What are you going to do when your current plan falters? Yes, of course, you can keep doing what you have been doing, but when that fails what will you add?
In episode 187 I talked about FOCUS (Follow One Course Until Successful–or Stagnant) and I believe that is the most basic action. Find a course of action that you can follow–and still enjoy life–and then ride that horse to the finish line (yes, I mixed a metaphor there.)
And in episode 188 I talked about KISS (Keep It Slow and Simple) by not adding complexities that make adherence to those rule overly difficult. When you combine those two episodes, you discover my true belief. Find ONE simple action to make a slow but steady improvement and don’t stop until you reach your goal.
But what happens when something unexpected adds a new twist to the problem? You need to have something planned for your next step. Mine? I am looking for a good but used rowing machine. Why that? Because it takes me back to my childhood, and memories of fishing on the lake in the morning with my father. It is a simple activity and takes no training. I can do it in my basement while listening to podcasts, or to music or to nothing more than the rhythm of the machine.
All images and videos on Pixabay are released under the Creative Commons CC0. Thus, they may be used freely for almost any purpose – even commercially and in printed format. Attribution is appreciated, but not required.
All images and videos on Pixabay are released under the Creative Commons CC0. Thus, they may be used freely for almost any purpose – even commercially and in printed format. Attribution is appreciated, but not required.
All images from LoseIt are mine, and cannot be used without permission.
_________________________
Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com
Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen.
A great image, but not the KISS I’m talking about.
KISS: Keep it Slow and Simple
Success requires changes in actions and attitudes, and not all changes are simple. When you choose a plan–for a weight loss goal or any other goal–if the plan is complex, it is more likely to break down. Compare a boiled egg with a basic souffle. Each recipe uses the same ingredients (eggs) but the souffle has very specific instructions that must be precisely followed for success. If you miss a single step, the end result will not be what you want.
Weight loss is similar. Weight loss is built on the idea that the person burns more calories than they eat (Calories In/Calories Out). That’s it. There is nothing else that forces excess fat to be burned.
But there are many methods to control CI/CO. You can change eating patterns. You can increase activity. Or you can do both. But if you make it too complex, it becomes more difficult to continue.
From September 13, 2018
Choose one simple change. Just one. You will make progress. Never quit!
This is what I’m talking about.
Photos via Pixabay by Skeeze (soldier) and CJ (tortoise)
All images and videos on Pixabay are released under the Creative Commons CC0. Thus, they may be used freely for almost any purpose – even commercially and in printed format. Attribution is appreciated, but not required.
All images from LoseIt are mine, and cannot be used without permission.
_________________________
Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com
Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a liste
FOCUS: Follow one course until successful (or stagnant).
And in weight loss, “stagnant” does not mean “Oh, woe is me, I haven’t lost weight in two days”. It means no change in more than a month. (And “no change” is exactly that. If you’ve lost one pound over the past month, you may not have lost weight as fast as you want, but you are still making slow progress.)
Find a method you want to use. Stick with it. Don’t change after a few days simply because the weight is not magically disappearing as fast as you want. But if after a full month you have seen no progress, then it is time to make a change.
LoseIt Food Log from Sunday, Sept 9, 20918
I was about 80 calories OVER budget (ignoring Fitbit Adjustment) and yet, the next day I was one pound less. Why? My budget works, and I am shedding the excess water from the previous day.
All images from LoseIt are mine, and cannot be used without permission.
_________________________
Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com
Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!
Things can be simple. Things can be easy. Some things are both. But not weight management.
The rules of weight loss–whether it is CICO or keto, or Nutrisystem–are simple. Rules and instructions can be simple. It is the performance and follow-through that is not necessarily easy. And is even harder to continue indefinitely.
Art is simple. Apply paint to your medium and you have a piece of art. Simple. But is it easy to create a beautiful piece of art?
A snapshot of a recent day’s food diary. From Saturday, Sept 2, 2018.
I was 90 calories under budget…and the next day I had a 6-pound weight gain. Why? More than 5 grams of sodium!
All images from LoseIt are mine, and cannot be used without permission.
_________________________
Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com
Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!
