This Post is part of Project Weight Loss and a follow up to Days 3-5.

Hunger & Energy

Since I’ve been trying to eat 4-6 small meals throughout the day, I’ve noticed that I get hungry every 2-3 hours. The smaller meals are great and leave me feeling light and energized.
I have also noticed that my sleeping is much better. If I only get 5 hours of sleep on a night or two, I still wake up in the morning feeling very energized. It seem that with the healthier eating and exercising, my body has been much more efficient even during my sleeping hours.

Friends & Flu

I had some friends over yesterday who were going through my fridge trying to find some food, I knew I’m eating healthy when they made fun of the foods I had
I recovered from my mild flu rather quickly, I think this is mostly due to taking one full day of rest and then gradually increasing my workout intensity in the following two days. In the past when I’ve had a flu, and decided to mostly rest for a few days, I never recovered this quick.

Weight & Body Fat Percentage Check

Day 6 – 197 pounds 23.9% Body Fat
Day 7 – 197 pounds 24.2% Body Fat
Day 8 – 195.8 pounds 23.2% Body Fat

It seems that I’m losing weight a bit too quickly, I think this is mostly because I’m still in my first week of adjusting my eating and exercising habits. I’m also a bit concerned about how I’m losing pounds while keeping a somewhat stable body fat percentage. This means that I’m not maximizing the burning of body fat and minimizing the burning of muscle tissue. If this pattern continues I will have to decrease cardio training time and increase weight lifting time.

Exercise & Workouts

Days 6-7 : I did my regular 20 minutes of cardio followed by 20 minutes of weight lifting and strength training.
Day 8 : This was an off day.

Thanks for your continual feedback and support

This Post is part of Project Weight Loss and a follow up to Day 2 & Before Photos.

Value of the Public Commitment

Making a public commitment on here to lose weight has been very motivating especially during moments of weakness. Over the past couple of days I caught a mild flu. As a result, I took some time off relaxing. While I did skip working out for a day, I was tempted to skip my workout the next day. Being reminded of my public commitment on here, helped me to get the workout done anyways. It was a much lighter workout, just a few minutes of walking, however afterwards I felt much better. While making clear specific goals is motivating, sharing those goals and making them a public commitment is even more powerful. This is why I recommend that you make your goals public commitments because during moments of weakness you will remember that if you give up you are not only letting yourself down but also others that you told.

Weight Check

Day 3 – 201.8 pounds 23% Body Fat
Day 4 – 198.2 pounds 23.6% Body Fat
Day 5 – 197 pounds 24.2% Body Fat

It seems that I’m losing weight a bit too quickly, this is probably due to my flu. The next few days will clarify if the weight change was actual burned fat or just water loss as result of catching the flu. Catching the flu generally cause fluctuations in the body’s water levels. While it might seem that someone with the flu is losing a lot of weight, most of this weight is water instead of fat. As a result, usually when a sick person is recovering, their body will start putting back some of the water weight slowly.

Exercise & Workouts

Day 3 – This is the first day I felt I was getting sick however I was feeling fine physically so I performed my regular 20 minutes of cardio followed by 20 minutes of weight lifting.

Day 4 – Due to my flu, I skipped exercising on this day. Since I’m planning to workout 5 days a week, this also made a great off day. Off days, or days that you don’t exercise, are important because they allow your body to recover. Additionally off days are good psychologically because they prevent exercising from becoming a boring everyday tasks. Taking an off days is like taking a short vacation, where you come back feeling more refreshed and focused.

Day 5 – I just walked for 20 minutes. Afterwards, I tried lifting weights, however due to my flu, I felt a bit too week and decided to skip the weights.

Supplementation

I have been taking a daily multivitamin. One thing that I noticed on day 3 of taking the multivitamin is my skin looking healthier, and feeling softer. This is why I recommend that anyone take a daily multivitamin.

Overall Feeling

Even with my flu, I have been feeling a bit more energized as a result of eating healthier foods and exercising. I also have this great 2-3 hour window after each workout where I notice I’m very productive.

