One of the people on my Google group discussion list,
http://groups.google.com/group/health-scape, asked about ways to get
motivated to exercise. She said that she experiences depression and
that it's really hard to make herself get on the treadmill and stay
there long enough for a good workout. While I don't experience
clinical depression, I have certainly gone through bouts of being very
low and have experienced the apathy it causes in most everything
including exercising. This was most intense for me when perimenopause
set in about five years ago, also about the same time I decided to get
serious about fitness. Part of what follows comes from my own
experience and part is taken from information I found with a little
searching from the web site sited below.
When I decided to do something about fitness, I spent a lot of time
making myself exercise before it became something I really wanted to
do. I think this is fairly typical. And, if in addition, you cope
with depression, too, then that increases the challenge. Still, if
you exercise to the point of a really good work out, one that leaves
you a little sweaty, breathing hard and feeling tired and sore, then
you can begin to shift that apathy a bit. Your body releases
chemicals when you exercise that give you a natural boost. It's just
hard to make yourself work out to that point if you have the mind set
that you really don't want to exercise.
For more information about how exercise can lessen depression, or keep
it at bay when you're feeling good, check out this article,
"Depression and Anxiety: Exercise Eases Symptoms," from the Mayo
Clinic:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/depression-and-exercise/mh00043
This article is full of excellent information such as: "Doing 30
minutes or more of exercise a day, for three to five days a week can
significantly improve depression symptoms. But smaller amounts of
activity — as little as 10 to 15 minutes at a time — can make a
difference." and "Don't think of exercise as a chore. If exercise is
just another "should" in your life that you don't think you're living
up to, you'll associate it with failure. Rather, look at your exercise
schedule the same way you look at your therapy sessions or medication
— as one of the tools to help you get better."
Note that it is a two-page article and you need to click "next page"
to see all of it.
When doing cardio, something I find particularly boring, I read. If
it's a good book, then the time definitely goes faster. I also find
it motivating to workout in a fitness center with other people. While
this has its own set of challenges, once I get comfortable with the
center, I draw encouragement from those around me. It's a silent
encouragement as we mostly don't talk, but there's just something
reinforcing about other people choosing to do the same things I'm
doing.
The sticking point for most folks is that you have to push yourself
regardless of how you're feeling in order to get this all started.
And then you have to allow yourself to fail and quit and start back
again. Eventually, when you start to really feel and notice the
benefits, you begin to want to do it and it's not such a struggle.
It's an easy thing to say from this side of the battle. I can
remember listening to friends tell me similar things when I was trying
to get started and not believing them or wishing they'd just shut up
and admit that working out was a miserable activity. And it was
miserable for me initially. It was so foreign to my usual routine of
inactivity. I'd spent years being inactive and it wasn't easy to
force a change.
Keep at it and you can turn the corner too. I was telling someone
just the other day that it's finally starting to feel like a real life
change for me, something that could really become permanent. This has
been several years in the making and I'm not ready to call it a life
change yet, but forward progress is definitely being made!
Just remember that it's worth it because it's your fitness and
well-being that is at stake. You are so worth the effort!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
My Personal Journal: The Recent Years
Late in 2006 I hired a personal trainer, Steve Roy.
http://www.royfitness.com/
He asked me in the initial interview what I wanted to accomplish. I
stated rather vaguely that I wanted to improve my muscle tone and lose
some of the softness, said while patting my stomach. Steve's response
was that he could help me exercise to improve muscle tone, but that
the softness would only go away if I reduced my daily caloric intake.
Fortunately, he was able to help me learn how to do this wisely.
Following the direction Steve showed me to achieve a better balance of
fat, carbs and protein while cutting the over-all number of calories
consumed within a day, I began to really read and study the
nutritional content of all the things I ate, and since this was more
startling than I'd ever considered, I also started evaluating things I
didn't typically eat in order to find worthwhile substitutions. Other
posts to this blog will address specifics about diet and nutrition,
but the key point with regard to my personal journey to fitness is
that this is the point at which nutrition became a significant focus
in changing my life-style toward one that would support my fitness
goals.
It was not all clear sailing by any means. Learning what is best and
implementing it into my daily routine are two entirely different
things. The former is driven by intellect and the latter by habit.
Habit is by far the stronger force.
During 2007 Steve moved a little farther away and was no longer
training in my area and I lost my focus, slipped back into old
patterns and put back on all the weight I had previously lost. I made
a few false starts during 2008, but at the beginning of 2009 I was
back to nearly 200 pounds and without any regular exercise routine or
control over my diet. This is the point at which I decided that the
only way to make the change permanent was to turn what I knew
intellectually into habit. I had to not only squelch the old patterns
of behavior that were detrimental to fitness, but replace them with
new patterns of behavior to support fitness. Again, there's a huge
difference between deciding to do this and making it happen, but I was
pretty determined and Steve started training in my area again which
gave me extra support.
I lost down to 174 pounds by the end of 2009 and had a pretty good
handle on what I was eating and how I was exercising. The results
might have been more dramatic, but I broke my foot in June of 2009 and
had to restrict certain aspects of my exercise routine while it
healed. I was also by myself in the apartment, not going into the
office for some of this time which tended to lead me back into old
patterns of munching and not regulating my meals. Still, I was pretty
pleased with the loss of 26 pounds.
But as I started 2010, I soon learned that old patterns don't just go
away because I know they are bad. I put back on about six pounds and
fought to maintain a regular workout routine. I then read the book
"The Body Fat Solution" by Tom Venuto, and was immediately
reenergized. Everything he wrote reinforced what I had been trying to
accomplish. When I added to my efforts his personal trainer version
of the power of positive thinking, it all really began to feel like a
life-change.
To date I have just broken that barrier of 170 pounds – a struggle
that took me several weeks to accomplish, and have clear goals for
moving forward. For the first time, exercising and eating smart feel
very right and I'm not forcing myself to do either. I actually want
to do both! I am not, however, confusing this with any form of
victory. It is simply progress along my path to fitness.
I host a Google group on health and fitness at
http://groups.google.com/group/health-scape
and I provide regular check-ins every Sunday. The updates I will make
on my blog via the personal journal category will be less frequent and
will offer a summary of progress to date. As of today, my check-in
looks like this:
The facts:
I made smart choices about what I ate this past week, staying at or
under 1600 calories a day.
I exercised five times – 2 weights/strengthening and 3 cardio.
I feel good and weigh 168.5 pounds.
My goals:
I make smart choices about what I eat and stay at or under 1600 calories a day.
I exercise 5 times a week.
I achieve my goals at a rate of one pound a week on average.
I feel good, am making progress toward fitness and weigh 153 pounds by 10/08/10.
I am fit, toned and feeling good, and weigh 140 pounds by 01/08/11.
I maintain my fitness through making smart choices about what I eat
and regular exercise, and perhaps set new goals, 2011-2015.
