Take One Step

PBS recently launched a website based off a recent documentary entitled, Take One Step. It talks exclusively about Cardiovascular Disease (CVD), the history, the causes, the warning signs, and how to prevent it. More of us will diet from CVD this year than from anything else. This isn't just men either. Did you realize that more women die from CVD than from 10 types of cancers combined. You are a lot less likely to die from Breast Cancer than you are from CVD. What baffles me is that CVD is preventable. Let me say that again, CVD is PREVENTABLE. Watch your cholesterol, don't smoke, keep your blood pressure low, eat healthy fruits and vegetables, and be active.

We, as Americans, have gotten lazy about so many things. We expect everything to be delivered to us on a platter. I'm just as guilty about this at times. We don't want to take the time to eat right, or exercise, or mow our own yard, or even read our own Bible. We truly are a spoon fed society. If it doesn't involve someone else doing it for us, we often don't do it. I don't know why we've become this, but it has to change. Go visit this website and watch the videos of the show (you don't even have to read it if you don't want to). Take measures to protect your and your family's health. Life is short. You don't have to make it shorter because of a few foolish decisions. Take care of yourself....you'll be glad you did.

Katy Group Meeting 11/15

If you are looking for something sweet in between meals, try eating something like a protein drink with a piece of fruit or some crystal light mixed in it for a unique flavor. If you need some recipes for a way to make a shake, let me know and I'll be glad to share them with you.

Another important aspect is how many calories you are consuming. You can use www.fitday.com (use www.dietfacts.com to compliment the website) to help you, you can use MyFoodDiary and track your meals and give you feedback, and MyWeightLoss has an excellent article on calculating your caloric needs and how to lose weight.

Goal for the group: Write down everything you are eating and how many calories and bring on Monday for discussion.

My end of discussion statement was the following:
My goal with this group is only to offer help and support. I can't make results happen for anyone. If I offer support to people, I am only with them for a limited amount of time for the week. What happens when I'm not around someone is even more important. If someone isn't ready for change, I can't force them to change. My presence doesn't make someone get results, and the lack of my presence doesn't prevent them from getting results if they are determined. I can only support, encourage, educate, and motivate someone to make better choices to achieve the results they desire. I am here for support, I can't make anyone get results unless they are ready to get results.

Meeting Notes 12/18/06 Cooking Tips

Prepare your meals ahead of time for the week. You can prepare your a weeks worth of food within an hour if you take the time to do it. We all have busy schedules today, but I spend about an hour every Sunday and can prepare all of my lunches and dinners for the week with that one hour. One of my favorite cookbooks is the Cooking Light 5 Ingredients 15 Minutes. You can find lots of great, quick recipes that will allow you to prepare your meals quickly.

What if you are surrounded by people who eat unhealthy and they are a bad influence on you?
You have to take a stand at first and tell your family/friends that you are not going to eat at places you can't eat unhealthy. At first they will give you a hard time, but you have to stand your ground. Eventually your family/friends will begin to choose places that they know you will be able to eat at. Make it a game with yourself. Show them that you can resist the unhealthy things, and eventually your friends/family will begin to support you.

Meeting Notes 12/11/2006 The Mental Adjustment

It's difficult to grasp this point today, but I really feel that it is the one thing that separates those who succeed and those who don't. Tonight we talked about the mental aspect of weight loss.

Every single day is a new start. If you fail one day, get right back up again. You can't let one day ruin a week for you. Every day you should focus on your individual goals like it's your first day.

Keep focused on your goals. The mental is the biggest part. You can’t stick with the eating part without the mental aspect. You can’t stick out with the workout part without the mental aspect. You have to continue to stay focused.

What is the secret to being mentally prepared? There isn’t one. You have just have to want it bad enough. You have to treasure it and crave it in order to make it happen. You have to want the long term goal more than the temptation in front of you. The difference between those who make it and those who don't are the people that make it are able to focus on the long term goal.