Your encouraged to share your goals with everyone in the comments section making them more of a public commitment

Thanks Everyone

I wanted to thank everyone for their support and comments on my Project Weight Loss introduction post. Your support has been very encouraging.

Weight Check

I weighed myself first thing in the morning on an empty stomach – 203 Pounds with 22.6% body fat. This is a bit strange and a rough start since on day 1, I weighed 201 pounds, however it’s normal since I’m just starting out. I will be weighing myself right after waking up every morning. This is recommended because it minimizes the weight fluctuations that result from the body’s water and sodium levels throughout the day.

Food

Here is a quick list of what I’ve been eating for the last couple of days:

• Low fat cottage cheese (or yogurt) with fruit (strawberries, blueberries etc.)
• Lean meats and fish including grilled chicken, salmon, tuna
• Eggs (boiled or scrambled)
• Mixed Nuts (in moderation)
• Lean cuisine microwave meals for when I’m feeling lazy or short on time
• Fruits (apples, oranges etc.)

Exercise & Workouts

I’ve been doing about 20 minutes on an elliptical machine, followed by 20 minutes of weight-lifting.

Overall Feeling

Overall I’m feeling great. I know I have a long way to go which is tough yet motivating because I feel that I’m taking on a bigger challenge. Of course the bigger the challenge the bigger the reward and payoff.

Your welcome to share any of your healthy food/meal ideas along with any of your favorite exercises or workouts, thanks for your support

Project Weight Loss Defined
Project Weight Loss is my plan for building healthy eating and exercising habits for the month of January. If I can make it a habit to eat healthy and regularly exercise for 31 days, I should be able to turn that into a lifelong habit. I have been putting on extra pounds in the fall and winter. I’m noticing that many of my clothing are starting to feel tighter. My purpose of sharing this weight loss project is to encourage others who would like to lose weight, eat healthier or get fitter. I also would appreciate everyone’s support and feedback.

My Weight Loss Background
Growing up I was always overweight. I reached my highest weight when I was 18 weighing 225 pounds, at the time I was 5’10″ tall. I didn’t play any sports growing up so all of that extra weight was fat. I remember throughout elementary school, junior high and high school getting picked on as the fat kid whether it was in the locker room or when I was walking down the hall going to class. Over the next 12 months (between ages 18 and 19) I improved my eating habits and started regularly exercising. I ended up dropping 50 pounds weighing 175. Losing the weight certainly made me feel great and improved my self esteem. However over the next months and years I started developing the bad habit of resorting to food for dealing with stressful situations. This developed some bad overeating habits. I have since been learning to control my emotional overeating.

Weight and Fitness Goals to achieve by January 31st
My current weight is 201 Pounds, with 23% body fat, at 6’0″ tall. Here are my goals:

• Exercise 5 days a week for at least 45 minutes each day
• Eat healthier more nutritious meals throughout the week, with an allowance of 2 cheat meals each week. More specifics about my meals is included in the following paragraphs.
• Lose 2.5 pounds per week for a total of 10-11 pounds in a 31 day period
• Drop my body fat percentage to 19%

Slow Weight Loss is Very Important
I can certainly lose more than 2.5 pounds per week, however I’ve noticed in the past that the slower I lose the weight, the longer I keep it off. Losing the weight slower helps me develop healthier eating and exercising habits for life. When I have went on extreme diets in the past, I did end up losing weight quickly however after the diet was over I always gained the weight back. Slow weight loss also insures that my body will mostly burn body fat instead of muscle mass.

