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Walking to a first place win
This month has been a new milestone for me. I have won two first place awards in sporting events in one month. Now for many of you that would seem like old hat. I knew your types and their abilities my whole life. I just was never on a first place team or came in first on any sporting event in my life. This month I received a first place ribbon in a 5k walk for my age bracket and our volleyball team won the university staff tournament for staff appreciation week.
Now for you folks that have been good at sports getting 2 first place awards in a month might seem small. Stop for a moment and imagine being in your 50’s and never having taken first place before. Twice in one month seems like a life changing event. In fact it was due to a lifestyle change that it came about.
I now know why people who are good at sports seem to walk a little taller. It feels good to compete honestly and win. Win with humility and not in their face but win none the less. Imagine a whole lifetime of never winning and you understand why someone might give up the idea of ever winning at anything. I have lived my life thinking I would never win. It did keep me from trying until the last couple of years.
Still moving at the end
After I lost my weight someone suggested trying for a 5k run. My first one I did some training and came in better than some but didn’t place at all. The great thing was it keep me focused in trying to improve. I found I could get faster. I found I could run longer. I found that I could train for a purpose that was as much about me as it was the people I was working with to improve their health and fitness.
The results are, it continues to motivate family and friends to do more for their health. They remember when they couldn’t get me off the couch, or to garden, heck even sometimes to just go visit somewhere. I was too tired. I was too sick. It gives them hope. I get the benefit of enjoying more life. I believe because of my choices to lose weight that people in my life and those yet to come along will live longer, more enjoyable lives. And that my friends is a prize worth winning.
Tobey and April not far behind
I say if I can do it I can help someone else do it. What say you? Your comments are welcome!
Seems to be a lot more written lately about if being slim means that you are in better physical condition. I find this question lacking in common sense actually. Why? Because it relates to the idea of physical fitness. Not to how you are doing physically. Over the years as I had become bigger and my obesity started to really take it’s toll, I was often more active than many people my age. Now looking at me you would not have guessed it because at almost 3/4 of my height inches around my waist. I worked out each week. Many of my friends did not. I would often work harder in group situations than many of the people that where thinner and even younger.
You could say I had more endurance than some, but still I wasn’t physically fit. I could not have run a mile to save my life. Three miles before work like yesterday would have been out of the question. First of all I could not have done 3 miles in one setting walking or running. Giving it my best still would have wiped me out for the day. So active is not always fit. And slim is not always active. How to measure fitness?
- Image via Wikipedia
1. Determine if you are talking medical fitness or endurance fitness. Medical fitness can be tested and measured as well as endurance fitness. Each one is a different set of tests. Medical fitness is measured with things like blood tests, having check-ups, body fat percentages, and various other measurements of healthy body. Put them all together and you have a measurable results that tells you if you are healthy or not. Physical fitness has other tests. Length of workouts, recovery, intensity, endurance, and the list goes on. It too can be measured and tracked. If physical fitness is not being worked on, it is dropping.
2.Decide what needs to change. If you are at your ideal weight (determined by you and someone you trust) than you may need to look at the other forms of testing. Are there areas of either physical fitness or medical fitness that you need to look at? Start working on them and perhaps you can combine the two for “optimal health”. If you weight needs to change, stop fighting it and work on weight loss. If you have no endurance then exercise and come up with a plan to change it. If you have no ideas, than ask for help. It is available here and many other place on the net. Make a change.
3. Lastly stop making excuses for yourself. I hear it all the time. On of my favorites is that BMI charts are old science and have no bearing in truth. So frigging what! Adjust it for your body type and muscle mass and figure out if you are in shape or get your body fat measured. Stop using it as an excuse for not doing the work to reach a healthful state. Same with exercise. Here it is I am too out of shape or it takes too much time. How will that change if you don’t change something? As far as time goes you can pack life changing fitness into 20 mins a day or less. So time is not the issue. Commitment is! Way out of shape? Start slow and keep ramping it up till you get where you want to be.
You are not too big, too old, too young, too timid, too out of shape or too anything to not change something to make an improvement. You may need some help to get started. You may need a kick start on your weight loss or your physical program. You may even need some one like our team to teach and encourage you. But you can do it! You can reach optimal health no matter where you are now. And optimal health is the best that your body can do for the condition it is in, not in comparison to someone else and their abilities.
