Are you making New Years excuses?

"Excuses are lies we tell ourselves to avoid dealing with unpleasant truths. But as long as we buy into those excuses, we can never move past them." - Steve Pavlina

We create our own reality for the most part. Sure, there are circumstances we can’t control, disability, illness, injuries, personal setbacks, work and family problems, husbands who eat ice cream in front of us every night. But how we react and what we choose to do when faced with challenges creates our successes or failures.

How many times have we come to a fork in the road and had to make a hard decision? (And sometimes that fork has cake on it!) Read more.

Reasons Dieters Get Stuck & Solutions - Number Two: Low Carb Versus Low Fat: Part One

There are still two very distinct groups of dieters in the world. The low carb camp who limit carbohydrates and typically eat protein and fat indiscriminately. The low fat group limit fats of all kinds and typically eat carbohydrates indiscriminately. Most of the time these two ends of the dietary spectrum are diametrically opposed. And I'm going to step out on a limb and say both of these approaches used exclusively and long term are wrong for most people.

While both of these shotgun approaches won't necessarily hurt you in the short run, they also don't optimize your nutrition. And they may be hampering your metabolism and your fat loss and / or muscle building progress.

While most people can lose weight with either dietary approach they overlook the importance of tailoring their individual daily diet to their daily activity level and nutritional needs. At any given time your body's nutritional needs depend on diverse factors including activity level (how much activity you engage in), but other factors including what types of activities you're engaging in (aerobic, anaerobic, sedentary,) whether you're healing from illness or injury, stress levels, hormone levels, and even environmental factors like weather.

Here's a few generalized examples of why certain dietary approaches can be wrong in certain situations:

Scenario One, The Low Fatter (Pun Intended)

A typical yo yo dieter who has struggled with weight for years decides to go on a low fat diet because everybody knows fat is bad for you and cutting fat grams at 9 calories each (versus 4 calories per gram of protein and carbohydrate) gets you more calorie cutting for the buck. (Myth number one: fat is bad. If you truly believe this "fat is bad" nonsense read this. Myth number two: cutting fat calories is the best approach. If you believe this "cut the dietary fat" nonsense read this).

Mrs. Low Fat suffers through hunger and denial, overlooks her thinning hair and dry skin, and bad things she cannot see like unbalanced hormones and vitamin deficiencies due to a lack of essential dietary fats. She manages to lose some weight. But she hits a wall, quits losing, and perhaps binges followed by a self conflagration over her perceived failure and probable weight gain. A lack of calories and unbalanced nutrition has lead to a compromised metabolism (already lowered by less body weight and loss of muscle mass).

Desperate, she moves on to a crash diet of less than 1200 calories a day and less than 30 grams of fat a day. Unless her willpower is irrational and her determination insane she will succumb to her body's protestations through manifesting hunger and lack of energy. (Unless this dieter has developed a form of anorexia) a starvation or semi-starvation diet never works. Both are unsustainable and go against nature.

(Note: low fat and low calorie almost always go hand in hand. Both, when followed too long, are bad dieting tactics. While low carbohydrate dieters often cut calories also, increased dietary fat and protein appear to have a positive effect on appetite - and improved 24-hour blood glucose profiles, insulin sensitivity - in the short term).

Scenario Two, The Low Carber

An Atkins style low carber who never limits fat nor counts calories loses weight easily for several months. Within twenty pounds of goal weight, the dieter's weight loss stalls. They hit a plateau, maybe even gain weight, and decide to cut even more carbs. They may even return to an induction phase of low carb. But this time induction only nudges a small loss or no loss at all.

One obvious but usually overlooked clue as to why their weight won't budge is calories. The other is a reduced metabolic rate due to their previous weight loss. The less you weigh the less calories you need. Even if you eat zero carbohydrates, if you eat more calories than you burn you won't lose weight. Fat and protein calories are not magical. Eaten in excess they can and will be stored as body fat.

Both the above dieters are making crucial mistakes. And there are solutions to these mistakes that are relatively simple and easy to incorporate.

I'll tell you what they are in part two. (Cue the Hitchcockian suspense music).

Weathering The Fitness & Diet Storms

The View From My Front Porch Yesterday.














I know my blog has turned into a photo blog lately. Too bad! (Just kidding). So today I’ll try to make my post fit my photos of thunderclouds and still be on topic.

We all hit rough patches and obstacles to our diet and fitness goals. Illness, injury, over-indulgences, long hiatuses from workouts and eating right, family and friends who sabotage, emotional turmoil, personal and career stress, and even happy events can derail the most diligent practitioner in pursuit of fitness, weight loss, muscle gain, nutrition and diet goals.

These two rocket scientists came out of a dry storage shed to investigate what I was doing out in the downpour, immediately got soaked, and then looked down trodden.














The storms of life are inevitable, folks. You can run for cover but you’re going to get wet once in awhile. You can pull a “poor me” pitiful wet puppy act or you can buck up, weather the storm, and after it passes get back in the proverbial saddle. (I must have mixed a few metaphors in there somewhere).














