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Loosing Weight
What it take to loose the weight I have been carrying for so long. It is all about the journey this time.
During my weight loss journey and often when people hear what I do “at my age” 
, I am asked how I can keep doing it. This question always catches me by surprise as I rarely have a conscious thought about not doing what I need to continue to reach for optimal health. A day wasted is a day lost.
Don’t get me wrong last week we helped some wonderful friends back and move their house. This was a 4 day project after work. Was a lot of lifting, stacking, packing, bending and all kinds of exercise. So after the first day, I didn’t do my morning workout for 3 days. I went to bed each night exhausted and feeling good about how well this old man humped all that stuff.
This morning I realized that my workouts are a lot like my life in general. I have come to realize over the years that life is lived in moments. Some moments are like the next rep of curling a dumbbell to my chin. If it is the first few reps it seems easy enough, but as the set nears completion, it will become harder for me to complete that set with the full number of reps. Now if I don’t increase the weight, it stays easy, but no progress is made.
- Image by Neeta Lind via Flickr
Life is that way isn’t? If we glide through it we get comfort zone results. We live from what is easy. There is little challenge, little growth and often no or very little progress. Kinda of boring don’t you think? That is where I used to survive from. It seemed like it was all I could do. Perhaps as you read this it is where you feel you are now as well. Well I have some good news for you, it isn’t that hard to get more from life.
When obesity limited my life, I had no energy, no motivation and struggled each day with pain, depression, and various concerns of my health. Had I given up I would have lived out my life in a much shorter time span. I would have allowed the doctors and the pharmacy to control how my body “survived” for the time I had left. I just had to make new choices and become more conscious that it really is about moment to moment living.
So ask yourself right now, what choices do I make in each moment to have a fuller, more fulfilled life. Notice I didn’t ask where you are now. I didn’t look for the reasons you got there, I asked what are you going to do to change it? I don’t believe in being stuck in the past, or what someone just said that hurt my feelings. I believe in the statement “If it is to be, it is up to me!” What say you?
Today my legs where killing me from the workout I gave them 2 days ago. The workout is designed to take the muscle to near failure and was one of the toughest leg workouts I have done in a long while. So I have a lot of lactic acid burning up my muscle. I thought a slow walk was a good idea.
Now normally I would have my Nike+ shoes and my Ipod Nano to record my mileage. Gotta get those miles logged so people can see I live what I preach. I am kidding, well kinda, I have to admit I like seeing the miles add up. But, when you really take a look at it, it really only matters that I am working on my health to continue the journey I started. So off I went for a slow, maybe painful walk to get some circulation going in my legs. No music. No measurement of time (how fast or slow I was going). Just a walk to feel better was all I was after.
It is a sunny day in Boise today. My walk during the day is almost always on the greenbelt and today was no exception. It was a sunny 88 degrees and humid. Little did I know that more than my legs were about to get restored.
- Image via Wikipedia
I looked around, there where all kinds of things to see and hear. First was the kayaker floating and bobbing along down the river. A reminder of things still on my “bucket list”, one day to take either a white water rafting trip or lean to kayak and venture the wild waters in Idaho. Then there was the man and his dog walking along the banks. This one took me back to the recent lost of my dear pet and friend that recently passed away after being with us for 20+ years.
I walked on as my legs started to free up a bit and each step seemed a bit lighter. I started thinking about some of the recent events in my life that needed quiet contemplation to come to some sort of decision. No music, no concern about a pace, just walking along the river on a hot summer day. As I searched my soul, that still quiet voice (note to self, you still have to get quiet to hear it) led me into the next steps and an inner knowing what to do next.
Getting ready to go around the bend I noticed the bike rider coming around the turn and waited in case he would go left instead of right. He actually stopped for me to cross and we exchanged smiles that acknowledged we where both courteous to each other’s journey. On across the old steel bridge, the boards creaked and bounced as I looked up and down the river noticing for the first time all week that the water level had changed and enjoy the flying cottonwoods as they floated through the air like angels guarding us along the way.
