Day #122 - Rough Night, Strong Day

I wish I could figure out the cause of my knee pain, or, at least what makes it better or worse.  Last night the pain was much worse than it has been.  Most of the time now I wake up once or twice with knee pain, I get up, walk around, and then go back to bed.  Last night the pain kept coming back over and over again.  There's no rhyme nor reason to why some nights are bad and some are not.  Strike that, I'm sure it's something, but there's no pattern that I can figure out.

Anyway I was tired today, but decided right from the start that it would not be an excuse.  I had a business lunch that I had to go to and we had Chinese food.  I got shrimp and veggies.  I also had some fried rice and a spring roll (today was my high carb day so I was ok with that).  My usual Chinese fare is much more unhealthy so I felt like today's lunch was good compromise.

3 solid days in a row, I feel a trend forming.  It's great to be back at it, consistently eating well and now starting to feel well as well.  122 are now in the books, On to Day #123.

Stay Strong!

Day #119 - Back to Basics

Another good night... only woke up 1 time with knee pain.  Words cannot begin to describe how I'm feeling now that I can sleep again.  I still have a way to go to get back to feeling 100% but for now I'll take what I can get.

So now I'm ready to get back on track with my healthy eating.  I did some damage over the last two weeks; I won't be able to get those weeks back, but I can get back on track right now.  To get back on track I'm going right back to what was working for me.  I'm going back to carb cycling, two low carb days for every high carb day plus my one unrestricted day.  No calorie counting, and no measuring portions; I know what healthy eating is. 

For now I won't worry about the exercise, I want to get back on track slowly and I don't want to risk re-aggravating my knee again, but occasionally I will walk again at lunchtime as it helps clear my head and keeps me in the game.

Better days are ahead for me, I can feel it.  The re-start begins tomorrow morning.

Stay Strong!

[Photo: Flickr / Timothy Krause]

Day #61 - Looking Back

Today I start a weeklong vacation!  I'm not going anywhere, the kids have school, but I'm going to start remodeling my master bathroom and bedroom.  The in-laws are coming to visit this weekend so I won't really get started until Monday, but then I'll be ripping out the old blue shower and toilet along with the 80's style baby blue floor tiles.  I'll take pictures along the way to show my progress; next week I should be getting plenty of exercise.

Looking back, this has been a pretty good week.  Not great, not bad, just good.  Originally I thought I would only weigh once a month, but I'm already curious so don't be surprised if I post my weight tomorrow.  Anyway, this week was all about getting back in the habit of eating healthy.  All week long I brought my lunch to work except for today, and when I went out today I ordered a salad.  As for water, I did really well at the start of the week, but trailed off a little in the last 2 days.  It wasn't for a lack of trying, I've noticed the more busy I get at work, the less water I drink and getting ready for vacation kept me hopping for the last 2 days.  Other than some chips and a little alcohol (yeah I know) last night, I was healthy all week long. 

If I do stand on the scale tomorrow I'm pretty confident I'll see a loss.  Day #61 in the books, on to day #62

Stay Strong!

Weight Loss Priorities

Very often you read posts from other bloggers talking about making losing weight a priority, but it’s a little rarer to find a post that talks about prioritizing within weight loss.  You can’t put all your focus on  everything at once, and if you try you just end up frustrated with failure.  Below are the priorities I established for myself to help lose weight and be healthy.  The #1 priority might surprise you a little…

Priority #5 – Exercise

Daily exercise is important with a healthy lifestyle, whether it’s structured or not.  People didn’t always have gym memberships or elliptical machines at home.  They stayed fit by moving around and working hard.  It’s interesting how things are starting to come full circle, you are beginning to see a lot of structured workouts designed around being unstructured.  Pull a sled, flip a tractor trailer tire, pick up a heavy sack and carry it around.  Not much different from the days of old right?  Regardless of the method, you have to move around, you have to work your muscles, and you have to get that heart rate up once in a while if you ever have any hope to drop the weight.

Priority #4 – Water

You can find tons of conflicting information about how much water to drink, but one thing you don’t find is people telling you water is not important.  There is no dispute that water is an important part of weight loss.  It keeps you hydrated, flushes out the bad stuff, and even helps you to feel full.  Decide for yourself what the right amount is but make sure “plenty of water” is one of your priorities.

Priority #3 – Healthy Eating

You can exercise hard an hour a day but it won’t really do you much good if you eat cheeseburgers and pizza the other 23 hours.  That’s why healthy eating is at #3 priority.  There are a zillion diets out there; a vast majority of them are healthy with a few rare exceptions.  I’m not going to try to convince anyone about what the right diet is because it depends on the person.  However, I can promise you the road to successful long term weight loss includes a healthy eating plan.

Priority #2 – Proper Mindset

I bet you thought this would be #1 priority?  Nope, it’s #2.  You can eat healthy, get plenty of water, and exercise regularly and still not be successful in the long term.  Proper mindset is what keeps you on your path.  Proper mindset is what allows you to keep your promises to follow the other priorities.  Yes, you can lose weight without proper mindset, but the success will be short lived and you will eventually find yourself in a worse situation than you were before.  Without priority #2, it becomes very difficult to maintain priorities #3, #4, and #5.

Priority #1 – SLEEP!

This might surprise you, but sleep is my #1 priority.  If you do not get good quality sleep, you will be too tired to exercise (#5).  If you do not get good quality sleep your body does not function properly and your metabolism is affected as well (#4 and #3).  Finally, if you do not get good quality sleep then it becomes impossible to maintain a proper mindset (#2).  If you do not get good quality sleep then you can forget about any of the other priorities; sleep trumps then all!


