The Ricky Gervais Diet

Today is day 64 of my diet, and I've lost 28lbs.  Since many people have asked me how I got to this point, I figured I'd blog it.

I've been stateside for 12 years now, and have sampled much of what passes for food in this country.  Sadly I sampled far too much and far too often, couple that with my love of red wine and I was starting to look like a stuffed pig.  Not good.

So 64 days ago I was inspired to open a new chapter in my life and get in shape, and here's how I did it.

First off, I guess I should mention that there are a tiny percentage of folks who are overweight due to a medical condition, so please know that the comments I make here are aimed at people who are just overweight because of lifestyle choices, not because of some underlying health problems.

I've seen various diets that seem to be quite clever.  Atkins got famous a few years ago, and later South Beach.  But the problem with all these fad diets is that you have to follow the rules no matter how easy they try and make the diet sound.  So if you're on Atkins eating all the lean meat you want, but then fancy a couple of glasses of wine, you just screwed your carb count and will likely fail.

The reason I call my diet the Ricky Gervais diet is because the idea came from a stand up comedy he performed where in his usual blunt style he laid down the following words of wisdom (and I'm paraphrasing here, not quoting):

It's a simple equation:  Anything you put in your mouth is fuel for your body.  If you consume too much fuel (calories) your body will store it as fat.  So you have a straightforward choice.  You can choose to consume less fuel or choose to burn more fuel by exercising.

And that really is it.  You can either put fewer calories in or burn more of them by exercising.  So you need to choose if you'd like to be a gym rat, in which case you can probably eat just about whatever you like.  You can choose to radically change how you eat.  Or you can do a little of both.

To be clear, I have not read anything that tells me exactly how Mr. Gervais personally lost the weight, it's not relevant, but I called it the Ricky Gervais Diet because he got me thinking the right way about losing weight.

Starting Out

In the first couple of weeks I downloaded an app called My Fitness Pal.  It's an amazing iPhone app that also works on most other smartphones, laptops, iPads and other tablets or computers.  Everything you eat, you tell the program.  It can be as simple as scanning the barcode on the thing you are eating, or doing a text search in their massive database.  It 'knows' over a million food items, so most of the time anything you eat is already in the system.  Super easy.  If you can Facebook you can do this.

My Fitness Pal will also track your weight, give you a calorie goal based on your BMI and gender and give you other pointers too.  If you exercise you can tell it, and it will show you how many extra calories you 'earned' to 'spend' that day.

The first couple of weeks suck.  I'm not going to lie.  If you over eat your stomach is going to be growling and complaining about not being full with pizza and chocolate.  But tough luck, you just have to suck it up.

For me though, the cool outcome of the first fortnight is that my stomach appears to have shrunk.  In days gone by I could eat huge meals.  Half a stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut.  No problem.  Perhaps even with some bread sticks as an appetizer.  That's all the calories you should eat in a day, right there in one meal.  Oh, and did I mention two days worth of sodium intake?  And that's not even including the appetizer, drinks or dessert items.

But after a couple of weeks, a small and sensible 250-350 calorie meal would satisfy me for hours.  With a bit of patience it's amazing how quickly you can retrain your body and mind.  If you also had the willpower to work out for an hour each day (which I don't), I could only imagine what could be achieved.

Moving On

Once you have passed through the first couple of weeks, your body has stopped being mad at you, and the scales are giving you good news.

I began to enjoy the My Fitness Pal app as a game.  If I eat this, then I can eat that later etc.  The app also helps you avoid hidden traps that exist all over America.

For example, Buffalo Wild Wings clearly doesn't sound like diet food.  But their naked tenders are basically grilled chicken with only 43 calories in each one.  Eight of them isn't an unhealthy meal from a calorie standpoint at 344 calories, even if you have some dip it's under 400.  Sadly though that same meal is your entire safe sodium intake for the day, right there in one meal.  Don't even get me started on why American food is so completely overloaded with sodium, it's unreal.  But the app helps you spot things like that and adjust accordingly.

Simple Food

When I'm at home I do like a simple meal I can eat in the kitchen that's easy to prepare.  Without much imagination you can recreate seemingly unhealthy food in a relatively healthy (or at least diet friendly way).  You can buy wraps that are tasty and have only 50 calories in.  If you shop wisely you can buy lean hot dogs with only 40 calories in that taste great.  Add a little light pimento cheese or spicy hummus or mustard, and you have a hot dog that's well under 150 calories.

Many grocery stores sell cooked chicken, you just have to peel off the meat and shovel it into your face.  Filling, full of protein, and tasty.  Got to watch the sodium on some of them, but still, you could do worse.

