Lifestyle Choices | Coach To Lose

Too Fat to Graduate – Or how Obesity can affect your life in unexpected ways?

Nov 272009

Lincoln University in Pennsylvania makes the news with a controversial policy of making students who are at a BMI (Body Mass Index) of greater than 30 take a special one-credit gym class to graduate. No other requirements to have their weight change or anything. The class will be required to graduate and receive their diplomas. The emphasis is on walking/conditioning for the class.

: Image via Wikipedia

So is this yet another form of obesity prejudice and an obsession of the thin against the out of shape? Or do you think it is a good thing? What if they where to just make everyone take the class? What should a institution of learning do with 20% of their students in the obese range? Should they just leave them to their own devices or make an attempt to educate them on the possibility of losing weight and reaching a more healthful state?

I am not in the camp that being overweight you can still be healthy. I hear that argument all the time and for me I was not vital, I was not healthy, and I was not at all at the quality of life I am now. I know what morbid obesity does to the body. Sure I got up every day and did my job. I was sick more often than my less hefty co-workers, and often suffered lower energy levels. I even resulted to drinking sugar free energy drinks to keep going. I see more and more people daily dealing with the same issues and seeing the drained look on their faces. I think we need to help them find their answers to health and strength, not that it has to be a certain BMI or a certain “skinniness”. Just a state of health that doesn’t take years off their life or put them at greater risk for disease.

At the same time it doesn’t mean that obesity can or should be used to discriminate against people. However , I can say now with a more healthy weight I do get treated differently. Same person, just closer to healthy weight. My BMI is now under 30. I get treated much differently than a year ago. You can’t tell me there is no weight prejudice in our country I have lived it and see it clearly every day. The question is: What choices do we have to change it? Do we concentrate on moving towards a healthy state and just let people alone? If so what will that mean to us when we are paying for each other’s health care? I know that we suffer from an obeseogenic trend in our society. We are moving in many of our states to a population of 30% or higher that are obese or morbidly obese. We are going to have the need to find some answers.

Your time to weigh-in on the issue, What do you think? If you were going to Lincoln University or working there what would you do or say to the administration? What would you say to the 20% of the students that have to take the class?

Excuse Busting Part 2 – How to Keep Going

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Oct 202009

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!

So You “Think” You Want To Lose Some Weight!

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Oct 022009

Seems that new research indicates you better make up your mind quick while you still have the capacity to use it. It has been a while since I went on a rant about how we as a species takes care of ourselves. I guess it is because I spent such long hours at work yesterday and didn’t get to do my workout. I will blame it on not being able to burn off some more calories. Today I came across a study that came out in August of this year stating that obesity causes rapid brain degeneration.

: Image via Wikipedia

Now in following the links I found on the web there where many reactions. Most of which were split between agreement and saying it was totally impossible to research this type of subject. It is the way many people I talk to listen about obesity in general. They get up every day feeling worse than the day before and still look me straight in the eyes and say it doesn’t affect their lives.

Well it does. You see it doesn’t matter if when you see these types of things you believe them or not. It is one more nail in a great big coffin of life no matter what you believe. It may be a loved one that reads it or it may be an employer that reads it, either way it will plant the seed of doubt in your ability and how your weight affects your capabilities. Let’s face it, if you read the research it plants a seed of doubt in your mind as well. Is my weight taking one more piece of the quality of life away from me?

Let add it all up. Obesity takes 10-15 years off your life, puts you at higher risk for a multitude of health risks including heart disease, diabetes, and increased cancer risk. Now on top of it they are telling us that it ages your brain 10-20 years older and actually degenerates it’s function. Now I don’t care how happy you are with who you are, that stinks when it comes to quality of life.

See I am all about loving who you are, I am not a big fan of lying to yourself that being overweight is not a health problem. Having struggled for so long there is more than huffing and puffing up the stairs and throwing medication and food down your throat to make up for it. There are solutions, there is help, and there are people that made the journey before you. Just like in Karate Kid II (I know, not another movie reference Rick!) “Live or Die!”, it is up to you. Choose life!

What is the Motivation for change? How we handle weight loss:Part 2

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Sep 162009

Which direction are we headed in our choices

We are either moving towards health or away from it.

To continue after we act on the conflict we are often not so urgent. After all you start to feel better because you got started. You tell yourself I am doing something and making progress. Now you may be nowhere close to your original goal2. But, hey you are started in the right direction — even if the situation hasn’t changed much.

Feeling better you don’t feel the emotional connection and you start to take the pressure off yourself. You start to slack off your plan little by little. People in this stage often say to me that they are having a hard time staying on their plan. They don’t realize they are losing motivation because they set it on emotion and not on the outcome.