I still workout with Steve on most Saturdays and have a routine for
workouts throughout the week. I've recently been focused on how to
maintain an exercise routine and smart eating choices while traveling
as I have been traveling three weeks in a row for work with more to
come. For those three weeks I managed to maintain my weight, and
though I didn't lose any, I still consider this progress as I
typically gain weight when traveling. I have two more weeks of travel
during July and hope to improve my record. However, one of those
weeks is a vacation, and I will be realistic about what I will achieve
while on vacation! Still, smart choices are good any time, right?
http://www.royfitness.com/
He asked me in the initial interview what I wanted to accomplish. I
stated rather vaguely that I wanted to improve my muscle tone and lose
some of the softness, said while patting my stomach. Steve's response
was that he could help me exercise to improve muscle tone, but that
the softness would only go away if I reduced my daily caloric intake.
Fortunately, he was able to help me learn how to do this wisely.
Following the direction Steve showed me to achieve a better balance of
fat, carbs and protein while cutting the over-all number of calories
consumed within a day, I began to really read and study the
nutritional content of all the things I ate, and since this was more
startling than I'd ever considered, I also started evaluating things I
didn't typically eat in order to find worthwhile substitutions. Other
posts to this blog will address specifics about diet and nutrition,
but the key point with regard to my personal journey to fitness is
that this is the point at which nutrition became a significant focus
in changing my life-style toward one that would support my fitness
goals.
It was not all clear sailing by any means. Learning what is best and
implementing it into my daily routine are two entirely different
things. The former is driven by intellect and the latter by habit.
Habit is by far the stronger force.
During 2007 Steve moved a little farther away and was no longer
training in my area and I lost my focus, slipped back into old
patterns and put back on all the weight I had previously lost. I made
a few false starts during 2008, but at the beginning of 2009 I was
back to nearly 200 pounds and without any regular exercise routine or
control over my diet. This is the point at which I decided that the
only way to make the change permanent was to turn what I knew
intellectually into habit. I had to not only squelch the old patterns
of behavior that were detrimental to fitness, but replace them with
new patterns of behavior to support fitness. Again, there's a huge
difference between deciding to do this and making it happen, but I was
pretty determined and Steve started training in my area again which
gave me extra support.
I lost down to 174 pounds by the end of 2009 and had a pretty good
handle on what I was eating and how I was exercising. The results
might have been more dramatic, but I broke my foot in June of 2009 and
had to restrict certain aspects of my exercise routine while it
healed. I was also by myself in the apartment, not going into the
office for some of this time which tended to lead me back into old
patterns of munching and not regulating my meals. Still, I was pretty
pleased with the loss of 26 pounds.
But as I started 2010, I soon learned that old patterns don't just go
away because I know they are bad. I put back on about six pounds and
fought to maintain a regular workout routine. I then read the book
"The Body Fat Solution" by Tom Venuto, and was immediately
reenergized. Everything he wrote reinforced what I had been trying to
accomplish. When I added to my efforts his personal trainer version
of the power of positive thinking, it all really began to feel like a
life-change.
To date I have just broken that barrier of 170 pounds – a struggle
that took me several weeks to accomplish, and have clear goals for
moving forward. For the first time, exercising and eating smart feel
very right and I'm not forcing myself to do either. I actually want
to do both! I am not, however, confusing this with any form of
victory. It is simply progress along my path to fitness.
I host a Google group on health and fitness at
http://groups.google.com/group/health-scape
and I provide regular check-ins every Sunday. The updates I will make
on my blog via the personal journal category will be less frequent and
will offer a summary of progress to date. As of today, my check-in
looks like this:
The facts:
I made smart choices about what I ate this past week, staying at or
under 1600 calories a day.
I exercised five times – 2 weights/strengthening and 3 cardio.
I feel good and weigh 168.5 pounds.
My goals:
I make smart choices about what I eat and stay at or under 1600 calories a day.
I exercise 5 times a week.
I achieve my goals at a rate of one pound a week on average.
I feel good, am making progress toward fitness and weigh 153 pounds by 10/08/10.
I am fit, toned and feeling good, and weigh 140 pounds by 01/08/11.
I maintain my fitness through making smart choices about what I eat
and regular exercise, and perhaps set new goals, 2011-2015.
I still workout with Steve on most Saturdays and have a routine for
workouts throughout the week. I've recently been focused on how to
maintain an exercise routine and smart eating choices while traveling
as I have been traveling three weeks in a row for work with more to
come. For those three weeks I managed to maintain my weight, and
though I didn't lose any, I still consider this progress as I
typically gain weight when traveling. I have two more weeks of travel
during July and hope to improve my record. However, one of those
weeks is a vacation, and I will be realistic about what I will achieve
while on vacation! Still, smart choices are good any time, right?
My Personal Journal: The History
I've kept a running record of my fitness and nutrition journey in
various places over the years, but decided this week that I should add
this information to the Train Your Brain for Fitness blog. Since I'm
51, this could take a while!
The short story is that with only periodic exceptions, I did not spend
much time thinking about fitness and nutrition until about five years
ago. I say "periodic" because I have always been aware of the
importance of these things, and would occasionally do something to
improve the way I ate or to increase physical exercise, but for the
most part I just flowed along with the masses around me, eating fast
food, heavy Southern cooking, lots of high calorie sweets, drinking
soda, sweet tea, beer, etc. And mostly I didn't exercise. I bought
various pieces of exercise equipment such as a stationary bike and
some kind of universal contraption, and then proceeded to not use
either on a regular basis. I would occasionally increase exercise
through walking, but nothing that was consistent or focused on what I
really needed.
As a result, I went from being a skinny high school girl to a plumper
and plumper woman who seemed to add about ten or fifteen pounds per
decade until I found myself in my forties shopping in the plus size
racks.
My maximum size was about 200 pounds and a size 18 in clothes. I'm
five feet six inches tall and my body shape is a good one, so I
carried this weight pretty well and knew how to dress to maximum
advantage, but I was still aware that I was overweight and more to the
point, not fit and healthy. I had bad eating habits born of not
wanting to devote the energy needed to preparing good foods,
gratification from the sweet-and-salty munching pattern, and poor
judgment about what was "good," (e.g., high calorie carbs, high fat
content foods, things I thought tasted good.) I no longer even
pretended to exercise. Interestingly, my annual physicals showed me
to be in good health, with the only negative being my actual weight.
I think this is because my annual physical focused on things like
heart rate, lung function, blood tests and urinalysis, and paid
absolutely no attention to muscle tone, strength, endurance, etc.
Around 2005, I started paying more attention to fitness. (Note I did
not say nutrition.) This is probably linked to the fact that I had
changed jobs, taking one with a national-scope program which put me in
front of audiences around the country, and a change of location which
moved me from the south to the east coast. More people around me were
focusing on health than previously. I also had a friend who was
staying with me for a while who started making use of the gym in my
apartment complex and she pushed me into working out with her. I was
also starting a new relationship with a guy and was thinking more
about my appearance.
