Getting Motivated to Get Into Shape

Sometimes the hardest thing to do when it comes to bettering yourself is staying motivated.

When it comes to getting in shape, I try to identify motivation from several different angles:

• My God. We are charged to maintain our body as a temple of God to honor Him.
• My kids. What example am I setting for them? By destroying my body through neglect, I’m not only modeling poor behavior, but I’m also putting myself at risk of not being around to see them become adults.
• My wife. It seems disrespectful on many levels to my wife to not take care of my body. I want to be in good health to show her that I care to be around for her and our kids, and that I want to offer her an attractive person to be married to. Sounds shallow, but is it really? If I didn’t care about my health, then it isn’t much of a leap to say I don’t care about my family.
• My own well-being. I just want to feel good in my own skin.

What motivates you to get into shape?

Forward Progress

Phase 1.1

I feel that overall things are going quite well with my redesign. I’m keeping up with my walking and micro bursting three days a week and I’m doing a decent job following my fist-size portion control. In coming days, I’m going to add circuit training three days a week.

Some time ago I read The Abs Diet by the David Zinczenko, editor of Mens Health Magazine. I remember he had some beginner-geared circuit training plans in his book, so I’ll likely model what I do after that. I’m going to start very small, probably six-to-ten exercises to begin because I seem to over-do it and all that does is weaken my immune system and I lose motivation.

Measurements

I’ve been weighing myself daily and I plan to continue to do that. I’m going to update the Stats page of this blog on a weekly basis so I can embarass myself into getting in shape. It’ll be great fun!

Redesign Phase I Commences

My wife sent me a picture of us from about a decade ago. It’s amazing to see it because I was a good 60 pounds lighter. The thing is, I was actually over-weight in that picture. I had bad habits.

Those bad habits have stuck with me, and about ten years later the proof is there. Now I have to work on reversing the damage that’s been done by replacing bad habits with good habits, so I enter Phase I of my redesign:

Portion Control

To ensure I’m not overeating, I’m going to invoke the fist-size method of portion control. This means that at each meal, I’m going to eat no more food than what equals the size of both of my fists. At each snack, I’ll only eat the amount of food that fits inside one of my fists. I’ll eat three meals and three snacks a day.

While this early in the game I’m focusing on quantity over quality, I’m still going to limit my dessert intake. Desserts are dangerous. I’m not going to stop eating desserts, but I am going to limit it to one dessert a week.

Don’t get me wrong, quality is important but focusing on whether I should eat 4 ounces of green beans or 4 ounces of broccoli at this point is like a kindergartner trying to decide between coloring a picture of a horse or a tree to increase his changes of getting into art school. At this point, I’m just trying to color the damn picture.

Output > Input

It’s commonly known (but taken for granted) that in order to lose weight one must burn more calories than one consumes. Portion control takes care of decreasing input. To increase output, I’m hitting the trails.

The idea is to walk about 30 minutes (roughly 2 miles) three times a week. I’ve been doing this consistently for about three weeks now. My long term goal is to run about three- to five-miles a day, but this is just Phase I so I’m not running yet, but I’m starting to work that way. I’ve begun doing micro bursts in my walks.

Micro bursts are my efforts to get my body reacquainted with the mechanics of running. Like it sounds, it’s simply short bursts of jogging peppered thoroughout my walk. Normally I go for about 50 to 75 yards at a time. It’s very informal and I don’t have a set goal of micro bursts I do or a speed I try to achieve. I simply do it when I feel that I can.

In later phases I plan to pack on muscle knowing that muscle burns calories just by being there, but for now I’m focusing on walking.

Success Measures

Because I’m a geek, I feel compelled to track my progress.

The obvious way to do this is by weight. This doesn’t give the full picture, however, because muscle is much more dense than fat. BMI has pretty much been deemed a joke for the same reason, but measuring weight does provide a stable, quantifiable measurement.

• Weight – I’m compelled to weigh daily just to capture the regular ups-and-downs and to stay motivated. I’ll shoot for daily, then see where it goes from there.
• Waist - Measuring my waist will be a more realistic measurement of progress because that’s where I carry my weight. I will do this weekly.

There are other key measures that aren’t so easily obtained, like my triglycerides and glucose levels, but I can’t really do that myself.  What other measurements can I use?

Identifying Weaknesses

Are you a social eater? Emotional eater? Or just an all-around eater?

When trying to conquer anything, the first step is to create a plan. Part of that plan is identifying risks that can make the plan fail.

In the case of getting healthy, risks equal personal weaknesses.

