For the first time, I made a New Years Resolution last year an actually stuck with it. Actually, I had already started on it a couple months before NYE 07, but still, Im calling it anyway. Basically, it was to live a healthier lifestyle, loose weight, get back into shape, la-dee-da. This year will be the same thing. Even healthier living, even less Mammal eating (can't go fully veggie, I love fish too much), even more cycling, all of it. Anywho...
Here was the thought process:
Ive always been rather annoyed by the shear amount of crap that is constantly bombarded at us from all angles. Drop this pill to loose weight. Drink this shake to gain muscle. Buy this for a larger twig-and-berries, or bigger tah-tahs. Pay this company to help make you more money. Hell, I saw a commercial the other day for a website called SugarDaddie.com. Basically, its for rich guys to find hot girls.
Heres the gist of it: Im now 32 years old. Im in the best shape of my life. I feel better than ever, Ive gone from between 230 and 235 all the way down to 185 at the moment. And still dropping. Ive gone done two belt sizes, all my pants are too big, every single dress shirt I own now no longer fits, except for the two way-too-small shirts that I bought on accident and couldnt return. My stomach is damn close to being flat, for the first time since high school.
And thats not all. My energy has been through the roof. My cycling has never been better, especially the uphill part. Climbing has been outrageously easier, obviously, since Im carrying less weight up the hill and I have more energy, but Im also much stronger.
Which is the next part: I am much stronger. I can ride longer, harder and faster than before. My endurance is WAY up.
What can attribute all this to? Simple. Three things:
1. Changing WHAT I eat.
This was a tough one. When I was in college, my diet revolved around pasta, both fresh with my own homemade sauce and boxed and flavored, like Pasta Roni, Hot Dogs usually becoming Chili Dogs, Ramen noodles, fast food, and lots of meat.
The first thing that went when I decided to make this change was the boxed food. Which in itself was a tough transition. I was used to the simplicity of opening the box, preparing the meal, and scarfing it down. It was just too easy. And it did take a while to get it out of my diet all together. But through patience and awareness I was able to kick it out altogether.
The next thing to change was the basic choices of what I was putting in my mouth. Ramen? Out. Hot Dogs and Chili? Out. Salads? In. Natural foods? In. I start my mornings with either Kashi cereal or Oatmeal and tea, whereas before I would either not have breakfast, or it would be something incredible, like a Mountain Dew or candy. Lunch? Some sort of sandwich, like tuna or turkey and cheese with yogurt replaced those chili dogs, ramen, or Pasta Roni. Dinner? Spaghetti or Rigatoni or Penne Rigate (any of them, really) with my own homemade sauce, which by the way, is now made from ground turkey instead of ground beef replaced yet even more Pasta Roni, boxed meals, or massive portions of steak or other meats. Oh, and Ive added broccoli to the pasta meals, and I start with a small salad with Newmans Own Light Italian Dressing. (Mmmmm)
The next thing, which may have been the easiest (and Ill get to why) was the removal of certain foods. Those of you that know me well know I go through the milk. I am more than able and comfortable (pretty happy, actually) with going through a gallon of milk a day. Milk with cereal in the morning. Milk with lunch. (Or FOR lunch) Multiple glasses of milk with dinner, and multiple more glasses of milk with that late night dessert. At the end of the day, laying in bed, I would not be able to move, being swelled with that wonderful stuff. Now? I go through about 1 gallon every two weeks. At the most. That itself was a huge, outrageously effective change. The second change, very similar to this one, was the red meat thing.
I was at a family barbeque in June or July last year, chowing down on a London Broil. Oh. My. God. Sooooo good. However, it made me think. How would I feel if I took out the red meat? I had heard of people removing red meat from their diet and seeing great results. So, I decided to try it. Granted, it would not be completely removed. Hell, I still eat it every now and then. Had some over Thanksgiving Weekend, had some more on Christmas Day. And thats ok. Cheating is just fine, as long as you dont make it regular and fall back to your old ways. So now, its gone to the next level. Instead of only eating red meat every now and then, I now only eat Mammal every now and then. Basically, very special occasions or Holidays. As in, MAYBE three times since Thanksgiving. Bird and fish, I eat a lot of. But not the Mammals.
So, thats the change of WHAT I eat. I stick as close as I can to healthy, all natural, nutritional foods. As close as I can, of course. I cheat all the time. When both symphonies are going, I eat at Taco Bell about once a week. And thats ok. Because of the next part:
2. Changing HOW I eat.
This was pretty simple, but both aspects took a long time to get used to. The first was not eating after a certain time, so I wouldnt be digesting as I slept, which is not so great. This was tough. Especially as a working musician. Getting home from rehearsals at 10 or 11 PM, or sometimes later, and needing dinner makes it hard to follow the no food after 10 PM rule. So, I break it. I go to Taco Bell on the way home. And thats ok. Rules are made to be broken, and if I followed these rules to the T, I wouldnt be successful at all. So I break em when I need to, then return the next day. I dont fall back to my old ways after. Which, realistically, makes it easier to stay on the bandwagon, since I get these little rewards now and then.
The second change here is the amount I eat. Portions. Its easy to eat till youre full. Have you ever tried eating till youre no longer hungry? I now pay VERY close attention to the sheer amount of food that goes down the gullet. The phrase that rattles around in my head (that I still struggle to follow sometimes, and thats ok) is, Stick with portions the size of your fist. If its bigger than that, or you cant fit it in your hand, make it smaller. Simple? Simple. Thats basically my food changes. Not a whole lot of individual changes, but they are big ones. And effective. Then theres:
3. Exercise.
We all know we need it. But how many of us can realistically say we elevate our heart rates past the comfort zone for 30 to 45 minutes a day? And Im not talking about walking from your car to your office. Or up or down stairs a couple times. Im talking about getting real exercise, i.e. cycling, swimming, running, or any other cardiovascular exercise. For 30 45 minutes. Every day.
This is what the human body needs. This is evolution. We arent designed to sit around in a cubicle. We are designed as hunters and gatherers, as nomads, as outrageously active animals. If we dont get the activity our bodies need, our muscles wither away and die and get replaced with fat. Lots of it.
So lets think about this for a second: Food is crazy easy to get. Especially here in America. We get a lot of it. We have the ability to eat until we cant any more. Whatever we want. All the sweets, fats, all that good stuff the human body craves for its own survival. Only, much more of it. We eat not to survive, but because we love it. And then we turn around and get lazy and snug with sitting around not exercising. Because, well, we dont really need to. Or we will later. Or we dont have time.
Guess what, these are all excuses. Dont even try to tell me you dont have one hour a day to dedicate to a little exercise. One hour. That includes the warm up, warm down, AND shower. One hour a day. To basically NOT DIE. Simple? Simple.
These changes are easy. But they may be the hardest things you ever change about yourself in your life. But trust me, if you do it, and do it right, you will not regret in one tiny bit.
One more thing that has helped me. One real reason why I was so out of it before all this kicked in was because I didnt know, didnt pay attention to, or didnt want to know what I was putting in my body. Here is where I got a little outside help. It takes a bit of time each day, but it is truly eye opening to be able to see exactly what you are ingesting. The Daily Table at www.Livestrong.com. Free. Easy as pie. Literally. Check it out, it could change your life.
Or, it could save it. The choice is yours. After all, one person can indeed change the world. In fact, its the only thing that ever has. Its all up to you. Itis your choice. Make it.
Before:
After:
