As we ease our way into our official starting day of our body transformation diet and exercise program, it's time to look at some simple tips to help make that transition as easy as possible. You've already been increasing your activity through exercise and have felt how your body responds. You've probably noticed a bit of weight loss if you decided to scale back your meal and portion sizes a bit. And, you should be beginning to feel that this is becoming more and more a part of your weekly routine. If not, don't fret! We'll look at ways to help you get to that point ever faster!
1) Pick a start date
Even when slowly making changes and alterations to our diet and exercise plans it helps to pick a day when you decide to officially start your transformation into a 'better than average you'. This accomplishes a few goals: 1) it literally gives you a start date to work from, 2) allows you to track your progress over a specific period of time, and 3) gives you a chance to get into the mindset of 'OK - I'm doing this!' Mondays are always a great day to start. It's the beginning of a new week. Most of us are typically starting a new work week and many of us also had at least a portion of Sunday off where we can prepare with the items outlined below.
2) Take pictures!
This is just as scary as doing that first bodyfat reading, but it needs to get done. You'll be happy you did this now when you look back a few months down the road. You'll have the opportunity to look back and see just how much progress you've made. Once you do, you'll see that it is something to be incredibly proud of. Don't miss this opportunity! The pictures don't need to be anything dramatic, but make sure you're not all covered up with long pants, long sleeve shirt, etc. Women typically can gauge results best with photos taken in a two piece bathing suit and men can usually suffice with a pair of shorts.
3) Take a bodyfat reading
Hopefully you've already had an opportunity to do this. If not, get out your bodyfat calipers and get to it! Don't bother seriously starting without doing this - you'll honestly just be short-changing yourself. It's worth it to do this right. Don't rely on the scale, the mirror or your personal self image to tell you how what type of progress you've made. Take a baseline measurement and know for sure how you're doing. These things are very easy to use and it only takes a minute or two to complete. Once you get your baseline reading, write it down in your workout log.
4) Hop on the scale
You're going to want to couple your bodyfat percentage reading with a current scale weight so you can do the math necessary to determine just how to go about reaching your goal. After you get on the scale, write down that figure in your workout log. The math is very easy - let's look at a quick example:
Scale weight = 180 pounds
Bodyfat percentage = 19%
Determine total current fat weight: 180 x 0.19 = 34.2 pounds
This tells us that we have approximately 145.8 pounds of lean, muscular weight.
For ease of calculating, lets assume we don't realize any muscular gain during our transformation. If our goal is to get to a single digit bodyfat percentage of say 6%, we'll need to lose 25 pounds.
180 pounds - 25 pounds = 155 pounds
155 pounds - 6% (desired bodyfat percentage) = 145.7 pounds (essentially our lean, muscular weight from above)
6 months x 4.33 weeks = ~26 weeks
In our example above, to get to a 6% bodyfat percentage from a starting bodyfat percentage of 19% (a 13%(!) total loss in 6 months) we need to lose just under 1 pound per week. Easy!
As you can see, knowing these starting figures can certainly help to gain a better perspective of what needs to happen to reach your goal.
5) Clean out the cupboard
Time to get rid of the junk food! If you've got cookies, candy and other assorted snack items kicking around, give them away, throw them out or eat them all up (see #6) before you start! It's so much easier when they're not readily available at your fingertips. Of course you're going to get cravings along the way - what are you going to do if a box of your favorite snack is sitting within arms reach? It takes a lot of willpower, learned and practiced over time to overcome that urge! It's a lot easier to get there if you have to get in your car and drive to the store to get that snack, believe me!
6) Eat a crazy big, make you sick last meal before starting!
I've done this a few times and found success with it. You know you're going to be keeping things strict for a while so why not treat yourself to your favorite meal? Whatever it is, go out and overdo it! Eat so much that you feel sick. Right up to the point where it's not even appetizing anymore and you think 'I don't want to have that again for a long time!' Just like a big holiday meal where you sit down and eat so much at one point during the day that you don't eat another thing before bed. Whenever I do this, I personally find that I may or may not eat a light breakfast the next day. I can easily just eat super small portions and be full. I'm pretty much not hungry at all for most of the day. My body can't wait to digest, utilize and get rid of the enormous meal that got me here! This effect can last for 2 to 3 days after consuming that last meal. It will take this long for your body to begin clearing out the bulk left behind from this final binge. The scale weight will drop dramatically and you'll eventually get to a baseline weight that you can begin to see realistic changes from.
Make the most of it. Enjoy it. Make sure you overdo it!
It's time to prepare! Make sure you have your Must Have Items Before You Begin Your Transormation. Take your baseline readings. Take those pictures! Get mentally prepared and get started on your transformation into a Better Than Average You!
Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Getting Motivated - Mentally, Physically & Chemically
Getting and staying motivated - it sure ain't easy! I'm pretty confident every one of us can vouch for that no matter what aspects of our lives we're talking about. The problem is, this is one of the key components to success (there's another secret component we'll talke about in a future post!). So how do you get motivated? I've tried to simplify it for you and break it down into three specific elements: Mental, Physical and Chemical.
Mental Motivation
This is ironically, the easiest and at the same time, most difficult of the three. How can that be? First, mental motivation requires nothing more than the changing of a thought. When you step back from it for a minute and thoughtfully reflect on it, that's truly what it comes down to. It's a simple 'Yes' or 'No'.
"I'm going to do this."
"I'm not going to do this."
There's no physical effort involved and the energy expended to make one thought or the other is absolutely negligible. Easy, isn't it? Not so fast...
Why is it so hard then? We all have a million excuses: a long day at work. I'm not feeling well. I'm tired. I've got other things to do. I hurt. I can't do it. Etc.
Essentially, these excuses are born from the priority you give to the task at hand. In this case, the priority you give to creating a 'better than average you'. How important is it to you? Only you can tell. The more important it is, the easier it will be to overcome the objections your mind gives you. The easier it will be to say: "I'm going to do this!"
One specific way that I've personally found that helps to get and keep me motivated mentally (this isn't necessarily something I consciously do) is the fact that I get angry. I get angry that I've let myself slip and gain weight. I get angry that I stupidly ate a bunch of terrible food that I thought would make me feel better because I had a bad day. I get angry because I know that it's delaying the positive results I want. I get angry because I know I'm better than that. I read years ago (and I believe this whole-heartedly) that before you can successfully make a transformation, you need to get pissed off. Once you're angry enough about your current physical state, you make it a priority to do something about it!
Once you ratchet up the priority level and overcome most (if not all) of the excuses you've created you'll find it becomes easier and easier. All of a sudden, one day it begins to become a habit for you. You feel awkward not making time for your workout. Then, you begin seeing meaningful results week to week. You have to keep it up then because you become so motivated by what you're seeing you don't want to stop improving! Your confidence builds, you know what you're doing is correct, you're becoming a master of your own body and you control the creation of a new you.
Physical Motivation
Physical motivation has two elements to it from my perspective: 1) results based, and 2) dietary based. As mentioned above, as you begin to see the results from your body transforming those physical changes tend to keep you motivated to continue doing more and more. We're not so different from Pavlov's Dog in that respect: we get positive results, we continue to do what got us those results!
The dietary based component requires a little effort but it's worth it. Our bodies function best when provided with the proper foods and/or nutrients required to produce energy. We're all aware that some foods are better than others in general, but some foods are also better at providing the energy we need better than others. If you want to insure you have the necessary energy and physical motivation for each and every one of your workouts, take time to plan a simple meal about 1.5 to 2 hours prior to your workout. The meal should consist of a some protein (approx. 15 grams or 60 calories) and some good, complex carbohydrates (20-30 grams or 80-120 calories). This is a small, easily digestable meal or meal replacement (supplement) that will help give you the energy you need to not only help get through your workout, but have you feel good while doing it. I can tell you, I'm guilty of eating a couple servings of some high calorie, full fat ice cream an hour or so before working out (I felt guilty and forced myself to workout!) and felt absolutely terrible! I don't recommend it.
What would one of these small meals look like?
Examples:
Protein: 4oz chicken breast
Carbs: 1/2 cup brown rice
Protein: 1 scoop whey protein powder
Carbs: 1/2 cup rolled oats
Super quick and easy:
1 Cytosport Muscle Milk bar (25g protein, 28g carbs - and super tasty!)
There's still no need in the very begining to go out and make drastic changes to your diet right away. If you are having difficulty getting through your workouts and/or feeling good while doing them, give one of these meals a shot and see how it helps you.
Chemical Motivation
I mentioned in a previous post how I'm a big proponent of caffeine. I have found this to be an excellent chemical motivator for me. On those days when I just don't feel like doing anything, a nice solid shot of caffeine usually does the trick to get me going! Now, please bear in mind that everybody's different and we all react differently to things. KNOW AND UNDERSTAND HOW YOUR BODY REACTS TO CAFFEINE BEFORE TRYING ANYTHING LISTED HERE. Please refer back to the Disclaimer as well for a reminder about personal responsibility.
I've tried all levels of dosing with caffeine. From small amounts that you'd find in a can of diet soda to hundreds of milligrams at a time where my nose was running and my mind was racing. This may sound funny, but it's not something to play around with. There have been days where I know I took in too much caffeine and felt absolutely terrible. It felt like my nervous system was just completely taxed. It's not a good feeling and I would recommend always staying below any dosage that may bring you close to this level.
Due to my job, I stick to a pretty regular dosage schedule with caffeine. It looks much like this:
8:30am - 69mg
1:00pm - 39mg
3:30pm - 69mg (this is sporadic - maybe 3 times per week)
6:15pm - 39mg
7:30pm - 150mg (on some workout days only. It's hard to get to sleep on these nights...)
Total = 366mg
Total for average non-workout day = 147mg
The average, non-workout days works out to about 3 strong cups of coffee or 3 to 4 diet sodas. I find I don't need as much (meaning I'll have less than 147mg/day) when I'm sleeping approximately 7+ hours per night and I'm eating very clean, wholesome foods.
On occassion, I will find that I have days where my total approaches 600mg's or more. For my body, that's the upper limit I can handle and still feel OK but I can't do it day after day. Once I reach the 800mg - 1,200mg level in a single day, that's when I begin to feel terrible. Around 5pm - 7pm I'm absolutely wiped out and feel nauseous - again, I don't recommend it!
With so many 'energy' drinks out on the market now with anywhere from 150mg - 300mg per can(!) it's easy to overdo it. If you decide to give caffeine a shot to help boost your motivation to workout, start out very slow. Assess how your body reacts and over time find a level that suits your body best. There is a whole market of excellent nutritional supplements out there that are driven by their caffeine content. We'll begin to explore these more in the future as our workouts move along and see how we can benefit from them.
For now;
- Work on gaining that mental control needed to say "I CAN do this!"
- Nourish your body with proper nutrition prior to your workout to make them easier
- Determine if caffeine is right for you and if proper dosing can help you get your workout going
Keep it up - you CAN do this! Sphere: Related Content
Mental Motivation
This is ironically, the easiest and at the same time, most difficult of the three. How can that be? First, mental motivation requires nothing more than the changing of a thought. When you step back from it for a minute and thoughtfully reflect on it, that's truly what it comes down to. It's a simple 'Yes' or 'No'.
"I'm going to do this."
"I'm not going to do this."
There's no physical effort involved and the energy expended to make one thought or the other is absolutely negligible. Easy, isn't it? Not so fast...
Why is it so hard then? We all have a million excuses: a long day at work. I'm not feeling well. I'm tired. I've got other things to do. I hurt. I can't do it. Etc.
Essentially, these excuses are born from the priority you give to the task at hand. In this case, the priority you give to creating a 'better than average you'. How important is it to you? Only you can tell. The more important it is, the easier it will be to overcome the objections your mind gives you. The easier it will be to say: "I'm going to do this!"
One specific way that I've personally found that helps to get and keep me motivated mentally (this isn't necessarily something I consciously do) is the fact that I get angry. I get angry that I've let myself slip and gain weight. I get angry that I stupidly ate a bunch of terrible food that I thought would make me feel better because I had a bad day. I get angry because I know that it's delaying the positive results I want. I get angry because I know I'm better than that. I read years ago (and I believe this whole-heartedly) that before you can successfully make a transformation, you need to get pissed off. Once you're angry enough about your current physical state, you make it a priority to do something about it!
Once you ratchet up the priority level and overcome most (if not all) of the excuses you've created you'll find it becomes easier and easier. All of a sudden, one day it begins to become a habit for you. You feel awkward not making time for your workout. Then, you begin seeing meaningful results week to week. You have to keep it up then because you become so motivated by what you're seeing you don't want to stop improving! Your confidence builds, you know what you're doing is correct, you're becoming a master of your own body and you control the creation of a new you.
Physical Motivation
Physical motivation has two elements to it from my perspective: 1) results based, and 2) dietary based. As mentioned above, as you begin to see the results from your body transforming those physical changes tend to keep you motivated to continue doing more and more. We're not so different from Pavlov's Dog in that respect: we get positive results, we continue to do what got us those results!
The dietary based component requires a little effort but it's worth it. Our bodies function best when provided with the proper foods and/or nutrients required to produce energy. We're all aware that some foods are better than others in general, but some foods are also better at providing the energy we need better than others. If you want to insure you have the necessary energy and physical motivation for each and every one of your workouts, take time to plan a simple meal about 1.5 to 2 hours prior to your workout. The meal should consist of a some protein (approx. 15 grams or 60 calories) and some good, complex carbohydrates (20-30 grams or 80-120 calories). This is a small, easily digestable meal or meal replacement (supplement) that will help give you the energy you need to not only help get through your workout, but have you feel good while doing it. I can tell you, I'm guilty of eating a couple servings of some high calorie, full fat ice cream an hour or so before working out (I felt guilty and forced myself to workout!) and felt absolutely terrible! I don't recommend it.
