Category: Health and Fitness

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I did it, didn’t die and will do it again….

I mentioned a few weeks ago (So… about running..)  that I was going to run a 5k and in my goal setting discussion way way back I started down the path of what I want to accomplish and some of the medium and longer term goals.

Well, June 9th; I did it.  I ran in the Unlimited Performance 5k, in Sycamore.  It was a very well run event and was extremely well organized.  Even noobs like me could figure out where I needed to be and how to handle things. Michelle ran with me, and did an amazing job of urging me on throughout the run.  There is no way I could have done it without her.   Also, it was really awesome for my sister Corie, her hubby Rick, my cousin Dawn and her son Noah along with my mom Caren and of course the ever present Austin and Clark to all be there to cheer us on!

A few observations:

  1. I was much more nervous about figuring out where the start/finish line was and at least having some idea what the route was like than I was about the actual running.
  2. Running in the country seemed harder than running in the City. It probably had more to do with the fact that there was WIND slowing me down (not that I was fast; but still!)
  3. Why would anyone want to CHEAT in a 5k run?  There were two girls who would run a bit, then walk and gossip (which is totally fine); but then they decided to cut short a round about and just turned around.  I was embarrassed for them.
  4. I’m glad I made it through without my calf acting up; so maybe that’s healed for good?
  5. Why in God’s green earth would they serve dry bagels at the end?  I get the bananas; that made sense.. but the bagels turned to dust in my mouth.  It was rough.
  6. Note to self:  don’t park at the top of a hill that you have to walk up after you have just run a race.

 

My results are below.. I’m as slow as molasses; but I did it.. and I’m going to do it again.  Michelle is picking our next 5k.   I also have my sights set on the pumpkin run in October.  Though, the jump from 5k to 10k in just 5 months seems a bit daunting.  I mean, I went from 0 to 5k in 4-ish months.   I’m terrified, but I’m not going to stop!

Our Intrepid Runners shortly after the start!
The Race Finishers!!! (and Austin!)

 

The results:

129

 Aric Roush Chicago IL

120

38

M

13 30-39

37:45.1

12:11

130

 Michelle Roush Chicago IL

121

38

F

11 30-39

37:55.0

12:14

 

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Oh No!! The Scale Isn’t Going Down, What Am I Doing Wrong?

This is a common complaint amongst those who have undertaken diet and lifestyle changes.  “I’m doing everything right and the number just isn’t dropping” or “No matter what I do, I’m just not losing weight”.   I have heard it many time from friends who are in the same position I was in 9 months ago.  Heck, I said it myself 100 times… “I’m eating right, I’m exercising, WTF; why am I not losing weight”.  Its disheartening and frustrating.  Michelle said it right and continues to tell me:  “it took you 30+ years to put on the weight.. its not going to come off over night!”.  She is so right.

You have to keep at it.  Its not a “30 day miracle diet” or something you do for a week to fit into your skinny jeans.  You are changing your life; it takes time for your body to adjust to not being a fat-guy(™).  There will be ups and downs along the way.   Just keep working at it, you will get there!

What strategies have you used to keep going?

Weight Loss Chart
My weight loss journey from beginning to 6/8/12
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The Contributors of My Success Vol 2: My Family

Today, I’d like to talk about perhaps the most important contributors to my success, my family.  And by family, I mean my lovely wife Michelle, the boys and all of my extended support network.  Each of them have contributed to my success and I am thankful for every bit of it.

The biggest contributor in anything that I have been able to accomplish has been Michelle. She has been the person who has challenged me most to keep going, even when I don’t want to keep going.   But aside from the fact that I love her and want to be around for her and the boys, she has contributed in many practical ways that have allowed me to focus on keeping it up for these past 7+ months.   First, she has “been there, done that” with fitness and weight loss. She has managed to drop 40+ pounds after each of the boys were born and continues to be a workout maniac.  The fact that she knows what is possible and has the formula for success has been a huge boost.  Keep in mind that she is also a health education professional (currently!) gives her a unique perspective as well a communication style that works well with my often juvenile behavior.  She is a workout maniac.  I have often said that if we could combine my ability to ensure that I track everything and eat well with her “gym-rat”; we could make the perfect diet/exercise specimen.   More importantly however, she knows WHAT to do and how to teach it to me.  When I started out at the gym, she made little index cards with exactly what I needed to do written down on them.  I took those cards with me every time I went to the gym and referred to them.  It was the recipe for success.  All I had to do was cook it!  Far and away, the best thing she has done for me was to be my biggest cheerleader.  She has kept me on an even keel.  She was very good about not letting me get too excited about a good week or a good day and making sure that I celebrate milestones and achievements.   As much as she says that I did all the work, I recognize that there is no way on earth I would have been able to do this without her love and support.

