This post is short and sweet. I’m still training for my Triathlon in August. It is fun. Lessons I have learned so far:

1. Rigid training schedules do not mix with full-time work schedules, work at home dad duties, wet and cold spring weather. I just can not bring myself to swim, bike, or run on the exact days the rigid training schedules require. I’m going to require a more flexible training schedule pronto. The rigid schedules make it difficult to plan a life. While I search for a more flexible schedule, I continue to workout, but I just don’t do it on the exact days the schedule requires. Here’s my average workouts for the past couple of months:
   • two 40 to 60 minute swim sessions a week, (Wed & Sat)
   • one 60 to 75 minute bike ride a week, (Thursday but not always)
   • two 35 to 60 minute runs a week. (Tuesday and Friday, but not always. It depends on the biking days.)
   • two to three 20 minute circuit strength training a week. (Mon, Wed, Fri?)
2. Exercise alone will not generate weight loss, but it might change your body structure. I’ve been exercising regularly now since Groundhog day. Since the beginning of the year, I have lost 10 pounds. When many of my fellow weight loss bloggers are losing 2 to 3 pounds a week, I’m totally not losing that much. However, I have noticed my belt needs to be tighter than normal, my shirts feel a little bigger, and my pants are starting to fall down without a belt. I think my body is gaining muscle. Yet, why am I not losing weight? My eating habits have not changed. I still eat food I know is not good for me such as fast food hamburgers, french fries, ice creams, chocolate candies, and all sorts of other no-no’s on any diet. I guess I’m just happy I’m not gaining weight.
3. The more I exercise, the better I feel about exercise. When I first start running, swimming, biking, or weight lifting, I think of all the other things I could be doing with that time. I think do I really need to be doing this exercise. I think isn’t there another way to get physically fit? Then, after I go for a little while I settle in and exercise is tolerable rather than unbearable. Then when I’m finished, I feel good. Still, there are often times, I complain about my muscles being sore. I whine to my wife asking her if running ever actually feels good, because now I don’t feel it. Give me a mountain or a trail to hike, and I go for hours, but running not so much (yet).
4. I salivate over gear. There are so many triathlon, running, swimming, and biking gear that I could spend all sorts of money. I try to resist the urges. I don’t want to be that guy with the billion dollar golf clubs shooting 130 on the golf course. So, I resist the urge to buy new gear for now as I try to identify if I’m into triathlons for the long haul.

So, as you can see with all my exercise, combined with my busy technology consulting and training business and my fatherly duties, blogging and side projects take a back seat. I’ll keep posting when I can, and I’ll make some progress on a new design for Simpleweight sooner or later, but my physical fitness comes first these days. Its my priority action.

What have you learned from your habit of exercise and diet?

A short post for tonight.  Tomorrow is opening day of baseball.  If you read this early enough, you can catch the WFMT 98.7 in Chicago (or steaming live over the internet).  WFMT is a classical music station in Chicago.  I never much was a classical music listener.  I do have eclectic listening tastes.  I’m an avid Jazz listener, Flamenco, all sorts of Pop, Rock, even Hip-Hop, Country, Blues, and R & B.  I’ve played a bunch of classical music in symphonic and concert bands, but I never was much a listener.  That changed when I moved to Chicago.  I stumbled across 98.7 WFMT while commuting, and it offered a reprieve from the traffic.

Now, every year I make sure to listen to WFMT on Baseball’s opening day.  They play all sorts of baseball themed classical music and stories.  Its so fun.  I know this is not fitness related, but listening to WFMT makes me smile.  I love when they play James Earl Jones narration of Casey’s at the Bat.  Smile.

Smiling is important!

It is late, and I have some early work to do tomorrow.  So,  I’ll save the rest of the post for later this week.

In the meantime, tune in Monday 6:00 AM – 9:00 AM CST, listen in to WFMT to hear some baseball classical music.  I sure hope they do not change the schedule on me, and don’t play it.

2010, a year of action for me. I could also call this year, a year of reflection. I’ve been very thoughtful about what I want. What’s my legacy? How am I doing raising my kids? What are my passions? What do I offer as a fitness blogger, technologist? Where do I go? What do I do?

