I remember many years ago when I was a teenage camp counselor at a YMCA camp up in Reading, MI. After a long hot summer filled with young excited campers, our camp director arranged for us to take a week long canoe trip down the Manistee River in upper Michigan.
It was a great end to the summer. They drove us way upstream and we put in about six days traveling time from where we ended up. We had a good time camping and canoeing, and I learned a lot about both.
It wasn’t that big a stream, certainly not a big river, but there was definitely some current. Since we wanted to go downstream, it was no problem. Just relax and drift while the current pulled us along.
STOP DIGGING
Posted: May 04, 2013
Did you know that fat cells never go away? Sure, you can lose the fat, by burning it for fuel during and after your workouts. The fat will come right out of the cells when needed, but the cells are still there, shriveled up and much smaller than before. I like to imagine it like they are now simply “shrink-wrapped”.
But if you stop working out and start letting your diet slip through the cracks, those fat cells are not only still there, ready and waiting to receive “new fat”, but the pathways to store the fat are right there and easy to access too.
Once you’ve been overweight, your body is very accommodating to new fat. Even your metabolism will quickly adjust back to the original lower levels, helping you get and stay fat again. This is so common it’s called “the Yo-Yo syndrome.”
KEEPING YOUR EYE ON THE BALL
Posted: May 01, 2013
Last week we looked at seven steps to getting started. Over the next few weeks, I want to take a look at some things that can help you keep your mojo going.
The first thing I want to talk about is having a real goal in mind. Make it specific and measureable if possible. This means you have to have a target to focus on. If it’s pretty vague, you’ll probably get vague results. If it’s pretty direct, like you’re going to lose 15 pounds by the start of summer, then you have a better chance of achieving it.
It also helps if you absolutely, positively, just have to do it! It’s got to almost kill you if for some reason you don’t do it. When failure is not an option, you have no choice but to succeed.
SEVEN STEPS TO SUCCESSFULLY GETTING STARTED
Posted: April 18, 2013
People often ask me, “Why it is so hard to make changes?” Perhaps an even better question is: “How do we make changes permanent?” It’s so easy to drift back into the same old habits and undo any changes we’ve made. It’s also easy to give up on a process that might take longer than you expected.
Over the years, I’ve noticed a pattern in people making significant changes to their lifestyle under a wide variety of circumstances. There seem to be seven steps that people need to take if they’re going to get the job done.
This includes people going back to school to change a career; people trying to overcome addiction; people working on their debt snowball; and perhaps the most common, people trying to lose a little weight and get into shape. While they’ve not all been successful, it seems like most people had better odds if they hit each one of these seven steps. I know I’ve written about these before, but I get so many questions about it, I thought I’d reprise them for you:
HOW TO EAT FOR WEIGHT LOSS
Posted: March 30, 2013
If you’re getting in all your workouts and burning a bunch of fat calories, AND you’re hitting your minimum daily calorie target, then there’s only one other thing to look at. What kind of foods are you eating?
First of all, if you know you probably shouldn’t be eating it, you’re probably right. You shouldn’t be eating it, or at least much of it. It’s probably alright to eat a little bit of most anything. Our problem (especially guys), is that we tend to way overdo it.
Three duplex cookies won’t make you fat. It’s only 130 calories. If you’re in balance, you’ll just burn it. Unfortunately (personal experience here), three cookies turns into nine cookies. Nine turns into nineteen cookies. Now that will make you fat!