Image via Wikipedia
On to the home stretch, sun beating down and body getting warmer now as the sweat started to form on my brow. Half way and my walk would be done. I was almost sad for it to be over till I hear all the birds signing and I became lost in the harmony of their song. Be still they sang and enjoy the day. Each step, took me closer to my destination.
Last bridge and only a few yard to the door. As the real world approached I realized that the walk had done more for my health than getting the blood moving in my aching legs. It had renewed my spirit. It had reminded me of the sights and sounds of life being enjoyed around me. As the sweat poured down my brow it also reminded me of the days when I would have never thought of walking off those aches and pains of life that I had just been released from. And often never took the time to enjoy the sweet moments being active has to offer.
I hope in some small way this reaches one person and makes a difference in their life. It reminds them to take a moment and enjoy their walk. It doesn’t have to be for exercise. It doesn’t have to be around a park. It can be just for a brief moment when you hear the birds sing out to you or smell the fresh scent of the lilac trees as they send their scent through the air. Oh and that still small voice, it is always in waiting for when you take the time to listen. Be blessed and enjoy the journey!
Often I am surrounded by people who think I live such a naïve form of life. I have faith, I have hope and I am rarely concerned about my life in many ways these days. This was not always the case. If you have read this blog you often will hear me refer to the days before I lost my weight and changed the focus in my life.
I didn’t like the way I felt back then, but I still never gave up working on being excited about life and finding a way out. Struggle is tough! It sometimes takes all we have to keep going. Heck there are still some days at the end of the day I am glad that day is over. The good news though is even those days have something exciting happening and progress is made in some area of my life.
What’s the difference? I get to set the pace! I make the choices to stick to the plan I have or to take some time off from it. I had to laugh yesterday I was told that I sure have myself in a lot of areas. I work with clients, I am part of a team putting together a revolutionary life coaching plan, I do clinical hypnotherapy, have a full time IT position that put me on call, I watch what I eat and exercise, and recently have been asked to go back into ministry work. Sounds like a full plate. My response was that in one of my favorite life giving books I often read that if you are given talents you should use them or they may be taken away. In the same book it tells me to whom much is given, much is expected.
With all that said than I control my life with choices. I choose into my life to get all life has to offer. Diet and exercise take time and planning. So does being ill, it robs hope and joy along with time. Everything has a cost. I just look for the results rather than getting bogged down in the effort. It is more fun to be fit rather than struggling with carrying around all that extra weight. It was a small price to pay for the fullness of life I experience now.
Want control of your Life? Take it, plan it, work it, and live it. Start replacing disempowering thoughts with empowering thoughts. Learn to breath. Find out what faith and hope is again. Stop the excuses, stop the self abuse, and take one step at a time. Do it and keep going at it. Perfection is not the mantra here. It is all about the journey and what you learn along the way. After all whose life is it anyways?
Not sure where to start? Fill out a contact form and lets talk. No charge! Yeah, that is one more thing I do, help others to find a way to get started to enjoy their life. After all, to whom much has been given, much is expected.
I remember reading in an United Kingdom article over 2 years ago that Britain was looking into this. What the heck, how come it took 2 years for a warning come to the United States? I guess it had to travel by message in a bottle or something.
Now I have not been a fan of magic pill solutions that causes you to crap in your pants in oily ways to gross to imagine. But aren’t we supposed to be able to rely on the FDA to tell us about this stuff as soon as it is seen as an issue? Oh wait they aren’t telling us of the risks that 1 out of 25 could die from bariatric surgery either.
Well it just goes along the line of trusting the government to come up with a solution to the obesity crisis here as well. New studies just released that says that 28 out of 50 of the good ol’ USA just increased their obesity rates yet again.