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This last week was the first time in months that I was feeling so bad I had to take some time off from work and workouts. I came down with a cold or flu and just before that I had pulled something in my back during one of my last weight trainings. Reminder to self remember to stretch more. So imagine for a few short moments coughing and sneezing with your back spasms that would normally bring me to my knees if I could just get out of bed. That was just two days ago and this morning I was back up and walked out 2 miles.
No, I am no superman. I did have to dig in and find that hero I wrote about recently. I had to get back at it as soon as I was able. Why you ask? Well because it was the workouts and the weight loss that turned what would have been a full weeks worth of illness to just half a week. That’s right my recovery was faster because my body was stronger. It wasn’t hauling around an extra 100 lbs. It was not in the constantly worn down condition of no sleep and no reserves. When I got back there where still people out from the same or similar bug.
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I went and got my back adjusted as I had gotten it out of alignment. Feels much better today. Again a recovery that would normally take a couple of weeks before I would even think of going back to working out. In talking to the chiropractor we talked about recent vacations he had taken this last year and I commented that I used to think that action, fun-filled things like hiking and snorkeling where out of the question for me just one short year ago. That this last year I had hiked the Grand Canyon for the full day and loved every minute of it. I look forward to my next tropical vacation where I can get back in the water and enjoy the fish and swimming without feeling like I was going to run out of breath.
To answer the question I used for the title, I realized on my walk this morning that the way to recover is to start back at it. It doesn’t matter if it was illness or lack of weight loss that slows us down. It doesn’t matter that we are discouraged or feeling a bit let down. It matter how we overcome that feeling. It matters that we do what we can do. Last week it was keeping the hands out of the chocolate jar at work. This week it was going for a walk rather then slacking another day. All of it based on choices that stacked up over this last year that made it even possible to do it in the first place.
That’s right loosing weight and working out made me stronger and recovery was faster. Small price to pay to have along with it more energy and determination to keep going. What goal are you working on today? What are you willing and able to do to get there? Think about it and DO Something about it today!
Ok before I lose you on the title bare with me for a couple of paragraphs. This will be my second set of holidays since I started my weight loss journey in Boise, Idaho. We still live for the holidays and family gatherings. Still, I have lost weight during the holidays and still enjoyed my meals with family and friends. I believe these hints will not only help you stay away from adding on a “holiday bulge”, but they may even help you maintain your current weight or loose some.
- On the chosen holiday. Eat all day! See I told you some of them you would like. Now beware though there are some guidelines behind this suggestion. First of all keep it down to like 6 meals that day. Notice I did not say 6 full meals, after all I don’t want anyone exploding in their family living room. Lets make them 6 small meals. Pick up a salad plate (smaller portion space) and pick out your chosen foods. I suggest you start with a good portion of protein, it will fill you up and hold you longer. Keep the carbs do the more complex kind if available and don’t let them take up more than 20% of your plate. Fiber is your friend and so is water or tea. Space your meals out every 2-3 hours and then when the full meal comes you won’t be heaping it so full the food is falling off.
- The day before (if you exercise) go all out. Make it a full body all you can do workout. That way the intake you get on the holiday will be spent in muscle repair and rebuilding. Give it what you have. You may be sore, but you will put all that fuel to good use.
- Keep the deserts down to small slices of your favorites. Don’t take home the leftovers. There is always someone ready to take home auntie Clair’s homemade apple pie
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leftovers. It doesn’t have to be you.
- If on a diet plan, eat one of your healthy meals before you go to friends and relatives. You will arrive full and be less likely to start eating from all the choices in front of you. Your diet should keep your metabolism up and curb any hunger. Often during holidays we forget to eat because we get so busy getting ready.
- One last hint. Make a decision for health. Sounds simple doesn’t? You need to decide before you go to the celebration if you are going to do it and stay on track or if you are going to blow it off and just eat. Whatever you decide has its’ own paybacks and rewards. An average holiday with lots of choices can ruin a month’s worth of work in weight loss. Are you in for Life or just for the moment?
