YouTube Hypocrite

I have been watching weight loss and transformation videos for the last like 3 hours now. I suppose in a way to psych myself up and get a little motivation flowing for my upcoming endeavor. Most of the people that are doing the YouTube weight loss vlogs and videos usually ask for help or tips to help them lose weight. It never fails that someone lists, eat smaller portions, get moving, exercise, and all the other "cliche" tips to lose weight. After reading some of these comments, it just made me angry. I don't really know why it did, I just did.

I am thinking to myself, that can't be right. I can't be mad for people trying to help out other people. I am not mad at the people, I guess it's just the comments. Here in the last few seconds I just figured out why it makes me mad. The commenters just come off as know it alls and that they are an expert on things. It's probably because I imagine they are people who sit and do nothing but watch YouTube and comment on people's vids like they know.

Oh wait... I have been sitting here doing nothing but watching YouTube and I write a blog about being 365 Fit. I know that makes me a hypocrite, I just don't know how I am supposed to stop myself from being that hypocrite. Maybe I am just obsessing over this too much. Anyways, I am going to try and not be a hypocrite because I know those people are just trying to help. After all, that is why I do it, and that is why you people read it.

365 Fit for life!

Goals Make The World Go 'Round

I have made different goals through out my life. Whether it be personal, professional, health, or whatever. Most, if not all, have been long term goals, or the end result of something. I haven't made any short term goals, maybe not ever, but at least not recently. I always say I want a six pack or I want to dunk. My most recent one has been that I want to run a triathlon. Goals are a great thing, but sometimes we need to diversify the goals that we make for ourselves.

Here is my silver lining that I mentioned from my last post. I have a plan. That sounds lame, because I always seem to have a plan, but this time I hope it's different. I know I've said that before, but the minute I stop saying that I hope this time is different, is the minute that I have nothing left to work towards or for. That is why I am saying it, I hope this plan works.

When December 2nd rolls around I said that I am going to start working out again. Not in the sporadic sense that I have done recently, but the way that I know I should, the way I have done in the past. I also made another goal, something really simple. I said I would physically go to the gym at least once that week. I haven't been to our gym in at least six months, maybe more. That is a lot of time and money that I have basically just thrown down the drain.

These are my basic goals. I have read a few things that I am going to try, and I am still going to work towards my triathlon. I know it is going to go well.

365 Fit for life.

Falling Off The Wagon

I know the accepted expression is falling off the wagon, but I personally feel it should be, jumping off the wagon. Falling implies that you "accidentally" fell off the wagon, or in my case got lazy, weak, and didn't do anything to improve the quality of your life, or more exactly did everything you could possibly do to decrease the quality of your life.

With the exception of a minute percentage of the population we do not accidentally get fat or become unhealthy. We all make choices every day. Case in point. This Thanksgiving I totally bombed everything. Not only did I engorge myself with the holiday festivities, I then proceeded to drink I'd say 3,000 calories of soda in the course of four days. I ate chili dogs, leftovers, sausage, bacon, heavy gravy, biscuits, more leftovers, cheese dip, chips, and basically anything I wanted.

It didn't seem that bad when I wasn't writing it all down. I didn't accidentally eat all of this. I didn't accidentally drink all that pop. I made choices and while they weren't good choices, they were still my choices to make. They weren't accidents, I didn't fall off of anything, it was just my decisions.

Again, it sounds really bad, and I know it does. There is a silver lining in all of this; that is if you were looking for a silver lining, but I will get to that in my next post.

365 Fit for life.

Am I Really Not Eating Out?

Like myself, I am pretty sure we have all said, I don't want to eat out. Whether it be because of money, nutrition, or whatever you're reason, we have all said it at one time or another. I recently have made that statement. We usually have a bad habit of eating out whenever we get paid. I am sure a lot of other people do that in some fashion or another. Oh, I just got paid, I need to go shopping. Oh, look, money, . Whatever your vice may be, we have all been there.

