2011 was good.  It was supposed to be my year of the product.  It didn’t work out like that. 2011 was more the year of the thinker for me.  2012 is awesome! 2012 is the year of the doer!

Start Singing.

¹ What is your mission for January?

January double dog dare:  My mission should I accept it is to add something and subtract something for every month for the entire year 2012.

I just re-read some of older posts and entries regarding goals and New Year’s resolutions.

This one, “Do not tell me your goal, and you will succeed.“ sticks out for me.

Let’s break it down in plain english.  You tell your friend you are going on a diet, and plan on losing weight.  You now feel satisfied, because you’ve done step one.  You’ve made your goal public like many experts state.  However, just because you have taken a step and made it public, you start to feel like you are already attaining your goal.  So, since you feel like you are already losing weight, you actually don’t work as hard to attain your fitness goal.

This is the reason I was intentionally vague with my January mission.  I wrote down my January challenge in a post dated in February 2012.  When that date comes, I’ll let you know if I completed my challenge. In the meantime, what is your mission should you accept it?  Break them down into smaller pieces.

¹Photo Source

In my last post, I described my setback.  How I’ve been lacking discipline and allowing bad habits to creep back in my life. I also described how I hurt my groin. In this post, I’ll write my Recipe for Recovery and how I am recovering from my groin injury.

1. Rest and Relaxation
   Well, For the first few weeks after the self-diagnosed groin pull, I just iced my groin and rested.
2. Stretching and low intensity
   I re-introduced my stretching and really slow walking with very low incline. This is difficult for me. I love to have the incline at 6 or 10. It keeps my Heart Rate up. At low inclines and low speeds, my heart rate doesn’t rise as much as I’d like.
3. Real relaxing.
   I had a family vacation at Disney World. Although, I had to walk all over creation. My leg hurt, but was bearable. Mentally, it was quite nice to break from the couch potato time. In fact, I tried my best during the vacation to stay off email, twitter, Facebook, and the internet in general. If I had screen time it was with the kindle app.
4. Return to low-intensity training
   My groin had a set-back due to all the walking at Disney. So, I went back to slow walking, but I added swimming in the pool and stretching.
5. Slowly increase intensity.
   Only recently, have I re-introduced my dumbbell exercises and weight lifting. Although, I’ve kept my squats workout simple.
6. A return to Books.
   Instead of TV watching (since I’m not on the treadmill or elliptical as much), I’ve been reading a ton more. Not just internet articles either. I’ve been reading books. Normally, I’m reading two to three books at time time. I stopped that since the Internet candy reading supplanted much of that.
7. Mix in better weather.
   I’ve been able to get out on the bicycle a few times. I’ve been able to walk outside, play with the kids at the park.  I know I don’t have any control, but getting out in the Sun really does help the body.
8. Friendly Challenge and competition.
   My brother dared me to a little challenge both physically and creatively.  It jump started my motivation to reign in my eating habits.

This is where I’m at:

Its really a bummer when you want to exercise, but physically you shouldn’t. I was planning on doing two or three Olympic Triathlon races this summer along with a few smaller warm-ups mixed in. I’m not sure that’s happening. I’m only committed to doing the 2011 Chicago Olympic Triathlon.  I still would like to add a long bike ride and possibly a shorter Triathlon, but I haven’t found much yet.

As my bad habits came back in droves, so have my good habits returned.  As soon as I made a commitment to myself to reign in my eating habits, my exercise habits followed.  Add in, I’m blogging a bit more, I’m doing some new creative work.  I have my ups and downs, but I know I’m on the road to recovery.  In my next post, I will take a look at lessons I’ve learned while going through this process.

¹Photo source: National Library NZ on The Commons

Beware: Bad habits come out in droves! Over the past few months I have:

• Failed to stretch regularly (I used to do it 6 times a week.)
• Deliberately not counted calories nor watched what I ate.
• Increased my expenses while decreasing my income and increase my work.
• Increased my TV viewing habits.
• Increased my Internet Reading habits.
• Decreased my exercise intensity.
• Not published many blog articles.
• Failed to achieve many of my 2011 first quarter and second quarter personal goals.
• Let my productivity in my non-work time decrease dramatically.

I could go on, but I’ll stop before I start depressing you too.

What’s the deal? What’s going on?

