It's been too long. I had good intentions for updating this weekly, but we all know that good intentions are the asphalt of the damned. I have a reason... it's a horrible reason... but I have one. I've been really discouraged the past couple of weeks. Sort of an ennui bordering on depression. Because of it, I've had trouble getting motivated and getting my butt to the gym and have been making very poor dietary choices (covering spoonfuls of peanut butter with chocolate chips is a very bad, but delicious, dessert option). At first I blamed it on "that time of the month", but when that passed and the feeling remained I realized that there may be more to it than that. I haven't figured it out yet, but I recognize that it's happening.
So I've forced myself into the gym most days, and changed the dessert out for fruit. Today I did circuit training (elliptical 15 minutes, 3 sets of weights, run 10 minutes, 3 sets of weights, rowing for 5 minutes, the rest of the weights) and that made me feel like I'd done something. My weight has crept back up about 4 pounds in the past few weeks, so I'm struggling with the "why bothers". I know, at my size now, I need to put in at least an hour most days to see even a minimal loss, but when I get home, I'm just exhausted.
Sorry this one isn't very motivational. I'm trying, and mostly succeeding, in taking my own advice about just doing it. It isn't helping that I still get people stopping me in the hallways. "You are still losing!" they say or "you look great!", and I have to bite my tongue when I want to say... "well, I've put on a little recently." No one wants to hear the minutia of the ups and downs (so why are you blogging it, genius?) but it's hard not to get obsessed about it when it's all people focus on about you.
Meh.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Get SMART
Yesterday, I started talking about goals but decided I had more I wanted to say on the subject so I decided to write it as a separate post. It should be common sense that if you are trying to get somewhere specific, it helps to have an idea where you are and where you are going. You could head out without a plan, wandering aimlessly until you hopefully get there… and you might even eventually make it to where you want to go… but it’s much more efficient to use a map. That’s what a goal is.
Staying with the geography analogy, say you want to go to Dallas (not sure why you’d want to, but hey, why not and just for the sake of the story… we’re all going to Dallas). Does wishing you were there get you there? No? Ok. So where is Dallas? Is it west, east, north, or south of here? Well, it depends on where you’re coming from, doesn’t it? How far away is it? Is it on the other side of the world or within walking distance? Once you determine where you are, how do you get there? Will you need an airplane, or can you get there by car? Do you have a teleporter that can take you from where you are to there in the blink of an eye? No? Well, you’ll need to know the route and if there are any landmarks along the way.
Plotting a map for weight loss is much the same. Is it possible to drop from 300 pounds to 150? Sure it is, but it could take a lot longer than dropping to 150 from 170. How far do you have to go? How are you getting there? Can you run a marathon? Walk around the block? Increasing intensity of your workouts could help you get there sooner, but you could also risk injury and setbacks. For me, it has helped to set incremental goals… maybe 5-10 pounds at a time. It’s pretty daunting to look at your weight map and see you need to lose 150 pounds (or more). But can you do 5 pounds? By when? At work I use the SMART model for writing goals and objectives. SMART goals should be:
Specific: Where do you want to go? Setting a goal of “getting skinny” or “being healthy” is a pretty weak target. How much do you want to weigh? Or maybe, what body fat percentage do you want to maintain? You’ll have no idea if you’ve arrived if you’re not really sure where you’re headed.
Measurable: This goes back what I was talking about yesterday with the stuff about documentation as well as the stuff here about maps. And it’s hard. I can tell you from experience that it’s terrifying to get on the scale for the first time in years… or to get a body fat analysis done for the first time ever. But honestly, what you don’t know can hurt you. Know where you’ve started, where you’re going, and take measure along the way.
Achievable: It’s good to have a long range vision of what you want to be, but it’s just as important to have achievable stops along the way. Just like driving 40 hours without stopping to rest or refuel is pretty close to un-achievable, transforming from a couch potato to a marathon runner overnight is not going to happen.
Realistic: You aren’t going to look like a supermodel. Supermodels don’t even look like supermodels. And honestly, if this is about looking hot or trying to be who you were when you were 19… forget it. Well, don’t give up… but take some time to reassess. This is a lifestyle change, not a time machine, those standards are impossible.
Time-oriented: Unless you set a time frame within which you want to achieve these things, it’s not going to happen. It has to be specific, achievable, and realistic… but unless you put in some time parameters, the goal sits out there unattended and in some cases slipping further from your reach.
