Renewed Motivation

Sometime back, I wrote a blog post about motivation.  And it still rings true.  Motivation is a key factor to anything I do.  Whether it be an attempt at getting fit or striving for a personal goal in another area of my life.  Motivation is a driving force.  It helps propel us forward.  This is something I have learned a little more about since my last blog post about motivation.  And the person who taught me this lesson, is only 8 months old as of this writing.

Little did I know that 8 months ago, the smallest person I have ever held would also be one of the biggest teachers I would encounter in my day to day walk.  And I thank her on a daily basis.  There isn't a day that goes by that I don't learn something new from her as she is learning everything new for the first time.  And motivation has been one of the key topics that she demonstrates to me everyday.

For example, she is crawling/scooting across the floor now.  She will literally sit on one side of the room and see something (anything really) that catches her eye, and she's off.  She may take 5 minutes to traverse our apartment's living room.  But when she gets to her destination, she will sit up with a triumphant smile on face marking what looks like a small victory to us.  But to her, she just climbed a mountain.  And if you interfere in any way, usually by picking her up and relocating her in the room.  First chance she gets, she will be heading right back to her original destination (at least until she is sidetracked).  At first it appeared she was stubborn.  But a second glance showed me that she is just simply "motivated".

And her motivation keeps driving her forward.  The other afternoon, she crawled across the floor and pulled up against the couch until she was standing (this is only the second or third time she's done this solo).  It took her several attempts to stand and remain standing.  But no matter how many tumbles she took, she got right back up and tried again.

I started relating her determination to my own goals in life.  When I started this blog in 2012, my drive was to loose weight.  Here I am 2 years later, still working at it.  Not nearly as bad off as I was originally, but still not where I wanted to be.  And then I examined why I haven't reach my goals.  I lost sight of my motivation.  I became complacent and basically quit working out.  Sure, I wasn't trashing my diet completely, as I still watched what I ate.  But I was REALLY even trying.  Then I looked at my daughter.

And I regained sight of my motivation.  Truth of the matter is, when my wife and I got married 10 years ago (as of May 2014), I weighed 145 pounds.  At my heaviest I was breaking 260 pounds which was about two and a half years ago.  Watching my daughter try her best to just move across the room, spoke to me on a level I never really thought of before.  My thought was that one day she's going to want to run across the yard with Dad.  Or she'll want to go for a ride on Daddy's shoulders while Mommy and Daddy go on a walk.  And in my current shape, doing those things would be difficult.  Not impossible, but difficult.

I don't want to look back in 20 years and think of these times as "the times Daddy couldn't keep up".  I owe it to my daughter to be better than that.  She deserves to have those experiences with Mommy and Daddy.  End of story.  And if I don't do something about it now, I will never do something about it.  Even as I write this, I can feel the emotion starting to stir deep down. And I guess when it comes right down to it.  I want to be around for her.  Later in our lives.  I am not old by any means.  I am 32 years old.  I have plenty of time to make the change, but only if I start now.  My original motivation was to look good, look fit, and be healthy.  Now it has shifted to be there for your family (long term), be there for your family (long term) and get healthy.

"Why put off for tomorrow what you can do today?"

Find your motiviation.  It's different for us all.  And make a change.

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The Building Blocks of Life: Water

We all know how important water is for our daily diet.  Most of us have been taught since we were children that we all need a certain amount of water intake a day in order to help maintain a proper diet, etc.  And I am not refuting this teaching by any means.  Because my logic is, our bodies are mostly made of up water at the very basic level.  Common sense would dictate that we NEED to take in water.

I am not going to tell you that you have to take in 8-12 cups of water a day.  That is entirely up to you.  Your preference.  As I states before, I am NOT a doctor or a medical authority of any kind (I'm a computer geek just trying to get healthy).  For "official" advice consult your doctor.  Give this URL a read sometime from the Mayo Clinic as it covers daily intake etc.  Instead I will tell you what has made a difference in my life.

