This week’s weigh in is up on YouTube. Great gains (or losses I guess) made this week. Last week my weight had gone up quite a bit, and I did manage to lose most of it again this week. Made some gains in happiness, too. Figured some issues out I was having with exercise. All around a pretty good week. Let me know what you think of it with a comment here or there. If you enjoyed the video please leave a Like. Subscribe and click the notification bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I post a video to YouTube. Thanks for all the support. I hope you’re having a great week. Peace.
Still adjusting to the new schedule so I allowed the vlog posting to get delayed. Things I’m working on this week, prioritizing! So here is last Wednesday’s vlog because I do want to have a vlog up for every week, even if it’s posted a little late. It’s on word choice and how words matter. The words you choose to describe a situation can change the meaning to your mind significantly. Specifically it can change something from a moment in time to an immutable character trait. So it’s important to watch your word choice because words matter. Leave a Like if you enjoy the video. Subscribe and click the notification bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I upload a video to YouTube. If you have suggestions, criticisms, ways I can improve, please leave a comment down below or on my YouTube page. Hope you’re having a great day. I know I am. Peace.
Tax day if you live in the United States of America. I, thankfully, got mine done a while ago so I wasn’t rushing at the last minute to get it in. And you don’t want to miss the deadline, at least not without getting an extension. Miss the deadline and not only do you get to pay the taxes you get to pay a fine as well.
And nobody really wants to pay the fine. It’s probably safe to say that nobody really wants to pay the taxes. It’s just an accepted part of living in America. But if America could run tax-free, I’m guessing that nobody would be taking a portion of their paycheck and sending it to Uncle Sam just because they can.
Even though nobody would pay a tax to the government that they didn’t have to, so many people on a regular basis willingly pay a “tax” they could avoid without so much as a complaint. What tax is this?
It’s the tax we put on our bodies by the actions we take each day. Whether it be the foods we eat, the mindset we keep, or what we regularly do to our bodies.
When you eat foods that are bad for you it makes your body run inefficiently. Processed foods that are devoid of any real nutrition just don’t burn cleanly in the body and cause free radical damage. Think of it like bad gasoline. It makes the motor run horribly and can clog up the fuel lines. We’d never willingly do that to our car but we do it all the time to our bodies when we don’t eat clean.
How about that mindset? When we fill our minds with negative thoughts that creates stress. When we believe that our life is terrible that creates depression. When we don’t see a bright future we create apathy. All of these emotions are negative. And negative emotions, especially over the long haul, have a detrimental effect on the body.
And what about our bodies? If you had a great car but left it in the garage all the time, parked in one place never to be moved, that great car will go bad over time. Just like a car needs to be driven, so does your body. Sitting around watching tv or being on the internet is sedentary and will create issues with your body over time. Or what about all the chemicals we take in using the products we choose to? Some people even go the extra tax mile by smoking and doing drugs. Alcohol, other than in moderate amounts, isn’t doing you any favors either.
Eating poorly, thinking poorly, and exercising poorly are all bad for the body. They, in effect, tax your body. The difference between that tax and the one you, hopefully, paid by today is that you don’t have to pay the tax on your body. In fact, unlike the tax you owe the treasury, you don’t get punished for failure to pay. You instead receive a benefit.
So think about the actions you take each day. Are they a tax on your body? If so, just choose not to pay the tax. Are they a savings? Then build up the health account for your body so that when you’re older you’ll be able to live a healthy and active life. The choice is yours. Have a great day. Peace.
Here is this week’s weigh in. Numbers are a bit up. I did decide to go off keto for the tail end of the class and that did result in a bit of weight gain. And I’m ok with that. I made a decision and I’m willing to live with the consequences. There were some lessons learned as well. Leave a Like if you enjoy the video. Subscribe and click the bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I post a video to YouTube. Leave a comment here or there letting me know what you think about this week’s weigh in. Hope you’re having a great week. Peace.
I have not one, but two videos this week. The first is my weekly update. The second is a thank you video. I’ll put them both below. Great progress this week and I’m grateful to be over 500 views now. Thank you all so much for that. Leave a like and a comment on the video to let me know how I’m doing. Subscribe and click the notification bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I upload a video. I hope you’re week went as well as mine and I’ll see you next week for the next check in. Peace.
Here is this week’s weigh in video. Let me know what you think about this week’s progress. If you liked the video please leave a Like on YouTube. If you have a comment or suggestion on my progress, the video itself, or things I can do better feel free to leave it either here or on the YouTube channel. Subscribe and click the notification bell if you want to be immediately notified very time I post a video to my YouTube channel. Have a great week. Peace.