Today, has brought that even closer. A co-worker of my wife died unexpectedly today. She was young in my book, 33. She leaves behind her husband and a two year old son. Life is short.

I often live thinking I have plenty of time. I say to everyone that long lifespans run strong in my family. I have good genes, and I am taking steps fitness and nutrition wise to help get the most of my good genes. This thinking of plenty of time to go often means I waste time. I know I shouldn’t, but I do.

Now, I did not know the lady who died. I may have met her once, but I really don’t know if I could pick her out. I’m sure there is more to this story that I do not know. My own human selfishness and ego makes me think of myself and my family. How blessed I am and grateful to be given such great gifts. I have two wonderful kids, a wonderful wife, family, and friends. We often take each other for granted. We take ourselves for granted. I implore you. Don’t!

So, your fitness, your nutrition, your weight. Does it really matter?

We can go two ways:

1) We can say to ourselves: I’m going to die soon anyway, I must as well live it up, eat what I want, like pizza, ice cream, cookies, cake, french fries, etc. Do the actions I want like waste time on the internet or watching TV.

-or-

2) We can say to ourselves: I’m going to die soon anyway, I should take care of my body to extend my usefulness. Extend my legacy. Extend the help I can give to others. Cherish the minutes we have together. Treat your body as a cherished gift that is borrowed and must be returned to the Maker.

Does it really matter?

In science, I have found if you are between two hypothesis. Often times, the combination of the two is the answer.

So. I should live it up. Eat what I want. Do the actions I want. Yet, how can I do the actions I want if I stuff myself with unhealthy food? How can I live it up, if I eat so much that I won’t even be able to walk around with my kids or ride bikes to the park, or do any number of things that people would classify as live it up.

How do we live it up? We must build our own self-discipline to live in moderation. Sure, you can eat cake, you can have ice cream, pizza, french fries. You just have to do it in moderation. We can’t eat that way for every meal. In fact, eating like that every meal makes all those treats less of treats.

Back to Why does it matter? This past month, I have gained two pounds, and my trend has started to creep up despite my increased exercise efforts. I know my diet and nutrition must change.

Add to that my constant inward look at myself and recent events.

I ask myself:

Does it really matter?

At fitbloggin, Roni gave the speakers some nice silver boxes with this quote from Winston Churchill

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

Let’s give another example:  there is this theory in Personal Finance, that the more you give away, the more you get back in return. So, if you give 10% of your income, you will receive that money back more than you will ever think.

The same can be said for our own self-discipline and weight loss. By cutting back on what we get (eating), and increasing what we give (our actions and exercise), we will improve our individual lives ten-fold both physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Does it really matter?

It only matters if we think it does. We decide. Its a decision. Its our life. We can do and think what we want. That’s part of what makes us Human.

I’m saying a prayer tonight for the 2 year old boy without his birth mother and the husband without his mate. Raising children with two parents is difficult enough much less losing one’s partner.

Some links that recently reinforced my current reflective thoughts:

Watching this talk from Ben Dunlap on a passionate life

Derek Sivers writing that a real person is behind that computer.

Sean Wilson losing weight and breaking a weight milestone.
[Sean keep it up!  You'll make your goal sooner than later! Thanks for the inspiration.]

Mac talking about Beating Exhaustion.
[Mac you Rock too!  You have achieved more than what many people talk about doing.  Listen and Live.  You'll keep going.]

Does it really matter?

Sometimes we need to stop, listen, and enjoy.

Maybe we achieve goals, and we’re elated. Other times, we feel exhausted.

Life is a roller coaster. The higher the highs, the lower the lows. Without the lows, there would be no highs.

Live your life! Be passionate! Find something anything to motivate you!

No matter how difficult it is for you to lose weight, gain weight, exercise, or achieve whatever fitness goal you have. Remember. Its your choice. Your life is a gift. Cherish it. Move!

Does it really matter? You must decide!