There are numerous diets out there, and studies have shown that the results have been virtually the same no matter what diet you do. You have to find what works for you, and stick with it. You have to find the one that you can stay motivated on all the way through your results.

You have to be willing to stay focused on the goal at hand. You will probably have to give up something in order to stick with it. You must sell out totally and be willing to give up everything to do it. Something clicks and you will be determined no matter what the situation.

What will it take to get you that motivated? Do you have to throw away your old clothes? When there is no going back, you will find a way to make thing happen.

Mental Surrender!

What was the last thing that you really wanted in life? I mean really wanted. Something you had to sacrifice for. You were so determined that you were willing to do anything it took to get there. I recently heard about a husband and wife that paid off all of their debt in 17 months. 17 months! They had to be eating crackers and drinking water for that to happen, but they were so desperate to pay off their bills, their cars, their home, that they were willing to give up everything else for it. Do you want it that bad? Are you so completely sold out and determined to lose weight that you can say nothing else matters?

Is it really that serious? Does it have to be that extreme? If you are asking that or have tried in the past to lose weight and just couldn't make it happen, then yes it is that extreme. You have to burn everything behind you and be determined that there is no going back. If it means taking your money and putting a certain amount away each week, and promising yourself that you can only have it back if you lose the weight, then that just might motivate you. At the end if you don't make it, donate it to an organization of your choice. But if you stay focused, and what you were putting aside was precious to you, you would find a way to make it happen.

Eventually there just something that clicks. And when you reach that point, no matter what comes your way, it doesn't phase you. You end up sacrificing to make sure you eat right. You find ways to get workouts in, even when you don't feel like doing it. Something has to click though. Until it does, it will be a struggle, but once it does, you will never be the same again.

Meeting Notes 12/04/2006 Getting Started

Here are the meeting notes from tonight. Hopefully this will help remind you of everything discussed or if you didn't make the meeting give you enough information to help you get started.

Discussion
I. Local Resources

• A. Seminar Information (December 16th at 10:30 AM at *edited* or call 281-644-5300 Ext 431 for more information).
• B. Katy Area Farmer's Market (http://www.texasgardeningsanctuary.org/katyfarmersmarket.htm)

II. Right Mindset

• A. Insanity - Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. You have to change something from a previous experience if you want this time to be different. You have to be able to see the mistakes.
• B. Looking Back - When you start moving forward, you can't look back. Once you have identified what happened in the past, move forward. If you changed things, then things are going to be different this time. Don't think about previous failures. This time will be different.
• C. You have to change something that forces you to move forward. You have to do whatever it takes. When you decide what you are going to do, don't let anything slow you down. If this goal is important for you, you shouldn't let anything stand in your way.
• D. Controlling your rewards. Slowly make changes. Even if you are changing just one thing, there is nothing wrong with rewarding yourself for doing well. Control your rewards though. If you have a celebratory meal for doing so well all week, limit yourself to just that one meal. If your celebration meal is on Saturday night, make it just that Saturday night, not Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday night. If you decide to have your celebratory meal on Thursday night, wait until the following Saturday before you have your next special meal.
• E. Diet Drinks. I have a whole article on diet drinks and what the ingrediants that are in them do to your body, but here is a brief explanation of it. If you want the whole article, let me know.