My boys have been big contributors as well. Even though they don’t realize it at all and have never even recognized that “daddy is a lot smaller now”, they have made a huge difference.  Every time I am on the infernal treadmill, closing in on exhaustion and wanting to quit, I think about them and how they would want to know that daddy doesn’t ever quit when things get tough and he doesn’t ever just give up.  They keep me going.

Lastly, YOU have played a part in me getting here.  One of the things that I promised myself that I would do is tell EVERYONE what I am doing and how I am trying to do it.  And your encouragement, challenges and high fives along the way have helped push me along.  Yeah, there have been many times driving past the donut shop that I have wanted to just drive through and get a fistful of delicious donuts, but I didn’t.  I felt like I would be letting a lot of people down.  Thank you for that!

So, now you are thinking.. “But Aric, I don’t live with a trainer, who knows about nutrition and can tell me what I need to do; how on earth can I possibly do this?”  You can do exactly what I did; I went to my doctor and asked for help.  Yeah, Michelle had been going on and on about exercise and nutrition; but I didn’t actually believe her until I met with Dr. Pohlman and Cassie Vanderwall (http://onesource4wellness.com/) from the Rush Hospital Nutrition Clinic.  Dr. Pohlman and Ms. Vanderwall both laid out a sensible diet plan that consisted of eating RIGHT and how much I should be eating so that I can sustain a healthy weight for the rest of my life.  Of course, this validated what Michelle had been telling me all along; so really, I should just listen to my wife.

 

In Short:
See your doctor.
Ask for help.
I will cheer you on!

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The Contributors of My Success Vol 1: My Work

I wanted to put together a list of the things that I felt have really contributed to my success as I have really battled trying to get healthy.  I feel like there is no way that I could have come this far without the support of my family and friends and today I am going to stress the importance of a good, healthy work environment on getting and staying healthy.  Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and am not a work force expert; I am merely reporting my observations and reflections!

In order to really understand the importance that having a positive work environment had on my life you need to understand where I came from and just what a toxic environment can do to your health.  As many of you know, I was the Director of IT at the City of Chicago – Office of Emergency Management and Communications for several years after rising through the ranks from just being a tech guy all the way to the corner office.  If you aren’t aware, the OEMC was (while I was there) the premier 9-1-1 center in the world.  We utilized technology across the business to streamline any process that could affect someone’s 9-1-1 call.  Think about that for a second.  In Chicago, when someone called 9-1-1; they called *MY* system.  The system that I and my staff were responsible for maintaining was the lifeline for millions of people who called when they were having a personal emergency.  Talk about pressure!  Frankly, that was one of the things that I loved about the job.  Many people spend their whole lives looking for a career where they can “make a difference” in the world.  I literally had that every single day for 10 years.  Where my every decision, procurement, hiring/firing could have an impact on a complicated system that was only used by people having the worst days of their lives; during an emergency.  You want to talk about feeling like a superhero when things go well; I had that.  I was the manager of the Yankees.. having a job that only a few other people could claim.

Let’s talk about the price that I had to pay for that satisfaction and responsibility.  It’s funny now, looking back on it; but there were many times when Michelle and I lived in the condo downtown; and I wouldn’t get home until 8pm; and that was just a normal day.  That meant I would be spending 13-15 hours at the office, dealing with the usual mundane problems, dealing with the bureaucrats, dealing with over-stressed micro-managing executives, and eventually dealing with the political pressures that trickled down to my level.  I used to spend 6 hours every Saturday just trying to weed through the 500+ emails that I didn’t have time to deal with during the week.  That meant that I didn’t have any time to exercise at all; and my health became a much lower priority in the grand scheme of things.  I ate like crap; managing to stuff into my piehole whatever snack/treat/garbage I could bother to find in my fridge at work.  My weight ballooned and my self esteem fell to epic lows; all in the name of having a career that “made a difference”.  Yeah, it made a difference all right…. A difference in my life and accelerating my own death.  Never mind that stress that my work habits put on my wife having to take care of small children without me around to help.. all in the name of “making a difference”.  Frankly, I’m shocked she didn’t leave me.  I was an embarrassment to myself and my family.  Yeah, I had a great career… but I almost lost everything that really mattered.