Choose wisely my friends and you will have more holidays, longer time with family, and that favorite holiday treat, well you will be there next time to enjoy it once again. May each of you, which find this small spot on the internet, be blessed with a special time during the holidays. Enjoy your moments!
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On my last post I talked about the many reasons I (and many I meet) use to not even begin to work towards weight loss or physical fitness. They are the excuses that kept me from taking an honest look several years earlier. I am not saying anything about the way we make choices other than to address it from a single question: Why? We have a society here in America that second only to maybe Great Britain and it is becoming the most obese society in the world. We top the research in the world in figuring out that obesity kills and robs the quality of our lives, yet the numbers are still climbing. I know I was one of those statistics. We look for the magic solution or the right surgery for the quick fix. We don’t want to look at the behavior.
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
In part two I wanted to address exercise. You know the saying “No Pain No Gain” I used this as a mantra when I was at 297 lbs and trying desperately to loose weight. I would repeat that I was just one more workout away from getting strong enough to keep going. Facts where I was too heavy, was pushing too hard, and I needed to figure it out. Meanwhile my joints where killing me because of all the extra weight and my blood pressure was still shooting up through the roof. Finding a way to drop the weight saved my life. Keeping it off and keep reaching for the right weight was the next level of determination.
On to workout/exercise excuses that I hear when I talk to people about my life these days. And yes I have used them as well in the past.
“You only live once – Hell enjoy life and stop worrying about when you are going to die.” Now I am not a big fan of worry and self loathing, however I found out if you use this one long enough the quality of life goes down pretty quickly. What is enjoyable about having to say “No I don’t have the energy!” or “Sorry I am hurting all over my body and I am just not up to it!”. Or my favorite one “Hold on I need to catch my breath!” This one always came out when I felt my heart thumping through my chest and wondered if it was going to burst. Truth – You only live once – Why not enjoy it with a healthy body and an active life. Being a couch potato isn’t all it is cracked up to be. There is a whole lot more fun out there waiting to be had.
“The weather sucks today, guess I can’t do my workout.” This is a great excuse. I could use it when it was too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry, and even if the wind was blowing or not. This one only fails on the perfect day. As long as you never define the perfect day to some one that cares about you, then you can pull this one out almost any day. It fits in well with “I didn’t sleep well last night and I am too tired, besides it is raining out.” Fact was the gym was less then a 10 minute drive from the house and inside. Funny thing about the gym it is almost always the same temperature and lighting settings. This last year I found out that you can do a lot right in your living room to get fit. Oh and running on a cold wet morning even has some great moments. If nothing else you know you have joined the ranks of people that realize that every step towards health matters.
Image by ninahale via Flickr
“I travel all the time.” Now this was not one of mine. I do hear it from people when they ask about the changes they see in my physical condition and here about my workouts these days. Well if you fit into this one there are portable resistance bands, inflatable balls for all kinds of exercises, etc etc. More and more hotels have exercise rooms or in Seattle I even found a hotel with an agreement with Ballys gym to allow us to work out there while staying. As you might guess this one doesn’t work for me either.
“I just had a baby.” Well I can honestly say I have never used this one! I have heard it more than once however. Some good friends of ours had their new baby boy last year when I was in the middle of my weight loss phase. And she was back at it right away. She had to work past many of the other excuses because of the baby not getting on schedule right away, odd sleeping patterns, etc. She and my wife just did a walk with a local woman’s fitness challenge where the baby carriage was pushed up hill and they both (baby and mother) had a great time. All because she worked out before the baby was born and got right back at it afterward.
“I’m too (fill in the blank here ..)” The universal I am too this or that excuse. Let me give you an example of some of my old I’m too’s. I am too old. I am too fat/heavy. I am too out of shape. etc. etc. What it really was I was too wrapped up in what wasn’t working and not find things that would work for me. I relied on having the excuse to keep from having to do the work. Sure I worked out, heck I even tried many diets. I just never took the time to stick with it till I found the right combination. I relied on what I knew and it wasn’t till I found some one with some answers to help me that I got started in the right direction. From there it was like gliding down hill, the longer you stick with it the faster you go.