What would one of these small meals look like?
Examples:
Protein: 4oz chicken breast
Carbs: 1/2 cup brown rice
Protein: 1 scoop whey protein powder
Carbs: 1/2 cup rolled oats
Super quick and easy:
1 Cytosport Muscle Milk bar (25g protein, 28g carbs - and super tasty!)
There's still no need in the very begining to go out and make drastic changes to your diet right away. If you are having difficulty getting through your workouts and/or feeling good while doing them, give one of these meals a shot and see how it helps you.
Chemical Motivation
I mentioned in a previous post how I'm a big proponent of caffeine. I have found this to be an excellent chemical motivator for me. On those days when I just don't feel like doing anything, a nice solid shot of caffeine usually does the trick to get me going! Now, please bear in mind that everybody's different and we all react differently to things. KNOW AND UNDERSTAND HOW YOUR BODY REACTS TO CAFFEINE BEFORE TRYING ANYTHING LISTED HERE. Please refer back to the Disclaimer as well for a reminder about personal responsibility.
I've tried all levels of dosing with caffeine. From small amounts that you'd find in a can of diet soda to hundreds of milligrams at a time where my nose was running and my mind was racing. This may sound funny, but it's not something to play around with. There have been days where I know I took in too much caffeine and felt absolutely terrible. It felt like my nervous system was just completely taxed. It's not a good feeling and I would recommend always staying below any dosage that may bring you close to this level.
Due to my job, I stick to a pretty regular dosage schedule with caffeine. It looks much like this:
8:30am - 69mg
1:00pm - 39mg
3:30pm - 69mg (this is sporadic - maybe 3 times per week)
6:15pm - 39mg
7:30pm - 150mg (on some workout days only. It's hard to get to sleep on these nights...)
Total = 366mg
Total for average non-workout day = 147mg
The average, non-workout days works out to about 3 strong cups of coffee or 3 to 4 diet sodas. I find I don't need as much (meaning I'll have less than 147mg/day) when I'm sleeping approximately 7+ hours per night and I'm eating very clean, wholesome foods.
On occassion, I will find that I have days where my total approaches 600mg's or more. For my body, that's the upper limit I can handle and still feel OK but I can't do it day after day. Once I reach the 800mg - 1,200mg level in a single day, that's when I begin to feel terrible. Around 5pm - 7pm I'm absolutely wiped out and feel nauseous - again, I don't recommend it!
With so many 'energy' drinks out on the market now with anywhere from 150mg - 300mg per can(!) it's easy to overdo it. If you decide to give caffeine a shot to help boost your motivation to workout, start out very slow. Assess how your body reacts and over time find a level that suits your body best. There is a whole market of excellent nutritional supplements out there that are driven by their caffeine content. We'll begin to explore these more in the future as our workouts move along and see how we can benefit from them.
For now;
- Work on gaining that mental control needed to say "I CAN do this!"
- Nourish your body with proper nutrition prior to your workout to make them easier
- Determine if caffeine is right for you and if proper dosing can help you get your workout going
Keep it up - you CAN do this! Sphere: Related Content
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Meal and Food Portion Sizing
Understanding and controlling portion sizes is an absolutely key element to successfully adopting a high impact diet that gives you results. The serving sizes we've become accustomed to in America with Value Meals, 'Hearty' breakfasts and Oversized entries is staggering. Since it has truly become the norm for us, we usually don't even think twice when literally pounds of food are served.
I personally found portion control to be one of the more difficult components to get under control (I can binge-eat with the best of them!) but also found it to be one of the most important with regard to realizing meaningful results. There are many benefits to controlling portion sizes which we'll examine more closely including:
How much food do we need?
You would be amazed at, 1) how little food you actually need to get through the day, and 2) how your food choices determine the sheer volume you consume.
To get a general, baseline idea of what your body needs to function on a daily basis, check out this BMR CALCULATOR (Basal Metabolic Rate = the amount of calories/energy your body needs on a daily basis to maintain your current weight and physical proportions. This is rather subjective due to so much being reliant upon your body fat percentage.)
For example, when I run my current body statistics through this calculator, it's telling me that I need 1,770 calories per day just to function. Again, this is assuming no activity.
To take things a step further, we can drill down to see what our caloric needs are based on our activity levels with this HARRIS BENEDICT EQUATION calculator. Continuing my example, I would select the 'Moderately Active' multiplier of 1.55 to yield a daily caloric need of 2,744. This is all well and good, but let's put some perspective on these figures.
I know that I have personally consumed less than 1,770 calories per day while being very active and adhering strictly to a specific diet regime (weighing and portioning out everything while eating specific quality macronutrients). I also know that for me to eat over 2,700 calories per day, it usually means that I'm slipping in a Value Meal or some other fast food/buffet style meal (or two!) to get there. Basically, while being very strict and focused on everything I ate I found it extremely difficult to come close to 2,700 calories per day. I found that 2,200 - 2,400 was the high end and 1,600 - 1,800 to be the low end.
*** As a quick sidenote, let's assume that we're someone who's 20 pounds overweight or above an ideal bodyweight they'd like to be at. Our calculator figures are going to be skewed upward and essentially make it more difficult to trim down to the level we're striving for. Conversely, if we're somebody who's very athletic and muscular and we're 20 pounds over a 'normal' weight due to additional muscle mass, the figure will most likely be too low as it takes more quality calories to fuel muscle than it does fat. ***
Coming full circle, we need to look at the correlation between the number of calories your body actually needs to get through the day and portion sizing. Ideally we want to control our portion sizes to small, easily manageable amounts and have more of them throughout the day. There's no secret there, but the key ingredient will ultimately be the quality and type of food that make up those portions. Today we'll continue looking at the benefits of reducing the portion sizes and in a future post, we'll begin examining the types of foods we should be substituting in.
Rapid Weight Loss
Who doesn't want that when dieting? This happens when you begin making your adjustment to smaller portion sizes. Like anything else, your body adapts and gets used to consistent behaviors/activities with eating being one of them. You can probably think back to a time when a single sandwich or 6" sub filled you up. Then one day you decided 'Wow - I'm hungry! I think I'll have a 12" sandwich today...' The next day, you subtly notice that you're 'pretty hungry' again and feel like you could eat another larger meal. When you do, your body begins to adapt to the larger meal size and it begins to be the new norm. It's hard to break away from that. Just like the habits of having dessert after a meal or snacking while watching TV. As soon as you begin to break that cycle, the easier it gets, the more results you see and the better you feel.
When you do begin to reduce your portions, you will notice that you begin to feel quite hungry. Especially right after your meal and prior to your next meal. This is where you have to dig deep and have a mental battle over whether you actually need that meal/snack/extra bite/etc. It is important that you think 'Will this help me reach my goal?' If you can't truthfully answer 'Yes', then be strong and don't do it!
You'll begin to notice the rapid weight loss benefits within 48 to 72 hours of reducing your portions. This delay happens because your body is literally processing and removing the bulk waste and excess water left over from the larger meals. These biological processes take time, but before you know it your body will begin adapting to your new normal of smaller portions. It is quite normal to see weight losses in the 4 - 7 pound range depending on the individual. Again, this is realized in the first 2 to 3 days of making this change. As you body stabilizes and adapts to the smaller portions, you'll now have a much better idea of what your true baseline bodyweight is.
Eat More Often and Be Less Hungry
Due to the smaller, more frequent meals you can eat more often and have fewer stretches where you're feeling 'starved'. Everybody's schedule is different, but five meals per day should be considered the minimum when adjusting your portion sizes based on your calorie needs. It's important to make the time to fit these into your busy schedule (we'll look into tips on doing this in the weeks ahead). Looking at a daily caloric intake of 2,200, this would equate to five meals at 440 calories per meal. To give you an idea of what that looks like, a 6" Subway Oven Roasted Chicken Breast sub with veggies and no mayonaise/dressing (with a diet soda) clocks in at ~430 calories (the Subway menu actually says less but I'm figuring on ample veggies and variances in bread options). How long would that keep you full for?
If you start your day at 7am and wrap up the last of your five meals at 7pm, you'd be eating every 2.5 hours or so to reach 2,200 calories. That's quite a bit of eating throughout the day for not a whole lot of calories!
Have More Energy Throughout The Day
Eating more frequently and in smaller proportions throughout the day will allow your body to digest more effeciently, utilize the nutrients better and prevent the ups and downs that often come with eating larger meals (again, this is dependent on the type of food - smaller, sugar laden ice cream sundaes won't really help in this area!) What happens is, your body begins adapting to the fact that it's receiving nutrients more frequently and basically switches into a mode where it digests and allocates those nutrients quickly so it can be ready for the next meal. Since you'll be using more energy by being more active, your body will be working hard to ensure those nutrients are used in the best possible manner to repair, adapt and prepare you for next time. In doing all of these amazing things (without you even needing to think about it!) your body is allocating nutrient resources (carbohydrates) for consistent energy throughout the day. It feels great when you get into the habit of eating this way and realize that it's easier to get up in the morning, you don't get tired during the middle of the day and you aren't exhausted when you go to bed!
How To Start Reducing Portions
The best way to start reducing portions is to just start small. For example, going back to our Subway example, go ahead and still order that footlong sub but just eat half - bring the other half with you to eat two or three hours later. A trick I like to use at home is to use a small plate and salad fork. It's mostly psychological, but if I have less room for food on my plate and am using smaller utensils, it's easier to eat less! You've probably heard the suggestion of drinking a lot of water before a meal too. I've personally had limited success with this but will give it a shot when I'm absolutely ravenous. Try it out for yourself and see if it works for you. Another classic suggestion is to eat slower - this one's tough for me. The only way I can usually accomplish this is when I have company during a meal and we're engaged in a solid conversation.
Reducing portion sizes can be mentally tough, but keep thinking: "Will this help me get closer to my goal?"
Get started on reducing your portion sizes today - you'll love the immediate results while setting the stage for meaningful, long lasting changes in the near future! Sphere: Related Content
I personally found portion control to be one of the more difficult components to get under control (I can binge-eat with the best of them!) but also found it to be one of the most important with regard to realizing meaningful results. There are many benefits to controlling portion sizes which we'll examine more closely including:
- Rapid near term weight loss
- Ability to eat more frequently
- Less time feeling hungry
- More and better modulated energy
- Less gastrointestinal bulk
- More efficient digestion
- Better insulin regulation
How much food do we need?
You would be amazed at, 1) how little food you actually need to get through the day, and 2) how your food choices determine the sheer volume you consume.
To get a general, baseline idea of what your body needs to function on a daily basis, check out this BMR CALCULATOR (Basal Metabolic Rate = the amount of calories/energy your body needs on a daily basis to maintain your current weight and physical proportions. This is rather subjective due to so much being reliant upon your body fat percentage.)
For example, when I run my current body statistics through this calculator, it's telling me that I need 1,770 calories per day just to function. Again, this is assuming no activity.
To take things a step further, we can drill down to see what our caloric needs are based on our activity levels with this HARRIS BENEDICT EQUATION calculator. Continuing my example, I would select the 'Moderately Active' multiplier of 1.55 to yield a daily caloric need of 2,744. This is all well and good, but let's put some perspective on these figures.
I know that I have personally consumed less than 1,770 calories per day while being very active and adhering strictly to a specific diet regime (weighing and portioning out everything while eating specific quality macronutrients). I also know that for me to eat over 2,700 calories per day, it usually means that I'm slipping in a Value Meal or some other fast food/buffet style meal (or two!) to get there. Basically, while being very strict and focused on everything I ate I found it extremely difficult to come close to 2,700 calories per day. I found that 2,200 - 2,400 was the high end and 1,600 - 1,800 to be the low end.
*** As a quick sidenote, let's assume that we're someone who's 20 pounds overweight or above an ideal bodyweight they'd like to be at. Our calculator figures are going to be skewed upward and essentially make it more difficult to trim down to the level we're striving for. Conversely, if we're somebody who's very athletic and muscular and we're 20 pounds over a 'normal' weight due to additional muscle mass, the figure will most likely be too low as it takes more quality calories to fuel muscle than it does fat. ***
Coming full circle, we need to look at the correlation between the number of calories your body actually needs to get through the day and portion sizing. Ideally we want to control our portion sizes to small, easily manageable amounts and have more of them throughout the day. There's no secret there, but the key ingredient will ultimately be the quality and type of food that make up those portions. Today we'll continue looking at the benefits of reducing the portion sizes and in a future post, we'll begin examining the types of foods we should be substituting in.
Rapid Weight Loss
Who doesn't want that when dieting? This happens when you begin making your adjustment to smaller portion sizes. Like anything else, your body adapts and gets used to consistent behaviors/activities with eating being one of them. You can probably think back to a time when a single sandwich or 6" sub filled you up. Then one day you decided 'Wow - I'm hungry! I think I'll have a 12" sandwich today...' The next day, you subtly notice that you're 'pretty hungry' again and feel like you could eat another larger meal. When you do, your body begins to adapt to the larger meal size and it begins to be the new norm. It's hard to break away from that. Just like the habits of having dessert after a meal or snacking while watching TV. As soon as you begin to break that cycle, the easier it gets, the more results you see and the better you feel.
When you do begin to reduce your portions, you will notice that you begin to feel quite hungry. Especially right after your meal and prior to your next meal. This is where you have to dig deep and have a mental battle over whether you actually need that meal/snack/extra bite/etc. It is important that you think 'Will this help me reach my goal?' If you can't truthfully answer 'Yes', then be strong and don't do it!
