A relatively easy (but still tough) guide to weight-loss.
Careful, this entry is going to be very long.
Well, folks, I usually don't write many interesting journal entries anymore and can't remember that I ever did, since most of it was about me and my private life. This one is partially about an issue I've been dealing with as well, but it's also general. I know lots of people who struggle with this and even ask me about me and how I do it. The topic is: Weight-loss.
In my past, sports have always been a two-sided thing, I loved watching them, I even did them myself occasionally but I've always been really really bad at it. I seem to have a light case of asthma and I've been overweight ever since my childhood because my parents didn't think it was a good idea to have a healthy diet. Needless to say, I never had been a good athlete and my conditioning was absolutely horrible, no matter what I attempted to do. But over the most recent years, I re-discovered my love for sports and especially Martial Arts. I also eat a lot healthier nowadays since I'm vegetarian and I'm watching my diet because of a cancer history in my family.
Let's roll the tape back to about two years ago, I've been a member of a gym ever since 2004 and on and off I went regularily, then stopped for some reasons. What I lacked was focus and determination which was because of some unfortunate happenings. In short: I wasn't really happy about myself. But that's another topic. Important thing here is, I've trimmed my weight down once after my father passed in 2004 because I went to the gym every day and basically made it a huge part of my life. Then shit started going downhill over the years and two years ago I was stuck with over 220 pounds. I'm a tall guy, but that's way too much. So recently I got my life in order and that also meant: Lose weight. Don't eat like shit anymore. Go to the gym religiously 5 times a week. And this time, do the type of cardio you hate the most. And I've lost weight and a lot of it.
So, what did I do? You keep reading all those pages on the internet and in magazines and everyone basically says other things that you're not sure of whether to believe or not. This journal entry will show you what I did and if you made it through this huge intro that I didn't even mean to make that long, read on, now we're getting to the good stuff.
What you definitely need:
o Determination: Depending on how much weight you want to lose, you're facing either months or most likely years of hard work and you need to stay focused. You need to not be lazy and whenever your body feels good, but you make up bullshit excuses, you need to force yourself. It'll happen sooner than you think. It's going to be tough, you will think about giving up but you can't allow yourself to.
o Routine: The best way to get your ass to the gym is to make a fixed plan and a fixed time. Go after your breakfast or before your job or even after your job, even though I don't really recommend that. In my case, the gym is about 30 minutes away with the subway train and my situation is that if I don't go right after I woke up, then I most likely won't at all that day.
o A gym membership: There's no way around it, I've tried to bullshit my way around it because I made excuses so I wouldn't have to leave the house to exercise and all. It doesn't work, you can buy all the equipment you want, but to effectively lose weight, I highly recommend that you join a gym. The positives of doing that is that:
a) You have all the equipment that you need, you can use all the different weights and machines and don't need to buy anything.
b) You are in a nice environment in which everybody is there for the same reason - to exercise and to train their body - and you're accompanied by music and motivation everywhere you look.
c) You have trainers who are going to help you by telling you what and how to do stuff right.
o Knowledge of food, its ingredients and your eating habits: We all know that we shouldn't eat french fries, chips, candy and drink soda 24/7 because it'll make us fat. But what's the deal about carbs and protein and all that? The thing is, you have to take a look at your food and how much you eat and how often you do. My diet was fine ever since I mostly cut sweet drinks out of it, but the problem was that I ate a lot of food at once. So what I did was cut everything in half and now I'm eating 5 times a day instead. I eat tiny portions of healthy stuff and squeeze in stuff that I really like to eat every now and then. I now eat something little every 3 hours and I ignore my stomach telling me that I should keep eating, since the feel of being saturated kicks in after a certain amount of time. I eat more fruit and raw vegetables, too and I can even have my beloved Subway sandwich - but instead of eating a footlong, I only eat a six inch. The moment you feel full or bloated right after you ate is a sign that you should eat less. Someone once said that the size of a human fist is the right amount of food to eat because that's all that really fits into your stomach. It's true. To sum all of this up: You have to know what's in your food and study it. I personally don't believe in counting calories, but if that's what you have to do, get into it. The most important thing is that you only lose weight if you burn more calories throughout the day than you eat.
