I'm starting this thread as a bit of accountability as I try to improve my health. I've decided to do this as I posted about feeling stuck and depressed and several people responded that one way to improve energy is to improve health and I think that's a large part of it for me. (Here's that thread: MINDSET - Feeling Stuck and Depressed)
I've been overweight/obese most of my life, especially since starting high school. Not an excuse, just some background. I did lose a bunch of weight and got quite fit in my late 20s but then I met my now wife and I let a lot of it go, got back into unhealthy habits, ate to sooth my emotions and stopped exercising as the weight piled on. As with a lot of people I've also tried on and off to lose the weight, to change my habits, tried different diets or calorie counting or gym memberships. I can't say this time will be different but I'm going to do my darnedest!
The plan is to post here with my progress on 3 fronts: diet, exercise and sleep. I'm thinking I'll try posting every day I can, probably most week days. I'm hoping this helps keep me accountable, documents my journey and progress, will allow me to get suggestions, advice and encouragement from others and will help me sound out my plans to continue progressing.
There's so many reasons for me to work on my health and a lot of these reasons have been around for a while: setting an example for my sons, improving my health for my own comfort, making me feel more attractive, improving my relationship with my wife, living longer to spend time with my family, being able to play with my sons and be involved in their activities, and the most recent one is to have more energy so I can work more and harder on a business.
I've always been driven by money or the idea of having money so the idea that improving my health could help me with starting a business and breaking free of the rat race is really motivating for me.
I don't have too much of a firm plan at this stage, I'm sure it will develop through my posts here but here are some initial thoughts:
Diet:
Focus mostly on whole foods including lots of fruit and vegetables. Aiming for a pretty balanced diet with high protein, moderate carbs and fats. Drastically cutting back on my junk food! Only at times when I really want to and then only in moderation. I want to start tracking calories as I've enjoyed doing that in the past so I'll start that shortly once I get a few things in order. Going to stick to 3 main meals plus a night time snack, no day time snacking. Also focusing on high fibre foods to make me feel fuller and less likely to over eat.
Exercise:
For now I'm aiming to walk/run every week day and be active with my kids on the weekends. I've always enjoyed walking and being outdoors and when I lost the weight in my 20s it was through running. Walking/running is easy, doesn't require any special equipment, I can do it straight out of my front door and can start slowly and ease into it. Plan is to go early in the morning before the family wakes up. I'm starting with around 30 minutes with a few 30 seconds jogs throughout. Plan is to gradually increase the amount of time running until I'm running the full 30 minutes each day which would be around 5kms.
Sleep:
The plan here is to be in bed at least 8 hours a night going to bed before 10PM. Previously I had found I'd delay going to sleep by scrolling Instagram so I've removed that from my phone and I'm finding it does make a difference to me going to sleep more quickly once I'm in bed. Eventually I'd love to be able to wake up without an alarm so that way I know my body is getting the sleep it needs but I think that's a long way off. I'm aiming to go to sleep at 9:30PM and wake up at 5:30AM so I can get that walk/run in before everyone else wakes up. My sleep can be disrupted as we let the kids come into our bed during the night and they do this every night. Some nights we hardly even notice they're there but other nights they toss and turn and make it tough to get deep sleep. For now I'm just going to focus on getting to bed early and at a consistent time.
So that's the plan for now and like I said I'm sure it'll evolve over time.
Now for my first check in
I've been overweight/obese most of my life, especially since starting high school. Not an excuse, just some background. I did lose a bunch of weight and got quite fit in my late 20s but then I met my now wife and I let a lot of it go, got back into unhealthy habits, ate to sooth my emotions and stopped exercising as the weight piled on. As with a lot of people I've also tried on and off to lose the weight, to change my habits, tried different diets or calorie counting or gym memberships. I can't say this time will be different but I'm going to do my darnedest!
The plan is to post here with my progress on 3 fronts: diet, exercise and sleep. I'm thinking I'll try posting every day I can, probably most week days. I'm hoping this helps keep me accountable, documents my journey and progress, will allow me to get suggestions, advice and encouragement from others and will help me sound out my plans to continue progressing.
There's so many reasons for me to work on my health and a lot of these reasons have been around for a while: setting an example for my sons, improving my health for my own comfort, making me feel more attractive, improving my relationship with my wife, living longer to spend time with my family, being able to play with my sons and be involved in their activities, and the most recent one is to have more energy so I can work more and harder on a business.
I've always been driven by money or the idea of having money so the idea that improving my health could help me with starting a business and breaking free of the rat race is really motivating for me.
I don't have too much of a firm plan at this stage, I'm sure it will develop through my posts here but here are some initial thoughts:
Diet:
Focus mostly on whole foods including lots of fruit and vegetables. Aiming for a pretty balanced diet with high protein, moderate carbs and fats. Drastically cutting back on my junk food! Only at times when I really want to and then only in moderation. I want to start tracking calories as I've enjoyed doing that in the past so I'll start that shortly once I get a few things in order. Going to stick to 3 main meals plus a night time snack, no day time snacking. Also focusing on high fibre foods to make me feel fuller and less likely to over eat.
Exercise:
For now I'm aiming to walk/run every week day and be active with my kids on the weekends. I've always enjoyed walking and being outdoors and when I lost the weight in my 20s it was through running. Walking/running is easy, doesn't require any special equipment, I can do it straight out of my front door and can start slowly and ease into it. Plan is to go early in the morning before the family wakes up. I'm starting with around 30 minutes with a few 30 seconds jogs throughout. Plan is to gradually increase the amount of time running until I'm running the full 30 minutes each day which would be around 5kms.
Sleep:
The plan here is to be in bed at least 8 hours a night going to bed before 10PM. Previously I had found I'd delay going to sleep by scrolling Instagram so I've removed that from my phone and I'm finding it does make a difference to me going to sleep more quickly once I'm in bed. Eventually I'd love to be able to wake up without an alarm so that way I know my body is getting the sleep it needs but I think that's a long way off. I'm aiming to go to sleep at 9:30PM and wake up at 5:30AM so I can get that walk/run in before everyone else wakes up. My sleep can be disrupted as we let the kids come into our bed during the night and they do this every night. Some nights we hardly even notice they're there but other nights they toss and turn and make it tough to get deep sleep. For now I'm just going to focus on getting to bed early and at a consistent time.
So that's the plan for now and like I said I'm sure it'll evolve over time.
Now for my first check in
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