You'll begin to notice the rapid weight loss benefits within 48 to 72 hours of reducing your portions. This delay happens because your body is literally processing and removing the bulk waste and excess water left over from the larger meals. These biological processes take time, but before you know it your body will begin adapting to your new normal of smaller portions. It is quite normal to see weight losses in the 4 - 7 pound range depending on the individual. Again, this is realized in the first 2 to 3 days of making this change. As you body stabilizes and adapts to the smaller portions, you'll now have a much better idea of what your true baseline bodyweight is.
Eat More Often and Be Less Hungry
Due to the smaller, more frequent meals you can eat more often and have fewer stretches where you're feeling 'starved'. Everybody's schedule is different, but five meals per day should be considered the minimum when adjusting your portion sizes based on your calorie needs. It's important to make the time to fit these into your busy schedule (we'll look into tips on doing this in the weeks ahead). Looking at a daily caloric intake of 2,200, this would equate to five meals at 440 calories per meal. To give you an idea of what that looks like, a 6" Subway Oven Roasted Chicken Breast sub with veggies and no mayonaise/dressing (with a diet soda) clocks in at ~430 calories (the Subway menu actually says less but I'm figuring on ample veggies and variances in bread options). How long would that keep you full for?
If you start your day at 7am and wrap up the last of your five meals at 7pm, you'd be eating every 2.5 hours or so to reach 2,200 calories. That's quite a bit of eating throughout the day for not a whole lot of calories!
Have More Energy Throughout The Day
Eating more frequently and in smaller proportions throughout the day will allow your body to digest more effeciently, utilize the nutrients better and prevent the ups and downs that often come with eating larger meals (again, this is dependent on the type of food - smaller, sugar laden ice cream sundaes won't really help in this area!) What happens is, your body begins adapting to the fact that it's receiving nutrients more frequently and basically switches into a mode where it digests and allocates those nutrients quickly so it can be ready for the next meal. Since you'll be using more energy by being more active, your body will be working hard to ensure those nutrients are used in the best possible manner to repair, adapt and prepare you for next time. In doing all of these amazing things (without you even needing to think about it!) your body is allocating nutrient resources (carbohydrates) for consistent energy throughout the day. It feels great when you get into the habit of eating this way and realize that it's easier to get up in the morning, you don't get tired during the middle of the day and you aren't exhausted when you go to bed!
How To Start Reducing Portions
The best way to start reducing portions is to just start small. For example, going back to our Subway example, go ahead and still order that footlong sub but just eat half - bring the other half with you to eat two or three hours later. A trick I like to use at home is to use a small plate and salad fork. It's mostly psychological, but if I have less room for food on my plate and am using smaller utensils, it's easier to eat less! You've probably heard the suggestion of drinking a lot of water before a meal too. I've personally had limited success with this but will give it a shot when I'm absolutely ravenous. Try it out for yourself and see if it works for you. Another classic suggestion is to eat slower - this one's tough for me. The only way I can usually accomplish this is when I have company during a meal and we're engaged in a solid conversation.
Reducing portion sizes can be mentally tough, but keep thinking: "Will this help me get closer to my goal?"
Get started on reducing your portion sizes today - you'll love the immediate results while setting the stage for meaningful, long lasting changes in the near future! Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Diet Q & A Session 1
Why Haven't You Talked About Diet Yet And What I Should Be Eating?
The term 'diet' is pretty misleading nowadays. If you're looking to get in better shape, lose weight, feel better, etc it takes far more than just changing what you eat. I don't care what the latest diet pill ads, super foods or 'weight loss guru' are trying to tell you, there isn't any one thing that's going to make a huge difference for you. It's actually many little things that add up and synergistically make a huge difference for you.
We're going to talk about nutritional needs A LOT and very soon. If you follow along, you'll end up knowing more about what you're putting into your body than you probably ever have. We'll look at macro nutrient breakdowns, caloric needs, quality of foods, portion sizing, proper energy sources, meal timing, and more.
Right now we're taking it easy. We're going to take little steps at first and implement easy changes. Before you know it, some of those little steps will be big steps away from where you started.
I Can't Even Come Close To Doing The Initial Workout You Outlined - Will I Ever Be Able To Do This?
Don't worry about it if you can't get through it all. Just do the best you can! If it takes you 10 minutes to do one set and you're beat afterwards - stop there. Just try to do a little more next time. Don't kill yourself trying to do everything all at once if you don't have it in you yet. It takes time and sometimes we have to start from the very beginning. The biggest thing to keep in mind is to not quit. Sure it may be hard but it does get easier - I promise! If you can only do a little now, then do a little consistently. We've got time. Progression and consistency is the key - even if it's just one more rep or one more minute more than the last time.
Can You Please Just Get On To The Meaningful Stuff? I'm Not Interested In All These Details!
I hear you, but as they say, 'the Devil's in the details'! Quick fixes just don't work with diet and exercise. It takes time and your body needs time to adapt, adjust, repair and improve. Plus, there are a lot of meaningful details you really need to understand so that you can continue to make the correct decisions going forward so you have lasting results. Stick around and it'll all become more clear in the days/weeks ahead. You'll know why you're doing what you're doing and the results will start to manifest themselves.
Why Have You Only Talked About Exercises And Activity So Far?
Exercising and/or greater activity is a major component to improving your health, well being, shape, fitness and body. You can't just diet pounds away and transform your body - if only it were that simple! Your body needs to go through a literal transformation so that it becomes more effecient. It will respond better to exercise and nutrition and you'll be able to do more. All while feeling fantastic. These changes take time and slow progression to take hold. Have you heard the story of Milo of Croton? He is said to have carried a newborn ox every day for years. As the ox grew, Milo grew stronger and his body adapted to the heavier weight of the growing bull. He was doing progressively more work on a minute level every day he carried the bull. While not lugging a bull around with us, this is what we're doing as well every time we add another repetition or minute or two to our exercise sessions.
As our bodies adapt to the slow progression of greater work, we'll be feeding it the necessary nutrition required to repair, grow and adapt. Our exercises and nutrition combined will ultimately yield the end results we're looking for.
You Said I 'No Gym Membership Needed' - Is That For Real?
I haven't had a gym membership in about 14 years. I have however, purchased a lot of equipment over the years and put aside a section of my basement so I can workout. I like to find and buy things cheap. Craigslist is always a great source if you don't mind used equipment. Over the years I've been able to get 100's of pounds of free weights, a nice treadmill, a stepper, an elliptical machine and a very effective wall mounted weight machine. With these pieces, I can do almost any exercise you can do in a gym. At the very most, this may have cost me the same amount I would've paid over the past 14 years in gym memberships at $9.99/month. But, it's all conveniently located just steps away.
So, no, a gym membership isn't necessarily required - especially in the beginning. If you're living situation doesn't allow for you to use progressively heavier weights and/or cardio equipment, you may have to look into local facilities. I'll tell you though, my wife and I lived in a small two bedroom apartment for years and our spare bedroom had several hundred pounds of freeweights, a bench and squat stands. We had the stepper in the corner of the living room. It wasn't everything we could've wanted or needed, but we certainly made it work. It really came down to a matter of scheduling workout times around the attached neighbors schedules so they didn't get angry if heavy weights shook the floor.
If you're got a gym membership, don't cancel it. If you've got equipment at home, great! Either way, you just need something to get started. Your motivation derived from seeing results will guide you as to what you should do next with regard to purchasing equipment or getting a gym membership.
What's Up With The Name? I Don't Get It...
Honestly, I wanted to try and find a way that I could share my knowledge in the realm of diet and exercise with many people and give them the opportunity to determine how much they wanted to know, how much they wanted to try and when they wanted to attempt it. I thought that by breaking it all down into modules and selling them a la carte would be a great idea. Only buy what you want to try and go from there. The concept didn't quite come together that way but the domain name stuck. The site may evolve over time to encompass some of the earlier concept but for now, we're diving in with all the details and throwing them right out there in the open for anybody who cares to follow along!
What's Next?
Next, we're going to go through the next couple of weeks and continue with our activity. We'll begin discussing dietary changes in greater detail and what to expect once those changes are implemented. We'll discuss how to accurately and effectively use the Body Fat Calipers and get a baseline reading. We'll talk about the importance of taking an initial photo (ugh!) so you can look back in time and see how far you've come. We'll continue to look at the timeline and changes we may begin to see.
There's lots more to come!
Stay tuned and get excited - your 'better than average you' is right around the corner! Sphere: Related Content
The term 'diet' is pretty misleading nowadays. If you're looking to get in better shape, lose weight, feel better, etc it takes far more than just changing what you eat. I don't care what the latest diet pill ads, super foods or 'weight loss guru' are trying to tell you, there isn't any one thing that's going to make a huge difference for you. It's actually many little things that add up and synergistically make a huge difference for you.
We're going to talk about nutritional needs A LOT and very soon. If you follow along, you'll end up knowing more about what you're putting into your body than you probably ever have. We'll look at macro nutrient breakdowns, caloric needs, quality of foods, portion sizing, proper energy sources, meal timing, and more.
Right now we're taking it easy. We're going to take little steps at first and implement easy changes. Before you know it, some of those little steps will be big steps away from where you started.
I Can't Even Come Close To Doing The Initial Workout You Outlined - Will I Ever Be Able To Do This?
Don't worry about it if you can't get through it all. Just do the best you can! If it takes you 10 minutes to do one set and you're beat afterwards - stop there. Just try to do a little more next time. Don't kill yourself trying to do everything all at once if you don't have it in you yet. It takes time and sometimes we have to start from the very beginning. The biggest thing to keep in mind is to not quit. Sure it may be hard but it does get easier - I promise! If you can only do a little now, then do a little consistently. We've got time. Progression and consistency is the key - even if it's just one more rep or one more minute more than the last time.
Can You Please Just Get On To The Meaningful Stuff? I'm Not Interested In All These Details!
I hear you, but as they say, 'the Devil's in the details'! Quick fixes just don't work with diet and exercise. It takes time and your body needs time to adapt, adjust, repair and improve. Plus, there are a lot of meaningful details you really need to understand so that you can continue to make the correct decisions going forward so you have lasting results. Stick around and it'll all become more clear in the days/weeks ahead. You'll know why you're doing what you're doing and the results will start to manifest themselves.
Why Have You Only Talked About Exercises And Activity So Far?
Exercising and/or greater activity is a major component to improving your health, well being, shape, fitness and body. You can't just diet pounds away and transform your body - if only it were that simple! Your body needs to go through a literal transformation so that it becomes more effecient. It will respond better to exercise and nutrition and you'll be able to do more. All while feeling fantastic. These changes take time and slow progression to take hold. Have you heard the story of Milo of Croton? He is said to have carried a newborn ox every day for years. As the ox grew, Milo grew stronger and his body adapted to the heavier weight of the growing bull. He was doing progressively more work on a minute level every day he carried the bull. While not lugging a bull around with us, this is what we're doing as well every time we add another repetition or minute or two to our exercise sessions.
As our bodies adapt to the slow progression of greater work, we'll be feeding it the necessary nutrition required to repair, grow and adapt. Our exercises and nutrition combined will ultimately yield the end results we're looking for.
You Said I 'No Gym Membership Needed' - Is That For Real?
I haven't had a gym membership in about 14 years. I have however, purchased a lot of equipment over the years and put aside a section of my basement so I can workout. I like to find and buy things cheap. Craigslist is always a great source if you don't mind used equipment. Over the years I've been able to get 100's of pounds of free weights, a nice treadmill, a stepper, an elliptical machine and a very effective wall mounted weight machine. With these pieces, I can do almost any exercise you can do in a gym. At the very most, this may have cost me the same amount I would've paid over the past 14 years in gym memberships at $9.99/month. But, it's all conveniently located just steps away.
So, no, a gym membership isn't necessarily required - especially in the beginning. If you're living situation doesn't allow for you to use progressively heavier weights and/or cardio equipment, you may have to look into local facilities. I'll tell you though, my wife and I lived in a small two bedroom apartment for years and our spare bedroom had several hundred pounds of freeweights, a bench and squat stands. We had the stepper in the corner of the living room. It wasn't everything we could've wanted or needed, but we certainly made it work. It really came down to a matter of scheduling workout times around the attached neighbors schedules so they didn't get angry if heavy weights shook the floor.
If you're got a gym membership, don't cancel it. If you've got equipment at home, great! Either way, you just need something to get started. Your motivation derived from seeing results will guide you as to what you should do next with regard to purchasing equipment or getting a gym membership.
What's Up With The Name? I Don't Get It...
Honestly, I wanted to try and find a way that I could share my knowledge in the realm of diet and exercise with many people and give them the opportunity to determine how much they wanted to know, how much they wanted to try and when they wanted to attempt it. I thought that by breaking it all down into modules and selling them a la carte would be a great idea. Only buy what you want to try and go from there. The concept didn't quite come together that way but the domain name stuck. The site may evolve over time to encompass some of the earlier concept but for now, we're diving in with all the details and throwing them right out there in the open for anybody who cares to follow along!
What's Next?
Next, we're going to go through the next couple of weeks and continue with our activity. We'll begin discussing dietary changes in greater detail and what to expect once those changes are implemented. We'll discuss how to accurately and effectively use the Body Fat Calipers and get a baseline reading. We'll talk about the importance of taking an initial photo (ugh!) so you can look back in time and see how far you've come. We'll continue to look at the timeline and changes we may begin to see.
There's lots more to come!
Stay tuned and get excited - your 'better than average you' is right around the corner! Sphere: Related Content
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Quick RECAP of First (EASY) Steps Parts 1 + 2
Here's a quick, bulleted recap of the detailed items we covered in Parts 1 + 2 of the First Steps. I would recommend printing this out and using it as a guide over the next couple of weeks.