I don’t know really. Once the tidal wave gets started, it picks up steam, and boom you are back at the beginning.

Take my blogging. If you are still reading my site and read my recent posts, you can probably get a sense of my lack of urgency. I just haven’t wanted to publish. Note: If you are trying to lose readers and followers, not publishing is a fabulous way to do it.

Self-discipline and moderation was difficult for me in College. Yet, I learned my lessons, and for the most part, in my post-college life, I’m a disciplined and controlled person. In fact, I’d like to think I am better than the average joe.

What happened? What has changed?

A confluence of events have taken place.

Event #1: We added a beautiful HDTV to our household last year.

Event #2: We decided to add a Netflix subscription to our lowest of low Cable TV package. (Believe me when I say low Cable package, I’m an ardent Chicago Sports Fan, and we don’t even have ESPN, TNT, and other stations.) In general, I’m just not much of a TV watcher. Yet, my past taught me to stay away from time-sucking habits. Its one reason we don’t own a DVR.

Now, if you are reading where this is going, a couch potato is born

In fact, if I look at the dates, my blog production started to really deteriorate when my Netflix subscription started. Coincidence, I think not.

Now: You might think that my exercise habits have regressed too, and you’d be correct in many ways. However, when I’m watching Netflix, I am often on the treadmill or elliptical. Its a soft rule I have: if I’m just watching TV mindlessly, I must be moving.

I don’t follow the rule entirely, but more times than not I will.

Wait a minute, I thought I said above, that my exercise intensity is down? You’d think if I’m doing all this TV watching which means exercising, that I’d be in buff summer condition.

Picture Snoopy the dog pointing at me rolling on the Floor Laughing.

My winter sedentary-season training habits combined with my active-summer-season diet results in weight gain. My calorie burn is not enough to keep up with eating.

Event #3: A couple of months ago, I decide after a reading a great article on weight-training, that I’m going to get back into my exercise intensity groove. I think to myself, I’ve been on the treadmill for a few weeks. I’m just going to pick up the intensity of my workouts.

One day, I decided to combine heavy dumbbell deep squats in my morning workout with evening incline treadmill workouts and very little rest. Mix in a lack of stretching, and Boom: I have a leg pains.

Although, I don’t remember the date. I can vividly imagine the circumstances leading up to a painful leg. I’ve self-diagnosed a groin pull with the help of from medial friends. Leg pain is not fun. I’m only now starting to get over it. I still have not ran yet. I’m going to test my leg at Fitbloggin.com’s 5k this year.

Three Events start to rattle the cages of bad habits, then one habit starts the ball rolling. Then another and another and before you know it, I’m engulfed in an avalanche.

In fact, I’ve been so frustrated at myself for my lack of self-discipline, that I’ve let anger seep into my personal relationships. I know its wrong, and yet I can’t seem to control it.

Stay tuned for my Recipe for Recovery!

It took me a long time to learn the lesson. Too Long if you ask me.

From grammar school to high school, I was an excellent student. I almost always did my homework. I rarely missed a day. I wasn’t perfect, but I tried my best. I was very close to perfect. I had no doubt I was going to college. In fact, I could pretty much pick the college I wanted to go to provided my family and I could afford it.

Something changed in college, my focus changed. It went from academics to social. It took me almost the entire four years of college to regain my academic focus. I skipped classes. I took homework for granted. I was able to get B’s and C’s in most classes without having to do too much work. Yet, how did I slip up? What lesson did it take me too long to find?

What would happen is I would miss a class. I’d miss a homework date. Then, I’d miss another class, and another. I’d think to myself. Since, I already missed a class and homework, I can’t be perfect. So, I might as well miss more. Then, mid-term would come, and I’m spending the night before cramming my butt off, because I didn’t do the day-to-day work. I’d get a B or a C on the midterm. This success without work quickly became a bad habit. The thinking since I wasn’t perfect, I might as well slip up even more was poor judgement. The if I’m not perfect, I might as well be the exact opposite.

How does this apply to fitness?

Its the same as thinking, well, I just had a bowl of ice cream, I might as well eat the whole pint.

Its the same thinking as I missed my exercise the past few days, I might as well not do it today.

For me, the lesson I learned is that perfection thinking is crap thinking. Just because you slipped up yesterday, and you can not be perfect anymore doesn’t mean squat. I’m not perfect. I’m human, and humans are not meant to be perfect.

