue of weighing yourself.

Here is how I do it and how, jf you follow my example, the scale will not drive you crazy (You have bought your digital read-out scale haven't you?) If not, then run right over to Walnmart this very moment and get one! Oh--and don't fall for the ones that you have to program or that follow your weight changes. No--just get a plain digital read-out scale. Keep it Simple Slimpants!


Weigh yourself only once a week only.  Same time every week. For me it is first thing Monday morning. That gives me my score on my 6-day long effort. You may already know that your weight can fluctuate a great deal from day to day--even hour by hour depending on liquids consumed etc. This is the natural cycle of things. Avoid the emotional roller-coaster  of weighing in daily. Instead, picture that you are going to make a 6-day effort at losing weitht and at the end of that time you are going to see the fruit of that effort. So, get naked at the same place and time each week and get a reality-check. If you are following the ELEM-6 plan, you will be shedding between 1 and 3 pounds per week. To weigh in, get naked and see what the verdict of the scale is. Keep a log. This will help more than you might imagine. After you weigh in, them I want you to rub lotion all over your whole body. This will do two things: It will give you body-awareness and--more importantly--it will help keep your sking elastic so it can shrink to fit the new-sized you that is on the way (Isn't that a happy thought?). Not to mention, this lotion ritual is relaxing and thereputic.

Well, I see I have run out of time. Hope this has been helpful. Keep coming back as my sister and I will be blogging the ELEM diet all year long. May a healthy and successful 2010 be yours!