Workout Days
Recommended days to initially start easing into additional activity:
Sunday
Wednesday
Friday
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
Exercises
Recommended exercises to begin with from PART 1:
If new to exercising or after a very long layoff use:
Bodyweight Squat
Kneeling Pushup
Door Handle Row
If experienced with exercising and/or have worked out consistently in the recent past, use:
Machine or Freeweight Squat
Standard Pushup
Pullup with underhanded (palms facing you) grip
Repetition Range
First Set
8-12 reps OR 2-3 reps less than what you think you could do in total
Second Set
8-12 reps OR until you feel like you'll really have to start pushing youself for 1 or 2 more
Third Set
As many as you can comfortably do without pushing yourself to a point where you can't do anymore. This should feel very similar to your second set but will have fewer reps due to your muscles beginning to tire.
Additional Considerations
Water Intake
Stay sufficiently hydrated. You may find you drink a lot more during your workout - you may not. Don't drink calorically laden drinks like sports drinks, soda, etc. Only drink as much as you feel like you need to.
Workout Time
This is a matter of preference. I personally do best between 9pm and 11pm and have never been able to effectively workout in the morning. Pick a time that suits your body and your scheduling needs. Remember, in the beginning here we're only looking to block out 10-15 minutes.
Post Workout Meal
We didn't touch upon this in the main articles (we'll discuss this in great detail later) however, you may find that your body is craving nutrition immediately after you exercise. Milk is often an excellent choice in the beginning if you can tolerate it. Whatever you choose (if anything at this time) it should have carbohydrates and protein in it and limited fat content. Take a look at the balanced nutrition label on a gallon of milk and you'll see why it is recommended for this stage. Your body is looking to replenish the nutrients that were used to exercise as well as beginning repairing and preparing itself for the next round. It needs carbohydrates, protein and limited fat to do this.
Sleep
I'm not much of a sleeper. If I get 6hrs per night I'm really doing something. A key point to understand is that you body needs sufficient sleep to repair and prepare for your next workout. Insure that you're getting at least your normal amount of sleep each night. If you're like me and 6hrs per night is normal, don't drop below that. Six hours should be considered the minimum.
Time to get started! Sphere: Related Content
Workout Days
Recommended days to initially start easing into additional activity:
Sunday
Wednesday
Friday
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
Exercises
Recommended exercises to begin with from PART 1:
If new to exercising or after a very long layoff use:
Bodyweight Squat
Kneeling Pushup
Door Handle Row
If experienced with exercising and/or have worked out consistently in the recent past, use:
Machine or Freeweight Squat
Standard Pushup
Pullup with underhanded (palms facing you) grip
Repetition Range
First Set
8-12 reps OR 2-3 reps less than what you think you could do in total
Second Set
8-12 reps OR until you feel like you'll really have to start pushing youself for 1 or 2 more
Third Set
As many as you can comfortably do without pushing yourself to a point where you can't do anymore. This should feel very similar to your second set but will have fewer reps due to your muscles beginning to tire.
Additional Considerations
Water Intake
Stay sufficiently hydrated. You may find you drink a lot more during your workout - you may not. Don't drink calorically laden drinks like sports drinks, soda, etc. Only drink as much as you feel like you need to.
Workout Time
This is a matter of preference. I personally do best between 9pm and 11pm and have never been able to effectively workout in the morning. Pick a time that suits your body and your scheduling needs. Remember, in the beginning here we're only looking to block out 10-15 minutes.
Post Workout Meal
We didn't touch upon this in the main articles (we'll discuss this in great detail later) however, you may find that your body is craving nutrition immediately after you exercise. Milk is often an excellent choice in the beginning if you can tolerate it. Whatever you choose (if anything at this time) it should have carbohydrates and protein in it and limited fat content. Take a look at the balanced nutrition label on a gallon of milk and you'll see why it is recommended for this stage. Your body is looking to replenish the nutrients that were used to exercise as well as beginning repairing and preparing itself for the next round. It needs carbohydrates, protein and limited fat to do this.
Sleep
I'm not much of a sleeper. If I get 6hrs per night I'm really doing something. A key point to understand is that you body needs sufficient sleep to repair and prepare for your next workout. Insure that you're getting at least your normal amount of sleep each night. If you're like me and 6hrs per night is normal, don't drop below that. Six hours should be considered the minimum.
Time to get started! Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, October 17, 2009
First (EASY) Steps - No Gym Membership Needed! (PART 2)
Part 2
In Part One we covered:
1) The first steps we'll be taking
2) What these first steps consist of
In this installment we'll be covering:
3) What we should be feeling from a physical perspective
4) What state of mind or mental response we may have with respect to the changes we're making
How Will This Feel?
Please refer back to the DISCLAIMER before beginning your exercises.
A large part of how this will feel is determined by the current physical condition you're in. Obviously, someone who hasn't done any sort of physical activity for some time will feel much differently from someone who is currently actively exercising. I believe it's essential to give you a detailed idea of what you should and may feel once you begin. These are relative unknowns for many people and it's often hard to tell if what you're feeling is good, bad or otherwise.
For all participants, there should be a level of excitement born from the release of adrenaline just prior to getting started. This is an exciting time and you're taking the very first steps in a journey that will find you in fantastic shape come springtime!
The first couple of exercises will have you getting warmed up, feeling your muscles working and getting blood flowing into the area being exercised. Again, depending on your current condition, you may find that you can't even come close to doing a moderate to high number of repetitions. Don't worry much about this right now if you find you fall into this category. Only do as much as you can without overexerting yourself.
Once you start moving through the exercises you'll typically find a secondary release of adrenaline as your body acknowledges that you're calling upon it to perform some physical work above and beyond your normal activity.
The further along you get you'll notice that your heart rate has elevated (it shouldn't be pounding in your chest, but you should feel like you're pushing yourself moderately). A normally elevated heart rate from performing exercise is a fantastic thing! This is a sure sign that you're performing enough activity to gain positive results. (We'll discuss this in much further detail in the weeks/months ahead.)
As your heart rate increases, so will your breathing. You recuperation time between exercises will begin to diminish as well as your working muscles begin to tire.
While all these things are taking place, your pace may begin to slow. Again, this is OK. As the weeks progress, we'll learn how to begin using this to our advantage and gradually begin to decrease the time it takes for our bodies to recover between movements.
Finally, once you complete your routine you'll notice that you feel great. You may feel physically tired but you should find yourself mentally alert.
Oftentimes, depending on several factors, you should also feel hungry. Your body is telling you that it's acknowledging that your done with your routine and it wants to get right on to healing itself to recover and be prepared for the next time you do this!
** Always keep in mind that if at any time during a workout routine, whether in the very beginning like this or later on, if you feel severe pain and/or think that something just isn't right, stop immediately and contact your physician. You should very rarely, if ever, experience high levels of pain when exercising correctly while in a healthy condition.
What Kind of State of Mind Should I Expect?
You should feel excited if not even a little bit nervous. You should be thinking to yourself: "I'm doing this! I'm making a commitment to take better care of myself and make a positive physical change. In a short period of time it will be visibly apparent to all who see me that I'm committed to living a healthy, active lifestyle."
You may be a little nervous because the movements you'll be performing are new to you.
You may feel a little hesitation at first because you may not be sure if you're doing things right.
You may think: "This is a big commitment for me - I'm not sure if I can keep this up for months!"
As you progress from one movement to the next you'll begin to learn a lot about your body's physical condition and how your mind interprets that condition. Your mind control over your physical being is an amazingly complex and interesting thing. You will become amazed at how much control you have over your physical self and how difficult it can sometimes be to exert that control. For now, keep your mind focused on the very near term task at hand (performing a specific number of repetitions) and continue to do that until you've completed the entire routine.
Further into your routine, you may find your mind beginning to tell your body 'enough is enough'. Some may find that this is the perfect time to stop. If you're confident that you have actually done enough and/or more than enough physically, then certainly stop. If you have to think twice about it and/or feel that you can still rather comfortably perform more physical work, overcome those thoughts and press on through completion of the routine. You'll definitely be glad you did.
Once finished, you should feel fantastic mentally. You've just completed a solid physical task. You're taking your first major step to accomplishing your goal of a 'better than average you'.
Chemically, endorphins will be overrunning your body and continuing those positive feelings. You should feel alert, confident and just plain good overall. This state of mind will become easier and easier to attain over time and you'll become more accustomed to reaching it, maintaining it and craving it.
What You Should Know About Water Intake At This Stage
I find that when doing a routine like this (currently I would be doing a squatting movement with a machine or free weights, pushups and pullups for the rep ranges mentioned in ) I can consume approximately 12oz of water prior to exercising and about 20oz of water during the the time it takes me to finish. This is not how I normally drink water on any given day by any means. As we continue to progress further into the program water intake will become a higher priority and take on more importance for several reasons.
For now, if you're a heavy water drinker then certainly keep it up. If not, you may find that you drink a lot more while performing exercise. Regardless of where you fall in this realm, you want to insure that you remain adequately hydrated throughout your routine. This will be different for each individual but you will become more attuned to what you need in the coming weeks. I would say that by the end of this first two week period, you'll have a very good idea of what your needs are. Try to make a point of staying away from calorically dense drinks such as typical sports drinks while performing your exercises. If water doesn't do it for you and you find that you're very thirsty, try something like a powdered, diet green tea. I will often use these while exercising:
They're cheap, tasty, calorie free and super easy to use. Plus, there's a little kick of caffeine in there to help you get through! We'll delve into caffeine intake in great detail in the weeks ahead. I'm a HUGE fan of caffeine and have extensive experience with all manners of dosing. We'll explore the benefits and pitfalls of its usage and you can determine if it's right for you.
A Word On Dietary Changes
As mentioned in Part One, we're not going to focus on the dietary changes just yet. Some of you may be itching to make a change NOW and jump right in. For you, here are a couple of tips (we'll be exploring these in further detail in the next couple weeks):
- The biggest and best change you can begin with is reduce your portion sizes at meal time. This has a profound affect on making all other dietary changes easier.
- Remove calorically dense condiments from your foods: mayonaise, butter, creamy salad dressings, high fat cheeses, etc.
- Eat more often throughout the day. Gone are the days of only 3 meals per day! As we progress forward, six smaller meals per day will be considered the minimum. Believe me, it's not hard and you will be able to do this. You may have plenty of excuses at the moment why and how it can't be done, but we'll make it happen!
- Remove calorically laden drinks from your diet. No full sugar sodas, anything above skim for milk (no 1%, 2% or whole), fruit juices, sport drinks, etc. Beyond milk, most drinks are nothing but excess calories that are just not needed.
There are a few tips for you if you want to get a jump on things. You certainly don't have to right now but plan on gearing up to implement these changes in the coming weeks. They're easy to make and you'll soon begin to see and feel positive effects from making these changes. We'll look at all of that in greater detail soon.
That covers the First EASY Steps we'll be making. I'm excited for you to get started and can't wait to help you build upon this base and continue toward a 'better than average you'! Sphere: Related Content
In Part One we covered:
1) The first steps we'll be taking
2) What these first steps consist of
In this installment we'll be covering:
3) What we should be feeling from a physical perspective
4) What state of mind or mental response we may have with respect to the changes we're making
How Will This Feel?
Please refer back to the DISCLAIMER before beginning your exercises.
A large part of how this will feel is determined by the current physical condition you're in. Obviously, someone who hasn't done any sort of physical activity for some time will feel much differently from someone who is currently actively exercising. I believe it's essential to give you a detailed idea of what you should and may feel once you begin. These are relative unknowns for many people and it's often hard to tell if what you're feeling is good, bad or otherwise.
For all participants, there should be a level of excitement born from the release of adrenaline just prior to getting started. This is an exciting time and you're taking the very first steps in a journey that will find you in fantastic shape come springtime!
The first couple of exercises will have you getting warmed up, feeling your muscles working and getting blood flowing into the area being exercised. Again, depending on your current condition, you may find that you can't even come close to doing a moderate to high number of repetitions. Don't worry much about this right now if you find you fall into this category. Only do as much as you can without overexerting yourself.
Once you start moving through the exercises you'll typically find a secondary release of adrenaline as your body acknowledges that you're calling upon it to perform some physical work above and beyond your normal activity.
The further along you get you'll notice that your heart rate has elevated (it shouldn't be pounding in your chest, but you should feel like you're pushing yourself moderately). A normally elevated heart rate from performing exercise is a fantastic thing! This is a sure sign that you're performing enough activity to gain positive results. (We'll discuss this in much further detail in the weeks/months ahead.)
As your heart rate increases, so will your breathing. You recuperation time between exercises will begin to diminish as well as your working muscles begin to tire.
While all these things are taking place, your pace may begin to slow. Again, this is OK. As the weeks progress, we'll learn how to begin using this to our advantage and gradually begin to decrease the time it takes for our bodies to recover between movements.
Finally, once you complete your routine you'll notice that you feel great. You may feel physically tired but you should find yourself mentally alert.
Oftentimes, depending on several factors, you should also feel hungry. Your body is telling you that it's acknowledging that your done with your routine and it wants to get right on to healing itself to recover and be prepared for the next time you do this!
** Always keep in mind that if at any time during a workout routine, whether in the very beginning like this or later on, if you feel severe pain and/or think that something just isn't right, stop immediately and contact your physician. You should very rarely, if ever, experience high levels of pain when exercising correctly while in a healthy condition.
What Kind of State of Mind Should I Expect?
You should feel excited if not even a little bit nervous. You should be thinking to yourself: "I'm doing this! I'm making a commitment to take better care of myself and make a positive physical change. In a short period of time it will be visibly apparent to all who see me that I'm committed to living a healthy, active lifestyle."
You may be a little nervous because the movements you'll be performing are new to you.
