Determined To Succeed

Cravings. What is it about them? They happen all the time, everywhere. Being an emotional eater I’ve had my share of them lately (especially when I had to drop a very unexpected $2K on my car for maintenance) and I wish I could stop. Milky Way bars, egg rolls, cheese fries, Cinnabon, Auntie Anne’s pretzels and more. As I’m writing this, I have a craving for my usual cup of extra cream, extra crunchy (sugary) coffee.

You know how it is when you get a craving for something. Don’t ya? You’re deep in thought about how to save the planet, the report you have to do the next day at work, errands you have to run – it doesn’t matter. Once that craving hits you it’s like all the other thoughts in your head all somehow lead back to that craving and you try to justify it in any way possible…

“It would certainly help me think better about saving the planet/these errands/this report if I had (insert the name/type of craving you have here) in my tummy.”

I even heard from one of my friends on Twitter today who had a taste for birthday cake this morning – even though it’s eight months until her birthday.

Lately, I’ve had one helluva craving for strawberry ice-cream. I don’t know what it is or why but there are times when I’m just sitting on the couch and all I can think about is having a pint of good ol’ bad-for-you strawberry ice-cream. The last time it hit me was just the other night. I was watching the Chicago Bulls get beaten by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Playoffs (I was also craving a little bit of home). I was sitting on the couch wondering how much effort it would take to actually get dressed, drive to the store and purchase a pint. Is that bad? OK, I know the answer to that. “Yes, it is.” But if we had beaming technology I would have been so there at the Wawa (the best convenience stores on the planet) looking over the freezer to find a pint of Haagen-Dazs Strawberry Ice-Cream.

Yum.

I think ultimately I replaced one sweet craving for another. I have done a really good job as of late weaning myself off of Coca-Cola (at least as much of it as I’d been having) so I think at night, when cravings really get bad and my cravings are strongest, instead of reaching for a Coke I want to reach for ice-cream. It just so happens that I’m too damn lazy to get dressed to go get a pint which is a really, really good thing. I have also been doing my best to be Zen about my cravings. I allow myself to have my cravings every now and then so I don’t turn into a miserable, grumpy bastard but I also control them and don’t make them a part of my every day. However, it all means one thing – I soooooo need to go shopping and get some good healthier food in the house. I need to at least follow the advice of the personal trainer, Jorge, I saw recently…

1. Apples and peanut butter is a great mid-day snack.
2. Cheat with a liquid – sugar free Jello, frozen yogurt, water ice or low-cal pudding
3. Cheat with a fat – like eating a cheese steak without the bread, wings, ribs, cheeseburger without the bun

These suggestions may not help me stem my cravings for delicious strawberry ice-cream entirely but seeing my numbers go down gradually on my electronic scale sure as hell does.

All along this weight loss journey I’ve had my peaks and valleys, my highs and lows and my temptations and successes. And there have been some weekends I’ve had the will power to resist such foods and some where I haven’t. Some of my weaknesses have seemed consuming at times – my “need” for snacks, Chinese food and Coca-Cola, just to name a few. But as much as I sometimes dread the weekends for this eating I look forward to Mondays to start the week anew.

I look forward this week in particular to really hitting the gym hard and taking the further advice of the personal trainer, Jorge. Which means I’m going to focus every other day weight training and alternate days doing cardio changing all of it up as I go to make sure my body doesn’t freeze on a weight because it’s used to the workout.

I look forward to this week to really get back on track with eating well. I have to admit something here. Those weaknesses I spoke about earlier…one of them is the weekend, in general. For some strange reason I am so much better with being good during the week. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s because things seem so much more regimented. Work begins at nine, ends around five, you eat dinner, watch a few shows and then the next day starts.

But the weekend comes and then somehow my mind opens the floodgates. Maybe it’s running around doing errands, hanging with friends and not being on such a schedule makes me more susceptible to, uh, the suggestion of food. Argh!! Why can’t those floodgates close? I wish I knew.

Ah well. I wrote in one of my weight loss blogs once not to spend too much time dwelling in the past. I even used one of my favorite movies ever, Disney’s “The Lion King,” to illustrate how forgiving oneself of the past and focusing on nothing but the future is the way to find the potential in us all for success. So I do look forward to getting back to the routine of the week, the routine of mind over fatter (as I call it).