My Story:

I weighed myself yesterday and found that I have lost a total of 11 pounds within the last 7 weeks.  And I must be honest that I haven't been actually trying to loose weight.  We went on vacation, ended up doing a bunch of walking and drinking a lot of water to stay hydrated and the water habit seemed to make it's way back home with us.  Basically I replaced my soft drinks and sodas with water.  And a couple weeks ago when I hit the scale for the first time in forever, I was amazed to see that I had already lost several pounds.  Sure, the vacation walking helped me.  But I didn't sustain that behavior during the weeks after my vacation (although we have since started back up), the only real difference was changing my soft drinks over to water.  We don't snack much here at home.  So we rarely have the "bad" foods we should probably distance ourselves from.  So it definitely helps that we don't keep that stuff here in the house.

My Result:

I find that by replacing the sugary, soft drinks with water even my appetite is affected.  I don't get hungry quite as easy (or quickly), I have less of a desire to snack (when we do have snack foods).  And I feel better overall.  I have had less headaches and joint aches since being off of the soft drinks as well.  I even rest better now.  Does this mean that I haven't had a Pepsi or another various soft drink.  No way.  I have about one a day.  And that's really about all I need (or want).  I have, in a sense; taught myself moderation of soft drinks.  And I still have a cup of coffee about every morning with breakfast.  So basically 2 caffeinated beverages a day is what I limit myself too. And personally, I feel great.

And the awesome thing about it was, I saw how quickly I dropped a few pounds that otherwise I probably would have killed myself over in the gym.  But you see without making a change, there would have been no catalyst there to help ignite a little weight loss.  And as a result of seeing a few pounds drop off the scale, it ignited a desire to push a little harder and loose a few more in the process.  As a result, I've started working out on my lunch breaks.  Days where I can't go to the gym, I use a small set of free weights I have here and I utilize Xbox Fitness on the Xbox One game console to sneak in a lunchtime workout (when I can).  And being sore has never felt better.

So at least in my case, I don't adhere to a "rule" or a set amount of water.  I drink a glass of water when I get thirsty and with my meals.  Do I NEED more water? Maybe.  Am I comfortable with my current intake.  Yes, I am.  My challenge to you.  Start replacing one of your "non-water" beverages a day with a glass of water.  Do that for a week, and see if you don't start feeling better.  From there start working your way down.  I understand dropping the soft drinks cold turkey is hard.  Been there, done that.  It's a hard, tough process.  But the payoff is well worth it in the end.

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If the pants fit...

In our last post we discussed reasons why your scale may not be reflecting changes you are trying to achieve.  So in this post, we're going to take that conversation a little further.  And chat about why sometimes it's better to ignore the scale.  And as always, let me explain myself with some previous experience.

I have a pair of jeans that fit.  They haven't always fit well.  But they fit.  They have never been distastefully tight or saggy.  But they haven't exactly been the most comfortable pair of pants that I own.  These are my "baseline" clothes.  I also have a couple shirts that were a little snug as well.  For the first couple of weeks, I didn't see much of a change to my "scale weight" even though I was taking in half the calories that I was used to on average, and I was hitting the gym 3 to 4 times a week.  However, after a few days of no squeezing into these jeans.  I began to notice a change.  Essentially, I would come home Monday through Thursday and change out of my work Khaki pants and into my gym shorts and go workout.  Therefore, leaving me wearing my jeans on Friday nights when we would go to our local High School Football games.  The second Friday that I wore my jeans I noticed I was able to not only get in them easier with less work, but I was also getting comfortable wearing them.  The big indicator that my body was changing was a few weeks ago (after seeing the scale budge a few pounds less), I was able to actually pull the waist of my jeans away from my body about an inch without any trouble.

I said all of that to say this.  You may be focusing way too much on the scale.  I used to weigh obsessively every day, now I weigh once a week.  Maybe twice a week if I'm just curious. I have lost a little better than 10 pounds and am able to start seeing the changes in the mirror.  This helps keep me away from the scale, even though it took a lot of hard work to get to that point.  And I am still a long way off from my goal.  But seeing the physical changes makes for a great substitute to seeing the scale change.

After all, we diet and workout to feel good and look good.  The weight thing should fall into place if you are doing proper nutrition and exercise.  Sometimes we just need to relax and press on with our progress and not let the scale run our lives.  Trust me, I've been there.

And once you find you can slide into that pair of pants or that favorite shirt without any stretch or effort, that feeling to me is much greater than hitting a particular weight goal.  Not to say I don't get happy when I loose a pound of two (after all I am working toward a goal weight).  But my point is, with the right nutrition and amount of exercise the weight loss will come.  You just need to stay encouraged enough to stick with it.  You will get there eventually.