How do you find success? You don’t find success. You make success from the raw materials you are given. That means you don’t lose weight magically. You need to eat less. Or move more. Or both.
You may want to lose weight at two pounds a week, but you may only be capable of losing at one pound a week. That does not make you a failure. It makes you a real person.
What would make you a failure? Quitting. That is the only way you can truly fail. (Although we all know that it is very possible to defer success, but you can always restart your weight loss journey.)
But this also applies to other goals, including finding a new job. While it would be great if all one needed to do to find a job is to wait for your future employer to find you, most often it requires work! You need to fill out applications, call the people in your network, update resumes, write cover letters and, most importantly, you need to sell yourself!
Listen to the show to hear how I sold myself into an invitation to a job for which I did not apply!
Also, here are links to recent shows:
Episode 183, where I talk about recent personal challenges
Episode 184, where I explain the idea of a “Transparent diet”.
All photos are my personal photos, and cannot be used without permission.
_________________________
Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com
Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!
Accountability is one key to success. Do people know what you eat? Do they know how much you eat? When those details are hidden, it is easier to apply a veneer of misleading success to an otherwise successless journey.
I have decided to post more frequent shows, and for every show, I will have a screenshot of my previous meals. Do I expect you to do the same? No, of course not. But maybe if everyone were a little more transparent with their food three things would happen:
Success would happen faster because better choices would be made more often
The consequences of poor choices would be more obvious.
We wouldn’t be as alone as we are in this weight loss journey.
As promised:
My food log from Sept 4, 2018
Oh, why did I tell you to find these show notes at MakeYourSomedayToday.com/Ozzy? Tomorrow’s food log might look even more ugly. Yesterday was a bad day for Ozzy and we chose to put him to sleep this morning. That does not justify a binge….but right now, I don’t care what I eat, or how much I eat.
All photos are my personal photos, and cannot be used without permission.
_________________________
Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com
Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!
So, backyard chickens alone won’t disrupt a weight loss plan. But if you decide to get backyard chickens, and then other life events strike (and nothing that is considered a “strike” is usually good) then the combination can roll into a mess.
That’s what happened to me.
I received three new chickens in April. Coop and run construction took me six weeks instead of a few days. “Generalized work stressors” for all employees of our facility began in April with monthly lists of job eliminations. At the end of June, we found out that our 12-year-old pug was terminally illness for your beloved dog. Lastly, then the “generalized work stressor” became a personal job elimination.
All of that began in mid-April and is still continuing (as the job search is ongoing.) All of those emotional drains reduced my ability to continually make good eating choices. All my weight loss progress that I made between February 2018 and now was reversed. And a relatively large part of me doesn’t really care. There simply are too many demands on my mental and emotional reserves.
And I know it’s happened to you at some point, too.
Roxie (Plymouth Rock) Penny (Rhode Island Red) and Esther (Easter Egger) at about 20 days.Esther, Penny and Roxy at 10 weeks.
What are you waiting for? Success isn’t an accident!
All photos are my personal photos, and cannot be used without permission.
_________________________
Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com
Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!
Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com
Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!
There are tens of thousands of books on weight loss. Maybe hundreds of thousands. All of them are correct. And all are wrong.
See, here is the thing. Those books are written by experts. They know exactly what you need to do to have weight loss success. And every authors says “This is the best way!”
They are all correct. None of those authors are being deliberately misleading. But at the same time, they are not totally truthful.
Every book describes a way to successfully lose weight. That means all of them are potential successful methods that you can use.
All of them.
So, which one do you choose? You need to ask the expert. And in this case, the expert is YOU.
Which method of weight loss looks like something you want to try? Don’t pick a method that you know from day one that you cannot follow to completion. For me, the idea of P90X is simply not an option. Likewise, I have no interest in trying a Keto diet? Am I saying P90X and Keto won’t work? Of course not. I know they work. It’s just that I know I won’t be able to (or want to) follow them fully, and therefore it would be a waste of time.
It would be a waste of time for me. Maybe it would be perfect for you. I don’t know. (And neither do all those authors.)
Ultimately, the successful plan will be the one that you start, and never quit. And only you know which plan that will be.