Fast forward to the end of January 2011. I spent the 2010 holidays stressing about work and the constant stress of being the only guy who was there with any knowledge of how things worked and with any historical frame of reference, I found that I was being pulled into lawsuits against the City as an expert and was really the only person who could have answered some of the questions that were being posed and I got fed up.  I left the City and struck out to see what else was out there.  I had a nice long vacation; did some IT consulting work that was fun; but finally settled in at Lextech in September of 2011.

Let me say, it was a shock coming to work here.  I had a closet full of shirts and ties that I wore every day for 10 years.  My first day here, I wore a dress shirt and dress pants with no tie… I felt naked.  I’m surrounded by teams of application developers wearing shorts and appropriate t-shirts (well, except on inappropriate T-Shirt Thursdays).  The people here are relaxed and friendly and every single one of the people at Lextech are amazing at what they do.

When I started at Lextech, I was shown just how a supportive team and good work environment can mean to your outlook.  I felt empowered to make decisions and to not have to constantly be looking over my shoulder for the next dagger in my back.  I was given responsibility to run the operations day to day and was tasked with managing customer experience and interaction for all of the projects that I manage.  Now, keeping in perspective the environment that I had come from, where the pressure was intense and mostly external and impossible to manage; coming here was like a vacation.  The pressure that I feel is pressure that I put on myself to keep the teams going to to alleviate the stress on them.  I can handle my own pressure; because I know what I can do and I know how to do it.   One of the developers told me a while back that my job is to keep the pressure off the developers and to shield them from having to deal with customers and that is exactly what I do every day.  Keep the guys who do the work from having to worry about the politics and (sometimes) unreasonable expectations.  It was nice to be recognized for doing well what I try to do.

With regards specifically to my health and weight loss, Lextech has allowed me the freedom to do the unthinkable:  actually take an hour to eat a healthy lunch.  *GASP* The shock and the horror.  They realize and I am slowly realizing that the next email that I  need to send can often wait an hour for me to get some fuel in my system or to get up from my desk to take a break.  When I decided to accept the offer to come work at Lextech, I was very upfront about why I left the City and why I wanted to work with a small, but rapidly growing company.  I wanted to be able to spend more time with my family, and I would put their needs above work.  The team here has been very accepting of the fact that I try to leave the office around 4 every day; so that I can get to daycare to pick up the boys.  It is one of my favorite things to do and it lights up my day no matter what has happened when they jump for joy in excitement to see dad.  They allow me the freedom to fit in exercise into an already tight family schedule.

And finally, Lextech has given me the perspective that I was sorely missing.  Family and loved ones are really more important than work; and realizing that has changed my life more than anything else.   There is no way I would have been as successful as I have been in this journey without my Lextech family.

Ps:  I didn’t write this at work; I just delayed publishing for during business hours 🙂  I’m far too busy to write things at work!

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Basketball again!

I have a deep love of all things hoop. I watch NBA, college, anything on tv around basketball.  In my younger days, I used to spend 4-5 nights a week hooping it up in one way or another….  then, I blew my knee out and went through several years of rehab.  It was really that time in my life that learned how to over-eat and over-indulge and over-sloth.  Once my spirit was crushed by knee injury; I just never went back to it.  And once you stop and stop for real, its really hard to go back.

With all this weight loss and renewed interest in my own fitness I set a short term goal of playing basketball again.  At Lextech, the guys that I work with have been playing every Tuesday.  I decided that this spring was going to be my grand comeback to the game that I love.  I’m in decent enough shape having started running and lifting weights; I just hadn’t had much opportunity to actually pick up a basketball to actually practice shooting.  I knew that I would be terrible; but the only way to start it to do it.

This past Tuesday, I met up with the guys and we played some 4 on 4 half court.  I was right…. I’ve become terrible.  I suppose with 10 years of sitting on the couch and not actually playing I expected it.  But let me tell you; I was so happy to be out there, taking a pass into the post and taking the worst, most off balance shot you had ever seen made me so happy that I could have cried.  No matter how bad I was and how slow I moved I knew that I was taking a step in the right direction.

