I'm going to focus now on weight loss and more importantly a healthy lifestyle.
I was a skinny kid - in fact gaining weight was at times a challenge. A few year ago that stopped being so much of a challenge, if I look back it was even starting after I got married almost 15 years ago - I still remember my doctor saying my weight gain was "happy fat" because I was happy with my life or some other BS - I've had great doctors most of my life, but I don't know that most of them paid enough attention to weight gain and diet as problems. Instead they focused on symptoms like high blood sugar or high cholesterol levels - h and heart burn, terrible terrible heart burn.
So a few month ago I wasn't OK with my "happy fat" or taking medicines for 5 different "problems". I didn't like how I looked or felt and the term Dad bod hit too close to home. I should take a step back - this all really started with exercise and that started because of a book on self-improvement main in the area of better practice and skill building. Basically it said if you weren't exercising and eating right you weren't using your body in the right way and you wouldn't be able to preform at your best or learn more effectively. Well i had started a new role at work and I needed to be as sharp as I could be because I had super limited time to devote to learning. So exercising started - walking and jogging on the treadmill. The came diet -
My diet changes came about with the help of a program offer by my employer, while I won't discount how much it impacted my life there are only a few key details that anyone needs to know to lose weight and I'm going to share those with you.
Weight lose or gain is basic math - it is that simple on paper, in practice there are some other things to consider. If you want to lose weight don't lose more than 2 pounds a week (sometimes you will lose more, but try not to, I'll explain more) Try to lose at least half a pound a week, again you may not lose but .1 pounds or even stay the same, it will happen, look for any reasons things didn't go to plan and try to correct for next week, no guilt or self-bullying.
Ok so how much do you want to lose in a week - well you can roughly say that a pound of fat is 3500 calories so you need to shave off 3500 calories in a week. Which works out to about 500 calories a day. I'd suggest starting out with this goal and base it off of a 2000 calorie a day diet, a word of warning, few of us eat 2000 calories in a day, most eat much more, but our bodies burn about 2000 with a normal level of activity. (In my personal experience) This is the bit where I tell you that you should probably talk with your doctor on how many calories you should eat as 1500 calories a day is too little for a man, but woman can take it even lower.
Want to lose more than a pound a week? I suggest doing a pound in the kitchen and a pound in the gym. The one, two punch of diet and exercise really is a secret to success. Your workouts help keep you on track by reminding you how hard you have to work to burn 200-400 calories and working out also helps to curb your appetite.
So diet + exercise = less of you, and in this case less is more! Figure out some goals for you to lose a pound or a half a pound next week.
Here are a few food tips to get you started -
If you drink soft drinks or sugar filled coffee - stop cold turkey, this wasn't an issue for me so I won't be much help here - I don't have any thing good to say about diet soda but nothing bad either. If you do have them track them, it may help you give them up. Remember the reason you are trying to lose weight and know that it is better than that cold Dr. Pepper.
Protein and Fiber are your friend - I eat greek yogurt and fiber buds for breakfast everyday it is only 160 calories, nice and sweet - portable and healthy overall (still has a lot of sugar) most importantly it helps me to stay full - speaking of staying full in the morning - don't skip the coffee - coffee can help you feel fuller longer!
Pickles - they are zero calories in most cases which on hard days can be a super blessing!
Don't eat late! Let your body use that food during the day, not while you are sleeping.
Save calories for when you are the most hungry - for me that is at night so half or more of my daily calories go toward dinner and after dinner snacks.
Carbs aren't bad, but there are bad carbs - that basket of bread at the table or those chips at your favorite Mexican restaurant those can turn a successful day into a disaster faster than Leo can say iceberg off the port side! Eat good carbs like baked potatoes or rice, but watch the portions and measure everything! (I'll talk more about this later) Just don't cut out all carbs, this is a lifestyle change not a prison sentence.
More to come!
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
I love it when a plan comes together
A goal without a plan is just a dream -
Our bases are covered, you have a reason for change, you have a goal or goals you want to meet. Now time to get a plan together. Since your plan is a realization of your goal we will work from your goal.
Let's make a plan for two goals - first goal. Be more active. I'm going to assume you don't have a fitbit or some other kind of activity tracking device. If you do well this will be even easier. ( I do recommend an activity tracker as it gives you so much data to how you are doing toward fitness goals!)
