Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey all, have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

What are you missing?

     Often, when it comes to workouts and performance, people flock to the supplements and protein powders as the best way to increase their performance.  If they look to nutrition the main focus is what types of food to eat and when.  One of the most overlooked and undervalued things you should be considering is much simpler than any of the above.

I'm talking about Water!

     The planet that we live on is made up of 70% water.  The human body is about 70% water.  This being said, water should be a big focus for anyone who is trying to change their body composition.

     Your body is a machine.  In order to work properly your body needs to be sufficiently hydrated.  Every day as you live you are losing water very quickly.  You lose water through breathing, perspiration, and elimination.  That water needs to be replaced.

                       Interesting Experiment:  To see how much water you lose through perspiration tie a plastic bag around your 

                                                               hand (don't go too tight here, we are not trying to cut off your hand, lol!)  Leave it on

                                                               there and in a matter of minutes you'll see the moisture begin to bead up on the bag. 

                                                               This is just a really interesting thing to try! 

     When your body loses water, it cannot perform bodily functions correctly.  This includes the regeneration of muscle fiber.  Adequate water will allow the proper elimination of toxins and promote healing, you MUST be completely hydrated.

     Years ago a theory was developed that when you feel thirsty, you need water.  The truth is that by the time you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated.  If you rely on the thirst feeling you will alway be in need of water.  Believe it or not, as we age, our body gets worse at telling us we need water!

     In order to keep adequately hydrated you must force yourself to regularly drink water.  The easiest way is to make sure you always have a bottle on you that can be refilled.  In particular I like the Brita Bottle with a filter.  This way you can fill it when you need to and always have good water.

     Drinking water can go a long way, but another way to make sure you are hydrated is to incorporate foods that are mostly water into your diet.  In particular, fruits and vegetables.   These things are a great source of natural waters that will help to keep you properly hydrated.  The easiest thing you can do is add a salad to your lunches and dinners.

     If you want more information on how important water is check out F. Batmanghelidj's book Water: For Health, for Healing, for Life: You're not sick, you're thirsty!  It is an interesting book that really highlights the benefits of keeping yourself hydrated.  I think some of the ideas are a stretch, but the value of the overall information is worth it. 

Are You Listening To Your Body?

Especially if you are new to working out, it's important to make sure you are listening to your body.  At first there are so many changes going on in your system, you won't notice anything about the body's signals.  However, after you perform consistently for a period of time, you will begin to notice things. This is where your power of observation will be sharpened.

People who have spent the majority of their life overweight are not in the habit of listening to their body.  Over time many different signals have combined.  For the most part people who are habitually overweight have confused what these signals mean.  As you begin to exercise on a regular basis you will notice that the signals are not what you thought.

This is where you need to re-learn your body.  Take the time to experiment and begin to see how your body responds so that you can better work to increase your health.

For example, after working out for a while, you will likely experience the feelings of fatigue and tiredness.  Unfortunately, many people will stop working out and when they begin to feel better, they will stop working out because they like how they feel now.  This is a mis-reading of your body's signals!  What's happening is that your body is finally beginning to process everything as it should.  Because of this, your body is increasing the signals for what it needs.  You are just used to reading hunger, tiredness, and fatigue.  Your natural inclination would be to say, I'm tired so I'll sleep.

I suggest you begin to experiment with different things to figure out what your body is needing.  In our fatigue and tiredness example the body could be asking for several things.  First, it could need more water.  In order for the body's processes to work correctly and efficiently, you need to have a lot of water in your system.  If you get dehydrated, your body may signal that you need to slow down because the processes are getting slowed down and it responds as if you are over doing it.  Make sure you are drinking adequate water and avoiding excess salt and drinks that act as a diuretic.  If you are staying adequately hydrated and you are still experiencing the fatigue and tiredness, then you should look to your nutrition.  Are you eating right.  What is "right" anyway?  This is a very good question, and really beyond the scope of this blog, but in general make sure you are eating whole foods that are not just meat.  When in doubt, vegetables and fruits are a good place to be.  Concentrated foods like processed foods, meat, cheese, etc. are a drag on your system and can cause tiredness and fatigue as well.

Lastly, if these first two things are in place and you still are fatigued and tired, consider that you may actually need more sleep, or you may need to take a break.  It's perfectly normal for the body to need time to rest.  About every two months or so you should take a break for a few days, maybe a week.  If you haven't worked out a lot in the past you may need a break at the end of one month.  Try taking a day off of your normal schedule and then go back to your normal schedule.  If you are eating well and staying hydrated, you should have energy to spare.  If you are still dragging, your body is trying to tell you something.  Make sure to pay attention and make small adjustments that don't involve quitting exercising forever!

Results are everything!

There is nothing more frustrating that moving yourself out of the habit of being lazy and sitting on the couch, only to get no results.  This is what began happening after I first started going to the gym a few months ago.  Three times a week for almost two months and nothing to show for it.  I didn't look any different.  I didn't feel good.  In fact I felt worse than before I got off the couch.  The burst of energy never really came.

Then I decided that I would research the body and look more into what I needed.

I went to blogs, websites, books. You name it, I looked into it.  The downside is that you looking into information on health is a deep dark hole of confusion that will suck your soul away if you let it.

I had to determine my goal.  For me, weight loss is the key.  I can't ever remember being below 20% body fat and can only remember one time that I got below 25% years ago.  My personal goal has become to get myself below 20% body fat by September 2014.

This is similar to my goal I started with in August, but much more specific.  In August, I simply said I wanted to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year.

The research also led me to realize that walking and cardio will not get me where I want to go.  Being a tad on the lazy side, I had a deep desire to find the most efficient and best way to accomplish what my goal.  I began to see that lifting weights was going to be required.  I had lifted weights when I played football in high school and although I build some muscle, it never led to me seriously bulking.  The way we lifted back then was not optimal.

The bulk of lifting programs have you working like crazy and working into a pain situation.  The one thing I've always known about myself is "if it hurts, I won't do it long."  So, with that in mind I felt like I had to ease into working out.  The problem with easing into weights is that you don't really accomplish anything by lifting super light.

I ended up finding a book that I mentioned a couple blogs ago, Bigger, Leaner, Stronger.  I have since been working this program and I am currently in my third week.

So what are my result?

Amazing!  By my standards at least.

I can see actual muscle growth already.  My arms and chest are the most noticeable changes.  I still have a lot of fat, and a lot of weight to lose, but the fact that I can actually feel myself getting stronger helps keep me going.  The muscles have toned so that I can feel them underneath my layer of fat in my stomach.  My legs are feeling great.  My energy is beginning to work its way up, although I have had a hard time with the diet portion of the program.  I still eat too much sugar and my wife and I are a bad influence on each other.  The, "I'm tired, want to order pizza" thing comes up too often.  But, even with that, I'm still getting results and seeing progress!

