Fat

People think "Fat" is a vulgar word.  In reference to myself, I'll use whatever "vulgarity" I want.

I'm fat.

I'm confident in saying I have 40 lbs to loose.  Here's the math:

3 Years + 2 Babies + Loving husband= Weight gain.

With that said I'm the one to blame.  Not everyone gains as much weight as I did because of pregnancy or feeling comfortable and confident in their marriage.  I need to loose weight.

It's been a struggle.  I'm not motivated, I'm tired most days, I enjoy food.

Call me fat or overweight if it's less offensive.  The truth is I need to do something about it.

We're moving this weekend.  Everything about it is a new beginning...

Seems like the perfect opportunity to start fresh with my weight loss battle.



We shall see--time will tell.

I'll share with you along the way.

{W}

Finding time for fitness

You're busy. I don't care who is reading this post. I can say that you're busy with absolute confidence that I'm right. And as the story goes... finding time to workout becomes signficantly more difficult as we get older and our resonsibilites grow. I'm struggling with this very issue right now, so I relate to your problem.

Unfortunately, when we find ourselves with no time to spare in a given day, we have to give up some sleep to make time. But then we have to deal with the consequences of not getting the widely-suggested 8 hours of sleep per night. Some are laughing at that line because they're thinking, I don't get 8 hours of sleep now and I still don't have time to work out. And in the end the truth may turn out to be that some people simply DO NOT have time. And don't beat yourself up about that. But also don't give up without trying to maximize the use of your time in a given day.

Personally, I have to find a way to get to sleep earlier at night. This is hard because after a long day with many demands, my wife and I like to relax together, alone. And the result usually ends up being a 10:00 to 11:00 bedtime. Waking up to give myself enough time to workout in the morning will give me 6 to 7 hours of sleep at the most. Nonetheless, that's where I'm at in my efforts. I have to find the strength to wake up early and workout. Without losing focus and efficiency throughout the day due to lack of energy.

One thing people also forgot is that when the body is lacking energy from not sleeping enough, it can often lead to eating more food throughout the day in search of energy. It's not relevant to me and my goals directly, but it's something to keep in mind if you're considering joining me in a similar trial.

Veganism

Search the web for the right way to eat and you'll surely find nothing but frustration. I spent a decent portion of last year eating vegan after watching "Forks Over Knives". My greatest ambition is to be around to watch my kids grow and to live a long healthy life with my wife. I know that eating well is an important part of that formula. But defining what it means to "eat well" is far from simple.

If you're considering veganism, allow me to share my experiene with you. I didn't personally find it hard  to eat vegan. The only thing I really missed was ice cream. I actually found it much harder to follow the paleo diet because avoiding bread and pastas cuts out a substantial part of my regular diet. The thing that bothered me most about veganism was that even the book "Forks Over Knives" reccommends that you supplement with a B12 vitamin.

My instant thought was that the perfect human diet should not require any sort of supplementation. The diet should be complete with all the nutrients that the human body needs. So by defintion, the vegan diet must be lacking something. This is explained by Dr. Campbell as being a result of vegetables being washed so much. According to him we could get B12 from.... well.... dirt. I'm not saying that he's wrong, the truth is I don't know. And I have every reason to believe that somebody as educated as him is right, except for the fact that there are plenty of people of equal knowledge base who disagree with him.

Veganism was also an expensive way to eat for me. I've heard a few times that this shouldn't be the case, so maybe it was bad shopping on our part but you may find the same thing.

Lastly, I had one episode of extreme stomach discomfort. When I say extreme, I mean absolutely crippling. Maybe it was because I wasn't eating enough variety, maybe it was because I just ate something bad. I really don't know, but it got my attention.

The short of it is that I too am searching for the diet that gives me the most energy, and the best chance of future health. I certainly haven't found the answer through online research, so I'm taking to my own personal experiences, and veganism was not the answer for me.

As a brief illustration of how differing the oppinions of nutrition are. Most people believe Milk, which is high in calcium, helps with bone health. But do a little digging online and you'll find studies that suggest just the opposite. That in fact the acidity of milk causes bones to release calcium in order to counteract the acidic elements of milk, thereby actually decreasing bone density. I don't know where the truth is, but it's a perfect illustration of how hard it is to find the right answer. And yes... of course there are those who give up on looking and just say "everything in moderation". But I think that answer is just a bit too broad. Twinkies and soda in moderation may not kill you, but they're certainly not helpful. 

The End Goal

It's important to set small, attainable goals along your way to some larger goal. For me, that larger goal has been with me for at least 12 years. Up until I was about 16 or 17 I wanted to go into the military. Some time before that I found a fitness program online that was desiged to help people prepare for BUDs training. The program consisted only of push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, dips, running, and swimming. The running I always knew I would be able to achieve with enough time. And the swimming I was pretty confident in, but I grew to doubt that the body weight exercise routine was possible. And there lies my goal, to achieve that which I'm not even sure is possible. I've posted the details below.