It’s kind of hard to believe the year is already almost a quarter over. Can you believe it? I can’t. But I know in my heart it has been time well-spent. Learning something new each and every day on my weight loss journey. And with each and every day comes the opportunity to start anew, just like Mondays…

It will come as no surprise to anyone who reads me regularly to know I love “The Empire Strikes Back,” the second film of the “real” “Star Wars” trilogy (the prequels really don’t count and suck anyway). Anywho, in “The Empire Strikes Back” Luke Skywalker is instructed by Yoda, the wise 900-yeasr-old Jedi master, who teaches the kid a thing or two about how to use the Force. Then, when a challenge arises, Luke looks to Yoda and says simply “Unlearn what you have learned.”

I always think about that phrase when dealing with weight loss. Over the three-and-a-half years it took to lose weight and the roughly year-and-a-half I have kept it off (for the most part) I have learned many things that I have used to not only get me through but also offer as advice nuggets (like Chicken McNuggets except better and healthier for you) to those looking for ways to lose weight. But yesterday I was that young Jedi Knight trying to unlearn and put to use the pearls of wisdom imparted to me by Jorge, the personal trainer I saw a couple of weeks ago. So I went to the gym yesterday and started my workout.

Before I begin I feel compelled to say to consult a doctor or personal trainer before attempting any of the exercises I describe in this blog, as they might be strenuous and not suitable for all to do.

One of the things I’ve learned is that cardio exercises, like the elliptical or a treadmill, burn calories but also burn oxygen. However the best way to burn fat is to incorporate weight training into a routine. So I started with shoulder shrugs. Taking a heavy 50-pound dumbbells into each hand I simply shrugged, imitating the “duh, I don’t know” movement we all do from time to time. Except this time I had weight resistance working out my shoulders and back at the same time.

I then switched out to a lighter weight (ten pounds) and did lifts. Placing one knee on a workout bench and anchoring myself with the hand of the same side I took the weight in the opposite hand and lifted it so that my elbow, which is supposed to do all the lifting, came to a 90-degree angle. Then, I slowly let the weight down swinging the dumbbell in front of me like the arm of a grandfather clock. I repeated that ten times then switched sides.

Immediately following that I did the “Superman,” and exercise where the person lays on the floor, arms extended, like Superman and lifts both the front end of their body and legs which works out the back muscles. Oh God, is this difficult but I did manage ten of these before moving on to the next thing, which were lunges.

This seemingly simple exercise, where the participant takes a giant step forward with one leg and stretches out the other behind, uses your leg muscles in ways that really make you feel it, and boy did I feel it. I did twenty of these in the gym. Jorge said to extend my leg so far I could see my toes in front of me when I stepped forward. Well, doing that makes it far more difficult but that also makes it work the legs better. Ouch, but good.

In-between each different exercise I hopped onto the treadmill and did a quick our minutes just to get my heart rate up, which is what Jorge said to do. So I did. It’s not what I’m used to since most of my exercises were cardio in nature but I did it. I kept going, moving from one thing to the next – weighted leg lifts, tummy crunches, weights, push-ups and more – in rapid succession so my body didn’t have time to adjust to the routine, burning more fat (I hope) in the process.

When I was done I sat in the steamroom (my favorite activity) and thought about not just the workout but HOW I worked out. I thought about how many more muscles I used and hoped it did me well in losing more weight and burning more fat. Most of all I thought about Yoda, wondering if he would stand there looking at his Jedi trainee with satisfaction or with disappointment as he did Luke when he tried to “unlearn what he had learned.”

But then I thought of something else Yoda said that can be applied to all of us trying to lose weight, keep it off and exercise as part of a new and better lifestyle. Yoda says “do or do not. There is no try.” And so we shall, doing what we can where we can and knowing something, anything, is better than doing nothing. And that doing something brings us one step closer to those weight loss goals and to being our own personal weight loss Jedi Knights.

Damned evil Chinese food!!!!

