How {NOT} to stay on track with your fit and healthy lifestyle

Most bloggers in the fitlife, fitspiration, and weight loss communities have posts telling you how to stay on track with your fit and healthy lifestyle. I probably do, too. Several in fact. These posts are written in the thick of it, when reading others' advice has turned you into a matra-spewing weight loss and fitspiration guru in your own mind. But how many have a how {NOT} to stay on track with your fit and healthy lifestyle post?

Here's mine.

How {NOT} to stay on track with your fit and healthy lifestyle

1. Do not control your portions sizes. Eyeball that shit and eat whatever the fuck you want.

2. Do not pack a lunch to go to work. Starve yourself all day, while you're at your highest level of activity and stress, and then make up for those calories when you get off work, driving from drive-thru to drive-thru until you've stuffed your bad thoughts deeply enough under the surface to survive walking through your own front door and engaging with friends or family.

3. Do not engage in elevated or intensified movement or activity, a.k.a. "exercise", for 20 minutes per day. This may cause you to lose weight, maintain a healthy weight, and inadvertently reduce your risk of heart attack, type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases, thus extending your life*.

4. Do not reduce or stop consumption of heavy, yeasty, and malty craft beers as a pastime, as this will also reduce your intake of added sugars. Also, you may want to start smoking pot, as this will help you increase your desire for highly sweetened, salty and fatty foods, which as a trifecta are your best friends in {NOT} staying on track with your fit and healthy lifestyle.

5. Most importantly, commit yourself to eating the cheapest food possible, so you can eat a lot more of it. Eat alone at a buffet restaurant at least a few times a week**. In most moderate-sized towns, you can find a steakhouse buffet, a Chinese buffet and at least one other ethnic buffet (ie. Indian, Italian, etc.). Make use of these resources to ensure your fit lifestyle will cease.

Thanks for reading this bullshit. Now go do some squats, get to bed early and wake up in time to get some physical activity in before work! (Don't forget to hydrate...and food is fuel, not your friend!)

*Be advised that extending one's lifespan is often a direct result of staying on track with a fit and healthy lifestyle.

**Eating alone all but ensures you will be able to eat much more than you would with others watching and judging you.

No time for exercise? Pay now, or pay later

Sitting in Starbucks on posh Beacon Street in Brookline, Mass., I overhear two older gentleman embroiled in a discussion of politics and current events, which at some point turns to one of aging and health. One man tells the other that he has made a conscious decision not to exercise, because life is short, he says, and exercise is just too time consuming. The other, aghast, attempts to convince his friend to change his tune.

Both men, it turns out, are mid-sixties baby boomers, members of the much-talked-about generation poised to cripple our healthcare system over the next decade or so. And though it's impolite, I choose to listen intently as these men debate, because I know the choices they make - not just their political choices but also their personal health and fitness choices - will profoundly impact my own future for years to come.

The man who has chosen to be sedentary in his later life - who, by the way, appears to be decidedly older than his fitness-oriented counterpart - claims he is keeping his mind active so as to stave off alzheimers and early onset dimentia. Keeping up with his reading, travel and other intellectual pursuits, he says, doesn't leave time for much else. He also admits that he doesn't watch what he eats as much anymore, because he wants to "enjoy" the rest of his life.

The exercise apologist man retorts that his friend's logic is flawed, noting that diet and exercise are intrinsically linked to brain health - not to mention physical health - which would lead to a longer life, and more time to enjoy it. Nutrition and physical fitness, he said, are key not only to lengthening one's life but also to enhancing quality of life throughout as you age.

His argument came down to this - "Pay now, or pay later". Dedicate a few moments of your day now, or give up precious months or even years of your life later. The choice is up to you.

That's simple logic if you ask me!