I did not want to eat out for both of my stated reasons. I didn't want to spend the money, and I didn't want to eat unhealthy. We did good through the first week and then the weekend rolls around. It was Friday after work and we had just pulled into our driveway. I said to my girlfriend, let's go get something to drink for the weekend. We pulled out of our driveway and went to the store that is like two blocks away. When it was all said and done we spent about 16 dollars on drinks and snacks. The weekend was almost over and I had some time to think about the situation. Are we really not eating out?

When we go to fast food places we usually end up spending about 14 to 17 dollars. When we go sit down and eat it's probably around 20 to 30 to 40 depending on where we eat. The point I am trying to make is, while I thought we were doing good for not eating out, in reality, we really were. We were spending X amount of money for "food" that lasted for about a meal.

People do this all the time. They don't want to go out and eat so they think, I'll just go to the store and buy things to cook at home. What inevitably happens at the store? We get junk food, snacks, or something like that. We often go to the store hungry and we often go after work when we are all stressed out and just want to get it over with and our guard is often down. We grab a 24 pack of pop, which incidentally is now a 20 pack it seems, a bag of chips, maybe some dip, or desert. We buy all these things thinking we are doing the right thing because we are making our purchases at a supermarket and not at a restaurant.

Whenever money is involved, or your health, or food, or eating, always make sure you are doing what is the best for you. Just because you bought food from a supermarket, doesn't mean that you are doing the best thing for you. Just because you are eating out at a restaurant, doesn't mean you aren't doing the best thing for you. If you go to a grocery store, have a meal plan ready before you go to the store so that you get only the healthy things that you need. Go to the store when you are not hungry to help avoid impulse buys. Also, if at all possible, do not go to the store with your kids, your sisters kids, or any kids. They will slow down the process, they will want things they shouldn't have, and they will distract you from staying the course.

I hope that we all make the best choice for ourselves no matter what that choice is.

365 Fit for life!

To Eat Or Not To Eat

I looked into my freezer today and saw what has been sitting there for probably a long time, like at least the last year. I saw a bag of fries and a bag of tater tots. I love fries and tater tots and today I ate them. I guess my reasoning behind it was, I would rather not waste the food, then worry about my health for that particular moment. It's like when you are watching one of those shows where they are trying to get people healthy and they come into their house and just throw out everything.

I have been going way more "green" this year than I have ever before. It's a weird line separating wasting food, and trying to eat healthy. I do not like it when I waste food, and I do not like it when I do not eat healthy. Ok, I take that back, I don't mind when I don't eat healthy while I am not eating healthy, it's just after the fact that I am not so happy with myself. Also, I know that last statement sounds like some weird eating disorder, but I can safely assure all of you that it is not an eating disorder where I am just disgusted by myself and I purge all the sin out of my body.

I suppose the bottom line in all of this is to only keep healthy food in your house, and then when you are faced with the dilemma of not wanting to waste food, you won't have to choose an unhealthy option. No one is perfect, and we all probably will have or have junk food in your house at some point in time. I usually have junk food in my house, and probably will continue to have junk food in my house at any given time.

Moderation is the key to everything and like I tell everyone around me, there is a time and place for everything. Go ahead and eat those fries, depending on who you are talking to it might actually do you more harm to deny your self something want as opposed to just letting yourself eat it. We all need to take a little something for our selves every now and again, just don't over do it.

365 Fit for life.

The Weekend Is A Killer

Weekends do one of two things. They either invigorate and motivate you to get out there and do great things; or they sap everything that you ever had and turn you into the lump of all lumps, the couch potato. I have had weekends of both kinds, though lately it has been more of the latter. This weekend I suppose was half of one and half of the other. I didn't really do anything on Friday, and I know I didn't do anything on Saturday. I had good intentions on Saturday, it just didn't quite pan out. Today I did my push ups and my squats and so I feel good in doing that. My push ups I think have gotten better, and I feel stronger when I do them now.