Because they are feeling better they no longer feel the pressing need to follow up on their plan. They skip meals, they find reasons not to exercise. They stop tracking what is going in their mouth. They return to their original behavior. I hear them say things like “I am too busy now, I just don’t have the time. “ It costs too much to eat well or too little time to exercise. Or my favorite is “I miss this or that too much … I can’t do this any more.” Now don’t get me wrong I am a lover of food as much as the next person. That is the only reason my journey finally worked. If I had tried to maintain my motivation without some serious weight coming off quickly I would have most likely had the same results I had struggled with for over 20 years.

In a short time the weight returns and this is one of the major reasons that so many people yo-yo diet. In this journey with myself and others I have learned that anyone can be successful, but the ying and yang of that is that anyone can fail. The journey has to have a destination and the motivation has to come from reaching that destination no matter what it takes. Sure everyone will experience a detour once in a while. It is what people do with that detour that makes the difference between living longer, healthier, and happier active lives. You see along the way what I have learned there are two choices every moment we make when it comes to health. We are either moving towards wellness or we are moving towards sickness. There is very little middle ground on the journey to health.

Weight Loss, Exercise and Monitoring – Motivation to Change

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Sep 142009

We often need help in our weight loss journey

Over the last three weeks I have been so busy that it was like going back to my old life. (before losing 100 lbs.) I was tired every morning. It was hard to get motivated to do my workouts and often I didn’t. I was not getting my 7-8 hours of rest. Life was on full speed with the gas running out quickly.

So what was the results? I put on 6-7 lbs and reversed my progress. I was at numbers I had seen 2 months ago. It was discouraging to say the least. What did it mean? How come it came on so fast? Had I really slipped paying attention that much. I mean 7 lbs required that I had mindlessly eaten an extra 24,500 calories in 3 weeks. That is almost 1200 calories a day. No way I told myself.

The numbers don’t lie! It takes 3500 extra calories to burn or gain a pound of fat. What had changed? Well, just a couple of days ago I got in my new heart monitor. So I did a measurement today. Just the stretching workout from the P90X routine burned 348 calories. My bike ride into work was 248 calories. Now take into consideration that the calories when the body recovers also keep my metabolism up and burning at a higher rate. I should burn 2X248 (two bike rides) + 348 (stretching workout) = 844 calories.

Now add in the creamer I started to use in each cup of coffee and take out 800-1000 calories of workout each day the 1200 calories aren’t too hard to find. What a wakeup call. Had I not been monitoring it I would have continued to lose ground. I would have inched my way back up to being obese and suffering with all that brought. This is why it is important to monitor and maintain your diligence when working towards an idea of achieving your optimal health. It will not happen on it’s own!

Have you made some progress lately? Is it hard to keep going for you? Share your thoughts. Come back soon as I continue to look at motivation and how to keep adding more success to an already long journey. Lets take a look together about what motivates us to either take care of ourselves or what robs us from the steps to maintain our gains along the way.

Weight Loss Goals for the Holiday Weekends!

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Jul 012009

You will notice this post went up after Father’s Day weekend. Actually I was really good this year. I am coming up on almost a year since I started my weight loss journey and have found these are habits that are much easier to live by. If I don’t it is much harder to work off the gain. I guess it comes from the fact that I started my journey before a massive holiday season and I promised myself to never get that big again. So I write these as much as a reminder to myself as to those who would read them.

: Image by ninahale via Flickr

So holidays such as 4th of July, Labor Day, or any celebration may cause your resolve to break down in your otherwise healthy eating plan. Remember that summer celebrations such as picnics can pack thousands of calories that you would not normally indulge in. So, what should you do?

1. Before going to any celebration make sure you eat normally. Eat your planned meals without trying to save up for the big one. I always recommend doing 6 smaller meals each day. Stick to your normal plan so that you aren’t hungry when you get there.

2. Take control of what you volunteer to bring. This way you can insure that you bring something healthy. This way you know there is somethere there that fits your eating habits.

3. Watch how you load up your plat and what you put on it. You can choose to NOT to have the desert!! Remember food is fuel to your body. Don’t need to put sludge in there instead.

4. See if you can get your daily workout in before going. If not, you can always try adding 10 or 15-minute brisk walks twice that day with available family members or friends.

5. If you are the one throwing the get together, have lots of vegetables available, instead of chips only. Prepare lower fat dips and offer salsa.

6. Stay away from beverages such as sodas, juices, smoothies, and special coffee drinks. This is a good time to stay up on your water.

7. If the get together is going to be longer then a couple of hours then space your eating out. Keep track of what you put into your mouth. Look for a small plate and give it some time between fillups. ALWAYS plan ahead and pay attention to what you eat.