Some of the talk about SMART goals adds a few letters to make SMARTER goals… and I like the “ER” in this application:
Enjoyable: Going back to the trip to Dallas, how miserable will you be if you drive straight through and don’t make any stops to rest or even enjoy the trip in some way. Make it fun, or you are doomed to fail. You will fall off the wagon. If you spend years, months, or even days depriving yourself of everything you find enjoyable, you will resent every second of the journey and it will become easier and easier to slip back into bad habits. If you are having fun and tasting new and delicious things (literally and figuratively) you will find the trip not only bearable, but…weirdly… kind of fun! So enjoy a side trip to the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota… metaphorically speaking.
Revisit or Reward: Sure hard work is its own reward… but you know what’s also good? Prizes! When I re-started this journey a year ago, I determined where I would stop and look at whether I need to adjust my goals, either by time or specificity, or some other reason… and more importantly… at what points I would get prizes. If only this were third-party funded! We budgeted out some money for the prizes I’d earn along the way. At my -10% mark, I bought a kayak. At -25% I bought a Wii Fit. I’m 4 pounds away from the next prize… a new bike. The only rule we made was that the prizes had to support the new healthy, active lifestyle.
It doesn’t have to be about weight loss. It can be anything. Figure out where you’re going. Figure out how you’re going to get there. Go.
Staying with the geography analogy, say you want to go to Dallas (not sure why you’d want to, but hey, why not and just for the sake of the story… we’re all going to Dallas). Does wishing you were there get you there? No? Ok. So where is Dallas? Is it west, east, north, or south of here? Well, it depends on where you’re coming from, doesn’t it? How far away is it? Is it on the other side of the world or within walking distance? Once you determine where you are, how do you get there? Will you need an airplane, or can you get there by car? Do you have a teleporter that can take you from where you are to there in the blink of an eye? No? Well, you’ll need to know the route and if there are any landmarks along the way.
Plotting a map for weight loss is much the same. Is it possible to drop from 300 pounds to 150? Sure it is, but it could take a lot longer than dropping to 150 from 170. How far do you have to go? How are you getting there? Can you run a marathon? Walk around the block? Increasing intensity of your workouts could help you get there sooner, but you could also risk injury and setbacks. For me, it has helped to set incremental goals… maybe 5-10 pounds at a time. It’s pretty daunting to look at your weight map and see you need to lose 150 pounds (or more). But can you do 5 pounds? By when? At work I use the SMART model for writing goals and objectives. SMART goals should be:
Specific: Where do you want to go? Setting a goal of “getting skinny” or “being healthy” is a pretty weak target. How much do you want to weigh? Or maybe, what body fat percentage do you want to maintain? You’ll have no idea if you’ve arrived if you’re not really sure where you’re headed.
Measurable: This goes back what I was talking about yesterday with the stuff about documentation as well as the stuff here about maps. And it’s hard. I can tell you from experience that it’s terrifying to get on the scale for the first time in years… or to get a body fat analysis done for the first time ever. But honestly, what you don’t know can hurt you. Know where you’ve started, where you’re going, and take measure along the way.
Achievable: It’s good to have a long range vision of what you want to be, but it’s just as important to have achievable stops along the way. Just like driving 40 hours without stopping to rest or refuel is pretty close to un-achievable, transforming from a couch potato to a marathon runner overnight is not going to happen.
Realistic: You aren’t going to look like a supermodel. Supermodels don’t even look like supermodels. And honestly, if this is about looking hot or trying to be who you were when you were 19… forget it. Well, don’t give up… but take some time to reassess. This is a lifestyle change, not a time machine, those standards are impossible.
Time-oriented: Unless you set a time frame within which you want to achieve these things, it’s not going to happen. It has to be specific, achievable, and realistic… but unless you put in some time parameters, the goal sits out there unattended and in some cases slipping further from your reach.
Some of the talk about SMART goals adds a few letters to make SMARTER goals… and I like the “ER” in this application:
Enjoyable: Going back to the trip to Dallas, how miserable will you be if you drive straight through and don’t make any stops to rest or even enjoy the trip in some way. Make it fun, or you are doomed to fail. You will fall off the wagon. If you spend years, months, or even days depriving yourself of everything you find enjoyable, you will resent every second of the journey and it will become easier and easier to slip back into bad habits. If you are having fun and tasting new and delicious things (literally and figuratively) you will find the trip not only bearable, but…weirdly… kind of fun! So enjoy a side trip to the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota… metaphorically speaking.
Revisit or Reward: Sure hard work is its own reward… but you know what’s also good? Prizes! When I re-started this journey a year ago, I determined where I would stop and look at whether I need to adjust my goals, either by time or specificity, or some other reason… and more importantly… at what points I would get prizes. If only this were third-party funded! We budgeted out some money for the prizes I’d earn along the way. At my -10% mark, I bought a kayak. At -25% I bought a Wii Fit. I’m 4 pounds away from the next prize… a new bike. The only rule we made was that the prizes had to support the new healthy, active lifestyle.