Of course, all this joy of being able to play there are some really important lessons that I feel like I have to pass on to you, gentle reader:

  1. Don’t wear new basketball shoes for the first time going to play; your feet will hurt and bleed
  2. When you are old, like I am, make sure to ice your knee after playing
  3. Don’t wear socks that are too thick for the new, uncomfortable shoes you should have never put on in the first place
  4. Stock up on ibuprofen.  You will need it
  5. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON’T WEAR NEW SHOES… WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, IDIOT?

All in all, I can’t wait until next week; when I’m sure I will be better than I was this week; and I cannot wait for the next game… bloody feet and all!  By the way, I won the MVP trophy for the week.  Apparently, I didn’t embarrass myself and played ok.   As a right of passage, all players on the Lextech Tuesday basketball night are given a nickname… I shall henceforth be known as “Orange Crush”  (thanks to the bright orange t-shirt I was wearing)

 

 

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So… about running..

If you recall from my goal setting discussion below; I had set my sights on starting running January 1st.

So, as with every type of new activity you should CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR PRIOR TO STARTING ANY EXERCISE REGIME.  I followed the advice of my lovely wife and met with Dr. Pohlman to talk about my fitness goals and to get his feelings about when would be an appropriate time to start running.  At that point in my fitness journey, I had been working out for 2 months on the elliptical, was 60 pounds less than when I started and was feeling pretty good about how far I had come. I  met with Dr. Pohlman and had a long list of questions about his thoughts on next steps and to get an outsider perspective on progress and how I can be successful.  I let him know that I was planning on starting jogging on January 1st.  He did encourage me to listen to my body and to slow down if I felt pain and to not push it too fast too soon.

Now, you all know me by now and I’m not going to let simple pain get in the way of achieving my goals.  I had to be smart about it.  I had never done any type of running at all in my life… short of making sure that I was not dead last while running for football.   I hadn’t been chased by bears in a while; so I was really worried about actually failing to be able to run.  I just didn’t get the joy that every running that I knew would share about how great they felt while running and after running.  But, I knew that if I wanted to maximize my fitness and weight loss that I would have to give it a shot.  I took Michelle’s advice, and started a a couch to 5k program.  I found the one at coolrunning.com to be flexible and easy to follow and they had an app that I could use on my iphone to track my progress.

Running started pretty slowly, as you would imagine with no experience. I followed the program and was committed to not stopping.  I would finish each treadmill session no matter what.  Interestingly, C25K program starts out very slowly; with only a job for a minute or so.  The idea is to build very slowly and make lots of small increments.  The first few weeks were pretty easy.  I was able to finish and feel like I wasn’t going to die.  I upped the pace a bit to push myself.  I felt pretty confident that I would be able to actually make this thing work and complete it.

Then, I had an injury.  I was on the treadmill just jogging away.. I think, at the time, I was working on a 5 minute jog or something along those lines and my left calf just completely seized up and I couldn’t even bear weight on it.  It was bad.  It has been the only time since I started exercising that I actually thought about going to see the doctor about one of my minor aches and pains.  Needless to say, I didn’t bother; I just took a week off entirely from cardio exercise; then added back in the elliptical for another week; before I went back to the treadmill.

It was last night, when I was on the treadmill and I was able to run a full 30 minutes at a slow pace; but I was ABLE TO DO IT.  I finished and it didn’t kill me.  I still don’t get the “runners high” or feel awesome when I’m done because of the running.. I feel awesome when I’m done because I’m done and I did something that I didn’t think I could do.  Yeah, thats right; I can run.  HAH.  Take that universe.    I’m thinking that I might actually try running outside once the weather warms up a bit.  I’m slightly terrified of it and the pressure on my knees; but hey… only one way to find out.

Maybe I should register for a 5K?  Could be worth getting a t-shirt…. and an opportunity to run with Michelle.

Wish me luck!

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How Much Has REALLY Changed?

Last night, I went out to dinner with an old friend that I hadn’t seen in a while and when I walked into the restaurant; I tapped him on the shoulder and when he turned around he said “What the hell happened to the rest of you?”  It is always uplifting to see people’s reactions to seeing me especially after not having seen me for a while.  I’m the same ME, just smaller.

So, today I’d like to talk about the big changes and how they have affected me.  There have been obvious changes in my body over the past few months and I am thankful to have made the changes.