Priority Flip-Flop

Most people focus most of their energy on #3, #4 and #5 and give little attention to #1 and #2.  In fact many people believe that by fixing #3, #4, and #5 they will see improvement in #1 and #2.  Maybe that’s why most people (myself included) fail.  Maybe we need to put less energy into healthy consumption and exercise and more energy into quality sleep and proper mindset.  Am I suggesting #3, #4, and #5 be ignored?  No, that’s not what I’m saying; they are still important in any healthy lifestyle.  My point is that maybe our weight loss priorities are upside down.  Maybe by putting more effort into sleep and mindset you wouldn’t need so much effort in the others and they would actually become easier. 

What do you think; what are your weight loss priorities? 

[Photo: Flickr / R/DV/RS]

Spiraling Back Into Control

I've always been like a light switch when it comes to healthy eating.  Either I'm gung ho sticking to my eating plan, or I'm pigging out every meal with no regard for my intake.  This time it feels a little different.  This time I shifted focus away from worrying about my eating and instead put my energy into not letting my weekend fall from grace drag me down into a pit of depression.  So far it's worked.  I had more to do at work this week than I have in the last few weeks.  Those weeks where I felt so stressed out were nothing compared to this week, but yet I feel more calm. 

I'm taking a much needed vacation day tomorrow to do a bunch of yard work.  at 6:30PM I still had hours of work to do in the office, but I told myself I had done enough; the work will be there when I get back on Monday.  I went home feeling like I won.  It might not have been the best I've done with eating this week, but it was as good as I could muster.  With no pressure tomorrow at work I feel like I can take another step and have a good eating day.  I already talked about guy's night on Saturday so I'll probably indulge a little, but then I have Sunday to take another step back toward my healthy lifestyle.

One day at a time, one step at a time.  I don't have to just flick the switch and try to fix everything at once.  It's truly a different way of looking at life in general.  Even my best friend told me this week that he sees a change in me.  I didn't spiral out of control last weekend, I hit the side of the mountain and burst into flames.  The journey back has been up and down with a little more up each time.  My hope is that by Monday I'm right back at it, pushing hard to improve my health.  I've got two more weeks to go before I weigh in again and I want to see some progress though to be honest I haven't even thought about the scale for the last two weeks.  Interesting, I didn't spiral out of control; I feel like I'm spiraling back into control.

-Stay Strong!

 

[Photo: Flickr / Masakazu Matsumoto]

Noble Excuses

If you are overweight, chances are good that you are pretty darn good at making excuses for overeating or eating poorly.  However, some of us have this uncanny skill to take our excuses and put a little extra weight behind them.  These excuses are not just justification for unhealthy behavior, but rather, they become mandates to do so; not following them means going against our societal norms altogether and putting yourself at risk of becoming an outcast.  I call these great rationales “Noble Excuses”.

What makes an excuse noble is the selflessness that comes along with it.  When you choose a noble excuse, you choose to put your own personal needs aside while you attend to the needs of others even if that excuse means a little weight gain.  Below are just a few examples of excuses that go that extra mile and therefore become NOBLE...


A Friend In Need

Everyone has friends (well, most everyone); and those friends have needs, both physical and emotional.  When you are trying to eat healthy, a friend in need is the perfect opportunity to create a Noble Excuse…

What’s that, your best friend just broke up with her boyfriend?  You need to do the right thing and march right over to her house and help her fight through the tears with a couple gallons of ice cream!  To do anything else would be unworthy of BFF status.

Your buddy’s brother just lost his job? Time to man up, put on your big boy pants, and get ready for a night of heavy duty drinking.  Afterall, it’s your buddy’s brother, it’s your duty!


Will Someone Please Think of the Children!

Ah yes, the wee Children.  Parents’ perfect generator for noble excuses.  There are so many different ways we parents can use our kids for rationalization…

Little Suzie has to go to karate class and Johnny has gymnastics 3 times a week.  There’s no time to cook a healthy meal, but my kids need these activities.  We’ll just have to suffer through some pizza for the good of the kids!

My kids won’t eat healthy food.  I can’t let them starve so we’ll be eating hot dogs tonight in order to make sure they don’t go hungry!

If I eat this candy bar, maybe I’ll stop being so cranky.  I need to do it or I might say something that scars my kids for life!


For the Greater Good

No discussion about nobility comes without talking about the greater good.  History is filled with heinous acts that were done with “the greater good” in mind, why would unhealthy eating be any different…

I’ve eaten so well for the last week, but if I don’t go out for Chinese buffet now, I’ll surely lose control next week and end up eating out multiple times.  I better go out now in order to help stay in control later.

Should I eat Aunt May’s cherry cobbler or Uncle Ralph’s pumpkin pie?  Making a choice will certainly create a rift that will rival the Hatfields and the McCoys.  I better do the right thing and have both, you know, to keep the peace.


What's Your Excuse?

Life happens and we can’t just hide out in a low calorie bubble.  Friends will have problems, kids will be kids, and it’s impossible to keep family peace for more than about 5 seconds at any family event.  At the end of the day noble excuses are nothing more than excuses with a lot of thought behind them.  Instead of putting your energy into making your excuses noble, why not instead try to put that energy into not needing excuses in the first place.  Life is all about making a lot of small choices; you need excuses for the bad ones, but you gain true satisfaction from the good ones.

What about you, what’s your most Noble Excuse?

 

 

[Photo: Flickr / Jarapet]

Week #6 Weigh-In

8/24/14 Starting Weight: 347.8 lbs

 

Last Weigh-in: 327.6 lbs

Current Weight: 319.2 lbs

Period Weight Loss: 8.4 lbs

Total Weight Loss: 28.6 lbs

  
 

I have to admit I'm a bit shocked with this one!  Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled with the result, just trying to figure out where it came from.  I suppose I might have been retaining a little water last week when I only lost 2 pounds, but this is still a little out there.