I’ve posted a new vlog on YouTube. It is the first of 2019. It covers how I did in 2018 in both body and mind improvements and a general overview of what I want to accomplish in 2019. My YouTube channel is a big part of the improvements I want to make for 2019. I’d like to see it grow and reach more people. I have received a lot of help from family, friends, and people who have followed me along the way on my social media. That has helped so much with the gains I’ve made. And I’d like to return the favor with as many people as I can. So I hope you follow me along that journey here. I’d also love it if you subscribed to my YouTube channel and follow my journey there. That helps me reach more people, which I’d love to do. If you ring the bell on YouTube it will tell you immediately when I post new content on YouTube. I hope you’re having a great day and I’ll see you soon.
Today is the first day of the new year, 2019. You have 364 more days to come after this one. If you’re like most people you made a number of resolutions today on what you’d like to accomplish using those 364 remaining days. Here are a few tips on how to do just that.
First and foremost, reconsider your resolutions one more time before you set them in stone. Are they reasonable? If you resolve to lose 200 pounds next year, maybe you need to take it down a notch to a more reasonable 100 pounds. That’s still not an easy task and will challenge you to accomplish it, but it can be done. 200 pounds, not so much. Are they within your power to accomplish? Even with the law of attraction you need to believe you can get it done. If you resolve to do something that your heart doesn’t truly believe you can, you’re setting yourself up for failure. So if your resolution is to find the love of your life, but you doubt your ability to attract the love of your life, change your resolution to something that helps you move towards that initial resolution, and you feel you can accomplish. Perhaps resolve to have greater self-love. Or resolve to build a characteristic of yourself that you think will help attract the kind of person into your life that you’d like to have a romantic relationship with.
Second, once you’ve settled on resolutions that are reasonable and that you feel you can accomplish, create a game plan for how you can accomplish them. Give each month, or week if suitable, a mini goal that moves you towards accomplishing your resolution. By breaking it down into more manageable steps you’ll not view that task as so daunting. It’s the difference between trying to jump to the second floor versus taking the stairs.
Third, track your progress. Keeping a journal of your journey serves two purposes. First, as you accomplish each goal you create a reminder of it for yourself to review in the future. Feeling a little stuck or unsure if you can reach the next mini goal? Just go back and look over all the progress you’ve made in reaching prior mini goals to remind and motivate yourself. Second, it gives you a better overview to see what is and isn’t working. An example would be in your journal you see that every time you have a cheat day your progress lags a bit. So obviously you’d want to forgo the cheat day. Or maybe you’ve resolved to be more positive, but you’re struggling a bit. You look back at your journal and see that when you hang out with a certain friend your mood gets dragged down. Time to start making tough decisions about who you spend your time with.
Fourth, remember to be flexible. You thought that your resolution was reasonable and achievable but a few months in it’s clear you aimed a little too high. It’s okay to change the resolution to a more reasonable and achievable one. Or hopefully it’s the other way around. Your resolution turns out to be a little too easy to achieve. Move the goal posts farther away. Maybe four months in you realized that what you thought you wanted to achieve with a resolution isn’t your true goal. Your resolution was to live a more minimalist lifestyle. You’ve gotten rid of a lot of your stuff but you don’t feel better for it. Then it dawns on you that it wasn’t the clutter in your apartment that was bothering you, it was the apartment itself. Change your resolution to finding a new apartment.
Finally, and this goes hand in hand with flexibility, remember that Day One isn’t the only day you can make resolutions on. Anytime during the year you realize that a resolution isn’t working out for you, drop it. But replace it with a new one. Halfway through the year you’re well on your way to meeting your resolution to be a better athlete and you want to up the ante. Make a resolution to enter a Spartan race before year’s end. Three months in and you’re making excellent progress on writing that book you resolved to get done before 2019 is over, resolve to start another book as well. Or maybe resolve to increase your creativity in another area like drawing or painting happy little trees. You could be doing really well with resolutions in one area of your life, like finances, and decide you’d like to improve other areas, like fitness. So create a new fitness resolution. You don’t have to wait until Day One 2020 to do that.
Hopefully these tips will help you along your journey with your resolutions this year. But the most important tip I can give you is to take the first step. Michael Jordan correctly said that you miss all the shots you don’t take. So try. Even if you don’t complete the resolution, if you’ve moved from where you were to down the road a bit to where you are, you’ve done a great thing because you’re better for it.
And that’s the resolution we should make every day. To be a little better than we were the day before. So here’s to being better. Have a great day.