OK, I had been doing great all weekend. You heard me recount over the past few days what I’ve eaten and, with very few exceptions, had been doing OK. That is until I had egg foo young last night. I figured it was my reward for eating so well, particularly the past few days with the personal trainer dude. So, since I had been good and exercised (I lots of cardio yesterday), I could indulge in what the egg rolls the other day couldn’t sate – my taste for a Chinese food dinner. Man, did I turn out to be wrong.

For the record, I was fairly good with the meal. I usually go for a main entree, egg rolls and maybe fried rice of some type. But yesterday was different. I was trying to be good so I just had an order of egg foo young. I didn’t even have my customary Coke with it (I had diet Canada Dry Ginger Ale instead). So I plopped down and watched one of my favorite action movies, “Kill Bill: Volume One” (or as I like to joke “Kill Me: Volume One”) and enjoyed my fried eggy goodness.

Again, I say, damn! I always try so hard to be good and eat what I should. And I get so freaking frustrated that I seem to work so hard for several days, even a week, to lose just a pound or so just to have it come back after one meal the very next day. What the $#%& is that?! I wish it were the other way around – we could lose seven or so pounds a week and eat something and just gain back a half-pound or so. Grrrrrr.

Today is a rainy, dreary Monday here in New Jersey. While some states, like my home state of Illinois, had snow and colder temps, today is the perfect day here to work out – and work off that blasted egg foo yuck. And there will be no reason NOT to work out. It is on today’s TO DO list, along with the other things I’m going to try to accomplish. One thing is for certain, though. I am sooooo going back to following my new and improved meal plan. It seemed to work. That and combining weight training and resistance with cardio should bring that pound off.

I can’t tell you how glad I am to actually have a plan for this. It used to be I’d gain weight and not know WHY the things I did were bad and HOW I was going to deal with it. Thanks to this entire weight loss journey I know I am prepared for taking that extra pound off and all the other extra pounds I want to re-lose, as well. It is very much one day at a time and one pound at a time. Each pound down being a reward and that to me makes me know I will do this.

That is why I know we can all do this. It may feel like an impossible battle most days but it’s not. Having egg foo young for dinner and gaining a pound is just a stumbling block. Nothing more. Just like a cookie, pint of ice-cream, slice of cake, pasta dinner, etc., are stumbling blocks. Now, it’s time to pick ourselves up from the weekend. Dust ourselves off and keep on moving forward. Failure is only permanent if we let it be – and I’ll be damned if I let this pound I gained back become permanent.

Please tell me you guys watch SPARTACUS: BLOOD AND SAND on Starz. It is truly my favorite show on TV these days. And even if you don’t watch it the name alone would probably tell you all you need to know (well, almost all because there is no way I could – or should – describe all the intrigue, language and sex that show has to offer).

In this incredibly violent, sexy R-Rated show our hero, Spartacus, is a slave at a school for gladiators. He trains under the watchful eyes of his school’s owner and its lead instructor, who (literally)  cracks the whip in order for the men to train longer and fight harder eventually become the best and strongest gladiators in all of Rome.Yesterday, I went for the second of two free appointments with a personal trainer and I have to say two things. Damn, my muscles ache today (how cool that it that I actually feel it working) and I actually feel like I am training to be a gladiator.

Not that my personal trainer ever uses the whip but when I go I do think of him as Spartacus’ lead instructor, pushing me harder and training me up to become the best I can be. Even doing something seemingly as simple as leg lunges he teaches you, if done correctly, how much it works out the leg muscles and burns fat. And boy does it burn. When I was losing weight I did whatever exercises I could just to burn the weight off. But now my trainer works to burn off fat which is what I need to happen now. I am at that stage where toning would DEFINITELY be beneficial.

Every time I did mountain climbers, leg presses, dumbbell pulls, hanging ab crunches, “Superman” back exercises, medicine ball leg lifts, you name it, I felt better and stronger for having done them. I think about how many people before me have trained on the same equipment, done the same exercises and followed the same plan to become the best gladiators they could be and now I was following in their footsteps (or in this case, lunges).

Does it sound hokey, sure. But if you watch that show you will understand that the ground on which they train is sacred to them. It is where blood and sweat meet with legend and that it’s an honor to train at this gladiator school. After completing these past two sessions I feel the same way. I may ache today but my body and mind are better for having done it, the gym an honored training ground (ok, minus the blood but there was sweat and lots of it).