It was another good week, I did an outstanding job with my eating plan again.  I'm amazed at how much easier it is to stay strong when your mind is focused.  Even with such a lousy work week, I was able to resist the temptations.

This also takes me to the halfway point of my first 12 week stint.  When I first started I told myself that I wasn't going to set crazy or unrealistic goals like I usually do.  I told my wife that my "not-really-a-goal-but-sure-would-be-cool" target would be to get under 300 by the end of 3 months.  Halfway there, and I'm amazed that I might actually have a shot.  This is going to be the best non-goal I ever had the privilege of not shooting for!  
 

Highlights:

1. Sticking to eating plan - Rock solid
2. Drinking a gallon of water every day
3. Feeling great; Resisting Temptations

Lowlights:

1. Only exercised once during the work week
2. Didn't keep up with blogging this week
3. STRESS at work!

On Friday Ice Cream was being sold as part of a United Way campaign.  My boss agreed to buy ice cream for anyone in my group, as much as we wanted, on his dime.  I love ice cream but I want to lose this weight more than I ever have before, so I passed (Small Victory #20).

I am truly enjoying how my life is going right now! One of my daughters just told me that she's so glad we moved.  Clearly my whole family is settling in and I feel like I'm just starting to hit my stride.  I'm excited to be finally taking control of my life.  The journey is long, and the road is tough, but I know I'm ready for it.  6 weeks in the books, time to focus on week #7.  If I want to lose 20 pounds in the next 6 weeks and get under 300 I'm going to have to step up that exercise!

 

 

Stay Strong!

-FogDog

 

 

[Photo: Flickr / Tim Simpson]

Healthy Living...From Truth to Myth

 

When I turned 40 I made a commitment to myself that my personal health (both physical & mental) would become a priority in my life.  It took me almost 2 full years of false starts to figure out that I had to start with the mental part first. 

Once I started to focus on my mental state and I began to realize how it was affecting me, it was as if the floodgates had opened up and all these thoughts just started rolling in.  As I read more and more about how the brain works, positive psychology, and even exploring a little into the Buddhist philosophy, I started to realize something.  I realized that not only were a lot of my beliefs and perceptions about myself and the world around me completely wrong, but those actual beliefs and perceptions were what was keeping me from being happy and achieving my goal of becoming healthy. 

 

Below are just a few of the more important "myths" that I used to hold as truths…

Myth #1 - In order for me to be happy I need to... 

This is one that I’ve thought of before, but never truly believed it until recently.  Maybe you feel this way too; in order to be happy you need to “fix” yourself.  I’ve commented on other blogs about this before and I also wrote a blog post about it some time ago.  You think "Once I lose weight or quit smoking or {fill in the blank}, I will then be happy!"  You don’t need to "fix" yourself in order to be happy, you can choose to be happy right now just as you are (and it will probably help you to fix those things you want to work on).  The problem with needing to fix yourself first is that even if you manage to fix something, there will just be something else that you need to fix before you allow yourself to be happy.  If we all couldn’t be happy until we were perfect then the world would be chock full of unhappy people because I haven’t met anyone yet who was perfect.

Myth #2 - Making health and fitness a priority requires sacrifice in other areas of my life

This belief was something that I needed a little proof before I truly embraced it.  The thought process was this… There is only a finite amount of time in the day, so if I make health and fitness a priority something else will suffer like my career, my home life, my hobbies, etc.  The problem with that belief is that it only looks at time and not quality.  So I guess it is true that I spend a little bit less time at the office or "networking" over beers with the big shots.  However, I’m more productive at work than ever.  I’m generally happy at work, my mood swings are gone, and my stress levels are down.  Is that a sacrifice?  Or how about my home life… I trade 30 minutes of lying on the couch watching TV for 30 minutes of working out.  I help my wife with the food and the cooking now (still a work in progress) instead of sitting around waiting to be served.  We go on hikes with the kids on Sundays instead of binge drinking on Saturday night and then spending Sunday hung over and irritated.  Is that the sacrifice we are talking about?  When you think of sacrifice, don’t make the mistake of just looking at time.  Healthy living can and should mean better quality of life all around.

Myth #3 - I can only learn from those who know more than me about a particular topic

Here’s the problem with this belief… If you think you can only learn from people that know more about something than you do, then as you learn more and more, the field of people you are willing to learn from and listen to shrinks until there is no one left!  Eventually you just stop learning and once that happens life just passes you by.  Coaching youth sports over the last few years has taught me that you can learn from anyone at any time, regardless of their knowledge about a subject.  You just have to be willing to hear them.

Myth #4 - I don’t “deserve” to be healthy because I haven’t earned it yet

I think there’s a lot of people that carry this belief… “You gotta pay your dues!”  While this is true of a lot of things, it simply isn’t true when it comes to living a happy, healthy,  or fulfilling life.  What's worse is that often we view "earning it" in terms of suffering.  When you tell yourself you haven’t earned it yet or you aren’t deserving, you are really just putting up your own roadblocks toward achieving it.

What's ironic about this myth is that we don't ever seem to have a hard time telling ourselves we "deserve" to be unhealthy.  Ever tell yourself you deserved the whole chocolate cake because you were so healthy all week long?

Myth #5 - My Life Has No Purpose

I saved the hardest one (for me) for last.  For the longest time I’ve wandered aimlessly feeling like my life has no purpose.  I’ve read books and blog articles and any literature I can find about finding my life’s purpose; my mission in life.  All this searching has left me with the belief that my life simply has no purpose.  The true reality is this…My life has purpose, I just don’t know what it is.  Maybe even more important, I don’t really need to know what my purpose is in order to lead a happy, fulfilling life.

