Hi everybody! Hope everyone's doing well and logging some miles out there on those sunny, spring like roads! Notice that I didn't say warm. Spring is finally here in Rochester. But temperatures have been erratic to say the least! 80 degrees one day and barely holding in the 40's the next night. Mother Nature, will you please make up your mind?
Today I'd like to talk to you about something that's always seemed to be present within my life, transformation. Transformation can come in many forms. Previously I've mentioned my obesity as a child with me weighing my heaviest at 220 pounds with a 42 inch waistline. Then one summer 80 pounds seemed to evaporate. As a teenager I used to look a little rough. Long hair, black heavy metal t-shirts, black jeans and my trusty leather jacket were the standard. But even then, my bark was worse than my bite. Today I wear a military style haircut, those heavy metal t-shirts are missing from my closet and the leather jacket is long gone.
Along with those changes in appearance came changes in my attitude about food and how it related to my life. For many years as a child food was seen as a just one of life's pleasures and not something that was necessary to fuel and support my mind, body and soul. I loved to eat large amounts of almost everything, little thought was put into portion size, dietary needs or my expanding waistline. My family regularly sheltered me from my obesity and politely referred to me as "husky".
As an adult, amatuer athelete and more importantly a father I now have a drastically different approach when it comes to what I put in my mouth and my family's Now, don't confuse me with someone standing high up on that fitness stamped soap box proclaiming that my diet is perfect. In fact, if someone asked me what my biggest weakness in my training is, I'd have to say it's my diet. But I'm aware of it and working on it. That being said, removing all enjoyment from food by limiting yourself every day, week and month from those awesomely evil but delicious things out there will only set you up for failure. You have to give yourself cheat days and you have to give yourself some slack during the holidays. Let's talk about some things that have helped me along this journey. I'm no expert so take them for what they're worth. Hopefully you'll get something out of them and start a positive change yourself.
If you are going to start this journey of healthy weight loss then you need a healthy, realistic plan. As one of the most obese cultures in the world, Americans have a wide variety of diet plans to choose from. Weight is a huge problem in our country and it seems like everyday a new miracle diet emerges to shed pounds like water off a duck's back. One of the best things you can do is to educate yourself about what's out there. It's important to realize that not everything found on the internet is accurate or true and that today, anyone can get published. Do a little research on who created the plan, what are their credentials, who's funding their findings and who has the most to gain from that particular type of plan? I'm not supporting one particular plan here. But I think that two things are important when choosing a plan.
First, the plan you choose should make changes that you can maintain for the rest of your life. Where's the logic of supplementing an entire meal with a measly shake. Do you honestly think that you're going to be able to do that forever? Of course not! You may lose weight. But when you eventually begin eating normal meals again, the pounds will return.
Second, choose a plan that uses realistic common sense. Do you think that a plan which only allows you 500 calories a day is healthy? Absolutely not! You'll lose weight but you're going to pay a price with your health. What's the sense of looking good if you don't feel good?
Ok, so you've done your research and you've picked your plan. Next, you need to provide a positive environment using positive tools so that you can succeed. In my experience, you can't rely on willpower alone to make you successful. Stack the odds in your favor.
Get rid of the garbage food in your house. I know personally that when the junk food isn't sitting on my counter or in my fridge I don't eat it. By stocking your house with better food choices you'll remove the temptation! If I really want that dish of soft serve ice cream, then I'm going to have to work for it and drive all that way to get it. But probably won't.
It helps if everyone in your household gets on the same page as you. Let's face it, the whole family can benefit from a diet overhaul. Another benefit is that when one of you has a weak moment, other family members can provide support to get you back on track. I take a great deal of pride in the fact that my eight year old son likes water mixed with apple juice better than soda, loves turkey bacon over regular and when craving for deseret, will opt for a couple pieces of dark chocolate instead of candy.