You may feel a little hesitation at first because you may not be sure if you're doing things right.
You may think: "This is a big commitment for me - I'm not sure if I can keep this up for months!"
As you progress from one movement to the next you'll begin to learn a lot about your body's physical condition and how your mind interprets that condition. Your mind control over your physical being is an amazingly complex and interesting thing. You will become amazed at how much control you have over your physical self and how difficult it can sometimes be to exert that control. For now, keep your mind focused on the very near term task at hand (performing a specific number of repetitions) and continue to do that until you've completed the entire routine.
Further into your routine, you may find your mind beginning to tell your body 'enough is enough'. Some may find that this is the perfect time to stop. If you're confident that you have actually done enough and/or more than enough physically, then certainly stop. If you have to think twice about it and/or feel that you can still rather comfortably perform more physical work, overcome those thoughts and press on through completion of the routine. You'll definitely be glad you did.
Once finished, you should feel fantastic mentally. You've just completed a solid physical task. You're taking your first major step to accomplishing your goal of a 'better than average you'.
Chemically, endorphins will be overrunning your body and continuing those positive feelings. You should feel alert, confident and just plain good overall. This state of mind will become easier and easier to attain over time and you'll become more accustomed to reaching it, maintaining it and craving it.
What You Should Know About Water Intake At This Stage
I find that when doing a routine like this (currently I would be doing a squatting movement with a machine or free weights, pushups and pullups for the rep ranges mentioned in ) I can consume approximately 12oz of water prior to exercising and about 20oz of water during the the time it takes me to finish. This is not how I normally drink water on any given day by any means. As we continue to progress further into the program water intake will become a higher priority and take on more importance for several reasons.
For now, if you're a heavy water drinker then certainly keep it up. If not, you may find that you drink a lot more while performing exercise. Regardless of where you fall in this realm, you want to insure that you remain adequately hydrated throughout your routine. This will be different for each individual but you will become more attuned to what you need in the coming weeks. I would say that by the end of this first two week period, you'll have a very good idea of what your needs are. Try to make a point of staying away from calorically dense drinks such as typical sports drinks while performing your exercises. If water doesn't do it for you and you find that you're very thirsty, try something like a powdered, diet green tea. I will often use these while exercising:
They're cheap, tasty, calorie free and super easy to use. Plus, there's a little kick of caffeine in there to help you get through! We'll delve into caffeine intake in great detail in the weeks ahead. I'm a HUGE fan of caffeine and have extensive experience with all manners of dosing. We'll explore the benefits and pitfalls of its usage and you can determine if it's right for you.
A Word On Dietary Changes
As mentioned in Part One, we're not going to focus on the dietary changes just yet. Some of you may be itching to make a change NOW and jump right in. For you, here are a couple of tips (we'll be exploring these in further detail in the next couple weeks):
- The biggest and best change you can begin with is reduce your portion sizes at meal time. This has a profound affect on making all other dietary changes easier.
- Remove calorically dense condiments from your foods: mayonaise, butter, creamy salad dressings, high fat cheeses, etc.
- Eat more often throughout the day. Gone are the days of only 3 meals per day! As we progress forward, six smaller meals per day will be considered the minimum. Believe me, it's not hard and you will be able to do this. You may have plenty of excuses at the moment why and how it can't be done, but we'll make it happen!
- Remove calorically laden drinks from your diet. No full sugar sodas, anything above skim for milk (no 1%, 2% or whole), fruit juices, sport drinks, etc. Beyond milk, most drinks are nothing but excess calories that are just not needed.
There are a few tips for you if you want to get a jump on things. You certainly don't have to right now but plan on gearing up to implement these changes in the coming weeks. They're easy to make and you'll soon begin to see and feel positive effects from making these changes. We'll look at all of that in greater detail soon.
That covers the First EASY Steps we'll be making. I'm excited for you to get started and can't wait to help you build upon this base and continue toward a 'better than average you'! Sphere: Related Content
Friday, October 16, 2009
First (EASY) Steps - No Gym Membership Needed! (PART 1)
Are you ready?
It's time to take the first steps in your transformation into a 'better than average' you! Don't worry if you don't have your body fat calipers, vitamins or comfortable/quality clothing yet - hopefully they're on their way to you, but for now, we're just easing into some simple changes.
As we start getting further into our program and begin making changes to both our diets and activities, you'll notice some partially standardized items showing up in the subsequent posts. For example, we're going to look at the following:
1) The first steps we'll be taking
2) What these first steps consist of
3) What we should be feeling from a physical perspective
4) What state of mind or mental response we may have with respect to the changes we're making
** This time around, we'll be focusing on items 1 and 2 in PART 1 of this post and PART 2 will cover items 3 and 4. Futures posts on the topic won't necessarily cover as many minute details as we need to in the beginning and therefore won't need to be broken down into two segments as often.
Along the way we'll also touch on additional points the folks who want to be very aggressive with their program should be considering. We'll also consistently refer back to the 'why's' associated with our changes. Sometimes it's not always clear why we're doing some of the things we do but my goal is to bring clarity in that area every step of the way. When a change is implemented, we'll touch upon why it's made so you can have a better understanding of how this change will positively impact your outcome.
To begin with, I would like to briefly explain a term you've seen already and will see an awful lot more of in the future: A BETTER THAN AVERAGE YOU
When I use this term, I'm referring to not only a 'better you' with respect to where you are now, but a 'better you' that's better than the average folks in our society. Obesity and weight problems abound and our goal is to transcend that and transform our bodies to a point where we stand out in a crowd. You don't have to be the biggest and strongest or the thinnest and fittest by any means, however you do want to be noticed for your efforts! Lets face it - image and appearance drives so much in society today. Pick up any magazine or turn on any television show and look for your 'average' everyday folks - they're few and far between! Whether we like it or not, think it's fair or not, or agree with it, how we look has a major impact on our daily lives. The great thing is, as you begin to get in shape and transform yourself you begin to not only look better but feel better as well. It's a win-win situation.
So, when I use the term 'better than average you' I'm thinking of a you who stands out in the crowd, has a 'beach ready' body and looks like they've taken time to invest in their health and well being. Sound fair?
The First Steps
These first steps are going to be easy ones. If you've never attempted any sort of exercise before then you may experience a bit of a learning curve but I promise you'll catch on quick. If you're very experienced, this may seem remedial but remember, we're going to look at the 'why' behind it. As I'm sure you can tell, our first steps involve adding some activity to our daily routines.
There will be NO changes to diet at the moment! Feel free to continue eating exactly how you have been. We'll briefly discuss some nutritional changes you can make if you feel like it (and look at what the aggressively focused group should be considering) but for now, let's keep it simple.
Before we look at the activity/exercises we'll be doing, I want to outline the timeframe in which this step should take place. The ideal starting time for this would be Sunday October 18th - this coming Sunday. This works out perfectly to give us two complete weeks to get acclimated with these exercises. My recommendation for days to do these workouts would be as follows:
- Sunday 10/18
- Wednesday 10/21
- Friday 10/23
- Sunday 10/25
- Tuesday 10/27
- Thursday 10/29
- Saturday 10/31
This may look like a lot at the moment, but we're only anticipating 10-15 minutes per workout - maybe a little longer depending on your present condition. All told, this is less than 2 hours time over a span of 14 days.
The Exercises
We're going to look at three primary exercises to start with:
1) A leg based movement
2) A pushing movement
3) A pulling movement
These three movements will essentially impact every major muscle group in the body as well as call upon ancillary muscles to assist. The goal is to get your heart rate up a bit, get used to doing some activity or get re-acclimated to an exercise routine again. As you'll see below, all of these movements can be performed at home within very little space. No gym membership required to get started!
If you've been sedentary for some time and/or are new to any kind of exercise, I recommend the following (recommendations for more experienced folks included in bold italics in descriptions below):
Leg Movement = squat with bodyweight only
Pushing Movement = push up with knees as the pivot point
Pulling Movement = rowing style movement using a door handle (execution details to follow)
While the primary focus of this site isn't how to perform exercises properly (there is SO much information readily available on proper exercise form) we will touch upon how to complete some of these early movements and especially those that may not be typical.
Bodyweight Squat
This is a very easy movement to perform however it does take a little practice.
I like to start in a standing position with feet shoulder width apart and with my arms crossing my chest so my hands are on the front of the opposite shoulder.
The movement begins and feels like you're going to sit down in a chair without putting your hands on the chairs side rails. The movement should feel like it begins with your rear-end starting the motion.
As you 'sit' back, your elbows should naturally begin to rise (hands remain on your shoulders) as your body begins to balance itself. **If you are having trouble with balance, it is OK to put your hands out straight in front of you (palms down)**
Your back should feel very slightly arched (you do not want to round your back during this movement) and the bottom of your chin should remain basically parallel to the floor. I like to keep my eyes fixed on a stationary point at approximately head/eye level so my head and neck stay in a decent position.
Continue the sitting motion until the tops of your thighs are approximately parallel to the floor - this will feel like you are squatted down very low and will take time to develop the appropriate balance to stay comfortably in this position.
This is the bottom of the movement. Your elbows should be pointing straight in front of you and also be parallel to your thighs and the floor.
Reversing the movement and pushing up from the bottom feels as though you're driving upward from the very front of the balls of your feet. It's not quite a centered feel, but a little back from center. Again, proper balance will come in time and this will feel normal.
A key point to keep in mind while performing this exercise (and any type of squatting movement for that matter) is to insure that your knees do not travel forward beyond your toes. When this happens, the ligament that crosses over the top of your knee becomes unduly stressed and can cause injury. Repeatedly using bad form will surely cause you problems in the future. Please take your time to learn the necessary balance to perform this movement appropriately.
For those who are already experienced with exercising and/or are currently working out on a consistent basis, please substitute a Smith Machine squat for this movement. If a Smith Machine is not available to you but free weights are, plan on doing a light weight dumbbell or barbell squat.
Kneeling Pushup
Open a strong, sturdy door (preferrably one that doesn't open up to the outside!) so that you have enough room to grasp both sides of the door handle with an underhand (palms facing up) grip and can bend your legs and 'sit' back without bumping into anything.
The starting position should have you holding the door handle with both arms outstretched (but slight bent or contracted), your toes up against the bottom edge of the door and your body in a 'sitting' position.
The goal of this movement is to keep you body in a generally straight plane as you pull toward the door and release back again (under muscular control - don't just flop backwards) to the starting position.
You should be able to feel your back doing the majority of the pulling with your arms/biceps doing a much smaller amount of work.
For those who are already experienced with exercising and/or are currently working out on a consistent basis, please substitute an underhanded (palms facing you) pullup for this movement.
How Much, How Many and For How Long?
To start, we're going to base a lot of the movements on feel. That is, how much effort you feel you're putting into the movement. We're going to plan on these very first workouts for those with little experience being 10-15 minutes long. We're not trying to kill ourselves by pushing too hard or overdoing it. We're just getting the body (slowly) used to getting active again. At this stage of the game we don't necessarily have to track what we're doing, but absolutely feel free to do so. It will be fun to look back 6 months from now (in awe!) to see how far you've come!
Start with your leg/squat movement. The first set should consist of a number of repetitions in the 8 - 12 range. If that's too much right now, keep it to a number that's 2 - 3 repetitions less than you think you could do in total.
Take a brief moment to catch your breath if necessary. If you're very out of breath, take your time. If it takes longer than 15 minutes to get through this, that's OK.
Next, move on to your push up movement. The first set should consist of a number of repetitions that is 2 - 3 less than you think you can do in total. If you can do more than 20 total, keep this first set to 15 - 18. We're just working on warming up.
Catch your breath again as needed.
Next, move on to your pulling movement. Those using the Door Handle Row will not be as taxed after their set of repetitions as those doing actual pullups. When doing the Door Handle Row, stick to the 8 - 12 range for repetitions. Again, if it's too hard, back off a bit. Those doing pullups should complete 2 - 3 repetitions less than what they think they can do in total.
Catch your breath again as needed and start over with the leg/squat movement.
This time around, you want to cycle through each movement again just as we did above but doing enough repetitions so you feel like you can't do many more without pushing yourself pretty hard to do another one or two repetitions. You most likely won't hit a point where you just can't do another rep (plus, that's not the goal right now) but if you start getting to the point where you're doing 20+ repetitions, you can stop there. What you don't want to do is put yourself in a position where you're struggling with all your might to finish the final rep. Definitely stop short of that point.
After you cycle through all the movements, come back around once more and start a third set with the leg/squat movement again and do a mirror image of what you just did that second time around. You may not be able to do as many reps because you should be tiring at this point, but as long as the feel is the same you'll be accomplishing what you need to.
That's it!
This should be all wrapped up in that 10 - 15 minute time frame (or longer if you need it).
PART 2 will cover the following:
- How will I feel during all of this?
- What kind of state of mind should I expect?
- Some early dietary considerations
- A brief look at water intake Sphere: Related Content
It's time to take the first steps in your transformation into a 'better than average' you! Don't worry if you don't have your body fat calipers, vitamins or comfortable/quality clothing yet - hopefully they're on their way to you, but for now, we're just easing into some simple changes.
As we start getting further into our program and begin making changes to both our diets and activities, you'll notice some partially standardized items showing up in the subsequent posts. For example, we're going to look at the following:
1) The first steps we'll be taking
2) What these first steps consist of
3) What we should be feeling from a physical perspective
4) What state of mind or mental response we may have with respect to the changes we're making
** This time around, we'll be focusing on items 1 and 2 in PART 1 of this post and PART 2 will cover items 3 and 4. Futures posts on the topic won't necessarily cover as many minute details as we need to in the beginning and therefore won't need to be broken down into two segments as often.
