"Forming Positive Habits" Insanity: Day 19 of 60

My work group went to lunch in Boston the other day.  We went to a restaurant that was noted as, “very good and high profile.”  So I sit down to look at the menu.  Soups…loaded with cheese and what must be other dairy like milk or cream.  No salads.  Bowls of pasta coated in cream sauce…many with red meat that looked like it had been cooked in lard.  No chicken or fish to speak of.  Every sandwich was on heavy white bread and loaded with, yes, cheese again.  I looked at this menu and just laughed.

My work buddy, Rick, looked over at me and laughed himself and said, “You won’t be eating much here!”

Just some observations here.

This menu disgusted me.  Not after I thought about it, which is when these thoughts usually hit you.  It was while I looked at it.  As I scanned it, every food choice was bad.  Red meat, dairy, processed food…an endless menu of very beautifully prepared junk.  Even the soups had been ruined.  The plates came out and were very decoratively prepared…as though chef school must teach them how to make beautiful looking food using the worst possible material.  At first, when you start to eat well, you will be discouraged but still tempted to just pick something on the menu.  After you have eaten well for a while, it will occur to you how bad this menu is, after you give it thought.  Once clean eating has become your life, you move to where I am now.  You look at the menu and, without a thought, put it down.  I scoured it for something I could eat.  I had the one soup without cheese…mussel soup.  Basically, it was five mussels in a broth.  Then I ordered the asparagus appetizer.  Six sticks of asparagus and two halves of a boiled egg.  Needless to say, I had to stop on the way back to the office for a clean salad of nutrient rich vegetables.

The second observation I would make is that many around me not only know of my dietary discipline, but have seen its impact on me and accept it.  My eating habits have become so well known that people close to me just need to look at the menu and then say, “Dick won’t eat this at all.”  My dietary routine has become so ingrained in me that others accept it as gospel.  That’s kind of neat.

The third observation is that others around me are actually judging what they eat in comparison to me.  I am making others think about their food choices.  I’m not doing the judging.  I never say anything about what others eat (with the exception of my kids because I see that as an obligation and teaching opportunity).  I just will do everything in my power to eat right for myself.  Sometimes people will try to help by saying, “Why don’t you have the Blah-blah-blah?”  I will just smile and tell them, “No.”  When they persist (and some will) I will explain why it is a poor choice.  And then I won’t eat it.  I find a lot of people with me looking down at their plates.  Very soon, I expect that either the people around me will eat well or I will get no invitations to lunch!  

It has taken some time, but I have gotten to a point where my food choices are healthy or none at all.  There is no meal that I cannot wait to eat.  There is nothing so urgent that I have to “sacrifice” and “give in” and eat junk when it is offered.  My eating habits have become a discipline for me.

It has paid off.  After four years, I have managed to keep the weight off and I have learned that a diet of fruit, vegetables and some lean meats will allow me to live a healthful life for the remainder of the time I have left on this planet.

Let me say this about my eating habits.  When I describe them to folks, I hear a lot of people remark, “I could never do that.”  That bothers me a little bit.  I know that many would love to do what I have done.  I know that many think that it’s ‘hard.’  It is difficult, but there are many things waiting on the doorstep of your life that will make watching your food intake look like a walk in the park.  It’s simply not that hard.  The benefits far outweigh the work involved.

Over the past four years, with constant vigilance and thoughtful choices, I have managed to solidify a foundation of habit for my health.  I look forward to every meal, but not like many do.  I don’t romanticize it.  I simply enjoy it as the food that it is.

So remember…food as fuel.  It’s not entertainment.   It’s not a love affair.  You don’t have to become engrossed in it.

And…if you ARE going to treat your body like an amusement park, make sure you inspect and do maintenance on the rides daily.  With P90X and Insanity.

Have a great day!

THE WORKOUT

Tonight was simple.  Pure Cardio.  At this point in Insanity, it’s Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs.  I have been doing Ab Ripper X three days per week and some weight work…so I am leaving the Cardio Abs out for now.

I have been tired all week.  Every day it seems, I have had to do things after work and then have to work out late.  But, I have not missed a day.  Friday is my off day and I am looking forward to it.  I think my body is telling me I need a break.

That’s important.  Listen to your body.  But, make sure it isn’t just tired.  If it’s sore and broken, it needs a break.  If it’s ‘tired,’ you may have to really think about the break you are going to give it.  Is it real?