I came to like the exercise (mostly treadmill and elliptical
workouts), and I liked the results. I lost weight and felt better. I
wasn't weighing myself at this time, so I don't know my actual weight,
but I was able to fit into size twelve pants. This lasted about a
year until I, for whatever reason, didn't manage to maintain the
exercise.
The good news for me during this period is that I had really started
thinking about my over-all fitness and health. It was no longer a
surface consideration about how clothes fit me, but a real concern for
my health. I was tired of the size roller coaster and decided to put
some real consideration into how I could take control.
Late in 2006, when I no longer fit comfortably into my size twelve
pants and was purchasing fourteens and even sixteens again, I hired a
personal trainer. This was an admission that whatever it was going to
take to give me control of my fitness, I didn't know how to do it
myself. I needed guidance, information and someone to hold me
accountable. I was also pretty sure that if I was going to spend the
kind of money it takes to hire a personal trainer that I'd give the
whole thing the attention it really deserved.
Even this did not miraculously resolve all of my issues, but I did
start learning about fitness and nutrition. The introduction of
really focusing on nutrition in addition to exercise was a key factor
which set in motion the life-change needed to get real and permanent
results. Knowledge about what to eat and how to exercise was not all
that was needed, but it certainly gave me a base from which to work,
and to which I could return when the roller coaster took me up again.
This then, was the real beginning of my journey to better health,
fitness and nutrition. While better late than never is a true
summation, there is nothing particularly smart about waiting till I
was nearly 48 to do this. My sincere hope is that people will start
learning and implementing well-known facts about how to be healthy and
fit at a much younger age than did I. It's not exactly rocket
science, but it's definitely not built into our current culture.
Though my poor condition manifested in excess weight, there are many
thin people who are not fit either. Though fitness is often measured
in body size, it is not really about size. It's about strength,
endurance, balance, flexibility, strong bones, good skin, good
cardiovascular function, etc. While the resiliency of youth can hide
a lot of the damage our life-styles can have on fitness, it begins to
show up as we age and then we're in the position of having to do the
best we can with what's left. It would be much smarter to set all
this in motion while we are at optimal potential for good health and
fitness. Nevertheless, I'm dedicated to seeing how far I can get with
better late than never!
various places over the years, but decided this week that I should add
this information to the Train Your Brain for Fitness blog. Since I'm
51, this could take a while!
The short story is that with only periodic exceptions, I did not spend
much time thinking about fitness and nutrition until about five years
ago. I say "periodic" because I have always been aware of the
importance of these things, and would occasionally do something to
improve the way I ate or to increase physical exercise, but for the
most part I just flowed along with the masses around me, eating fast
food, heavy Southern cooking, lots of high calorie sweets, drinking
soda, sweet tea, beer, etc. And mostly I didn't exercise. I bought
various pieces of exercise equipment such as a stationary bike and
some kind of universal contraption, and then proceeded to not use
either on a regular basis. I would occasionally increase exercise
through walking, but nothing that was consistent or focused on what I
really needed.
As a result, I went from being a skinny high school girl to a plumper
and plumper woman who seemed to add about ten or fifteen pounds per
decade until I found myself in my forties shopping in the plus size
racks.
My maximum size was about 200 pounds and a size 18 in clothes. I'm
five feet six inches tall and my body shape is a good one, so I
carried this weight pretty well and knew how to dress to maximum
advantage, but I was still aware that I was overweight and more to the
point, not fit and healthy. I had bad eating habits born of not
wanting to devote the energy needed to preparing good foods,
gratification from the sweet-and-salty munching pattern, and poor
judgment about what was "good," (e.g., high calorie carbs, high fat
content foods, things I thought tasted good.) I no longer even
pretended to exercise. Interestingly, my annual physicals showed me
to be in good health, with the only negative being my actual weight.
I think this is because my annual physical focused on things like
heart rate, lung function, blood tests and urinalysis, and paid
absolutely no attention to muscle tone, strength, endurance, etc.
Around 2005, I started paying more attention to fitness. (Note I did
not say nutrition.) This is probably linked to the fact that I had
changed jobs, taking one with a national-scope program which put me in
front of audiences around the country, and a change of location which
moved me from the south to the east coast. More people around me were
focusing on health than previously. I also had a friend who was
staying with me for a while who started making use of the gym in my
apartment complex and she pushed me into working out with her. I was
also starting a new relationship with a guy and was thinking more
about my appearance.
I came to like the exercise (mostly treadmill and elliptical
workouts), and I liked the results. I lost weight and felt better. I
wasn't weighing myself at this time, so I don't know my actual weight,
but I was able to fit into size twelve pants. This lasted about a
year until I, for whatever reason, didn't manage to maintain the
exercise.
The good news for me during this period is that I had really started
thinking about my over-all fitness and health. It was no longer a
surface consideration about how clothes fit me, but a real concern for
my health. I was tired of the size roller coaster and decided to put
some real consideration into how I could take control.
Late in 2006, when I no longer fit comfortably into my size twelve
pants and was purchasing fourteens and even sixteens again, I hired a
personal trainer. This was an admission that whatever it was going to
take to give me control of my fitness, I didn't know how to do it
myself. I needed guidance, information and someone to hold me
accountable. I was also pretty sure that if I was going to spend the
kind of money it takes to hire a personal trainer that I'd give the
whole thing the attention it really deserved.
Even this did not miraculously resolve all of my issues, but I did
start learning about fitness and nutrition. The introduction of
really focusing on nutrition in addition to exercise was a key factor
which set in motion the life-change needed to get real and permanent
results. Knowledge about what to eat and how to exercise was not all
that was needed, but it certainly gave me a base from which to work,
and to which I could return when the roller coaster took me up again.
This then, was the real beginning of my journey to better health,
fitness and nutrition. While better late than never is a true
summation, there is nothing particularly smart about waiting till I
was nearly 48 to do this. My sincere hope is that people will start
learning and implementing well-known facts about how to be healthy and
fit at a much younger age than did I. It's not exactly rocket
science, but it's definitely not built into our current culture.
Though my poor condition manifested in excess weight, there are many
thin people who are not fit either. Though fitness is often measured
in body size, it is not really about size. It's about strength,
endurance, balance, flexibility, strong bones, good skin, good
cardiovascular function, etc. While the resiliency of youth can hide
a lot of the damage our life-styles can have on fitness, it begins to
show up as we age and then we're in the position of having to do the
best we can with what's left. It would be much smarter to set all
this in motion while we are at optimal potential for good health and
fitness. Nevertheless, I'm dedicated to seeing how far I can get with
better late than never!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Setting Goals, Part 2
Short-term and Long-term Goals
Once you've determined the starting point for improving fitness,
specifying what you want to accomplish is the next step. To continue
with the GPS analogy, now that you've entered the point of origin,
it's time to enter the point of destination. It's equally important
to note though, that just like the GPS, you will have a series of
points along the map to successfully reach before the destination can
be achieved. Also like a good GPS, if you deviate from the steps
along the way, you will need to recalculate your route.