Along the way we'll also touch on additional points the folks who want to be very aggressive with their program should be considering. We'll also consistently refer back to the 'why's' associated with our changes. Sometimes it's not always clear why we're doing some of the things we do but my goal is to bring clarity in that area every step of the way. When a change is implemented, we'll touch upon why it's made so you can have a better understanding of how this change will positively impact your outcome.
To begin with, I would like to briefly explain a term you've seen already and will see an awful lot more of in the future: A BETTER THAN AVERAGE YOU
When I use this term, I'm referring to not only a 'better you' with respect to where you are now, but a 'better you' that's better than the average folks in our society. Obesity and weight problems abound and our goal is to transcend that and transform our bodies to a point where we stand out in a crowd. You don't have to be the biggest and strongest or the thinnest and fittest by any means, however you do want to be noticed for your efforts! Lets face it - image and appearance drives so much in society today. Pick up any magazine or turn on any television show and look for your 'average' everyday folks - they're few and far between! Whether we like it or not, think it's fair or not, or agree with it, how we look has a major impact on our daily lives. The great thing is, as you begin to get in shape and transform yourself you begin to not only look better but feel better as well. It's a win-win situation.
So, when I use the term 'better than average you' I'm thinking of a you who stands out in the crowd, has a 'beach ready' body and looks like they've taken time to invest in their health and well being. Sound fair?
The First Steps
These first steps are going to be easy ones. If you've never attempted any sort of exercise before then you may experience a bit of a learning curve but I promise you'll catch on quick. If you're very experienced, this may seem remedial but remember, we're going to look at the 'why' behind it. As I'm sure you can tell, our first steps involve adding some activity to our daily routines.
There will be NO changes to diet at the moment! Feel free to continue eating exactly how you have been. We'll briefly discuss some nutritional changes you can make if you feel like it (and look at what the aggressively focused group should be considering) but for now, let's keep it simple.
Before we look at the activity/exercises we'll be doing, I want to outline the timeframe in which this step should take place. The ideal starting time for this would be Sunday October 18th - this coming Sunday. This works out perfectly to give us two complete weeks to get acclimated with these exercises. My recommendation for days to do these workouts would be as follows:
- Sunday 10/18
- Wednesday 10/21
- Friday 10/23
- Sunday 10/25
- Tuesday 10/27
- Thursday 10/29
- Saturday 10/31
This may look like a lot at the moment, but we're only anticipating 10-15 minutes per workout - maybe a little longer depending on your present condition. All told, this is less than 2 hours time over a span of 14 days.
The Exercises
We're going to look at three primary exercises to start with:
1) A leg based movement
2) A pushing movement
3) A pulling movement
These three movements will essentially impact every major muscle group in the body as well as call upon ancillary muscles to assist. The goal is to get your heart rate up a bit, get used to doing some activity or get re-acclimated to an exercise routine again. As you'll see below, all of these movements can be performed at home within very little space. No gym membership required to get started!
If you've been sedentary for some time and/or are new to any kind of exercise, I recommend the following (recommendations for more experienced folks included in bold italics in descriptions below):
Leg Movement = squat with bodyweight only
Pushing Movement = push up with knees as the pivot point
Pulling Movement = rowing style movement using a door handle (execution details to follow)
While the primary focus of this site isn't how to perform exercises properly (there is SO much information readily available on proper exercise form) we will touch upon how to complete some of these early movements and especially those that may not be typical.
Bodyweight Squat
This is a very easy movement to perform however it does take a little practice.
I like to start in a standing position with feet shoulder width apart and with my arms crossing my chest so my hands are on the front of the opposite shoulder.
As you 'sit' back, your elbows should naturally begin to rise (hands remain on your shoulders) as your body begins to balance itself. **If you are having trouble with balance, it is OK to put your hands out straight in front of you (palms down)**
Your back should feel very slightly arched (you do not want to round your back during this movement) and the bottom of your chin should remain basically parallel to the floor. I like to keep my eyes fixed on a stationary point at approximately head/eye level so my head and neck stay in a decent position.
Continue the sitting motion until the tops of your thighs are approximately parallel to the floor - this will feel like you are squatted down very low and will take time to develop the appropriate balance to stay comfortably in this position.
Reversing the movement and pushing up from the bottom feels as though you're driving upward from the very front of the balls of your feet. It's not quite a centered feel, but a little back from center. Again, proper balance will come in time and this will feel normal.
A key point to keep in mind while performing this exercise (and any type of squatting movement for that matter) is to insure that your knees do not travel forward beyond your toes. When this happens, the ligament that crosses over the top of your knee becomes unduly stressed and can cause injury. Repeatedly using bad form will surely cause you problems in the future. Please take your time to learn the necessary balance to perform this movement appropriately.
For those who are already experienced with exercising and/or are currently working out on a consistent basis, please substitute a Smith Machine squat for this movement. If a Smith Machine is not available to you but free weights are, plan on doing a light weight dumbbell or barbell squat.
Kneeling Pushup
A 'Kneeling' Pushup is simply a pushup where your knees are the pivot point instead of your toes as is the case with a standard pushup. Due to the shorter span and lesser amount of total bodyweight suspended above the ground, the movement is much easier.
For those who are already experienced with exercising and/or are currently working out on a consistent basis, please substitute a standard pushup for this movement.
Door Handle Row
This movement will most likely be new to you. It's not difficult to perform but it does take some concentration to perform correctly. The neat thing is that you only need a sturdy door to make it work!
The starting position should have you holding the door handle with both arms outstretched (but slight bent or contracted), your toes up against the bottom edge of the door and your body in a 'sitting' position.
You should be able to feel your back doing the majority of the pulling with your arms/biceps doing a much smaller amount of work.
For those who are already experienced with exercising and/or are currently working out on a consistent basis, please substitute an underhanded (palms facing you) pullup for this movement.
How Much, How Many and For How Long?
To start, we're going to base a lot of the movements on feel. That is, how much effort you feel you're putting into the movement. We're going to plan on these very first workouts for those with little experience being 10-15 minutes long. We're not trying to kill ourselves by pushing too hard or overdoing it. We're just getting the body (slowly) used to getting active again. At this stage of the game we don't necessarily have to track what we're doing, but absolutely feel free to do so. It will be fun to look back 6 months from now (in awe!) to see how far you've come!
Start with your leg/squat movement. The first set should consist of a number of repetitions in the 8 - 12 range. If that's too much right now, keep it to a number that's 2 - 3 repetitions less than you think you could do in total.
Take a brief moment to catch your breath if necessary. If you're very out of breath, take your time. If it takes longer than 15 minutes to get through this, that's OK.
Next, move on to your push up movement. The first set should consist of a number of repetitions that is 2 - 3 less than you think you can do in total. If you can do more than 20 total, keep this first set to 15 - 18. We're just working on warming up.
Catch your breath again as needed.
Next, move on to your pulling movement. Those using the Door Handle Row will not be as taxed after their set of repetitions as those doing actual pullups. When doing the Door Handle Row, stick to the 8 - 12 range for repetitions. Again, if it's too hard, back off a bit. Those doing pullups should complete 2 - 3 repetitions less than what they think they can do in total.
Catch your breath again as needed and start over with the leg/squat movement.
This time around, you want to cycle through each movement again just as we did above but doing enough repetitions so you feel like you can't do many more without pushing yourself pretty hard to do another one or two repetitions. You most likely won't hit a point where you just can't do another rep (plus, that's not the goal right now) but if you start getting to the point where you're doing 20+ repetitions, you can stop there. What you don't want to do is put yourself in a position where you're struggling with all your might to finish the final rep. Definitely stop short of that point.
After you cycle through all the movements, come back around once more and start a third set with the leg/squat movement again and do a mirror image of what you just did that second time around. You may not be able to do as many reps because you should be tiring at this point, but as long as the feel is the same you'll be accomplishing what you need to.
That's it!
This should be all wrapped up in that 10 - 15 minute time frame (or longer if you need it).
PART 2 will cover the following:
- How will I feel during all of this?
- What kind of state of mind should I expect?
- Some early dietary considerations
- A brief look at water intake Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Must Have Items Before You Begin Your Transformation
Now that you have a general idea of what your goal is for your personal transformation, it's time to focus on the essential items that I believe are required to effectively reach your goal. You can certainly give it a shot without these, but do you really want to take a chance that your results could suffer?
IT'S TIME TO INVEST IN YOU!
Think about that for a second. Think about all the other things in life you spend money on - your car, your home, your wardrobe, etc. When making these purchases you can certainly say 'I'm spending money on myself.' But, are you investing in yourself? Cars wear out, people move, your clothes wear out, go out of style or no longer fit. The one thing you keep with you on your entire earthly journey is your body. I shouldn't have to tell you that it's worth every penny you invest into it! It's time to get selfish and lavish yourself with the accoutrements that will help you make the most of the physical and dietary investments on your way to a 'better than average you'!
Body Fat Calipers
Don't even bother starting without these. Believe me, I know how frightening this little tool can be. The first time you take a pinch (or more!) of fat and take a measurement, you know the truth is only moments away! The scale is misleading and the mirror is subjective, but the calipers don't lie. Accuracy is largely dependent on the user, but you'll become a pro in no time. Make it easy on yourself and get these digital calipers. They're cheap, easy to use and effective. You only need to take three measurements to get an accurate reading and it stores your progress for you. We'll cover how to use these consistently to insure accuracy in a future post. For now, click below and buy these right away so you can get a baseline reading as soon as possible.
Shaker Bottle
You may already have a water bottle that you use or perhaps you just pick up the plastic water bottles from the store, use once and throw out. Either way, they're not quite going to offer you the same benefits a quality shaker bottle will. You will want to have at least three of these on hand so you always have a clean one at the ready. These are perfect for keeping hydrated with water, mixing up protein drinks and energy drinks and convenient enough for carrying around wherever you go. These bottles really do the trick - I haven't had to fire up a blender in years! Order a couple today and get your arsenal started!
Workout Log
You need to know what you've done to know what you need to do. Please don't skip on this simple item. If nothing else, keep a pad of paper handy where you can cosistently write down what you're doing during your workouts. Keep in mind, this is specifically for exercises only - no nutritional tracking here. I'm a firm believer that diet and exercise are two distinct subjects and should be tracked seperately. Think about it - you're not going to track exercises in the kitchen any more than you're going to track meals in the gym! This particular log is a high quality, detailed tracker with a rugged cover that can stand up to the abuse it should see. Get one today and familiarize yourself with the pages. We'll discuss later what to track, how to track it and when to track it.
Quality Pens
I know this sounds stupid, and I'm sure you've got dozens of pens kicking around your home, but please hear me out on this one. You don't really think about having a good quality pen in hand to track your progress while exercising. Once you start getting further along in your program and are getting serious with your workouts, you'll soon discover that writing while breathing heavy, sweating, shaking and moving from one exercise to the next can be a challenge. The last thing you want to be distracted with is a lousy pencil (PLEASE don't use a pencil!) or pen that's not functioning properly. It's important that you can, 1) refer back to legible notes, and 2) get that info into your log in a timely manner. Do yourself a favor and pick these up.
MP3 Player
I've only done a handful of workouts without one in the past few years and hated every second of cardio I've ever done without one. If you don't have an MP3 player you'll need one! I've tried many, from the top of the line to the bottom and found one to be a very affordable, lightweight, easy to use and quality product. The 4GB Sansa Clip by Sandisk is fantastic! It's got the clip built right into it so you can clip it on basically any part of your clothing. No need for a cumbersome and annoying armband. It's so lightweight that you often forget it's even on you. It holds a ton of songs and is as easy to use as pretty much all the other players out there. I highly recommend loading this thing up with a couple of playlists packed full of an hour or so worth of your favorite 2 - 5 minute songs. It will do wonders to make your workouts fly by! I also recommend upgrading the headphones to a high quality in-ear unit, but that's not essential so I'll cover it elsewhere. If you're currently using a popular MP3 player that may be a bit bulky and/or require an arm band, do yourself a big favor and pick up a Clip. They're cheap enough so you won't feel guilty about having more than one player!
Quality Multi Vitamin
So many people miss this easy and essential element. Sure, a lot of folks will run out and pick up any old store brand multi vitamin that costs a couple bucks for several months supply, but in this case, you truly do get what you pay for. Don't cut corners in this area. There are several important reasons why: 1) many peoples standard diets nowadays consist of highly refined foods which are very much devoid of essential vitamins and minerals, 2) as you become more active and ask more of you body (i.e.: cleanse, heal and repair) you must insure that you are supplying yourself with adequate vitamins and minerals, and, 3) as we progress further along and really tighten up the diet, you are very likely to get inadequate amounts of vitamins and minerals due the restrictive nature of our eating plan. A high quality multi vitamin will provide you with all that you need without having to eat a massive variety of foods and thousands of calories. I am a HUGE proponent of GNC vitamins. I have tried many different brands and found GNC's natural, plant based vitamins to be the easiest on the stomach and the only one that actually allows me to feel that it's doing something for me. I personally take the Ultra Mega Gold but have also included the Mega Men and Ultra Mega Women varieties if you feel your individual circumstances would benefit from the additional nutrients provided by those.