Here are my top ten tips for dealing with fitness and diet trip ups, minor failures, and all out ‘pinned to the mat and down for the count’ wrestling matches between your goals and your present reality:

1. Get over it! We all fail. Nobody has ever succeeded in a linear fashion. You are not a failure or doomed to your current body just because you hit the wall. Get up when you’ve recovered (physically, emotionally, or circumstancially) and start again.

2. Forgive yourself. I separated this from number one for a reason. I read a lot of dieters’ blogs and quite a handful run roughshod over themselves, denounce their character, even question their intelligence, because of a setback. And they do this repeatedly. If someone else treated them with that level of abuse they’d run screaming. (I would hope!) After you get over the pitfalls you WILL experience, DO NOT make them a personal flaw, nor should you take it personally in any way. It’s called life and it has its challenges.

3. Learn from your mistakes, missteps, misadventures, and the experiences you’d rather have missed. There is always a lesson to learn or a different viewpoint to ponder. Maybe when you’ve recuperated from an injury or illness you can better appreciate what health you still enjoy. Perhaps you endured a poor performance in exercise or diet. Either can make you view past triumphs with more pride and resolve to do better.

4. Make a new plan. Your new plan can include your current lapsed or stalled program. Just plan to start again and succeed (even if you face new adversities). I recently stalled out on my workouts and had to change my diet. I had to restrict healthy vegetables and fruits while adding back white potatoes due to a colitis flare. And my weight has inched up to 122 pounds and 22 percent body fat.

So what? I’m feeling better (colitis pain has lessened) and I know I can start over despite any ground I might have lost. I'm plotting my comeback as we speak. So can you. I’m excited as I plan my next phase and you should be happy that you can start again too.

5. Start again. Even if you have to take baby steps, jump back in with both feet. Make a new start. Every workout and every balanced meal counts. Exercise and eating right are cumilative. It’s not perfection that gets you to your goals. It’s doing right most of the time, having perseverance in the face of hardship, being persistent when the road is long and full of detours, embracing the value of down time when you must take time off, and seeking balance. When you need to swing the pendulum in the other direction realize it takes time and energy to get momentum again. Expect to start back at square one. More than once and maybe often.














6. Have patience. It takes time and diligence to reach your goals no matter what they are or how small or grand. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a fit body. If you don’t have patience you’d better be able to hold on for the short term. Live one day at a time. Repeat.

7. Try something new and different. Studies show variety in foods eaten, a varied calorie intake, macronutrient manipulation – particularly in carbohydrates – and including totally different workouts into your fitness plan can fast track your results and budge you off a plateau. Take an outdoor sports vacation, learn to ski or raft, attend different fitness classes like karate, spinning, kick boxing, water aerobics. Try outdoor sports like hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking. Try different exercise videos, machines, and programs. Make variety a part of you fitness pursuits. Keep things fresh and you’ll be more likely to stick to a fit lifestyle.


8. It’s a lifestyle. Embrace the fact that being healthy and fit is a lifestyle. There are no quick fixes. You can’t be healthy and stay in shape your whole life because you did a program once for six weeks, or six months, or a few years. You get back what you invest. If you want to be fit and healthy for life you will have to put effort into your fitness and nutrition for life.

9. Learn your stuff while you embrace variety. The more you know the better you can cope with the storms. Educate yourself and keep trying new things. Read fitness magazines and books. Learn new cooking techniques. Hire a certified personal trainer and learn proper exercise form. Simply learning the pros and cons of different approaches of nutrition including low calorie versus low fat versus low carbohydrate and how they work can be an eye opener. Question everything and find what works best for you. If you’re presently off-program for whatever reason, reading, learning and planning your next move can be very motivating.

10. Most importantly, enjoy the journey. If you make your journey to better health and fitness a drudgery, or resent the fact you can’t get fit in 30 days, or have unrealistic expectations (lose 50 pounds by summer, get a six pack without dieting, look like a fitness model despite your personal genetics), you will quit and you will fail. Find activities and recipes you enjoy. Don’t stress out over obstacles or stalls. Roll with the punches. This goes hand in hand with number eight. If you cannot stand what you’re doing or eating, you can’t embrace it as a lifestyle.















On a Personal Note:

I got up off the couch last night and said oww. Jerry repeated it back “Owww!”

I said, “Hey, I hate to break it to you, but my old lover returned. I’m having an affair with Arthur again. Arthur Ritis. He always come into town with the rain. And I’m still seeing his brother Cole. Cole Itis.”

While we talked I mixed a drink. I forgot whether I added vodka and asked “Did I?” Jerry laughed.

I said, “Oh yeah, I’m still courting Al too! Al Zeimers.” Funny how Jerry’s the one who can’t remember where he left his shoes. Or keys. Or where the olive oil is. Or…well you get my point.

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What are the true keys to weight loss success?

A Fitness Program Thats Fits

















The answer to this question probably differs somewhat from person to person depending on individual issues and lifestyle. But certain things will surely apply to most.

1. Desire.

You truly have to want to change. And you have to want it for yourself, not because your spouse wants you to or your best friend is doing it. And your reason to lose weight (or make any lifestyle change) should not be for some short term goal like a June wedding or bathing suit season. Peer pressure or people pleasing are poor long term motivators. Sure support is nice but unnecessary if you’re serious, motivated, and a self starter. If you’re relying on others to pat you on the back all the time or you rely on others support to stay motivated you’ll probably fail.