Research some of the amazing gadgets, apps and programs available to people trying to get healthy. One of the gadgets that I love is my FitBit. It's basically a pedometer on steroids. It tracks steps, floors climbed, calories burned and even your sleep. The company also makes a wifi scale that can measure body fat. You get a free online program which collects all the data, analyzes it with some really nice graphs and provides feedback and motivation. If the FitBit isn't your style, check out the Nike fuel band or the Jawbone wristband.
Another great tool I use is the app My Fitness pal. It's a great free iphone app that is easy to use. You can search their online database for different foods or scan the barcode on a food's packaging to get nutritional data. It has some great tools to help you calculate how much you want to lose and how fast. The great thing that I love about this app is that you can create set meals and it even remembers your most commonly eaten foods. I still can't believe it's a free app! My friend Vinny managed to lose almost 30 pounds exclusively using this app! Amazing!
After some credential checking, get some good old reading material on training, eating and improving your diet. I'm an avid reader and love reading a good book. But never got into reading anything related to fitness or diet. Then, last year I began read some amazing books by Matt Fitzgerald. His books were centered around marathoning, training and eating properly. I learned a lot from them, lost 25 pounds in the process and set personal records in three race distances. Including the marathon where I broke four hours for the first time! I was so impressed with his work that I contacted him on facebook to say thank you. He loved my story so much that he even put it in his new book, The New Rules of 26.2 & 13.1 Nutrition. You gotta love it when you pick up a book, look in the index and find your name on pages 44-45! Way cool!
Last but not least, surround your life with the people who positively support your choice to make your diet healthier. Let's get back to my friend Vinny at work. The other day we were talking about how amazing it is that he's lost so much weight by simply exercising, making better food choices and eating normal portion sizes. We also talked about how it's become somewhat of a joke how almost everybody we work with constantly teases him on how he looks sick and too thin. Why is that? The answer is because as Americans we've forgotten what normal portion sizes are, think that it's ok to eat things like Big Macs everyday and just buy bigger clothes when we grow out of our old ones. Stop thinking that half a bag of chips is a serving size, that Taco Bell is "light" fast food and that you can wear sweatpants to dinner. Find some like minded people in social media. I've got numerous friends that promote healthy lifestyle and eating. We all kind of feed off each other. It's very motivating, positive and can help you accomplish some amazing things.
Well, I hope that some of these suggestions help you get started. Like I said, I'm no expert. But they worked for me. Do your research, create a solid, healthy plan, get some exercise and surround yourself with motivation and positive people! Best of luck and as always, run for your lives my friends...
Along with those changes in appearance came changes in my attitude about food and how it related to my life. For many years as a child food was seen as a just one of life's pleasures and not something that was necessary to fuel and support my mind, body and soul. I loved to eat large amounts of almost everything, little thought was put into portion size, dietary needs or my expanding waistline. My family regularly sheltered me from my obesity and politely referred to me as "husky".
As an adult, amatuer athelete and more importantly a father I now have a drastically different approach when it comes to what I put in my mouth and my family's Now, don't confuse me with someone standing high up on that fitness stamped soap box proclaiming that my diet is perfect. In fact, if someone asked me what my biggest weakness in my training is, I'd have to say it's my diet. But I'm aware of it and working on it. That being said, removing all enjoyment from food by limiting yourself every day, week and month from those awesomely evil but delicious things out there will only set you up for failure. You have to give yourself cheat days and you have to give yourself some slack during the holidays. Let's talk about some things that have helped me along this journey. I'm no expert so take them for what they're worth. Hopefully you'll get something out of them and start a positive change yourself.
If you are going to start this journey of healthy weight loss then you need a healthy, realistic plan. As one of the most obese cultures in the world, Americans have a wide variety of diet plans to choose from. Weight is a huge problem in our country and it seems like everyday a new miracle diet emerges to shed pounds like water off a duck's back. One of the best things you can do is to educate yourself about what's out there. It's important to realize that not everything found on the internet is accurate or true and that today, anyone can get published. Do a little research on who created the plan, what are their credentials, who's funding their findings and who has the most to gain from that particular type of plan? I'm not supporting one particular plan here. But I think that two things are important when choosing a plan.