This is increasing my motivation to reign in the diet and to keep lifting!

The results are everything, because they become your motivation to continue!

The Greatest Benefit To Lifting Weights For The Perpetually Overweight

So, for the last two weeks I've been following the weight routine I told you about in my last post.  The number one benefit that I have noticed is that I can already see results.

I'm not talking about lower weight on the scale.  But, I can already see my shape slightly changing.  It's not that I've made a 100% improvement or anything, but it's noticeable.  Which is much more than I can say for what I did with the running stuff.

In addition to the visual, I am getting to the point where I really like going to the gym.  The back area with the free weights was always a quasi-mystical area where the serious people went, now I'm very comfortable back there for the exercises I need to do there.

Overall this has been a great experience and I will continue to work on this and keep filing you all in!

Weightlifting, the key to weight loss?

Lifting weights is essential.  If you are overweight and want to really begin to lose weight, you need to lift weights.  It's not about getting bulked up like a professional weightlifter.  There are more weight loss benefits to lifting weights than running.

Weight lifting helps you build muscle.   This extra muscle uses calories and helps you burn more fat.  This is the way you increase your basal metabolic rate.  Your basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories your body burns just for you to stay alive.  Regardless of whether you sit on the couch, or if you are sleeping, you burn calories.  The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn.

Lifting also gives you a metabolic boost for a longer period.  After you workout, your body will burn an increased number of calories for up to 48 hours afterword.  This will also allow you to lose weight.

A great book to begin with is Bigger, Leaner, Stronger.  This book goes into nutrition and weightlifting.  This will give you everything you need to do to begin lifting weights.  If you prefer the here is the kindle version.  This book is really written for men.  The author does have a version for women called Thinner, Leaner, Stronger (Kindle).

The other place that helps is Bodybuilding.com.  This is a great place with lots of free information.  The ONLY downside is that if you are not familiar with working out, the amount information can be a little overwhelming.  This is why I recommend you start with the books above and then incorporate other workouts as you go.

Do yourself a favor and begin a weight routine today!

Arnold Schwarzenegger - 6 rules to success speech - with subtitles [HD]

This is really an amazing speech.  No matter what you thing of Arnold, the rules of success are accurate.

Health Benefits of Tea

In my ever continuing quest for health, I've found that there are many benefits to drinking tea.

My personal preference is southern sweet tea, but I do like green tea as well.

Southern Iced Tea.Com

This site has a lot of good info on the health benefits from anti-oxidants to different chemicals that can help.

Even though there are not as many health benefits to black tea, I still like it.  The white tea and oolong tea that the site describes, I have never tried, but I did order some to give it a taste.  White tea apparently has the most anti-oxidants and healthy stuff.

I'm imagining the flavor of the White to to be really light, I'm thinking the way green tea is different from black tea.   I'm excited to see!

Changing my approach

After reflecting on my past month and a half of exercise, I've decided to make some changes.

I'm thinking my cardio isn't being as helpful as I had thought.  Originally, I decided to run a mile and then increase my speed until I get to a 10 minute mile, then add in a second mile.  The problem with this is my heart rate gets up too high and I think I'm loosing fat burning potential.

The reason for the change is that my entire amount of weight loss at this point seems to be related to my caloric intake vs. any effort expended exercising???

So, my change is going to be doing 30 minutes at my target "fat burning" heart rate.  I did that this morning.  It was pretty easy as my heart rate was low enough that I never felt like I was pushing myself.  Also, I could have went longer.  At my target "fat burning" heart rate, I could probably walk for an hour at least.

That's my adjustment, I'll let any of you reading this know how that changes things.

Getting back to exercise!

Well after a week and a half of being sick, I have begun working out again! I mentioned in my last post how much a struggle this has always been for me in the past. This time, it's only a minor struggle that is made easier because I'm not overdoing it going back. I only ran on Wednesday and on Friday I ran and did a few weight exercises. I'm planning on being back to full exercised by this coming Wednesday. I was surprised that my running time stayed about the same, even though I'm still dealing with a minor cough. To me, this means I should be able to speed up when my cough goes away. I'm still shooting for 10 min mile before increasing my distance to 2 miles. The significantly important for me to keep this habit and lose weight. I did weigh myself on Wed and have lost about 7 lbs, The MyFitnessPal app is a serious help, combined with the exercise I only need to keep doing everything and my goals will be reached!

When Sickness Interrupts Your Workouts

For the last week I've been crazy sick and haven't been able to work out. This totally sucks. However, I was able to do my running this morning! Being sick, I didn't have to worry about caloric intake and didn't track anything. I'm down almost 7lbs since I began using the MyFitnessPal app and tracking my calories. In the past, when I was able to work out for more than a week straight, any kind of sickness or cold caused me to break the pattern and then I'd stop working out for months on end. The big breakthrough for me here is in getting back into my workout pattern ASAP. If I wait, I'll lose the habit. As I said, I did run today and it felt great. I'm exhausted, but I did it. I plan on adding back in my weight routine on Friday.

My Progress Having Been Perpetually Overweight

A few posts ago I discussed some ideas for those of us that are perpetually overweight.  These ideas were specifically how we differ from a people that have gradually gained weight since they've become adults.

Today, I decided I would share some of my data that I have been tracking.  Hopefully, it will give you better insight into what I am doing and what I mean by taking it slow!

I work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I do not work out on weekends or days in between, other than normal walking in the course of my day.  This last week I finally began tracking my caloric intake with MyFitnessPal.  

I get up at 6am and go to the gym where I begin by walking at about a 3mph pace for a few minutes.  Then I slowly bump it up to 4mph with the occasional venture into the 5.5/6mph area to raise the heartbeat.  My main goal here is not speed.  My goal is to get 1 mile in.  Whether I have to walk it slowly or not, I want to get 1 mile in.

Here is my progression, all of these are for 1 mile and then I stop:

    

          15:54

          15:50

          15:50

          15:52

          15:27

          15:01

          14;59

          14:45

          14:00

My time is slowly getting faster.  At this point the plan is to get down to a 10min. mile then begin going to 1.5 miles instead of just 1mile.  I think I'd like to do a 5k but I'm going to wait a while yet.  The main theme is to not push myself too hard.  Again, I'm trying to avoid pain that keeps me from working out and so far I've been successful at that.