Walk for 15 minutes after dinner 3 times next week. That's it - you goal, be more active, your plan walk 15 minutes after dinner 3 times next week - why because of X. Can you walk 15 minutes before dinner, sure if that is your plan, but don't walk 15 minutes before and not stick to your plan of 15 after. Can you walk 30 minutes, yup but don't walk 30 minutes today and feel so tired tomorrow that you don't stick to your plan. (I'm guilty of this and you probably will be too, but at least I warned you).
If you decide you want to walk 30 minutes 5 days a week, but set a goal for 15 minutes 3 days a week, I'd recommend walking 15 minutes Sunday, Monday - Tuesday you need to walk at least 15 but can up it to 30 - the rest of the week you can walk an hour each time if you want and way to go if you do - but after Tuesday you have met your goal! Congrats, feel pride in meeting your goal and sticking to a plan.
Sticking to a plan and meeting a goal no matter how simple will help you to achieve more and more success.
Something to note - don't set a goal or make a plan that is something you already do, that isn't change. Now if you want to have a goal of riding your bike for 3 of 5 days and you currently only do 2 that is fine. Don't make a goal of working out 3 days this week, when you already workout 3 or more - push yourself - make a change. If your goal is something you already do you probably need to look back at your reason, it probably isn't a good one...
Try a simple goal this coming week - if you can't think of one just go for a 15 minute walk 3 times or call 3 friends that you don't keep in touch with enough. Set a goal, make a plan, celebrate your success - repeat.
Second plan - Let's say you want to be more active but you also want to lose weight. You can't lose weight by exercise alone, if someone has told you differently they are probably crazy, misinformed, or a professional athlete whose job is to stay in shape and that requires tons of calories due to tons of exercise like crazy amounts! No if you want to lose weight it starts in the kitchen.
So your second goal track your food two days next week, every meal. Try not to guess, measure or weigh your food for example or if you are eating out look up the calorie content, most of the time they are easy to find. If you want to have a little more fun put down a guess of how much you think a meal or snack is and then figure out the real value, sooner rather than later your will be shocked at how many calories our favorite meals have in them!
So our plan goal is what we want to achieve and our plan is how we will achieve it or measure our success.
I'd suggest you don't keep your goal private - share it with a friend or share it with the world(social media)
Good luck!
Our bases are covered, you have a reason for change, you have a goal or goals you want to meet. Now time to get a plan together. Since your plan is a realization of your goal we will work from your goal.
Let's make a plan for two goals - first goal. Be more active. I'm going to assume you don't have a fitbit or some other kind of activity tracking device. If you do well this will be even easier. ( I do recommend an activity tracker as it gives you so much data to how you are doing toward fitness goals!)
Walk for 15 minutes after dinner 3 times next week. That's it - you goal, be more active, your plan walk 15 minutes after dinner 3 times next week - why because of X. Can you walk 15 minutes before dinner, sure if that is your plan, but don't walk 15 minutes before and not stick to your plan of 15 after. Can you walk 30 minutes, yup but don't walk 30 minutes today and feel so tired tomorrow that you don't stick to your plan. (I'm guilty of this and you probably will be too, but at least I warned you).
If you decide you want to walk 30 minutes 5 days a week, but set a goal for 15 minutes 3 days a week, I'd recommend walking 15 minutes Sunday, Monday - Tuesday you need to walk at least 15 but can up it to 30 - the rest of the week you can walk an hour each time if you want and way to go if you do - but after Tuesday you have met your goal! Congrats, feel pride in meeting your goal and sticking to a plan.
Sticking to a plan and meeting a goal no matter how simple will help you to achieve more and more success.
Something to note - don't set a goal or make a plan that is something you already do, that isn't change. Now if you want to have a goal of riding your bike for 3 of 5 days and you currently only do 2 that is fine. Don't make a goal of working out 3 days this week, when you already workout 3 or more - push yourself - make a change. If your goal is something you already do you probably need to look back at your reason, it probably isn't a good one...
Try a simple goal this coming week - if you can't think of one just go for a 15 minute walk 3 times or call 3 friends that you don't keep in touch with enough. Set a goal, make a plan, celebrate your success - repeat.
Second plan - Let's say you want to be more active but you also want to lose weight. You can't lose weight by exercise alone, if someone has told you differently they are probably crazy, misinformed, or a professional athlete whose job is to stay in shape and that requires tons of calories due to tons of exercise like crazy amounts! No if you want to lose weight it starts in the kitchen.