As for me, right now I am 15 pounds lighter than I have been in 8 years.  Even though I am still 56 pounds away from my first goal, I am satisfied with how things are going.  After all, we have nothing but time.  I doubt many of us have to hit a specific weight by a certain date.  So remember, take your time and do it right.  A rule of thumb I have been living by is easy come, easy go.  These dangerous crash diets will get you into the clothes you want and will probably help you get to a certain weight.  But you are hurting your body with the drastic loss and crash diet after effects and your chances of gaining that weight back are extremely high as these crash diets and fads do not exact a "lifestyle change".  So once you get to you goal, you stop using them and in no time you are back where you started.

So my advice to you, is if you are going to strive towards a weight loss or fitness goal.  Do it the right (healthy) way.  And I would encourage you to go into your closet and find that pair of pants or a shirt that are a little snug to fit.  Make a point of trying them on once every couple weeks or so.  I guarantee if you're doing it right, you'll see a difference without even looking at the scale.

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A Dieting Nightmare: Plateau's

You know it's true.  You go all week religiously counting every calorie you put into your mouth, you go to the gym every day and hit the cardio hard.  You maybe even look at yourself in the mirror and can see slight changes in your figure or body shape.  But then you go and hop on the scale to weigh in... And your weight hasn't changed.  Not even budged or maybe in some cases you've even gained a pound or two.  Nothing can be as discouraging to someone trying to loose weight than not seeing that number on the scale go down.

Trust me, I've been there.  In the past years when I have attempted loosing some weight, this has always killed my motivation and ended up with me stopping my attempts at getting into shape.  Some people call this "hitting a wall" or "hitting a plateau" or even "stalling out".  If you have ever attempted a serious weight loss where you are changing your diet and workout habits you may have hit something like this before.

Personally, I know that a lot of people find this to be a very hard thing to work through.  I've been there.  A few years ago I attempted to loose some weight.  I would go to the gym and walk on the treadmill for half an hour (probably not break a sweat), maybe lift a few dumbbells and call it a night.  On the way home, we would hit a drive-thru to eat dinner since we didn't eat before going to the gym.  Usually this was some form of cheeseburger or other fastfood.  And I would wonder why I didn't see a change on the scale (or in my body).  But I felt good about myself because I was going to the gym several times a week.  I fell into the "Workout Trap".  Justifying a bad diet for the fact that I was "at least doing something good for myself".  This was a self induced issue.  And eventually it led to my gym visits stopping altogether.

Before we move on to the second cause of plateaus, let me say first and foremost that loosing weight isn't the same for everybody.  One person may have a bigger loses or gains than someone else.  As everyone's body is different, and every workout routine is different, etc.  But even so, there is NO MAGICAL formula to loosing weight.  Regardless of what this month's weight loss fad is, there is one simple rule to remember.  And it has been working for me.  It is hard work and dedication.  That's it.  You have to watch what you take in, and be sure you can burn more than what you take in.  That's it.  But the trick is doing it, while being healthy.  Sure, there are bad ways to achieving this goal.  And I am not condoning these whatsoever.  Things like crash dieting, starving, etc. are all unhealthy practices.  Stay away from them.  Regardless of how long you feel you have been in a plateau state.  Remember, dangerous DOES NOT EQUAL healthy.

Now moving on, some people just hit a plateau.  End of story.  The body will only go so far.  Doing the same workout routine for months on end may land you in a plateau.  So how do you shake it or get out of it?  Try spicing up the routine.  If you go to the gym twice a week, and do something similar to:
- 30 minutes of treadmill
- 20 minutes of Elliptical Training
- Dumbbell Work for half an hour

Why not spice it up by lifting a heavier weight for less reps or vice-versa.  Or scrap the treadmill for the stationary bike for a few gym visits.  And see if a change like that might knock you out of the plateau.  You might even want to take a day just to splurge from your diet.  I'm not saying go crazy.  But treat yourself to something you have been keeping from your diet.  I have had weeks were one simple splurge day has been enough to budge the scale at the end of the week from weeks long stalling out.

