TomO
0
I posted this in my diary, but Mal suggested it would be worth posting here as well.
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Last night, I and my lovely wife Marlene, with whom I've been together for 33 years, went out to dinner to celebrate our 23 year old daughter's new job. She noted that I really had a different attitude about losing weight and getting healthy this time. She said it didn't seem nearly as "gimmicky" or "temporary." She also asked me this: "If you had to give someone a '10 point manifesto' about losing weight, what would those 10 points be?"
I thought that was a good question. Here was my answer, based on the 10 things that I found most important to me.
1) Learn about the energy equation that runs your body. It's not as simple as "calories in and calories out." You have to learn about your basal metabolic rate, the calories you use for exercise, and the calories you consume in food and drink. [ps., Thanks, Steve!]
2) Get support. Getting healthy is not just a matter of will power. You need to find a group of people that you can share your triumphs and frustrations with. Some days, you will get motivation by helping them. Other days they will motivate you. It doesn't matter whether your support group is on the internet or at work or part of some other group, as long as it's there.
3) Develop an exercise program that includes both cardio and weight training. Sure, you can lose weight without it, but it's much harder, and you drastically reduce the odds of long term success if you don't exercise. On top of that, exercise creates the counterpart of a vicious circle -- let's call it a life circle. It makes you stronger, so you feel like doing more, and in doing more, you burn more calories.
4) Get serious about educating yourself. There is SO much crap out there -- about "spot reducing", about fad diets, miracle solutions, and every other trick under the sun. Ignorance will surely make you a victim.
5) Develop long and short term goals. First, develop a long term goal that's reasonable and attainable. You don't climb Mt. Everest in a day, and you won't lose the 100 lbs. you gained over 5 years in one year. But the long term goal is not enough. You have to break it down into short term goals. They could revolve around weight, but they also can be about other aspects of your health -- blood pressure, resting pulse, strength, etc.
6) Publicize your goals. Don't make it easy for you to slip by. Involve your support group in helping you meet your goals. Be accountable.
7) Don't beat yourself up over setbacks. We all fall off the wagon now and then. Just dust yourself off, get back on the wagon, and continue your journey.
8) Gauge your progress by your past, not by other people. The point is not whether you look like someone else or are as fit as your co-worker. The point is really if you look better than you did last month, and are more fit than you were last month.
9) Embrace the complexity and difficulty of the process. It's not a simple matter of will power, as that supplement-bar huckster Dr. Phil would have you believe. It's a personal thing, a social thing, an educational thing, a psychological thing. It's tough. It's a battle that's fought on many fronts.
10) Each and every day, celebrate the fact that YOU have made the commitment to get healthy. That alone puts you ahead of the majority of people, skinny or not.
-------------------------------------------------------
Last night, I and my lovely wife Marlene, with whom I've been together for 33 years, went out to dinner to celebrate our 23 year old daughter's new job. She noted that I really had a different attitude about losing weight and getting healthy this time. She said it didn't seem nearly as "gimmicky" or "temporary." She also asked me this: "If you had to give someone a '10 point manifesto' about losing weight, what would those 10 points be?"
I thought that was a good question. Here was my answer, based on the 10 things that I found most important to me.
1) Learn about the energy equation that runs your body. It's not as simple as "calories in and calories out." You have to learn about your basal metabolic rate, the calories you use for exercise, and the calories you consume in food and drink. [ps., Thanks, Steve!]
2) Get support. Getting healthy is not just a matter of will power. You need to find a group of people that you can share your triumphs and frustrations with. Some days, you will get motivation by helping them. Other days they will motivate you. It doesn't matter whether your support group is on the internet or at work or part of some other group, as long as it's there.
3) Develop an exercise program that includes both cardio and weight training. Sure, you can lose weight without it, but it's much harder, and you drastically reduce the odds of long term success if you don't exercise. On top of that, exercise creates the counterpart of a vicious circle -- let's call it a life circle. It makes you stronger, so you feel like doing more, and in doing more, you burn more calories.
4) Get serious about educating yourself. There is SO much crap out there -- about "spot reducing", about fad diets, miracle solutions, and every other trick under the sun. Ignorance will surely make you a victim.
5) Develop long and short term goals. First, develop a long term goal that's reasonable and attainable. You don't climb Mt. Everest in a day, and you won't lose the 100 lbs. you gained over 5 years in one year. But the long term goal is not enough. You have to break it down into short term goals. They could revolve around weight, but they also can be about other aspects of your health -- blood pressure, resting pulse, strength, etc.
6) Publicize your goals. Don't make it easy for you to slip by. Involve your support group in helping you meet your goals. Be accountable.
7) Don't beat yourself up over setbacks. We all fall off the wagon now and then. Just dust yourself off, get back on the wagon, and continue your journey.
8) Gauge your progress by your past, not by other people. The point is not whether you look like someone else or are as fit as your co-worker. The point is really if you look better than you did last month, and are more fit than you were last month.
9) Embrace the complexity and difficulty of the process. It's not a simple matter of will power, as that supplement-bar huckster Dr. Phil would have you believe. It's a personal thing, a social thing, an educational thing, a psychological thing. It's tough. It's a battle that's fought on many fronts.
10) Each and every day, celebrate the fact that YOU have made the commitment to get healthy. That alone puts you ahead of the majority of people, skinny or not.
