The acre back yard in the last house was my exercise track. Three to four days each week [...]]]> I started out in 2008 blogging in part about my progress getting into acceptable shape! I figured this would take about a year to re-teach my body how to accept exercise and get used to eating less food.

The acre back yard in the last house was my exercise track. Three to four days each week I would run the newly worn path for an hour or so. The wife and I started buying leaner meats and substitutes and I started counting calories and fat (so I could keep my diet 20% calories or so).

I used to think I had strong will power because in the 1990′s I was able to lose all of my weight and keep it off for several years by doing a low-fat and walking program. I lost that “will power” after starting up college (while working full time and throwing two adult paper-routes).

Will power? Is that something needed to successfully lose fat and increase endurance? I used to think so and I would continually create short-term plans based on my will power.

I was successful each year through each Spring. I went from 260 to 224 the first year but by January I had gained almost all of it back and weighed 255 pounds!

The next year (2009) I went from 255 down to 229 pounds and thought everything was wonderful!!! I was working out from 14 t0 20 hours a week to keep the pounds in check during the holidays. I ate all of the cookies and pies and still managed to only have a slight gain starting 2010!

The starting weight in 2010 was 233 and I got down to 219 pounds by May! I thought this year was going to be the one that I finally transitioned to a healthy fitness level. But alas – stress and health concerns started rearing its ugly head.

We were trying to buy a house and not agreeing on much so the stress level was high and towards Summer I got real sick. I did not get better until the Fall.

During the sick period I stopped exercising and while I tried to not overeat – I still ate too damn much!

Fast forward to the end of 2010 and I weighed in this morning at 236 pounds – that means I’ve gone nowhere this year – a wash!

The cool thing about being human is we can learn from our mistakes and adjust our approach. In this post I will go over the winners and losers in fat loss ideas (for me) and post my new EASY diet and exercise plan for 2011. Please read on if this interests you.

Lets face it. Most guys and gals unless they have exercised regularly through out their lives – don’t get back into the exercise habit easily. One hears about aerobic exercise as the only exercise worth anything from all of the fitness “experts” but the truth is for most people – they will end up quitting in a month or two. Why? Aerobic exercise is hard and not only can make one sore but mentally it is even harder to make yourself do something that you know is going to be hard. Rationalization is something most people are good at. It is easy to talk yourself out of doing today what you can put off to tomorrow.

Weight lifting is another one of those lofty goals that fitness “experts” say you should do but most people join the gym, many hire the trainer and then they stop going by spring or summer. What was the point? I mean yes you have improved the bottom line for the shareholders of the gym but unless one has mentally prepared for the commitment – why set yourself up for failure?

I almost don’t want to mention the word diet because it has so many negative associations. Anyone embarking on a diet either trusts a friend or advertisement and just tries diets without too much forethought. I mean testimonials and hard-bodies are king! Yes I believe because the model tells me he/she did it on this plan and he/she looks sooooo goooood… I can do it too!

Diets don’t work! At least the way most people interpret them. If you view a diet as eating a new way that you are not prepared to eat for life then the “whatever” diet will fail for you. A better way of looking at a diet/life style change/new menu is to eat how you already eat but make some substitutions you can live with to lessen the calorie count. Thats it – not brain surgery or rocket science.

So to list the losers (at least at first while starting to get into shape):

• Aerobic exercise
• Weight lifting
• Diet

Here are the  winners:

• non-aerobic exercise (like walking at a comfortable pace – not too fast)
• house and yard work (cleaning and mowing)
• eat tasty foods you already like (not everything you eat is over the top)
• substitute ingredients for some foods you like to make them less calories
• figure out you failings (emotional/stress eater, will power, proximity of food, able to portion or not)

Ok – Now that I have got this out – I don’t think most will agree with me about aerobics/weight lifting and diets as being losers! Well let me say that I set myself up for disappointment by having unrealistic expectations. One example is bag work. I love the aerobic workout I get from kick-boxing the bag for 1/2 hour. I’ve tried to talk myself into doing bag work for five days a week but by the time I get to the third day – my middle aged body does not want to respond. I mean I cannot talk myself into doing it. I also usually end up breaking a knuckle or wrist because I like hitting so much (I forget to lessen the power of the punches).

