Photo courtesy of Stuck in Customs

So let’s see…. If you look at the last post, you see that I have been M.I.A. for the last two months.  Well guess what I have been doing?  Working, playing video games, and yes, gaining weight.  I have done it.  I have fallen off the horse, right when I was doing so well.  I initially started thinking about a blog post about how not to fall off the fitness horse, but I realized that no matter what I tell you, or what I try myself, it is going to happen at some point.  Almost everyone stumbles whilst on the the epic journey to Nonfattiesville.  So instead I though I would give a few tips on how to get back into the groove for those who are currently rubbing their sore back and watching the horse run away.

1. Don’t be mad at yourself. -This stuff happens.  You tried very hard, but life can very easily get in the way.  This is just one of the stops on the way to your goal.  Is this enough motivational stuff?  Just suck it up!  Accept your new flabbier position and do something about it!
2. Don’t dwell - There is no point in spending too much time trying to figure out where you went wrong, just start moving again.  Even if you figure out that it was a hectic work schedule or the release of a new game, there is most likely nothing you can do (or are willing to do) to change you behaviors when those things happen again.  Instead, just start right back where you left off as quickly as possible.  If you really want to think about it and dwell, do so during a nice long bike ride.
3. Give your muscles a small grace period, but no more. I understand the urge to say, “It’s been two months since I worked out, maybe I should start with a couple weeks of walking,” but don’t start too slow.  My opinion is you need to kick back into your old routine as soon as possible.  At the most, cut your old routine in half for the first time back, but hit it harder the next time.  The time to fully reach you old performance may change depending on how long you have been out of the game, so be the judge of your own body.  Just don’t make excuses to slack off when you could be burning off the weight you gained.
4. 

   Can I have some of those fries?

   Diet starts today! Do not have any “LAY OFF ME I’M STARVING!!! Diet starts tomorrow,” moments.  There is no excuse to dig yourself deeper in the hole because the time of day or week.  Don’t use artificial time milestones, such as tomorrow, or after vacation, to set your schedule.  If you know you need to start eating right again, then start right now!

5. Track immediately. If you read my last blog post, you would know that I recommend tracking your weight even when you are not actively working at it.  Well, I didn’t do that great of a job.  But the key point still stands, track your weight no matter what.  I gained 10 pounds in two months.  I don’t like thinking about it, but I really don’t like looking at it on a graph.  It gives me tons of motivation to try to make the last two months look like an outlier in my overall weight loss trend.

Hopefully, these tips will provide a little bit of help after realizing you’ve slipped.  Just start again and keep going.  Remember what Yoda used to say about trying?

• So I know how much money I have and where my money is going.
• So I know how long a work task has taken in the past so I can estimate and schedule better in the future.
• So I can know whether my daughter still has jelly bellies in her nose.

The ability to track these things give us the knowledge to set our limits for the coming days, weeks, months, or years.  It also gives us the insight into what has helped and hurt us in the past.  This knowledge is what is needed to stay in control of the critical things that define how we live and work.

Tracking your fitness and nutrition is no different.  In fact, it is probably more important that the examples above.  The ability for us to know our progress and see our current status gives us the power to control our body and meet our goals.  I want to show some examples from my personal experience to help bring my point home.

Tracking Body Weight

Roller coaster! Of weight... Say What!? Roller coaster! Hoo Hoo Hoo!

Look at my body tracking chart.  You can clearly see the a trend:  The time periods I consistently tracked my weight (look for the clusters of dots), I lost weight.  The time periods that I took a break from tracking my weight, I gained weight.  I found out, that during the time periods in which I went more than a week without recording my weight, I gained an average of 1.5 pounds.  During the time periods that I consistently tracked my weight, I lost about 2.5 pounds.  Even during the times that I tracked when I wasn’t dieting or I wasn’t consistently exercising, I could easily see if I was gaining weight.  I knew I needed to to make adjustments in my diet that week or step up the workouts.  The simple knowledge of what was going on helped me make smarter decisions.

Tracking Nutrition

Photo courtesy of Clint M Chilcott

The same type of knowledge applies to tracking what you eat.  One of my friends was having a hard time losing weight.  They exercised consistently, around 5 times a week for 30+ minutes a session, but they were stuck at being a little heavier than they should be.  They had plateaued.  One day I suggested they start tracking what they ate during the day, and the results were surprising to them.  They were unknowingly taking in ~2500 calories each day,  which is not bad in itself given the amount of exercising they were doing, but most of their calories were from fat and carbs.  They thought they ate somewhat healthy… at least not unhealthy… But when they actually paid attention to what they were eating, they realized they needed to change.  They knew which of their favorite foods was hurting them, and which foods were helping them.  Once they modified their eating habits, they crushed through the plateau and was back on their way to their goal.