You ever lose something and become obsessed with finding it even though you don’t really need it right away?  You search high and low in the same places over and over again.  You know you should just stop, but the act of finding it actually becomes more important than the item.  After a while you get so frustrated and eventually you give up.  A week later you find it while doing something totally unrelated.  At that point finding it was easy.  A week before finding it was a miserable experience.  This is my new view on having a purpose; I don’t really need to know what it is right away, so I’m going to stop making myself miserable trying to find it.  It will likely reveal itself when I least expect it.

Change Comes From Within

If you really want to change and become a healthy individual, it has to start from within.  Once you figure out how to question your own beliefs and perceptions, you start to become aware of how much of what you think you knew was actually wrong.  It’s when you hit this sweet spot, true change can begin to take shape. 

 

[Photo: Flickr / BK]

Week #4 Weigh-In September 20, 2014

8/24/14 Starting Weight: 347.8 lbs

 

Last Weigh-in: 333.6 lbs

Current Weight: 329.4 lbs

Period Weight Loss: 4.2 lbs

Total Weight Loss: 18.4 lbs

  

 

I woke up this morning feeling like a kid on Christmas morning!  Last week I made a promise to myself to stay off the scale all week long.  I kept that promise (Small Victory #16) and this morning I was excited to see how my efforts paid off.  Another 4.2 pounds lost.  That number works for me.  It's a fair number and I feel liked I've earned every bit of it.

Today's weigh-in puts me at 18.4 pounds in the first month.  Any month that you lose more than 18 pounds is a good one in my book!  This has been a great start.  What has me even more excited is that I am doing so well (on the scale) and I still have room for improvement. 
 
More important, though, is just how I feel.  After a month of transformation effort I can say I feel great.  It doesn't feel like I'm wading through quicksand like past efforts have felt.  It also doesn't feel like I'm burning out; another problem I've run into on some past efforts.
 
An Important Part About Blogging - Helping to Gain Perspective:
 
Normally I post some highlights and lowlights with my weigh-in, but this week I gained a little perspective that I would like to share...
 
On both my restarts I was tempted to wipe everything out and start all over.  On both occasions I chose not to and I'm glad I didn't.  It's part of my entire journey and although my path has gone astray many times, it still offers me perspective and learning. 
 
Today is a great example of gaining some more perspective.  If you go back into my archives you would see that one day my best friend and I started a 30 day weight loss challenge.  I put everything into that challenge and ultimately I lost 17.2 pounds.  The posting of the results to that challenge also coincided with my last blog entry in 2010.  By the end I had become so burned out that I just simply collapsed beck into bad eating habits.  With that came some weight gain followed by hiding from the blogging world because I was so ashamed.
 
Compare those 30 days to my last, where I have felt inspired to be healthy.  I haven't forced myself to suffer all to see a number on a scale.  Instead of counting down the days "till this challenge is over" I'm looking forward to finding ways to enjoy my life as my health begins to improve. Instead of feeling deprived of something I'm questioning why I felt I needed it in the first place.  The focus is clearly much more mental than it is about the physical.  Most people think that if they lose weight it will make them happy.  I wrote an article about this some time ago (original post here), and now I'm beginning to believe it... you don't need to lose weight to be happy, you need to be happy in order to lose weight.
 
In my 30 Day Weight Loss Challenge I suffered through the whole experience.  I was miserable and couldn't wait for it to end.  Ultimately it contributed to me stopping my transformation because I was so burned out.  My reward for those 30 days was the number 17.2.
 
In my last 30 days I have enjoyed my life.  I've discovered some things about me and I haven't felt deprived in anyway.  I have more room to grow and I'm excited to see what the next 30 days brings me.  My reward for the last 30 days was the number 18.4. 

How's that for a little perspective?
 
Stay Strong!
-FogDog

 

 

[Photo: Flickr / Timothy Krause]

Week #3 Weigh-In September 13, 2014

8/24/14 Starting Weight: 347.8 lbs

 

Last Weigh-in: 336 lbs

Current Weight: 333.6 lbs

Period Weight Loss: 2.4 lbs

Total Weight Loss: 14.2 lbs

 

 

 

 

After losing almost 12 pounds in the first 2 weeks, I was a little worried about what I would see this week (yes I write about the evils of the scale but I'm not immune to its charm either).  I was very happy to see that I lost 2.4 pounds.  I know that I gave it my best this week and I feel great!

 

Highlights:

1. I did a great job with my eating plan
2. I hit my target every day drinking at least a gallon of water
3. I had an incredibly bad day and did not let that deter my plans.  I even got an extra exercise session in to help deal with the stress
4. After 3 weeks of healthy living I'm feeling great; my mood is very much improved!

Lowlights:

1. I became obsessed with the scale.  We left it out from the previous week and I stood on it at least a half dozen times during the week.  I promptly put the scale away this morning after weighing in and made a small promise to stay off it for at least 1 week.
2. I missed one day of exercise mid week and I'm re-evaluating my current (rigid) exercise plan
3. I've abandoned morning meditation

Three weeks in the books and now I'm starting to see some areas where I need to adjust.  You can expect to see some posts in the coming week about these adjustments.

It's also worth noting that if you go to my weight loss tracking page, you can see that when I restarted my blog in 2012 I lost 11 pounds in 3 months.  I've actually lost more weight this time in just 3 weeks!

Stay Strong!

[Photo: Flickr / Bradley Eldridge]



A Different Way to Deal With Stress

Yesterday was one of those days!  You know those days, right?  Those days when you are given every opportunity to make excuses.  Those days when the world is against your good intentions (or it least it feels that way).  Well for me, yesterday was one of those days. 