8. At the picnic choose healthy foods and stay away from the chips and bread and corn.

: Image via Wikipedia

9. If the get together is at your house, send as many as possible of the left-overs home with your guests, especially the desserts!!

10. Make it your goal to maintain your weight and not to gain. This will work better then just giving yourself permission to overeat. Remember it takes a lot more to take off a pound then to put it on sometimes. You may be suprised how much you will gain by breaking your routine.

11. Eat slowly, it will help you to eat less and feel full and satisfied.

12. Be confident. It is ok to say no to Aunt Susie when she offers her special desert. It is easy enough to say I am too full to eat anything else. Don’t let your weight and cravings take control of you.

13. When traveling, don’t forget to pack your convenient healthy in-between snack meals so that you don’t get hungry before you eat your regular meals!

14. Remember the reason for the get togethers. Focus on spending time with friends and family and catching up on what is important. Not on ‘The Food’!

15. Remember you make choices that are with you to form the “Habits of Health”. Choices are habit forming. Choices form habits that transform people! You get to choose how you are transformed and how you live.

Have a Happy and Healthy Summer Picnic Season!!!!

: Image by size8jeans via Flickr

Family Health and Weight Loss With Those You Love

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Jun 242009

On my journey to help myself it now occurs often in my life that I am helping others. It is not often that I write about family because I don’t want to be the one to pressure them to get fit. I want to be an example and not a nag (you know what a nag is, an almost dead old horse that has been badly beaten). I also believe (to quote another horse analogy) you can lead someone to the well but you can’t make them do anything.

Now before I give you the impression that the person I am writing about is stubborn and not wanting to get healthy let me clear that up. I am writing today about my wife. She has been the most wonderful, supportive, understanding, caring, loving, and the list goes on and on. I do not deserve the beauty and the joy that this woman has brought into my life. And truth be known it was wanting to spend a much longer life with her that motivated me to start all this. She would also be the first to recommend me as a coach to someone else, but knows that I can be much more patient with someone outside my immediate family then someone that lives in the same house with me.

She patiently waited (times are tough and money tight, but it is getting better :=) )for me to release the weight and get off my program. She puts up with all of the comments like “Hey look how much I lost this week!” or the infamous “Do you see that new little muscle poking out here and there?” She has put up with it all and just waited.

Last week we got her on program. Not without some trepidation however. Once concern she had was how badly I was going to watch her every bite. I had to reassure her that this was her journey and not mine. I am only there for her when she has questions about her progress. I would help her with encouragement and only give advice when asked. I gave her my word. She began her journey.

Well this weekend was her first weigh in. Now me the caring husband wanted her to see double digits as is often the case between water retention and the beginning of any change in eating. We use a scale that calculates body fat percentage, water percentage and muscle mass percentage. I knew from her starting weight and percentages she is not one to retain water and so I wondered what her first number would be.

Well that morning she got on the scale and as I looked over her shoulder I paid close attention to her number (although quietly as I could). She had lost 6 pounds her first week! Now it was not the double digit number I had hoped for her and I guess I showed the disappointment on my face. She asked me if I was disappointed with her weight loss. So I had some explaining to do.

I explained that in fact no it was a significant weight loss for her first week. That in looking over her first set of numbers the 6 pounds was most likely very real for her and not just water weight. I was very happy! But that brought up the important question, was she happy with her weight loss and paying such close attention to the program. She grinned and said of course, who wouldn’t be happy with 6 pounds of fat gone?

So I wrote this all up for a lot of reasons. First as a reader of my blog you now know I have had several of the people that are most important in my life on the program. I am extremely proud of my wife and love watching her get healty and knowing I will have her around for maybe years more because of this shared journey.

I believe it to be the best way towards optimal weight loss and long term health benefits that come from being at your healthy weight. I also wanted you to see how careful I am with each and everyone I work with. It matters to me that you are successful and happy with your journey. We all know many of us had enough disappointments in our lives. Last but not least of it all, when it gets right down to it, the most important question is “Are you happy with your progress?” That will always be the answer that directs your success. It will be what gets you to follow your plan and do what is needed to get to your goals.

Do you need a coach? Not for me to answer. I just know that the success rate goes up exponentially for those you have support and make lifestyle choices after completing their weight loss phase. Won’t you join me on that journey? Either way be blessed today, enjoy the ride life has presented you with, and find a way each day to be happy to be alive.

Older Entries Newer Entries

Coach To Lose

Too Fat to Graduate – Or how Obesity can affect your life in unexpected ways?

Excuse Busting Part 2 – How to Keep Going

So You “Think” You Want To Lose Some Weight!

What is the Motivation for change? How we handle weight loss:Part 2

Weight Loss, Exercise and Monitoring – Motivation to Change

Weight Loss Goals for the Holiday Weekends!

Family Health and Weight Loss With Those You Love

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