I don’t know where time flies.  I still call myself a young’un, but I’m sure many of you in the blogosphere would not call me that.  In fact, on some levels, I know that I’m not terribly young anymore, but I also don’t feel old either.  I love birthdays though.  Growing up, my family always made everyone feel special on birthdays.  I am happy to say my wife and children have carried that tradition on.  Between little surprise gifts, sweet hugs and kisses from my kids, or just plain time to relax, Birthdays have not really been full of anxiety, they’ve been full of joy.

Well, I don’t really get a big gift for my birthday every year.  However, with my triathlon training, I decided it would be very difficult to complete a triathlon without a bicycle.  So, I am now a proud owner of a Trek 7.3 Bicycle.

What Steps did I use in order to buy a bicycle?

1. Determine how much money you want to spend?  This is more a personal financial decision.  What can you afford in your budget. Don’t forget all the accessories (bike helmet, bike lock, water bottle cages, water bottle, bike rack, new components)
2. Determine what type of bicycle riding will you actually be doing.  Road Riding?  Off-Roading?  A little of both?  Be honest.
3. Research the bikes online. Don’t forget you can buy a used bike. I did not choose this route as I’m not really the best mechanic in the world, and bicycle maintenance is not something I want to learn at this time.  So, I wanted a new bike to give me the best possible smoothest beginning.
4. Visit some bicycle shops to survey the landscape.
5. Take some test rides. How smooth is the ride?  Do the gears shift easily?  Will it hold up for the types of rides you’ll be doing?  Its difficult to tell when you’re a newbie when you’re just riding it around the bicycle shop parking lot.  Try to ride it in the way you will.
6. Make a decision. Sometimes, you just have to make a decision.  Decide what’s good enough and go with it.  Don’t look back, and don’t second guess.

Since, I am a tri “newbie”, and I wasn’t sure if training for triathlons was going to be a passing fancy or a new hobby.  I wanted to find a bike that I could use in multiple ways, and that was between $500 – $1000 including all the accessories (bike helmet, bike lock, bike rack, etc…)

Here’s what I plan on doing:

• a Swift, light racing bike that can withstand the training and speed necessary for an Olympic distance triathlon
• a Commuter that I could use to ride the 2 miles I have to go to some of my consulting gigs in the local industrial park.
• a Trail Bike.  I want to be able to ride on gravel, wood chip, and grassy trails in the areas forest preserves and state parks.
• a Bike to ride with the kids.

Now, I really wanted a mountain bike, but I realized that the knobby tires and the heft a mountain bike is not conducive to the type of biking I will do.  I like the idea of doing off-road trail rides and light jumping, but until Mr. C and Miss M, my kids, get old enough.  I just don’t think I’ll be doing that type of riding.

As many of you will do, when you make a purchase, I did some research.

• Read online Reviews
• Read triathlon training books to see suggestions
• Asked Twitter friends
• Asked the Trek Twitter and the Cannondale Bikes
• Asked friends

There’s just so many choices of bicycles.  I’ve been thinking about buying a used bike for a while now.  In fact, I’ve had my heart set on a Cannondale bike for a long time.  For some reason though, the Trek just felt better.  It seemed right.  I like that both companies are American, but I was a little disappointed when I found out that the bike was made in China.  Nothing against China, I just think the U.S. could be doing some more manufacturing at home.  Regardless, I’m super excited.  I took a ride on the bike immediately when I picked it up.  I rode about 6 kilometers.  Wow, I was surprised how, literally, my butt was sore.  I might need to invest in a new bike saddle.  Although, the bike store told me that I might just get used to it.  We’ll see.  I have a long way to go before I do 40 km bike rides combined with 1.5 km swims and 10 km runs.

Check-in

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been doing a very good job at building my habit of exercise.  I have lost about 10 pounds.  However, for the past month, my weight has stayed constant since my initial weight loss.  I’m not surprised as I have not really concentrated on my diet at all. I also went on vacation and had tons and tons of work to do.  I’ve been totally focused at getting into a workout routine. I wanted to cement the exercise habit before I began working on the nutritional habit.  I think I have a pretty good ingrained desire to exercise now.  Although, I definitely would call it a tenuous weak habit that will need greater and greater reinforcement. My next task will be adjusting my diet for peak performance and weight loss. I know what I need to do, but I just need to build the mental toughness necessary to achieve my goals.

