Throwing Fat Away

Just sharing a few tidbits on calories that I share with clients...

Let’s say I’m a thirty year old, five foot six woman who weighs two hundred fifty pounds. I have committed to exercising three times a week. The calculator at this website says that in order to maintain this weight I must continue eating two thousand, five hundred seventy-six calories per day. 

But if I want to lose weight, I need to eat between two thousand and two thousand sixty calories per day. Those instructions would also apply in reverse order if you are actually trying to gain weight.

Let’s say that I have a goal to lose ninety pounds and not maintain my two hundred fifty pounds. In order to do this, I want to keep me in the present and aware. So for every ten to fifteen pounds I lose in this journey, it would be very wise of me to return to this website and reassess my caloric needs. 

If you do this, then by the time you reach your goal weight, you don’t have to change your daily caloric intake too much because you have been wise and slowly changing it during the entire process. 

In doing so, once I reach the goal of one hundred sixty pounds, I then know that I need to consume two thousand thirteen calories daily to maintain the new weight, but only if I continue to commit to workout three times a week.

Now what if I decide to stop working out when I reach one hunbdred sixty pounds. According to the calculator, I would then need to consume one thousand, seven hundred, fifty-seven calories daily, if no longer working out. 

The drawback is: you may be one hundred sixty pounds, but in short order you will be a soft and potentially flabby one hundred sixty.

I personally highly recommend maintaining some sort of fitness efforts for life. The benefits mentally, physically, emotionally, even spiritually are so worth it.

I hope this was helpful and simple to follow.

Unplugged, Uncensored, Unrestricted... You!

It can be dangerous to be left alone with your thoughts. This is why it's important to gain mastery of them - so that your thoughts can be positively reflected in your actions, words, and more.

Why are we always watching, reading, listening, Googling? Why are you even here, reading this? What are you looking for? Why are we so afraid to hear truth from within that we can't seem to sit alone with our own thoughts for a period of time?

It's been entertaining to watch people pick up their cell phones and look at them as if willing them to ring, or just turn to a game when an actual conversation opportunity lays in front of them. I'm guilty of this as well. I just think it's interesting to see the evolution of convenience, even in just my lifetime.

I can honestly say that in some ways I'm an addict. I have actually used my iPhone to avoid conversation and thoughts that come with meditation. I have actually even been at the dinner table with my husband and rather than talking, I have been "plugged in". Once I noticed this quite some time ago, I actually began making a real effort to leave the phone in the other room. I've completely turned it off for a day or so and sometimes I even leave it behind while I am out and about. But for the most part... it's in my purse or back pocket.

I crave solace and some time just to myself. I use this time to: write poetry, think, really evaluate life and relationships, write letters or record in my journal, and to contemplate in general. 

I've found though that nowadays in order to do this, I have to have the phone off or completely be removed from it. I figured out why though. When left to ponder we truly face tough things. 

Internally there may be a battle raging and it may need some real sorting out. By avoiding the contemplation, I get to avoid the issue for just a bit longer. 

I have come to cherish my daily dedicated time to being unplugged, uncensored, unrestricted and just me with my thoughts. This time is used to discipline and redirect myself for the better. 

This time is used to visualize me meeting my goals and to recall why I am putting my energy where I do. It's a challenge and sometimes even a struggle, but it's so worth it!

Crap, it's that time again.

I recently listened to someone interview Darren Hardy, publisher of SUCCESS magazine and author of The Compound Effect. 

In this interview Darren relayed an experience of attending a seminar as a young man wherein the speaker asked, "What's the percentage of effort that you have to give in a relationship (be it work, personal, etcetera) in order to have it be successful?" 

After participants tossed out numbers like 80/20; 50/50; 70/30 the speaker announced they were all wrong. Then he further clarified that the amount of effort any one particular person must give in any relationship for it to be successful, is 100/0. 

This story has really resonated with me. My take home message from this story was that if we hold back any amount of effort at all, then we aren't being fully invested. 

Success is based on one hundred percent effort, investment and persistent dedication. I'd like to add that this includes the relationship with ourselves as well. 

How often do you approach your relationships with others or yourself, in an attempt to improve it or take it to a new level, yet still hold something back? 

In my opinion the biggest hold-ups tend to be (but are not limited to): 

• resistance to change
• poorly perceived personal responsibility
• fear
• laziness
• lack of knowledge
• selfishness
• close mindedness

What in this list has a hold of you?  For me, it is the answer not shown - all of the above. I am, however, in the process of making changes. I like the direction I am headed. I am challenged. 

I've learned that whenever something becomes easy, that's when change needs to happen. Step it up a notch or really mix things up.

Not a fan of your current circumstance? For your information, in order to move past what's bugging you, something actually has to change. You actually have to do something different. 

In case you missed it, YOU have to make some changes; not your parents, spouse, kids, boss, whomever... YOU. Struggling? What has your "effort" ratio been lately? I know I have to adjust mine...again.

Well That Sucks

There isn't much that is picture perfect. I seem to discover this over and over. For the purpose of this blog post, I'll sum it up this way - positive attitude. 

Well it just sucks that you can't control everything that happens! You can't control other peoples responses or the decisions they make anymore than you can pray away another person's free agency or develop superhuman powers.

I can't tell you how many times over the last few years that I have learned to cope by simply saying "sucks to be me" or "sucks to be you" in lieu of a total breakdown or saying "get over it". 

Simply put, oftentimes it is what it is and half of the discomfort we face is the amount of energy we put into fighting something that just is or has already happened. It's done and you can't change it. However, you can change the way you look at it. 

You can change your perspective of what you can do now, regardless of what just happened. Meaning we now have to be determined to accept the situation or event in order to move beyond it. 

• Christopher Reeve broke his neck, lived as a broken-bodied man for several years and later died - sucked to be him! Yet, he still managed to change the lives of many and create a legacy of ability for the disabled. I'd say he successfully moved beyond his circumstance. 
• I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis... sucks to be me! Now what? What abilities do I have to work with and how can I use them to move beyond my current circumstance?
• A friend lost his job. Sucks to be him! Now what? What can he learn from the situation and find a new job?
• A friend broke her wrist in play, which interrupted her desired workout schedule. Sucks to be her! But guess what she discovered? Not all is lost, she can still exercise effectively, just modified for a time.
• My husband and I are suffering from sleep deprivation with our newborn. Sucks to be us! But this won't always be the case. What can we do now, to cope and get through this time?

I could go on with that list, but the point I'm getting at is - it's done and we have options on how to move forward. These things have happened or are happening. There may not always be a pleasant way out, but there is always a way through (loosely quoting Robert Frost here). What will you chose to do in order to get through?

My question to you is, do you embrace the fact that issues have been or are present, in order to move beyond them (in a healthy and positive way), or do you wallow in a state of never ending stasis; never getting over it enough to continue living? It all sucks! But you absolutely have a choice in how you respond to what's happening in your life. 

Gandhi really had it right when he said, "You must be the change you wish to see..." You don't like it? Change the way you think about it and move on in your best, most positive way, regardless of anyone or anything else. 

You will be a much happier person if you learn to surrender or discard that resentment, frustration and anger. Life is good, regardless of any bad that creeps in. One bad doesn't ruin all good. The good, most of the time, does outweigh the bad.

Here's a public challenge to be determined to see the good, so that you can recognize it more often. It can be done.