Heck my own state of Idaho has gone over 25% of it’s population is now obese. Not just overweight mind you that makes the numbers go even higher. And all that I am hearing from the various committees on obesity is that it is a problem related to income, location, race etc. etc. No solutions for you being offered if you are broke or a member of various stereotypically lower income brackets. What a load of more brown stuff!
Common America, wake up and find your own answers. Obesity kills and your government is at best going to tax you while you die with it.
End rant!
Locally here in Idaho and even in Britain they are looking at way to add incentive to weight loss. Idaho offers state employees a “rebate” of sorts if they participate in a very limited number of choices for weight loss programs. Interesting the choices are limited to only those companies that sponsor paying the incentive. Oh and when you do the math, the sponsors make a whole lot more on the programs then what they pay back for the weight loss. When I tried to probe deeper into why the program did reward all weight loss and not just if you sign up for a particular program my phone calls and emails were never returned. It was obvious, but I just wanted to have the debate with them.
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
Lets face it, if the Governor really wanted to add incentive to weight loss and fitness the program would reward whatever weight loss was achieved. They would sponsor more activities and incentives to cover the many aspects of becoming more fit. Truth here it is really a token effort put together to make it look like it matters and that they really care at all.
Add that to the hospitals promoting new ways to carve up your body in often untested over time ways, junk food sponsoring of things like the Olympics and you start to see a pattern. There is a huge industry around the idea that is weight loss and fitness. What is a person to do.
Let’s start with some education. Take some time and read this article in the Guardian. Then ask yourself a couple of questions. Is my health important to me? If so, then why am I not taking care of it? Next, Can I do it myself or do I need some help? Truth is everyone can but few people do. Why because they don’t have the time to do it efficiently and effectively. They don’t have time to plan their workouts, plan their diet, get back in shape, and do it all without damaging themselves. Add to that the understanding of how their body uses food and processes it, they just don’t have the time or the willingness to do all that.
What’s the answer? Find someone (give us a try for an hour on the phone) and spend the time to see if you are serious about your health and fitness. Look at the fact that it is half way through the year. Did you make that New Years Resolution that this year would be different? If so, is it? Can you do it on your own? Sure you can! But will you? You can’t and won’t be bribed, it is all about choices and lifestyle changes. Let us guide you carefully through the journey to a point where the force of habit takes over and you can and will do it on your own.
I read several blogs a day. It appears that there are all kinds of things to blame our poor diets and weight gain on. What are people saying? We eat poorly because it is cheaper to eat badly. We use fast food because we are too busy to prepare meals that are nutritious and tasty for our families. There is no time to prepare a meal plan, do the shopping, and cook the meals.
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
When you add it all up here are some common truths. People feel the pressure to feed their families more nutritious foods, they just can’t find the time to do it. The next choice is to try and make the best choice they can in the drive-thru. They tell themselves that there is healthy and good choices they can make and still find some quality time to read to their kids. A fair trade-off for many parents.
I would like to present another option. How about looking at those fast food places and learning something from them? If the best they have to offer is a salad, how hard is it to put a salad together? My estimate, given the ingredients are sitting at your house is that you can do the salad faster than you can wait in line to pick it up at the drive-thru.
What if you planned for one of those fast meals as part of your shopping trip anyway? If you stop at the fast food place once a week or more, why not plan a “fast food” at home instead?
Let’s take an example from a discussion I had at work today. The discussion came when I uttered that corporation X’s fast food will kill you. Followed by the response, “Well Rick you know they have good food choices as well!” I responded with yes but those foods you can fix just as fast and cheaper at home. It was not well received to say the least. Most likely, it comes from my lack of tack when it comes to making excuses to abuse your health.
So I did some homework. I picked a Bacon Ranch salad that averages price in said fast food place was between $4.87 to $4.99 depending on where in the country you find yourself under their golden arches. Adding the ingredients I found you could save $1.00 to $1.50 per serving fixing it on your own. So I had to take into account prep time. I used grated cheese, prepared salad mix, and copied the total ingredients of the salad and came up with less than 15 minutes to prepare. Oh and one more point it was much easier to find salad dressing that not only cut calories but was much healthier and tastier than offered.