Have a great day!

"Is Your Toxic Body Poisoning You?" Insanity: Day 18 of 90

For over 65% of the people in this country, reserve stores of energy are being packed away in the form of fat on their bodies.  Calories not expended and poor food choices have turned our own bodies into “hoarders.”  Yes, just like those TV shows where people have piles and piles of useless junk in their house, we are stockpiling fat at a dizzying and obscene rate.  We must be worrying that some natural disaster or Armageddon will occur that will have us never see a stitch of food again.  If that is the case, then I applaud your insight.  Until that time though, those of us in the “fat hoarder” category are risking their lives on that bet.

Risking their lives?  How so?  It’s just fat cells right?

Wrong.

When your body starts hoarding the fat, it creates the fat cells like little receptacles and begins filling them up.  Yes, they fill up with the fatty material we stockpile for future energy needs.  But, they also stockpile other things.  All the toxins in your body that your liver can’t eliminate end up stored in your fat cells with the fat.  The more toxins you have taken in, the more poison it is that ends up there.  Toxins can be directly put in your body, like nicotine.  Toxins can be created or occur as byproducts of things you put in your body, like the saturated fat, cholesterol, and arachidonic acid you will have after a diet heavy in meat and dairy products.  Toxins are everywhere in our food, especially in the growth chemicals for natural foods and the artificial sweeteners in manufactured foods.  Most carcinogens we are exposed to in our environment or ingest (cancer causing, by the way), end up stored in the fat cells.

So, along with the fat we are hoarding (for which it could irrationally be argued that there is some disastrous dyer future need), we are also piling up toxins and wastes that sit it our bodies just waiting to poison us and cause long term medical issues.  The fat alone is bad enough.  The presence of all the fat cells, in addition to the severely bad habits around eating and the constant barrage of our digestive and metabolic systems, is crippling our bodies.  But, while we fight the effects of the excess fat cells, we leave our bodies dangerously exposed to the harmful effects of all the toxins being piled up in the fat cells.

If there was ever a good reason to improve your diet and to lose the fat, this is it. 

When you are obese, and I know this from personal experience, the first week or so that you begin a weight loss program, you feel strange.  It is not uncommon for there to be feelings of general malaise or even actual illness to occur.  When you stop taking in the excess calories, and if you also complement that with exercise, your body begins the process of glucogenesis and begins to convert the materials in your fat cells into energy for the body.  As your body processes the fatty materials, it also has to process the toxins in your fat cells.  That can make you feel ill.  It was fine when the junk was just sitting idle in your fat cells (like old asbestos in a building) slowly poisoning you, but now that you have disturbed it, like asbestos, there are the toxic effects of the dust as you remove it.  Your body is left to deal with the residual effects of ridding it of the toxic junk you have been hoarding.

Many people who begin a diet, at this point, say, “I feel like crap.  I can’t do this.  This diet is not right for me.”  They couldn’t be more wrong.  If you are feeling this way the first week, you are successfully ridding your body of waste.  Over time, your body actually gets used to this process of reverse engineering your fat cells and it becomes better at processing the toxins in the fat.  The human body has an amazing capacity to adapt to processes, both good and bad.

You have to go through this if you are going from severely overweight back to healthy.  You have to experience the feelings that go with ridding yourself of the toxins.  You could quit.  The net result to that decision is leaving the toxic time bomb sitting in your system just waiting to cause illnesses like cancer and dysfunction of your system (bringing on functional problems like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, nervous system disorders, etc.).

So, as I was saying, when you are considering the benefits of losing weight, nothing compares to this one.  If you are storing fat in large amounts, you are storing toxic byproducts of your environment as well.

Think about this very carefully.  Many who tell you that losing weight is important will tell you that you need to do it to (a) lower your cholesterol and blood pressure, (b) help physical structure damage caused by muscle and back issues associated with the extra mass, or (c) look better and more attractive.

The best reason that I can think of is that, for your own long term health, you need to do it because you are carrying around every toxic byproduct you ever came into contact with in your own fat cells.  As it sits there, it slowly and efficiently invades your body and poisons it.

Is that a good reason for you to consider fitness?  I am betting that it is.

Think about it, enjoy your day, and plan your next round of exercise! 

