Archive for March, 2011
There is so much information out there about goal setting, so I’m not going to rehash the importance of setting goals. All that I will say about it is that its important and everyone should set goals; you always have to have something to aim for. What I want to write about today is what happens when a goal is reached. Recently, I’ve spoke to a few people about reaching a goal and what happens when a goal is achieved. What I have realized is that most people hit a goal weight and they stop their program. Once they stop their program, they are prone to gain weight back. They are content with hitting their goal. Not me!
I am approximately 3 pounds away from my initial goal of losing 54 pounds and getting to 200 pounds. Will I be happy? Absolutely! Will I be satisfied? Absolutely not! When I hit my goal, I will immediately be setting a new goal to aim for. I still haven’t figured out what that goal will be. I am considering two goals: 1) losing more weight or 2) maintaining my weight. I firmly believe that maintaining a weight should be a goal. Otherwise, you let yourself off the hook and are prone to gain weight.
Calorie spiking isn’t a technical term. In fact, I’m not sure its a real term. But its the only term I can think of to describe what it is. I use this term to describe a day when you eat more calories than what you should. Some people call it a cheat day, but I generally don’t agree with a cheat day. To me, a cheat day is an indication that you are on a diet and not making healthy eating part of your life. But thats a different post for a different day.
I see people spending a lot of time on cardio equipment. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but weight lifting is just as effective to burn calories. As an added bonus, when you build muscle, you’ll naturally burn calories as muscle consume calories to remain strong. When I talk to people about weight lifting for weight loss, most people don’t believe that lifting weights can burn enough calories. I wear a Polar F1 heart rate monitor for every workout which helps me track my heart rate, duration of workout and calories burned. Below are some images from this mornings weight lifting workout:
I read a lot of weight loss blogs and I lurk on weight loss forums. I read as much as I can to learn from others, get new ideas and to get inspired. When reading about diet and nutrition I’ve noticed a trend in many of the forums and blogs. It seems many people get frustrated when it comes to keep their meals new and exciting. Many people complain about how they get sick of eating the same foods over and over. I used to be like that.
I used to hate eating chicken twice a day. I used to hate eating a can of tuna every day. I used to hate eating two pieces of fruit everyday.
I used to be fat.
I used to eat for pleasure. I used to eat just to eat.
Not any more.
My house is located in what I like to call “gym no-mans land”. There isn’t an affordable gym located near my house. I say affordable because there are a couple private gym/studios close, but I don’t have that kind of dough. The most affordable gym near my house is the corporate giant…24 Hour Fitness. I’m not a fan of the company in general, but its my best solution so I gotta make it work.
I used to really love going to the gym and getting a great workout in. While I go almost everyday, I find myself getting stressed out and anxious about my trip to the gym. There is just too many things wrong about this gym to really enjoy it:
This post is a bit random as its basically a dump of thoughts I have on exercise, weight loss and the use of Polar Heart Rate Monitor.
I was at a family gathering with my wife’s family over the last weekend where I saw many of her family members that I haven’t seen in a while. When I talked to them, they were fascinated with my weight loss. Every one that I talked to told me I look great (which made me feel good when they said that), but every one asked “what are you doing, exercising?” My reply to that question is that while exercise is an important part of my life, my weight loss comes from proper eating.