Motivation

I am, admittedly, not very consistent in my fitness endeavors.  I believe this to be true for most people as well.  We all have great intentions and hit the ground running, and somehow fizzle into old, bad habits.   I don’t have any good solutions for this problem, but the one thing I strongly recommend is to keep on tracking.  Who cares if you didn’t work out for a week and slipped on your diet.  Log your weight.  Log your calories.  Continue to track your weight and your food intake no matter what.  This way, when you start slipping, you recognize it much quicker.  You are much less likely to stray too far from the course.  You are constantly aware of your current status, your progress towards your goals, your weak spots in your fitness routine, and most importantly, your triumphs.  Knowing these things will continue to motivate you to be better, because, as Sir Francis Bacon once said, knowledge is power.  Mmmmm. Bacon.  No wait, bacon would put me over my calorie limit for the day… See.  Knowledge.

Where To Go From Here

So how do you start tracking your weight and nutrition.  Well it’s as easy as a pen and paper. … Ha!  Did I just say to use a pen and paper!  Don’t be crazy!  What is this, the 90s?  Ha!

There are many other ways to do this in the modern world.  I’ll list a few:

• Gyminee
• Traineo
• FitDay
• Excel (And it’s free alternative)

I personally suggest Gyminee.  I have used this one for a while now and absolutely love it.  But it doesn’t really matter which one you choose to use, as long as you consistently use it.  Most of these services offer a mobile option as well so you can log what your eating in real time (wives and girlfriends love it when you ignore them for your iPhone… trust me).  So what are you waiting for?  Get started!

courtesy of joeltelling

It’s not much, but it’s a push towards the right direction.  I started off the year with a blank calendar.  Every day I did some exercise and marked an X on that day.  Right now I’m 34 days into it and feel good about my small accomplishment.  I have a full calendar month of X’s

So far, my exercise has been minimal: pushups, situps, body weight squats, and the occasional walk.  The change has been minimal too.  I have lost zero weight, but that’s to be expected because I’ve been eating like a madman.  I can’t say that I notice any difference in my appearance.  What I do notice is that I feel a little stronger and have more energy.  My plan is to keep this up as long as I can and start cutting back on my food intake.  

For now though, I’ll just enjoy my small success and keep plugging forward.

courtesy of Christmas w/a K

I’m having moderate success with my daily exercise commitment.  I’ve managed to exercise a little bit every day since the beginning of the year.  I’m feeling more energized during the day and I feel a little stronger than when I started.  That’s the good from this.

Now for the bad.  It’s cold.  When it’s cold like this, I have zero desire to get out and do some appropriate cardio.  Also, when I’m stuck inside I tend to eat more.  I’m eating better than I used to, but my calorie intake isn’t low enough to yield weight loss.  My weight is basically just holding steady.

So, in summary:  I’m still exercising daily.  It’s not enough.  I’m eating too much.  My weight is holding steady.

This week is for all of you Twitter junkies out there.  If your anything like me, Twitter is a source of infinite distraction and increased screen-time.  But not this week!  Oh, no.  This week, it’s time for your Tweet tooth to take a healthy turn. (Tweet tooth… Get it?  I just made that up.  I’m the funniest, most cleverest guy I know!)  ready?  Well then, here we go:

Monday - Upper Body

Take the square root of your total number of twitter updates (on the top right of your twitter profile).  Do that number of push-ups.  For example, I would need to do 15 push-ups.  I got off easy!  Poor Leo Laporte has to do 40… Sorry Leo.

Tuesday - Abs

Head over to TweetStats, enter your twitter name, and click ‘Graph My Tweets!’.  Take the number of tweets from your most active month and divide it by your tweets per day.  Do that number of crunches and hold a left and right side plank for that number of seconds.  For example, I would do 34 crunches (55 tweets during my most active month divided by 1.6 tweets per day), a side plank for 34 seconds, and then a second side plank on the other side for 34 seconds.  If your numbers come out to be unreasonable, just do what you can, but remember to push yourself.