As part of that training here is what was prescribed in my meal plan and actually what I did:

Meal 1 ½ Grapefruit and 3 Egg Whites (instead of egg whites I had egg substitute and a clementine orange)

Meal 2 1 ½ Whole Wheat Pasta, Can Tuna, Balsamic Dressing (I didn’t have this at all, instead opting for a simple cup of cereal and milk. It’s what I felt like having at the time)

Meal 3 6 oz. Yam, 4 oz. Turkey, 3 cups of cauliflower (I did have the turkey, and instead of yams and cauliflower I had broccoli)

Meal 4 2 Yogurts (I totally had these)

Meal 5 8 oz. Pork Chops, 3 Cups Mushrooms, Salad (I replaced this meal with slices of ham and brussel sprouts along with a diet iced tea from Wawa and a diet ginger ale)

In the show, when the gladiators train, they always mention weaknesses. In the arena, if an opponent sees them they are exploited. My weaknesses are snacking. Even though I snacked on yogurts, cheese sticks and Jello packs I need to curtail them, too. They are my weaknesses and I know it.

Today is Saturday, and at least in New Jersey it’s going to be a glorious day somewhere around 70-degrees. As I wrap up today’s writing here’s what’s on today’s menu:

Meal 1 Oatmeal (I’ve already replaced this with cereal for this morning)

Meal 2 String Cheese and Yogurt

Meal 3 Lean Cuisine (Glazed chicken or Herb Roasted Chicken)

Meal 4 Apple with Peanut Butter

Meal 5 Steak, String Beans and Salad

Also, I can’t wait to get outside and get to the gym. It may not be under the watchful gaze of my instructor but the training stays with you. It keeps you motivated. It keeps you going. It keeps you moving forward so that when you’re there, alone, working out you can see your potential self. I am one of the cheesiest people I know but I swear to you when I am done with a good workout all I want to to is throw my hands in the air and scream…wait for it…

…I AM SPARTACUS!

Happy Friday, my friends. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and there’s a warm breeze in the air (at least here in South Jersey). Today is the day I see the personal trainer, Jorge, for the second time. I’m looking forward to it but I’m still partially in pain from the last time (my abs still feel it) plus from my workout yesterday (it is sooooo going to be an Advil kind of day). I also have to say I was good (for the most part) following Jorge’s meal plan yesterday.

Here’s yesterday’s meal plan and actually what I ate:

Meal 1 – Kashi Cereal or Special K (this was no problem. I bought the “Warm Cinnamon” Kashi cereal and had that for breakfast)

Meal 2 – Fruit (again, no problem. I enjoy strawberries and bananas so that is what I had right before I went to the gym)

Meal 3 – Chicken 6 oz., 1 cup rice, 3 cups broccoli (Here’s where I played a bit. I had one of my left-over lemon chicken breasts. However, instead of the rice and broccoli I had the onion/green pepper broth soup created when I made the chicken. I also had a yogurt and cheese stick for dessert).

Meal 4 – Metrix – Protein Shake (I switched this out and had a seedless naval orange and yogurt instead.)

Meal 5 – Chicken Cesar Salad, Sugar Free Jello with Cool Whip (I was good, again, for the most part. I had chicken breast on a bed of mixed greens with sugar-free Asian dressing. I had a zero-calorie Coke Cherry Zero to drink and two Jello cups for dessert with two cheese sticks for snacks afterward).

I think my greatest challenge is in fighting off the urge to snack. Thank God I have those cheese sticks and sugar-free/low-calorie Jello and Jello Pudding cups instead of chips, candy bars, etc. I find I so want to snack and munch between 10:00 p.m. and midnight so I have to break myself of that really bad habit. I mean it’s not like I am starving myself or not getting enough calories, I certainly am. I just like to snack on something sweet. But I will stay focused. Focused. FOCUSED.