Most of us start out with a destination in mind. Using the same
method you chose to assess the starting point for your body size, form
a positive statement about the goal you want to ultimately achieve.
Next, based on the distance between where you are now and where you
want to be, set a reasonable timeline for achievement.
Personally, I think reaching my goal at the rate of one pound a week
is reasonable. While I can in fact lose 2 pounds in a week without
going to extremes, I know that I will also have weeks in which
maintaining is all I can do and other weeks in which I will gain back
a pound or two. So using one pound a week as an average, I set the
timeline for achieving my ultimate goal.
The "Train Your Brain for Fitness" approach to getting fit is not
really intended for quick weight loss. While it's possible to apply
some of these techniques for starting a power weight loss and fitness
program, I don't think this is actually the best way to affect
long-term change that will stay with you. I have too often done the
quick power routine only to be right back where I started or even
worse a few months later. Learning what we need to know to lead a
lifestyle that supports fitness and making it habitual is what this
approach is designed to accomplish.
Using body weight as an example, here's how I'd suggest that you set your goals.
1. Look back at where you recorded your current body weight.
2. Write down the body weight you want to ultimately achieve.
3. Determine the difference between the two numbers by subtracting
your goal weight from your current weight.
4. Turn this number into number of weeks (e.g., 40 pounds = 40 weeks).
5. Using a calendar, count out that number of weeks from the current
date. I advise adding in a few more weeks as it is really not
practical to assume that you will drop a pound every single week.
Remember that you will have holidays and vacations and other occasions
for distraction along the way that will make steady progress
difficult. 40 weeks can easily be made into 45 or even 52 weeks.
6. Write your ultimate goal statement as though you have achieved it
such as "I weigh 140 pounds by 06/01/11."
Next, take your ultimate goal and break it down into periodic
milestones. If your ultimate goal is one year out, then breaking it
into evenly spaced, quarterly goals is a good way to do this. Using
the example above of reaching a goal 40 pounds away in a year, the
milestones will be 10 pounds a quarter.
1. I weigh 140 pounds by 06/01/11.
2. I weigh 150 pounds by 03/01/11.
3. I weigh 160 pounds by 01/01/11.
4. I weigh 170 pounds by 10/01/10.
In this example you are working from the macro to the micro. You may
find it more useful to reverse this list once you've set all of your
goals, but starting with the ultimate and working your way back
through the stages through which this will be accomplished is a good
way to set the goals in the beginning.
It's important to remember that body weight is only a measuring tool.
The real goal is to be fit through good nutrition and exercise.
Achieving the goal body weight is just one way you will know that you
have met your fitness goals. Therefore, let's write goal statements
about how you want to achieve this new body weight.
Once you've established the goals based on body size, do the same for
your food intake. Working from your established eating norm, set
goals for food intake that will achieve your body size goal. Examples
of goal statements are:
1. I make smart choices about what I eat.
2. I eat 1600 (or fill in the appropriate caloric intake for yourself)
calories or less a day.
3. I choose foods rich in protein to build muscle.
4. I eat carbs that are complex and beneficial.
5. I check nutrition facts about new foods before I eat them.
The point here is to write your goal statements about eating so that
they promote the behavior you want to achieve. Making them positive
statements of achievement makes it possible for your subconscious to
use them as triggers for daily activity.
Finally, go through the same process to set goals for exercise. Look
at your established level of daily activity and decide how you will
increase it. Then form positive statements about these goals.
1. I exercise 5 times a week – 3 with weights and 2 cardio.
2. I take the stairs to and from my office each day.
3. I walk for 30 minutes every morning.
4. I attend yoga classes twice each week.
5. I play basketball with my colleagues every Saturday morning.
Once you've established your goal statements, write them out in a way
that makes sense to you. Mine look like this:
1. I make smart choices about what I eat.
2. I eat 1600 calories a day or less.
3. I exercise 5 times a week – 3 weights and 2 cardio.
4. I feel good and am getting fit through better nutrition and exercise.
5. I achieve my goals at a rate of one pound a week.
6. I feel good and weigh 166 by 07/08/10.
7. I feel good and am making real progress and weigh 153 by 10/08/10.
8. I am fit and toned, feel awesome and weigh 140 pounds by 01/08/11.
9. I maintain fitness through smart eating and regular exercise and
perhaps set new goals, 2011-2015.
You can see that I start with the immediate and then work my way up
through a year and end with a projection for keeping this going for
the next 5 years. This list spells out "life change" for me
specifically, and your list should do the same for you.
This is a living, breathing work in progress. I write out my goals,
all of them as above each week when I measure my success. The list
changes a little each week depending on what is going on in my life.
If I'm taking a cruise next week, then I don't say that I'm going to
stick to 1600 calories each day, or that I'm going to exercise 5
times. I decide what I want to achieve while on my cruise and then I
write it out accordingly. When I return home and am back to a regular
routine, then my list looks like it does above. Choosing achievable
goals and setting them out in a way that fits into your life so that
they can become a part of your life, is the only way I know to make
this long-term change to a healthier lifestyle.
I want to once again acknowledge that I have pulled liberally from Tom
Venuto's book "The Body Fat Solution." I strongly urge you to get a
copy of this very inspirational book and add it to your reading list.
It provides a wealth of information!
Once you've determined the starting point for improving fitness,
specifying what you want to accomplish is the next step. To continue
with the GPS analogy, now that you've entered the point of origin,
it's time to enter the point of destination. It's equally important
to note though, that just like the GPS, you will have a series of
points along the map to successfully reach before the destination can
be achieved. Also like a good GPS, if you deviate from the steps
along the way, you will need to recalculate your route.
Most of us start out with a destination in mind. Using the same
method you chose to assess the starting point for your body size, form
a positive statement about the goal you want to ultimately achieve.
Next, based on the distance between where you are now and where you
want to be, set a reasonable timeline for achievement.
Personally, I think reaching my goal at the rate of one pound a week
is reasonable. While I can in fact lose 2 pounds in a week without
going to extremes, I know that I will also have weeks in which
maintaining is all I can do and other weeks in which I will gain back
a pound or two. So using one pound a week as an average, I set the
timeline for achieving my ultimate goal.
The "Train Your Brain for Fitness" approach to getting fit is not
really intended for quick weight loss. While it's possible to apply
some of these techniques for starting a power weight loss and fitness
program, I don't think this is actually the best way to affect
long-term change that will stay with you. I have too often done the
quick power routine only to be right back where I started or even
worse a few months later. Learning what we need to know to lead a
lifestyle that supports fitness and making it habitual is what this
approach is designed to accomplish.
Using body weight as an example, here's how I'd suggest that you set your goals.
1. Look back at where you recorded your current body weight.
2. Write down the body weight you want to ultimately achieve.
3. Determine the difference between the two numbers by subtracting
your goal weight from your current weight.
