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This is my personal blog and as such I will use this opportunity to tell you about how my physical health and fitness has reshaped over the years. Now whenever I create a New Years resolution, I do it with the mindset of a project manager. Your fitness goals are a project, and as with any project you need resources to help you complete the project.
I broke down these into four simple steps:
- Figure Out Goals
- Research Options To Get There
- Implementation
- Testing and Validating
- Measuring Success and Results
- Figure Out Goals
Almost three years ago I had realized that I had gotten fat and my weight gain was not attributed to genetics, health problems or medical conditions, but due to poor diet and exercise. I was sedidentary and chose to overeat and consume more food than was necessary, I felt the need to eat until I felt full which it took enormous amounts to determine that feeling full and feeling gorged are two completely different things.
I had decided that it was time to change my lifestyle before I became much older, so at twenty nine years old I decided to revamp my way of living. I set my goals and this was to lose 1-2 pounds per month over the next two years. It took me 10 years to gain 40 pounds, so I should be able to work them off in about 2 to 3 years.
- Research Options To Get There
For research you need to determine whether you want to use or include fat burner pills like Leptovox or do you want to try dieting, or exercising, or combinations of all three. When I made my goals I researched all sorts of products and decided that I would try with just dietary modifications and exercise. I was saving the pills and true dieting only as a last resort if I couldn’t achieve my goal with moderate diet adjustments and exercise.
I also found that weight lifting and power training are far better at weight loss than simple cardio and aerobic activities. This is because they increase your lean muscle mass which helps deplete fat. However, if you want to improve your stamina so you don’t get winded so quickly, you need to do cardio aerobic activities as Weight Lifting does not help stamina very much.
- Implementation
Once you choose your method you implement over the length of time you have set. Hopefully you can choose a routine you can stick with, make sure you chose something that isn’t too agressive, but you can also notice results within a few months. My implementation went like this, I bought a weight bench, Wii Fit, and chose to cut my calorie intake to around 2,000 per day maximum. I started slow, like when eating fast food, I chose to only order 2 items on the menu instead of 3 or 4. Then eventually I weaned these back to 1 item, and skip the side items if possible, or substitute for healthier choices.
- Testing and Validation
You test your goals by trying on your clothing, you validate your results by measuring yourself. Don’t do this daily, unless you use Wii Fit which actually does a good job of tracking your goals. Check weekly, and if you see 1 pound is lost consider that a big success. Make sure you weight yourself with almost no clothing on, and at the same time each day. I did weigh myself at 6am and then weighed myself at 6pm and noticed I was 2 pounds different between the times just from daily eating and drinking.
- Measuring Success and Results
At first I didn’t see much right, just one pound loss this month, two pounds this month and I was thinking “is this even worth it?” but, I noticed within three months that my size 40 pants were too lose, I was on the last notch in my belt, by six months my size 38 pants were too loose. One thing after another, and now almost 3 years later, I fit comfortably in a size 34 pant, but I can wear size 32 Jeans for when I go out and can wear them with only very minor discomfort. My belt sizes shrunk considerably. I was really fitting into size 32 and 34 again, after 12 years of being that waist size.
- Summary
Believe me, it is possible to achieve, you just have to find your plan and measure your success. I did no dieting, I did not restrict chocolate, sugar, fat, or anything. I just reduced portions, and it takes time. It took weeks before my body got used to the new portion sizes and I cut out night snacking, don’t eat after 6pm if you can help it, only drink water or another light beverage. Work out alot, if your muscles are not sore the next day then you are not working out hard enough. Increase weights every 8-12 weeks by 5-10 pounds, make sure your muscles are sore and they will grow and you will feel it, and it will help with your metabolism.
I hope this post helps you and encourages you to set your own goals, let me know about your success stories my friends.
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