Here is what I’ve evaluated that has worked for me over the past three years and what I am mostly going to do this year (2011):

• Eat 1500 calories on most days
  • my BMR (resting calorie usage) is 2100 calories
  • I eat three meals a day and I am not too hungry so long as I don’t drink caloric beverages too much
• Walk or bike at a comfortable pace for two hours a day
  • I will still do the occasional aerobic workouts – I like them and they help my blood pressure
  • I figure walking I burn 300 calories an hour – thats 600 extra a day
• Get plenty of sleep – try and reduce stress

You can see this does not seem hard. It is easy for me to talk myself into doing my exercise for the day and if I end up mowing the yard – it counts towards my total. I don’t ever clean the house but if you do  - that counts too.

The goal for me is to lose a pound every three days or so with my 1200 calorie deficit (600 diet and 600 exercise) or 3600 calories over three days. 3500 calories burned/dieted equals one pound lost!

So if you like what I’ve said or think I’m nuts – I’d like to point out my karate instructor’s words of wisdom he used to tell me – the proof is in the pudding! Come back on occasion and check the progress link at the top of this blog and see if my “Easy” diet and exercise ideas are working for me.

I wish you and yours a happy and prosperous New Year 2011!

It was the weirdest thing [...]]]> I was thinking today on my run that I have been thinner longer than I have been fatter. How come my body image is of a fat man rather than a thin man? I mean if I start thinking that I am too thin – won’t that kick-off a eating binge?

It was the weirdest thing at the end of last year when I was falling off of the wagon (the diet and exercise wagon), I knew that I was putting on weight! I remember Muata over at MrLowBodyFat.com telling me that 5 pounds was not too bad – just start doing what I know works. More on that later but here is my reconstructed weight for my life.

Yep, I have been a normal weight for my 6 foot frame 58% of my life (excuse the math error: 52-38 = 14 and not 12). I have been overweight 15% of my life and I have been obease 27% of my life.

So If I have been a normal weight most of my life, why do I still see myself as fat? Because that has been the last 12 years.

Today I decided to start thinking of myself as thin. This will take a little imagination but you can see why. I am hoping that if I change my body self image I will kick start a mental process that helps my weight loss along.

Part of the reason I have eaten alot at times is what the heck – I am already fat… I would reason that I’ll start the diet tomorrow. Well let me tell you years later… tomorrow can be a long time off.

Well anyway when Muata told me at the end of last year that 5 or 10 pounds was not to hard to overcome… I did not see it that way. I was tired of dieting and my workouts in the new house were non-existent (we had just moved), so I ate myself into a “comfort zone” again.

A few months later as I restarted my diet and exercise plan, I was kicking myself for having lost so much ground. This year I vowed to not lose ground over the holidays and I am within one pound of my lowest weight (229 this morning).

So my plan is to start visualizing myself as a thin man again so I won’t end up working against myself again!

Eating has gone well. My wife and I had Pizza again and I worked my portioning. I had one salad and two pieces of Pizza. A couple of days later I had one last slice of Pizza for lunch. Once you have a plan, following it is easier (as opposed to not having a plan).

By the way soon I will have a treat for you all. I’m working on (if I can figure the old VHS video camera out) a video bag workout series that will help anyone with martial arts or other fighting training, how to design a good bag workout program.

Hang in there all and remember there is no right way to do this diet and exercise thing but rather finding what you can do that makes sense and you can stick with for life (once you lose the weight you will still have to eat sensibly and keep up the exercise).

I also had the habit of wolfing down my food and since I always cleaned my [...]]]> When I was younger and my metabolism was seemingly supercharged, I did not ponder differences between appetite and hunger! They were the same in my teens and early twenties. I was an active boy/man and ate until I was full.

I also had the habit of wolfing down my food and since I always cleaned my plate (and then some), I did not ever feel full before I was finished. So what I am saying is I guess I don’t really know if I was full before I stopped eating when I was younger.

In this post I am going to try an distinguish between appetite and hunger because I have noticed that this is a continuing hurdle I am running up against. I am recovering from the flu right now and have been able to stop eating before my plate is cleaned for the first time in years! Here is a quick video of the difference between appetite and hunger.

Rob Stevens of Thintuition, makes the distenction for us about appetite and hunger. I additionally viewed his introduction video here, and am glad to see he had figured out how to lose and keep the weight off.