The lesson that took me so long to learn was: If you get off the horse, get right back on as soon as you can! I’ve talked about this unperfection lesson in a different way in the past in the blog post: Begining with the end in mind.

Why do I bring this up? Well, This past week, I fell off the horse. The prior week, I was great. I met all my fitness goals. This week, not so much. I did some great hiking on Sat, Sept 19. (I know that is last week, but the hiking was pretty strenuous and I needed Sunday and Monday to recover. Okay, that seems like an execuse and probably is.) So, I skipped all my weight workouts. I did Bike Wednesday a nice strong 17 miles. Yet, I feel like a failure especially considering I have not adjusted my diet to match my lack of activity. I am even posted late this week. I did a late Tue, but where is Thursday’s post like I said.

But, when you fall off the horse, you get right back up as soon as you can. I’m blogging today, Friday. Saturday, I plan to walk around most of the day. Sunday Morning, I plan on running with my wife for an anniversary jog. I’m still figuring out the rest of my exercise schedule, but I’m going to do it! I’m making exercise immutable.

In other news, I get a chance to practice my photographry skills as I’m going to the Chicago Gourmet Food & Wine celebration this weekend. I will plenty opportunity to take all sorts of great shots in Millenium Park. I’m excited about all the tastings and the chance to hear some expert Chefs and Sommeliers speak. If you have any recommendations on what tastings I should hit, let me know.

Remember. You are not perfect! Yet, you can get dust yourself off and get right back up! You can do it just as I can.

I mentioned to my wife the other night that I didn’t want to live up to a committment. She’s mentioned why don’t you reschedule or cancel.

I replied: “I don’t want to be That Guy.”

Who’s That Guy?

That Guy is someone who says they will show up at 7:00pm, but he always shows up at 8:15pm.

That Guy is someone who raves at lunch about a great book. You ask him about it, and he say he’ll email you the title of the book, but you never receive an email.

That Guy is the person who says: Great to see you. We should connect. I’ll call you, but never does call.

That Guy is the person who says, I’m going to lose weight, but never does.

That Guy is someone on your team who never pulls his or her weight.

That Guy becomes a guy that is all talk and no action.

There is a theme here.

A theme of action with consistency!

If you set goals for yourself and you don’t take any action, You only hurt yourself. If you announce those goals to the world, you hurt yourself and risk becoming That Guy.

I preach Consistent Acition here at Simpleweight often.

• I recommend you weigh yourself everyday at the same time, with the same scale, and wearing the same clothes.
• I recommend making an immutable exercise schedule.
• I recommend you learn to eat in moderation.
• I recommend you measure your progress.

All of these recommendations are about consistent action.

In my post about Breaking Bad Habits, I talked how I was going to break out of my rut. I promised to post two days a week, and I posted my workout schedule. Its Tuesday, I have yet to post.

Whew, I just made it. That is done. Yet, without a race, my workout motivation has been lax. I have yet to do  my Tuesday weight workout like I promised.

No Execuses?

My kids woke me up in the early morning, and I feel like I’m in the very early stages of fighting off a cold. Meaning, if I get my rest now, I won’t get a cold. So, when I woke up this morning, I decided to roll over and go back to sleep for a few extra minutes of sleep.

Yet, Making Exercise Immutable means: No Matter what, Exercise Happens. There are no execuses.

Today, I’m in danger of falling down the slippery slope of being That Guy.

What do I have to do tonight? I have to exercise! That’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m coming home after working all day and then teaching at night to do a weight workout. I’ll comment  when I’m done exercising.  It’ll be late, but it’ll be done.  I’m not That Guy.

What are you doing to NOT be That Guy?

Why so quiet at Simpleweight?  Where are the blog posts that I love?  Where is the updates to the system?

Some answers to follow.

First off, Its January 18.  How are you doing on your 2010 resolutions & goals?  Have you given up hope?  I hope not.

Image: 'tuffo' http://www.flickr.com/photos/16608866@N00/97138308

If we think about the root word of resolution.  One who is resolute will be characterized by firmness and determination. If I look in the the simpleweight archives, back in 2007, I described Dalai Lama’s 7 steps to positive lifestyle change: Learning, Conviction, Determination, Action, Effort, Habit, and Eliminate Negativity.

