Motivation Action Plan
by: Riggtown
In part two we got to know our self a little better, picked a target amount to lose. Did some math to determine out first mini-goal and now we are ready to start tracking our progress.
In this section we will focus on staying motivated and how to do this. We are going to use what I like to call then “we are human plan” It is a two step forward 1 step backwards method.
What am I talking about? Two steps forward 1 step back. Well here is the dirty on this.
Remember our goal. To lose weight. Also, remember that this is not a race. We are going to maintain a very nice losing pace. But we are going to hit road blocks, platues, and even a step backwards from time to time. So instead of being demotivated by the regression we are going to plan for them. You may be asking you self why would I want to do that?
Two major reasons we are going to do this. The first reason is to make sure we are still living life. You need to let go and have those things that make you feel good. Maybe that is ice cream, pizza, or what ever. The point is that you do not have to stop eating just to meet a goal. You just need to control the eating.
The second is emotional. If you are expecting bad news then the bad news does not seem as bad. So if you know that you are “cheating” on your program you should expect to have gained weight or at the very best made no progress towards your goal. So since this was a planned step backwards it does not have a large emotional effect. The low has been controlled
With this approach you should stay motivated and dedicated to your weight lose goal.
OK, so we now have a main goal, our first mini goal. We know that we are going to use a 2 to 1 step program but how do you put in together. He is the basis of the structure of the plan.
What you need to do is pick a day of the week that you will “weigh in” to the program. I recommend this to be a Friday or Saturday. I will explain why. The actual weigh in should take place in the AM. We do this in the AM hours before you eat and after you have a movement(poop). If your personal schedule has you going later in the day. No big deal. As long as you weigh in around the same time each week.
I like to choose a Friday or Saturday because the end of the week is the best time to add in some feel good foods. But you should look at what day of the week you would like to add your step backwards. Remember we are planning are steps backwards. If I know that I like to head out for a beer or two on a Friday night after a long week of work. Then I would want my weigh in to be on Friday AM. Does not make much sense to weigh in after you have partaken in bar food and drinks.
Now we have our day to weigh in. What you need to do now is get a spreadsheet or a pen and paper and track your progress. On the first day get your base line. This will be your starting weight. Then in one week intervals you will check your weight against last weeks weigh in. If you have lost any weight then you may part take in your cheat event and take your step backwards.
What happens if you do not see any progress? Well then you must try harder for the next weigh in. You see you did not take two steps forward yet so you can not take a step back. See you next week! Here is the best part of the plan. You can try again the next day. If you make weigh in then you are good to go on the cheat event.
If you have made it this far then you are truly dedicated and ready for the next steps. Lets get into some actually weight lose techniques and tips in step 4.
More info Here
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Getting in Shape Step by Step - Part Two:
Setting up for the losing
by Riggtown
Did you take 2 to 3 weeks to look at your eating habits? Ok read on then …..
By now you should have figured out why you gained your unwanted weight and determine which foods you need to reduce or eliminate from your diet. This is the first step in making a life changing decision to take control of your eating habits and become leaner and full of energy.
Before we can go much farther we need to set some goals. Lets look at your weight reduction goal(s). Are you looking to trim off 10 or 15 pounds or are you looking to drop more like 50 plus? The goal you choose will help to build your action plan. The action plan is a guide to help you maintain a healthy and motivational weight reduction effort. The amount you want to lose will affect when you start specific phases of your weight reduction effort.
The key to winning at the weight reduction game is motivation and determination. If you do not commit to losing the weight and stick to any program you will not meet the goals that you set for your self and you will return to your heavy self. This is where a lot of people fail. They hit the ground running and then get to a crawl and before you know it the weight has returned. So lets pick out the overall goal. Then we want to break it down into smaller goals.
Lets say the overall goal is to lose 40 pounds. Lets not pick out a time frame yet. Why? Because we want to break down your overall goal into smaller motivational pieces. Remember motivation and determination is key. If you see positive gains against your goals then you will remain motivated and determine.
Now that I have hammered out the point about staying committed lets really have a look at YOU and start breaking the goal apart. We want smaller goals that fit into tight time frames that will show progress and maintain motivation. I suggest no more then a 3 month time frame. Keep in mind that this is not a race but a life changing effort that should have you feeling great about your self and what you are doing. This is not some get thin fast schema that has you gaining the weight back within months of you completing the program.
Here is what I recommend If you took 40 pounds and divided that into 3 months or 90 days you would get about .44. That is about ½ pound a day. This is not realistic. So what we want to do is start creating those small easy to accomplish goals. So what we want to do is break the overall goal in half. So let try the math with 20 pounds. This is less then ¼ pound a day. This we can work with.