- Image by size8jeans via Flickr
Results for diet, nutrition, weight loss or maintenance, was that it is just as easy and cheaper to eat right than to stop by the drive thru and tell yourself you are making better choices for your family. Eating better doesn’t take a degree in nutrition. It doesn’t take hours of preparation. It doesn’t take too much time to plan the meals. It just takes letting go of the excuses and making a small lifestyle choice to fuel your body for optimal health. Because when you look at the message we send our children and the message we send the food industry, we really are paying way too high of a price. It is time to stop blaming and start doing something about our health, diet and weight problems by taking a more personal look at our choices and how we are making them.
What do top athletes eat to stay in peak condition? England rugby player Jonny Wilkinson shares his daily dietary habits. Plus: he reveals how to bounce back from an injury
I am lucky: I get to play the game that I love every day. To sustain this level of activity, I need to drink and eat well. As my job requires my body to be at its best at all times, I have developed a dietary routine that I tend to stick to most days.
Breakfast
Water. Your body is at its most dehydrated in the morning. Considering that you have spent eight hours without any intake of fluids while you have been sleeping, it is a good idea to start the day with a drink of water to make sure you are hydrated from the outset.
Muesli with fruit. One of your five-a-day, and also thought to help lower blood cholesterol concentration.
Low-fat skimmed milk. I tend to steer clear of high-fat foods.
Eggs/egg-white omelettes. Egg whites are fat-free and rich in high-quality protein. I try to have high-protein foods at every meal.
Carbs. You need energy at all points during the day, so carbohydrates such as toast or porridge could be incorporated into your morning routine.
Lunch
Fruit, protein, salad. I tend to keep my lunch healthy and simple.
Healthy fats. I often eat avocado – it contains monounsaturated fat and is great for energy release throughout the day.
Carbs. Carbohydrates such as pasta and potatoes make sure your energy levels are at performance level for the rest of the day.
Beetroot. Beet greens are a very good source of calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C. Beetroots are an excellent source of folic acid, which helps you rebuild your body after training.
During training
Water. I take on water whenever possible, especially since moving to France, to make sure my body is fully hydrated and in tip-top condition. I keep a Volvic bottle with me and take sips little and often. This technique has made the challenge of drinking 1.5 litres a day really easy.
Dinner
Few carbs. In the evening it is best to avoid a high intake of carbohydrates, as they will release energy during the night that could affect your sleep.
Oily fish and chicken. I love eating out and normally order chicken or oily fish, as they are an essential source of Omega 3, protein, vitamins and minerals.
Recovering from injury
Unfortunately, injuries are something that I have had a little bit of experience with. Immediate physical treatment is necessary to reduce the swelling and avoid further injury, such as elevating the injury above the heart and applying ice to the affected area. Your immediate mental response to injury, however, can often be more important than your physical response, because it sets you up for your long-term attitude towards recovery.
Something I have learned is that remaining positive is one of the best things that you can do to aid recovery. You can often tell how bad an injury is the second that it happens, and remaining positive is extremely important. Even when I am in pain and shock I try to block out any negative thoughts. Combating the initial stress can be really hard, but staying open-minded and focusing on recovery, rather than worrying, is the best way to avoid “locking in” any negative feelings that can linger throughout your recovery period.
Modern medicine can work wonders if you are in the right frame of mind and do everything possible to help out the doctors. When I sustained an ankle injury before the 2007 World Cup, many people wrote me off for the entire tournament. Thanks to the great work by the medical staff and physiotherapy team, and by doing everything I possibly could to aid my own recovery, I ended up missing just two games of the championships. I was back playing weeks before most people thought I would be.
I put this down to the positive approach that I took to my recovery, which helped me heal at the fastest possible rate.
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