Comfortable Apparel
Things have come a long way since the days when an old T-shirt and pair of shorts was standard workout attire! They're definitely still in the mix of what to wear, but do yourself a favor and pick up some comfortable, high quality pieces. I reommend pants, a top and shoes (the T-shirt and shorts can hide under these for the time being!). Under Armour has a truly fantastic line of extremely lightweight and comfortable fleece products. Not only is the fit excellent, but they help moderate your temperature for all but the warmest days. This time of year (and into the winter) is when you need these most. I personally wear the fleece pants and then the fleece top over a T-shirt (usually no shorts this time of year but that's weather dependent). They keep your warm while you're warming up and allow you to stay comfortable until you're really pushing yourself - a truly high performance piece of clothing. They're so lightweight that when it's time for them to come off, you can easily just carry it around with you or tie it to your waist. You WILL NOT be disappointed with these. Plus, they're stylish enough where you'll start finding yourself wearing them around the house as well as out and about when you need to run some errands! Here are the men's and women's versions of the fleece tops and bottoms:
Comfortable Shoes
Quality, comfortable shoes are so important in all aspects of our lives. An uncomfortable pair of shoes can ruin a day of work, a day of fun or any activity you're trying to do for a period of time. I will often wear different pairs of shoes for the specific workout I'm doing. For example, I like very flat soled shoes if I'm doing squats or more supportive, basketball-type shoes if I'm doing more explosive movements. There's one shoe I will often wear for either type of workout and those are my Asics running shoes. I've never been a runner or had a specific need for this type of shoe, but after doing some research years ago and finding a good deal online, I decided to buy them. I was amazed at how well they fit (order your normal size as these run true), how light they were and how comfortable they are. These are by far the most comfortable shoes I own! They're the standard shoe for my cardio workouts, perfect for my standard weight workouts and sufficient for doing heavy squats (again, my preference is for a very flat soled shoe when doing this movement). I specifically recommend these shoes due to the fact that they're so versatile, comfortable, sized perfectly so they can easily be ordered online and durable. I've had mine for at least 5 or 6 years now. These shoes both rank within the top 50 of all shoes sold through Amazon.com. Mens and womens varieties included below:
You obviously don't have to use any of these items to start your personal transformation however, they will certainly make the whole process that much more easier and comfortable. I would absolutely caution you to not pass up on the very first item - Body Fat Calipers. These are utterly essential to insure you're on track and making progress. Don't let the scale, mirror or your mind fool you into thinking that everything's on track when it isn't!
All of these items are permanently tagged to the right side of this site. The 'Diet For A Dollar Recommends' Store will be continually updated throughout our transformation to help guide you to products that work and help make the journey easier. Any purchases made through the 'Diet For A Dollar Recommends' Store help support the site and our transformation project.
Next up: Easing into it all. Time to take some baby steps and make some changes.
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IT'S TIME TO INVEST IN YOU!
Think about that for a second. Think about all the other things in life you spend money on - your car, your home, your wardrobe, etc. When making these purchases you can certainly say 'I'm spending money on myself.' But, are you investing in yourself? Cars wear out, people move, your clothes wear out, go out of style or no longer fit. The one thing you keep with you on your entire earthly journey is your body. I shouldn't have to tell you that it's worth every penny you invest into it! It's time to get selfish and lavish yourself with the accoutrements that will help you make the most of the physical and dietary investments on your way to a 'better than average you'!
Body Fat Calipers
Don't even bother starting without these. Believe me, I know how frightening this little tool can be. The first time you take a pinch (or more!) of fat and take a measurement, you know the truth is only moments away! The scale is misleading and the mirror is subjective, but the calipers don't lie. Accuracy is largely dependent on the user, but you'll become a pro in no time. Make it easy on yourself and get these digital calipers. They're cheap, easy to use and effective. You only need to take three measurements to get an accurate reading and it stores your progress for you. We'll cover how to use these consistently to insure accuracy in a future post. For now, click below and buy these right away so you can get a baseline reading as soon as possible.
Shaker Bottle
You may already have a water bottle that you use or perhaps you just pick up the plastic water bottles from the store, use once and throw out. Either way, they're not quite going to offer you the same benefits a quality shaker bottle will. You will want to have at least three of these on hand so you always have a clean one at the ready. These are perfect for keeping hydrated with water, mixing up protein drinks and energy drinks and convenient enough for carrying around wherever you go. These bottles really do the trick - I haven't had to fire up a blender in years! Order a couple today and get your arsenal started!
Workout Log
You need to know what you've done to know what you need to do. Please don't skip on this simple item. If nothing else, keep a pad of paper handy where you can cosistently write down what you're doing during your workouts. Keep in mind, this is specifically for exercises only - no nutritional tracking here. I'm a firm believer that diet and exercise are two distinct subjects and should be tracked seperately. Think about it - you're not going to track exercises in the kitchen any more than you're going to track meals in the gym! This particular log is a high quality, detailed tracker with a rugged cover that can stand up to the abuse it should see. Get one today and familiarize yourself with the pages. We'll discuss later what to track, how to track it and when to track it.
Quality Pens
I know this sounds stupid, and I'm sure you've got dozens of pens kicking around your home, but please hear me out on this one. You don't really think about having a good quality pen in hand to track your progress while exercising. Once you start getting further along in your program and are getting serious with your workouts, you'll soon discover that writing while breathing heavy, sweating, shaking and moving from one exercise to the next can be a challenge. The last thing you want to be distracted with is a lousy pencil (PLEASE don't use a pencil!) or pen that's not functioning properly. It's important that you can, 1) refer back to legible notes, and 2) get that info into your log in a timely manner. Do yourself a favor and pick these up.
MP3 Player
I've only done a handful of workouts without one in the past few years and hated every second of cardio I've ever done without one. If you don't have an MP3 player you'll need one! I've tried many, from the top of the line to the bottom and found one to be a very affordable, lightweight, easy to use and quality product. The 4GB Sansa Clip by Sandisk is fantastic! It's got the clip built right into it so you can clip it on basically any part of your clothing. No need for a cumbersome and annoying armband. It's so lightweight that you often forget it's even on you. It holds a ton of songs and is as easy to use as pretty much all the other players out there. I highly recommend loading this thing up with a couple of playlists packed full of an hour or so worth of your favorite 2 - 5 minute songs. It will do wonders to make your workouts fly by! I also recommend upgrading the headphones to a high quality in-ear unit, but that's not essential so I'll cover it elsewhere. If you're currently using a popular MP3 player that may be a bit bulky and/or require an arm band, do yourself a big favor and pick up a Clip. They're cheap enough so you won't feel guilty about having more than one player!
Quality Multi Vitamin
So many people miss this easy and essential element. Sure, a lot of folks will run out and pick up any old store brand multi vitamin that costs a couple bucks for several months supply, but in this case, you truly do get what you pay for. Don't cut corners in this area. There are several important reasons why: 1) many peoples standard diets nowadays consist of highly refined foods which are very much devoid of essential vitamins and minerals, 2) as you become more active and ask more of you body (i.e.: cleanse, heal and repair) you must insure that you are supplying yourself with adequate vitamins and minerals, and, 3) as we progress further along and really tighten up the diet, you are very likely to get inadequate amounts of vitamins and minerals due the restrictive nature of our eating plan. A high quality multi vitamin will provide you with all that you need without having to eat a massive variety of foods and thousands of calories. I am a HUGE proponent of GNC vitamins. I have tried many different brands and found GNC's natural, plant based vitamins to be the easiest on the stomach and the only one that actually allows me to feel that it's doing something for me. I personally take the Ultra Mega Gold but have also included the Mega Men and Ultra Mega Women varieties if you feel your individual circumstances would benefit from the additional nutrients provided by those.
Comfortable Apparel
Things have come a long way since the days when an old T-shirt and pair of shorts was standard workout attire! They're definitely still in the mix of what to wear, but do yourself a favor and pick up some comfortable, high quality pieces. I reommend pants, a top and shoes (the T-shirt and shorts can hide under these for the time being!). Under Armour has a truly fantastic line of extremely lightweight and comfortable fleece products. Not only is the fit excellent, but they help moderate your temperature for all but the warmest days. This time of year (and into the winter) is when you need these most. I personally wear the fleece pants and then the fleece top over a T-shirt (usually no shorts this time of year but that's weather dependent). They keep your warm while you're warming up and allow you to stay comfortable until you're really pushing yourself - a truly high performance piece of clothing. They're so lightweight that when it's time for them to come off, you can easily just carry it around with you or tie it to your waist. You WILL NOT be disappointed with these. Plus, they're stylish enough where you'll start finding yourself wearing them around the house as well as out and about when you need to run some errands! Here are the men's and women's versions of the fleece tops and bottoms:
Comfortable Shoes
Quality, comfortable shoes are so important in all aspects of our lives. An uncomfortable pair of shoes can ruin a day of work, a day of fun or any activity you're trying to do for a period of time. I will often wear different pairs of shoes for the specific workout I'm doing. For example, I like very flat soled shoes if I'm doing squats or more supportive, basketball-type shoes if I'm doing more explosive movements. There's one shoe I will often wear for either type of workout and those are my Asics running shoes. I've never been a runner or had a specific need for this type of shoe, but after doing some research years ago and finding a good deal online, I decided to buy them. I was amazed at how well they fit (order your normal size as these run true), how light they were and how comfortable they are. These are by far the most comfortable shoes I own! They're the standard shoe for my cardio workouts, perfect for my standard weight workouts and sufficient for doing heavy squats (again, my preference is for a very flat soled shoe when doing this movement). I specifically recommend these shoes due to the fact that they're so versatile, comfortable, sized perfectly so they can easily be ordered online and durable. I've had mine for at least 5 or 6 years now. These shoes both rank within the top 50 of all shoes sold through Amazon.com. Mens and womens varieties included below:
You obviously don't have to use any of these items to start your personal transformation however, they will certainly make the whole process that much more easier and comfortable. I would absolutely caution you to not pass up on the very first item - Body Fat Calipers. These are utterly essential to insure you're on track and making progress. Don't let the scale, mirror or your mind fool you into thinking that everything's on track when it isn't!
All of these items are permanently tagged to the right side of this site. The 'Diet For A Dollar Recommends' Store will be continually updated throughout our transformation to help guide you to products that work and help make the journey easier. Any purchases made through the 'Diet For A Dollar Recommends' Store help support the site and our transformation project.
Next up: Easing into it all. Time to take some baby steps and make some changes.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
General Timeline - Results We Can Expect Over A Specific Period of Time
Let's take a look at the results we can expect to see and feel in the coming weeks and months. First and foremost, we'll set the baseline expectation that we're going to be in 'better than average' shape before summer 2010. If you feel you may need more time to get there, we'll cover some realistic expectations with how much weight can be lost over certain periods of time - safely. (You'll be amazed at how much can be lost!) Also, we'll determine what our individual goals are for this period of time. Just a general idea at the moment that will continue to come more and more into focus in the near term.
Our general, top level goal is to get in 'better than average' shape before summer 2010. What does that mean for you? Where are you starting from? This starting point will determine how quickly you'll need to start tightening the reigns and to what extent you'll need to ramp up activity. Ideally, we're looking at easing into any changes we make because they'll be so much easier to stick to and return far more lasting results. Depending on how agressive you want or need to be, here are some general guidelines for expectations:
Very aggressive (experienced with diet and exercise) = 60lbs - 70lbs lost in 6 months time
Very aggressive w/out experience = 40lbs - 50lbs lost in 6 months time
Committed to reaching your goal = ~30lbs lost in 6 months time
Half heartedly following along = 10lbs - 15lbs lost in 6 months time
Paying attention and making minor changes = 5lbs - 10lbs lost in 6 months time
Not paying attention at all = well, you can take a guess at this one!
Again, these are general guidelines to show what is possible and will differ from individual to individual. There are documented cases of people absolutely stripping fat weight off in extremely short periods of time. I think it's incredible that our bodies are capable of doing this however, part of our goal is to keep good health as part of the equation. For some people, 60lbs - 70lbs in 6 months may seem absolutely out of reach at this point and I completely understand that. It is possible and if you hang in there you'll surely amaze yourself!
With the above figures in mind, and knowing your specific starting point, think of where you'd like to look like come May 1st, 2010. Depending on where you live, that still gives a solid 60 days or so before the warm summer days begin to settle in which can be used for additional refining if needed.
- Would you like to lose as much weight as possible and become more healthy?
- Are you already pretty fit and would like to time things so you can be lean and dialed in for summer?
- Do you want to put on a few (or more) muscular pounds and reduce your bodyfat by summer?
- Are you brand new to the game and would like to get started in diet and exercise and see what you can accomplish by next summer?
- Would you like to have a fitness model or bodybuilder type physique in that time?
Think hard about where you want to be because that end goal, whether it's a permanent, final goal or not, will be a reference point for you along the way. A very important reference point at that. The reason why is because you can get there. It's simply a matter of following the appropriate directions between now and then to reach that end goal.
Matts Goal:
I want to become more lean than I was the last time I dieted down but at a weight approximately 5lbs to 10lbs heavier than I was.
What's your goal?
Once you know where you want to end up, we'll start looking at taking the first steps to getting there. Those first steps will be slow, but depending on your goal, may accelerate faster for you than for others.
We'll start initially by getting used to doing more activity than we're doing now. Easy stuff - nothing that will have us feel like we're killing ourselves. No diet changes at the outset.
Once we start getting used to the additional activity and making time to do it, we'll begin exploring the necessary dietary changes we'll need to make to increase the rate that we'll see results from our activity.
At this point you're probably thinking 'But Matt, what about Halloween? Thanksgiving? Christmas? Other Holidays we may celebrate? These are all great excuses for body gorging feasts!'
DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!
We've got plenty of time. Going absolutely crazy one or two days out of thirty or so days of sensible eating won't be that bad. Plus, by the time we get to that point you'll have learned some very important lessons about diet and nutrition which I'm sure you'll have in the back of your mind as you step up to the smorgasboard. You may decide to reign in your eating, you may not. If not, you'll have a better understanding of why you feel the way you do after the meal. You'll also see and feel how your body reacts to this kind of eating after tightening up your diet. It really is amazing once you have a better understanding and can literally feel what's going on!