Top Reasons Never To Consume Diet Soft Drinks!
1. Soft drinks steal water from the body. Caffeine is a diuretic which takes away more water than it provides to the body.. To replace the water stolen by diet soft drinks, you need to drink 8-12 glasses of water for every one glass of soft drinks that you consume!
2. Soft Drinks never quench your thirst, certainly not your body's need for water. Constantly denying your body an adequate amount can lead to Chronic Cellular Dehydration, a condition that weakens your body at
the cellular level. This, in turn, can lead to a weakened immune system and a plethora of diseases.
3. The elevated levels of phosphates in soft drinks leach vital minerals from your body. Soft Drinks are made with purified water that also leach vital minerals from your body. A severe lack of minerals can lead to Heart Disease (lack of magnesium), Osteoporosis (lack of calcium) and many other diseases. Most vitamins can not perform their function in the body without the presence of minerals.
4. Soft Drinks can remove rust from a car bumper or other metal surfaces. Imagine what it's doing to your digestive tract as well as the rest of your body.
5. Soft Drinks severely interfere with digestion. Caffeine virtually shuts down the digestive process. That means your body is essentially taking in NO nutrients from the food you may have just eaten, even that eaten hours earlier. Consumed with french-fries which can take WEEKS to digest, there is arguably nothing worse a person can put in their body.
6. Diet soft drinks contain Aspartame, which has been linked to depression, insomnia, neurological disease and a plethora of other illness. The FDA has received more than 10,000 consumer complaints about Aspartame, that's 80% of all complaints about food additives.
7. Soft Drinks are EXTREMELY acidic, so much so that they can eat through the liner of an aluminum can and leach aluminum from the can if it sits on the shelf too long. Alzheimer patients who have been autopsied ALL have high levels of aluminum in their brains. Heavy metals in the body can lead to many neurological and other diseases.
8. Soft Drinks are EXTREMELY acidic: The human body naturally exists at a pH of about 7.0. Soft Drinks have a pH of about 2.5, which means you are putting something into your body that is hundred of thousands of times more acidic that your body is! Diseases flourish in an acidic environment. Soft Drinks and other acidic food deposit acid waste in the body which accumulates over time in the joints and around the organs. For example, the Body pH of cancer or arthritis patients are always low. The sicker the person, the lower the Body pH.
9. Soft Drinks are the WORSE THING you can possibly put in your body. Don't even think of taking a sip of a Soft Drink when you are sick with a cold, flu or something worse. It will only make it that much harder for your body to fight the illness.

• F. Make Changes and Accept Responsibility For Yourself. You can't blame other people for anything. You have to take responsibility for you and you alone. It is your responsibility, while it helps when loved ones help you, you won't necessarily get support from others in your life.
• G. New Beginning is Now. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. That's a cheesy statement, but it's true. It is a new beginning. When you start this adventure, this is a whole new beginning.
• H. Thanksgiving is one meal and Christmas is one Day. Many times we wait until January 1st to start the yearly weight loss resolution. WHY? The Thanksgiving meal is just one meal, and Christmas is only one day. One day won't mess up your results, so why are you wanting an extra month to get started? Don't celebrate the whole week of Thanksgiving or the whole month of December for Christmas.
• I. Changing one thing is a step in the positive direction. You don't have to be perfect to make progress. Take it one step at a time. If you take a step in the right direction, you will see positive results. Make small positive changes and you will experience results.
• J. It has to cost you something. It has to give up something precious to you (time, money, etc...) We all take things more seriously when we have to give up something precious to us. I hate this fact, but it is true.
• K. Focus on God. Saturate yourself in God and His help. He can give you strength when you can't hold yourself up. When you lean on Him, you will find strength when you have none.
• L. Education and Accountablity. Both of these are crucial. Proper education is extremely important, but all of the knowledge in the world does you no good unless you follow it. Accountability is crucial to make everything work.
• M. Set a Deadline. Force yourself to stick to your original goal. It may not be comfortable, but you have to make a way to make it happen. If you say you are going to workout 3 days a week, do it no matter what.
• N. Three Focuses - Cardiovascular, Strength Training, Nutrition (Set goals for each category if possible.)

Summary

1. Forget past mistakes, make this a new start.
2. Make sure you get serious about this even if this cost you something.
3. Set reasonable goals.

Weekly Meetings

Well, starting tomorrow I'm going to start a weekly meeting at Panera Bread at Fry and I-10 on Monday nights at 7:00 PM. If you find this blog, you are welcome to come. I will help coach everyone at the group on how to get healthier and lose weight. It's free, just come. If you miss a meeting, I'll try to cover the contents of the meeting here on the blog. Hope to see you there!