Here are some of my other stats:

After running I do 3 sets of Lat Pulldowns:

    3 sets of 10 @ 40lbs ( I made a note that this was way to light)

    2 sets of 10 @ 60lbs  and 1 set @ 75

    3 sets of 10 @ 70lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 70lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 85lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 85lbs

    2 sets of 10 @ 85lbs and 1 set of 12 @ 85lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 90lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 90lbs

then I do Seated Rows:

  

    3 sets of 10 @ 40lbs

    2 sets of 10 @ 40lbs and 1 set @ 55lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 40lbs

    2 sets of 10 @ 55lbs and 1 set @ 40lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 55lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 55lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 55lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 55lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 55lbs

Then I do back extensions:

    3 sets of 10 @ 55lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 70lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 70lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 70lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 70lbs

    1 set of 10 @ 70lbs and 2 sets @ 85lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 75lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 75lbs

    

Then its on to Chest Press

    3 sets of 10 @ 55lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 55lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 55lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 70lbs

    2 sets of 10 @ 70lbs and 1 set @ 85lbs

    2 sets of 10 @ 70lbs and 1 set @ 85lbs

    2 sets of 10 @ 70lbs and 1 set of 17 @ 70lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 70lbs with a VERY SLOW RELEASE

    3 sets of 10 @ 70lbs with a VERY SLOW RELEASE

Then Bicep Curls

    2 sets of 10 @ 40lbs and 1 set @ 25lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 40lbs

    2 sets of 10 @ 40lbs and 1 set of 6 @ 40lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 40lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 40lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 40lbs

    3 sets of 10 @ 45lbs (Actually I didn't even know that the extra 5 was on there, but I was wondering why it was more difficult this day!!!)

    3 sets of 10 @ 40lbs SLOW RELEASE

    3 sets of 10 @ 40lbs SLOW RELEASE

And that's everything!

Note on a few of the exercises I have added that I am doing a SLOW RELEASE.  The last couple exercise days I've experimented with letting the weight down exceptionally slow so as to keep my muscle more tense longer.  I like the feel of this and think it will probably help out.

As the days progress you can see that I've begun to increase the weights.  The thing I want you other perpetually overweight folks to remember is that AT NO TIME have I lifted anything that caused me pain the day after.  The main goal is to go through the motion and slowly allow your body to adjust to it before you increase the weights.  At most, you should feel that the muscles are tight afterward, but if anything is sore, lower the weight.  When I complete my third set I can always do more and really push myself, but right now I'm trying to get my body used to this stuff after 37 years on a couch.

Lastly, I want to talk about weight.

The first three weeks I did NOT track my calories.  Every week I gained a couple pounds.  I really chalk this up to the body being in shock and taking on extra calories to protect itself.  However, over the time I've noticed that my desire to cram food in my face is going down.  Also, the addition of the calorie counting with MyFitnessPal has made it really easy.  This week I am down 2.5lbs and have a couple days left until my official weigh in.

MyFitnessPal:  When you set this up you can put in all your information and it will give you the option of eating for 1lb or 2lbs per week weightloss.  As big as I am I went for 2lbs and have not had any difficulty sticking to it.  I do notice that with the combination of exercising and tracking calories I naturally am wanting healthier foods that are less calorically dense.  This helps me to feel fuller longer.

Let me know if this was helpful, or if you have any questions about what I have been doing, please comment below!!!!

                     

How 30 Day Trials Could Benefit You!

There is an author out there that I am reading about more and more.  His name is Steve Pavlina.  He has a great book called Personal Development for Smart People (Kindle Version) Personal Development for Smart People (Physical Book).

This is a great book that's really cheap on kindle.

The reason I bring this up is that I have a blog post of his that is relevant to the weight loss discussion that I began in my last couple of posts.

One of the things I am doing to help lower my weight, in addition to exercise, is keeping track of my calories using the My Fitness Pal app that is available as a free app on smartphones.

This is really a great app that everyone should try.  My problem has always been that I don't give things a chance, I'll try something for a bit then push it aside.  Well, Steve's article below is about doing 30 challenges, where you try something out for 30 days, with no intention of doing it any more than that if you choose not to.  Enjoy the article, and pick up his book at the links above if you like it!

30 Days to Success

April 14th, 2005 by Steve Pavlina

A powerful personal growth tool is the 30-day trial. This is a concept I borrowed from the shareware industry, where you can download a trial version of a piece of software and try it out risk-free for 30 days before you’re required to buy the full version. It’s also a great way to develop new habits, and best of all, it’s brain-dead simple.

Let’s say you want to start a new habit like an exercise program or quit a bad habit like sucking on cancer sticks. We all know that getting started and sticking with the new habit for a few weeks is the hard part. Once you’ve overcome inertia, it’s much easier to keep going.

Yet we often psyche ourselves out of getting started by mentally thinking about the change as something permanent — before we’ve even begun. It seems too overwhelming to think about making a big change and sticking with it every day for the rest of your life when you’re still habituated to doing the opposite. The more you think about the change as something permanent, the more you stay put.

But what if you thought about making the change only temporarily — say for 30 days — and then you’re free to go back to your old habits? That doesn’t seem so hard anymore. Exercise daily for just 30 days, then quit. Maintain a neatly organized desk for 30 days, then slack off. Read for an hour a day for 30 days, then go back to watching TV.

Could you do it? It still requires a bit of discipline and commitment, but not nearly so much as making a permanent change. Any perceived deprivation is only temporary. You can count down the days to freedom. And for at least 30 days, you’ll gain some benefit. It’s not so bad. You can handle it. It’s only one month out of your life.

Now if you actually complete a 30-day trial, what’s going to happen? First, you’ll go far enough to establish it as a habit, and it will be easier to maintain than it was to begin it. Secondly, you’ll break the addiction of your old habit during this time. Thirdly, you’ll have 30 days of success behind you, which will give you greater confidence that you can continue. And fourthly, you’ll gain 30 days worth of results, which will give you practical feedback on what you can expect if you continue, putting you in a better place to make informed long-term decisions.

Therefore, once you hit the end of the 30-day trial, your ability to make the habit permanent is vastly increased. But even if you aren’t ready to make it permanent, you can opt to extend your trial period to 60 or 90 days. The longer you go with the trial period, the easier it will be to lock in the new habit for life.

Another benefit of this approach is that you can use it to test new habits where you really aren’t sure if you’d even want to continue for life. Maybe you’d like to try a new diet, but you don’t know if you’d find it too restrictive. In that case, do a 30-day trial and then re-evaluate. There’s no shame in stopping if you know the new habit doesn’t suit you. It’s like trying a piece of shareware for 30 days and then uninstalling it if it doesn’t suit your needs. No harm, no foul.

Here are some examples from my own life where I used 30-day trials to establish new habits:

1) In the Summer of 1993, I wanted to try being vegetarian. I had no interest in making this a lifelong change, but I’d read a lot about the health benefits of vegetarianism, so I committed to it for 30 days just for the experience. I was already exercising regularly, seemed in decent health, and was not overweight (6’0″, 155 lbs), but my typical college diet included a lot of In-N-Out burgers. Going lacto-ovo vegetarian for 30 days was a lot easier than I expected — I can’t say it was hard at all, and I never felt deprived. Within a week I noticed an increase in my energy and concentration, and I felt more clear-headed. At the end of the 30 days, it was a no-brainer to stick with it. This change looked a lot harder than it really was.