While we're meandering through the Holidays with various levels of discipline, we'll be planning our transition into getting serious. What better time to buckle down than after the New Year! So many people make their resolutions to 'get in shape' but fall short because they're not adequately prepared to do so. We'll have laid the groundwork for months prior to then so we'll be well prepared to make serious and lasting changes.
During the after New Year time frame, we'll further build off the knowledge we've gained of our bodies prior to the end of the year and have a solid understanding of what's needed, how much is needed and when it's needed so we can accomplish our individual goals.
We'll have specific plans to stick to which are basically simple directions to follow. The amount you deviate from those directions will begin to have meaningful effects on your end results. By that point though, I'm sure you'll be completely committed to reaching your goal. Plus, it seriously gets easier as your fitness improves. You'll begin to see changes more rapidly and have a tremendous understanding of what it will take to reach your goal.
In the next post, we'll take a look at some essential items needed to begin this journey. Stay tuned, get excited and know that the new 'better than average' you will be unveiled early next summer! Sphere: Related Content
Our general, top level goal is to get in 'better than average' shape before summer 2010. What does that mean for you? Where are you starting from? This starting point will determine how quickly you'll need to start tightening the reigns and to what extent you'll need to ramp up activity. Ideally, we're looking at easing into any changes we make because they'll be so much easier to stick to and return far more lasting results. Depending on how agressive you want or need to be, here are some general guidelines for expectations:
Very aggressive (experienced with diet and exercise) = 60lbs - 70lbs lost in 6 months time
Very aggressive w/out experience = 40lbs - 50lbs lost in 6 months time
Committed to reaching your goal = ~30lbs lost in 6 months time
Half heartedly following along = 10lbs - 15lbs lost in 6 months time
Paying attention and making minor changes = 5lbs - 10lbs lost in 6 months time
Not paying attention at all = well, you can take a guess at this one!
Again, these are general guidelines to show what is possible and will differ from individual to individual. There are documented cases of people absolutely stripping fat weight off in extremely short periods of time. I think it's incredible that our bodies are capable of doing this however, part of our goal is to keep good health as part of the equation. For some people, 60lbs - 70lbs in 6 months may seem absolutely out of reach at this point and I completely understand that. It is possible and if you hang in there you'll surely amaze yourself!
With the above figures in mind, and knowing your specific starting point, think of where you'd like to look like come May 1st, 2010. Depending on where you live, that still gives a solid 60 days or so before the warm summer days begin to settle in which can be used for additional refining if needed.
- Would you like to lose as much weight as possible and become more healthy?
- Are you already pretty fit and would like to time things so you can be lean and dialed in for summer?
- Do you want to put on a few (or more) muscular pounds and reduce your bodyfat by summer?
- Are you brand new to the game and would like to get started in diet and exercise and see what you can accomplish by next summer?
- Would you like to have a fitness model or bodybuilder type physique in that time?
Think hard about where you want to be because that end goal, whether it's a permanent, final goal or not, will be a reference point for you along the way. A very important reference point at that. The reason why is because you can get there. It's simply a matter of following the appropriate directions between now and then to reach that end goal.
Matts Goal:
I want to become more lean than I was the last time I dieted down but at a weight approximately 5lbs to 10lbs heavier than I was.
What's your goal?
Once you know where you want to end up, we'll start looking at taking the first steps to getting there. Those first steps will be slow, but depending on your goal, may accelerate faster for you than for others.
We'll start initially by getting used to doing more activity than we're doing now. Easy stuff - nothing that will have us feel like we're killing ourselves. No diet changes at the outset.
Once we start getting used to the additional activity and making time to do it, we'll begin exploring the necessary dietary changes we'll need to make to increase the rate that we'll see results from our activity.
At this point you're probably thinking 'But Matt, what about Halloween? Thanksgiving? Christmas? Other Holidays we may celebrate? These are all great excuses for body gorging feasts!'
DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!
We've got plenty of time. Going absolutely crazy one or two days out of thirty or so days of sensible eating won't be that bad. Plus, by the time we get to that point you'll have learned some very important lessons about diet and nutrition which I'm sure you'll have in the back of your mind as you step up to the smorgasboard. You may decide to reign in your eating, you may not. If not, you'll have a better understanding of why you feel the way you do after the meal. You'll also see and feel how your body reacts to this kind of eating after tightening up your diet. It really is amazing once you have a better understanding and can literally feel what's going on!
While we're meandering through the Holidays with various levels of discipline, we'll be planning our transition into getting serious. What better time to buckle down than after the New Year! So many people make their resolutions to 'get in shape' but fall short because they're not adequately prepared to do so. We'll have laid the groundwork for months prior to then so we'll be well prepared to make serious and lasting changes.
During the after New Year time frame, we'll further build off the knowledge we've gained of our bodies prior to the end of the year and have a solid understanding of what's needed, how much is needed and when it's needed so we can accomplish our individual goals.
We'll have specific plans to stick to which are basically simple directions to follow. The amount you deviate from those directions will begin to have meaningful effects on your end results. By that point though, I'm sure you'll be completely committed to reaching your goal. Plus, it seriously gets easier as your fitness improves. You'll begin to see changes more rapidly and have a tremendous understanding of what it will take to reach your goal.
In the next post, we'll take a look at some essential items needed to begin this journey. Stay tuned, get excited and know that the new 'better than average' you will be unveiled early next summer! Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Diet For A Dollar Exercise and Nutrition Disclaimer
Before we begin in earnest, I have to cover some of the basics with respect to legal disclaimers and individual responsibility. I want to insure that everybody who chooses to participate in better health and nutrition does so within their individual abilities and can enjoy the many benefits afforded by this lifestyle change. It's important to be prudent in your actions and know your limitations.
So, before starting any diet and/or exercise program:
Consult your physician and/or health care practitioner to ensure that it's appropriate for you to follow such a program. Any instruction offered or provided in this blog must be followed carefully.
The author(s) of Diet For A Dollar are not qualified medical doctors, or health specialists. Some of the approaches described and opinions presented do not concur with prevailing, mainstream medical opinion.
The exercises, dietary suggestions and other advice regarding health issues described are not suitable for everyone. In certain situations, they could cause you to injure yourself.
If you believe any of the practices might cause you to injure yourself, stop immediately
You should not try to diagnose yourself, or begin any exercise routine, dietary program or attempt to treat yourself without consulting a qualified medical practitioner.
The author(s) do not provide any guarantees that the approaches outlined will work, or that you will produce a particular outcome or benefits for yourself.
Regarding any recommendations for dietary supplements or other items/products: the statements appearing on this website have not been evaluated by the FDA. The programs and products described herein are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult your physician or health care professional before starting this or any other health and wellness program. If you are under the age of 18, pregnant, lactating, are allergic, have any other medical condition, please consult a physician before use.
Finally, the author(s) accept no liability for any loss or injury arising from the adoption of any of the practices described in this blog.
Thank you for your understanding - now let's get started! Sphere: Related Content
So, before starting any diet and/or exercise program:
Consult your physician and/or health care practitioner to ensure that it's appropriate for you to follow such a program. Any instruction offered or provided in this blog must be followed carefully.
The author(s) of Diet For A Dollar are not qualified medical doctors, or health specialists. Some of the approaches described and opinions presented do not concur with prevailing, mainstream medical opinion.
The exercises, dietary suggestions and other advice regarding health issues described are not suitable for everyone. In certain situations, they could cause you to injure yourself.
If you believe any of the practices might cause you to injure yourself, stop immediately
You should not try to diagnose yourself, or begin any exercise routine, dietary program or attempt to treat yourself without consulting a qualified medical practitioner.
The author(s) do not provide any guarantees that the approaches outlined will work, or that you will produce a particular outcome or benefits for yourself.
Regarding any recommendations for dietary supplements or other items/products: the statements appearing on this website have not been evaluated by the FDA. The programs and products described herein are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult your physician or health care professional before starting this or any other health and wellness program. If you are under the age of 18, pregnant, lactating, are allergic, have any other medical condition, please consult a physician before use.
Finally, the author(s) accept no liability for any loss or injury arising from the adoption of any of the practices described in this blog.
Thank you for your understanding - now let's get started! Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Welcome to Diet For A Dollar!
Thank you for stopping by and checking out Diet For A Dollar. I know exactly why you're here and I'm excited to start passing along the knowledge I've gained over the past decade and a half in the realm of diet and exercise.
What can you expect from Diet For A Dollar?
If you follow this space regularly, you will learn a LOT about diet and exercise. More importantly, you'll learn the practical application of proper nutrition, exercise performance, supplementation (if you'd like to try some of the products out there), sleep, and dozens of other pertinent aspects of overall health and well being.
Not only will you learn more about these areas, but you'll learn how they affect you. By that, I don't mean that you'll learn 'eating clean foods benefits you' or other simple statements like that, but truly how proper nutrition and exercise feels to you - what you can expect. The good feelings, the bad feelings, the pain, soreness, strength and weakness. All of it. I believe it is vitaly important that you're prepared to know how you may feel and react to the various things we'll be doing. If you're prepared and have a good idea of what to expect, it will be so much easier!
You can expect a slow pace. We're not going to jump right in cold turkey and start doing an olympic style regimen. We're not going to make drastic changes to what we're doing in our lives. It's all about balance and slowly regulating that balance to a point where you're happy with the results. This will be different for everyone, but whatever your goals are, you'll have the opportunity to follow along and reach them. From just feeling better every day and having a little more energy to getting into fantastic shape and work towards getting on a magazine cover. Wherever you are now is nothing but a starting point. Wherever you want to end up is a goal - whether or not it's a final goal will be up to you when you hit it. We'll cover every inch of the way in between right here on Diet For A Dollar.
You can expect details. In depth, thorough details on most everything we cover. More specifically, practical details that will matter to you. Again, I believe it's essential that you know what's in store so you can prepare. No matter how easy or difficult it may be, it's just so much easier when you have at least some kind of expectation. You will find that I will tend to stay away from the minute details surrounding individual nutrients, precise steps to all exercise movements, etc. This information is so widely available that I'm assuming you will have a good idea about these things. If not, don't be afraid to contact me along the way and put in a request for more in depth coverage. I love talking about diet and exercise and will be more than happy to put together an exhaustive piece on the topics you request.
You can expect results. If you follow along and follow the advice provided in a manner that suits your particular body, you will see positive results. And the beautiful thing is, results beget results. Once you begin to feel and see a difference you will want more! It becomes contagious and makes the entire process easier. You'll want results faster and your focus will become even more pointed. Before you know it, you will be an expert on what foods, exercises, supplements, etc work best with your body and how you react to them. You will have total control over your body's physical direction - it's awesome!
Please take a moment to subscribe to the feed so you can receive updates as they're posted. My intention is to not post multiple times per day or even every day for that matter, so don't worry about having your email congested with topic after topic. Consistency is key and my goal is to consistently provide pertinent updates and progressive information that will continue to build upon the previous posts and information published.
If you feel that you will or are benefiting from the information provided herein, I encourage you to donate to this site. It is absolutely not mandatory but at the same time, absolutely appreciated!
Thank you for stopping by and I look forward to helping you achieve your current goals as they relate to diet and exercise and those goals you haven't even thought of yet but will once you see your incredible progress! Sphere: Related Content
What can you expect from Diet For A Dollar?
If you follow this space regularly, you will learn a LOT about diet and exercise. More importantly, you'll learn the practical application of proper nutrition, exercise performance, supplementation (if you'd like to try some of the products out there), sleep, and dozens of other pertinent aspects of overall health and well being.
Not only will you learn more about these areas, but you'll learn how they affect you. By that, I don't mean that you'll learn 'eating clean foods benefits you' or other simple statements like that, but truly how proper nutrition and exercise feels to you - what you can expect. The good feelings, the bad feelings, the pain, soreness, strength and weakness. All of it. I believe it is vitaly important that you're prepared to know how you may feel and react to the various things we'll be doing. If you're prepared and have a good idea of what to expect, it will be so much easier!
You can expect a slow pace. We're not going to jump right in cold turkey and start doing an olympic style regimen. We're not going to make drastic changes to what we're doing in our lives. It's all about balance and slowly regulating that balance to a point where you're happy with the results. This will be different for everyone, but whatever your goals are, you'll have the opportunity to follow along and reach them. From just feeling better every day and having a little more energy to getting into fantastic shape and work towards getting on a magazine cover. Wherever you are now is nothing but a starting point. Wherever you want to end up is a goal - whether or not it's a final goal will be up to you when you hit it. We'll cover every inch of the way in between right here on Diet For A Dollar.
You can expect details. In depth, thorough details on most everything we cover. More specifically, practical details that will matter to you. Again, I believe it's essential that you know what's in store so you can prepare. No matter how easy or difficult it may be, it's just so much easier when you have at least some kind of expectation. You will find that I will tend to stay away from the minute details surrounding individual nutrients, precise steps to all exercise movements, etc. This information is so widely available that I'm assuming you will have a good idea about these things. If not, don't be afraid to contact me along the way and put in a request for more in depth coverage. I love talking about diet and exercise and will be more than happy to put together an exhaustive piece on the topics you request.
You can expect results. If you follow along and follow the advice provided in a manner that suits your particular body, you will see positive results. And the beautiful thing is, results beget results. Once you begin to feel and see a difference you will want more! It becomes contagious and makes the entire process easier. You'll want results faster and your focus will become even more pointed. Before you know it, you will be an expert on what foods, exercises, supplements, etc work best with your body and how you react to them. You will have total control over your body's physical direction - it's awesome!
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Thank you for stopping by and I look forward to helping you achieve your current goals as they relate to diet and exercise and those goals you haven't even thought of yet but will once you see your incredible progress! Sphere: Related Content
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