  • I have lost over 110 pounds.
  • I have lost 20 inches off my waist
  • I have gone down 2+ shirt sizes
  • I have thrown out or donated to goodwill every piece of clothing in my closet dresser that was too big.
  • I’m able to run (well, jog and not all that fast; but hey its a start)
  • I have accomplished every goal that I have set out to accomplish with regards to weight loss so far (I’m not done yet!)

Having made the above list, I’m pretty pleased with what I have been able to do thus far.  Part of what I am struggling with is that I don’t feel any differently.  Sure, I have new clothes and I am much more fit than I have been in 20 years; but inside, I just don’t feel all that differently.  I don’t know what I was expecting when I committed to changing my lifestyle to be  more healthy, but I’m sure I expected to feel differently.  Would I be happier?  Nah, probably not.  I was (and still am) a mostly happy guy who is thankful for the love that I receive every day!  Would people look at me differently?  They do, but only people who haven’t seen me in a while.  Every day people don’t think much of it; because I am who I am; they don’t know anything else.

When I was a really fat guy, I was happy and everything was cool; I was just (XXXX)large.  Maybe I felt like a 220lb guy in a 370lb body?

I’m really hoping that my long term success will benefit from the feeling that, on the inside, I’m not all that different than when I started. I’m guessing that the bottom line is that a miserable fat guy will make a miserable skinny guy… change your life to get healthy; don’t look to weight loss to make you happy; because it won’t.

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How I went from a Really Fat guy to a Less Fat Guy

March 2nd 2012, the scale hit 100lbs.  I told myself I would publish this once I hit 100… so here you go; for your reading enjoyment:

So, my friends.. I have been writing this note for many weeks; but for some reason never published it until now.  I truly believe there is power in writing down what you are going to do; so you can see what you have planned and get feedback on it.  But, those of you who know me really well, know that I’m not a guy who talks about what I am going to do or what I have done; I prefer to just let the results show.

I think a little back story is warranted in how I got to where I am.  Back on Sept 14th, I went to the doctor with a very sore foot.  I weighed in at a whopping 367 lbs.  That was still down 24 lbs from what I was a year prior; but still too high.  I was so embarrassed by my weight.  I couldn’t believe that I had just let myself go so much.  Add into that, the fact that my lovely wife was working her butt off to get more healthy.  The meeting with the doctor was sobering.  I was faced with the words “heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol”.  All of those symptoms lead to premature death.  I couldn’t imagine leaving Michelle without a husband and sons without a father; so I took the step to get on the right path.

I started on October 1 by IMMEDIATELY by changing what I was eating.  I started by recording exactly what I am eating and making sure that my total caloric intake is around 1600 (that number came from a dietitian that I met with a few times in the fall of 2010; so I’m  not just pulling numbers out of my ass). I have recorded every single thing that I have eaten since then.  If I didn’t know what the nutritional information for the food in front of me, I simply didn’t eat it.  Now, don’t think that I didn’t have pizza and wings and the food that I love.. I did!  I just PLANNED FOR IT.  If I knew I was having pizza for dinner; I made sure to balance my nutrition for the day around it (and of course, I didn’t over eat the pizza).

As many of you saw, I was in a pretty dark place at the beginning of October 2011.  For a number of reasons, my health included, I was in bad shape, emotionally and physically.  I decided on October 10th that I wanted to start exercising.  October 17th, I weighed in at 347; and hit the gym..

Exercise:

I have been going 3 times per week since Oct 17.  I have only missed one week; and that was due to a badly sprained ankle; I literally couldn’t walk to the gym.  I have had several small injuries that have slowed down my cardio exercising; but I never stopped.  Michelle is a guru physical trainer (she really should just go get certified); so I asked her to put together some basic weight lifting and cardio programs on notecards for me that I could take to the gym.  I wanted to keep my workouts to about an hour; so I didn’t feel like I was spending every waking moment at work or at the gym.

Weight Lifting:

I really prefer doing supersets over straight sets; I feel like that gives me a much better cardio workout while I am building muscle as well.  If you are wondering what a super set is; it is a style of working out where you work opposite muscles in two or more sets in a row before resting.  For example, I will do a set of 15 reps of chest press, then immediately go to a set of 15 reps of bent over row (back); then immediately go back to the chest, then immediately back to the row without any rest in between.  After I’ve completed 3 sets of chest and back; THEN I rest.  I find it gets the heart going very well and serves as a warmup to the cardio exercise (or what I call the *real* exercise).