It started with the alarm at 5AM.  I woke up groggy and just physically rundown.  I don’t know if I didn’t sleep well or my body getting used to the lower calories but this was the most tired I’ve felt in a while.  I could have skipped my morning workout, I could have slept another hour, I could have went to Starbucks and got a big coffee.  I could have found an excuse… but I didn’t. 

Work was a nightmare.  My boss is out of town so I’m holding down the fort the best I can.  Everything is falling apart.  My Boss’s boss invites me to lunch.  I’ve committed to staying strictly to my plan for the first month.  “But this is a networking opportunity”, “It’s a free meal”, “You could just go with him to test your willpower by ordering only healthy items”.  I could have found an excuse to go… but I didn’t. 

More chaos in the afternoon. Everyone’s got a problem and when you are a Maintenance Manager everyone thinks their problem is the most important.  For some reason I’m starving.  On the ride home I start to think about going out for dinner.  I need to convince my wife, but how?  Prey on her weak points.  Suggest Chinese food, or tell her she looks like she needs a break tonight.  I could have found an excuse to go out… but I didn’t. 

Finally home at 6PM!  What the??  Two kids yelling at each other, and the third one’s crying.  Now my headache is getting worse.  Dinner is served; I’m done in 15 minutes.  Great healthy meal but for some reason I still feel like I’m starving.  The kids are still disputing (calmly now) but I’m getting pissed off at them and need to let it out.  I can’t take it anymore!  There’s a convenience store 5 minutes away.  I can get my old standby dessert; a cherry filled pie, a Hershey chocolate bar, and a cream soda to wash it all down.  Hey I deserve it right?  Look at the day I’ve had.  It’s only one night and I can start fresh tomorrow.  I went through all the excuses; I had all the reasons to do it… but I didn’t! 

Instead I tried something different.  I apologized to the kids for yelling at them and explained I’m just having a bad day.  I put on some workout clothes and I went downstairs.  I cranked up some hellacious tunes and I move my elliptical trainer as fast as I could for as long as I could.  30 minutes and 2.5 miles later I could barely catch my breath.  I was dripping in sweat, my headache was gone, and I was overcome by a huge sense of accomplishment. 

I’m not naïve to think that I’ve instantly changed into a new person, and I certainly know that not all days will end this way, but yesterday, for one day I didn’t let the excuses win! (Small victories #7, 8, 9, and 10). 

Stay Strong

[Photo: Flickr / bottled_void]

 

Eat Like a Kid Again

Kids are amazing little creatures… until we screw them up with all of our “adult” ways.  There’s a lot we can learn from them about eating if only we weren’t already trained to screw them up.  Take a look below at some of the ways kids eat differently than adults.  Who knows, maybe we should all go back to eating like a kid...


Kids Eat When They are Hungry

Kids don’t stick to some predefined pattern when it comes to eating.  If they are hungry, they tell you.

How we screw them up:  Ever tell your kid they can’t have a snack because dinner is in an hour?  We force them to eat in a pattern and we teach them to ignore their hunger in favor of eating based on what the clock says.

“I know you want a snack, but we are going to have lunch in an hour and if I give you a snack now you won’t be hungry at lunchtime.” Translation – “Ignore your hunger and keep an eye on the clock.”


Kids DON'T Eat When They are Full

When kids are full, they stop eating.  It doesn’t matter what they are having, it can be their favorite food and they will still push the plate away when they are full

How we screw them up:  Leaving food on your plate? That’s blasphemy!!! We were taught to clean our plates; some little kid in Ethiopia is starving.  Ever tell you kid to eat those last few bites?  Why?

“How can you be full, you only ate half your meal?  Please finish your plate; I spent good money on that food” Translation – “Ignore what your body tells you and do what I say”


Kids Eat What They Like and Don’t Eat What They Don’t Like

Give a kid something they like and they will eat it.  Give them something they don’t like and get ready for WWIII!  Kids refuse to suffer through foods they don’t like healthy or not.  Don’t get me wrong, Kids need to be exposed to new healthy foods to try, but to continue to force them to eat foods they don’t like really doesn’t make much sense.

“You’re not leaving the table until you eat those brussell sprouts!” Translation – “We all have to suffer through foods we don’t like in the name of being healthy so get used to it!”


Kids Take Their Time When They Eat

Kids enjoy their food; they take their time and savor it.  They talk, they laugh, they pick around their plate, finally taking a small bite of food.  Adults are in a hurry; they need to get on to the next thing.  They shovel it in quickly and then move on.  They forgot what it means to experience food.

“Hurry up and finish your plate, we have soccer in an hour.” Translation – “Better get used to eating on the run kid, life is too busy to take your time!”


Kids Don’t Associate Food with Reward…Initially

Kids learn the concept of punishments/rewards pretty quickly.  Do something good, get rewarded; Do something bad and get punished.  Unfortunately adults like to use food (of the unhealthy kind) as a reward and they also like to withhold said food as punishment.

“You can’t have one of those cupcakes for dessert if you don’t finish you’re plate.” Translation – “It doesn’t matter if you are hungry or not or if you like the food or not, the only way to get to the food you like (your reward) you have to eat the food in front of you!”


Who’s Teaching Who?

I’m sure some of you parents have actually said some of the things I’ve written above (I know I have).  Why?  Because it was what we were taught by our parents.  Habits are hard to break especially when it’s a habit that’s deeply rooted from our childhood.  Maybe there’s a better way.  Maybe instead of teaching our children how to eat we should let them teach us.  Their formula seems to be pretty simple; Eat food you like, only when you are hungry, take your time, and stop when you are full.  Who knows, maybe you might enjoy eating like a kid again, that is, before your parents taught you better.

