Personal Musings

• Drinks lots and lots of water - Your body is made up of mostly water, its used for metabolic processes and there is no such thing as drinking too much of it. Shoot for drinking a gallon a day. Have a glass: when you feel hungry, rIght before you eat (helps you feel full faster), while your exercising, right when you wake up...
• Think long term - If you eat too much one day, or even for a whole week, that doesn't mean you've failed.
• Set goals - Pick a final target weight and/or physique you want to achieve and work towards it. Its not going to happen overnight so set some intermediary goals also. For example, if your 255 lbs. and want to get to 185 lbs., set some reasonable milestones in between.
• Be reasonable - If your very overweight, chances are it took some time to get that way and it will take some time to get change it. There is no fast fix. Shoot for losing NO MORE THAN TWO (2) POUNDS A WEEK. Any more than that and its lean body mass and/or water.
• Exercise - Get off your ass and do something, it helps boost your metablolism. Pick something you like and will be willing to spend time doing otherwise it won't get done. I happen to like lifting weights and swimming but not running, so I lift weights and swim. I try to run some but I don't like to and its easy to find excuses for not doing it or slacking off when I do.
• When you don't feel like working out, go work out - No one is motivated to exercise all the time, esp. when you first start but keep your eye on the prize. For me, as soon as I say to myself, "I'm not going to the gym today," I get up and go right to the gym and feel glad I did every time. Its kind of like quitting smoking, when you want to have a cigarette, don't have one and pretty soon you've quit.
• Keep Records - If it goes in your mouth and its not water, write it down. Most people overestimate how much they exercise and underestimate how much they eat. Write it down and track it; if you can monitor it, you can control it (and yes, I have worked for the government). Do yourself a favor and take a before picuture, body measurements, weight and body fat measurements. I didn't and now wish I had.

Diet and Fitness Links

These are links I've found to sites useful in losing weight, getting back into shape and then maintaining it. Most sites are selling something but all have some useful information on them.