Start with yourself

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
~Aristotle



Know thyself: it's a core tenet of many spiritual philosophies, self-improvement disciplines and business plans.

It's really a pretty basic concept, if you want to go anywhere you first have to know where you're coming from. Simple right?
When it comes to building a healthier lifestyle, this means knowing just what you need to, and are willing to change. Yeah, yeah, eat better and exercise more; that's probably a given. You're going to want to get a little more specific though.

Take a look at your diet first. You already have some idea of a few of the things that you probably shouldn't be eating, at least in the quantities you may be right now. Plus, you also want to take note of the things you do eat that are good for you. Knowing yourself is about assessing your strengths as well as your weaknesses.
Now you can do this in your head and just sort of make mental notes about what you want to change and improve, but if you want a really clear picture of how you are eating, the best way is to log what you eat and drink and see exactly where all your calories are coming from.
As I said in one of the opening posts of this blog, I am not a fan of calorie counting. That is to say, I'm not one of those people that has the discipline to log everything I they eat on an ongoing basis. If you happen to be one of those people that can do that, well awesome! And more power to you.
For the rest of us, doing it for is short period of time, let's say, one week, is a really good idea to give you an idea of how many calories you are really eating.
Shooting from the hip and trying to guesstimate is usually a pretty bad idea, most people greatly underestimate their caloric intake.
So yeah, I know, it's a pain in the ass, writing down how many ounces of meat on each sandwich, every slice of tomato and everything you have to drink for a week, but look at it this way, at least for that week you don't have to worry about cutting anything out of your diet. In fact, it's important that while you are logging what you eat, you don't try to eat better. You want this week to be an accurate picture of what your average calorie intake has been over recent months.
As far as calculating how many calories are in what you eat, there are plenty of online sources that will do that for you; fitday.com and nutritiondata.com are two I can think of right off the top of my head and a Google search will provide many more. You just have to go through the process of entering everything, and I mean everything you consume for that week into the website you choose. This will give you how many calories you consume in an average day and from what sources. Once you know that, you have a good place to start from.

Whether you count your calories or just take the “horse sense” approach, you then want to start thinking about what changes you are prepared to make. I've known a number of people who have lost a great deal of weight simply by cutting sodas and/or sugary beverages out of their diet. Of course if you do that make sure you replace him with water as opposed to juices, sports drinks, or even diet sodas.

Also, think in terms of what you can add into your diet as well as what you can take away. A great step that a friend of mine made once, was to simply add in a half a cup of brown rice and a cup of vegetables to her dinner plate every night, no matter what she was eating. She didn't really lighten up her main entree, she just ate a little but less of it and added in the healthy side dishes so she still felt satisfied, got more nutrition and ate fewer calories overall: win-win-win.

And maybe, most importantly, think about where you are getting your food. Does your breakfast usually come from Starbucks? Do you often get lunch with your coworkers at what ever chain restaurant the group decides? How often do you prepare your own meals or snacks? Perhaps there is room for improvement in there somewhere?

While working out your plan, think in terms of small changes, baby steps, then you can make one by one. If you are not sure where to start, you can do some of the changes I suggested here, like getting rid of sodas, no more eating in any place that has a drive-through window, or no food that comes purchased in a plastic wrapper. Also be sure to make some changes additive as well as subtractive; like increasing the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables you eat, making yourself a pot of healty, homemade soup every Sunday and having that as a meal a few days during the week, or having fresh fish for dinner at least once a week.
You don't have to make these changes too fast either, say, one change her week? Or do what I often advise, make a diet change one week, and then an exercise change the next, and just keep alternating back and forth. This way you're only making adjustments to your diet into your exercise habits once every other week. The benefit of this is that you not only avoid the shock and awe approach to either your diet or your activity level that can burn some people out, but your body has just about enough time to begin to compensate for the changes you've made when you hand it a new surprise.

I'll have to talk about exercise changes later. For now, what kind of tweaks to you think you might want to make to your diet or lifestyle?

The January Bump & the Resolution Shuffle

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
~~ Thomas Edison


I just got home from the gym and it's in full swing: the January gym bump. The annual influx of New Year's resolutioners who this year really are going to lose those extra pounds and get in shape.