In addition to my personal diet challenge, My next thought I have is what training plan should I use in order to prepare for my Olympic distance Triathlon on August 29.  I have to build enough endurance to swim, bike, and run.  How do you do that?  I have felt often that I’m over-training, but my Certified Trainer wife says that I have probably not gotten close to that yet.  Questions I still have:

• How do I know what training is too much?
• How important is rest in cardio workouts?
• What workouts do I need to do in order to build enough endurance to not only complete a triathlon, but feel good afterwards?
• What training plan can I do? Does it have to be so complicated with this type of swim this and this type of run here, and this type of bike here?  or can it be more simple like swim this many minutes.
• What habits can I create in order to destroy my over-eating habits?
• How can I make swimming in cold water with hundreds of others comfortable?
• How can I bicycle on busy streets and still be safe?

A word from my sponsor

Anyone want to sponsor a triathlete this year?  If so, please contact me.  :)

Otherwise, let me know what we can do help you achieve your fitness goals.

The first one I’ll detail is the gruve.

If you are not familiar, gruve is a little device that you wear on your hip very similar to a pedometer. There’s some differences though. As I understand it, the gruve takes measurements of movement 1200 times a second. Using those measurements combined with your biometric data, the gruve calculates your caloric burn for that activity and determines whether you are sedentary or not. Its a very cool device.

Now, if the gruve identifies that you are sedentary for 50 minutes, the gruve then buzzes and buzzes and buzzes until you get up and move. This is great for me, as a computer consultant, I often sit at my desk for long periods of time, and the gruve helps remind me that I need to get up and move. Gruve was created with the help of the NEAT group from the mayo clinic. The NEAT group is the one behind the idea that today’s desk workers need to be up and moving. They’re the first ones I heard do studies on the the treadmill desk.

The goal behind gruve is to get to green.

As you can see in my chart above, You start out at red,  you progress into orange, then to yellow, then to blue, and then to green (oops, I have to get up and move to get to green.)

Its pretty fun way to keep track of your progress.  My wife and I were both happy to receive free gruves at fitbloggin from the gruvesolution team. We now have a little competition going on who can get to green first.  Although, I just don’t exercise in the morning as much as she does.  So, she’s going to beat me more often than not.

The gruve is not water proof nor does it do a very good job when you isolate muscle groups like you do with weight lifting.  So, when I swim or do my weight workouts, the gruve doesn’t track that activity.

I’ve been debating about buying the body bugg, the fitbit, the Philips DirectLife, or the gruve.  The only unit I have tested is the gruve, and I can say I’d recommend it.  I’d love to test the body bugg, because I think it uses more measurements beyond just movement like skin temperature and other items. I wonder how accurate they all are.

A little disclaimer time,  Yes, gruve gave me the device for free.  No gruve is not paying me for this review and there was no pitch to write.  I am writing of my own accord, because I think the idea is cool.  Now, if I could only find a device that would automatically measure the calories I consume without an intervention by me.  I’m also interesting in testing out the withings wi-fi scale.  Can you tell I love gadgets?

For a limited time, you can gruve with me.  When you buy the Gruve at www.muve.me, enter the promotional code BlogNGruve to get $70’s off.

You might want to look at the gruve guide too for research.

I asked the gruve team if there is Programming Interface (API) that I could tie simpleweight weight management tracking site into, but the team at fitbloggin was not sure.  I’m still researching that capability.

Exercise is good, but I really must concentrate efforts on reducing my calories in if I want to lose weight.  My weight’s been stable for a few weeks now even with my increased activity level.  I’m sure the hamburger and fries I ate today for lunch combined with my ice cream desert does not help.

what can I do to help you with your weight management?

For my talk, I was going over the basics of Search Engine Optimization and Section 508 Web Accessibility.  I talk and present in front of people all the time, but for some reason, I was super nervous for this talk. I went so far as practicing bits and pieces of my presentation which I very rarely do.  I think it went well. Time went super fast.  There was so much more I wanted to include.  Like optimizing your anchor text.  Also, I want to emphasize that all need to be careful about the technical details.  I think SEO is something you can and should do on your own.  But, you can really screw up your blog too.  Its a delicate balance. Sometimes, it just nicer to have an expert do the work for you.