It doesn’t have to be about weight loss. It can be anything. Figure out where you’re going. Figure out how you’re going to get there. Go.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
"Documentation is like sex: when it is good, it is very, very good; and when it is bad, it is better than nothing."
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a leadership class at work. One of my classmates had seen me on the news and wanted to have lunch with me and pick my brain about weight loss. She was stuck. She'd lost a little, but she'd plateaued and didn't know how to move forward. I asked her if she was journaling and she looked at me like I'd grown a second head. I found it amusing, as earlier in the day she had been complaining about how people need to document processes in order to make sure the company is compliant with regulatory requirements. It's the same thing, only on a personal level. How can you tell if you are on track with exercise and calorie intake if you fail to document? It's well known in the dieting biz that people tend to over report how much they've exercised and under report how much they've eaten. Keeping an honest and accurate (as possible) food and exercise journal is, in my experience, the only way to go. Most for-profit diet programs make this a bit mysterious, but there are free tools out there that can help you keep a journal. The one I use is Calorie Count at about.com. SparkPeople is also free and very good. I've joined both, but I prefer the Calorie Count interface, and they send me less SPAM (the e-kind... not the processed "meat" product... another good idea to avoid, whether weight loss is your goal or not :-\ ) If you are web-savvy enough to be reading this, you are more than web-savvy enough to use these tools.
Do you need to do this forever? Results may vary, but I don't use it all the time. I kept a faithful food/exercise journal for four months. Every day I logged every bite of food and drink (and don't forget the "just a taste"s... sorry, they have calories too!) I logged every minute of exercise... purposefully under-estimating the perceived exertion scale by one or two intensity levels. Sure you could cheat and say you ate less than you did, or worked out more... but what's the point in that?
After about four months I felt like I "got" it, so I stopped logging everything, and just ate mindfully and kept up with/jacked up my exercise regimen. It has worked for me. If I start to plateau, I spend a few weeks journaling to get back on track.
The most valuable part of Calorie Count has been the food look up and new recipe nutritional information generator. It has really helped us to figure out which of our recipes are fine "anytime" meals for this lifestyle, which recipes could be fine with a few tweaks, and which recipes should be saved for special occasions (and which recipes, like "Heart attack mashed potatoes" should be avoided.)
It's harder in restaurants, which is why if you are really serious about weight loss, you need to learn to love cooking. That said, it's still possible to make smart choices when eating out with a little prep work. Most restaurants have websites that list nutritional information(especially chains, local places sometimes do, but it's rare). It has all taken some effort of will power, but I can't honestly say I miss heavy cream sauces or excessive applications of cheese. I can still have those things, it's just not usually my first choice. Just think about what's important, meeting your goals... or a very temporary food high, that probably isn't as tasty as you're imagining. I've gone off on a tangent... I want to talk about goals, but that may be another post.
*Title quote from Dick Brandon
Do you need to do this forever? Results may vary, but I don't use it all the time. I kept a faithful food/exercise journal for four months. Every day I logged every bite of food and drink (and don't forget the "just a taste"s... sorry, they have calories too!) I logged every minute of exercise... purposefully under-estimating the perceived exertion scale by one or two intensity levels. Sure you could cheat and say you ate less than you did, or worked out more... but what's the point in that?
After about four months I felt like I "got" it, so I stopped logging everything, and just ate mindfully and kept up with/jacked up my exercise regimen. It has worked for me. If I start to plateau, I spend a few weeks journaling to get back on track.
The most valuable part of Calorie Count has been the food look up and new recipe nutritional information generator. It has really helped us to figure out which of our recipes are fine "anytime" meals for this lifestyle, which recipes could be fine with a few tweaks, and which recipes should be saved for special occasions (and which recipes, like "Heart attack mashed potatoes" should be avoided.)
It's harder in restaurants, which is why if you are really serious about weight loss, you need to learn to love cooking. That said, it's still possible to make smart choices when eating out with a little prep work. Most restaurants have websites that list nutritional information(especially chains, local places sometimes do, but it's rare). It has all taken some effort of will power, but I can't honestly say I miss heavy cream sauces or excessive applications of cheese. I can still have those things, it's just not usually my first choice. Just think about what's important, meeting your goals... or a very temporary food high, that probably isn't as tasty as you're imagining. I've gone off on a tangent... I want to talk about goals, but that may be another post.
*Title quote from Dick Brandon
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