[Photo: Flickr / Tea]

 

Working Out on the NJ Turnpike

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend.  Mine was filled with signs that I am indeed changing the way I approach things.  If you remember, when I restarted this blog I said that I would be starting my new transformation on September 1^st, but then very quickly changed my mind and decided to start right away.

The reason why I originally wanted to start after Labor Day was because I knew I was going on a long trip to Maine to visit with family.  With 2 travel days (12 hours each day), a birthday party, and seeing relatives who also love to eat, I knew that the odds of doing well were not in my favor.

However, that was the old me.  The new me asked a very simple question… “Is your new way of approaching food going to prevent you from ever travelling again?”.  Seems like a silly question, obviously the answer is no, but the reality is I have to figure out how to deal with those times when we leave the comfort of the normal daily routine.

So I started my transformation early knowing that I would have to go on this trip.  I also knew that traveling and eating poorly go hand-in-hand with me; It gives me an excuse to eat junk food all day long as rest stops and gas stations don’t typically offer healthy fare.  On our last excursion that involved a lot of driving I actually ate so poorly that I actually threw up on the ride home!  However, with a new mindset I was confident that I could battle this particular demon of mine and come out on top.  It turned out to be a great choice because that’s exactly what I did… 

Small Victory #1

The 12 hour drive up was filled with happy kids, good conversation with my wife, and also lots of healthy eating.  In fact, we made the whole trip up to Maine without stopping and buying any food or drinks (excluding 2 coffees at the start of the trip).  My wife packed an entire cooler full of healthy snacks and we had a gallon jug of water.  My kids loved lunch;  grilled chicken salad in a bag.  They get a kick out of anything that’s just a little different so eating salad out of plastic baggies went over well. They also jumped at the chance to support their dad.  After a quick bathroom break at a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike, I asked "Who wants to do a quick workout?".  Of course the kids were up for it, so we all stood in a circle and each kid got to pick an exercise that we would do.  We did jumping jacks, squats, and pushups off the picnic table.  People that passed by looked at us a little funny, but my kids were having fun supporting their dad and so it didn't bother me at all!

Small Victory #2

I won’t go into too much detail about my time in Maine, but I will say that I did a decent job of not overeating.  I did have some birthday cake as we celebrated my daughter’s birthday, but I was generally happy with my choices throughout the trip.  However, the small victory came on the last day when we went out to dinner… 

My family lives in a very rural part of Maine so they don’t get out much.  The one thing my niece said she wanted to do was go to “5 Guys” for dinner and then “Sweet Frog” afterward.  For those that don’t know, “5 Guys” is a popular burger joint and “Sweet Frog” is a frozen yogurt shop.  It was an hour away (I said it was rural), but I agreed that we could go there.  My typical meal at 5 Guys is a bacon cheeseburger, bacon cheesedog, and a large fry.  Instead I ordered a plain hamburger and then the entire family shared a large fry. I probably got ¼ of the calories I normally eat there. 

When we got to Sweet Frog I was feeling pretty good about myself and decided to keep it going.  Instead of loading up a dish with every topping known to man, I instead chose to put a small amount of frozen yogurt in my cup and then proceeded to load it up with fresh fruit and then a few almonds and walnuts for some crunch.  My guess is that I ate dinner and dessert all for about 800 calories.  The old me would have eaten 800 calories just in fries.

Small Victory #3

My last small victory came after the long ride home.  To make it easier on everyone (except me) I decided that we would leave Sunday night and I would drive through the night.  I’ve done it before and I’ll tell you if you have kids it works out really well as they sleep the whole time.  Anyway, I made the drive home through the night only snacking on fruit and drinking a lot of coffee.  By 7AM the family was waking up and we were just an hour from home.  We decided to stop at “Bob Evans” for some breakfast.  At this point I was exhausted and really hungry.  As soon as we pulled in I could hear myself justifying a huge breakfast all in the name of the “sacrifice” I chose to make by driving through the night.  I “deserved” to eat a huge meal because of the selflessness I showed in the evening (yes my brain does think this way sometimes).  In the end I showed restraint and ordered a veggie omelet.  When the waiter asked if I wanted hash browns or home fries I astounded myself further when I said “neither”.  He actually offered a fruit cup instead and I took it.  I still can’t believe that I pulled that one off.

 

Of course there were a couple areas where I could’ve done better.  For starters I didn’t drink as much water as I should have.  I did drink some but it can be difficult when you are traveling as you don’t want to have to stop every 30 minutes to use the bathroom.  I also could have exercised a little more.  Basically I didn’t get any real exercise on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.

Monday I just laid around watching TV because I was so tired, but I also went right back to my “normal” diet.  In all this was the healthiest traveling that I’ve done in my entire life!  It’s given me some more confidence that this time I have truly changed my mindset; these deviations from the routine are not an excuse to go wild, but rather, something that needs to be managed.  I was able to manage this trip and came back knowing that I didn’t “undo” the hard work from earlier in the week.  That was the best feeling of all!

Day 3 Progress... Keeping the daily mindset

So I’ve now completed 2 days of low-carb living. To be honest, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. I’ve been targeting each my 5 meals to come in somewhere around 300 calories (except for breakfast where I target 400 and include some carbs). I thought sure I would be starving and craving carbs. Then again, it’s only been two days it’s not like I’ve been marooned without carbs and calories for years!
 