So your second goal track your food two days next week, every meal. Try not to guess, measure or weigh your food for example or if you are eating out look up the calorie content, most of the time they are easy to find. If you want to have a little more fun put down a guess of how much you think a meal or snack is and then figure out the real value, sooner rather than later your will be shocked at how many calories our favorite meals have in them!
So our plan goal is what we want to achieve and our plan is how we will achieve it or measure our success.
I'd suggest you don't keep your goal private - share it with a friend or share it with the world(social media)
Good luck!
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Lights, Camera, Action
Lights, Camera, Action or rather A reason, a goal, a plan!
So you have your reason - you know why you want change in your life. It is a reason that will stick and motivate you to a goal(s).
Onward to a goal - start small, wanna walk 10,000 steps each day? Are you walking 5,000 today or maybe less? Set your goal at 8,000, if you always pass it then up your goal to 10,000.
Let me take a step or two back, no pun intended... Goals are important, not as important as a reason, but if you don't have a goal you don't have a point to which you are going, you have nothing to measure, which means you can't tell if you are making progress.
Let's look at the goal of getting 10,000 steps in a day, say you are at 5,000. A goal of 10,000 is a good goal you are doubling down and putting a very specific goal that you feel you can achieve. Most books or articles you will read on goal setting will tell you, that you are spot on. Well I'm going to disagree with that for now.
As I said in my last post change is simple, but hard the last thing you need is something getting in your way. So looking back at the goal of 10,000 steps we see the main goal which is get more steps, be more active. Let's start with that! My goal I want to be more active!! If you'd rather have a specific goal than set the bar low - how many times will you hear someone say that?! Seriously - set yourself up for success - want to walk more, read more, run more, eat less, complain less... do it slowly, simply, incrementally.
My favorite thing about my step goal is to blow past it by the middle of the day! Why don't I increase my step count you may wonder? Because it doesn't match my real goal which is to be more active and ultimately be healthy. I hate not meeting my step count I feel like I've failed for the day when in fact 8456 is way better than the days I used to get 3000 to 5000 steps.
Take away - Step a goal that even on a "bad" day you think you can reach.
Why? You probably already know but success feels good, it is additive. A goal of 30 minutes of cardio 3 times a week turns into 5 times a week quickly. Let me give you an example. Say I want to get in 15k steps in a day for a week - by setting my goal at 12k first (from 10k) I get used to success - I also start to learn how to fit extra steps in. For example in order for me to get in 15k steps in a day I know I have to have 10k by 5 pm. If I don't I'm not likely to get to 15k by bed time - which in turn means I probably need to walk on my lunch break so that by 3 I have at least 8k steps. Starting to see what I'm getting at?
Your assignment - set a simple goal.
Tomorrow we will talk planning - from there we will get to more of my day to day goals and plan for a healthy lifestyle, including food choices, exercise, etc.
So you have your reason - you know why you want change in your life. It is a reason that will stick and motivate you to a goal(s).
Onward to a goal - start small, wanna walk 10,000 steps each day? Are you walking 5,000 today or maybe less? Set your goal at 8,000, if you always pass it then up your goal to 10,000.
Let me take a step or two back, no pun intended... Goals are important, not as important as a reason, but if you don't have a goal you don't have a point to which you are going, you have nothing to measure, which means you can't tell if you are making progress.
Let's look at the goal of getting 10,000 steps in a day, say you are at 5,000. A goal of 10,000 is a good goal you are doubling down and putting a very specific goal that you feel you can achieve. Most books or articles you will read on goal setting will tell you, that you are spot on. Well I'm going to disagree with that for now.
As I said in my last post change is simple, but hard the last thing you need is something getting in your way. So looking back at the goal of 10,000 steps we see the main goal which is get more steps, be more active. Let's start with that! My goal I want to be more active!! If you'd rather have a specific goal than set the bar low - how many times will you hear someone say that?! Seriously - set yourself up for success - want to walk more, read more, run more, eat less, complain less... do it slowly, simply, incrementally.
My favorite thing about my step goal is to blow past it by the middle of the day! Why don't I increase my step count you may wonder? Because it doesn't match my real goal which is to be more active and ultimately be healthy. I hate not meeting my step count I feel like I've failed for the day when in fact 8456 is way better than the days I used to get 3000 to 5000 steps.
Take away - Step a goal that even on a "bad" day you think you can reach.