I could talk SEO and Blogging for a whole day or longer I think.  I wanted to demonstrate other blogging software other than Wordpress.  However, my tumblr, posterous, and blogger accounts wouldn’t log in very easily with the conference internet.  The internet was pretty good, but when you have a conference full of bloggers writing and tweeting away one can almost always expect inconsistencies with the internet.

I posted my SEO Fitbloggin slides at my octāvity Technology Consulting Business blog.

I thoroughly enjoyed walking around Baltimore’s Harbor and Fells Point.  Very pretty area.

I ran my first 5k this weekend on Saturday averaging about 5 mph. Then I let my wife talk me into running again on Sunday. We ran about 4 miles at about 6 mph.

Right now, my legs are super stiff. I’ve got a little bit of a ways to go before I get ready for my International Distance Triathlon in Chicago. Cool News is I get to begin Bicycle shopping. The weather in Chicago is starting to get warm enough to bike. I am so wiped out and exhausted from the super fun weekend. I don’t even feel like posting my usual requisite picture. I’ll post more later about all the fitbloggin swag that I’m so excited to try out.

As always, if there is anything I can do to help you with your weight management journey, please let me know.

Panera Bread has announced that it will post calorie information on all Company-owned Panera Bread and Saint Louis Bread Co.® bakery-cafe menu boards by April 2010. The bakery-cafe concept expects franchise-operated locations to follow suit and have calories posted on menu panels by the end of 2010. This would make Panera Bread the first national concept to voluntarily post calorie information on menu boards across the country.

This is good news. You know I am a big fan of menu labeling.

Panera says they’ve noticed their customers have changed their purchase patterns as a result of their new informative menus.

“As we’ve been introducing our new menu boards across the country, customers have responded very favorably,” Scott Davis, Panera’s Chief Concept Officer said. “We’ve seen them gravitating towards options that allow them to customize their meals such as our You Pick Two® where they can pair smaller portions of our soups, salads or sandwiches to create a meal with fewer calories.”

“This whole initiative prompted us to take an even closer look at our menu offerings,” Davis said. “The result was we improved the nutritional content and ingredients in several of our menu items. We view it as a ‘win-win’ for both our customers and Panera.”

I think this type of responsibility and activity is only going to increase. If I were a restaurant, I’d be working on labeling my menu right now to stay ahead of the nutritional curve.

What can we do today?

Ask your favorite restaurant to add calorie information to their menus!

If you are a small to medium sized restaurant owner who’s determining ways to implement nutritional information for their constantly changing menus, contact us for some possible solutions.

Yes, yes I did, and yes I will.

In my quest to make 2010, my year of action.  I am taking action.  I’m stopping talking about things, and I am doing.  I have not swam or biked competitively ever.  The last time I ran in a track meet was bout 18 years ago (give or take a few years).  Even when I did run, I ran mid-distance sprints.  I did not run cross country.  So, Can you guess what I did?

Congratulations! You are now registered for Chicago Triathlon, Kids Triathlon and Fleet Feet Sports SuperSprint Triathlon. Please check the event’s official website for updates: http://www.chicagotriathlon.com

Okay, I haven’t actually completed a triathlon.  However, Yes, I did sign-up, and yes I will finish.  You can cheer me on in Chicago Sunday, August 29, 2010 @ 6:00 AM local time.

I’ll be doing my best triathlete impersonation.  When I finish, I won’t be impersonating anybody.  I will be a triathlete.  I’ve been talking about it for a few years now.  I like biking.  I like swimming, and I tolerate running when I have to get away from danger.

I know, I know. If you are a reader, you may be thinking that I am violating my own advice: Do not tell me your goal, and you will succeed. However, I don’t feel I have accomplished anything yet. I know I have work to do. Signing up is just one step along the way.

I have been taking steps along the way.

How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.

