How To Become a Fat Detective

We are trying to go through the DPP Lifestyle Change Program. Today, we will deal with Session 2 which is on Becoming a Fat Detective. But first, let's see if we did our homework. Did we write down all the food we ate and all the drink we had? Did you circle the food you think had the most fat? Good. Now we're on to becoming fat detectives.

We will start to monitor our weight regularly. We will do it at least once a week. I weigh myself every day before I eat breakfast. Try to weigh yourself at the same time and record it in a notebook. We are going to try to follow the DPP target for fat and calorie intake depending on our weight at the start of this program. Here's what they recommend:

DPP Daily Amounts for Fat and Calories

Starting Weight	Fat (Grams)	Calories
120-170	33	1200
175-215	42	1500
220-245	50	1800
250-300	55	2000

Find your weight and try to stick to the number of grams of fat and the number of calories for your daily intake. Try to eat every four hours as getting too hungry will just lead to overeating. How will you calculate the number of grams of fat? Read the food labels or use a fat and calorie counter.

The DPP fat and calorie counter can be accessed in the website of the National Diabetes Education Program at ndep.nih.gov or you can buy your own at a bookstore. When reading food labels, make sure you get the serving size, the total fat grams per serving and the calories per serving.

And now for the dreaded homework: Continue weighing yourself at least once or twice a week at the same time of the day and record it. Keep recording everything you eat and drink and the amount of fat and calories you consume. Try to keep within the daily amount recommended above.

Don't panic if you go over the limit. Just figure out which food is the culprit and try to limit its consumption. Next time, after checking the homework, we will deal with the ways to eat less fat. There are at least three ways. Hush! Don't tell anybody else for that will be our secret weapon.