As for today, since I have been instructed to change up my meals as well as my exercise, here’s what I am expected to have today:

Meal 1 – ½ Grapefruit and 3 Egg Whites (I plan on replacing the grapefruit with a seedless orange and having that with the egg substitutes I bought)

Meal 2 – 1 ½ Whole Wheat Pasta, Can Tuna, Balsamic Dressing

Meal 3 – 6 oz. Yam, 4 oz. Turkey, 3 cups of cauliflower

Meal 4 – 2 Yogurts

Meal 5 – 8 oz. Pork Chops, 3 Cups Mushrooms, Salad

As I go into the weekend I am feeling better about this new exercise and meal plan. It is helping me with not only NOT think about going off the rails to have beef fried rice but also changing up my exercises so that I am (theoretically) burning more fat and making better use of my gym time. I may be in pain but that proves it’s working. Not to mention that it’s going to be so beautiful outside I think it might be time to compliment a gym workout with a walk outdoors. Spring is finally springing and I can’t wait.

Tomorrow, I will definitely let you know what happens with my second training session. Jorge is supposed to give me a more specific meal plan to follow and tips on how to do the exercises we did last time using free weights instead of massive gym equipment. No matter what I am reminded I am continuing on a journey. And as with any weight loss journey I have so many new things to learn. These last twelve pounds may be most-stubborn but I will do my best, using these new meals, methods, exercises, to try new things to get rid of them…

…even if it does kill me in the gym.

It’s sad, indeed, when you wake up in the morning and the first thing you think about is what you’re going to have for dinner. I think that way sometimes, though. It’s not that I’m purposely starving myself or anything (not that I couldn’t stand to miss a meal, as they say) it’s just that I’m trying to be good and look forward to a healthier meal instead of the prospect of eating junk or ordering out.

When I saw the personal trainer the other day he promised he’d give me a list of suggested foods and meals for me to follow, and those combined with my exercise should help me lose weight. Since I’ll try anything once I said “O.K. lay it on me.” So yesterday I opened up my e-mail and there it was – a list of days with each day broken up into meals and what to have for each meal.

As I was looking over this list there wasn’t anything particularly peculiar about it. You know what I mean. The kind of peculiar that jumps up at ya’ and sends up a red flag and make you go “oh, c’mon! I’m not blending half an orange with grass from my front lawn with a dab of crushed red pepper for a ‘meal’ that’s supposed to fill me for the week.” Ok, maybe there was one thing – something called Metrix (a protein shake kind of thing) which I am replacing with yogurt. Other than that this list contained a good blend of carbs, fats and proteins broken down into meals and snacks that seemed to make sense. So I threw on my clothes and went shopping.

Don’t get me wrong. I have always eaten what I want, do eat what I want and will always eat what I want on my weight loss journey, but if I was going to try this personal trainer exercise routine I had to try his prescribed meal plan, too. So below, here is the plan I will be following (with a grain of salt, of course, and all puns intended) today:

Meal 1 Kashi Cereal or Special K (my preference is the Kashi “Warm Cinnamon” kind – very tasty)

Meal 2 Fruit (I bought strawberries, bananas, seedless oranges and clementines)

Meal 3 Chicken 6 oz., 1 cup rice, 3 cups broccoli

Meal 4 Metrix – Protein Shake (screw that. I’m having yogurt)

Meal 5 Chicken Cesar Salad, Sugar Free Jello with Cool Whip

So there it is. What Bill Ivory Larson is going to eat today. That, combined with my workout, should make me what John Candy was in “Stripes…” a lean, mean, fighting machine.” Well, theoretically, that is. Also, last night I made my lemon chicken recipe again and it was darn tasty. I added in some green pepper and fresh garlic this time for a little different flavor and made three portions so I could have one today for lunch and have another for dinner on the salad (or by itself).

Tomorrow I see the trainer, Jorge, for a second time for what he says will be a workout designed to work different muscles than we did the other day. While I am not in too much pain I certainly still feel Tuesday in my abs and shoulders. I will get to tell him I followed his meal plan and he’s supposed to explain to me other meal/food options, too (which of course I will share with you and hopefully new visitors through Technorati – 95FDGWY5MY9P).

So, I am ready to start my day. I’ve got my cup of Kashi Cereal in hand (which really is very good. I’m not blowing smoke about that) and am ready to learn some new eating tricks today. Hopefully it will help. These last remaining twelve pounds are really starting to annoy the crap out of me.