Point of all this excuse busting is that excuses will change the quality of life you live tomorrow. They will rob you of your health. They will steal time away from you with your loved ones. They will take your life breath away until you don’t have the breath to speak them. Maybe even get you to the point you want to quit trying. Time to find something that you want bad enough that you will work to experience more of it. Maybe that is a relationship, or something you love doing. Maybe it is a purpose you always wanted to full fill to some how change the world around you. But find it as the pull to live longer and healthier. Start with help if you need it, but start. Baby steps or leaps, the only thing that matters is the journey anyway. GO FOR IT!
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To continue on the idea that dieting does not have lasting results when really it is that we set our eyes on the short term effects rather than long term. If you lost the weight then the diet worked for it’s original goal. However did you have the lifestyle change and the long term desire for optimal health in mind when it was done.
See this is why diets in themselves don’t succeed for much more then 2 years. Often times even less. The goal to lose the weight was about solving the problem and not a long term outcome of being healthy. Often people won’t even take it as far as reaching their ideal weight before they go back to the same habits that got them in a obesigenic state in the first place. Obesity will continue to plague them.
This manifests in the acceptance of poor habits being ok after you have been good for a while. Motivation cannot come from a half hearted attempt to fix a problem. It must be more outcome driven. There needs to be a destination in mind to keep the journey going. You build your habits around the outcome. When you get to the top, you have a much clearer view to pick your next destination. The journey continues from a better lookout point.
Now I am not saying that dieting is not important in the journey. Having a phased approach where Phase 1 is reaching your ideal weight is essential to creating some form of destination structure. It is one of the building blocks. Or better yet it is like a runner’s starting blocks on the track. It is where it all begins. It is where the race begins. But it is soon forgotten as they run around the track to the finish line. Hopefully that will help you see that it is but one step of the journey to health. It also from a coach’s point of view gives us an opportunity for a teachable moment.
Most people that come to us to lose weight are very much problem orientated. They just want to feel better about themselves, lose some weight, make a family member or friend happy, or make a medical issue better. They want to solve a problem. They really don’t have a fixed desired outcome in mind other than a short term problem of losing the weight. They want it to work. It does and the pressure is off either a little or a lot and then it comes time to talk about how good it can be now that they are moving in the right direction.
Next we can talk about how to keep motivated to go the distance to optimal health and longevity. We will talk about how to set yourself up to feel better and live longer than just a short term goal.
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So far I have been talking about the difference between being motivated by feeling a sense of urgency triggered by an event or condition. This is motivation to solve a problem and the focus is only there as long as the problem seems urgent. We all have had time when diet and exercise feels tedious, repetitive and just plain boring. We start to lose our resolve to stay on target. That is because we are shooting at the wrong target.
Lets talk about problem solving versus a desired outcome. We have already identified problem solving approach as a failed motivator because when the problem lessens the motivation goes down with it. Desired outcome however is a destination. It is not over till it is over kind of thing.
Let’s take weight for example. You have two ways to think about losing weight. The first one is you are going to fix your bad habits. You are going to do better. Hmm, that would be eat less, maybe even attempt to create a food log, watch the actual calories you take in each day, etc. etc. etc. So you do it for a few days, weeks, maybe even months, and you feel better about the problem. You slack off and give yourself a break. Maybe you even pat yourself on the back a bit.
The second way to look at it would be to create a healthy body. Now what are you looking at? Ok, lets start with reaching an ideal weight for your age, height and sex. Noticed I said ideal weight not just dropping a few pounds. But we aren’t done yet if we are talking about health. Along with ideal weight lets add physical fitness, and overall healthy body. No more high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Let throw in some endurance and muscle growth, perhaps even a body model you feel would fit for you. Oh and to get there we can’t forget maintaining healthy eating and proper diet. After all it just takes a few days to take the body down. Don’t believe me go rent “Supersize Me!”
See the difference? One says I will give this a shot until it doesn’t feel urgent anymore. The other says it isn’t over till I reach the finish line. It is orientated to the outcome not releasing the pressure of an short term emergency. When the outcome becomes the focus, it will help create the structure to get there. The behavior changes and the steps in between start to develop and there is some structural tension pulling you towards the outcome.
I will continue this more tomorrow as we apply this idea to weight loss and exercise over the long term.
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