Behavior and lifestyle changes require self-motivation, self-discipline, and Determination!  We must persevere through the difficult times in order to enjoy the fun and easy times.

For myself, I’ve labeled 2010:  the year of Action. I am going to “DO” in 2010!  If you think about it, in order for anyone to achieve their fitness goals,  They must ACT.  You must do!  You must move! Weight-loss or weight-gain will not happen on their own.  You have to act on your goals rather than just talk about your goals. So, what have I done?

I put a plan in place for exercise. Everything else must fit in around it. Weight Lifting (alternating muscle groups) six days a week in the morning prior to the kids get up in the morning.  Cardio (walking, running, and elliptical) six days a week in the evening after the kids go to bed.  Swimming when I can get to the pool which will likely be once a week for now. For the past two weeks, I have implemented that plan, and I have exercised more days than I have not.  It feels good.

If you have been following Simpleweight at all, you know that Food In = Food out.  I have increased my Food Out part of the equation.  That’s what I wanted to focus on first.  One Step at a time.  For the Food In part of the equation, I have tracked my food most of the days.  Although, I have yet to make a major change in my eating habits.

Why have I told you what I did rather than what I am going to do?  Mid to late December, I ran across Derek Sivers blog post titled:  Shut up! Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them. This blog post contradicts what I hear from most self-help experts.  They say:  Tell everyone publicly what you are going to do.  It motivates you and makes you more committed.  Yet, when I read this article, a red brick hit me in the face. I recommend you go read it, but here’s a quick quote for those of you who don’t want to click through.

Tests done since 1933 show that people who talk about their intentions are less likely to make them happen.

Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity just enough that you’re less motivated to do the hard work needed.

Wow.

Here’s the abstract of the recent study  “When Intentions Go Public: Does Social Reality Widen the Intention-Behavior Gap?”

ABSTRACT—Based on Lewinian goal theory in general and self-completion theory in particular, four experiments examined the implications of other people taking notice of one’s identity-related behavioral intentions (e.g., the intention to read law periodicals regularly to reach the identity goal of becoming a lawyer). Identity-related behavioral intentions that had been noticed by other people were translated into action less intensively than those that had been ignored (Studies 1–3). This effect was evident in the field (persistent striving over 1 week’s time; Study 1) and in the laboratory (jumping on opportunities to act; Studies 2 and 3), and it held among participants with strong but not weak commitment to the identity goal (Study 3). Study 4 showed, in addition, that when other people take notice of an individual’s identity-related behavioral intention, this gives the individual a premature sense of possessing the aspired-to identity.

Now, that is powerful stuff. It contradicts everything I have thought of when it comes to the power of intention.

Let’s break it down in plain english.  You tell your friend you are going on a diet, and plan on losing weight.  You now feel satisfied, because you’ve done step one.  You’ve made your goal public like many experts state.  However, just because you have taken a step and made it public, you start to feel like you are already attaining your goal.  So, since you feel like you are already losing weight, you actually don’t work as hard to attain your fitness goal.

So, what can we do?  Well, if you are going to make your goals public, don’t state them as if you achieved anything.  Like, I joined a gym or I weighed myself today.  Make it more where the person you are sharing said goal with will actually motivate you.  For example, if I share with my wife that I want to eat less, I can say:  at dinner, please ask me if I am really hungry before I get up for a second serving of dinner.  Use it more in an active motivating process rather than a congratulatory process.

Currently, I am self-experimenting with this theory this month and beyond.  Instead of telling people, what I am going to do.  I just do it, and then tell them what I did.  I ACT.

Now, you know why I have been silent here on the blog. I wanted to do something first and then talk about it afterwards.  2010 – Year of Action.

I know that our simpleweight tools and the menu bar across the top has been intermittently working. I have nothing to announce right now.  Let’s just say, keep telling us about it, and tell us what we can do to help you achieve your fitness goals?

Remember:  Food In = Food Out.  Take Action to change that equation, and you will achieve your goal.

Inside a recent simpleweight conversation.

“When are you going to get serious about your weight loss?”, asked my wife

I was kind of surprised by the question.  I mean, I measure my activity, my biometrics, and some of my food everyday. I talk about weight loss and overall fitness often.  I think about it, read about it, and sometimes even pray or meditate about weight loss.

My response was, ” I am serious.”

My wife then asked,  ”Are you?”