What you need to do:
o The perfect combination of weightlifting and cardio: Don't think lifting weights is only for people who want to look like a radioactive and bloated bag of muscles. The fact here is that muscles burn calories faster and more effectively, so you need to do a perfect combination of weightlifting and cardio. By the way, your cardio should be something you hate the absolute most. For me it is running. I force myself to stay on the treadmill for at least 45 minutes 4 times a week, sometimes 5 times. You need to make sure that you don't burn yourself out after 10 minutes, but you also have to make sure to force yourself to go a little above your comfort zone, because you have to improve your cardio, too, and that won't happen unless you challenge and push yourself a little. Same with the weights, don't do wrong forms and half-assed things with too much weight, but make sure that you can do all the repetitions you need so your muscles start to give in on the last two ones. Ask your trainer how to work the weights and the machines and don't be afraid - everybody started at some point, you will want to do the exercises right because you don't want to risk injuries.
o Stop bullshitting: What I mean by that is take stairs instead of escalators or elevators and run them up if you can. Take walks instead of taking your car or the city tram or subway or whatever you use. Move as much as you can and learn to get a kick out of it. You have too much time on your hands, have already been to the gym and you're bored at home? Go out and have a 1 or 2 hour walk, take your iPod, just go where your feet take you. I listen to Podcasts a lot lately because I can focus on what they're talking about while walking and it's a great way to relax. Also, using a bike is another great way to get some tiny additional exercise into your day.
o Motivate yourself: We all feel burned out and that will happen incredibly easy. You have to set a goal for yourself. Take some pictures of inspiration but be realistic, if you're a 200 pound guy, you won't achieve looking like those guys that are so skinny that they could be mistaken for a 12 year old boy. Also, take pictures of your progress. Take some on the day you start and then take one every month on the same day and compare them. If you're doing good on the exercising, you'll see results and it's going to make you happy and try harder. That's a great way to see results because your mirror and even your scale can and will fool you and you'll end up being disappointed.
o Find joy in exercising: Working out and doing sports doesn't have to be tedious and as interesting as sex in a 30 year marriage, it can be exciting and if you ever had a good workout and then changed your clothes and went home feeling accomplished, lighter and happier, you know what I'm talking about. That's another reason I go after breakfast, because I can get that feel of accomplishment early in the day and still have lots of time on my hands to go after my other activities. And I know every little additional exercise I push in is going to make things even better.
o Eat right: I already mentioned pretty much everything before, but it's so important to stick to your diet, and not overeat, not cheat (as often, every now and then is recommended or else you'll get cravings that will break your diet permanently, just keep it on the d/l!) and know what you're eating. All the best exercise in the world isn't gonna help much if you keep eating sweets and fried foods. I highly recommend a vegetarian diet, too, but that's just my personal opinion. And DO NOT eat less times a day or one-sided. There's nothing worse than to deny yourself every single thing and basically live off salad only. You won't make it through a week. Also, everybody who says that you have to starve yourself to lose weight is a moron. The key is eating moderately and healthy and to get all the nutritions you need. Don't hate your food, love it instead. You want to be healthier and have more energy, after all, not get sick and weak like an anorexic person.
Well, that pretty much sums it up. Congratulations if you made it through the whole thing, as always I rambled on way too much, but I just really wanted to write down what's working for me, since so many people struggle with that kinda topic. After years and years of struggling, as well, I finally got control over myself and while there's still a long way to go for me, as well, I can already see results. My cardio is getting better A LOT and from the pictures I've taken my stomach is getting smaller and smaller. I already feel a lot better about myself and I get sick a lot less now that I'm really dedicated to my training. I've learned that sports is a great way to improve yourself, your health, especially your mental well-being and your self-esteem. We can bullshit ourselves all we want by telling ourselves that we're happy being obese and fat, but deep inside we know that when we work really hard and make an effort, we'll just feel a lot better about ourselves. That basically goes for everything, not just weight loss, but I've found that sport balances me out, calms my soul and gives me something to be proud of. And I'm looking forward to hit the gym tomorrow in the morning.