Eating Guidelines
I will be aiming for the following nutrition intake 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates, and 20% fat. That means that I’ll try to formulate my meals such that 40% of the calories come from protein, 40% come from carbs, and 20% from from fat. To achieve this my meals will generally be made up of lean meats, eggs, veggies, fruits, beans, and other healthy carbs. I will be minimizing my intake of white carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, rice, fried foods etc.
Calories wise I will be aiming for about 2000-2500 calories per day. I could restrict my caloric intake more, however this would increase the chances of my body burning more muscle mass instead of just burning fat. I will be eating 4-6 small meals throughout the day to insure that my body is constantly burning food, maintaining a high metabolic rate, and a steady levels of energy.
I will also have two cheat meals per weak where I’ll just eat something I crave that might not be the healthiest. Cheat meals are also good because they insure that my metabolism will not slow down because of the decrease in my caloric intake.

Exercising Guidelines
I will be Performing a combination of cardio and strength training exercises. The cardio will help my body burn fat, while the strength training will insure that my body maintains most of its muscle mass

Leverage to Stay on Track
Simply defined, leverage is circumstances and systems that one sets up to insure that if they are tempted to slack off or fall off track, it will be much harder. A great form of leverage for any goal is letting all of your friends, family and coworker know about the goal. This way if you are tempted to slack off, not only will you be letting yourself down, but also everyone else that you’ve told. As you can see leverage makes it easier to stay on track. My forms of leverage:

• Publicizing this weight goal on here, and writing regular progress reports
• Signing up and paying for a few personal training sessions
• I will also add additional forms of leverage on here as I implement them

I Need Your Support
I really would appreciate everyone’s support, questions and feedback. As you know losing weight can be a tough goal, and the more support one has the easier it is. You can support me in two ways:

• Leave a comment at the bottom of this blog post, this will keep me conscious of my public commitment to accomplish this goal
• If you are currently trying to lose weight, or increase your fitness please share your current weight, your goals, and any eating or exercising recommendations. You can share by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post. This will encourage everyone who reads this post who also wants to lose weight and will create some leverage for your weight loss goals since by sharing you are making them a bigger public commitment.

Thanks in advance for your support

Shortcut to Happiness is the name of movie starring Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. As you can tell from the movie’s catchy name, it’s trying to expose the secrets of happiness. Of course I had to watch it, I felt weak and couldn’t resist. Anyways I’m glad I did watch it because of this very insightful quote that appears throughout the movie:

remember son there’s never a shortcut to happiness

I will not ruin the story and plot of a Shortcut to Happiness, so if your curios I’d recommend watching it, I think it’s worth watching at least once.

Image Source kalandrakas

Much of today’s advertising and marketing claims to provide a shortcut to happiness. A magic pill is another name for a shortcut to happiness. I’m sure everyone is familiar with many of the magic dietary supplement pills that were once very popular claiming that they would help you lose 30 pounds in 30 days without you having to change your eating or exercising habits. This is a great example of a shortcut to happiness. What’s the problem with this shortcut? well there are several. As most of us who tried those pills, my self included, can tell you that they never work. More importantly, lets say the pill did work for you without you having to change your eating habits or exercise habits. So 30 days later you are 30 pounds lighter. What will happen once you stop taking the pill? You will gradually gain the weight back because you never replaced your bad habits of eating and lack of exercise with healthy ones. Instead of the pill actually being a shortcut to happiness or weight loss it was actually a detour. I know someone will say well but if the pill works why can’t I just keep consuming it and not have to eliminate any unhealthy habits? You can keep consuming it however it’s a known fact that after 90 days of taking any dietary supplement your body becomes immune to it’s benefits. Even body builders go through different supplementation phases usually 90 days of taking a certain supplement and 90 days without it. Anyways I like this line of thinking so lets assume that your body doesn’t become immune to the dietary supplements benefits, and you now have a healthy weight. Well guess what? Losing weight will certainly give you a spike of happiness however this happiness will not last long. While being in a great body shape will feel great for a few months, it certainly will not solve all of your other problems. Behind bad eating habits and lack of exercise there are usually deeper issues including depression, fear, disappointment, failures etc. These deeper issues will still manifest themselves in all other areas of your life. Now that you also lost the weight, you will become a lot more conscious of other problem areas that you didn’t worry about that much before including your career, your relationships, your happiness etc. If your not convinced, then read You Think Making More Money or Losing Weight equals happiness? Think Again. Next time your are about to order a product or buy something at the store, ask yourself am I purchasing this because deep inside I think it will provide a shortcut to happiness? And then remind yourself that there are no shortcuts to happiness.

