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Keep The Good Ones

I was watching tv the other day and saw a basketball commercial. A current player was asking a hall of fame player the secret to a great season. The gist of the commercial was the really great basketball players have short memories and only remember their good moments. While it was comical, the commercial was actually right. Not only was it right, it provided a great lesson.

What’s the lesson? You can’t achieve your goals (be it weight loss or being a great basketball player) if you focus on the bad choices you made or the shot you just missed. Instead forget those moments as quickly as possible and move on to the next moment. The next shot, the next meal, The next workout.

nikon

It’s kind of like how yesteryear was. Believe it or not there was a time when cell phone cameras and digital cameras did not exist. Instead you would snap pictures on actual film inside a camera. Then once that roll of film was full, you would take that roll film to a store to have the film developed. Once the film was developed, you could go through the pictures and keep only the good ones. The dark ones, throw them out. The blurry ones, throw those out too. At the end of the process, you have only the good pictures.

That’s how my weight loss journey has been. There have been bad food decisions. (blurry pictures) There have been skipped workouts. (dark pictures) Like the hall of fame basketball players, I didn’t keep those memories. I threw those out and only kept the good memories. The killer workout completed. The 3 mile run without stopping. The crossfit session completed. The healthy meal with all the portions properly measured. All those are good pictures. Good memories.

I’ve found you get a lot further a lot quicker if you focus on the good decisions, memories, pictures more than you do the bad ones. So if you have a bad moment or make a bad decision(hey it happens) Don’t think about it too much. In fact, throw out that picture and keep only the good ones.

That’s what I did and it has made all the difference.

 

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A Year Later

Last April I decided to do monthly updates in the same shirt and same pose so I could have a visual of my progress. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year already but it has. I thought about stopping the updates but I was asked to keep them going by quite few people. I don’t know how long I’ll keep doing it but for now, I won’t stop.

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Click to see the April (and all of the monthly) updates.

fyi – Click on the picture to enlarge it.

 

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Position Yourself to Win

It takes a lot to win. There’s no getting around that. There are no discounts for success. Success is never on sale. Winning requires preparation. I wrote about it a while ago. (Victory loves preparation)

What I found, however, is sometimes preparing to win is not enough. There have been plenty of times when my preparation to win was undone by my choices in a moment. ( i.e. I prepared my lunch for work and I still ate a calorie laden lunch in the cafeteria replete with a chocolate chip or white chocolate macadamia nut cookie(sometimes both) and a sweet tea or soda of my choice. After a couple of those moments, I realized preparing to win simply wasn’t enough. (At least for me it wasn’t.) I needed to figure out quickly how to overcome those moments.

So what did I do? I positioned myself to win. I did this by leaving my debit card at home. I did this by eating my lunch at my desk or in my car. When I had to get my lunch from the cafeteria, I brought the exact amount needed for the salad bar. ($2.98) By doing this, I was able to get through those times when preparation wasn’t enough. I don’t know if others have encountered this. But for me, it happened often during the early part of my weight loss.

It might seem a bit overboard but I had to do it. I was determined to back up my decision to lose this weight with actions that paralleled my decision.

To be honest, this still happens from time to time. Now, though, I’m better equipped to handle it. I’m positioned to win….

 

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Surviving the Holidays

This is a great time of year. We’ve officially entered the Holiday season. I’ve already seen Christmas movies on television. As wonderful as this time of year is. It’s also a dangerous time of year for weight loss. Weeks and weeks of healthy eating, working out, counting calories, etc can be undone in the last 8 – 10 weeks of the year. Especially for me. It starts with Halloween and the abundance of candy that comes with it. That gives way to my birthday. From my birthday, we speed towards Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving comes work pot-luck luncheons, department holiday luncheons & parties, sweets, egg nog, Christmas candy, etc…. The end of the year is indeed a treacherous minefield in the battle for health and wellness. If you’re not careful, the progress made throughout the year will be replaced with weight gain and feelings of guilt, shame & remorse as you head into the new year. Thus putting you behind the proverbial eight ball on January 1, 2014.

So how do you navigate this time of year? How do we make it across the minefield without stepping on a land mine? Well there’s no set way of dealing with it but listed below are some things you can do to help safely navigate the holiday season. They’re not listed in any particular order.

  • Water, water, water
  • Use smaller plates
  • Eat a healthy snack before going to holiday parties
  • Remember proper portion sizes
  • Create daily or weekly goals to help you maintain focus
  • Find an accountability partner
  • Limit alcohol
  • Don’t skip meals
  • Maintain fitness regimine
  • Keep a food journal

By incorporating some (if not all) those tips, you’ll definitely put yourself in a position to go into the new year with momentum. The goal isn’t to refrain from enjoying the holidays. However, for me, it was more important to maintain the progress I worked so hard for throughout the year.

By following these tips, I was able to maintain my weight loss through the gauntlet that is the last two months of the year. It definitely wasn’t easy but it was worth it when I met January many pounds lighter.

Enjoy the holiday season but don’t lose focus on what your goals are. Remember why you’re doing what you’re doing.

 
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Posted by on 11/06/2013 in Exercise, Fitness, Health & Wellness, Healthy, Inspirational, Nutrition, Weight Loss

 

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Thoughts As The New Year Gets Underway

As the new year gets into full swing, undoubtedly the memories of the holidays are growing distant with each passing day. Perhaps the excitement of the new year and the promise it held is starting to wane.

Maybe you’re already struggling with your weight loss goals or feel like giving up because you haven’t seen visible results yet. To you, I say don’t quit. Losing weight, becoming healthier is a process. It won’t happen over night. Believe me it will happen. Just trust the process.

What’s the process? For me, it was focusing more on nutrition. Don’t get me wrong I exercise and that’s part of it. However, you can’t out train a bad diet. I’ve said it countless times. Losing weight is 80% nutrition. Most people focus on the 20%. I began focusing more on the 80% and that has led to sustained weight loss.

If you’re having trouble with the 80%, below are three adjustments that helped me the most with my nutrition. I didn’t do them all at once. Gradually over time, I incorporated them. By doing that, over time positive habits were created which led to results.

1. Water Water Water
Water is amazing! Make it a habit to drink 8 cups of water daily. If you can’t drink 8
cups at first, start with whatever you can and increase it over time. Dehydration and
hunger feel similar. If you feel hungry, drink a glass of water. If you’re still hungry
after that, then eat.

2. Spices
Learn to use spices and herbs to season food instead of salt. Sodium doesn’t help with
weight loss. The spices (Paprika, garlic powder, basil, thyme, etc) are full of flavor and
low in calories.

3. Proper Portion Size
Learn proper portion size. The quicker the better. We unknowingly consume more calories
than we think simply because of portion size.

Those are probably the most effective changes I made. Try them out. I’d love to hear how they worked for you. Also, share with me some your weight loss tips.I’d love to hear those too!

 
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Posted by on 01/11/2013 in Uncategorized

 

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