So yesterday I did a post on how to prepare to start the Ketogenic diet at the beginning of the new year. For today’s post I’d like to cover what to expect if you do. I’ve posted on this before but I figured it bears repeating again as we enter New Year Resolution time. I’d recommend reading yesterday’s post first if you haven’t already.
If you did already read yesterday’s post I’ll quickly state again that before you do any kind of change to your diet and exercise plans you should always consult a medical professional who is aware of your current medical condition.
So now on to the meat and potatoes. Well the meat anyway. Potatoes are a no go on the ketogenic diet. Keep in mind that the time frames I’ll mention are general. Each person responds differently to the ketogenic diet, so only some of the things I mention may happen to you. Or maybe all of them do. Some may come and go quicker or take longer than I mention. This is just meant to be a rough guideline.
The first thing you’ll experience on the ketogenic diet is cravings. When you start out your body is still used to a glucose based fuel system. And you’ll be limiting your fuel source. So not surprisingly your body will want to fuel back up. It prompts you to do so by giving you cravings. They’ll be mild at first, but the more depleted your body becomes of glucose sources, the greater it will up the ante to get you to refuel. You just have to hang tough during this period. Depending on how you switch over (by going low carb or maybe just fasting) you can expect this to last a few days to a couple of weeks.
During this time, along with your cravings, you’ll get to experience what is known as the keto flu. It isn’t the actual flu, but it’ll feel like it. You’ll be tired and achy. You may also run a fever. And you may want to spend all day in bed. The reason is simple. As you deplete your body of its current prefered fuel source, glucose, there’s a time period between when it first starts trying to use ketones for fuel and when the body can actually do it efficiently. At first your body will be inefficient at both creating ketones, and utilizing them as fuel. The first issue, creating ketones, can be mitigated by using exogenous ketones. The second issue, learning how to use them efficiently, has to be fixed over time.
After your first couple of weeks you’ll be far enough along in the process that your body, especially with added exogenous ketones, will be able to meet its energy needs from its new fuel source, fat (ketones). At the point where it starts being able to run off of ketones you still won’t be fully keto adapted, that’ll take about 8-10 weeks. Once fully adapted you’ll be able to get back into ketosis easily should you accidentally fall off the wagon, or if you choose to go off the keto compound.
So from weeks 2-8 your body will just be getting better and better at utilizing the new fuel source. Some of the benefits you’ll experience are a lack of hunger. Your body’s internal fat deposits will ensure you always have plenty of fuel, so it doesn’t need to signal you to intake more fuel. You’ll have all day energy. Your brain will work more efficiently. You’ll notice fewer and fewer cravings. And you’ll start sleeping like a baby.
After about the 8th week you’re fully adapted, and all those benefits will just be part of your daily life. Although if you’re a slow responder it might take up to 10 weeks. But you’ll have an easier time with maintaining the keto diet after the first few weeks. Basically the rough stuff is done and out of the way in the front end of the switchover.
So that’s the general overview. If you had a different experience, I’d love to hear about it. If you’re just starting feel free to leave a comment each week letting me know how you’re progressing. Or if you just need support along the way I’d be happy to offer it. That’s it for today’s post. I hope you’re having a wonderful day and I’ll see you soon.
Often when we seem to be struggling we’re given the advice by a well meaning friend to just try harder. If you aren’t succeeding then you aren’t giving it enough effort. Just keep adding to your effort until you accomplish your goal.
The problem with this is the assumption that you aren’t trying hard enough. And it’s just that, an assumption. Let me explain with an analogy. Say I have a wheelbarrow full of rocks that I want to get to the other side of the hill. I start pushing the heavy wheelbarrow forward and the steeper the hill gets, the harder I keep pushing. After a while my progress stops despite the fact that I’m pushing as hard as I can. Slowly I go backwards as I tire out until I find myself back at the bottom. The next time I get a running start, hoping the extra momentum will carry me over. But as before I come to a halt and then slowly go backwards down the hill. You can encourage and cheer me on all you want, the hill is just too high and steep for me to push the heavy wheelbarrow over.
And therein lies the error with the assumption. It was never that I wasn’t working hard enough. I gave it my all. The problem was that I wasn’t working smart enough. In being fixated on getting it over the hill, and devoting all my energies there, it never occurred to me to take it around the hill. It never occurred to me to adjust my strategy.
So as you go about your life, consider the “hills” you’re trying to get over. If you’ve been working your hardest to do it and still not getting results, reconsider your game plan. Look for ways you can go around your hill. Or maybe the solution is to go thru the hill. But continuing to put in extra effort on doing something that clearly isn’t netting you results isn’t being disciplined, it’s being wasteful.
So stop trying so hard, start trying so smart. Have a great day.
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