So now we have our first mini goal. Lose 20 pounds over the next 90 days. Does not sound like a lot. But if you lose 20 pounds in 90 days and keep that 20 pounds off that is way more motivational then dropping twice as much and the gain back 20 pounds. See the goal is to maintain a positive attitude while still meeting you over all goal of losing weight.
Lets review
So far we have determined the following:
1. We want to lose some weight
2. We feel that we have a good understanding why we gained the weight
3. We know what foods we eat and when
4. We have a overall target goal (total amount we want to lose)
5. We have a smaller goal to shot for in our first phase
In the third step we are going to put together a motivational plan to help us get to our fist goal.
Get more info Here
by Riggtown
Did you take 2 to 3 weeks to look at your eating habits? Ok read on then …..
By now you should have figured out why you gained your unwanted weight and determine which foods you need to reduce or eliminate from your diet. This is the first step in making a life changing decision to take control of your eating habits and become leaner and full of energy.
Before we can go much farther we need to set some goals. Lets look at your weight reduction goal(s). Are you looking to trim off 10 or 15 pounds or are you looking to drop more like 50 plus? The goal you choose will help to build your action plan. The action plan is a guide to help you maintain a healthy and motivational weight reduction effort. The amount you want to lose will affect when you start specific phases of your weight reduction effort.
The key to winning at the weight reduction game is motivation and determination. If you do not commit to losing the weight and stick to any program you will not meet the goals that you set for your self and you will return to your heavy self. This is where a lot of people fail. They hit the ground running and then get to a crawl and before you know it the weight has returned. So lets pick out the overall goal. Then we want to break it down into smaller goals.
Lets say the overall goal is to lose 40 pounds. Lets not pick out a time frame yet. Why? Because we want to break down your overall goal into smaller motivational pieces. Remember motivation and determination is key. If you see positive gains against your goals then you will remain motivated and determine.
Now that I have hammered out the point about staying committed lets really have a look at YOU and start breaking the goal apart. We want smaller goals that fit into tight time frames that will show progress and maintain motivation. I suggest no more then a 3 month time frame. Keep in mind that this is not a race but a life changing effort that should have you feeling great about your self and what you are doing. This is not some get thin fast schema that has you gaining the weight back within months of you completing the program.
Here is what I recommend If you took 40 pounds and divided that into 3 months or 90 days you would get about .44. That is about ½ pound a day. This is not realistic. So what we want to do is start creating those small easy to accomplish goals. So what we want to do is break the overall goal in half. So let try the math with 20 pounds. This is less then ¼ pound a day. This we can work with.
So now we have our first mini goal. Lose 20 pounds over the next 90 days. Does not sound like a lot. But if you lose 20 pounds in 90 days and keep that 20 pounds off that is way more motivational then dropping twice as much and the gain back 20 pounds. See the goal is to maintain a positive attitude while still meeting you over all goal of losing weight.
Lets review
So far we have determined the following:
1. We want to lose some weight
2. We feel that we have a good understanding why we gained the weight
3. We know what foods we eat and when
4. We have a overall target goal (total amount we want to lose)
5. We have a smaller goal to shot for in our first phase
In the third step we are going to put together a motivational plan to help us get to our fist goal.
Get more info Here
Getting in Shape Step by Step - Part One:
Weight loss vs. fat loss.
by Riggtown
Where should you begin and why I feel this to be key.
Trying to lose weight is much different they trying to lose fat. Losing fat does not always mean losing weight.
Yes if you are losing fat you should see a reduction in your overall body weight. But a lot of the time that fat(which you really never lose you just shrink) is replaced with lean muscle mass and that may even increase your overall body weight. This is do to the fact that muscle weighs more then fat.
Lets put some of these terms into context so that we start on the same page.
- Weight loss = an overall reduction of body mass.
- Fat Loss = A reduction in your percentage of body fat.
- Diet = what you eat and when. Not a diet program
Now that we understand my terminology lets get started. I will look at weight loss, over fat loss. Which in its self is another article.
You need to remember that any weight loss program should be a life changer. You should want to improve your self and change the things that got you to a point that you are looking to lose weight.
Lets start out with looking at those things that have contributed to you gaining weight. The two majors are diet and inactivity. Stress can contribute to these and cause depression which in return comes back to diet and exercise.