I’ve also managed to get up and workout at 5AM in the morning. Those that know me would probably relate this to a small miracle. I am not a morning person, never have been, and probably never will be, but If I don’t get up this early and workout before work, I’ll never be consistent because I work late a lot and I have 3 kids that require my attention for their extracurricular activities. The workouts were only for 15 minutes, but I was drenched with sweat by the time I was done. It felt good

I haven’t really thought ahead too much, and I think that’s a positive sign. Usually I’m already thinking about my first weigh-in. I haven’t even decided how often I’ll weigh-in, if at all. Well that’s bull, I’ll have to weigh-in sometime or I’ll probably go mad, but for now I’m not worried about it. I really do just want to try to focus on one day at a time.

Some Positives in my first 3 days of healthy living

• I didn’t eat like a pig on Sunday just because I could (it was my unrestricted day)
• I haven’t felt hungry or miserable
• The workouts felt good
• My mind isn’t wandering away from the here and now

 
A couple negatives

• I am a little sore from working out
• I can’t believe how many trips you take to the bathroom when you drink a gallon of water each day!

And Lastly, a couple of observations

• Last night I was actually craving a big juicy apple! 
• My phone beeps to remind every three hours that it’s time to eat. Although I’m not feeling hungry during the day, I do notice that when it’s time to eat, my mouth is watering (don't tell Pavlov)
• I was feeling a little more fatigued by the end of today, compared to yesterday. Tomorrow is a high carb day with a meal target of 400 calories; I think that’s a good thing for me.

Day 30 - Weight Loss Results

Starting Weight – 330
Day 20 Weight – 319

Current Weight – 319
Period Weight Loss – 0 Pounds

Overall Weight Loss – 11 Pounds

Clearly 0 pounds was not what I was hoping for to end my first 30 days. Obviously I didn’t meet the 4 pound short term goal I mentioned in my Day-20 Weigh-in Post, but I did meet my monthly goal of 10 pounds in the first thirty days. I’m posting my results and I’ll discuss what went well and what didn’t go so well, but you can expect to see more details in my next post when I perform a failure analysis on this last week.

What Went Well

1. I stuck to the morning routine (for the most part)
2. Almost everyday I hit my water target
3. I maintained a positive attitude (even with a tough week)

Areas to Improve

1. I didn't get any exercise at all
2. I Stopped tracking my daily progress about 5 days in
3. I had several high calorie meals and snacks starting on Thursday last week and moving right through the weekend

Moving Forward

Part of my original plan included “being prepared for failure”. As this week unfolded, I knew that it wasn’t going to end well. I started to put together an analysis of where I went wrong along with some changes that I can try to make. I’ll post that analysis in the days to come but for now, here’s my path forward:

• Short Term Goal – 5 pounds in the next 10 days (this is a big stretch, but I feel like I need a strong follow-up to a poor performance)
• Mid Term Goal – 10 pounds in the next 30 days
• Calorie and Water Targets to stay the same (2500 calories, and 100 oz water)
• Begin new exercise plan and evaluate after 30 days
• Update tracking information and develop plan for reviewing results (more on this when I post my failure analysis)

You might expect me to be bummed out right now, but actually it’s quite the opposite. 60 Days ago I decided I was going to change my life. The first thing I did was quit smoking and drinking alcohol in excess. As of today, I have managed to keep to those changes for 60 days. 30 Days ago I decided to change my eating habits and lose weight. In 30 days I’ve lost 11 pounds by eating right and I haven’t even incorporated exercise into my life yet (the next 30 days). What in the world should I have to be unhappy about?

Don't get me wrong, I know I stumbled a little, but the important thing was that I was ready for it. Yes the weekend was not good for me, but I could have just as easily decided to continue my slide and stay unhealthy right up until the Wednesday morning weigh-in. Instead I did what I said I would do, I analyzed the failure and most importantly, got right back on track as quickly as possible. If you can’t pick yourself up when you stumble, then you will never be able to lose weight over the long term because it is almost a certainty that you will stumble from time to time.

Lose Weight, Be Happy... or is it Be Happy, Lose Weight?

When you picture yourself as a thin person, what do you see?  If you’re like me you are probably doing something cool like kayaking down a river or barreling down a mountain on a bike.  Regardless of what you see yourself doing, I’ll bet you anything that vision of the new, thin you includes being happier than you are now.  I often wonder if that’s true; will becoming thin actually make you happier?  To be honest I wonder if we have it backwards.  Maybe becoming happier will actually make you thin!

Think about it for a moment; how many times have you told yourself you would be so much happier if you could just lose the weight.  If that’s true, if you truly believe that in your heart, then why don’t you just do it?  We all want to be as happy as can be so why wouldn’t we just eat right and exercise and watch the weight fall off?  There are only 2 possible reasons: We either don’t know how to or we don’t really want to!  I’ll leave it up to each person to decide which answer fits them, but I’m pretty sure I know how to lose weight and my guess is that you do too.

Body, Mind, and Mouth: Life's Eating Connection

By this point you may have already dismissed this article as craziness, but if not, let’s keep going.  Let’s assume for a second that I’m right and you don’t lose weight because you really don’t want to.  My next questions would be… “Why don’t you want to lose the weight”?  Maybe, just maybe the real reason is because deep down inside you know that the original source of your unhappiness still exists and if you lose the weight you will be left to deal with it?  In other words, you think you want to lose weight, but your subconscious doesn’t want to deal with the real problem so you actually sabotage yourself.  Crazy, isn’t it?

Think about it, the formula for losing weight isn’t really that hard… but life is.  Like alcohol and tobacco, maybe eating has become a coping mechanism for other issues in your life.  It becomes a comfortable and convenient excuse; you’re not happy because you’re overweight, but you will never lose the weight because you’re so unhappy.  It becomes a vicious circle from which you can’t escape.    

Now I’m not suggesting that if you somehow found a way to be happier now, that the weight would just magically fall from your body.  It’s still going to take hard work and determination, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to be happier while you do it.  I can’t speak for anyone else, but I know that I get more accomplished when I’m in a good mood.  What if that good mood stuck around longer?  Wouldn’t it be easier to lose weight?

