Category: Strategy

I pre-wrote this post a week and a half ago. Since writing this, I’ve lost 6 lbs and I’m within 4 lbs of my final goal.

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It’s killing me. That last 10 lbs is sticking solidly to me like a leech. I have been taking a long, hard look at my diet to find out where the extra calories may be coming from, and I think I may have isolated a few problem areas that I will begin working on this week.

Sweet potatoes. Yes, in Paleo and even in Whole30, these are allowed. However, they are still pretty high in carbs for their weight, and I do love them. I have been eating them quite a bit, and I am pretty sure I always eat too much of them. So, starting today, I’m laying off the sweet potatoes. For now.

Almond butter. So, you’re not supposed to eat desserts on Whole30 at all. Paleo allows it, but it’s supposed to be a treat. Well, I’ve kind of messed up here as I finish every meal with a small almond butter and chocolate square. I’m pretty certain that not only is this harming my weight loss, it’s a bad habit to be in. Also starting today, no more desserts.

Not enough carbs before exercise. This one seems counter-intuitive to me, but the truth is that our bodies use carbs during exercise, and depriving myself of carbs before a run actually does more harm to weight loss than help. Before my last run, I ate three pieces of dried apricot and I was amazed at how much better I felt and how much my performance increased.

Sleep. I need more of it. They say 8-10 hours a night is the best for weight loss, and when I was losing 10+ lbs per month, I was very careful to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. I’ve allowed that to get down to 7 hours a night, and I’m certain that it’s affected my ability to lose weight. Tonight, I will go to bed at 9 pm and get the most sleep I can.

Not enough food. I come back to this one a lot because it’s my biggest sin regarding weight loss. Conventional wisdom is CICO: Calories In vs Calories Out. Well, this is true, but the deficit cannot be too big or the body goes into conservation mode. I think I keep kicking into conservation mode since my meals have tended to be rather small. That’s something I’ve begun changing in the past two weeks, but without the aforementioned four items, it hasn’t been enough.

Portion size. I’m not a real big offender in this area, but I’ve not been very consistent in keeping portion sizes appropriate. Whether I eat too much or too little, I need to settle on a better size and stick to it.

It’s not that my final goal is unrealistic. Heck, according to BMI, I’m still overweight. According to the military height and weight standards, I’m hovering at the maximum allowable weight. The only measures I’m in the good range in are body fat percentage and clothing sizes. Getting down to 165 lbs is a much healthier weight for me and will allow me a little more wiggle room than I have now.

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So, it seems that this plan worked. I’m now within 4 lbs of my final goal, and I’m not struggling, suffering, or being otherwise in any discomfort. The food I’m eating is the same as I’ve been eating for the past 18 months with the exception of the sweet potato and the chocolate/almond butter desserts. 

I was talking to a co-worker today about her exercise regimen she started a few weeks back, and she admitted to me that it lasted a whole day. “I just don’t have time to do it,” she told me. She really wants to, she says, but she just can’t find the time to get a workout in.

That’s a poor excuse.

I make exercise a priority. I place it higher than eating, drinking, or even work. As much as my boss wouldn’t like that, it’s true. My health is far more important for me to maintain for the long-term. For the short-term? I’m a better employee if I’m healthy, and staying healthy is accomplished through diet and exercise.

I read an article a year or two back that was about an entrepreneur who talked about how he put his exercise schedule in his calendar and didn’t cancel workout sessions for anything. He would rather miss a business opportunity than a workout. It seemed silly to me at the time, but I get it. I totally get it. Business opportunities rarely come and go with one meeting. If they can’t meet at 1 pm, they can likely meet at 2 pm. My workouts are about 30 minutes long with 30 minutes of recovery time (cool-down, shower, get dressed). That’s an hour. I exercise three times a week. That’s a tiny three hours a week.

Ask yourself this question: is it worth investing a little of your time in yourself and your health/fitness? If you’re sitting on the couch, could you be exercising? Too tired? Too bad! There’s time enough for relaxing and resting later. Get out there and move. Even if it’s just a walk or some push ups. Do something and get moving!

“I don’t have time” is BS. We all have time. We need to learn to use our time wisely or manage it better. We all have the same amount of time. Nobody gets 25 hours in a day. Carve out the time for exercise and manage your time better.

There are days when I really don’t feel like running. And by not feel like running, I mean really, really, really, I would prefer to just sit on the couch or in my chair and just sit and relax. You know what that’s like. We all do. But when you’re trying to stay fit, that’s not acceptable. There has to be some way to motivate yourself to get up, get out, and get that run done. I found a way that has been working for me better than anything else.

