The importance of counting calories

Unfortunately, when trying to get healthy, exercising is only half the battle. The other half, of course, is making healthier food choices. For some of you out there, this is the easy part. You're okay with watching what you eat, as long as you don't have to set foot near a treadmill. Others of you have no problem being active, but you have a hard time giving up the fried, greasy goodness or that 20-oz bottle of Mountain Dew. I bet some of you even reward yourself for working out by eating something that's bad for you. What sense does that make? Talk about self-sabotage. Then, of course, there's the rest of you who have a hard time eating better and exercising. If that's you, then you're definitely in the right place!

Regardless of what you eat, studies have shown that the key to weight loss success, short and long term, lies in keeping track of what you put in your body. That requires keeping a food journal, but don't worry, it sounds worse than it really is. There are a bunch of places online where you can do this. My favorite is at www.sparkpeople.com, and it also happens to be free. It takes a couple extra minutes when you first start out because you have to enter or import all your foods, but once you're up and running, it's a piece of (low fat) cake. They even have apps for your phone now so you don't have to wait until you're in front of a computer to keep track.

Keeping an online food journal allows you to track protein, carbs, fat, etc., but most importantly, it gives you a way of keeping track of calories. Weight loss really is as simple as calories in versus calories out, so not having any idea how many calories you put in, puts you at a disadvantage right off the bat. (Sometimes you may not be eating enough!) Also, it allows you to detect patterns in the foods you eat that you may not have otherwise recognized because it forces you to pay attention to what you eat, even if it's after the fact.

So my question is this: If you have the ability and the tools to keep track of your calories, why aren't you? Stop guesstimating and start being precise, and the results will come.

How do you eat an elephant?

What's the point of taking the initiative to get healthy if I know I won't keep it up long term anyway?

That's a question I asked a few days ago when I talked about fear. What worked for me was not any extra drive or determination. There was no extra incentive. But rather, to put it simply, I forgot about the long term.

In the past, when I would think about all the work I had in front of me, at the first sign of trouble I'd get discouraged, and inevitably, quit. So how did I stop worrying about what I had to do tomorrow? I stopped caring about it.

The goals became smaller. Thoughts like, "I'm going to eat healthy from here on out," turned into, "I'm going to make a healthy choice for this meal." Who cares about tomorrow? Who even cares about later today? For me, the only choice that mattered was the one right there in front of me.

Before I knew it, I had completely tricked myself. I strung together 10, maybe 12 of these one-time good decisions in a row without even realizing it. It became a good week, then a good month, then a good 18 months. I've often compared it to the challenge of reading a really long book. It seems daunting when it's put in front of you, but it isn't if you're not concerned about the entire book. Instead, read a page a day. Some days you'll feel good and read a little more. Some days you'll read less. Either way, if you eliminate your focus on the big picture, you will finish.

Stop worrying about the "what ifs" and focus only on the decision that is right in front of you. When you pay attention to the present, it keeps those negative, self-defeating thoughts out of your head. Just remember, one bite at a time...

I hate working out

I really do.

I gasp for air. My head pounds. My muscles catch fire. The world spins. I lay face first, outside on my exercise mat with no concern over the dirt, or what bugs might be crawling on me. It saps every last ounce of energy I have, and it's all I can do to keep from collapsing and spending the night in the parking lot.

But I also love working out.

Because at the end of the day, I come back just a little bit stronger, and the sense of accomplishment in knowing that I successfully did whatever I set out to do that day is like no other feeling.

No matter what the task, with accomplishment, comes satisfaction. Our brains like this feeling. Satisfaction is not quite the same as happiness, but rather, it is fulfillment in retrospect. You may not always be happy at your job, but it can still be fulfilling in a sense that you overcame a difficult task, and therefore, satisfying. We will always search for this feeling of satisfaction. So in exercising, while the during might not be so pleasant, the satisfaction in the aftermath can make it downright addictive.

Side note: It has come to my attention that in order to leave a comment on the blog, you need to create a blogspot account. It's a relatively quick and painless process, so please, don't let that keep you. Also, don't forget that can become a follower of this blog with any google, twitter, or yahoo account that you may already have (I think).

Thanks for all the comments you've given me thus far through other means. This blog is still in its infancy stage, and I think the best is yet to come.

The F-word

Knowing that we need to change our lives is not the hard part. That, in fact, is something we've probably known for a while. So the question is, what stops us? Why do we go after some things some of the time, but other times we do nothing?

What drives us is also what holds us back, and that is fear.

Fear of what, you ask? Well, let's see...fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of success - you name it. It's pretty tough to commit to something when you don't know what you're getting yourself into, isn't it? What if you do everything you know to do, and you don't get the results you want? What if you do get some positive results? You can't possibly keep it up, can you? I mean eventually you'll just go back to your old habits and all that work will be for nothing, right? Does this sound familiar?

Let me ask you this. How long would you give your average baby to learn how to walk before you decided that maybe walking wasn't something that was in the cards? Silly question, isn't it? Babies will fall and fall until they get it right. So if we all started that way as babies, at what point in our lives did we suddenly become afraid to try things, let alone fail? What happened along the way?

Think for a minute what role fear plays in the everyday decisions we make in our lives. We go to work because we fear we'd get fired if we didn't. We study for exams because we're afraid of suffering through it without knowing the answers. We DVR shows because we're afraid we might miss something good. Fear is all around us. The key is to use the motivational power of fear to work for us, not against us. What if we kept living our lives the way we were now, without making the changes we knew were so important?

How scary would that be?

No time like the present

That goes for both of us.

I'm starting this blog today because I have reached a point in my life in which I want nothing more than to teach what I know and help people like you make changes and achieve your goals. With that said, I'm hoping you've stumbled across this blog because you've reached a point in your life in which you desire change. Something has got to give, but what exactly? Where do you begin?

I used to have those same questions. I can't begin to tell you how many times I stared into the bathroom mirror wondering what was wrong with me. Why couldn't I just get myself going? I was overweight and miserable. I hated my job. My dating life was a mess. Things were not looking good.

Fortunately, I was able to turn things around. With a new perspective on life, I was able to use techniques - many of which I developed on my own - to jump-start my life in the direction I wanted. I lost 50 pounds, went back to school, and all in all, turned my life around.

In the coming weeks and months, I will share with you many of these techniques that worked for me, as well as provide simple exercises, and quick and easy recipes you can do at home. My background is in sports, so for all you athletes out there, be on the lookout for ways to improve your mental game!

I'm still pursuing my master's in clinical psychology, so I don't quite yet have that piece of paper that would make me a "professional," but I'm a real person just like you who got real results, and in the end, results are what we're all after!

Welcome. I'm glad you're here. Physically and mentally, it's time to get healthy.