Archive for the ‘social support’ Category

I spent most of my younger years on a ranch/farm. Cattle…lots and lots of cattle and a bit of farming and stupid, ungodly pigs. I hate pigs, but my dad had some which meant I had to help take care of them.

I hate pigs.

Even today, I don’t eat pork…except for bacon. I love bacon…but HATE pigs.

Before I get off on a pig-hating tangent, I better get to the point.

During those years spent in boots and trudging through mud and muck, I learned a lot of things have parallels to fitness and weight loss.

I’m serious!

For instance stagnation, ruts and plateaus.

We all reach points of stagnation (also known as a plateau) with our diets, workouts, and the idea we “want” to be healthy and fit – even me. As a matter of fact, I’m just coming out of a rut.

The same thing happened on the farm…literally. In the spring we’d get a lot of rain, plus melting snow and sun. Add in a lot of animals that weighed about the same as a Honda and you get some messy…stuff.

On top of that, you’d get a lot of standing water. Standing water is not good because it gets stagnant and is a breeding ground for all sorts of yucky stuff.

We had to get rid of that standing water before any problems surfaced.

This job was not fun.

As a matter of fact it sucked.

It usually involved digging small trenches to let the water drain. It was tough work (I think I’ve seen convicts doing this type of work) but it’s work that needs to be done.

What’s my point?

If you’re stagnant or at a plateau, it can lead to a lot of problems.

You get frustrated.

You get angry.

You feel like you will NEVER accomplish what you’re trying to accomplish.

You feel like the weight will NEVER come off no matter how hard you try.

It’s maddening!

There are a couple ways to break through that stagnant state and they’re not really easy, but they’re necessary.

Just like me digging drainage ditches to drain the standing, stagnant water.

One way to break out of the plateau and get out of your rut is to do something BIG and drastic.

Change your workout completely. No minor tweaks and changes – I’m talking a major shift.

If you’ve been doing nothing but use machines or dumbbells for the past 6 months switch to all bodyweight exercises for a couple weeks…and make them tough.

Don’t do 10 bodyweight squats – do sets of 40 or 50!

Do burpees…do 1-leg burpees…do burpees with push-ups at the bottom.

If you normally do slow mountain climbers, increase the speed so you’re almost sprinting in place.

Challenge yourself with the most difficult types of push-ups you can possibly do.

If you want an example of a killer week’s worth of bodyweight workouts, check out my personal workouts for the week by clicking here.

Again – not easy, but necessary. The best part of breaking out of a rut and shaking off your stagnation is that it doesn’t take long once you crank things up a bit.

The drastic workout change should only last a couple weeks and then change things up a bit again.

Now, let’s talk about the fun part – the diet.

Obviously, by fun I mean not fun.

If you’re stagnant with your eating plan and find yourself getting to the point where you constantly tell yourself “I just don’t give a damn.” often, you need to take the same drastic approach as you do with your workout.

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WARNING!!!
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This does not mean I am telling you to do some whacky liquid fast for 3 months or some other crazy fad diet.

That’s not what I’m saying at all.

All I’m saying is that to break out of this feeling of stagnation and “I don’t give a damn” thoughts you need to get super strict for a week or 2.

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Or if you want to make this portion a little easier to follow, just follow my secret diet. Learn more about that by clicking here.
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By super-strict I mean completely cut out the junk – no cheats, rewards, mini-cheats, etc. for 7-10 days.

Kind of like a nutrition detox.

No booze, no breads, no junk foods, no 100-calorie snack packs, etc.

No pseudo-health foods.

Just lots and lots of real, healthy foods.

Lots of fruits, vegetables, nuts, lean meats, healthy fats, good-for-you fish, etc.

I told you it wouldn’t be easy, but once you do it…

…Once you’re done, oh man will you feel awesome.

Once this short period is over, you’ll be free of the stagnation and out of that rut and you will feel alive again.

Your spirits will be lifted and you’ll be so glad you were so disciplined.