THE WORKOUT:

The workout last night was Cardio Plyometric Circuit.  I did AbRipper X before starting it, but as I got into the warmups, I was tighter than usual.  That’s when I started thinking about my day.  Very little hydration…in fact, I hadn’t had as much as a bottle of water all day.  Great time for that to occur to me.  I did the routine, of course.  I felt it though.  The calves and thighs were a little tighter.  The second circuit (Basketball jumps, Level 1 Pushups and Runs, Ski Abs, and In/Outs) was brutal.  I got through it, but I had to pause here and there.  I always know when it’s due to poor hydration because I am not tired from all the cardio, my muscles are sore from the exercise.

In order to get the most out of your cardio, the muscles have to be totally ready for the journey.  Mine weren’t last night, but I made a mental note for the future.  Insanity is the toughest thing I have done so far when it comes to nutritional and dietary discipline.  When you deviate, it shows up in spades in your routine.

Another thing, in Cardio Plyo…what’s up with Shaun T cutting short (or cutting out!) some of the stretches.  I know he thinks they are very “im-paw-tint” so, what the heck?  Just an observation.

"Home Exercise or the Gym?" Insanity: Day 17 of 60

Things have been kind of hectic lately.  When that happens, you have to work around certain priorities.  It isn’t easy.  What suffers?  A lot of time, it is the stuff you are doing for ‘you.’  Like Exercise.  It happens very easily.  When your day has been a little too long, and you’re tired and mopey, you can very easily rationalize that you can’t work out because you’re exhausted.  I was at that point last night.  Just too damn much running around etc. had finally caught up with me.

There was a time, when I would have listened to that inner voice and just cracked open a beer and sat down to watch television.  I would have good reason, too.  Not only would I have been tired, but to work out, I would have had to go to the gym.  Let’s see how that used to play out…

Thirty minutes to get my workout stuff together, hop in the car, get to the gym and get the treadmill warmed up.  Almost an hour on the treadmill, (forty-five minutes on light days), and then cool down and towel off.  Twenty minutes to drive home with Air Conditioner blasting in my face to cool off.  Ten to fifteen minutes to shower and fully dry out.  Let’s count it up…two hours.  Two hours had to be allocated to working out.  The treadmill did get old too.  It could be boring.

Back then, at 8 O’clock or even 8:30, no workout was going to be contemplated.  If I didn’t get out of the house by 7:30PM or so, it was really easy to convince myself that tomorrow would be better.  That happened a little too often.  Also, I was only running three to four days a week!  So you miss a day and the week goes from four days of exercise to three.  What was the culprit here?  My busy life.

Last night was different.  Why?

Yes, things had been hectic and I was tired.  It was 8:50PM.  My wife was already laying in bed reading.  The kids had finished homework.  All household signs and indications were that this day was over.  A year ago, this was an easy decision.  Not a great decision, but an easy one.  So, last night, what happened?

First I asked myself, how much time do I need?  Typically, with Insanity in the first month, it’s about 40 minutes.  If they throw in Cardio Abs, it’s another twenty, but let’s shoot for normal here.  I need about 45 to get my workout clothes on, push play, and do the routine.  In fact, I get dressed faster because I just throw on any old workout clothes.  Number one, no one on the DVD cares what I look like and they never judge.  Number two, these Beachbody workouts make you sweat so much that your clothes will have to be wrung out anyway, so they might as well not be your snazzy cute workout sweatpants.

So, by 9PM, there I was in front of the DVD player with Shaun T. saying, “Yo what’s up, this is Insanity!”  By 9:40PM, I was drenched in sweat and feeling pretty damn good that I had made the time and checked off another box on the wall calendar.  By 10PM, I was back on the couch with my Recovery drink and a mango (my new favorite fruit of choice).  A little over an hour was burned.

The second factor here is that, because I need to carve out less time for my workout, I do it more.  Doing it more (six days per week) actually gets your body in a cycle.  It becomes a rhythm where you get used to that flow of endorphins that comes with a rigorous workout.   In the back of your mind, with repetition, your brain begins to instinctively respond to thoughts of exercise with pleasure, not pain.

Home exercise versus the gym?  Seriously, it’s a slam dunk…home.  The reason most people don’t like home exercise is that they either don’t have a disciplined program or don’t have the equipment.  What if you had a disciplined program and didn’t need equipment?  That would work.  Know what?  It does work.