4. Turn this number into number of weeks (e.g., 40 pounds = 40 weeks).
5. Using a calendar, count out that number of weeks from the current
date. I advise adding in a few more weeks as it is really not
practical to assume that you will drop a pound every single week.
Remember that you will have holidays and vacations and other occasions
for distraction along the way that will make steady progress
difficult. 40 weeks can easily be made into 45 or even 52 weeks.
6. Write your ultimate goal statement as though you have achieved it
such as "I weigh 140 pounds by 06/01/11."
Next, take your ultimate goal and break it down into periodic
milestones. If your ultimate goal is one year out, then breaking it
into evenly spaced, quarterly goals is a good way to do this. Using
the example above of reaching a goal 40 pounds away in a year, the
milestones will be 10 pounds a quarter.
1. I weigh 140 pounds by 06/01/11.
2. I weigh 150 pounds by 03/01/11.
3. I weigh 160 pounds by 01/01/11.
4. I weigh 170 pounds by 10/01/10.
In this example you are working from the macro to the micro. You may
find it more useful to reverse this list once you've set all of your
goals, but starting with the ultimate and working your way back
through the stages through which this will be accomplished is a good
way to set the goals in the beginning.
It's important to remember that body weight is only a measuring tool.
The real goal is to be fit through good nutrition and exercise.
Achieving the goal body weight is just one way you will know that you
have met your fitness goals. Therefore, let's write goal statements
about how you want to achieve this new body weight.
Once you've established the goals based on body size, do the same for
your food intake. Working from your established eating norm, set
goals for food intake that will achieve your body size goal. Examples
of goal statements are:
1. I make smart choices about what I eat.
2. I eat 1600 (or fill in the appropriate caloric intake for yourself)
calories or less a day.
3. I choose foods rich in protein to build muscle.
4. I eat carbs that are complex and beneficial.
5. I check nutrition facts about new foods before I eat them.
The point here is to write your goal statements about eating so that
they promote the behavior you want to achieve. Making them positive
statements of achievement makes it possible for your subconscious to
use them as triggers for daily activity.
Finally, go through the same process to set goals for exercise. Look
at your established level of daily activity and decide how you will
increase it. Then form positive statements about these goals.
1. I exercise 5 times a week – 3 with weights and 2 cardio.
2. I take the stairs to and from my office each day.
3. I walk for 30 minutes every morning.
4. I attend yoga classes twice each week.
5. I play basketball with my colleagues every Saturday morning.
Once you've established your goal statements, write them out in a way
that makes sense to you. Mine look like this:
1. I make smart choices about what I eat.
2. I eat 1600 calories a day or less.
3. I exercise 5 times a week – 3 weights and 2 cardio.
4. I feel good and am getting fit through better nutrition and exercise.
5. I achieve my goals at a rate of one pound a week.
6. I feel good and weigh 166 by 07/08/10.
7. I feel good and am making real progress and weigh 153 by 10/08/10.
8. I am fit and toned, feel awesome and weigh 140 pounds by 01/08/11.
9. I maintain fitness through smart eating and regular exercise and
perhaps set new goals, 2011-2015.
You can see that I start with the immediate and then work my way up
through a year and end with a projection for keeping this going for
the next 5 years. This list spells out "life change" for me
specifically, and your list should do the same for you.
This is a living, breathing work in progress. I write out my goals,
all of them as above each week when I measure my success. The list
changes a little each week depending on what is going on in my life.
If I'm taking a cruise next week, then I don't say that I'm going to
stick to 1600 calories each day, or that I'm going to exercise 5
times. I decide what I want to achieve while on my cruise and then I
write it out accordingly. When I return home and am back to a regular
routine, then my list looks like it does above. Choosing achievable
goals and setting them out in a way that fits into your life so that
they can become a part of your life, is the only way I know to make
this long-term change to a healthier lifestyle.
I want to once again acknowledge that I have pulled liberally from Tom
Venuto's book "The Body Fat Solution." I strongly urge you to get a
copy of this very inspirational book and add it to your reading list.
It provides a wealth of information!
Setting Goals, Part 1
Training Your Brain for Success
There is a lot of information out there about setting goals. As with
anything else associated with improving fitness, you will need to
select the method of goal-setting that suits you best. My favorite
method and one that I firmly believe to make the most sense, is
promoted by personal trainer, Tom Venuto in his book "The Body Fat
Solution." For more information about this book and other information
from Tom Venuto, visit: http://www.tomvenuto.com/.
The key factor in achieving the goals we set, is to believe that we
can, and the key to believing that we can, is to set this message of
achievement into our subconscious. There is a tremendous amount of
research about the role of our subconscious and its impact on our
daily activity, and experts agree that over 90% (and that's a very
conservative number as most experts actually say 95%), of our daily
activity is driven by our subconscious. In addition to the things we
almost never think about such as breathing, blood circulation,
digestion, etc., many of the things we learn to do such as driving,
walking, eating, sports, cooking, cleaning, work routines, etc. also
become mostly driven by our subconscious. Though we are usually aware
of the activity and even direct it with conscious thought, a lot of
the triggers start up prior to consciously deciding to do so. When
the phone rings, we don't stop to think that we need to pick up the
phone, press a button, place the phone just so to be able to both hear
and talk and say hello. We just do it. Our conscious mind engages
long enough to determine who is calling and to determine appropriate
responses, but most of the actions involved in using a phone are not
conscious activities. This becomes very apparent when you get a new
phone and have to make yourself think about using it until it, too,
becomes something you can do without conscious thought.
So if we accept that most of what we do is triggered by our
subconscious, including eating and exercising, then the trick is to
train our subconscious mind to give us the triggers needed to make
smart choices. To do this, we need to understand that our
subconscious mind responds best to positive statements (i.e., "Do
this," as opposed to "Don't do that.") Again, this is hardly cutting
edge information. How long ago was the popular book "The Power of
Positive Thinking" topping the best-seller list? A more recent
article on this topic that I found to be a good refresher is
"Motivating Yourself in Three Simple Steps Using the Law of
Attraction" by Steve Jones and Frank Mangano:
http://www.tomvenuto.com/articles/motivation_and_the_law_of_attraction.shtml
This is all a rather elaborate introduction to setting goals for
fitness and nutrition, but a necessary introduction in my mind. When
we set our goals, it is important to frame them as positive statements
of accomplishment. If we want our subconscious to trigger the actions
that will help us achieve our goals, then we must frame statements
that our subconscious can use. Instead of saying "I will lose 10
pounds" or "I won't eat dessert" or "I will make myself exercise
today," we should say, "I achieve my goals one pound at a time,:" or
"I make smart choices about what I eat," or I get to exercise today."