Thanks for reading and good luck,
XstarchildX
Well, folks, I usually don't write many interesting journal entries anymore and can't remember that I ever did, since most of it was about me and my private life. This one is partially about an issue I've been dealing with as well, but it's also general. I know lots of people who struggle with this and even ask me about me and how I do it. The topic is: Weight-loss.
In my past, sports have always been a two-sided thing, I loved watching them, I even did them myself occasionally but I've always been really really bad at it. I seem to have a light case of asthma and I've been overweight ever since my childhood because my parents didn't think it was a good idea to have a healthy diet. Needless to say, I never had been a good athlete and my conditioning was absolutely horrible, no matter what I attempted to do. But over the most recent years, I re-discovered my love for sports and especially Martial Arts. I also eat a lot healthier nowadays since I'm vegetarian and I'm watching my diet because of a cancer history in my family.
Let's roll the tape back to about two years ago, I've been a member of a gym ever since 2004 and on and off I went regularily, then stopped for some reasons. What I lacked was focus and determination which was because of some unfortunate happenings. In short: I wasn't really happy about myself. But that's another topic. Important thing here is, I've trimmed my weight down once after my father passed in 2004 because I went to the gym every day and basically made it a huge part of my life. Then shit started going downhill over the years and two years ago I was stuck with over 220 pounds. I'm a tall guy, but that's way too much. So recently I got my life in order and that also meant: Lose weight. Don't eat like shit anymore. Go to the gym religiously 5 times a week. And this time, do the type of cardio you hate the most. And I've lost weight and a lot of it.
So, what did I do? You keep reading all those pages on the internet and in magazines and everyone basically says other things that you're not sure of whether to believe or not. This journal entry will show you what I did and if you made it through this huge intro that I didn't even mean to make that long, read on, now we're getting to the good stuff.
What you definitely need:
o Determination: Depending on how much weight you want to lose, you're facing either months or most likely years of hard work and you need to stay focused. You need to not be lazy and whenever your body feels good, but you make up bullshit excuses, you need to force yourself. It'll happen sooner than you think. It's going to be tough, you will think about giving up but you can't allow yourself to.
o Routine: The best way to get your ass to the gym is to make a fixed plan and a fixed time. Go after your breakfast or before your job or even after your job, even though I don't really recommend that. In my case, the gym is about 30 minutes away with the subway train and my situation is that if I don't go right after I woke up, then I most likely won't at all that day.
o A gym membership: There's no way around it, I've tried to bullshit my way around it because I made excuses so I wouldn't have to leave the house to exercise and all. It doesn't work, you can buy all the equipment you want, but to effectively lose weight, I highly recommend that you join a gym. The positives of doing that is that:
a) You have all the equipment that you need, you can use all the different weights and machines and don't need to buy anything.
b) You are in a nice environment in which everybody is there for the same reason - to exercise and to train their body - and you're accompanied by music and motivation everywhere you look.
c) You have trainers who are going to help you by telling you what and how to do stuff right.
o Knowledge of food, its ingredients and your eating habits: We all know that we shouldn't eat french fries, chips, candy and drink soda 24/7 because it'll make us fat. But what's the deal about carbs and protein and all that? The thing is, you have to take a look at your food and how much you eat and how often you do. My diet was fine ever since I mostly cut sweet drinks out of it, but the problem was that I ate a lot of food at once. So what I did was cut everything in half and now I'm eating 5 times a day instead. I eat tiny portions of healthy stuff and squeeze in stuff that I really like to eat every now and then. I now eat something little every 3 hours and I ignore my stomach telling me that I should keep eating, since the feel of being saturated kicks in after a certain amount of time. I eat more fruit and raw vegetables, too and I can even have my beloved Subway sandwich - but instead of eating a footlong, I only eat a six inch. The moment you feel full or bloated right after you ate is a sign that you should eat less. Someone once said that the size of a human fist is the right amount of food to eat because that's all that really fits into your stomach. It's true. To sum all of this up: You have to know what's in your food and study it. I personally don't believe in counting calories, but if that's what you have to do, get into it. The most important thing is that you only lose weight if you burn more calories throughout the day than you eat.