2) In January 1997, I decided to try going from vegetarian to vegan. While lacto-ovo vegetarians can eat eggs and dairy, vegans don’t eat anything that comes from an animal. I was developing an interest in going vegan for life, but I didn’t think I could do it. How could I give up veggie-cheese omelettes? The diet seemed too restrictive to me — even fanatically so. But I was intensely curious to know what it was actually like. So once again I did a 30-day trial. At the time I figured I’d make it through the trial, but I honestly didn’t expect to continue beyond that. Well, I lost seven pounds in the first week, mostly from going to the bathroom as all the accumulated dairy mucus was cleansed from my bowels (now I know why cows need four stomachs to properly digest this stuff). I felt lousy the first couple days but then my energy surged. I also felt more clear-headed than ever, as if a “fog of brain” had been lifted; it felt like my brain had gotten a CPU and a RAM upgrade. However, the biggest change I noticed was in my endurance. I was living in Marina del Rey at the time and used to run along the beach near the Santa Monica Pier, and I noticed I wasn’t as tired after my usual 3-mile runs, so I started increasing them to 5 miles, 10 miles, and then eventually a marathon a few years later. In Tae Kwon Do, the extra endurance really gave a boost to my sparring skills as well. The accumulated benefits were so great that the foods I was giving up just didn’t seem so appealing anymore. So once again it was a no-brainer to continue after the first 30 days, and I’m still vegan today. What I didn’t expect was that after so long on this diet, the old animal product foods I used to eat just don’t seem like food anymore, so there’s no feeling of deprivation.

3) Also in 1997, I decided I wanted to exercise every single day for a year. That was my 1997 New Year’s resolution. My criteria was that I would exercise aerobically at least 25 minutes every day, and I wouldn’t count Tae Kwon Do classes which I was taking 2-3 days per week. Coupled with my dietary changes, I wanted to push my fitness to a new level. I didn’t want to miss a single day, not even for sick days. But thinking about exercising 365 days in a row was daunting, so I mentally began with a 30-day trial. That wasn’t so bad. After a while every day that passed set a new record: 8 days in a row… 10 days… 15 days…. It became harder to quit. After 30 days in a row, how could I not do 31 and set a new personal record? And can you imagine giving up after 250 days? No way. After the initial month to establish the habit, the rest of the year took care of itself. I remember going to a seminar that year and getting home well after midnight. I had a cold and was really tired, yet I still went out running at 2am in the rain. Some people might call that foolish, but I was so determined to reach my goal that I wasn’t going to let fatigue or illness stop me. I succeeded and kept it up for the whole year without ever missing a day. In fact, I kept going for a few more weeks into 1998 before I finally opted to stop, which was a tough decision. I wanted to do this for one year, knowing it would become a powerful reference experience, and it certainly became such.

4) More diet stuff…. After being vegan for a number of years, I opted to try other variations of the vegan diet. I did 30-day trials both with the macrobiotic diet and with the raw foods diet. Those were interesting and gave me new insights, but I decided not to continue with either of them. I felt no different eating macrobiotically than I did otherwise. And in the case of the raw diet, while I did notice a significant energy boost, I found the diet too labor intensive — I was spending a lot of time preparing meals and shopping frequently. Sure you can just eat raw fruits and veggies, but to make interesting raw meals, there can be a lot of labor involved. If I had my own chef, I’d probably follow the raw diet though because I think the benefits would be worth it. I did a second trial of the raw diet for 45 days, but again my conclusion was the same. If I was ever diagnosed with a serious disease like cancer, I’d immediately switch to an all raw, living foods diet, since I believe it to be the absolute best diet for optimal health. I’ve never felt more energetic in my life than when I ate a raw diet. But I had a hard time making it practical for me. Even so, I managed to integrate some new macrobiotic foods and raw foods into my diet after these trials. There are two all-raw restaurants here in Vegas, and I’ve enjoyed eating at them because then someone else does all the labor. So these 30-day trials were still successful in that they produced new insights, although in both cases I intentionally declined to continue with the new habit. One of the reasons a full 30-day trial is so important with new diets is that the first week or two will often be spent detoxing and overcoming cravings, so it isn’t until the third or fourth week that you begin to get a clear picture. I feel that if you haven’t tried a diet for at least 30 days, you simply don’t understand it. Every diet feels different on the inside than it appears from the outside.

This 30-day method seems to work best for daily habits. I’ve had no luck using it when trying to start a habit that only occurs 3-4 days per week. However, it can work well if you apply it daily for the first 30 days and then cut back thereafter. This is what I’d do when starting a new exercise program, for example. Daily habits are much easier to establish.

Here are some other ideas for applying 30-day trials:

• Give up TV. Tape all your favorite shows and save them until the end of the trial. My whole family did this once, and it was very enlightening.
• Give up online forums, especially if you feel you’re becoming forum addicted. This will help break the addiction and give you a clearer sense of how participation actually benefits you (if at all). You can always catch up at the end of 30 days.
• Shower/bathe/shave every day. I know YOU don’t need this one, so please pass it along to someone who does.
• Meet someone new every day. Start up a conversation with a stranger.
• Go out every evening. Go somewhere different each time, and do something fun — this will be a memorable month.
• Spend 30 minutes cleaning up and organizing your home or office every day. That’s 15 hours total.
• List something new to sell on eBay every day. Purge some of that clutter.
• Ask someone new out on a date every day. Unless your success rate is below 3%, you’ll get at least one new date, maybe even meet your future spouse.
• If you’re already in a relationship, give your partner a massage every day. Or offer to alternate who gives the massage each day, so that’s 15 massages each.
• Give up cigarettes, soda, junk food, coffee, or other unhealthy addictions.
• Become an early riser.
• Write in your journal every day.
• Call a different family member, friend, or business contact every day.
• Make 25 sales calls every day to solicit new business. Professional speaker Mike Ferry did this five days a week for two years, even on days when he was giving seminars. He credits this habit with helping build his business to over $10 million in annual sales. If you make 1300 sales calls a year, you’re going to get some decent business no matter how bad your sales skills are. You can generalize this habit to any kind of marketing work, like building new links to your web site.
• Write a new blog entry every day.
• Read for an hour a day on a subject that interests you.
• Meditate every day.
• Learn a new vocabulary word every day.
• Go for a long walk every day.

Again, don’t think that you need to continue any of these habits beyond 30 days. Think of the benefits you’ll gain from those 30 days alone. You can re-assess after the trial period. You’re certain to grow just from the experience, even if it’s temporary.