These are statements that our subconscious can understand and use to
trigger activity. Telling it to lose something or not do something
doesn't quite compute. Also stating our goals as though we have
already achieved them gives us a powerful visualization of the
behavior we want to exhibit and makes it more likely that we will do
it. When the underlying thought is "I make smart choices about what I
eat," then it is so much easier to choose fruit to go with your
sandwich at lunch instead of fries or chips. And when the underlying
thought is "I get to exercise today," then you go do it with energy
instead of dragging against the more negative thought of "I have to"
or "I really should exercise today." "I get to" means that it is
something you want to do and are excited about doing, whereas "I have
to" or I really should" means that you would rather not and it's a
real chore that you have to make yourself accomplish. The power of
these underlying messages is tremendous and harnessing that power to
affect positive change in our lives will set us on the road to fitness
through better nutrition and exercise.
There is a lot of information out there about setting goals. As with
anything else associated with improving fitness, you will need to
select the method of goal-setting that suits you best. My favorite
method and one that I firmly believe to make the most sense, is
promoted by personal trainer, Tom Venuto in his book "The Body Fat
Solution." For more information about this book and other information
from Tom Venuto, visit: http://www.tomvenuto.com/.
The key factor in achieving the goals we set, is to believe that we
can, and the key to believing that we can, is to set this message of
achievement into our subconscious. There is a tremendous amount of
research about the role of our subconscious and its impact on our
daily activity, and experts agree that over 90% (and that's a very
conservative number as most experts actually say 95%), of our daily
activity is driven by our subconscious. In addition to the things we
almost never think about such as breathing, blood circulation,
digestion, etc., many of the things we learn to do such as driving,
walking, eating, sports, cooking, cleaning, work routines, etc. also
become mostly driven by our subconscious. Though we are usually aware
of the activity and even direct it with conscious thought, a lot of
the triggers start up prior to consciously deciding to do so. When
the phone rings, we don't stop to think that we need to pick up the
phone, press a button, place the phone just so to be able to both hear
and talk and say hello. We just do it. Our conscious mind engages
long enough to determine who is calling and to determine appropriate
responses, but most of the actions involved in using a phone are not
conscious activities. This becomes very apparent when you get a new
phone and have to make yourself think about using it until it, too,
becomes something you can do without conscious thought.
So if we accept that most of what we do is triggered by our
subconscious, including eating and exercising, then the trick is to
train our subconscious mind to give us the triggers needed to make
smart choices. To do this, we need to understand that our
subconscious mind responds best to positive statements (i.e., "Do
this," as opposed to "Don't do that.") Again, this is hardly cutting
edge information. How long ago was the popular book "The Power of
Positive Thinking" topping the best-seller list? A more recent
article on this topic that I found to be a good refresher is
"Motivating Yourself in Three Simple Steps Using the Law of
Attraction" by Steve Jones and Frank Mangano:
http://www.tomvenuto.com/articles/motivation_and_the_law_of_attraction.shtml
This is all a rather elaborate introduction to setting goals for
fitness and nutrition, but a necessary introduction in my mind. When
we set our goals, it is important to frame them as positive statements
of accomplishment. If we want our subconscious to trigger the actions
that will help us achieve our goals, then we must frame statements
that our subconscious can use. Instead of saying "I will lose 10
pounds" or "I won't eat dessert" or "I will make myself exercise
today," we should say, "I achieve my goals one pound at a time,:" or
"I make smart choices about what I eat," or I get to exercise today."
These are statements that our subconscious can understand and use to
trigger activity. Telling it to lose something or not do something
doesn't quite compute. Also stating our goals as though we have
already achieved them gives us a powerful visualization of the
behavior we want to exhibit and makes it more likely that we will do
it. When the underlying thought is "I make smart choices about what I
eat," then it is so much easier to choose fruit to go with your
sandwich at lunch instead of fries or chips. And when the underlying
thought is "I get to exercise today," then you go do it with energy
instead of dragging against the more negative thought of "I have to"
or "I really should exercise today." "I get to" means that it is
something you want to do and are excited about doing, whereas "I have
to" or I really should" means that you would rather not and it's a
real chore that you have to make yourself accomplish. The power of
these underlying messages is tremendous and harnessing that power to
affect positive change in our lives will set us on the road to fitness
through better nutrition and exercise.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Finding the Starting Point, Part 3
Part 3: Determining Your Physical Activity
This part is all about figuring out how much you move your body during
the day. This won't be as complicated as establishing your eating
norm because we typically don't get active as often as we eat, hence
the need to affect change!
Using the lists below, check the items that most closely resemble your
level of activity. If there is something that you do to be active
that is not listed, then add it to your own list. The purpose is to
establish how active you are right now so you can make smart choices
about how to change that level of activity to achieve your fitness
goals.
1. In a typical work day, I am:
• Sedentary – sit at a desk or work station with little to no
additional activity.
• Moderately active – sitting mostly with some walking about for
periods longer than 15 minutes at a stretch.
• Active – mostly on my feet and moving throughout the day with only
occasional periods of sitting that exceed 15 minutes at a time.
• Very active – I'm always moving about and also do lifting, product
movement, control machinery, etc.
(Note: If you do not work but engage in some other daily activity such
as going to school or volunteering, then pick the item above which
most closely represents your activity or create a new item that
describes your activity more accurately.)
2. In the evening after work, I am:
• Sedentary – sit on the sofa and watch TV till bedtime.
• Moderately active – tidy the house, do light work in the yard, play
active games with the children before relaxing in front of the TV or
with a book.
• Active – work a second job that involves physical movement, do heavy
work in the yard or around the house, play sports with the children or
friends, work out.
3. I do a specific workout routine:
• Once in a while but nothing regular
• 2-3 times a week
• 3-5 times a week
• 6-7 times a week
4. My routine lasts for XX minutes and here's what I do:
(Note: give a brief description of the type of exercises included in
your routine.)
5. Other physical activity include:
(Note: write in anything else you do such as kayaking, skiing, golf,
etc. and include the frequency this occurs.)
Record the information above directly on your "My Starting Point"
document. You have just entered the name of the city into your GPS,
thus completing the point of origin!
Summary
Now you have the information you need to make smart choices about how
to move forward. You know your body size plus critical information
about what you eat and how you expend energy through activity. You
know that to maintain this course with no changes, will either keep
you at the body size you are now, or perhaps keep pushing you in the
direction you don't want to go such as gaining weight or continued
muscle deterioration. The next step will be to set your goals, break
them down into immediate, short-term and long-term, and to determine
the changes you are willing to make to achieve those goals.
Before you move on to that, take time to really assess what you've
recorded as your starting point. Make sure that it is as accurate as
you can make it and then really take a look at it. You are doing the
things you've recorded because you have been doing them for a long
time. Most of us are not following any set plan, but simply engaging
in a set of behaviors that we have built over the years with little or
no thought about the consequences. The result of this non-planning
approach is what we see in the mirror or feel under our hands. You've
taken this big step because you want to change that image in some way,
and to do that, you need to fully comprehend if not how you got here,
then at least what here truly is. You can't edit a story without
reading it and this is your chance to read the story of your current
level of fitness. If you don't like the outcome, then it's time to
start editing!