I don't mean to sound cynical. I actually like seeing so many new people making the effort to get healthy. It is just sad knowing that by mid-February, most of those new faces will be gone from the gym, their resolutions left in the junk drawer along with their membership cards.

That's the way of it though, isn't it? Everyone breaks their New Year's resolutions, don't they?
It's become so common that it seems like there is practically no stigma attached to abandoning your resolution. In fact, it's pretty much expected.
I just read a friend's blog post today about how they are making changes to the way they eat in accordance with their resolution. Then, in the very next sentence, they say that odds are they will revert back to old habits by mid-February. I'm no psychologist, but I have to think that entering into your resolution with a defeatist attitude like that is a recipe for failure.
Can you say self-fulfilling prophesy?

It's easy to see why we fall into this pattern though. The holidays have just ended, and many of us have spent the last several weeks celebrating and consuming more than usual. Plus, all the partying and general hectic bustle of the holidays have left us no time to exercise.
Now it's January, the holiday treats are gone, the social events are done and I'm so over partying and just want to calm down and get back to normal.
Suddenly, we've got all that time we were spending shopping and socializing to devote getting rid of those extra pounds. We've got the resolve, we have the opportunity, and we're going to seize it!

The problem is that the January slow down only lasts so long. Sooner or later, life starts getting interesting again; social events and other activities start popping up and the next thing you know, the lighter diet and exercise program get left on the side of the road as we drive off towards Spring.

As a Chef, I have seen this pattern reflected in the restaurant and catering business my whole career. The holiday season is crazy time, often the busiest time of the year. Then right after New Year's, the rooms full of customers eating & drinking abruptly vanish and in one day, you've gone from the busiest time of the year to the slowest. Things stay slow through January, and as we head into February, the customers and catering events start to return. By the time Spring is in bloom, the business has often returned to normal levels.

Since I have been serving healthy food for those looking to lose weight and get in shape, I have a reversed business pattern. During the holiday season, my business declines as many of my clients choose to give in to the lure of the festive season and let their diets run wild. In January I get a sharp increase in business, not only from returning clients but new ones looking to make good on those resolutions. I do fairly well keeping clients on track but still, by late winter a percentage of them have gone off our program.

So what's the solution to the resolution/de-resolution dilemma? How do you keep from de-rezzing?
Yep, I just made a Tron reference. :)

If you are really looking to make meaningful changes to your body, maybe what you need is a plan. A plan instead of a resolution is a good idea. A plan to help you achieve your resolution is an even better idea. However, I think the best approach is having a resolution that is a step to help you carry out your plan.

What's the distinction I'm drawing between a resolution and a plan? A resolution is a singular adjustment, one change to how you do things. However, to live a healthier lifestyle, just about all of us will need to make a number of changes to how we eat (most of the time) and stay active. If you can make small changes, little course corrections to your life, you may be surprised how quickly good habits get made and the results begin to add up. That's where the plan comes in.
This post is already getting rather wordy, so we'll talk plan in later entries.

If you are still working out your resolution, there are a few guidelines that might help you keep it.

First off, make it specific. Vague resolutions like “losing weight” or “eating better” are more likely to be broken. A better option would be to swear off eating from any place that has a drive-thru or eat nothing that comes in a plastic wrapper. It's far too easy to abandon a resolution if there is nothing concrete to continue.

At the same time, be careful to not set overly lofty goals for yourself. In fact, it's best not to make a goal your resolution. Better to make your resolution a part of the process.
How about dusting off that bathroom scale & resolving to weigh yourself every morning? That can be a great way to keep yourself on track.
Or if you take frequent, short elevator trips, you can adopt the 2 up/3 down rule. You'll take the stairs if you are going up two floors or fewer, down three floors or fewer: even if the elevator door is open and waiting when you walk by.
That would literally be a little course correction, eh?

Sometimes is helps to tell someone, tell many someones, about your resolution. It might give you a bit more motivation to stick with it if you garnish the resolution with a little social pressure.

There are a number of little tricks to help you keep your resolution. Just remember to start with something you can keep going and transform into a long term habit. Of course to know what works for you, you first have to know yourself, and knowing yourself is the first step in making your plan.
But that's a topic for another blog entry.