I’m sure not everyone follows this pattern, but I bet you that there are quite a few people out there that do.  Spend a little time thinking about it; is there something in your life that’s making you unhappy?  Maybe you could work on that while you try to lose weight.  What do you have to lose; if I’m wrong but you try anyway, the worst that happens is that you are a little happier while still struggling to lose weight.  However, if you don’t try and I’m right you could very well end up right where you started, still unhappy and overweight!

My New Weight Loss Plan

Ok so now it’s time to post my new weight loss plan.  I didn’t post it when I first started over because I was still working on it.  I wanted to have the first week to try it out and see if it needed any tweaks.  This plan is a little bit different than my last one, and some of you may be surprised at some of the items on my list.

The Usual Stuff – If you ran a search on Google for “Weight Loss Plans” most of the sites you would end up at would have some variant of these first 8 items on my list:

1. Exercise every day – No big shock on this one, you need to exercise to lose weight.  My plan is to get at least 30 minutes of exercise every single day.  It can be any type of exercise (cardio, strength, walking) as long as I am doing it specifically to get my daily exercise
2. Track calories and stay below my target – I debated this one quite a bit.  I hate keeping track of my calories, but the truth is I do much better when I’m recording what I eat.  My starting target is less than 2500 calories each day.  That might seem high to some people, but over the years I’ve learned that I don’t have to starve myself to lose weight.  I also have learned that if you try to restrict your calories AND increase your activity all at once, you can very quickly get overwhelmed.
3. Eat 5-6 Meals each day – It has become conventional wisdom that you are better off eating lots of smaller meals rather than just a few large meals.  It helps to keep your metabolism going and you are less likely to binge if you are getting something to eat every 3-4 hours.
4. Have some protein at every meal – Protein stays with you a lot longer than carbs and fat, plus it helps to rebuild muscle when you are strength training.
5. Limit processed and pre-packaged foods to once per day – Pre-packaged foods are full of stuff you really don’t need.  Though I’m not swearing off pre-packaged foods entirely, I am going to limit them.
6. Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day – Besides being great for you, you can also eat a lot of fruits and vegetables for very little calories.
7. Set both Long and Short Term Goals – I’ll be posting my goals here in the days to come, but rest assured there will be long term and short term goals.  The short term goals will support the long term plan and all the goals will be SMART goals.
8. Regular Weigh-ins but not too often – I’ll be weighing myself every 10 days.  It’s plenty of time to at least see some sort of progress and not so long that I become obsessed and start sneaking peaks in between dates.

The Not-So-Usual Stuff – These next 10 items are more tailored to me and my personal style:

1. Establish a clear morning routine – This one might seem a little weird for a weight loss plan, but there is a method to my madness.  I will be writing a post in the near future about Keystone Habits, but for now you’ll have to trust me when I say this is probably one of the most important aspects of my plan.
2. Drink 100 ounces of water every day – You always hear how you should get 64 ounces of water every day.  I truly believe you need much more when you are trying to lose weight.  I know that 100 ounces sounds like a lot, but my most successful weight loss endeavors have come when I’m drinking lots of water.  It keeps me feeling full and helps flush out all the bad stuff from your system.
3. Eat a big breakfast  – This one might seem counterintuitive, but in order to get started on the right foot, you need fuel first thing in the morning.  Plus, if you skimp on breakfast you spend the rest of the day hungrier (my opinion anyway) than if you have a full meal.  My typical breakfast will be between 500-600 calories and will include protein, fruit, and complex carbs (such as oatmeal).
4. Post on my Blog Regularly – Submit posts on my blog at least weekly.  This helps me to stay accountable and connected to others that are fighting the fight.  It also keeps me thinking about being healthy.
5. Reduce Digital Entertainment – This one is designed to get at my evenings.  My typical evening involves me coming home, eating dinner, and then plopping my ass on the couch until bedtime.  My goal is to have no more than 2 hours of digital entertainment (TV, Wasting time on the computer, non-active Wii games, cell phone, etc.) each day.
6. Set Monthly Progress Reviews – I’m taking this page from work.  Every month I meet with my employees and we discuss their progress.  With these monthly reviews I can identify areas of concern and if I need to adjust my plan I can do that as well. 
7. Get Plenty of Sleep – You can find research just about everywhere that shows people who get enough sleep do better at losing weight, yet no one ever makes it part of their plan.  I’m going for at least 7 hours each night.
8. Prepare for failure – There will be times when I just completely fall off the wagon.  In order to be prepared for it, I have created a failure analysis form to fill out (taking another page from my work).  The idea is that if I sit myself down and go through the form right after a major failure, it will help me to prevent the same failure from happening again.  It’s also a way of holding myself accountable and getting myself right back on the wagon.
9. Allow Cheating – 1 to 2 meals each week can be anything I want.  This helps me to not feel like I’m being deprived of anything.  Note this is not considered a reward for healthy eating.  One of the biggest pitfalls in healthy eating is that sometimes people want to reward good behavior with bad behavior.  If you want to reward yourself, do it with something that isn’t bad for you.
10. Pay myself for success - One of my rewards will be cold, hard cash.  $10 will be going into an account for every pound I lose.  At certain milestones I will allow myself to use some of that money (no unhealthy purchases) to buy something and when I hit my ultimate goal, there will be enough in there for a pretty decent island vacation.
The last part of my plan isn't really about my weight loss, but rather about my life in general:
Enjoy Life and be Happy!  Afterall, what’s the point of being healthy if you are miserable?
 
Got an "interesting" item in your weight loss plan?  Leave a comment and tell me about it.