The Appeal of a Shortcut to Happiness

It’s interesting that we are constantly looking for shortcuts to happiness. I think for many people, if one was to really get down to what they really want out of life, it would be happiness. Why does someone want financial success? Because the media and everything else tells him it will make him happier. He thinks that by accumulating materialistic thing he will be happy. Why does someone want more exciting and fulfilling relationships with others? Because he notices that he always enjoys the company of great fun friends, and just wants more of that happy feeling. I think for many people their purpose in life in some form or the other is to be happy. It’s very easy to achieve temporary spikes of happiness. However finding and maintaining lasting happiness requires some work. As you can see from the weight loss example I provided earlier maintaining happiness is a dynamic process because once you achieve or own something it slowly starts losing it’s value. Once it loses most of it’s value it no longer makes you happy. Keep in mind this is the same thing that you put days, weeks, months or even years to achieve. After it no longer makes you happy your back at step one looking for what new thing will now makes you happy. This is exactly why shortcuts to happiness seem very appealing.

Image Source: anyjazz65

Find and Maintain Happiness
Now that we realize there are no shortcuts to happiness, we have to discuss how you really find happiness and more importantly how you maintain it. This is obviously a very deep topic however I have found two commonalities between many of the happy people in my life. I also found that these two commonalities were both true in moments and periods of my life where I was the happiest.

Method 1 – Choose Happiness
Right now anyone can chose to be happy by simply changing what they are focusing on. Everyone has their share of negative issues in their life like problems, failures, disappointments etc. However Everyone also has their share of positive things in their life that they can be thankful for. Try this Feel Great Now 5 Minute Exercise and remember whenever you are feeling down start thinking about what you are great full for in your life, whether it’s your health, your family, your abilities, your skills, your access to today’s great technology and vast amounts of information. Choose to be happy. By choosing to focus on positive things in your life instead of the negative things, you are choosing to be happy. This method of finding happiness works great in the short term. You can use it immediately at any time. However if you have many major problems and disappointments in your life that you are not dealing with, this method will certainly not work long term, this is where the 2nd method comes in.

Method 2 – Maintaining Happiness is an Ongoing Process

Maintaining happiness in the long term is a journey not a destination. You have to realize that to remain happy you will need to work at it a bit on an ongoing basis. Remember there are no shortcuts to happiness. You have to take some alone time and start writing what it is in your life right now that makes you unhappy. Make a big list, and then prioritize all the issues you come up with. At the top of your list should be the single issue that makes you unhappy the most. For many people it might be their current career or job, their current relationships, their current lifestyle or an unhealthy habit. Start taking out some of your free time each day to work on these issues, trying to first solve the one that makes you the most unhappy. Do some research, get professional help, get an accountability buddy or whatever it is you have to do to get it handled. After you start solving this issue you will start building a momentum that will help you fly through all of your other issues and problems.
I will also recommend that you try some new activities that will maybe stretch your comfort zone a little bet. The rewarding happy feeling you will get after getting out of your comfort zone is amazing. I recommend reading the following two posts:
Comfort Zone Zombies – 7 day Challenge
Security Does Not Exist which is Great News

Being a happier person is certainly a worthy cause especially since there are not shortcuts to happiness. Being happier will reflect in all areas of your life, your work, your hobbies, and your relationships. You will notice that your friends will become more attracted to the happy vibe your bring, they will be competing to spend more and more time with you. You will notice that even strangers at times will approach you trying to initiate conversations. You will start discovering new ways to make boring things in your life a bit more exciting, a whole set of new possibilities will open up. You will start viewing life from a child’s perspective full of energy and excitement.