If you're really concerned about stalling out.  Visit your family doctor, and talk to them.  There may be medical reasons why you are experiencing the plateau.  As always, any drastic weight loss plan should be discussed with your doctor BEFORE starting it.  It's better to be safe and healthy than dead on a treadmill.

And remember even though you may not see a change on the scale that doesn't mean nothing is changing.  Sometimes the way a pair of pants fit may be a better way to measuring your progress than watching the scale.  Look for more on this in my next post!

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No Gym? Body Weight Routines Can Lend a Hand...

I was faced with an interesting dilemma this week.  As I may have mentioned in a previous post, we recently joined a local gym.  And it is amazing; with great people, plenty of equipment, and a great atmosphere that is conducive to wanting people to succeed with their goals.  We love it there!  But what happens when things arise that prevent us from going to the gym?  To be honest, we don't have a lot of equipment laying around the house.  We have a dumbbell set that includes 4 x 7.5 lbs. plates and a set of light weight resistance bands.  That's it.

I encountered this type of situation twice this week.  Both of which were due to work conflicts, that prevented me from dropping by the gym.  But the beauty of this situation is that a gym is NOT needed to exercise... You may be saying: "Whatever..." or "Yeah, right!".  But it is true. Your physiology is equipped with the basics you need to get in a decent workout.  Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical at first, myself.  But after last nights Body Weight Routine, I can say without a doubt that it does work. *Note: I am NOT a doctor or offering medical advice. As always consult your physician before using any workout program for health and safety purposes.

Don't get me wrong, I love hitting the Elliptical and the Stationary Bikes and I thoroughly enjoy hitting the dumbbells and various bench presses and pulldowns.  But when the event arises where you just have to burn some energy or need to feel that welcome burn in a particular muscle set.  There are other options.  For example, here is the workout I did last night upon returning home from working late:

Body Weight Squats: 4 sets of 10 reps each

Oblique Crunches: 3 sets of 40 reps, set 4 was pushed a little further to failure at 44 reps.

Body Weight Lunge: 1 set of 20 reps, 1 set of 16 reps, and 1 set of 14 reps

Push-Ups: 1 set of 14 reps, 1 set of 20 reps, 1 sets of 22 reps, and 1 set of 24 reps

Jumping Jacks: 3 sets of 40 jumping jacks

Plank: 1 set of 1 rep (lasting for 45 seconds)

Total Time: 45 minutes to 1 hour

Going into this routine, my initial thoughts were that there was no way I would feel like I nailed a decent workout.  But essentially what I did was starting with the Body Weight Squats, I would do a set and then move into the Oblique Crunches and do a set.  Then I would bounce back to my Squats.  Basically when I felt I needed to rest from a particular exercise in the routine, I would move on the another one.  If I did something like a set of Push-Ups, I would follow with a set of Oblique Crunches or Jumping Jacks to keep my heart rate a little elevated.  Gradually I worked my way through the routine towards the dreaded Plank.

On average I am able to hold a decent Plank anywhere from about 00:01:05 to 00:01:15, but after the workout I was lucky to hold it for 45 seconds.  The only things needed for this routine was a little bit of floor space, and a stop watch for measuring Plank time.  And I use my cell phone's Stopwatch feature for that.

And by the end of the workout I could feel muscles that I have never felt before.  My quads, hamstrings, and thighs were sore, my Abs and Obliques were hurting, and I was sweating as if I had just went 10 minutes in Moderate Intensity on an Elliptical.  The best part about it, it was a "sore chore" getting out of the bed in the morning.  But it was well worth it.

So let this be a lesson to those who sit back and deny that they can try to get fit because of a lack of gym equipment or even lacking a gym membership.  Body Weight exercises are not to be shrugged off.  I currently weigh 230 pounds and trust me, that is a heck of a workout.

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Personal Progress Update: October 2012

With October 2012 in the history books now, I figured it was as good a time as any to get the birds eye view of how my progress went during October.  And I must say that I am rather happy with the success that I was able to achieve. Rewind back to late March of this year, I weighed in at 246 pounds.  This was probably not my all time highest weight.  As I had just recovered from the flu and had lost quite a bit of weight while I was sick.  But packed it back on as soon as I was better.  This left me around the 246 pound mark on the scale.