Wednesday - Cardio

Today will be fun!  Today, I will assume you use a Twitter app like Thwirl or Twitterrific, an app that gives an audio notification upon receiving a new tweet.  Turn up the volume on the computer, and every time you hear a new tweet, stand up and do 30 jumping jacks.  Every time you get an @ reply (someone posts a message with @yourname in the message), run in place for one minute.  Do this all day.  You can even do this at work, unless you will get fired, of course.

Thursday - Lower Body

Click on the profile of the person that has the newest tweet.  Take the square root of their total updates, like you for yourself on Monday.  That will be the total number of leg exercises to do.  Start doing ten repetitions of each of the following exercises: squats, lunges (alternating legs), mountain climbers.  Keep rotating until you meet the total number of leg exercises.

Friday - Flexibility

Go to your Twitter home page.  Count the number of unique posting methods from each of your followers.  This is the section at the end of each message that says: “xx seconds ago from PLACE.”  Double the number of unique posting methods and do a variety of stretches for that many minutes.  For example, the people I follow have posted from the web, twitterrific, TweetDeck, and TwitterFon.  So I would need to do 8 minutes of stretches.  You can find plenty of stretching routines on the web, but you can start here, here, or here.

That’s It!

You’re done.  I hope you had fun with this.  Please let me know how you did, whether you enjoyed it or not, what you did different, etc.  I also want to remind you that I am not a professional, so anything I recommend or suggest has no medical basis.  Please consult your doctor to make sure you are capable of doing the exercises presented here.  Please keep checking back for updates to this series, such as the weekly geek workout for coders and the weekly geek workout for social networking nerds.  If you have any ideas, please email me or just leave a comment.  As always: Have fun and stay active!

George

Starting out like this is a slow process, but it keeps me from getting burnt out.  I haven’t lost any noticable weight, but I’m feeling better.  I never realize how crappy I feel when I’m not exercising and eating too much until I start back.  My energy level is up and I feel good.

Courtesy of ShutterMoth

Here we are.  Another year has gone by and I still have the same top priority resolution on my list, losing weight.  Last year I managed to end the year losing about 20 pounds, but I fell short of my goal to lose 45 pounds.  At one point I was only 15 pounds away from my goal, but I fell off the wagon and gained some back.

Failing is really rough on me.  With everything else in my life, I’ve been able to do what I’ve put my mind to.  Why is losing weight so different?  I wish I knew; I suppose I’d be a rich man if I did.  All I can do is keep trying.  Eventually something has to stick, right?

Last year wasn’t a total failure.  I did manage to lose some weight.  I was doing good for the first 3/4 of the year.  After that I stopped exercising and let my diet go a little bit.  I didn’t fall all the way into my old terrible eating habits, but I did slack a bit.  The lesson for me there is that I have to stay diligent.  I’ve come to accept that this is going to be a life long struggle for me.  My father was overweight and never got a hold of his problem.  He died at the age of 41.  I can’t let that become my fate.

Here’s to a new year and a new struggle.  I wish the best to you and yours.  Stay tuned, this just may be the year when I reach my goal.  You wouldn’t want to miss that, now would you?

Start Fresh for 2009

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and became well rested for 2009 over the holiday break.  I haven’t put much thought into providing much original content, but I thought I would provide a couple of good posts from other blogs I have seen over the break that really seem to have gotten me excited about starting the new year fresh!

1. Zen Habits: How to Press the Reset Button On Your Life

The New Year is an exciting time. It symbolized transformation and starting new. It’s a time when you can let go of the old, shed your past and begin again.

2. Being Healthy for Busy People: Achieving Your New Year’s Resolution

Make sub-goals: Sometimes the main goal can feel so overwhelming that it becomes hard to achieve.  So, break your goal into smaller components.

And since the season of giving was just a week ago and you might have received have a little bit of holiday money, here are a few ways to invest in yourself for the new year:

1. Give or get a subscription to Men’s/Women’s Health Magazine (~$20).
2. Buy winter workout clothes.  Don’t use the weather as an excuse to be lazy.
3. Use it towards the first few months of a gym/health club membership OR
4. Invest in a cheap home gym or some workout DVDs.
5. Buy an iPod.  You can use this to listen to music while you workout or start listening to some of the great fitness podcasts that are out there.
6. Or you could be like me and buy a new flat screen TV so I can practice my Shimmy… I loves me some Shimmy.