This part is all about figuring out how much you move your body during
the day. This won't be as complicated as establishing your eating
norm because we typically don't get active as often as we eat, hence
the need to affect change!
Using the lists below, check the items that most closely resemble your
level of activity. If there is something that you do to be active
that is not listed, then add it to your own list. The purpose is to
establish how active you are right now so you can make smart choices
about how to change that level of activity to achieve your fitness
goals.
1. In a typical work day, I am:
• Sedentary – sit at a desk or work station with little to no
additional activity.
• Moderately active – sitting mostly with some walking about for
periods longer than 15 minutes at a stretch.
• Active – mostly on my feet and moving throughout the day with only
occasional periods of sitting that exceed 15 minutes at a time.
• Very active – I'm always moving about and also do lifting, product
movement, control machinery, etc.
(Note: If you do not work but engage in some other daily activity such
as going to school or volunteering, then pick the item above which
most closely represents your activity or create a new item that
describes your activity more accurately.)
2. In the evening after work, I am:
• Sedentary – sit on the sofa and watch TV till bedtime.
• Moderately active – tidy the house, do light work in the yard, play
active games with the children before relaxing in front of the TV or
with a book.
• Active – work a second job that involves physical movement, do heavy
work in the yard or around the house, play sports with the children or
friends, work out.
3. I do a specific workout routine:
• Once in a while but nothing regular
• 2-3 times a week
• 3-5 times a week
• 6-7 times a week
4. My routine lasts for XX minutes and here's what I do:
(Note: give a brief description of the type of exercises included in
your routine.)
5. Other physical activity include:
(Note: write in anything else you do such as kayaking, skiing, golf,
etc. and include the frequency this occurs.)
Record the information above directly on your "My Starting Point"
document. You have just entered the name of the city into your GPS,
thus completing the point of origin!
Summary
Now you have the information you need to make smart choices about how
to move forward. You know your body size plus critical information
about what you eat and how you expend energy through activity. You
know that to maintain this course with no changes, will either keep
you at the body size you are now, or perhaps keep pushing you in the
direction you don't want to go such as gaining weight or continued
muscle deterioration. The next step will be to set your goals, break
them down into immediate, short-term and long-term, and to determine
the changes you are willing to make to achieve those goals.
Before you move on to that, take time to really assess what you've
recorded as your starting point. Make sure that it is as accurate as
you can make it and then really take a look at it. You are doing the
things you've recorded because you have been doing them for a long
time. Most of us are not following any set plan, but simply engaging
in a set of behaviors that we have built over the years with little or
no thought about the consequences. The result of this non-planning
approach is what we see in the mirror or feel under our hands. You've
taken this big step because you want to change that image in some way,
and to do that, you need to fully comprehend if not how you got here,
then at least what here truly is. You can't edit a story without
reading it and this is your chance to read the story of your current
level of fitness. If you don't like the outcome, then it's time to
start editing!
Finding the Starting Point, Part 2
Part 2: Establishing Your Eating Norm
Using the GPS analogy, you have entered the zip code and now it's time
to enter your street address. I can't stress enough how important it
is to get a handle on exactly what is the norm for your current eating
habits. I have multiple issues with prescribed diet plans, but one of
them is that they don't address your habitual eating behavior. Even
if the diet plan works, once the goal has been achieved, we leave the
diet plan and go right back to our old way of habitual eating which
then puts us right back where we started. Sound familiar? Well,
let's break that vicious circle!
We mostly eat out of habit. Yes, it's essential to life and we get
hungry, but it's habit that makes us pick up the same things at the
grocery store and prepare the same food at home. It's habit that
drives us to stop at the same fast food chains, pick up a grande
calorie coffee on the way into work, drink a few beers in the
afternoon, or pull out the same snacks while watching TV. The first
step to changing those habits into habits that will promote fitness is
to understand clearly what it is that we do. This is what I mean when
I say that we need to establish our eating norm.
The only way I know to do this is to make a list. We absolutely must
write down everything we eat over the course of a day. How much
information you record on this list or the number of days that you
keep the list going is up to you. As I've mentioned before when
discussing body size and will undoubtedly mention again, the key is
doing this in a way that suits you so that you'll really do it. We
can design the perfect widget, but if you won't use it then it's a
waste of time. So while I can't think of any way to work around
making a list of food consumed within a day, below I offer several
ways you can gather and record this information.
First, go back to your "My Starting Point" document and write: "My
Eating Norm" and add today's date. Then start a list with the title
"Food I eat in a day."
Method 1: The Basic List
This list is really the minimum information you can gather and still
hope to have something you can use. It's just as it sounds. Start
writing down everything you eat within a day. Make sure it's really
everything and try not to use too many generic terms. So if you
record that you eat cereal, write down what kind of cereal such as
frosted mini wheats. Don't leave out anything such as the piece of
candy you picked up when walking through the lobby of your office or
the soda you drank while out running errands. It must contain
everything.
This is harder than it looks on the surface. You will need to figure
out the best way to make it happen. You could carry a note pad with
you and write things down all day. You could open a note page on your
PDA and record it that way. You could wait till you're home in the
evening and sit down to write a list from memory. However you do it,
be honest and thorough.
In order to get a really good snapshot of your eating norm, keeping a
list every day for a week is best. Since how we eat is mostly
habitual, it is often driven by our other daily activities. So if you
work in retail or some other industry that doesn't allow for much time
to eat while you are working, then you will discover that your work
day eating habits look very different from how you eat on your day
off.
If you can't bring yourself to make a list every day for a week, then
pick two or three days on which you do very different kinds of things
and make lists for those days. In the end you want an accurate
assessment of what you are feeding your body so that you can make
smart decisions about how to improve your eating to achieve your
fitness goals.
Method 2: List plus Portion Size
To provide a little more information with which to work, beside each
food item on your list, write down the portion size. Weighing,
measuring and calculating it from the package information is the most
accurate way to do this, but if that's too much, then record the
portion size in some way that will be meaningful to you. So if you
recorded that you ate frosted mini wheat for breakfast, and you can't
bring yourself to use a measuring cup to determine how much you put in
your bowl, then you could write something like "frosted mini wheat,
blue bowl about ¾ full." With that information you can later decide
if you want to give yourself more or less than your typical serving to
achieve your fitness goal.
Method 3: Caloric Distribution
This is my preferred method of establishing my eating norm and later
to track changes to how I eat in order to achieve my goals. If this
is the street address information for the GPS, then the basic list is
like putting in the street name only, adding portions is like putting
in an approximate street number, and writing down calories is like
putting the exact full street address. The more information with
which you choose to work, the more accurate your results will be. But
of course, accurate information does you no good if you won't collect
it. Regardless of my obvious preference, it's still about choosing
the method that you will use.
To establish an eating norm through calories consumed, you need to
track calories at four levels: total calories, calories from fat,
carbohydrates and protein. If you have health issues such as diabetes
or high blood pressure, then you may also want to track other things
such as carbohydrates broken down into fiber and sugar, or sodium
content. But to establish a baseline for weight gain or loss, this
basic break down is sufficient.