Cardio:

I started out on the Hell-iptical for 30 minutes… I have bumped that up to 45 minutes and am doing fast pace HIT sessions to really get the blood flowing.  I recently started jogging on a treadmill.  Michelle swears by running as the ultimate weight loss exercise; so I thought I should give it a try.  Now, here is the tricky part… don’t just start running.. you will fail.  I actually started doing a couch to 5k program (I am using the one at coolrunning.com).    Not that I will ever be a marathoner; but I thought I should start somewhere.

How I was successful:

  • Find your motivation.  For me, I realized that if I kept going the way I was going I would lose my family; either through my own self-pity or through death.  I wanted to set an example for my boys on how to be a strong and healthy person and how to make good decisions about food.
  • Set goals (more on that below)
  • Buy a scale and weigh yourself every day.  You don’t have to record it; but you should at least look at how your weight fluctuates every day; so you can get a feel for when you are slipping.  Holding yourself accountable is important!
  • Find someone to do it with.  If you can’t find anyone, join myfitnesspal.com and send me a friend request (I’m turbodog14) and I will do it with you.  I know that I *need* the encouragement every day that I get from Michelle; and would have never gotten this far without her support.  If you need that person, I will encourage you and keep you going!
  • DO NOT GO ON A DIET.  You are changing how you think about food and your lifestyle.
  • Write down everything you eat.  I have recorded everything since I started; haven’t missed a single food; even when I cheated and had a 10,000 calorie date night plate of nachos.  Its sobering to see how many calories you are eating and tracking it will help educate yourself.
  • Find time to exercise.  I know, joining a gym sucks and paying for it sucks and being the “fat guy” at the gym sucks.. but guess what?  That guy on the treadmill next to you lost 100 lbs and is quietly cheering you on as you sweat and grunt.  We *KNOW* what its like and want you to succeed.     I saw success though just dieting, but I really saw the pounds drop when I committed to exercise.

Goals (and how I set them):

This shouldn’t be new to any of you reading this; but it is important to set goals when you start.  Your goals should be S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timed). I wasn’t and still am not overly worried about hitting a specific weight number.  When I was super fat, I felt totally fine; was happy and didn’t worry about it.. so the number didn’t really matter.  Now that I’m less fat, I feel totally fine; am happy and am not worrying about it… the number doesn’t matter… so I never have and will not ever set a “This is the number I have to hit” goal.   I won’t share my complete list of goals as some of them are highly personal; but here are a few:

  1. I want to go to the gym 3 days per week OR burn 1800 calories per week in exercise alone.
  2. I wanted to be under 300lbs by the time I went back to the Doctor in December 2011.  I didn’t hit this goal; I was 302.. but I felt good about it.
  3. I wanted to have to replace my pants in October. I still have my fat pants; but yeah, I cannot BELIEVE that they ever fit.
  4. I want to *NEVER* have to shop at the fat guy store for clothes again.  I remember having to buy new pants for work; and going to the fat guy store and they had nothing that would fit; it was all too big.  I was so happy that I cried… I’m getting emotional just thinking about it now.
  5. I wanted to be in good enough shape that I could start running Jan 1.
  6. I want to lose 2-3 lbs per week… this one was easy starting out; but I’m down to about 2 lbs per week now best case.
  7. I want to lose another 6 inches off my waist pants size by August

Great Moments in my journey:

Everyone has ups and downs while you are going through something as life changing as major weight loss.  I’ve had many downs and disappointments, where the scale just didn’t move at all for a week or two.  It was frustrating as hell; but I just keep with the program and keep going and eventually I will get there.  There have been many many many good moments; but these two really stand out:

Bulls Game with Austin:

So, being a fat guy, I always hated going to the theatre or stadiums for sporting events because I was so fat that I had a hard time fitting in the seats and even if I did fit; it was so uncomfortable that I would end up with a sore back or knees or whatever just from the pain of sitting there.  I went to a Bulls game with Austin (his first game ever!) and was so anxious about how uncomfortable whenever I go to stuff like that.  We got there early, and I was *DELIGHTED* to fit comfortably into the seat.  It was a very emotional night for me: Austin’s first game (he was so excited) and I could sit comfortably in the seat.