Feeling good as I go into week 4

Today was my third weigh-in, and while I only lost four pounds in the past week I'm not discouraged because I'm losing the weight at a healthy pace. And there are other measures to this diet than just the weight. I'm noticing my clothes are fitting better (except for my jeans, which I can't seem to keep up!), and I'm feeling a lot better, less winded when doing regular daily tasks.

In fact, this morning in the shower I noticed how much easier it was to twist to wash my back and bend (without having to hold on to the wall) to wash my feet. And while I used to take breaks between vacuuming and washing dishes or cleaning the bathroom and doing laundry, now I just go from one task to the next and get things done in half the time.

This week my goal is to increase my exercise. I plan from this point forward is to get at least 20 minutes of exercise four times per week. And by exercise, I don't mean walking the dogs...I mean biking or working out at the gym. Plus, I plan on adding more lifestyle exercise into the mix.

I've taken a part time job waiting tables, which is something that made me sweat in my 20s. So I expect this to really heighten the effects of my healthier diet. I just hope I can manage to organize the regular eating times required by the Nutrisystem diet around my new working schedule. And of course serving all of that tempting food is going to be a bit of a challenge.

How did I get here?

Right now, millions of overweight Americans are asking themselves, "how did I get here?" And I am one of them. "Here" is that place and time beyond comprehension, that moment you realize your weight has reached some abstract number you never imagined it could reach.

When I recently tipped the scale at just over 400 pounds, I knew I had arrived at that dreaded place, and I couldn't believe it. The last time I was really checked in to my weight I was inching upwards of 290 pounds. I didn't really worry, though, because I truly felt I would never again top my previous high weight of 310 pounds, which I had reached ten years ago. After hitting 310, I was able to get back down to 220 by giving up meats and cheeses and walking, biking or rollerblading everywhere I went. And after reaching my goal, I swore I would never go back to that unhealthy max again. But somehow, here I am, not at 310, but getting damn close to reaching 410 if I don't make some drastic changes.

I never even imagined what enormous amount of food I'd have be eating to reach 400 pounds. And somehow I never really thought of myself as fat, even though my family and friends never failed to remind me. I don't think I eat like a total pig. Sure, I enjoy sweets and fatty foods like everybody else, but I eat those things in some sort of moderation...don't I?

Well no, I don't. I have to admit that I do binge on those comfort foods every once in a while. And if I'm going to make a positive change in my life and start to get my weight under control, I'm going to have to drop the denial game once and for all. In fact, I'm going to have start looking at myself and my lifestyle in a 360 degree mirror - you know, the kind Stacy and Clinton use on that show "What Not to Wear". I'm going to have to just suck it up and admit that I'm here because of the decisions I make each and every day. I'm here because of what I eat, and because of when I eat, and even because of where I eat. I'm here because I've slowly, almost methodically, adopted a sedentary lifestyle by trading in my rollerblades and mountain bike for a DVR and an all-in-one remote control. And I'm here because up until now, I just haven't really cared.

That brings me to the point of this new blog. I believe I am finally starting to care again. I'm tired being fat and feeling there is nothing I can ever do about it. I know, like I've always known, that I am the only one who has the power to make a difference in my life, and I'm committed now to making one.

This blog will chronicle my progress as I attempt to make healthy choices and recessutate my formerly healthy lifestyle. My goal is a big one. I want to lose 180 pounds - that's the weight of an average adult male - and get back down to about 220 pounds. Oh, and did I mention I want to do it naturally, though diet and exercise, and not the lazy way, through some sort of unatural stomach-altering surgery.

So far, I've bought a mountain bike, and am starting to ride it daily to prepare to begin commuting to and from the train station starting in the new year. I've bought a couple of cook books with healthy recipes, and I've started cooking for myself six days a week and eating out one, instead of the other way around. I've also ordered a scale that I can use to weigh myself at home, so I can track my progress, which I'll be sharing here online with you.

Please feel free to comment on my blog if you have any tips, or would like to encourage me on my journey. I expect it will take me about two years to get me down to my goal weight.

Thanks for reading!