First, the plan you choose should make changes that you can maintain for the rest of your life. Where's the logic of supplementing an entire meal with a measly shake. Do you honestly think that you're going to be able to do that forever? Of course not! You may lose weight. But when you eventually begin eating normal meals again, the pounds will return.
Second, choose a plan that uses realistic common sense. Do you think that a plan which only allows you 500 calories a day is healthy? Absolutely not! You'll lose weight but you're going to pay a price with your health. What's the sense of looking good if you don't feel good?
Ok, so you've done your research and you've picked your plan. Next, you need to provide a positive environment using positive tools so that you can succeed. In my experience, you can't rely on willpower alone to make you successful. Stack the odds in your favor.
Get rid of the garbage food in your house. I know personally that when the junk food isn't sitting on my counter or in my fridge I don't eat it. By stocking your house with better food choices you'll remove the temptation! If I really want that dish of soft serve ice cream, then I'm going to have to work for it and drive all that way to get it. But probably won't.
It helps if everyone in your household gets on the same page as you. Let's face it, the whole family can benefit from a diet overhaul. Another benefit is that when one of you has a weak moment, other family members can provide support to get you back on track. I take a great deal of pride in the fact that my eight year old son likes water mixed with apple juice better than soda, loves turkey bacon over regular and when craving for deseret, will opt for a couple pieces of dark chocolate instead of candy.
Research some of the amazing gadgets, apps and programs available to people trying to get healthy. One of the gadgets that I love is my FitBit. It's basically a pedometer on steroids. It tracks steps, floors climbed, calories burned and even your sleep. The company also makes a wifi scale that can measure body fat. You get a free online program which collects all the data, analyzes it with some really nice graphs and provides feedback and motivation. If the FitBit isn't your style, check out the Nike fuel band or the Jawbone wristband.
Another great tool I use is the app My Fitness pal. It's a great free iphone app that is easy to use. You can search their online database for different foods or scan the barcode on a food's packaging to get nutritional data. It has some great tools to help you calculate how much you want to lose and how fast. The great thing that I love about this app is that you can create set meals and it even remembers your most commonly eaten foods. I still can't believe it's a free app! My friend Vinny managed to lose almost 30 pounds exclusively using this app! Amazing!
After some credential checking, get some good old reading material on training, eating and improving your diet. I'm an avid reader and love reading a good book. But never got into reading anything related to fitness or diet. Then, last year I began read some amazing books by Matt Fitzgerald. His books were centered around marathoning, training and eating properly. I learned a lot from them, lost 25 pounds in the process and set personal records in three race distances. Including the marathon where I broke four hours for the first time! I was so impressed with his work that I contacted him on facebook to say thank you. He loved my story so much that he even put it in his new book, The New Rules of 26.2 & 13.1 Nutrition. You gotta love it when you pick up a book, look in the index and find your name on pages 44-45! Way cool!
Last but not least, surround your life with the people who positively support your choice to make your diet healthier. Let's get back to my friend Vinny at work. The other day we were talking about how amazing it is that he's lost so much weight by simply exercising, making better food choices and eating normal portion sizes. We also talked about how it's become somewhat of a joke how almost everybody we work with constantly teases him on how he looks sick and too thin. Why is that? The answer is because as Americans we've forgotten what normal portion sizes are, think that it's ok to eat things like Big Macs everyday and just buy bigger clothes when we grow out of our old ones. Stop thinking that half a bag of chips is a serving size, that Taco Bell is "light" fast food and that you can wear sweatpants to dinner. Find some like minded people in social media. I've got numerous friends that promote healthy lifestyle and eating. We all kind of feed off each other. It's very motivating, positive and can help you accomplish some amazing things.
Well, I hope that some of these suggestions help you get started. Like I said, I'm no expert. But they worked for me. Do your research, create a solid, healthy plan, get some exercise and surround yourself with motivation and positive people! Best of luck and as always, run for your lives my friends...
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