• I’ve been reading triathlon books at the bookstore (haven’t bought one yet, if you have a recommendation, let me know).
• I’ve been reading about improving my swimming form and better breathing techniques.
• I’ve been swimming once a week for the past few weeks.
• I’ve been doing some interval short runs/walk combinations to build up my running stamina.
• I’ve been doing some heart rate walking as well as some elliptical workouts regularly.
• I’ve been doing muscle focused weights every morning 6 days a week.

This is just the beginning. I’ve got 4 to 6 hours of running, biking, swimming, and weight workouts a week for thirty weeks.

So, as all the pro athletes state, focus on the next day, the next possession, the next move while thinking and planning multiple moves in advance. I focus on my next workout. I focus on my form during the weight workout. I focus on the posture while running, and the breathing while swimming. Build a strong foundation, and build up from there.

Step 1:  Do your research.  Done!

Step 2:  Do a feasibility study.  Done!

Step 3:  Register.  Done!

Next: Step 4:  Build a training and fitness workout plan.

Next: Step 5: Execute the workout plan

What’s the funny thing about my registering for a triathlon?

I don’t own a bike. I do own running shoes.  I own a swimsuit and googles, but not a wetsuit.

How do you train for a triathlon without a bike?  

Guess, I know what I want for my birthday. A Triathlon Hybrid Bike and a Swimming Wet Suit. As Lucy says in her letter to Santa, just send tens and twenties.

If you have any international distance training plans for newbies with 20 to 30 weeks, let me know.

More goals ahead. In the next few weeks, I am overloaded with work for my main job at my technology boutique consulting business.  So, my simpleweight posts will be a little farther in between.  Rest assured, I am making exercise a priority in 2010.

What’s your priority in 2010?  As always, let me know how I can help you.

In my day job, besides being a father, husband, fitness entrepreneur, I’m a technology trainer and consultant.

As a consultant, it is often my responsibility to make recommendations and tell people what to do. (As a side note, I’m working a technology post that describes some of my recent consultations. I’ll link to it when its done.) Talking and telling people what to do is much easier than actually doing it.  For example, Do you want to cross the Grand Canyon, jump.  See, that wasn’t so difficult to tell you, but boy, you better be able to fly more than Michael Jordan ever did in order to leap the Canyon.  Actions are not so easy.

If you’ve been reading my January 2010 posts, you know that 2010 is my year of Action!  I want you to take action to meet your goals be it fitness, be it financial, be it personal, be it business, etc…  In order to do that, you must do something.

Now, Today, is Groundhog’s Day, and as such, Right now, I feel like Bill Murray’s character in the movie. I’ve been here done this before.  (Insert wooshing sound to take us back in the way back machine)

If we want to create good exercise and food habits, we have to be boring at first. We have to create rituals. We have to be consistent everyday.
–Scott circa Simpleweight 2009.

If you have not read it, I encourage you to take a moment and read  Pick and Commit Time to Exercise, 10 minutes a day. Ground Hog Day 2009 Fitness Resolutions.

Now, let’s flashback to 2010. As I look back I seem to see some similarities.  In fact, I’m in the same boat as I was last year. I want to get more lean.  I want to exercise more, and I want to lose some excess weight. I also have some other goals which we’ll talk about in the future.

So, What derailed me in the past and how can I overcome that in 2010?

For starters, in 2010, I had an accident where I hurt my left index finger pretty bad near Valentine’s day 2009 that really threw off my plans. All is okay now for the most part now, although, I still have some weird feelings every now and then when I try to open a bottle left-handed. That’s really just an excuse albeit, I’d contend a pretty good one.

The main reason for lack of 2009 Action, is I did not make exercise a priority.  It just wasn’t for me.  The consultant in me is great at giving valuable advice just as a shoe cobbler is great at fixing shoes. Yet, in the classic parable,  the shoe cobbler’s children go barefoot. The consultant sometimes has difficulty taking his own advice much less anybody else’s advice. Since 2010 is my year of action, I’ve begun to re-read my own blog posts, and I’ve begun to focus on the minutiae of habit forming fitness activities. Eat less and Exercise more.