As part of my on-going writing gig I did an interview with Katie, a woman here in South Jersey who lost 130-pounds, which is awesome.  As part of that interview, I talked to Jorge, her personal trainer. He is the one who helped Katie lose weight and I thought it would be a neat idea to see it from her side – what it was like to have a trainer. So I talked to Jorge who invited me to come to his gym yesterday to my first-ever personal training session.

Hell, I am always looking for ways to burn fat and this was certainly going to be an education at the least. But when all was said and done, I  have to say it was really, really cool. I was also excited because of a symbolic reason: today was day-one of one of my new pair of New Balance gym shoes (what we in Chicago call sneakers). I thought it very fitting (all puns intended) to begin a new path on my weight loss journey in brand new (and very comfy) shoes .

By a quarter-to-twelve I arrived at Jorge’s gym. I didn’t know quite what to expect (except to sweat a lot) so I got there just to look the place over. I admittedly was a bit nervous. Coming from such a heavy 400-lb. background the old programming has the ability to take over and make me feel pretty intimidated by the machines and the people in a more professional gym. But I took a deep breath and began.

He had me start by doing cardio (about five minutes on the treadmill) just to loosen me up and get my heart rate going. Then, we jumped right into some good ab training. It was the first time I used a medicine ball like so:  I laid flat on my back and extended my arms over my head holding the medicine ball. Then, using my abs, I lifted my torso and threw him the 10-pound medicine ball. Damn, did I feel that immediately in my stomach.

After that we did reps of push-ups (always a weakness), crunches, exercise ball and then back to the medicine ball. After that series of exercises we went right into weight training. I did “shrugs” and I used barbells for the first time, too. I did hamstring stretches, different kinds of dumbbell lifts, more ab crunches, a Stairmaster and…and I sweated more in ten minutes than I usually do in my gym on the elliptical in half-an-hour.

I found out that fast-changing of machine exercises keeps the body guessing which helps it burn fat more and burn fat faster more so than cardio exercises do. Moreover, when you do exercises for extended periods of time your body gets used to them, therefore you burn less and less fat over time. By changing up exercises, especially those using weights and weight resistance, your body burns more fat.

After a fairly quick forty-five minutes I felt muscles in my upper arms, shoulders and abs I haven’t used in a long time – and it felt great. I was so excited to be learning new and different exercises to hopefully get the rest of these stubborn pounds off me and to tone-up a bit. I may not ever have the best, non-flabby body in the world but I sure as hell can try.

When it was over I was juiced. Those endorphins were released and I couldn’t wait to work out today. The second of two complimentary appointments happens on Friday and you bet your cross-trainers I will tell you about that session, too. But one of the things I made clear to Jorge was that I wanted to relay to you guys how to do the same types of exercises WITHOUT bigger pieces of gym equipment, using what you might have at home or in a gym not as well stocked with machines, medicine balls and barbells. The most important thing is just to be active, no matter what kinds of exercises you do. I am also going to share with you the food plan he shared with me once I find out more about how that is supposed to work and for how long and when.

Today was really good. Working out felt really good. Most of all, working on me felt really good. As I head into my gym tomorrow I will use that same basic rapid-fire machine-to-machine technique to help me burn fat and hopefully keep burning it. I still have visions of having a great body someday and having some of these tricks of the trade will help me get there – especially with summer just around the corner.

Sometimes the best things come in simple packages.

I am asked all the time, “Bill. What’s your secret? How did you lose all that weight?” Each question asked like the answer is going to be like the wave of a magic wand – quick and easy. When I give the answer you can almost see the person deflate, as if I had just told her she or he would never be happy again.

“Watching what I eat and exercise.”

Bah! Who wants to hear that? But it get’s better. The next question I’m asked is the one that really separates the adults from the children.

Q: “Bill, how long did it take?”

If you follow my blog (and I hope you do kind of like the old Prell commercials. I’d love for you to tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on, and so on…) then you’ll know there is no magic pill. There is no “oh you can do this by next week (or even next month). My answer is simple:

A: “It took me three-and-a-half years.”

Again, if the person wasn’t deflating before this really put the pin in the balloon.

