Steal This: Fat Monitor

When the subject of weight and dieting come up, most people look at me and comment on how "in shape" I am. This is not a brag. And like many others who receive such compliments, I believe they really think that, but I personally know "the truth." Which is, I am in ok shape. But I still could shed 5-10 lbs from my gut and I'd be a lot happier with how I look.

So I moderate what I eat, and I exercise a bit, and try to walk places rather than drive or take public transport. But that gut just doesn't go away. You all know what I'm talking about - anyone who has ever tried to drop a couple pounds knows how difficult it is. And I can't say I understand what some people must have to cope with, trying to drop 30 or 40 or 100 or more. Can't imagine what that must be like.

I do know for my own self that one of the challenges to losing weight is knowing how much food is the right amount of food to eat at any given time. My present strategy involves guesstimating how much food it would take to sate me at a meal, and then trying to cut that in half, and eat a more limited amount. I do this because I've learned that about a half hour later I'm going to feel "full." And if I don't go for the half, and instead munch down the whole burrito (or whatever), it'll slip right down while I'm enjoying it, but in about a half hour I'll feel like I just swallowed a bowling ball. Not good.

But even with my halving strategy, I still find I am creeping up on the waist line, and I really don't like it. So what to do?

Well, what if I could monitor some bodily statistic throughout the day that would tell me whether the current food intake level was in the "gain", "hold" or "lose" range, weight-wise? You know, the way a diabetic monitors their glucose level using one of those electronic monitors with a drop of blood. What if I could see the numbers behind what my body is doing with the food I have eaten thus far in the day, and then gauge what I eat next based on those numbers?

I do this when I work out - with a heart-rate monitor. Gets to the point where I can tell what my heart rate is without looking at the readout, based on how hard I'm breathing, and what I'm feeling.

I really believe that if I could monitor whether my body was getting fatter or thinner in realtime throughout the day I would learn how to eat the right amount all the time, rather than guessing and halving, which is not working that well - but it's better than nothing.

Anyone know of a technology that can do this? Does it exist? Is it physiologically possible??

Postscript: on further research, I found a science journal article related to this published on the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition website. It is entitled, Biomarkers of satiation and satiety. It appears researchers are asking this question and finding some ways of providing answers. It also appears that a definitive answer does not yet exist. Stay tuned!