Hello everyone! I know that a major concern people have today is weight loss. You see it everywhere. Heck, I use to worry about it too. Especially a little over a year ago when I weighed close to 180. Then I dropped a lot of that way and people asked me how I did it. I told them honest: I got sick and stopped eating. Not healthy and it didn't make me feel good either. That is why this post isn't going to be about weight loss. It's going to be about health which is much more comprehensive than just weight. I should prelude with a disclaimer: I'm not advertising this. I don't think this will work for you. I'm not a doctor, nutritionist, or other health professional. I don't plan on this blog being widely read so I don't have references at hand for some of the information I'm going to write about, but if you want them I can get them. This is just what I am doing for my own definition of health and it makes me feel better, even if it's not really working.
Since the sickness back in 2012 I've been working to get in shape and stay there. I want my weight loss to be healthy. Last time I weighed myself I was sitting at 153.6. That puts my BMI right about a 23. Healthy! However, I would like to get it under 150. Why? Trying to get it under 150 will help keep me concerned enough that hopefully it won't go higher. Keeping weight off can be one of the hardest bits. Maintaining a goal should help me maintain my healthy weight. Anyway...on to
4 Ways I Stay (Get) Healthy
1. Sleep
Sleep is important! I can't emphasize this enough. If you want to be healthy, get enough sleep. If you need 8 hours, get 8 hours. Don't just assume that if you can get by on six that you only need six. Find out what enough sleep is for you! I'll blog about that later.
Studies show that sleep deprivation has negative effects on the body. It makes us slower and we don't have the same energy. This makes it hard to exercise. Studies are also showing that lack of sleep messes with appetite hormones such as ghrelin and leptin. Basically, when you don't get enough sleep you are more likely to feel hungry and less likely to feel full. You'll eat more! Outside of weight, sleep deprivation can also harm the mind making us anxious, irrational, and screwing with our memories.
Sleep = health. I try and get a good night sleep every night!
2. Stretch
I don't stretch everyday, but I know I should. Stretching should be one of the first things we do in the morning. Not a serious stretch, but a light one to help loosen up the muscles. Look at little babies. Look at cats. Look at dogs. What do they do when they wake up? They stretch! What do adult humans do? Stumble to the kitchen or the bathroom. No wonder I'm so tense!
I don't know all the benefits of stretching, but I do know it's good for me. A light stretch before working out can help avoid injury. A good stretch after working out can increase flexibility. A good stretch before bed often helps me sleep better. I'm trying to stretch everyday to help myself feel healthier.
3. Exercise
I have heard that we should get a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise each day. Everyday is hard, but when I exercise I do get my thirty minutes. Here's how:
1. Push-ups and crunches. I try and do these 5 days of the week. I have no organized schedule. Sunday is an off day and then one other random day (often Friday). In general I do crunches until I can't do anymore which is about 50-60. Then I do push-ups until I can't do anymore which is about 30. Then I take a break and come back and do it again. On days when I'm really motivated I try and get in a 3rd set. Generally, each set has fewer reps, but that's okay by me. My goal is to get back to where I was at 18 (I know! That's one tall order) and be able to do three sets of 40 push-ups. Crunches doesn't have a goal.
A recent addition to my push-up regiment is the Saturday morning workout. In between katas I do sets of 10 push-ups in five variations: regular, fingertip, knuckles, diamonds, wide. I've only done this twice. The first Saturday I made 100 push-ups. This last Saturday I made 160. I think 200 push-ups would be a good end goal, but we will see what happens.
2. Karate
I do karate three times a week. The adult class is 75 minutes, so that's 150 minutes of karate a week across two days. However, I also take my daughter to a kid's class so that adds another 45 minutes. Throw it my personal Saturday morning workout and n a good week I'll get as much as 5 hours of exercise just from karate. It's fairly low impact exercise, but it does have me moving a lot of the body in a lot of different ways so it's a good all-over workout. Added benefit it's practical. My current goal for karate is to learn all the kata from my style. There are 18 kata, I know 16 of them (thus 160 push-ups on Saturday mornings). I should have all of them by the end of the year.