The power of this approach lies in its simplicity. Even though doing a certain activity every single day may be less efficient than following a more complicated schedule — weight training is a good example because adequate rest is a key component — you’ll often be more likely to stick with the daily habit. When you commit to doing something every single day without exception, you can’t rationalize or justify missing a day, nor can you promise to make it up later by reshuffling your schedule.

Give trials a try. If you’re ready to commit to one right now, please feel free to post a comment and share your goal for the next 30 days. If there’s enough interest, then perhaps we can do a group postmortem around May 20th to see how it went for everyone. I’ll even do it with you. Mine will be to go running or biking for at least 25 minutes or do a minimum 60-minute hike in the mountains every day for 30 days. The weather here in Vegas has been great lately, so it’s a nice time for me to get back to exercising outdoors.

I found doing these 30 day trials to be very helpful in making leaps forward with my personal goals.  I hope you decide to give it a try!

Also, if you liked what you read and want to pick up Steve's book, here are the links again:

Personal Development for Smart People (Kindle Version) 

Personal Development for Smart People (Physical Book)

Weight Loss For The Perpetually Overweight

Ok, so back in June I bought a new pair of running shoes and was going to begin running to lose weight.  The first run/walk went well.  I blogged about it and felt really good.

Fast forward to present.

For a while I didn't stick to it.  Then I decided that my health was the most important thing I could do for myself and my family.  So, what the hell was my problem? Why was I delaying and continually putting off what I knew I had to do?

You see, weight loss is different for people that have been overweight their whole life.  It's not as simple as following the latest workout program they are selling on TV.  It's much more psychological.  In fact watch the TV programs.  Most of the participants that lose the most weight have only gotten heavy after they were an adult.  Not that their success shouldn't be praised, weight loss and increased health at any age should be respected.

What I am saying is that if you have been overweight most of your life, you will need to focus on the psychology as well as lifestyle.

I will blog more about this in the coming weeks and months as I go through it, but here is some initial info that I have found to be true.

First, start slow.  VERY SLOW.  If you workout in any manner that causes you to be sore the next day you will give up.  Unless you are on the Biggest Loser ranch and Bob and Jillian are kicking your ass everyday.  (By the way, I used to watch that show with a bowl of ice cream....sigh).

So, for the first few weeks go slow.  Walk, don't run.  Lift light weights, not heavy.

Your body is going to be slow to adjust, it's just not used to this!  Incidentally, this is how people that have been in shape before bounce back so fast, their body remembers it.  Your's does not!

I ran a mile the first day I got my shoes.  I was sore the next day.  It was over a month until I worked out again.  It's not that I was sore for a month, it's that I trained my subconscious to associate work outs with soreness.

I eventually decided that I wanted to join a gym and signed up at a really cheap place that costs me $10 per month.  It has weights and cardio machines and that's all I need.  Years ago my wife and I decided to join a big national chain gym.  It was really more of a country club type place and we mainly used it for the hot tub and pool.  $126 per month for the family, what a waste!

So, since I joined the new gym, I've been going every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I have not missed a day.  I have not been sore.  Now, I have "felt" the workout.  As I said earlier, my body is not used to this, so I can feel the walking/running in my legs.  I can feel my muscles in my chest and back . They are by no means sore, more of a tight feeling.

So here is my routine.  I go in early, around 6am.  Then walk a mile.  Usually around 3.5 mph with the occasional bump up to 4.5 or 5 for a little bit.  My goal here is to just get through the mile without hurting myself.  All I'm trying to do is get my body moving and get the blood pumping.

Then I move over to the weights.  I do a lat pull down 3 sets of 10 with a low weight that doesn't challenge me.  I want to get through all three sets.  I do the same with seated rows, back extensions, chest press and bicep curls.  That's it.  Oh, I also take 30 seconds between sets.

The main thing that I am doing now, that I have never done before, is to track everything.  I take my phone in and have a free app that allows me to say the reps, sets and weight for each machine.  It also allows me to track my cardio for time, distance, calories burned and max heart rate.

After a few weeks I've started bumping up the weight a bit, but only so I feel the workout is more productive, I still do not feel any pain or soreness the next day.

Because I'm tracking everything now, I can see some correlations.  My workouts are harder if I have alcohol the night before, even 1 drink.  Also, water is vitally important.  If I don't drink water before my workout and go straight from bed to gym, my workouts aren't as good.

I'm also beginning to see how my food intake changes how my workouts feel (I have not changed my diet yet, but it is sort of changing on it's own, I'm finding that junk cravings are diminishing and healthy food becoming more desirable).  This is all something that you begin to see as you track and just keep doing the work.  Actually at this point, I kind of look forward to it and it takes less motivation to get me there in the first place!

If you have been overweight your whole life or are overweight now and are struggling to lose weight, I hope this article helps you to make the slow steps toward health.  Just remember you don't have to do everything to the max at once.  Go slow, take your time and just do something!

Permission Or Forgiveness

One of the most common traits of successful people is that they do not ask for permission, PERIOD!


Here is the scenario.  You are working for a company and you are the best at everything you are supposed to do.  You complete all your projects on time.  You help train others that are new or struggling.  Yet, every time there is a position that comes up that would move you up in your career, you get overlooked.  Not only do you get overlooked, but the people that typically get the position are ok at their jobs and occasionally get in trouble for some of the things they do.

How does this happen?

You have been tricked.  When you were young your parents told you that you needed to behave.  When you didn't, you got in trouble.  This "trouble" was easily avoided by being "good".  Then, the same thing happened in school.  You caught slack from other kids, but the teachers praised how good you were.  Matter of fact, even when you got into the workforce this seemed like it was the right way to work.  Your bosses praised your quality and efficiency.

Congratulations, you've officially been trained to be a cog in someone else's machine.

Somewhere along the line you woke up and decided you wanted your own machine.  Again, congratulations are in order.  Good for you, but how do you break the pattern of being "good"?

To break the pattern, get into trouble, tactfully.  If you have an idea for a new way to do something at work, just do it.  Think about the absolute worst thing that could happen.  As long as the worst thing is getting in trouble, do it.  One thing to bear in mind is that you may be oversensitive to potential consequence of your actions.  The years of believing that some great cataclysm was going to occur if you stepped even slightly out of line has trained you this way.  The fact of the matter is, people are generally very forgiving.

If you try something at work that you normally would ask permission to do (and get denied, while someone else tries it and gets promoted because it worked), be prepared for a little shock from you managers.  It will take them a bit by surprise when their normally obedient servant begins to think for themselves.

If the idea doesn't work, apologize.  Then, say that it won't happen again and be "good" for a while.  After a short time, try again.

I know this sounds terrible, especially if you are used to following within all the rules.  However, if you want to succeed, this is how its done.

Live Like You Are Dying Tomorrow....Uh, No.

I hate it when people say this.

If we were to take them literally, then we'd spend everyday hanging out with family and never be able to make enough money to eat or pay rent or live and explore life.