Then there are all those healthy or ethnic frozen meals you can buy.  If you shop around there are a ton of tasty meals that weigh in at well under 360 calories.  And once you have gotten your stomach out of the habit of bad food, one of those meals and a large glass of water will fill you up very nicely.

When I'm travelling for my job, I try to limit restaurant meals to chains where they have easy access to their nutritional information.  I'll often buy meal in a grocery store and eat it in my hotel room.  Or I'll buy a sandwich from a place like Subway that has clear nutritional information available.  If you avoid their stupid sandwiches you can easily have a decent and filling six inch sub for well under 400 calories.

Supplements

I'm not really an expert in this area, but I have found that Tonalin CLA consumed with a meal, while on a diet is really effective.  I detected no side effects, and the product is stimulant free.  The one week of my diet that I ran out of these pills was the one week that I lost the least amount of weight.

I also take a men's multi vitamin just in case I am missing some key nutrients with my diet.

Exercise

When you're overweight the thought of exercise is about as appealing as taking a cold shower, at least for me.  I remember a time when exercise was effortless.  I'd cycle miles to school in full uniform and not even be sweaty or out of breath!  I don't think I could do that today!

So if you're not in to the whole gym thing, you can still lose weight controlling the calories and watching the sodium intake.  But you can make simple life changes that all add up to making a difference.

When I'm in an airport, I'll walk to the gate, and if I have time, I'll take a nice long walk to the other end of the terminal and back, briskly.  The other day I was in a 14 story hotel, on the top floor.  On two occasions I walked the stairs to the room, rather than taking the elevator.

When I park, I'll deliberately pick a parking space further away from where I am going, so I can walk just a little bit more.  These are all just little things, but they add up, and keep you in a losing weight mindset.

Danger

You have to watch out for dangerous hidden calories too.  Like those naked tenders from BWW with the hidden evil sodium.  But non-diet drinks, alcohol, it all adds up.  So make sure you keep using the tracker to gain some perspective of what is going into your body.

Portion Size

Here in America a typical appetizer could feed a small non-American family for a day.  So it's really important to get your mind around eating sensibly.  Sadly we are often taught as children the absurd lession that finishing an entire plate of food is such a good idea (even when we're full), that the reward is a yummy desert item!  So not only are we teaching our kids to eat way beyond the point of sensible consumption, but we are then using a grossly unhealthy sugary sweet containing a bunch more calories as reward for the aforementioned gluttony!

It's so easy to carry this behavior on into adulthood; finishing every bite of food on the plate and then squeezing in an unhealthy desert.

For me personally, even after just 64 days, my stomach is content with much smaller portions, and if I start to feel full, I simply stop eating and notate in My Fitness Pal app that I did in fact not eat the whole thing, thus saving me calories I can use later if I get hungry or fancy a beer!  Why waste calories stuffing your stomach, making your stomach expect and demand larger portions in future, when you could eat a tasty snack or drink a nice glass of wine later on instead?

This mindset is really hard to get used to, because we are taught this behavior in many different ways as a kid, and some of that bleeds through into adulthood.

Day Off

I think it's okay to have a cheat day from time to time.  Maybe once a week.  Just don't go crazy with it.

Water

I think water is very important to a diet, especially in America where our food is dripping with sodium.  I try to consume at least one very large glass with every meal, one in the evening, and other smaller amounts throughout the day.  These days I just use a filter in the fridge, but some people prefer bottled or flavored.  The key is to force yourself to drink plenty, as I believe a lack of hydration will not help the diet one bit.

Stick To It

Even if you have a bad day, a cheat day, someone forces you to eat a cake.  Keep going back to the program, and don't give up.

Visualize

You have to keep reminding yourself why you are doing it.  You have to accept that you deserve to look your best, deserve to be healthy, and you owe it not only to yourself but to your partner, family and friends.  Being fat is a personal choice (for the vast majority of people who are fat), and personally I just made the decision that enough was enough.  I am not going back to that life.  Getting old sucks anyway, without being fat as well!

Weighing In

I believe the app I use suggests weekly weigh ins.  It's a great idea I think, because too often fluctuations in your weight, time of day etc can be discouraging.  But for me, as long as I stick to the program, I've found a steady and progressive weight loss that has been fairly consistent.

That's It

So that's how I've done it so far. I've quite a few more pounds and pant sizes to go before I am done.  With this diet you can simply tell the app you are just looking to maintain and it will up your daily calorie allocation accordingly.  Now you have more calories to 'spend' on the things you like to eat.

I hope you have found this article somewhat interesting or useful.  I'll be sure to blog again in a few weeks and let you know my further progress.