What you need to do:
o The perfect combination of weightlifting and cardio: Don't think lifting weights is only for people who want to look like a radioactive and bloated bag of muscles. The fact here is that muscles burn calories faster and more effectively, so you need to do a perfect combination of weightlifting and cardio. By the way, your cardio should be something you hate the absolute most. For me it is running. I force myself to stay on the treadmill for at least 45 minutes 4 times a week, sometimes 5 times. You need to make sure that you don't burn yourself out after 10 minutes, but you also have to make sure to force yourself to go a little above your comfort zone, because you have to improve your cardio, too, and that won't happen unless you challenge and push yourself a little. Same with the weights, don't do wrong forms and half-assed things with too much weight, but make sure that you can do all the repetitions you need so your muscles start to give in on the last two ones. Ask your trainer how to work the weights and the machines and don't be afraid - everybody started at some point, you will want to do the exercises right because you don't want to risk injuries.
o Stop bullshitting: What I mean by that is take stairs instead of escalators or elevators and run them up if you can. Take walks instead of taking your car or the city tram or subway or whatever you use. Move as much as you can and learn to get a kick out of it. You have too much time on your hands, have already been to the gym and you're bored at home? Go out and have a 1 or 2 hour walk, take your iPod, just go where your feet take you. I listen to Podcasts a lot lately because I can focus on what they're talking about while walking and it's a great way to relax. Also, using a bike is another great way to get some tiny additional exercise into your day.
o Motivate yourself: We all feel burned out and that will happen incredibly easy. You have to set a goal for yourself. Take some pictures of inspiration but be realistic, if you're a 200 pound guy, you won't achieve looking like those guys that are so skinny that they could be mistaken for a 12 year old boy. Also, take pictures of your progress. Take some on the day you start and then take one every month on the same day and compare them. If you're doing good on the exercising, you'll see results and it's going to make you happy and try harder. That's a great way to see results because your mirror and even your scale can and will fool you and you'll end up being disappointed.
o Find joy in exercising: Working out and doing sports doesn't have to be tedious and as interesting as sex in a 30 year marriage, it can be exciting and if you ever had a good workout and then changed your clothes and went home feeling accomplished, lighter and happier, you know what I'm talking about. That's another reason I go after breakfast, because I can get that feel of accomplishment early in the day and still have lots of time on my hands to go after my other activities. And I know every little additional exercise I push in is going to make things even better.
o Eat right: I already mentioned pretty much everything before, but it's so important to stick to your diet, and not overeat, not cheat (as often, every now and then is recommended or else you'll get cravings that will break your diet permanently, just keep it on the d/l!) and know what you're eating. All the best exercise in the world isn't gonna help much if you keep eating sweets and fried foods. I highly recommend a vegetarian diet, too, but that's just my personal opinion. And DO NOT eat less times a day or one-sided. There's nothing worse than to deny yourself every single thing and basically live off salad only. You won't make it through a week. Also, everybody who says that you have to starve yourself to lose weight is a moron. The key is eating moderately and healthy and to get all the nutritions you need. Don't hate your food, love it instead. You want to be healthier and have more energy, after all, not get sick and weak like an anorexic person.
Well, that pretty much sums it up. Congratulations if you made it through the whole thing, as always I rambled on way too much, but I just really wanted to write down what's working for me, since so many people struggle with that kinda topic. After years and years of struggling, as well, I finally got control over myself and while there's still a long way to go for me, as well, I can already see results. My cardio is getting better A LOT and from the pictures I've taken my stomach is getting smaller and smaller. I already feel a lot better about myself and I get sick a lot less now that I'm really dedicated to my training. I've learned that sports is a great way to improve yourself, your health, especially your mental well-being and your self-esteem. We can bullshit ourselves all we want by telling ourselves that we're happy being obese and fat, but deep inside we know that when we work really hard and make an effort, we'll just feel a lot better about ourselves. That basically goes for everything, not just weight loss, but I've found that sport balances me out, calms my soul and gives me something to be proud of. And I'm looking forward to hit the gym tomorrow in the morning.
Thanks for reading and good luck,
XstarchildX