Though I did push ups and squats today, I don't think that I made any real progress in the weight loss department. I will get to that in a different post, however. This week is Thanksgiving week, and I hope that all the will power that I haven't used for the last forever comes to me this week and motivates me to not eat 'till I am sick.

I am looking forward to this weekend, and I feel that it will be one of motivation and invigoration and not one of sloth and gluttony.

365 Fit for life!

Resisting Temptation

I just got paid yesterday and that usually means snack time. It is almost without fail that after I get paid I ususaly stop at my local convenient store and get a soda to drink. We also go grocery shopping and I usually end up buying something to drink there as well. Today we stopped for gas, and we also went shopping. I didn't go into the actual store when we got gas, and I walked by everything when we went shopping. I felt a sort of longing to get something to drink, it was odd. The best thing though was that I resisted the temptation to buy something at either place.

That was the good news. The bad news is that I ate two tacos instead of just one. Like I said in my last post though, you can't do everything at once. I think this is day two of my no soda campaign and it feels good that I have set a goal. As a side note my goal is to not drink soda until we go on spring break in March.

That is my update for the day, and I hope wherever you are that you are doing all you can do to be 365 Fit.

Tired And Happy

So there I was sitting on the couch. I was full of taco and feeling kind of sleepy. I knew today was part of my strength day, but was having a hard time making myself get off of the couch. That is what it seems to be like the last four days I have been trying to be active. I'll wake up in the morning feeling tired and thinking, today I don't really want to work out. Then I'll go to work and think, I just want to go home and relax. I get home and relax, and then the want to move my body slowly diminishes. Then for some reason after that I get these thoughts in my head. I want to be stronger. I want to be faster. I have these thoughts for a while and then something just motivates me to get up and get something done.

Tonight I did about 45 push ups, 45 squats, and 45 lunges. I feel good about what I did tonight, it wasn't a lot, but it got me sweating and off the couch.

My downfall has still been some of the snacking that I have been doing. I am probably relying a little too much on the advice of you can't do it all at once, but at least I am doing something at all. My weight has been fluxing for the last three days, and I know it's just been three days, but I still don't like it. I am hoping that here in the next few days I will even out and my eating habits will start to get better.

365 Fit for life.

You Are What You Eat

If this is true, then apparently I am a mashed potato cheeto drowning in Mt. Dew. I hope tomorrow when I wake up, I won't be covered in butter or anything like that. I added a menu as well as my current weight and body fat percentage. I do not know how accurate this body fat measure on my scale is, but since it is the only one I will be using it will at least serve as a reference on if I am going up or down. I am going to be posting my current weight for both the morning and night. I find it interesting my weight shift from morning to night and then again to the morning. It's usually in the 6 lbs. range. I doubt that is good for me. I think it might have something to do with what I eat or what I don't eat or what kind of liquids I drink. I am also adding what time I go to bed, well at least what time I lay down in bed, as it's hard to gauge exactly when I fall asleep, and when I wake up. I am not sure what significance this might have, but I think it will be useful in my quest for better fitness.

So there we are, I am listing a lot of vitals for myself to better track what is going on with my body. Stay tuned, I hope good things are to come.

365 Fit for life.

Pop Free's The Way To Be

Tonight I have drank, drunk, drank, the last of my pop/soda that I have in the house. Tonight is hopefully going to be the last night that I drink pop/soda for a long time. I like pop/soda a lot, probably more than I should, but I love it. Soda is just empty calories, I know it, you know it. I may like soda, but I think I'm going to like looking in the mirror and seeing a six pack of abs staring back at me, and not a six pack of Mt. Dew.

I remember not so long ago when I used to drink nothing but water. I didn't necessarily drink it because I like water, but I drank it because I couldn't afford to drink anything else but the water out of my tap. I don't buy pop very much any more, but I buy it more than I should. So, not only will I be saving money by not buying pop, I'll be saving my waist line as well. Wish me luck.

365 Fit for life.

Triathlete Bikeman

I have always toyed with the idea of participating in a triathlon. Since starting this whole parkour thing it has motivated me at least a little bit to be more active. I have made an unofficial promise to myself, not in writing, to do a triathlon.