Now when you look at the food you eat during a day, you want to look
up the nutrition facts about that food and record this caloric
information. This also requires more specific portion size
information. No source is going to be able to calculate the caloric
content of frosted miniwheat, blue bowl about ¾ full. You can,
however, easily learn that a cup of frosted mini wheat has 183 total
calories, 9 calories from fat, 135 calories from carbs, and 16
calories from protein. If you added a half cup of whole milk to that
bowl of cereal, you added 75 total calories, 36 calories from fat, 22
calories from carbs, and 16 calories from protein.
No way am I going to say anything but that this is a lot of work.
When I started out charting calories, I was totally surprised at how
much time I spent thinking about feeding myself! It's just another
indicator as to how much eating is habitual which means that we mostly
do it with little to no consideration. Of course, it's this lack of
consideration that got us into the situation of being less fit than
we'd like, and so it's going to take some effort to reverse this.
If you choose this method to establish your eating norm, collect the
information and then go to your "My Starting Point" document and
write: "My eating norm:" followed by summary information from your
daily chart such as "day 1, total calories XXX; fat calories XXX" etc.
Keep the complete daily list somewhere handy so you can refer bakk to
it when it's time to make decisions about needed changes to achieve
your fitness goals.
For more information about charting calories, check out an earlier
posting to this blog, "Counting Calories, The Bane of Any Fitness
Program"
Using the GPS analogy, you have entered the zip code and now it's time
to enter your street address. I can't stress enough how important it
is to get a handle on exactly what is the norm for your current eating
habits. I have multiple issues with prescribed diet plans, but one of
them is that they don't address your habitual eating behavior. Even
if the diet plan works, once the goal has been achieved, we leave the
diet plan and go right back to our old way of habitual eating which
then puts us right back where we started. Sound familiar? Well,
let's break that vicious circle!
We mostly eat out of habit. Yes, it's essential to life and we get
hungry, but it's habit that makes us pick up the same things at the
grocery store and prepare the same food at home. It's habit that
drives us to stop at the same fast food chains, pick up a grande
calorie coffee on the way into work, drink a few beers in the
afternoon, or pull out the same snacks while watching TV. The first
step to changing those habits into habits that will promote fitness is
to understand clearly what it is that we do. This is what I mean when
I say that we need to establish our eating norm.
The only way I know to do this is to make a list. We absolutely must
write down everything we eat over the course of a day. How much
information you record on this list or the number of days that you
keep the list going is up to you. As I've mentioned before when
discussing body size and will undoubtedly mention again, the key is
doing this in a way that suits you so that you'll really do it. We
can design the perfect widget, but if you won't use it then it's a
waste of time. So while I can't think of any way to work around
making a list of food consumed within a day, below I offer several
ways you can gather and record this information.
First, go back to your "My Starting Point" document and write: "My
Eating Norm" and add today's date. Then start a list with the title
"Food I eat in a day."
Method 1: The Basic List
This list is really the minimum information you can gather and still
hope to have something you can use. It's just as it sounds. Start
writing down everything you eat within a day. Make sure it's really
everything and try not to use too many generic terms. So if you
record that you eat cereal, write down what kind of cereal such as
frosted mini wheats. Don't leave out anything such as the piece of
candy you picked up when walking through the lobby of your office or
the soda you drank while out running errands. It must contain
everything.
This is harder than it looks on the surface. You will need to figure
out the best way to make it happen. You could carry a note pad with
you and write things down all day. You could open a note page on your
PDA and record it that way. You could wait till you're home in the
evening and sit down to write a list from memory. However you do it,
be honest and thorough.
In order to get a really good snapshot of your eating norm, keeping a
list every day for a week is best. Since how we eat is mostly
habitual, it is often driven by our other daily activities. So if you
work in retail or some other industry that doesn't allow for much time
to eat while you are working, then you will discover that your work
day eating habits look very different from how you eat on your day
off.
If you can't bring yourself to make a list every day for a week, then
pick two or three days on which you do very different kinds of things
and make lists for those days. In the end you want an accurate
assessment of what you are feeding your body so that you can make
smart decisions about how to improve your eating to achieve your
fitness goals.
Method 2: List plus Portion Size
To provide a little more information with which to work, beside each
food item on your list, write down the portion size. Weighing,
measuring and calculating it from the package information is the most
accurate way to do this, but if that's too much, then record the
portion size in some way that will be meaningful to you. So if you
recorded that you ate frosted mini wheat for breakfast, and you can't
bring yourself to use a measuring cup to determine how much you put in
your bowl, then you could write something like "frosted mini wheat,
blue bowl about ¾ full." With that information you can later decide
if you want to give yourself more or less than your typical serving to
achieve your fitness goal.
Method 3: Caloric Distribution
This is my preferred method of establishing my eating norm and later
to track changes to how I eat in order to achieve my goals. If this
is the street address information for the GPS, then the basic list is
like putting in the street name only, adding portions is like putting
in an approximate street number, and writing down calories is like
putting the exact full street address. The more information with
which you choose to work, the more accurate your results will be. But
of course, accurate information does you no good if you won't collect
it. Regardless of my obvious preference, it's still about choosing
the method that you will use.
To establish an eating norm through calories consumed, you need to
track calories at four levels: total calories, calories from fat,
carbohydrates and protein. If you have health issues such as diabetes
or high blood pressure, then you may also want to track other things
such as carbohydrates broken down into fiber and sugar, or sodium
content. But to establish a baseline for weight gain or loss, this
basic break down is sufficient.
Now when you look at the food you eat during a day, you want to look
up the nutrition facts about that food and record this caloric
information. This also requires more specific portion size
information. No source is going to be able to calculate the caloric
content of frosted miniwheat, blue bowl about ¾ full. You can,
however, easily learn that a cup of frosted mini wheat has 183 total
calories, 9 calories from fat, 135 calories from carbs, and 16
calories from protein. If you added a half cup of whole milk to that
bowl of cereal, you added 75 total calories, 36 calories from fat, 22
calories from carbs, and 16 calories from protein.
No way am I going to say anything but that this is a lot of work.
When I started out charting calories, I was totally surprised at how
much time I spent thinking about feeding myself! It's just another
indicator as to how much eating is habitual which means that we mostly
do it with little to no consideration. Of course, it's this lack of
consideration that got us into the situation of being less fit than
we'd like, and so it's going to take some effort to reverse this.
If you choose this method to establish your eating norm, collect the
information and then go to your "My Starting Point" document and
write: "My eating norm:" followed by summary information from your
daily chart such as "day 1, total calories XXX; fat calories XXX" etc.
Keep the complete daily list somewhere handy so you can refer bakk to
it when it's time to make decisions about needed changes to achieve
your fitness goals.
For more information about charting calories, check out an earlier
posting to this blog, "Counting Calories, The Bane of Any Fitness
Program"
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