Why? You probably already know but success feels good, it is additive. A goal of 30 minutes of cardio 3 times a week turns into 5 times a week quickly. Let me give you an example. Say I want to get in 15k steps in a day for a week - by setting my goal at 12k first (from 10k) I get used to success - I also start to learn how to fit extra steps in. For example in order for me to get in 15k steps in a day I know I have to have 10k by 5 pm. If I don't I'm not likely to get to 15k by bed time - which in turn means I probably need to walk on my lunch break so that by 3 I have at least 8k steps. Starting to see what I'm getting at?
Your assignment - set a simple goal.
Tomorrow we will talk planning - from there we will get to more of my day to day goals and plan for a healthy lifestyle, including food choices, exercise, etc.
Monday, August 28, 2017
The Reason
Change is simple - simple is not easy and change is not easy. Change happens all the time, everyday of our lives. Most changes are happening without notice or without our direct influence.
Real change generally requires some action, some plan to get us from this state to the next state. If you want to change your hair color you have to make a plan to buy some hair dye or go to a salon. If you want a new car you have to take steps toward research or going to a dealer. Even relationships require action, you want to be friends with this person or avoid that person it requires action and planning to some degree.
Now change does come in unexpected and unpleasant ways from time to time. A car accident doesn't take any planning or the lose of a friend or loved one requires no planning on your part, however that change does require you to change, to develop a plan to handle that unwanted change in your life. Let's not dwell on this, but rather agree that change is simple, but not easy and to make change happen in a positive way we need a plan!
So here is my plan..... HAHA just kidding, how can I just jump into a plan?! Nope before we plan, before we can make a change we need a reason!!
What is a reason, a reason isn't a goal - A goal is something you make a plan to achieve and we aren't to plans yet. A reason isn't a how that is also a plan or some set of steps. A reason is WHY - Why may be the most important question we can ever ask, and most of the time the hardest to answer with any real truth or thought behind it.
So why? Why change? Change is simple, but it is HARD - Why change at all? You won't change if you don't have a reason to change and the reason has to matter. Looking good on the beach (classic weight lose reason) is a temporary reason and it's effects will fade with the Pumpkin spiced lattes. Real last change needs a real reason, one that will remain before, during and after you have made your change.
So before we can get to change, goals, plans, steps, mistakes, successes - we need a reason.
So what's your reason? Is it to get fit? Be a better parent? Live a longer life (Lord willing)?
Find your reason - maybe you write it down, maybe it is rooted so deep that you don't need it written on paper because it is written on your heart or written on the faces of your children or loved ones.
A closing note - reasons can change and most of the time that will at least somewhat. The reason you made one change doesn't have to be the reason you keep that change as "the new normal".
Step 1 - Find your reason.
Real change generally requires some action, some plan to get us from this state to the next state. If you want to change your hair color you have to make a plan to buy some hair dye or go to a salon. If you want a new car you have to take steps toward research or going to a dealer. Even relationships require action, you want to be friends with this person or avoid that person it requires action and planning to some degree.
Now change does come in unexpected and unpleasant ways from time to time. A car accident doesn't take any planning or the lose of a friend or loved one requires no planning on your part, however that change does require you to change, to develop a plan to handle that unwanted change in your life. Let's not dwell on this, but rather agree that change is simple, but not easy and to make change happen in a positive way we need a plan!
So here is my plan..... HAHA just kidding, how can I just jump into a plan?! Nope before we plan, before we can make a change we need a reason!!
What is a reason, a reason isn't a goal - A goal is something you make a plan to achieve and we aren't to plans yet. A reason isn't a how that is also a plan or some set of steps. A reason is WHY - Why may be the most important question we can ever ask, and most of the time the hardest to answer with any real truth or thought behind it.
So why? Why change? Change is simple, but it is HARD - Why change at all? You won't change if you don't have a reason to change and the reason has to matter. Looking good on the beach (classic weight lose reason) is a temporary reason and it's effects will fade with the Pumpkin spiced lattes. Real last change needs a real reason, one that will remain before, during and after you have made your change.
So before we can get to change, goals, plans, steps, mistakes, successes - we need a reason.
So what's your reason? Is it to get fit? Be a better parent? Live a longer life (Lord willing)?
Find your reason - maybe you write it down, maybe it is rooted so deep that you don't need it written on paper because it is written on your heart or written on the faces of your children or loved ones.
A closing note - reasons can change and most of the time that will at least somewhat. The reason you made one change doesn't have to be the reason you keep that change as "the new normal".
Step 1 - Find your reason.
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