The other reason that people don’t like working out at home is that they get lonely and there is no encouragement.  I understand this, but I think it’s an excuse.  You either want to be in better shape or you don’t.  When I am at the gym, I don’t talk to anyone.  I’m not there to socialize, I’m about to run five to six miles on a treadmill.  I won’t even have enough breath to talk and run.  I do ‘people watch,’ but only when the bank of televisions has nothing of interest on.  With the home exercise programs that I have been using since February, there are enough people on the DVD’s to keep my eyes occupied.  You can count on them too…they are ALWAYS there!  Not to be rotten here, but they are all in great shape and easy on the eyes.  That is not always the case at the gym.  I am laughing as I write this.  I’m no Prince Charming either!  It’s just an observation.

Home exercise programs can be cheaper as well!  Some gym’s cost thirty to forty dollars per month.  That’s $360-$480 per year.  A Beachbody workout program (like P90X or Insanity, that I use) costs about $120 retail…but once you spend the money, you can use the DVD as often as you like.  When you take that cost and divide it by the number of times you use it, the cost efficiency is much lower than a gym membership.  Not to mention the online advice and support you get.  If you want to socialize about working out, do it online!  It’s what we do now anyway…why do you think they call it social media?

So, from my experience, home exercise with a great program that can’t be beat.  It takes less time, is enjoyable, will be repeated, and will bring you better results (if for no other reason than that you will use it more).  It also is cheaper than a gym and can be reused.

The best reason of all though is that it keeps your excuses to a minimum and the increased usage will bring you better health and fitness.

Isn’t that the real goal?  You do have a goal…right?

I’m smiling.  Now go work out!

Have a great day.

THE WORKOUT

The workout today was actually not a workout.  Okay, that’s not completely true because I was sweating when I was done.  Today was Fit Test Number Two.  You take the fit test before you begin Insanity and then you take it along the way to gauge your performance.  Last night was the first retake since starting Insanity.  My results were actually pretty good.  Keep in mind, I started Insanity on the heels of P90X and considered myself to be in the best shape of my life.  That said, in only two weeks, my results were somewhat startling.

Switch Kicks: 116 Kicks to 122
Power Jacks: 63 to 70
Power Knees: 86 to 118 (I was not using the right form on Day 0, so you can toss those numbers)
Power Jumps: 44 to 54
Globe Jumps: 12 to 13
Suicide Jumps: 17 to 19
PushUp Jacks: 39 to 48
Low Plank Oblique: 61 to 73

I was happy I beat all the people on the DVD. Except the suicide jumps. I still don't believe the girl beat me. Not cause she's a girl, but because I was keeping pace with her...I might just go back to the DVD and count her reps!

Where will I be on Day 60???

So, Insanity, like P90X, actually does what they say on TV and does get you in very good (okay, excellent) shape!

"Call Me When You're Serious" Day 16 of 60

It always amazes me that, after four years of being thinner (not skinny, thinner than I used to be), some people still wonder how the weight stays off.  I end up in the most curious conversations.  I truly believe that people think that some people are normally thin and some people aren’t.  It is always funny with me because, forever, I was fat.  Also, some of the people that I end up talking to, for the longest time, were thin.  I wasn't always this way...and neither were they.  But the conversation always takes a turn that makes it seem like that is the rationalization that works best at the time.  I had a dialog this past weekend that kind of sums it up.  Just as a side note, it was not my wife.  I always have to put in that old disclaimer.  It went something like this.

She glanced at me sitting on the couch and said, “So, you’re still keeping all that weight off.”  (it wasn’t a question, it was an observation)

“Yep…plan to for the rest of my life.”

“Yeah, I should do that.  It’s not easy.  What are you eating these days?”

“Oatmeal for breakfast, fruit as a mid-morning snack, salad at lunch with veggies and no starchy junk, protein bar mid-day, Shakeology for dinner, and nuts/fruit mix before bed.  If I get hungry during the day I might grab a fistful of nuts or eat two halves of a Klaussen dill pickle…only 20 calories in the whole massive pickle.  What are YOU eating?”

“It’s kind of like that. (said, to the snickering of her son) Do you use regular dressing on your salad? (it amazes me the things people focus on)”

“Yeah, I don’t worry too much about that, given that I’m exercising from 40 minutes  to 90 minutes on any given day with this new exercise program.  So if YOU eat like that, what kinds of snacking are you doing in between?  Because if you eat like that, it shouldn’t be really hard to stay at a good healthy weight.”