I started my pseudo training tonight with a little bike riding. I learned three things while riding around my neighborhood. First, like I had said in a previous post, I am out of shape. Two, I do not like biking up hills. Three, hot cheetos and Mt. Dew are not good pre-workout foods.

This is day four of me being active every day, and that is a good thing. I feel tired and achey and tired, and sore, and did I mention achey. I hate that it is getting longer and longer for me to get back to the place where I left off when I worked out for any length of time. I am hoping that in the next two weeks I will be back to a level where I won't feel completely worthless.

*Parkour update - During my bike ride I came across some picnic tables and decided to work on my kong vaults. I was able to dive just a little bit and plant my hands about half way across the table and jump up and onto the table without injuring myself. I just couldn't muster the courage to actually try and jump over it yet. Until then I will keep practicing and let it happen.

365 Fit for life.

Parkour #2

I don't know if you can really call this day number 2 or not, but I am going to anyways. Went down to the playground again where I live and just messed around a little more. Jumped off a few things, did some chin ups and push ups. I did some more front rolls, and my shoulders don't hurt or anything when I do them, though I seem to landing hard on my hip when I roll over, so I'll have to work on that. I am trying to work on my kong/monkey vaults, but I don't have anything that I can vault over. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to find something to vault over. I can try to vault over my fence, but it is a little bit too high for my first attempt. I have been watching videos on youtube trying to psych myself up for the jump. Parkour and the elements there of will be good for me, cause I am afraid I will hurt myself. This is the best way I can think of to get over this fear, to just do it. I'll let you know how it goes when it happens. Until then, 365 Fit, for life.

My It's Been A Long Time

I just went outside on this awesome November afternoon and started practicing my rolling. I couldn't have been out there for more than like five to ten minutes just kinda running around, jumping, and rolling. Wow, I am more out of shape than I had anticipated. There is something to be said about training like a kid. They just run and run and run and run and that is something we can all embrace.

I just came in for some water and a breather, and now it's back out to rolling around in the grass.

*Update - I just walked down to the playground area in the neighborhood I live in. It was fun to just run and jump on the equipment, do some chinups and swing across the bars. I also had an opportunity to jump over a few things and to jump from a height greater than six inches.

I learned a couple of things while I was doing this. One, if you land wrong it is very jarring and kind of hurts a little bit. Two you should always land on two feet unless you are going to roll, and even then, you might still want to land on two feet to help absorb the shock of landing. Finally, doing unconventional things to workout, such as playing at the playground, really helps to motivate you to keep going.

I hope tomorrow I will be able to find more things to jump over and practice on. I haven't been trying to do anything "parkourish" except for my rolling, but I think to just get out there and jump around and get my body used to impacts and things is going to help out a lot. Oh yeah, also toughening up my hands is going to help a lot cause apparently I have little girl hands that hurt after swinging on the monkey bars.

365 Fit for life!

Time To Stop Deteriorating

I started this blog for probably the wrong reasons. I started it for not myself first, but rather for others. I wanted fame and acknowledgement and tons of traffic. I wanted daily comments and people subscribing and following whatever it was I was talking about. That lasted for a while. I think I got up to around 40 or so posts.

I have made a decision to start again. This time around, I am doing it for myself. I am using my blog as a way to track my own progress and let me reflect on the things that I am doing. I will still write tips when I find them or think of them, and I will write my little blurbs about fitness, but will focus mostly on the things that I am doing. If it helps people along the way then great, I always want to help.

I have done a lot of research on my new fitness ideas, and plan on doing a lot more in the next forever. I am going to start doing parkour. Parkour is basically moving through your environment, any environment, in the quickest possible way. One of the most well known displays of this was during the opening chase scene in Casino Royale. It depicts a person, think its Sebastian Foucan, running through a construction site.

This will be my first venture into anything like this and I hope it goes well. Let me know if you have or want to do anything like parkour.