Archive for December, 2008

Before I get to the daily workouts, diets, tips, etc, I wanted to supply some guiding principles for Week 1 and what we’re really looking to accomplish. In a nutshell Week 1 is about:

1. Dropping REALLY bad eating habits
2. Improving SOME dietary things
3. BEGINNING to build a regular exercise routine, but nothing too stressful
4. Setting a baseline for how you’re doing, because without metrics it’s hard to track progress

Remember, Week 1 starts on Monday, so read Week 1, Day 1′s Program beforehand so you know what to be ready for. Cause it’s soooooo hard ;-)

Bad Eating Habits

If you’re anything like me there are probably 2 parts to your diet that really suck: 1) you eat out/eat fast food too much (anything more than once a week is too much) and 2) you don’t prepare your own food ahead of time.

The core to losing weight due to food is very, very simple: eat 6 smaller meals per day (it takes getting used to, but it means your body is constantly metabolizing, which prevents those huge highs and lows before/after eating … like the post-lunch energy crash), prepare as much of it ahead of time as possible and don’t eat junk food.

For this week, our goals are very simple:

1. Get a decent water bottle (stainless steel is best, less toxins and bacteria) and drink more
2. Cut out the worst of your eating habits
3. Start exercising a little bit
4. Figure out where you’re starting and where you’re going so you can track your progress

Bad Diet Habits

Diet is at least 2 times as important as exercise. Most people in my condition (and maybe yours) consume 3000-4000 calories per day. Your body burns about 3000 calories per day. A pound of fat is 3500 calories. It also takes the average person 60-90 minutes of reasonably intense exercise to burn 1000 calories. So you can either cut 500 calories per day from your diet to lose 1 pound per week or you can work out for 4-5 hours per week. Which is easier?

1. Limit your “junk” fast food intake to once a week, no matter what (I walk by a McDonald’s and a burger king every day, so this was very hard for me)
2. If you are going to eat fast food, find the healthy option
3. STOP EATING WHEN YOU’RE FULL
4. Drink 1L of water per day (typically 2 of your water bottles)
5. Switch from regular to diet pop

Exercising

Exercise for weight loss is a cumulative thing. The better your body gets, the easier it is to burn fat. So your initial workouts won’t help a lot and they won’t hurt alot. This is compounded by the fact that the more you exercise the EASIER it is to exercise. So starting now, starting light, will make it easier farther down the road.

Your goal with exercising is very, very easy:

1. Take 1-2 light 20 minute walks
2. Do 3 sets of 10 half crunches (here’s a video if you don’t know how) 3 times during the week (ie: once a day Monday, Wednesday, Friday). I used to do these at work. They’re really easy to do, very quick, you don’t break a sweat. If you’re having problems, put your feet on the floor, put your hands on your legs and “crunch” up until your wrist goes to your knees.

And that’s it. Your walk can be while you’re checking your blackberry, listening to music, whatever. Preferably outside, but a stairmaster/elliptical/treadmill at home will work just fine too. Your goal is basically to develop a light sweat. So don’t job, but don’t dawdle either.

Metrics & Milestones

Alright, the goals for this week are to basically figure out where you are, and to develop milestones you can celebrate. So:

1. Open Notepad or Excel or Word or something, and take note of stuff
2. Get a measuring tape and measure your waist, stomach, chest, arms, neck, thighs, etc
3. If you belong to a gym or have a fancy electronic scale, get your bodyfat % and water % (ie: inverse of your Lean Body Mass), otherwise have your doctor do it or buy a cheap bodymass gadget for 20$.
4. Using your bodyfat and/or LBM, calculate how much you’d weigh if you were 10% lower than your current bodyfat. And also calculate how much you’d weigh at 15% bodyfat and 10%. 15% is a realistic goal (Vin Diesel is 15% give or take), 10% is a totally ripped goal.
5. Set milestones for weight (like “I was X pounds 2 years ago, when I left college, when I started gaining weight, etc) and write those down. Set milestones for your waist (ie: “I”d LOVE to be a size 36″) and write those down. Set milestones for your weight (for me it was 240 pounds, 230 pounds and 225 pounds). Set milestones for your workouts (what weight you’ll get to, how long you’ll be able to do cardio for, how LONG of a workout you’ll be able to do, how many calories you’ll be able to burn, etc).

Basically, data, data, data. Every datapoint you capture is one that will be able to encourage you when you’re feeling down and fat. Cause when you feel down and fat is when you’ll give up if the only thing you’re tracking is your weight and it’s going up and down.

As a bonus, if you’re able, take a weekly picture in your skimpiest clothes so you can SEE how your body changes. I haven’t been doing this, I really want to try, and I KNOW that SEEING the changes will help me stay motivated.

Notes

So these are our goals for Week 1. I’ll create 3 daily programs to help out with food ideas, exercise ideas, and to break you into these things slowly. The longest task is going to be the milestones one. The hardest will be food. Celebrate every single one of your wins, ignore your losses and find somebody to do whatever program you’re doing with. Doing it alone means guaranteed failure.

Hope this helps! If you have tips, thoughts, suggestions or complaints, either leave a comment or email me at jeremy@b5media.com so I can include them in future “episodes” :)