The most important thing to remember for the New Year is that it is not too late to start getting back into shape.  Just because losing weight has been your resolution for the last three years and you have yet to meet your goals does not mean that you shouldn’t set the goal this year as well.  At some point, it is going to click and everything will work.  So just remember to keep with your goals and use this time to start fresh.

Photo courtesy of Shelley & Dave

A few months ago, Josh posted an article about the cost of healthy eating.  He points to a study from the American Dietetic Association that shows the cost per kilocalorie of “healthy” foods, such as fresh vegetables, fruit, and grains, was over ten times more expensive than “junk” foods, such as crackers and chips.  The difference was still growing at the end of the study, which doesn’t look promising for the cost differential today.  This really got me thinking about the difficulty of maintaining a healthy lifestyle for a family who is trying to live on a moderate or reduced budget due to the economic times.  When you are worried about paying the rent or the mortgage, trying to get out of debt, or saving up that emergency fund, cheap frozen pizzas or the fast food dollar menu really allow you to save some bucks.  But overtime, this lifestyle really starts affecting your health, which could lead to costly medical bills in the future or even the inability to go to work.  It really comes back to bite you in the end.  What is the solution to this dilemma?

Start your own garden.  (Well, this is not really the full solution, just something I thought would help) The idea of starting a garden from scratch is probably intimidating to most people.  It is to me.  But I started thinking about all of the benefits of creating your own garden:

1. Cost - I started researching what it takes to start and maintain a garden, and the results really surprised me. I found a blog called GetRichSlowly that is featuring a series called the GRS Gardening Project.  For this project, they are measuring the cost, time, and rewards of building a garden from scratch.  Within the first six months, the estimated spending a total of $318.43 on seeds, fertilizer, and water thorugh the first six months.  They are on their currently on the 11th month and have estimated $606.97 worth of food has been harvested from their garden.  This means that they actually saved money by not having to buy food, and this happened during their first year of gardening.

2. Nutrition - We all know that the food typically grown in gardens is healthy.  I won’t beat the dead horse that leafy greens and bell peppers are healthier than a Waffle House Double Texas Cheese Steak Plate.  We all also know that the fresher food, the more the nutrients will be preserved.   But one of the things you might not think about when you start your own garden is that you are in control.  You control what soil, fertilizer, and pesticides are used.  You control the quality of the seeds and the time when you harvest.  These are all key factors in the nutrition benefits of freshly grown foods.

3. Fitness - The Garden Fitness Plan on GardenFitness.com said it best:

Research shows that gardening for 30-45 minutes most days of the week has significant health benefits, such as decreasing the risk of high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as contributing to healthier bones, muscles and joints. Elements of gardening such as digging, weeding, trimming shrubs and mowing the lawn can require the same energy requirements as other physical exercise activities such as walking, cycling, swimming and aerobics.

I thoroughly suggest checking out all of the information on GardenFitness.com.  It is a great resource.

4. General Physical and Emotional Health - Along with the nutritional and fitness benefits there are other health benefits as well:

• The time spent in the garden and in the sun will give your body its daily source of Vitamin D.
• The time spent gardening can  give you a nice silent moment to reflect on your day, think about a problem, or just clear your head.
• Seeing the garden through, from planning to completion,  provides you with a sense of accomplishment.
• The fact that you are experiencing the natural process of life: new life, nurturing, growth, decay, re-birth, brings you closer to the Earth and that always is a peaceful feeling.

5. Family and Education - Gardening can also be turned into a great way to connect with your family.  It allows you to spend time with your wife and kids away from the TV or the Internet.  It provides a break from the normal hustle and bustle of family life.  It is also a great educational tool for children; from concrete things like science and  nutrition, to less concrete topics like patience, persistence, and the value of hard work.

I plan on starting my own garden next year.  I have never been an outdoorsy type of person, but I am so excited about this idea.  I plan on keeping everyone informed on the progress and provide tips where they apply.  I’ll probably do my own version of the GRS project to add another data point to the cost and time metrics.  If you are interested in starting a garden with me, please drop a comment or send me a tweet.  Remember:  Have fun and stay active!

November Weight Gain

Yup, there it is, a 6 pound weight gain.  My goals fromt his month are to just make better decisions and get back below 270.  I’ve been dreading reporting this.  Knowing that I’m going to have to report this to the world is plenty of motivation to not fall off the wagon completely.

Gobble Gobble, damn it.