3. Walking/running. I walk to work most days M-Th. That's 1 1/2 miles. If it isn't too hot at the end of the day I also work home. Three miles round trip. Nights I don't work often end with a late night walk. These are faster paced to make them more impactful (buzzword!). Those walks are generally about three miles too. Talking to my Doctor friend David I learned that a walk should be about three miles before it really starts doing any good for your health. I'm set there.
Added to the walking is running. Several months ago I confessed to my coworker/friend Shelley that I don't understand people who exercise until they get sick. I was mostly thinking of runners when I said that, probably because running more than anything makes me feel like I want to vomit. I want to get past this and I've been inoculating myself to running by doing it every Saturday morning. I run laps around the local park where I do my Saturday morning karate workout. It's a good warm-up before the karate. Given the size of the park (it houses several softball fields) a lap is about .8 miles. I started off doing a half lap before I would walk the rest. Now I'm up to the full .8 mile lap. Slowly but surely, I plan to advance that to 2 miles even. Then I'll be satisfied. Of course, that will be slow enough that I'll never feel like I'm dying after I run.
4. Eating Better
A big portion of eating healthy for me is eating smaller portions. I'm not depriving myself any, but I'm realizing that I eat too much. For example, on burrito night I used to eat two burritos packed full of goodness. Then I would eat some cheese quesadillas afterwards. On barbecue night it would be a burger, a brat, a hot dog, AND sides. Now I'm trying for a single burrito; a burger, a brat, or a hotdog; a small handful of chips. Of course eating less food isn't always easy. Here are some things that are working for me.
a. Smaller plates. Experiments have shown repeatedly that the bigger plate you have the more you will eat. This generally holds true even if you go back to refill the plate. We essentially have three plate sizes. I generally try and use the smallest. I also try not to cram as much food on there as possible, but use what comfortably fits.
b. Plan for children's leftovers. I have a big problem with eating my children's leftovers. This generally leaves me feeling like a little too full and gives me more food than I need. However, when I plan that I am going to do this (some meals are more predicable than others) I will take less. Then the leftovers give me just enough to satisfy.
c. Eat slower. Honestly, I'm not good at this one. In my home you'll generally see me walk away from the table first while everyone else is still chowing down. I'm not a slow eater. However, I know I should be and it's something I'm working on. Dinner conversations help to slow me down.
d. Put the dinner away immediately. I tend to be a grazer. If food is left out I will come back and snack on the little tidbits. The best way to avoid this is to put it in the refrigerator. Out of sight might not be out of mind, but it definitely helps.
e. Eat the right amount the first time. I try and avoid seconds, because it seems that when I take seconds I generally take too much. Then I overeat.
f. Have a piece of candy. Seriously, why not? If I deny myself I'll just obsess over it and then binge later. If I give in early I'm more likely to walk away after a small handful of M&M's or a single cookie. Fighting the urge will generally turn into a small handful of cookies later.
Here comes the psychology. It's called thought suppression. The basic premise is that when you forbid yourself from thinking about something you have a tendency to think about it more. Tell yourself not to think about those cookies and those cookies will invade every other thought. What does that mean for diets? Don't forbid yourself certain foods. You'll just obsess and avoiding them will be harder. Better to eat a controlled portion in the first place. However, there are things you can do. Instead of forbidding yourself from thinking about it, distract yourself. Go do something else so you can't think about food. Admit that the craving is okay, you're just not interested. Don't have the food in the house. Out of sight helps keep it out of mind. You'll have an easy time fighting the urge for ice cream if it isn't there reminding you every time you open the fridge.
Of course, that's not the end of the psychology. Thought suppression has another dark side. It's called the rebound effect. What happens when you're done forbidding yourself from thinking about food? Will the temptation disappear as soon as the fruit is not forbidden? Nope. Not at all. There will be a temporary rebound effect after the restriction is removed. You'll think about it even more! That's where binges come from. You deny and deny and deny. Then when you break you don't just break a little, you break hard time. It's why I try not to deny myself foods.
I was going to finish by talking about eating healthy, but I don't really have a lot to say about that. I'm not an expert and won't pretend to be one. I do like Alton Brown's approach to eating. You can find it around the internet, so I won't bother re-posting it here. I think the biggest thing I try and do is cook most of my food, avoid soda, and choke down some fruits and veggies occasionally. Oh, and my morning egg for breakfast. It really does help stave off the munchies until lunch time.
No comments:
Post a Comment