Let's clear this up.  I think a better statement would be to tell people to "Allow yourself to be open to any experience."

In order to get the most out of your life you need to be able to experience anything.  Don't hold back.  The main idea behind the like you are dying statement is that if you keep putting everything off until tomorrow, you'll never get to it.  If you keep waiting for the "right" moment for things, you will never experience anything.

Life is messy and problematic.  There is nothing you can do to change it, so embrace it!

Become A Consultant For Yourself

If you are anything at all like me, there are times when your creative ideas tend to flow faster than other times.

In particular, I seem to get great ideas when they are related to other people's projects.  When it comes to my own projects ideas seem to dry up.

Why is this?

Reason #1-Myopic Viewpoint

The main reason this occurs for many people has to do with relaxation.  Often times when we are thinking about our own projects we have a huge load of emotional connection that overly increases the perceived importance of our project.

This increased value causes us to go into caution mode.  This mental lock box causes a myopic view of the possibilities and options that are available.  This 500ft view of the issue prevents us from exploring perfectly valid solutions.

Generally, when this occurs we also get into a bit of panic mode, especially if there is a deadline associated with the project.

The solution to this is to begin all projects early.  As soon as you know something needs to be done, do not delay.  By beginning the project early you have an opportunity to get your subconscious mind involved.  When you understand a problem and have time to relax, your mind will work on the solution without you having to consciously think of ideas.  These subconscious ideas will suddenly pop into your mind.  You must capture these!

The first day you have a project, begin by taking a 50,000ft view of it.  Get an idea of what is involved and what the best ultimate result would be if you project were a 100% success.

Once you have this understanding, set the project aside for a few days.  If you are on a very short timetable, set it aside for a while, but only so much that you have at least half of the overall time left to finish the project.

If you need to, do some relaxation exercises or focus on something else.  Even work on another project if you have it.  If you have any ideas pop up, quickly write them down and get back to your other project.

When you re-approach your project, make sure to prep your mindset.  You want to come in with the thought that you are just taking a look for a friend.  If you are relaxed and have the right mindset, you should have some ideas pop up.  Write these down.  When the ideas are all on paper, you should find that you have more options and possibilities to begin attacking the project in ernest.

Reason #2-Fear Of Failure

The second reason that we tend to have a more difficult time finding solutions to our challenges vs. the challenges of friends is that we have to suffer the consequences.

When we look at a friend's project there is no benefit or detriment to us regardless of the outcome.  This allows us to be free to explore any and all options without fear.

When it comes to our projects, we automatically (and sometimes subconsciously) disregard ideas that are out of the box.  We also tend to disregard ideas based on how unsure we are of their outcome.  Unless we know it will work, we fear the unknown and push the idea aside.

Again, by stepping outside ourself and look at the situation as a bystander we can help to reduce the negative impact that fear can have on us.

How To Step Outside Of Yourself

Chances are at some point in your life you have already done this.  Can you remember a time when something you did seemed surreal?  You watched the event unfolding but you had that feeling of being an observer instead of being involved.  If you remember this feeling, try to put yourself in that mode again while looking at your project.

If you are not sure what the feeling is or how to get there, you can practice this.  Sit at a table in a room that you are very familiar with.  Take a few deep breaths, letting them out slowly.  Close your eyes.  Start to imagine that you are standing a few feet behind the chair looking at yourself sitting there.  Imagine what your posture looks like from behind.  Imagine what your hair looks like.  Create a mental picture of yourself and actually see it.  After a few minutes raise your right hand and see your hand raise in the mental picture you are creating.  Put it down and do the same with the left hand.  Keep breathing in a slow fluid manner.  When you are finished, visualize walking up and sitting back down into yourself and slowly open your eyes.

If you do this exercise a few times it will get easier and easier.  Then, when working on a project, do the same thing and pretend that the guy in the chair is a consultation client or a friend and you are just going to give them a bunch of ideas that they can consider for their project.

Write down any ideas that come to mind and consider each one later.

Ultimately, the entire post is about freeing yourself and giving yourself permission to explore any possibilities as they relate to your challenges.  You are a creative person and you deserve to benefit from your creative ability!

Best of luck!

For Those Struggling To Build An Internet Business!!

Hey folks!  I came across a really interesting deal a few days ago and after some thought I wanted to share it with you.

This is really for people who have tried to make an internet business work and have struggled, but if you are just looking to build a business online, it will help as well.

The Millionaire Society  is a group that has video's by some of the top internet marketer's out there.  It's really a neat way to learn from some of the best without forking over huge mounds of cash for private consultations.

Don't get me wrong, I know there are tons of places online to get information on building an online business.  The difference with this is that they have a ton of tools available to help you get going.

One of my biggest struggles is that, while I'm not computer illiterate, I have struggled with making sites and figuring out how to put the business together initially.  Never mind any tips to market the site, just getting something up and running that I felt was worth while has been a pain in my ass.

Millionaire Society takes a the pain out of the up front part and then teaches you how to work everything else and the best part is....

It's dirt cheap to try out.  $4.95 to be exact.  Yes, there is further cost if you want to keep going, but to actually be able to check it out for that, it's a no brainer.

That's always been one of my biggest pet peeves about internet training "programs".  I hate it when they just won't tell you what they are talking about, but expect you to fork over $80 or $100 to see what it's about.

So, if you want to get past the problems you've had in the past with getting an online business up and running I highly recommend you check this out!  Here is the link again:  Millionaire Society

Two Ways To Develop Focus

Our society in America is full of distractions.  There are so many competing messages that if you don't make an active effort to control your focus, it can be hard to develop.  We are also a society and generations that have been raised to distract ourselves from discomfort.

Some people use food, exercise, or drugs, to distract from reality.

Largely, focus is about closing out any and all distractions to give your undivided attention to the one thing you need to accomplish.

This sounds easy enough, but in reality it can be quite challenging.  The easy part is shutting off the TV, radio, phone ringers, etc.   The difficult part is in focusing and shutting off your thoughts.

How often do you get side tracked because a random thought pops up about something you need to do.  Maybe it's about a birthday party that you need to take the kids to, or your brain spits out a solution to a key problem you are facing at work.

Whatever, the problem is you need learn to use your mind on purpose.

Meditation can be helpful here.  In sitting quietly and focusing your attention on your body's natural breathing patterns you can develop the ability to quiet those random thoughts.

Here is how to do it:

          Turn off all things that might make noise, this includes phones.
          Sit quietly, in a chair, or on a pillow on the floor (be careful not to get too comfortable, you need
               to stay awake!)
          Leave your eyes slightly open, you can close them if it's more comfortable.
          As you sit, listen to you natural breathing.  Do not force your breath.
          Sit like this as long as you can.