Go ahead. Read all those books. Check out blogs. Watch Dr. Oz. But in the end, the final decision is yours. Find a plan that looks like you will enjoy it. Follow it. If it doesn’t work, try something else.
You are in control of your success. That can be empowering and at the same time it can be demotivating. If your choice brings success, you will be your own hero. If your choice does not work…well, then it’s back to the drawing board.
Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com
Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!
The Wisconsin seasons are beautiful and messy, wonderful and terrible. (If you didn’t know, Wisconsin has weather that can change rapidly.) But the weather can also be used in weight loss.
Winter snows bring Fitbit Adjustments, especially if you have a moderate-sized driveway and a sidewalk to clear. Spring brings yard cleanup and then summer mowing season starts. Your Fitbit will record many steps as you mow, fertilize and rake your lawn. When autumn arrives the falling leaves add to your “lawn care workout”. Or maybe you need to chop wood for the winter. It is a never-ending routine. And that’s okay (because I enjoy it.)
Lawn work is not always easy but it is relaxing, and it generates a fair amount of exercise. My Fitbit will easily record enough activity in an afternoon to earn a 400-600 calories Fitbit Adjustment. I enjoy seeing those adjustments. And my LoseIt friends frequently comment on my nice Fitbit Adjustments.
But I really don’t worry about these adjustments. I don’t eat those calories, and won’t until I finally reach my goal weight. So why do I bother wearing a Fitbit?
People have asked me how I keep my motivation. I don’t keep it. It keeps me. Motivation is my “why”. That never goes away. My “why” never leaves me. I want to be comfortable walking. I want to be able to ride a roller coaster. I want to buy clothes that are not in the “Big and Tall” department. I want to have my asthma and blood pressure and heartburn under control.
I have achieved some of those “wants”. But weight loss is different than most goals. Let’s say your goal is to climb Mount Everest. After you reach the summit and then descend back to your base camp, you are done. You accomplished your goal. No matter what you do, that experience cannot be taken away from you.
But weight loss is a goal that can be achieved and then lost. And losing it is stupidly easy. All it takes is to become lazy. In my case, I stopped measuring my food (“I know my portion sizes”) and to stop standing on the scale every day.
Would this derail your plans?
That’s all it took for me to give up that hard-won goal.
So, here is the real question: if a person’s motivation never goes away, why is failure so common?
Many people rely on other people to inspire them. I talk about that in MYST episode 91 where many people need cheerleaders to help them make progress. And there is nothing inherently bad with cheerleaders. It’s is exciting to have someone on the sidelines of your life, helping you maintain your focus and excitement.
The problem is what happens when the cheerleaders go home, and you are still on the field, fighting for that winning score?
Science fiction author Octavia Butler (1947-2006) wrote an essay about how to become a successful author, and her quote applies to weight loss as well as writing:
“First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. Habit is persistence in practice.”
Habit is persistence in practice.
That is how you find success after the cheerleaders in your life are gone. If you don’t have reliable habits built into your daily life, maintaining success after achieving it will be very difficult. And in fact, if you don’t use good habits, you will join the vast majority of weight-loss winners as they regain what they worked so hard to lose.
Right now, earning a daily Fitbit Adjustment is simply a matter of ego. I’ve worn a Fitbit since July 12, 2011. It is a daily habit. Developing good habits–such as measuring my food, logging everything I eat and wearing my Fitbit–is how I continue to move toward success.
A healthy ego helps to reinforce those habits. I want to keep my Fitbit numbers growing. As of this morning (May 14, 2018, at 0615):
Total steps: 18,533,661
Total Distance: 8,242.58 miles
Total flights of stairs: 30,423
And I don’t believe that “habits are formed in 21 days” or “28 days” or…well, you pick a number. None of them are correct. Habits are like my baby chickens. They grow quickly, but only if you pay attention and keep feeding them every day. Habits are created in one day. One day that is repeated over and over, in an unending cycle. That is how long it takes to create a habit. (Also, it really only takes one day to break a habit, too.)
So, here are some habits for you to begin growing:
Do you plan your meals in advance, every day?
Do you weigh all of your food and log everything you eat?
Do you monitor your weight on a regular basis?
Do you remind yourself why you are working this hard, every day?
Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com
Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!