If you look at my January 2010 calendar below, I’ve exercised.  Why?  Now, My day gets planned around exercise even if it means I’m exercising at 11:00 PM on the treadmill in the house.  At the very least, I’m doing something.  I have decided I have to, and I have decided I want to.  It’s time I’ve acted and created this big positive habit.

The thing is, exercise is not a habit yet. Even though, I’ve gone about 4 weeks of consistent exercise.

My actions have shown that I’ve done a very focused 10 minute weight workout in the morning Monday – Saturday.  Then, three to four days a week, I have done a 40 minute to 60 minute cardio workout.  I usually set the treadmill to keep my heart rate in my target fat burning zone.  The treadmill then adjusts the incline and speed to maintain that heart rate. I know that this habit is not engrained.  Its going to take me time to build the stamina and the endurance for this to become a natural daily aspect of my life.  Yet, I also know, I must schedule my day around my exercise rather than schedule my exercise around my day.

As I was talking with my wife last night, (the run 5-6 days a week type of person), she told me that in order to make exercise a strong habit, I really need to maintain a consistent exercise plan for 12 weeks or longer. I’m almost four weeks down, and I have some work to do. I believe forming the habit of exercise is fundamental in building the strength needed to improve my eating habits.

It all takes consistent, ritual, habitual action.

What actions are you taking to make healthy fitness as ritualistic as Ground Hog Day?

Let’s look at my past eating habits as an example. I have kept a food journal on and off for the past 10 years. I’m not as fanatic about tracking my food as I am about weighing myself everyday. It shows in my waistline. I’m not what you would call obese person at all. I don’t even think I’m fat which just may be my positive thinking kicking in. At the same time, I’m not lean or ripped at all either. Why is that? Why has it been that I have tracked my weight for 10 years, and I am not lean or ripped.

Two reasons: Exercise and Eating.

1) In the past, I have not made exercise a priority. I did it when I had time. Now, if you are like me, who has time for exercise? Exercise has not really been fun for me. In the past, I have rationalized my exercise as something I have to do rather than something I want to do. I am working on changing that rational right now. So, my Food Out has not been steady. Even when I do add 30 minutes to 60 minutes of exercise a day. I’m really only adding 300 to 500 calories to my normal expenditure.

2) Eating. I love food. Seriously, I love to eat out. I love to taste food. I love the sensation, the feeling of being full is not a bad thing for me. The excitement and the social aspect of eating is super fun. When you are going to meet a friend you haven’t seen in a while, what do you do? do you go hiking? Do you say, let’s go for a bike ride? Or, maybe we should go build snowmen outside? No, you usually say lets meet for lunch or for drinks. Then you have a wonderful leisurely lunch full of fantastic conversation which makes the meal even more enjoyable. Mmm… food. Now, while tracking my food, I have realized that I can eat roughly 2200 to 2600 calories and pretty much maintain my weight. However, I often eat more like 3000 to 3600 calories. So. Obviously, I’m going to gain weight.

So, Why is it difficult for you or me to lose weight?

If you are like the typical person who eats more than they should, then not only do you have to cut your eating habits to get down to your maintaining metabolism burn. You have to cut your eating habits below it. So, for me. If I eat 3600 calories on norm (I don’t anymore, but still happens every now and again), I have to stop eating 1000 calories just to get to 2600 calories I mentioned that I would not gain weight. Now, I want to lose weight, I have to cut that even further. So, I basically have to go from 3600 calories to 1800 calories. Wow, I’m cutting my typical diet in half. That’s a thought process that I’m just not mentally prepared for. I often thought I could do some other way. I could overcome it by exercising, or I just didn’t really think about it at all.

This wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t enjoy food so much, but as I said I love food. Its not like I eat terrible. I generally eat whole grains. I eat mostly poultry. I do love my fast-food mexican, and I will eat unhealthy at regional fast food joints. Yet, I don’t know when the last time I went to McDonalod’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, or Wendy’s. I do know the last time I had a Coca Cola was in 1999. I drink maybe two cans of pop (sprite, 7up, or Root Beer) a year. I have cut most frutcose corn syrup from my diet. I eat whole grains, brown rice, mufa, and all the other super foods you can find. I could use more vegetables and fish in my diet, but I do make sure I eat a vegetable at every dinner and almost every lunch. So, how can I eat 3600 calories? My empty calories come from too many servings and not managing my cravings.

