- Photo courtesy of Zsuzsanna Kilián
Exercise Summary: 9.4km; 57:57mins; 745 cal; heart 146
It’s been around 4 months since I started getting serious about my health. There were a lot of signals over the years that caused me to get here. I’ll post about these later on because I think it is important we know why we are doing what we do.
One discussion I have with a colleague at work is the difference between living a healthy lifestyle and keeping to a “regime”.
Both of us want to enjoy food, good times and the occasional beer fest - or whatever takes our fancy.
So while we are both trying to lose weight to get to our goal, we’re not going to become monks or hermits (no offense to either monks or hermits).
So how do you do it?
The main thing, in my humblest of opinions, is to prepare…
- Prepare a shopping list of what you plan to eat - this is fun because you can buy the pasta, the meat, the sauces etc to make really scrumptious meals and then look forward to making them.
- Prepare your meals for the week - this is the best bit. If you know what you are going to eat and it doesn’t always have to be 100% healthy*, then you can plan your exercise to accommodate.
- Prepare an exercise program - write down your goals for the week
- Prepare your tools for the exercise - set them out the night before, for example
Now the UNPREPARED part: don’t think too much harder than this. Just do it. Eat the meals but also do the exercise.
At the end of the week you’ll have eaten relatively healthy, you’ll have exercised the required amount and you’ll find you’ve lost a little bit of weight.
And you’ll find you’re just a teensy bit motivated to do it again!
What I am looking for is a lifestyle, not a sentence. I don’t want to be held to some overly strict regime that I begin to resent eating great tasting food. Occasionally I want a second helping, I want that extra beer of glass of wine.
I realise with this I will need to exert myself, regularly. But if that exercise means I can have that rump steak occasionally and the rich food once in a while then bring it on! 
* = I’m neither a doctor or health expert so when I say meals don’t have to be 100% healthy, common sense still applies.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
MizFit 08.10.08 at 6:01 pm
if that exercise means I can have that rump steak occasionally and the rich food once in a while then bring it on!
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so true.
um, but in my case it’s oreos.
Andrew is getting fit 08.10.08 at 6:07 pm
Yep, that’s pretty much what I do. The only caveat is that you have to watch that that extra helping or beer does not become a regular thing again. Every so often I have to slow down and say Oi! Get back on track.
Bill Wallace 08.10.08 at 11:48 pm
@ Andrew, I think that is what I’m doing at the moment - having too much of anything. Not really sticking to the diet like I was a few weeks back! Hence the weight isn’t going in the right direction - even with 2 runs on the weekend. So I must get back on track.
@ MizFit - Oreos, mmmmmmm. That’s a few more kms to run. Great siet by the way. I’ll be spending a bit of time there reading through all the stuff you have!
Greg on the Run 08.18.08 at 11:12 pm
Welcome to the Complete Running Network Family. You’ll find plenty of people dropping by just to say hello.
Diet is the big factor in losing weight and remember that running can cover a multitude of sins.