Run 6 miles is under 40 minutes.

Do the following bodyweight exercises with no breaks in between. In other words, go from push-ups straight to sit-ups, straight to pull-ups, straight to dips, then right back to push-ups... and so on until all the sets are done. This is the part that seems impossible to me. But the person that could do it would no doubt be one fit individual.

Pushups: 20 sets of 20
Situps: 20 sets of 25
Pullups: 5 sets of 12
Dips: 20 sets of 15

Swim freestyle fort 75 minutes.

My end goal ups the difficulty a bit by making it madatory that I go straight from running to the body weight exercises, then straight to swimming. If it is possible I know I can achieve it. We will know in a couple years.

The Battle

The reality is...I am overweight. Yes, slightly embarrassing to admit this on the ole' world wide web, but I can justify it with good cause. I've had 2 babies in the past nearly 3 years. #1 will be 3 in March and #2 is almost 6 months old. Justify? Yes, in my head I can because it's baby weight...and lack of discipline. Pre #1, I was at my prime. I was at my thinnest and my strongest. I credit it to serious time put in at the gym and feeling like I lost the love of my life. When we got together it was pure magic but we both had baggage. It was perfect until it wasn't. They say if you love something let it go, and that's what happened. We still talked and saw each other here and there but it was a good 3 months of not being together, but yet kind of being together. I was a mess, I dieted and went to the gym practically every day. I wanted to look good for him, to get him back. I will admit that I felt ah-maze-ing to be in that good of shape. I was pretty thin, but ask me to move a couch with a friend, or a solid wood bureau no problem. (I actually did this). I'll get into our back history in posts to come but long story short I got him back. We believe we were always meant to be together, and that everything leading up to "us" in our lives was meant to happen. So with our belief, our break up and getting my body in the best shape of my life, was all part of the events leading us to where we are now. I'm happily married to my best friend--the best friend I could have ever imagined. We have two beautiful healthy babies. Life is truly amazing. I'm about 35 pounds over the weight I would like to be. This is still 15 pounds heavier than I was at my fittest. Here are a few things that come to mind when thinking of my weight issues: It's been a STRUGGLE to find the motivation to loose weight and fortunately yet unfortunately a break up just isn't an option. I'm comfortable with my husband and his love and attraction for me. I'm busy with the kids and meal planning is tough. I munch off my little lady's plate when she has left overs. I love fast food...I really do. I let sweets back into my life while pregnant with #1 and have been indulging since. I want to fit into my clothes again. I. over. eat. I'm unhappy and self conscious--sad because I know what it feels like to be extremely confident in my body and I'm the polar opposite now. Among other things, I made a New Year's resolution to loose weight so the journey has started...let the battle begin.

Body Weight Training

This post will be about why I think that body weight training, along with plenty of cardio, is the best form of fitness:

Whenever you workout, you're telling your body what you want it to do. Your body is an amazing tool, and if you tell it to do a task often enough, it will adapt to do that task better. That's why when people lift heavy weights, their muscles get bigger. When they sit in a chair all day and do nothing, the body tells the muscles they're no longer needed.

Body weight training tells the body that what we need to do is move. With enough body weight training, your body will reach maximum efficiency between strength and size. That will translate into you feeling better on a daily basis. The polar opposite type of fitness is little cardio, and a lot of heavy weight lifting. That tells the body that we need to move big objects, not ourselves. That's why you'll find guys with giant muscles that can't do as many pullups as a wirey little rock-climber.

Who is more fit? Indeed the answer may come down to the question of "fit for what". But what we all need to do on a daily basis is move our own bodies, whether it's up a flight of stairs, playing with our kids, or even walking to our car... what we do most is move out own bodies. That's why a proper body weight fitness program will result in you feeling (and in my opinion being) at your peak fitness.

We Begin Today

We all know this story. I really am going to do X, Y, or Z... but I will start on Monday. But as the story goes, Monday turns into next Monday, and our goals are always pushed off until yet another Monday.

I'm going to be the first to admit how hypocritical this post may be, because I intend to start this "we begin today" mentality in 2013. That is one of my resolutions. I hope you join me, but chances are you're going to find this blog some time after the first day of 2013. So you'll have to pick your own today. But you have to make a stance and decide when you're going to stop putting off your goals and aspirations.

For me it starts tomorrow, I hope yours will start soon too. This blog, and the community that hopefully develops from it is dedicated to people who BEGIN TODAY. We don't wait until Monday, we don't wait until the first of the month, we don't even wait until tomorrow. We Begin Today.