If you feel that there is a clinical reason for your weight gain and you feel this is the leading cause of your weight gain then you should consult a doctor to get your clinical condition diagnosed first. Going on a weight reduction journey will have its ups and downs. Having an underlining clinical issue can make the lows even lower. This could also lend its self to depression. So, please consult a doctor before looking into any program especially if you feel you have an underlining medical condition for your weight gains.
Now lets focus
Weight over Fat.
My main reason for focusing on weight is this. Your weight can move up and down on a daily basis. So watching your weight reduce is much more motivational they trying to determine how much fat you have lost. The reality is that if you lose weight you will more then likely lose fat. But we will not track our progress this way. Our purpose is to remain motivated in our health goals. Which at this point is losing weight! We can look at the essence of fat reducing/muscle building later
Lets focus in on the diet part first. Look at what you are eating and when. Are you eating too much at one time and are you eating the right foods? The first thing you should look at is sugars and carbohydrates. Are you eating simple sugars and white flour products? If so, you will want to reduce or eliminated them. These turn to fat much quicker in your system and cause the body to become a calorie store instead of a calorie burner. Lean more towards whole grains and reducing your sugar intake. Read up on how sugar affects the systems
I will not lecture anyone on proper dieting just let you know that the leaner the meat and the greener your veggies the better off you will be. You need to look at all the things that you consume and view them as fuel or fat. I use fat because it is the easiest way to reference to weight. Fuel, you burn… Fat, you store. At least this is how I look at it. I make it simple. The food either gives me energy or it gets turned into sugar and then stored. If not burned then it becomes fat.
Take sometime, 2 to 3 weeks to look at what you are eating. Write it all down. What you are having and when. Even if it was a cracker as you passed by a co-workers desk. You may notice that you did that 6 times a day and that can add up to ….. Unwanted weight.
In part 2 we will look at what to do with this information we just gathered.
More info Here
by Riggtown
Where should you begin and why I feel this to be key.
Trying to lose weight is much different they trying to lose fat. Losing fat does not always mean losing weight.
Yes if you are losing fat you should see a reduction in your overall body weight. But a lot of the time that fat(which you really never lose you just shrink) is replaced with lean muscle mass and that may even increase your overall body weight. This is do to the fact that muscle weighs more then fat.
Lets put some of these terms into context so that we start on the same page.
- Weight loss = an overall reduction of body mass.
- Fat Loss = A reduction in your percentage of body fat.
- Diet = what you eat and when. Not a diet program
Now that we understand my terminology lets get started. I will look at weight loss, over fat loss. Which in its self is another article.
You need to remember that any weight loss program should be a life changer. You should want to improve your self and change the things that got you to a point that you are looking to lose weight.
Lets start out with looking at those things that have contributed to you gaining weight. The two majors are diet and inactivity. Stress can contribute to these and cause depression which in return comes back to diet and exercise.
If you feel that there is a clinical reason for your weight gain and you feel this is the leading cause of your weight gain then you should consult a doctor to get your clinical condition diagnosed first. Going on a weight reduction journey will have its ups and downs. Having an underlining clinical issue can make the lows even lower. This could also lend its self to depression. So, please consult a doctor before looking into any program especially if you feel you have an underlining medical condition for your weight gains.
Now lets focus
Weight over Fat.
My main reason for focusing on weight is this. Your weight can move up and down on a daily basis. So watching your weight reduce is much more motivational they trying to determine how much fat you have lost. The reality is that if you lose weight you will more then likely lose fat. But we will not track our progress this way. Our purpose is to remain motivated in our health goals. Which at this point is losing weight! We can look at the essence of fat reducing/muscle building later
Lets focus in on the diet part first. Look at what you are eating and when. Are you eating too much at one time and are you eating the right foods? The first thing you should look at is sugars and carbohydrates. Are you eating simple sugars and white flour products? If so, you will want to reduce or eliminated them. These turn to fat much quicker in your system and cause the body to become a calorie store instead of a calorie burner. Lean more towards whole grains and reducing your sugar intake. Read up on how sugar affects the systems
I will not lecture anyone on proper dieting just let you know that the leaner the meat and the greener your veggies the better off you will be. You need to look at all the things that you consume and view them as fuel or fat. I use fat because it is the easiest way to reference to weight. Fuel, you burn… Fat, you store. At least this is how I look at it. I make it simple. The food either gives me energy or it gets turned into sugar and then stored. If not burned then it becomes fat.
Take sometime, 2 to 3 weeks to look at what you are eating. Write it all down. What you are having and when. Even if it was a cracker as you passed by a co-workers desk. You may notice that you did that 6 times a day and that can add up to ….. Unwanted weight.
In part 2 we will look at what to do with this information we just gathered.
More info Here
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