I have let this stew for weeks.  In fact, I don’t remember the date of the conversation.  It could have been months ago, but it feels more recent than months.  So, I put weeks.  The fact that I don’t remember the date, but vividly remember the conversation details is telling. Turning that question over and over in my head.

Serious Contemplation -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/75199686@N00/3479743029

Am I serious about my physical fitness?

I’ve watched a few other bloggers struggle recently with this same question.  It often times is when we go dark.  What I mean by dark is when we’re not posting details, when we’re not measuring, when we’re not checking in publicly.  There is value in that.  Still, it reminds me of a conversation that I read about Knowing vs Doing and personal finance.  What I mean by that.  There is a difference of reading and learning about fitness and weight loss and actually doing it.  Knowing doesn’t make you lose weight.  Knowing doesn’t get you physically fit.  Knowing is just that.  You know.  Doing, now that is the difficult part.  Anyone can know what to do.  Doing takes disciplined action.

So, I thought to myself.  So, my wife doesn’t think I’m serious.  Well, Am I serious about physical fitness?  I’ve been formulating this over and over again.  My first thought then is.

What does it mean to be serious about physical fitness?

1. Move Everyday! I’m not talking about getting up, walking the few steps to the shower, then the few steps to kitchen to eat breakfast, then the few steps to the car, and then the few steps to the office, etc.  I’m talking about actual moving. Measurable Physical Activity.  Do I make it a priority in my every day routine to be active?  I have to say No.
2. Eat less food by eating only enough food until I’m not hungry. I do not do this at all. This is probably the biggest challenge for me. I always eat until I am full. I love food too much. I think, oh I have to have more of this.  its so good.  So, No.
3. Measure my progress to track trends. I weigh myself everyday.  I weigh some of my food everyday.  I don’t do enough physical activity to measure. Although, I measure items, recently, for the first time in a long time, I have not actually tracked the data except for the mental head check.  So, No, I don’t track the trends.
4. Control emotional eating by keeping a food journal. Nope, don’t do that.
5. (optionally) Eat healthy food. Eat Mostly plants (fruits, vegetables).  Stay away from sugary items, and get plenty of protein and fiber.  For the most part i do this.  I mean, I often eat Turkey based Chili, Tacos, Pasta Sauces.  I often eat vegetables at every dinner and lunch.  I often have fruits at lunch.  I eat whole grain breads, whole wheat pastas, and brown rice.  I try to eat poultry for protein with the occasional beef product thrown in there.  We use mostly olive oil based items rather than butter.  My snacks are rarely candy, although sometimes I splurge.  The issue for me is two fold:  I eat too much (see number 2) and sometimes I eat an over abundance proportionally of carbohydrates.  So, I’ll say yes.  I eat healthy food.
6. (optionally) Get enough sleep. Studies dictate that sleep helps with everything.  It helps keep the mind fresh which in turn helps keep you mentally sharp to deal with the day to day psychological struggles over eating. For the most part, I do sleep fine. Although there are times where work dictates fewer hours of sleep.

I have to say; it’s not looking good on my part.  Am I serious about my physical fitness?  The facts may dictate that I Know what to do, but my actions dictate that NO, I am not serious about my personal physical fitness.  You might have different criteria for being serious, but whatever they are.  I’d say if I look objectively at my situation, then No, I am not serious.  My actions speak louder than my words right now.

My next thought to myself, that I’ve been struggling with is:

Why am I not serious about physical fitness?

I mean, I have a fitness website.  I encourage everyone around me everyday to be active, to eat healthy, and to measure progress.  Begin with the end in mind, as Stephen Covey wrote.  Why?  What’s off in my motivations?  I finally came to the conclusion, that I don’t know.  I know it seems like a cop out.  It is.  Yet.  I have to be honest with myself first.  If I am not ready for it, then move on.  Am I ready to make the conscious effort that is necessary to change many years of bad fitness habits.  why now?  Why ever?  Good question.

So.  I know what I need to do.  I need to move, I need to eat less, and I need to measure my progress.  Will I do it?  stay tuned.

Are you Serious about Weight loss?  Ask yourself:

1. Do I move everyday?
2. Do I eat less food?
3. Do I measure my progress?
4. Do I control my emotional eating?
5. Do I eat healthy food?
6. Do I get enough sleep?

Let us know how we can help you get serious about your physical fitness.