Q: “You mean to tell me I actually have to exercise and it might take that long?”

A: “Yup.”

Response: “Sigh.”

I get these questions a lot and I really do not mind answering them at all. I have always been a person who tries to set an expectation so that anyone else attempting what I did isn’t going into it with blinders on. But I heard a question yesterday I hadn’t heard before and the simple yet beautiful answer shocked even me.

I was talking to a new weight loss buddy of mine and she shared with me the story of her conversation with a personal trainer. I can’t remember whether it was she who asked this question or the trainer relayed it to her as part of an overall answer but the question was justified and the answer simply incredible.

Q: “What is the best exercise to do if you want to lose weight?”

A: “The one you will keep doing for the rest of your life.”

For some reason that hit me like a ton of dumbbells. I was expecting something like “Well, you could do 100 abdominal crunches followed by 25 ABC and then 25 XYZ.” But no, the answer was simply “whatever you’ll do for the rest of your life.” And that is so true.

It took me a while to find out what exercises I like doing. The elliptical intimidate dthe crap out of me the first time I even looked at the bloody thing. I had heard such stories about it. “Oh man, that thing kicked my ass.” Or “I can only do ten minutes on it before I’m ready to fall over.” But I ended up loving the elliptical and now I can do half-an-hour on it (maybe more) each time. And today, I am visiting a personal trainer for the first of two trial sessions to try to learn new exercises to further break up my exercise routine, tone up and lose the last 12 pounds I need to lose to reach my goal weight. And you bet your butt I’ll be blogging about that tomorrow.

So as you get ready to start (or even continue exercising) do the exercises that excite you. Do the exercises you get into and want to keep doing. That you miss when you don’t do them. The exercises that kick your butt but in a good way. Everyone’s exercise m.o. will be different but you really should enjoy exercising or else you won’t be able to keep it up as part of a lifestyle for the rest of your life.

The answer to that question really put the classic “good things come in small packages” spin on the age-old question. Except this time the phrase should be “the best answers come in simple packages.”

Q: “Do I really believe that?”

A: “Yup.”

Happy Tuesday, my friends.  Today is going to be a busy day and there’s tons on my “to-do” list.

I have stuff to do for the website, errands to run and phone calls to return. And while all of that is all well and good that is basically a great cocktail (at least for me) to eat badly. And you know the kind of eating I mean. The mindless kind, where you’re working so hard you grab something handy and just sit back down to continue working. I can’t do that. I won’t do that.

Part of why I can’t do that is that I need to get my butt to the gym. I have been doing well lately changing up my exercise routine (man, I can really feel it in my legs) and I am watching what I eat (and trying to lay off the sodas/pops). But sitting at one’s desk does pose a challenge. I know how busy we all can get. I know when time is of the essence and things need to get done and how little time you have. I really do.

I remember a time in my life when I used to be so caught-up in work I just reached over while still reading my computer screen to gram whatever-it-was I had for lunch and shove it into my mouth. On some days it was pizza. Most days Chinese food. Man. Why wasn’t it ever a salad/ Why wasn’t it ever fruit or a veggie? Or even just less of what I was eating? I wish I could tell you. I hadn’t had my “epiphany” yet, that moment I knew I had to wrest control of my life back from me for me.

So do me a favor today. OK? If you have a busy day coming up today take a look at what you eat today and make a note of it. Then, when you do have time, ask yourself if there was a way to do that better. For example, if you know you’ll be running from meeting to meeting brown bag lunch and carry it with you throughout the day so you’re prepared. You know, that sort of thing.

And I will take today in hand, too, and do the best I can (as we all do) on this weight loss and maintenance journey. Which reminds me I need to add “run to the store for healthier snacks” to my “to-do” list for today.Another thing I am doing today is talking to a personal trainer about steps we all can take to get leaner which I will share with you when he and I finally do have a chance to sit down.

See, lots to keep track of. During it all I will keep track of the snacks I have, the meals I eat and the exercise I get. This way, at the end of today, I can look back and say “yes,” “no” or “eh, so-so.” So have a great day, my friends. And remember. The number one thing on the top of your “to-do” list has to be you. No matter what. Remember that and everything else will fall into place.