So, for me to lose weight, I have to cut my Eating Habits. I’ve been regretting that a ton. I know it has to happen, and I’ve tried to do it with some success. In fact, knowing that cutting my food intake will have a big impact in my waistline, I have tried many times to only cut down my quantity of eating. I do lose weight that way. However, I begin to notice that I also start to feel sluggish. I start to crave more sugar to jump start my brain. I start to want more, and when I do get a special dinner, I just gorge myself (I love thanksgiving dinners). I don’t last that long, and I eventually gain most of the weight back.

So, I have also tried just exercising to lose weight. That did work as long as I was conscious enough not to increase my eating habits. It was slow going. Yet, I found that as I increased my exercising, I became hungrier. We all will. We are burning more calories, so your body says to itself that its time to get more calories. Its easy to give into.

As you can see, my tracking my eating and exercise patterns helps me to identify my trends, to learn from my own habits, and allows me to experiment to find the best possible way to maintain my own healthy body.

What do we do? If we exercise, we eat more, if we cut our calories, we crave sugar. We have to do both of them together. However, changing long ingrained habits at the same time is a sure fire way to not change any habits at all.

Knowing that changing your food consumption would have the greatest impact on your weight loss, I used to always recommend to myself and to others to start with the changing your eating habits first. After much self-experimentation combined with researching the subject, I have decided that changing my eating habits first is not the best way to go. Building the exercise habit must come first. You must build the necessary pscychological muscles to generate the increase in energy you’ll need to overcome the sluggishness that will inevitably set in when you cut your eating. Now, I know some dieticians and fitness gurus will preach if you eat the right and correct food, you shouldn’t feel sluggishness, and I agree with them to a point. But, now you are talking about changing your daily life to include exercise, changing your daily life by eating less food, and changing your daily life by eating the right kind of food. Now, we need to make three habits happen all at the same time.

You are just setting yourself up for failure. In addition, that tumbling in the tummy is still there. The psychological cues you have built up to eat are still there. The temptations will still be there to eat. So, we’ll have to build some fortitude to overcome these challenges by demonstrating and committing to ourselves the building of the exercise habit. Exercise must be something you schedule your day around.

So, here’s what I recommend you do.

1. Print a two week or monthly calendar from calendar.google.com
2. Put Circles around the days you plan to exercise right now. I suggest you circle every day. A habit is much easier to build if it is consistent and if it is every day.
3. Now, you don’t want to overdue it. So, if you have not exercised in a while just commit to walking 5 minutes the first week everyday. then walk 10 minutes every day for the second week, then walk 20 minutes every day for the third week, then walk 30 minutes every day for the fourth week.
4. When you exercise, put an X through the circled day.
5. Build momentum!  Soon, you will not want to break the chain of days that you’ve built up.  It’s a snowball.  As you continue going, you’ll want to keep doing it.

Now, if you are like me, and walking or running is not that difficult to do. Don’t overdue it. Mix it up. Do Weight Training 4 of the days, and Walk/Run 3 of the days. or some mixture. Just be ACTIVE everyday. ACTION!

As I said before, I don’t want you to over do it. So, If that’s too much for you, then add in some rest days. Yet, I still want you to pretend like you are exercising. So, let’s say you are planning on weight training Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You also plan on cardio training on Tuesday and Thursday. You want to rest on Saturday and Sunday. I have no problem with that plan. Here’s what you do on Saturday and Sunday. You set aside the time as if you were going to exercise. Then, I want you to do mental exercises, stretching, yoga, or meditation exercise. You just need to do something to keep that exercise habit from weakening. They don’t call the weekend for nothing.

We’ll talk about building the endurance for changing your eating habits in a future post.

So, Take note. February is almost here.  If your New Year’s Resolution was to stay fit. There is no time to stop and no time to rest. We must continue the year with ACTION.

What can we do to help you ACT on your weight loss goals?