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Psst - a revolutionary secret to weight loss

As the pounds peel away, how do I count the ways? One calorie at a time.

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published September 20, 2005

FOLLOW THE PROGRESS

Weighing In, John C. Cotey's column about his effort to lose weight, appears Tuesdays in Floridian. His starting weight on July 1 was 250 pounds. To read previous columns and his Web log, The Skinny, please go to www.sptimes.com/skinny

WEIGHING IN: 228

The other morning, bummed out by a rough night of sleep and a long day ahead, I half-jokingly suggested to my wife that if there was ever a morning I needed my old breakfast - a cinnamon-raisin bagel with cream cheese, two apple crumb doughnuts and a coffee with cream and sugar, to go - this was the one.

I had no true intentions of stopping, mind you, but the seed had been planted. My drive to work each day is only five minutes old when I hit what my wife calls the "Bermuda Triangle": Panera Bread, Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kreme.

If you want eggs and bacon, you're out of luck. If you want straight sugar, step right up.

Back in the day, I never made it past the triangle.

So sometimes, the longing comes back, the need to be comforted by an old habit, the desire for the delicious, soft, sweet, warm . . . well, you get my point. Every once in a while, like the other morning, I feel like a fix. But I have never had the heart to look up the calories, which has become a remarkable deterrent to my sugar splurges.

"Do you want me to look it up?" my wife said, already cheerfully tapping away at the keyboard.

Darn Internet.

"Sure," I said softly, holding out hope that the calorie count would be acceptable - nothing wrong with a big breakfast - but knowing I was probably heading for a bowl of cornflakes and a banana.

"Hey, only 330 calories," she said.

I can do that!

"Add the 190 for the cream cheese . . ."

Uhhhhh . . .

"230 for each doughnut . . ."

Note to self: Cancel the Internet.

"Let's add up the coffee, cream and sugar . . . 120 calories . . ."

She's bad at math, she'll lose focus.

"Go ahead honey - it's only 1,100 calories."

Forgetting the complete lack of nutritional value, I was transfixed by that number. It would be half of my allowed daily intake.

Cornflakes and banana, it was.

People ask all the time how I'm losing weight. Here's how: In a lot of different ways. Smaller portions. One helping. A little exercise. Lots of water.

But the absolute savior has been, without a doubt, counting calories. If I don't know how many calories are in it, I don't eat it. I needed 3,418 calories each day to maintain my weight at 250 pounds, and for every 500 calories per day I could cut through diet or exercise, I'd lose a pound per week. So I dropped down to 2,200 daily for good measure. And sure enough, I've dropped about 2 pounds a week.

I've slowly shifted obsessions. Now, I read labels on everything, which provides me stunning revelations.

A big box of malted milk balls: 1,440 calories.

My beloved Swiss Cake Rolls? Roughly 2,700.

I'm pretty sure there were days I had both.

According to my wife's math, I'm eating about 230,399,170 fewer calories than I had been eating.

She's close enough.

[Last modified September 19, 2005, 16:09:02]