1. No seconds
2. Sugary food only on birthdays, holidays and family gatherings (which are fairly often)
3. Run 2x per week
4. Push-ups, squats, sit-ups and pull-ups 5x per week
5. Go to bed by 10:30 pm

My ultimate goal is to reach < 15% body fat and look like the picture above.  These first 90 days will be just the beginning of a new life.  I turn 29 this month and feel like I’m getting old much faster than I imagined and I want to reverse that.  I want to be in the best shape of my life by the time I’m 30.

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What has happened since last post?  I’ve relaxed a little on my fitness goals since winning my weight loss contest in June.  Instead of running a half marathon I ended up running a 5K.  I was pleased with my time of 27:41, which comes out to less than 9 minutes per mile!  My next goal is a 26 minute 5K.  I’ve had a nice long break since the race and am ready to get back into the swing.

I’ve also slipped on my eating habits but I’m aware of how bad it makes my body feel so I am ready to switch back to my healthy habits.  My focus will be to avoid sugar and bad carbs and increase my vegetable intake.

I’ve tried to act like an authority on this blog because that is what I want to be but it’s hard to fake something I’m not.  The best thing for me will be to treat this blog as a fitness journal until I really am an expert and have reached my ultimate goals.

I will post about once a week with updates.

Weight: 235 lbs.

Goal for next week: 232 lbs.  Run 3x.

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Pay close attention to her back, arms and wrinkles.  Now, I think she looks great without the touch ups.  The photoshopping does make her look quite a bit younger.  The point I want to make is that sometimes when we hold images like this up as ideals we are setting ourselves up for failure.  Even if we are super rich and can afford personal trainers and chefs and cosmetic surgery it is still no match for the power of digital retouching.  My advice is to just avoid consuming media like this.  It rots the brain.

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I’ve been most successful at weight loss when I’ve experienced changes in lifestyle. Times when my physical activity level is much higher without forcing myself to exercise.  I need to become a more active person.  Don’t just choose to run more but join a running club.  Join a sports team.

There have been moments of frustration where I’ve told myself that I need to join the military so that someone else will set my priorities for me and force me into a regimen.  I tend to excel in those types of situations but I usually don’t enjoy the loss of freedom.  What I really need is to develop my own self discipline.

If you’ve ever said, “I don’t have time to exercise.”  then this post is for you.  You would never say, “I don’t have time to go to work!”  We all have the same amount of time each day.  Some of us do have quite a few responsibilities but ultimately we get to choose the priority of our responsibilities.  We all have time to be more active and eat less it just isn’t a priority.  Going on The Biggest Loser and working out all day with a personal trainer reallly isn’t necessary.  I’m sure that would speed up the process but it just isn’t realistic, now is it?

If having less body fat is a goal of yours and you want to be thinner you need to envision what your life will be like in order to maintain that body.  What priorities need to be rearranged?  In most cases, the changes doesn’t need to be a big changes.  If we cut 300 calories per day out of our diet it is like eating one less slice of pizza or 20 oz soda.  In one year that small change can make a 30 lbs difference.

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Tips for Setting Goals

1. Set measurable goals.
2. Write your goals down on paper.
3. Set goals you believe you can achieve.
4. Set goals that stretch you.
5. Remind yourself every day of your goal.

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It can be difficult to be healthy on the road. On our own road trip we discuss some ideas we came up with. The most important thing is to plan ahead and make sure to incorporate some outdoor activities into your trip and pack healthy meals rather than depend on fast food. The next big idea is to stop worrying about food and just have fun!

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Ideas:
Lonely? Call a friend. Skype.
Bored? Read a good book. Start a new project. Write in journal.
Stressed? Go for a walk. Meditate. Work out.

Drink more water, chew gum, get creative. We’re all different so do the things that you want. It is a good idea to not only set fitness goals but mental, spiritual, relationship goals and when you feel like eating and you’re not hungry then work on one of your other goals.

I have to admit, I haven’t perfected these techniques. Still, even if I can avoid emotional eating most of the time I am actively reducing my caloric intake and creating healthy habits. BABY STEPS for permanant change. So don’t stress if you’re not perfect. Take pride in each victory. It feels great each time you win and it empowers you to win again and again.

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THIN -

Stop and Think before you eat.  Are you actually Hungry?  Listen to your body.  It will tell you when it NEEDS food.  Your bad habits will tell you when you want food.  Listen to your body.  I suggest starting any diet program with a 24 hour fast where you spend the day listening to your body and practicing some restraint.  Will the food you are considering eating Improve your health? Does it have high nutrient density and low calorie density?  And lastly, what are the Negative consequences of eating the food in question?  Will the food in question help or hurt your health?

Since coming up with this system I have become much more aware when I get urges to eat everything in site.  You may notice with this simple exercise that you will already consume less just be recognizing that you’re not actually hungry.  Much of the time this isn’t enough and we need to do more to counter those times when we say, “I know I don’t need this and it will hurt my diet but I’m going to eat it anyway because it will taste so good and I’m going to really enjoy every bite of it.”

A Lean Body May Be Simpler to Get Than You Think

There will be more to come to help overcome emotional eating.  The first step to taking control of your diet is to become aware of our habits and turn off autopilot.  The next step will be to create a new healthy autopilot!  Notice, I said this can be simple but it isn’t necessarily easy at first.  Once good habits are formed it can get easier.  Stay tuned for the next post where I will provide some useful techniques for replacing bad habits with good ones.

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The key take away I have so far is that you have to change the beliefs you have that have gotten you where you are today. If you are overweight it is because you ate too much for too long. The key to success is figuring out why that happened and what core beliefs you need to change to reverse the damage.

The author also address the fact that we can never sustain extreme diets and we need to be realistic about making permanent changes. I used to think that I would have to give up ice cream forever if I want to be lean (10-12% body fat). That was a belief I held which also inhibits me from being successful but he suggests that if the way we look at food changes then our bodies will be able to handle an occassional treat. If we consistently consume fewer calories than we burn and we feed our body good nutrients then the occasional slip ups, holidays, social events won’t get us off the wagon.

If you want to get the book you can order it from Amazon.com

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One of the biggest reasons diets fail is we don’t believe we can achieve our goal. One way to help us believe is to set goals we know we can achieve. Once we’ve achieved these goals we will feel empowered which will motivate us to set newer and bigger goals. The hope is to have a snowball effect until we wake up one day and realize we’ve created several healthy habits that we can keep for the rest of our life.

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