I started paying attention to my eating behavior many months ago, and I’ve found that I’m blessed to have several weaknesses:

• I don’t get full. I seemingly have no mechanism that tells me to stop eating. In my younger years, I’d eat until getting physically ill.
• I go into an eating trance. I get tunnel vision. While I’m eating, conversation annoys me and my entire existence is focused on eating.
• I eat fast. Because I’m in a trance, I don’t come up for air. I’m always the first one finished with a meal, and before I can swallow down my bite of food I’ve already put another one in my maw. Disgusting, isn’t it?
• There are few foods I don’t like. Sometimes I think picky eaters have it best. They have such a sensitive palate, they can only eat a few select foods.
• Any reason is a good reason to eat. Even when I’m being cognizant of my eating habits, I always seem to come up with an excuse to gorge just this one time. It’s a holiday, it’s a new restaurant, it’s the weekend, I’ve done so well through the week so I want to enjoy a meal, someone else is paying for this meal, I haven’t had this particular meal in a long time …

Now for the fun part. How do I mitigate these weaknesses?

• I don’t get full, so I’m going to determine how much I am going eat. Before putting a single bite in my mouth, I am going to make a deliberate decision as to the amount of food I’m going to eat. No seconds, no extra scoops. No eating what’s left so we don’t have to throw it out. Sounds like a no brainer, but it hasn’t been so for me.
• I go into an eating trance, so I’m going to break up the cycle. Something to draw me out of my trance. For example, after every bite, set down the fork and take a drink of water. Pause every few minutes for conversation; stay engaged.
• I eat fast, so I’m going to savor the flavor. I love food, but I don’t act like it. I’ve noticed on cooking shows that chefs really taste their food. They enjoy the entire experience. The texture, the tastes, the temperature. I eat like a dog. I wolf it down and bare taste anything. I need to slow down and experience the meal.
• There are few foods I don’t like, so I’m going to focus on the healthy foods I eat. I like veggies. Not as much as I like cinnamon rolls, but if I break up the cycle and savor the flavor, I’ll get to experience what I like about the healthier foods on the menu.
• Any reason is a good reason to eat, so I’m going to focus on the experience rather than the food. Food goes hand-in-hand with all events. You can’t have a party or even a spontaneous gathering without food, so it’s no wonder so much emphasis is put on the food. I need to turn that on its ear and really focus on the conversations, people, and environment more than the food. That’s what makes an event special.

Seems like a plan, but the true test is in the doing. I need to find the proper motivation.

What about you? What are your weaknesses when it comes to eating?

Welcome, But Why?

Welcome to The Temple of the Turtle!

What is it?

This is my blog on the struggles that I and our American society faces to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

OK, so who are you?

I’m a 33-year-old married man and father of four. I’m a professional photographer and technical writer in the mid-west, and I’m also the founder and author of The Apostle of the Turtle, which is a blog on personal finance and living debt-free.

So, what … one blog wasn’t enough? You’re starting to clutter the blogosphere, ya know.

Having a healthy relationship with and understanding of money is just one part of a healthy existence. It’s one part that I needed to master, and I’ve noticed that my personal health and the health of my family is yet another area I need to master.

You’re fat.

Guilty as charged, I guess. And that’s just one outward dimension of the problem that I have with nutrition and honoring the gift of my body. 1 Corinthians 6:19 tells us:

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

You’re going to make this a God thing, aren’t you.

As a devout Christian, I make an effort to place God at the center of everything I do.

Even eating a ham sandwich?

Yes, even eating a ham sandwich. But much like The Apostle of the Turtle, my goal is not to cram Biblical teachings down your throat nor judge you if you do not share my beliefs. All I ask is that you have an open mind to what I present, regardless of where you stand.

What’s with all this turtle stuff?

The turtle has come to represent how I try to live my life. They are slow, deliberate, and you never see one with road rage. Plus, we’re the same shape.

But isn’t that, like, a sin to say you try to live life like a turtle? Sounds kinda Wiccan to me.

Gosh, I hope not. If it wasn’t clear when I said I’m a devout Christian that I try to live a Christ-like life, let me make it clear that in no way do I worship turtles or any other reptiles. I merely use the turtle as a metaphor for my approach to things in a super-charged, super-sized society.

OK. So, now what?

Well, now I start blogging about health and nutrition and how it impacts me and those around me. I’m going to track my progress and hopefully we’ll see that I’m getting healthier. I invite you to come back often and join in the discussion! In future posts you’ll learn more about me and why I’m doing this.