I remember all the times I sat in my chair at my desk in my home office watching the hours tick by, the entire time thinking to myself, “If I’d have just gone out for thirty minutes, I’d have been done long ago.” That stuck with me, and yesterday, when I really, REALLY didn’t feel like running for no other reason than because I was just not in the mood, it struck me: it’s just thirty minutes. There’s not much I can get done in thirty minutes anyway, so I may as well get this run accomplished.

I’m glad I did. I felt so much better when I was done, and yes, I accomplished something important. My runs are very important to me, and while I am always happy to be done with a run, I’m not always happy to start one. The difference between enthusiasm and discipline is that when we are enthusiastic about something, we are happy to do it. Discipline is what we use when we aren’t happy about doing something but we need to get it done anyway. Yesterday’s run was all about discipline, but even then, it sometimes takes a mind hack to get past the obstacle of “I don’t feel it.”

It’s just thirty minutes. There’s not much you can accomplish in that time that is as good for you or can have such a long-lasting effect on your quality of life. Get out there and get it done. It’s just thirty minutes.

I was taught at a young age that hobbies are important for people to have. It gives you something to enjoy, to spend time doing that is pleasant and enjoyable, and that can even bring you together with other people who enjoy the same activity. I was encouraged as a child to grow in my hobbies, and I took on quite a few of them. I’ve had to give some of them up (stamp collecting) in favor of putting more of my energies into others (flying radio controlled aircraft). Why do I mention this as part of a health and fitness blog? Because having a hobby and engrossing myself in it has helped with me on my journey towards being healthy.

I’ve often said that one of my strategies in combating cravings is to find something to do. If a craving hits, and I am able to identify that it’s due to boredom more than it is from having not eaten enough at my previous meal, I find something to do. That something has to take all my mind’s concentration, so I will typically do something related to one of my hobbies. Whether that’s cleaning some firearms, servicing one of my RC aircraft, or cleaning or even smoking one of my pipes, it causes me to concentrate on the task at hand and makes me forget all about the craving. If the craving passes quickly (and it usually does), then I know that it was a boredom craving and as a bonus, I get to engage in an activity within a hobby I enjoy.

Not all hobbies are active. If scrap booking is your thing, then do that when you get hungry. You don’t even have to make a page; just go through some stamps or borders or plan out the next page. Just engaging in your hobby will make you forget all about eating. As a last resort, you can always go out and do some exercise. Nothing makes my hunger go away as fast or as efficiently as running even when I am legitimately hungry. I can count on losing any hunger or craving for at least the duration of the run and an extra 30-45 minutes. That’s typically long enough for me to make it to dinnertime with my wife.

If you don’t have a hobby, then find one. No, seriously. There’s got to be something you enjoy doing. Engage in that. Do some reading. Go down a rabbit hole on the Internet. Do something, but make sure it engages your mind. Your life will be richer for it (and healthier!).

People who I talk to about eating right almost invariably make the following statement: “But, I love eating. A lot.” Newsflash: So do I. A lot. There are times when I eat a lunch or dinner and I feel like I could eat more. Sometimes I will have a little Paleo-friendly dessert to cap off any lingering hunger I’m feeling (like some Paleo Thin Mints Sherry made this weekend) or, like at lunch on Tuesday, I just deal with it. I have more food in the refrigerator I could draw from, but I won’t. There are a few reasons for this.

1. I ate too fast and didn’t allow my body to catch up with the food I was putting in it. I ate enough food; a proper serving size. Within 20 minutes, the hunger subsided as I my body eventually felt full.
2. I was a little bored. All I had to do was do some reading, bury myself in some work, and all was good.

We control how we respond to hunger. It’s one of the most powerful feelings we experience, so I know it’s not easy to ignore. If you find that you ate enough and that maybe you just ate too fast or that you’re just bored, it’s easy to attack those issues with logic. If, after 30 minutes, I was still hungry, then I’d contemplate eating a handful of nuts or drinking a Paleo chocolate milk. However, it wasn’t the case, and I was able to go on without either one.

We all love eating. We’re hard wired for it. We need to learn how to live with those impulses and control the amount of food at each serving and the rate with which we eat. I’m not immune to the temptations and desires to eat more. I have just learned to work within those temptations (for the most part. I’m looking at you, potatoes).