At first you will probably have difficulty doing this.  Your body will fidget and your mind will come up with thoughts to distract you.  When this happens, recognize that this is your mind fulfilling the distraction habit you have created.

By recognizing the thoughts and letting them go, you will slowly train your mind to know that these thoughts are valuable, but not so important that it needs to interrupt your thoughts.

Another way to help keep your mind from randomly tossing out ideas is to write things down when they come to you.  Keep a calendar or schedule that will allow you to capture anything you need to do. This includes if you need to pick up milk, or drop the kids off at a birthday party next week.  As things come up, you need to get them out of your head.

Just like the meditation, this will take time.  Your brain needs to recognize that you are doing this and trust that it works.  In order for that to happen, you will need to keep track of these things and follow them for at least a month before your brain will shut off the distracting reminders.



         

The One Thing You Can Do, Today, To Succeed!

I have spent countless hours reading books and doing audio programs to learn about success.  What I have learned is that there are several key components that many successful people have in common.  They have to be confident, aggressive, action oriented, etc.

I find that a lot of people begin to get down on themselves when they begin trying do model a successful person.  They see that this person puts in a lot of hours at the office.  They see this person taking control at meetings and acting like they own the place.  This can be very dangerous when you are just starting out.  If you have not yet reached the level of success that you want to, maybe it is because you are trying to jump ahead of where you are.

If you are a fan of poker you will see this happen every year at the World Series of Poker.  People watch video of the final table and then go out to their local tournament and try to play the same type of game and then they wonder why they don't win.

The fact of the matter is that in both of the situations above, the person is failing to see that the game has to be played differently depending on where you are at and what the situation is.

You cannot spend every hour of your day working on your business.  Maybe you have kids to take care of or a yard to mow.  The fact is you have other responsibilities.  The person who is already successful has enough extra cash to be able to pay to have these things taken care of by someone else.

If you try to play the game like a billionaire, you will be frustrated.  The same goes for the way you handle meetings or negotiation situations.  The more successful you are the less you need each individual deal.  Also, the more successful you are, the more others want to work with you.  This gives you a significant advantage when it comes to negotiations.  If you try to wield this type of power before you have it, you will lose business while making yourself look like an ass.

Is there anything you can model off of the already successful person that will help you in your game?

Thank goodness, the answer is YES!

The number one thing you can do today to begin succeeding is........FOCUS!

Have you ever seen someone who is very successful work?  Have you ever wondered how that billionaire runs 15 companies while traveling the world?  It's all about Focus.

Most people who are not successful allow themselves to be pulled in many different directions.  The secret is to control what and when your attention is pulled.  You may have 15 different things that are pulling at you.  That is ok.  By controlling what you focus on, you can complete everything and step toward success at the same time.

This is where I break a traditionally held belief:

When it comes to your focus, multitasking is VERY BAD!!!!!

Whatever you are doing should have your undivided attention at that moment.  You cannot be giving a seminar while you are thinking about sales goals, kids soccer, you have to mow the law, pick up coffee tonight, etc.

Each and every activity you take action on should be the only thing in your world at that time.  I don't care what is going on.  It's not that you forget everything, it's about being able to control your attention.

By maintaining a specific focus and not letting any distraction in your productivity will increase into the stratosphere.

Learning how to focus on one thing at a time can be difficult.  We live in a society that is driven by distractions.  So much so, most people don't even realize that they are eating breakfast, while watching TV and reading news on their computer at the same time!!!  Consider driving down the road while listening to the radio and having a conversation with a spouse, all while the kids are watching two different shows on their mini-tv's and fighting over a toy.  Yeah, we are distracted!

I just learned about Squidoo!

Not sure why I haven't seen more about this, but Squidoo is actually a pretty neat idea!

If you have an area of expertise, or even if you just enjoy a subject, Squidoo can be a great easy way to make some extra cash (small amounts per topic but still money).  Be conscious of what you are writing, they are pretty strict with their Squidon't policies.

Go to Squidoo and see how it works!

On Squidoo you can make individual "Lenses."  Making these lenses is FREE.  Yes, I'll say it again this is FREE FREE FREE.  Did I say it was FREE.

If you click on the link above or below, you'll be able to do set up a free account and begin making your lenses.

Here is a link to the first lens I made:   My First Squidoo Lens

How do you make money?

Two ways, there are advertising fees that you earn as well as modules where you can list items from Amazon and if any of those are purchased, you get a commission.

There are other ways to make money on Squidoo other than Amazon, you just have to pick the module you want and you are good to go!

Go to Squidoo and see how it works!

You will not likely get rich doing this, but it's free to get going and you can make money right away.  

Think about expanding this as a business though.  For a little work on the front end you have an opportunity to make money for a long time down the road.  There is no limit to the number of lenses you can make, as long as you are making original content, the sky is the limit.  So, what does that mean?

If you have 10 lenses making $1 per month.  You make $10 per month.   If you have 500 lenses averaging $1 per month each, you make $500 per month.  It really is that simple, sign up, build a lens that attracts people and complies with the original content rules, and repeat!

It seems very interesting to me, check it out!

Go to Squidoo and see how it works!

Make Money With Ebooks!

So, I've been looking a lot lately at some new book ideas.  Just like everyone I'm in need of making extra cash.

There are a lot of books out there about making money selling Ebooks.  Frankly, I think it's funny that there are so many Ebooks about making and selling Ebooks.  Anyway, I digress.

I have written a couple books for Amazon Kindle, but since I have done exactly ZERO marketing, I've only made about $50 over the last couple years on them.  It also has to do with my writing skills.  If you read any of my previous blogs you know I can ramble.

It boils down to the fact that money was made!  So, If I can make $50 with little to no effort, what could I or you do with a lot of effort?  What would that effort look like?

What do you write about?  Well, thats actually the easiest part.  There are a lot of books that recommend you have someone write the book for you.  I don't like this.  It's really just a personal thing I guess.  What you can do is look around.  What are people interested in?  What do you know about, or what can you learn about.  You'd really be surprised at what people will buy.  For example, maybe you like baking cookies.  Well, a lot of other people do too.  What about a book on 101 recipes for great cookies!  Just research and find your favorites and you are set to go!

Sure, there are a lot of cookbooks out there, but there is a reason for that, right?!

Once you write it you can load it up to the Kindle Direct Platform.  Just Google Kdp Direct and you will be able to find a link.

Amazon will market the book for you but it's minimal and will not likely make you a large amount of money.  They also allow you to give the book away for free for a limited time.  While initially you might think that you don't want to do this, it's actually a great way to build a following.  You can go up to five days for free.  I recommend 3 days, as it's enough to get exposure.  You can do this every 90 days or so.

The goal is to get a few good reviews.  If you do, it will allow you to sell copies once you get off the free list.

Also, you can set up a twitter feed and Facebook page for your book.  This will generate sales over time and both will get stronger with time, if the book is good.

