If you were filling out a job application to work for public transit in London in the 1950s you would be faced with a very important choice. You would have no idea how important that choice was. In fact, your life depended on it. Take one job and you might be doomed for a life of heart disease and disability, take the other and you’d be fine. Why is this? What does this have to do with me, presumably a non-London bus driver in the 21st century. Continue reading “How your job can literally kill you…”
In Response to the Voice
You know that voice in your head, the annoying one, that stands in the way of all your successes. It’s the one that tells you all the reasons you can’t, won’t, or shouldn’t. We all have it so I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. I’ve been thinking a lot about this voice recently and have noticed some important things. The voice does not work by overpowering you. Its success comes from its endless needling at you until you give in without even realizing you have succumbed. It’s small but relentless. It never fatigues. This is the voice that is preventing you from succesffully losing weight. But you already knew that, its your voice after all.
The Key To Success With Exercise
Recently I made an attempt to create a four week workout program for the staff at the hospital where I work. I called it the 4×4 fitness challenge (you can check it out by clicking here) because it was four workouts each week for four weeks – clever, huh? The reason for the challenge was to emphasize the importance of setting clear goals that are measurable in order to be successful with exercise. I have gone into more detail about this in a prior post that you should check out called The Importance of Measuring. I think that my experience with this challenge illustrates why having clear, measurable goals is so important. Continue reading “The Key To Success With Exercise”
Not losing weight with exercise?
Hopefully, many of you have embarked on my 4×4 fitness challenge as many at my work have (shout out to Erika D. for being the Carroll Hospital leader so far!). If you haven’t , it’s not too late – click here. People have already started to see improvements in their fitness levels. Many can now pound out pushups and burpees in week 3 which they couldn’t do so well in week 1. In spite of their hard work there is a recurring issue that people bring up to me all the time with respect to exercise and weight loss. People often complain that, in spite of exercising regularly, they are unable to lose weight. The root of this problem lies in the way that exercise affects appetite. Continue reading “Not losing weight with exercise?”
The 4 x 4 Fitness Challenge
People frequently tell me that they have difficulty with exercise. They don’t know where to begin. They don’ t have gym memberships or, if they do, they don’ t know what to do when they get there. They don’t have time. These and many other excuses prompted me to come up with a four week challenge to help people get started on the path to improved fitness. The challenge will involve four different easy, at-home, no equipment workouts to be done every week for four weeks. Each of the workouts is timed and the goal of the challenge is to improve your time over the four week period. This is a challenge where the only person you compete against is yourself. Continue reading “The 4 x 4 Fitness Challenge”
Skinny Fat
I came across an interesting phrase that my sister-in-law used recently. She referred to some of her friends as “skinny fat”. The term, she explained, referred to people who were a healthy weight but did absolutely nothing to improve their physical fitness. They were skinny on the outside but ‘fat’ on the inside. This raises an important distinction that is essential to grasp if you want to not just be a healthy weight but actually be a healthy person. There is a difference between body weight and health. While it is not possible to be obese and healthy (see my prior post The Myth of the Healthy Obese) it is possible to be normal weight and unhealthy. For this reason it is essential for your health that exercise and proper nutrition (not just calorie restriction) be a regular and central part of your weight loss plan. Your goal should not just be to lose weight, it should be to become a healthier person. Losing the weight is not enough. Continue reading “Skinny Fat”
Easy to do workouts
I think it is clear both from experience and reams of medical research that successful long term weight loss just isn’t likely to be successful unless one commits to both diet and exercise. It is so important that I dedicated 1/3 of my book to explaining exercise physiology in layman’s terms and putting forth the evidence for the most effective type of exercise. While the concept of exercise is nice in theory, in practice, it is much more difficult. Many people just don’t know where to begin. Continue reading “Easy to do workouts”
The Most Effective Exercise
Hello all! I have recently relocated to a new home and job in Baltimore, Maryland. One of the first things I did after arriving was hit up Craigslist.com to search for some good exercise equipment so I can get back into doing Crossfit™ workouts. Since I had neglected these for some time, I am quite out of shape but look forward to getting back into things. As such, I thought I would review a post on the topic from the early days of the blog singing the praises of high intensity interval training (aka HIIT) which I believe is the best model for exercise to get you fit and help you lose weight. If you want the details and evidence for the benefits of HIIT, you’ll have to check out my book which goes into detail on exercise and weight loss in part three. Continue reading “The Most Effective Exercise”
The Root of Will
Ever since I wrote the book and started this blog I have had a number of people engage me in conversations about weight loss. People typically have very strong and passionate opinions about weight loss (sometimes the opinions are even correct). They will discuss with me their plans, goals, and commitments. Unfortunately, in spite of their good intentions, most suffer the same fate. Their enthusiasm leads to new work out programs or diet commitments that usually sputter out after a few weeks. They then come back to me at a later time with a new commitment that will likely follow the same pattern.
More Important to Lose Waist Than Weight
Ever since I accidentally fell into this weight loss counseling endeavor a couple years ago, I have been witness to countless numbers of people who are locked in an epic psychodramatic struggle with their scales. Its amazing how a little scale can be transformed into a larger than life nemesis that constantly raises and squashes hopes and dreams. Continue reading “More Important to Lose Waist Than Weight”
The Weight Loss Counter Revolution 