Flight to Charlotte

I had never enjoyed the thought of flying; simply because of trying to wedge into a tiny seat for several hours.  I was particularly anxious about this trip because it was with my CEO and several of my peers.  I found that I not only fit into the seat; but could easily buckle the belt and had some slack left over.  It was hard to control my happiness and excitement.  I even crossed my legs while sitting in the seat! I was beaming.  Oh, and I immediately started planning a grand vacation adventure 🙂

Long story short:

You can do it.  It will take time, and sweat, and effort.. but YOU CAN DO IT.  You just need to KEEP GOING.

KEEP.

GOING.

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My Fitness Secrets 10/14

“What’s your dream? …Some dreams come true, some don’t; but keep on dreamin’… Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin’.”

Today’s notes were inspired by a conversation I had with a great friend of mine while sitting in traffic last night – goal setting.  If you are serious about losing weight, toning and shaping your body, or improving your overall health, you need to set many goals in order to achieve your dreams.  So, what’s your dream?

Often when it comes to weight loss, someone will have one big goal in mind such as lose 25, 50, 100 pounds, whatever.  I think it is great to have a long-term goal on which you focus but unless you have little mini-goals along the way you may have difficulty reaching your goal.  It would be like getting in the car, thinking you want to take a road trip to California but ignoring the fact that you need a map or GPS to guide you, fuel for the car to power your trip, snacks along the way to nourish you, and a general plan of attack as to how you’re going to break up the trip.  Unless you know exactly how to get to California, you need to do some pre-planning to figure out how you’ll make it.  Otherwise, you’ll just be driving around aimlessly and you may never reach your destiny.

So keep that big, end result goal but put more focus on daily and weekly goals.  I like to use SMART goals: your goal needs to be Stated, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timed.

  • State your goal: what exactly is it you want to achieve?
  • Make your goal Measurable: objectively be able to assess your progress.  Instead of “I want to lose weight” or “I want to work out more”, change the wording to “I want to lose 10 pounds” or “I want to work out at least 3 times a week”.
  • Your goal must be Attainable and Realistic: If you’ve never worked out consistently and you’re not a runner, it would be foolish to say “I’m going to run a marathon next month”.  You’d be setting yourself up for failure.  Perhaps a better way to say this would be “I’m going to sign up for a 5k and I will finish it by combining walking and jogging”.  Using the examples in ‘measurable’, it may be unwise for you to say “I want to lose 100 pounds” (if that isn’t a healthy goal) or say “I will work out every day this week” when you’re managing a job, household, children, etc.
  • Your goal should be Timed: Have a deadline for your goal.  “I want to lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks” can be just the thing you need to keep you motivated to continue with your program.

You also need to have long-term, medium-term, and short-term goals to aid you in your process.  Let’s say you want to lose 50 pounds.  Here are some good examples of breaking it down into smaller chunks so the goal is more digestible:

  • I want to lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks, or 1 pound a week.
  • By week 25, I want to have lost 25 pounds.
  • Each week, I will find a way to burn an extra 3500 calories in order to meet my goals.
  • Each week, I will commit to doing 3 days of cardio.

In doing so you give yourself a road map to arrive at your destination.  Of course, you may need to adjust your goals from time to time and you may fall short.  Don’t scrap your plan altogether; forgive yourself, formulate new attainable goals, and get started again.

A while back I was having issues with my blood pressure being too high.  I scheduled a visit with my primary care physician and we talked about ways I could try to get it under control.  I was to see him again in 3 months for an update on my progress.  My goals looked like this:

  • Lower blood pressure to a healthy level within 3 months (lower than 120/80).
  • Take blood pressure morning, noon, and night and record in a journal.
  • Log daily nutrition and keep sodium intake between 1500-2300 mg and potassium intake above 3000 mg.
  • Participate in cardio exercise 3 days a week for 30 minutes.  Participate in strength training exercises 3 days a week.

At the end of 3 months I had dropped my blood pressure to 140s/110s to 110s/60s.  As a result, I did not have to go on blood pressure medication (I’m not opposed to it and I know eventually, despite my best efforts I will probably have to take it anyway).  Having these small daily and weekly goals enabled me to take all the steps needed to make it to my big goal.

Tip of the day:  Make ONE short-term goal for next week and stick with it.  Exercise and nutrition might not seem so daunting if you take it one step at a time.

Happy thought of the day: I love being able to take a day to give my kids a progressive relaxation program day.  They’re so grateful for the break from their hectic day to just slow down and breathe.

And remember, always seek the guidance and approval of your physician prior to beginning any nutrition or exercise program.