2. Clearly Defined Goals.

Experts point out that the more precise your goals the more likely you are to get results. Loosely defined and generalized goals like “I want to lose weight” or “I want to get in shape” are so general they are nearly worthless. More precise goals like “Lose a pound a week” or “Do two total body resistance workouts a week and three aerobics workouts a week” give you tight guidelines that are much more likely to lead to results.

3. Responsibility.

If you do not take responsibility for your poor lifestyle choices you likely will not change or adopt new healthy choices to replace the poor ones. Blaming genetics, heredity, an unhappy life situation, a physical condition or health issue, your momma’s cooking, or your poppa’s drinking doesn’t get you anywhere. Although they may be reasons you choose to eat poorly and vegetate on the couch, you are still the one in charge of your choices. Ultimately nobody makes them for you. Before you cram a donut in your mouth because your boss yelled at you, or sit on the sofa all night because a Biggest Loser rerun marathon is on, stop and realize you can make a healthier choice.

4. Focus.

Once you decide that you want to change, have defined what you want to change and how, and taken responsibility for how you got there in the first place, you can focus on the path ahead. No goal is met without focus. Here’s where life’s challenges and daily aggravations will pop up and try to derail you. It’s easy to skip a workout when it’s raining or you’re feeling under the weather. You’ll still want to grab a bite at the drive-thru when you’re in a hurry. These things are going to happen too. Every one occasionally has a lazy day or cheats. But if you lose focus on your goals and do not refocus on your goals after a cheat meal or a day off from the gym your loss of focus will snowball into outright failure. Stay focused even when you have had a bad day or week. Keep your eyes on the prize.

5. Consistency.

This is closely tied to focus. The difference is that while focus is mostly mental, consistency is physical. Your healthy choices in food and activity will have to be more frequent than your poor choices. You will have to act in a consistent fashion to succeed. People fail because they are not consistent at doing the things that will get them to their goals. Consistency leads to success. Inconsistency means you're wasting your time.


6. Flexibility.

One of the main reasons people fail at weight loss and fitness goals is inflexibility and perfectionism. “I have to be perfect or else.” While consistency is necessary to reach your goals, perfection and inflexibility will derail you. Expect pitfalls and twists on your road to your goals. Roll with the punches. Get up off the floor when you fall. Don’t give up because of a bad day of eating junk or a week of missed gym dates. You didn’t “blow it” because you "weren’t perfect" and now you're doomed to failure. NOBODY IS PERFECT. We all are imperfect humans. You do not have to be perfect to be successful. Just resolve to do better, refocus and try harder to be consistent. Quitters who insist on perfection or near perfection never achieve success. Imperfect people who keep getting up off the floor and trying are ultimately successful.

7. Drive.

You can put all the above components together but without drive you will eventually fail. What drives you to pursue your goals will be an individual matter but finding a purpose that ignites your desire and keeps it burning is essential. Without the drive to keep on pursuing a goal your enthusiasm with peter out, you’ll lose focus, not be consistent, and fail.

8. Permanent Lifestyle Change.

This is probably the most important key to success. If you implement the best nutrition plan and fitness routine ever but you can’t live with it forever your goals are doomed from the start. You have to live your way to your goals. Your lifestyle has to fit your goals and your goals must fit your lifestyle. If you cannot get these two to dovetail forget about it. Because the way you live creates your future. Donuts on the couch today equals a fat and unfit body tomorrow. Hit the gym and eat clean today and you’ll be fitter and healthier tomorrow.

Links

Become a Self Starter


Powerful(ly) Written Goals In 7 Simple Steps

SMART Goal Setting


Take Responsibility For Weight and Eating Habits

The Simple Secret to Achieving Your Goals: Focus


Consistency Is Key In Fitness


Fat is a psychological issue: Embarking on a diet can be dangerous. Paradoxically, the chronic stress induced by the struggle for control can make dieters more prone to overeating

Are you Driven to Succeed?


Behavioral Steps Towards Permanent Weight Loss and Lifestyle Change: Insight to Action

Get Motivated for 2008

Did you know that there are 21 million Americans with a physical disability? Shockingly, less than 10-percent of them participate in daily physical activity. Nike and U.S. Paralympics want to identify and increase the number of persons with physical disabilities active in sport by making them aware of Paralympic organizations in their community.

Please join us in distributing the attached web-link - www.usparalympics.org. The link includes the recent Nike ad, which features Paralympian and wheelchair basketball player Matt Scott. By sharing this link with your friends, business associates, parents, athletes and supporters, we hope to expand awareness about the opportunities to be active, healthy and make a difference in the lives of thousands of physically disabled people.

Amazing awaits! From The National Center on Physical Activity and Disability

More Links

7 Reasons to Get Off The Couch Already!

Wiki How Get Fit

Disabled Sports USA


Disability Sport Events

The Couch To 5K Running Plan

Fitness Begin

Top 10 Fitness Mistakes Beginners Make