Nervous laughter.  “Oh, that might be a little of the problem.”

“How about alcohol?  Even a drink a night can lower your will-power and make you crave sugary things you know.”

“Oh, I really only have a few drinks on the weekend (to more snickering from her son).  Well, here and there.”

“I’m not your doctor,” I laughed, “I don’t care, it just makes it harder to not snack…not to mention that you don’t feel like exercising.  What kind of activity or exercise do you get?”

“Well…I walk.”  (Again, not my wife, but I know this person and the walking is basically making sure the dog moves it’s little legs enough to poop)

I chuckled, “No…exercise.  Exertion.  As in walking fast enough or exercising enough to break a sweat and know that your body is working a little bit.  Do you do that?”

More snickers from the son, and she responds, “Well, no.  I probably should.”

Someone else gets up and begins to go to the kitchen, “Anyone else want another beer?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, the person I am speaking to says, “I will.”

And then I start laughing.  Then she sees me laugh and she starts laughing too.

I’m not judging here, this is real life.  This is how many weekends go for a lot of people.  This is NOT about the person I was talking to.  It’s a rhythm and a pattern that everyone gets used to and ends up comfortable with.  It is not easy to change that pattern.  It’s funny to me because I now go through my new pattern so effortlessly that many think it’s easy for me.

It is much easier than it used to be because habits have been formed that I don’t think about anymore.  That said, those habits were changed as a result of a lot of daily decisions being made very consciously over a period of a couple of years.  That sounds like a lot, but when you consider 46 years of really crappy decisions about eating and exercise, two years is a walk in the park.

The other thing is, I’m not casual about my health.  Many are.  To many, they will not get serious until something critical happens that puts them over the tipping point.  You don’t know how you will prioritize your health until you question it.  Someone may be overheard making a nasty remark at a party that truly embarrasses you.  A child might make a very public comment about your size.  You might have to be left behind on something physical because ‘you can’t keep up.’  A doctor may look at your cholesterol and say things like, “Lipitor” and “heart attack risk.”  You may find you are winded just moving around with the kids.  Your doctor might take your blood pressure and show that alarming look which you realize can’t betray what they are thinking.  You might just look at the mirror one day and have a glimpsing memory of the smaller ‘you’ and feel an inner sadness.  It might be affecting your marriage or relationships.

It could be any one of a hundred things.  The bottom line is, 95% of the people will not do anything about their health and fitness until the “lack of it” becomes an issue they want to move up the priority chain.  The motivation has to come from inside them.

When people ask me about my weight and fitness, I never fail to tell them how I did it.  I don’t judge.  I’m not pushy.  People have to want to do it.

So I tell my story.  I don’t judge.  I was there.  I can see that most of the world still is.  I can talk about why I changed.  I always hope the best for people and wish for them that they would be proactive about their health.  I hope that they do not have a life changing event that causes them to need to do this, one that damages them in such a way as it limits the quality of the remainder of their life.  Because I was close.  I just will keep the word out there in front of me and, when they are ready, I will be standing in front of the line to speak with them.

My thoughts until then?  And, I don't say this in a nasty way...

 “Call me when you’re serious.”

"Exercise Discipline" Days 14/15 of 60

It was a very busy weekend.  Weekends like this are a good exercise in discipline.  It's easy to get out of rhythm.  Last week was the three day weekend of parties and family and parades...this weekend feels like the one where you have to get 'stuff' done.  It's real easy to sidetrack your workout.  I got out of the groove...I always work out in the morning on the weekends.  Yesterday (Saturday) I worked on the new MetaMorpheSys website and got deep into it.  I didn't get to exercise until midday, Cardio Plyo Circuit.  It was odd.

Today, no morning workout, I waited until after dinner.  It was Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs.  I threw in the treadmill for kicks.

The key is making sure you find a way to do the exercise.  The diet is important, but somehow, the diet is easier to stick to...at least for me.  To exercise, you have to put the time aside and then the time to do it.  After that, you need the time to shower and clean up.  This time of year, when the heat gets turned up, it takes me longer to turn those sweat valves off.  I find that if I get it done in the AM, I am much better off.

My blogging took a hit this weekend too...I will have something more profound to write tomorrow!

Have a good night, hope the weekend was great, and I hope you found time to exercise.  I think of it as the time I selfishly keep for myself.

Good night!