Since having the flu has allowed me to notice when I am full while eating a meal, I think examining more about appetite and hunger is appropriate.

• Hunger = Body’s need for food
• Appetite = Body’s want for food to satisfy hunger & other needs

What are “other needs?” I think taste, boredom, anxiety, depression and so forth trigger appetite (or any other activities in our control that feel good)!

For me I have noticed that I do not differentiate between appetite and hunger very well so I try to stick with one diet (read menu items) that I know are ok. For instance I generally eat an egg sandwich for breakfast, a sandwich and apple for lunch and boca or turkey burger and veggies for dinner. That way I stay within my 1500 to 1800 calories a day.

The problem comes in with variation because when family visits or my wife makes something different – I tend to overeat!

It would be so much easier if I could learn to differentiate between appetite and hunger like I could while I had the flu!

Here are the hints I’ve heard that should help:

• Eat slow
• Drink a lot of water before eating
• Never finish a plate but leave some
• Portion control
• Stick to a diet
• Eat more low calorie foods

And so on… but to me wouldn’t it be easier if I could just train my body to stop when my hunger was satisfied? My parents like so many of the time, instilled into me that money did not grow on trees and to: waste not – want not! I had to finish my plate at every meal (trust me – that was not a problem for me). The crazy thing is to this day – I still feel like I have to finish my plate!

To take this one step further, I feel like I have to finish the leftovers and food cannot ever go bad. I know this is counter productive to learning how to eat what is good for me but it is still a part of me for some reason.

Now for the good news, I have been able to maintain my weight loss and exercise level. After I finish my recovery (still kind of weak and have a cough), I’ll slowly work back into my routine with a new twist in the exercise category; I’m going to work in some strength building during my hour of cardio time.

So my five hours of running will now be five half-hours of running and five half-hours of dumb bells, calisthenics, bag work and katas. That should allow the missing part of my routine (strength building) to start having a part of the whole fitness plan (was diet and cardio but now will be diet, cardio and strength building!).

I hope all is well in your world and let me know if you can think of ways to help me distinguish between appetite and hunger! That would make all of this so much easier!!! 

I did well this week. I ran the mountains a couple of [...]]]> What is the secret to lasting weight loss? What is the meaning of life? How does one unlock the code to the universe? Well now I will address one of these three questions in this post but first I want to update my progress.

I did well this week. I ran the mountains a couple of times and did one neighborhood run. I also did some bag work creatively working on mostly kicks. I have been shying away from hand workouts on the bag because my right hand is still recovering. I also did three kata and basics workouts.

In this post I will review what katas are and how they help me as a martial artist get in and stay in shape. I will address adding whatever physical activity that you like into your workouts as a winning strategy! Here is an example of a kata performed on a mountain top called Panther Set. I know the same kata as Book Set in my system.

For those of you who do not know what katas are, katas or forms, are karate or kung fu dances that incorporate the moves into one dance. These katas are excellent types of exercise because one has to do the moves like he or she would if in a real fight! Some parts of the kata emphasis isometric exercises as well as the kicks and punches.

Now did you notice the mountain view? I like to pause on my two mountain run and do katas on the first mountain top. I like the close to nature feel as well as enjoy the breathtaking views of the surrounding area!

Now why would I incorporate katas into my workout? Because it is one form of exercise that I already know and like! Do you get my meaning? I am a martial artist and while I need to do the road work to increase my stamina – I also want to increase my proficiency at my chosen martial art! Why not accomplish both goals at the same time? For instance if you have always loved B-ball or Ballet in your youth – why not take it up again in some limited fashion (at least at first)?

Ok – now that you all understand what a kata is and why one might want to do some in your workouts, Just how will this help me to lose and keep the weight (read FAT) off?

As I have learned from experience, you can only maintain weight loss if you keep doing the things that got you to this point. And by the way, to lose the weight – it will take increasing your movement and decreasing your energy intake (however you choose to do that).

Katas imitate how past masters performed the martial arts. Masters of Kung Fu imitated animals and came up with some of the fighting styles. I remembered this clip of the old Kung Fu series that showed some of the animal forms.

Grasshopper, go in peace and design your own effective weight-loss strategy!