Also, I was very sedentary; meaning very inactive.  After work, I would essentially plant myself on the couch or in front of my computer and stay there.  My diet was pretty much crap.  Eating fast food pretty much all the time due to convenience while being on the road for work a lot.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, my fitness goals got somewhat side tracked during the summer months.  During which I gained a few pounds back, but nothing major.  I started being more conscious about my health again at the very end of September.  And I used the start of October as a mark of change once again.

On my first weigh in for October (start of the month); I found myself sitting right at 239 pounds.  I started walking a few times a week again.  Just a couple miles at a time, which I didn't really keep track off.  As for the first time, I found myself somewhat lost with which direction I should go concerning my workouts.  Knowing what I have done in the past that didn't work.  I decided to try something different.  I started Active.com's Couch to 5K program (using the Android App).  Which started me on a journey that includes 3 workout sessions a week, that start off fairly easy and build upon intensity over the course of 9 weeks.  And at the end of it, the idea is that you'll be able to participate in a 5K run.

This became my gateway, as I found myself doing the following workout at home using a small dumb bell set we have here at the house:
-Crunches (varied reps/sets depending on day)
-Standing Dumb Bell Shoulder Press (started light and worked heavier, usually 4 sets of 8 to 10 reps).
-Concentration Curls (W1 I used 15 pounds, by end of the month lifting 30 per arm, 4 sets of 8 reps).
-Dumb Bell Floor Press (4 sets of 10 to 12 reps)
-Push Ups (as many as I could knocked out)

I replaced my junk food snacks with things like low fat yogurt, granola, and a protein shake/smoothie each day.  All the time counting my calories using the aforementioned MyFitnessPal.  Counting my calories at first didn't end so well each night.  Then after a few days of adjusting what I ate.  I became able to adjust the bad food out of my diet and gradually work good stuff in, that would help keep me within my calorie plan.

And I'm proud to report that last week, my wife and I joined a great gym local to us.  It is literally a 5 minute drive from our house to our gym now.  Leaving no excuse to not exercise given rain or shine.  For us, that is a big step.  We are using our membership as a motivation to each other to help push each other a little further each day toward our goals.

So, enough chatter.  Let's see how I faired at the end of December!
October 1st Weight: 239 pounds
November 3rd Weight: 231 pounds
Pounds Lost: 8 pounds

Difference in Measurements:
Neck: Lost 0.50 inches lost
Left Bicep: 0.75 inches gained
Right Bicep: 0.25 inches gained
Waist: 1 inch lost
Chest: 0.50 inches lost

My biceps gained size due to the dumb bell work that I have been staying on top of.  For the first 30 days of my journey, I feel like I am off to a great start!

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Busy, Busy, Busy...

Sorry for the lack of new posts over the last couple of weeks.  It has been incredibly busy on my end of the street as of late.  And on top of life in general, I was busy trying to meet my personal goal of 100 miles walked for the month of March.  Unfortunately, I did not hit my goal.  However, I came dangerously close!

For the month of March, I logged 91.93 miles walked!  So even though I didn't get to meet my goal of 100 miles.  I came less than 10 miles short of it.  And for my first month, that ain't bad!  Considering up until March 1st, I wasn't active in much of anything other then everyday life.  So I am incredibly pleased with my progress and can't hardly wait till the end of April to see how close I will come this month!

Checkout the chart of my total progress.  You will notice some mileage walked in February.  However, I am starting the actual mileage counting on March 1st as the official day that I started working out.

On top of my walking progress, I have lost a total of 8 pounds during the course of March as well.  Also, my workout is growing.  I picked up a cheap (and I mean cheap) dumbbell set that has four plates at 7.5 pounds each (total of 30 pounds, big leagues baby!).  And the set came with an adjustable kettlebell bar which is neat, but it is NOT a suitable replacement for an actual kettlebell in most cases.  However, with the dumbbells and some light use with the kettlebell bar, I have managed to get a decent upper body workout started.

However, I am still working out the kinks with what lifts I am doing and how many sets.  As this is a work in progress, once I have something more set in stone as far as a routine goes, I will try and post the workout on the site for anybody who would like to see it.

And on top of everything else, I have been trying out some killer Android Apps that are helping me achieve some of my goals. So look for some reviews in the coming week or two!

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