There is obviously a lot more that you can do with this and you could really take it to the limit.  If the book begins to sell, you could make videos showing each recipe step by step walk-through.  Then sell the videos as a package.

Its important to look and see as much opportunity as you can.  We have a tendency in our society to not see opportunity until it jumps up and bites us, or until we accidentally stumble across it.

Here are links to three of the top kindle books on how to make money selling ebooks.  They are definitely worth a look if you are new to this!

Amazon Prime

For those that haven't tried it, Amazon Prime is a pretty good deal.

Here is a link for a free no strings attached trial:

http://amzn.to/15egIhX

Enjoy!

Taking action!

Well, I picked up my new running shoes and did my mile yesterday.


I cannot say how good that felt.  It was really amazing.  I always think I feel good when I'm laying on the couch....I am wrong.  Yes, it's relaxing, but it is only relaxing in the moment.  But the amount of "feel good" that walking and running created AFTER I finished the activity, was huge!

This is a shift from present moment thinking to future thinking.

By focusing on activities that have more pay off later, I can build future pleasure and reach my goals easier than trying to stay comfortable and relaxed now and still reach my goals.

Come to think of it, how can I reach my goals if my main goal is to be comfortable.

The human body and the life experience is funny that way.  Sometimes you have to lose to win.  If you want to be comfortable and be able to relax, you need to experience temporary discomfort.

Interesting....

Where to go from here?

I am very dissatisfied with where I am.  It's strange, overall i have so much to be happy about, but there are some very big things in my life that suck on a perpetual basis.  Namely: finances, physical health, and friendships.

Now, I know I have control of these to some extent.  This makes me believe that there is some habit or thing that I am doing that is causing these area's to falter and continually be a problem.

So, what are the specifics.

First, let's talk finances.  Financially we are in debt.  But that's been the case for the last 13 or more years.  I never seem to be able to chip at it.  Some times things go well and we bring it down, other times we don't.  I've settled that the main problem is a cash flow issue.  We have an income problem.

I like to ask questions that help guide my thinking, my question now is, "How can I act to increase our income?"

Second,  Physical health.  Overall, I am healthy.  I quit smoking years ago and don't drink a lot.  But I have been overweight since the 5th grade.  It fluctuates, but after I quit smoking I added a bunch of pounds that never seemed to go away.  I have tried adjusting my food and exercise, but it never really seems to help.  One note here is that back in 2004 I ran a half marathon.  In the 4 months I was training to run that I began to tone up a bit.  It was slow, but I could see some progress.

Question:  What can I do to reduce my fat levels to normal?

Lastly, friendships.  Well, this is the elephant in the room.  I'm not sure if I don't have a good understanding of what a friendship is, or if everyone just already have enough friends and don't need anymore.   My view of friendship is a person or group of people you connect with and get together with on a regular basis.  It doesn't have to be daily, but maybe a group that you see once or twice a month for pleasure.

Question:  How can I re-define friendships so that my interactions with others fulfill my connection needs?

So, how should I approach these?  I think that they will inherently affect each other.  They are truly connected.  First, increased fitness will increase financial income will increase friendship.  You could really put them in any order and they will increase each other.  This is where some of my past reading comes into play.

In years past many of the books I have read talked about building habits and how to create good ones and destroy bad ones.  I think this is where I need to start.

I will start with my second area of concern:  Physical Health.

This will increase my energy, mental frame of mind, and overall outlook.  This will naturally carry many benefits.  So, how do I do this?

Since I had good experience in the past with running, I think approaching that with the idea of forming a habit of running on a daily/every other day basis will significantly increase my health.  So what are my steps:

1. Get new running shoes
2. Begin walking/running regularly.  My only constraint here will be that I have to run/walk at least   every other day.  Every day is good, but if I miss a day, that is fine as well.
3. I'll start with a mile, until I can run the entire way.  Once I can run a mile, I will sign up for a 5k run and begin training. 
4. After 2 or 3 5k runs, I will again move to 1/2 marathons.  My ultimate goal will be to do a full Marathon in 2014.

So, This seems like a good plan to get started.  I'll note how I am doing here and I will also indicate when I feel I have the habit established.  Again, the thought is that increased physical health will increase the other areas naturally.

Doubt

     
It's in seeking my path that I err.  

I've come to see that life is an unfolding.  Most of my struggle has been in delaying the unfolding by constantly searching for where I should be.  I am where I need to be.

Too many times I search instead of living, I avoid experiencing where I am, to find where I should be.  This is wrong.

I want God in my life, but I don't listen for his instruction.  I seek his wisdom and blessing, but I am not available for his instruction on how to get it.  It is as if I want God to make make my desires reality and be a wishing well or a genie to grant what I seek.

I am growing and understanding that this is not what he does.  This is not how I relate.  My job is to have faith and trust in the Lord.  My job is to fight doubt and work today where I am.

I trust that the Lord will guide me.  I trust that the Lord is right.

It is through his Son Jesus Christ that I am released from my doubt, I am released from my sin.

I was baptized years ago, my body was washed, but my heart was not touched.  I listened in church and could remember the words, but I did not let the Spirit into my heart.  It was fear, it was doubt that kept it out.

Watch and protect yourself from doubt, it is the kindling of fear and uncertainty.

Where Did I Learn This?

     I look for guidance everywhere.  God, Man, Books, Seminars....I search everything.  When did I forget how to connect with myself?  When did I lose the thought that I was my own guide.


     Somewhere along the way I lost myself.  Somewhere I said, "Your judgment is better than mine.  I should listen to you."

     I get glimpses of my childhood.  Mentally I see images of me and I get feelings of how I use to be.  I  remember in feelings.  I remember feeling that I was where I should be and doing what I should have been.

     The feelings of always looking to see what I should be doing came later.  Concern over whether or not what I was doing was right also came later.

     The memories I remember our situation was poor, we were broke, but there was no worry about that.  I was happy to live day to day.  I was happy for food when we had it.  I was happy for the four black and white channels we could get in.

     My life now is about want.  I want what I do not have.  I want to be better.  I want to be bad.  I want  to be good.  I want to be a kid.  I want...

     I want to understand where I changed and when I began to feel that what I am is not good enough.  When did I that change occur.  The change that left me trying to change.

     I need to explore why I want, it's not because I need things, food is relatively abundant here in the US  I don't eat steak and lobster, but food that is necessity is easy and cheap to come by.  For an hour worth of work at any part-time job you can buy a week's worth of rice.  Dry beans are equally as cheap.

I watch my son play with his toys.  I see he has no worries.  God, I pray I don't do anything to rob him of that.  His movements are sure, he knows what he wants.  The things he wants are small to me.  But they are the world to him.  I remain sure not to invalidate his wants.  Maybe that is the key.