Do it and you’ll feel great.

But remember – to get rid of the stagnation and break out of that rug, you need to make big changes…no baby steps here – big, sweeping changes for a week to 10 days.

It probably won’t be very easy, but it will break you out of your weight loss plateau.

If you have any questions, just let me know.

And remember…

Be a superhero today!

The Fit Dad

P.S. – Don’t forget to check out my personal plateau and rut-busting workouts by clicking here.

I just started a new workout program and I’m toying with a new twist to my diet that I’m *hoping* will yield some awesome results…without making me feel like I’ve changed many habits.

I’ll definitely keep you posted on that.  I don’t want to give you too much info now because it’s very much in its infancy and I don’t want to throw a bunch of information out there without testing things on some clients and myself before sharing it.

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Now, on with the show!
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If, like most folks, you have trouble knowing what to eat, when to eat, if you should eat at night, blah, blah, blah…

…First chill out and relax.

The truth is it’s not as difficult as many so-called “experts” will have you believe.  It really comes down to making the right decisions most of the time and doing whatever the hell you want a little bit of the time…easier said than done, I know.

It’s just food so there’s no need to get yourself all wound up.  Just chill out.

Relaxed?

No?

We’ll work on the relaxed part later, but here’s a very simple little tip you can put into action that will help you in determining what to eat – which is by far the most important factor.

Ask yourself this question – “After I’m done eating this, how will it make me feel?”

The reason I started that out with “After I’m done…” is because it takes the emotional eating and comfort eating out of the equation.

When you eat because you’re stressed – or whatever your reason is for eating like crap – the actual eating makes you feel good…

…At least for a few minutes and then you feel like crap because you just ate an entire bag of Oreo’s or cut people off trying to swing your car into the drive-thru to get Super-Sized.

But when you actually stop yourself before you indulge and ask yourself that question it will let you remember what you’ve felt like in the past after eating poorly and will bring those emotions to the front of your mind and will at least make you think twice about what you’re about to eat.

Is that overly simplistic?

Absolutely!

And that’s the point!

So just chill out, relax and ask yourself that 1 simple question before you eat your next meal and snacks and you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to change your mindset and your habits.

So what do you think?  Is that simple enough?

Do you have any tricks you’d like to share?

Leave a comment below.

Have an awesome day!

The Fit Dad

We got our first measurable amount of snow yesterday.

Ya know, snow always sounds cool…until it arrives and you have to drive in it.  Scratch that – you have to be on the road when OTHER people are driving.

Although I will say this – I’m actually one of the weird ones in that I actually enjoy scooping snow.  Yes, I know that’s weird and some may say idiotic, but it’s kinda fun to get out there and throw some snow around!  Plus I like to have competitions with my neighbors to see who can get done quicker – although they don’t know they’re competing with me…but I’d still kick their butts!

But I digress, here are your 10-Minute Home Fat Loss Workouts for the week…

Day 1:

Dumbbell/Bodyweight Circuit – Complete this workout in a circuit, completing as many circuits as you can in 10 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »

I want to share a quick conversation I had with a client last week.

She walked in the door, we exchanged the obligatory “Hey, how ya doin’”, then she said…

“Okay Ed, I know I’ve gotten stronger over the past few weeks.  My clothes fit better in my arms, chest and legs, but I’m not losing weight and my stomach isn’t shrinking.  What the hell is going on?” (A direct quote)

Sound familiar?

It does to me.  I’ve heard it dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of times over the past several years.

My first response to her was to congratulate her on the progress she’s made in only a few weeks of committing herself to working hard and consistently. Read the rest of this entry »

This is going to be my last post for 2008, but it’s going to be slightly different.

I’m not going to teach you anything today…

…I’m going to ask you some questions.

I want you to tell me what you want me to teach you.

What do you want to learn?

Do you want more workout videos?

Do you want my videos to be instructional in nature?

Do you want to know more about healthy, fat fighting foods and nutrition tips?

Do you want more workouts?

Do you want to know what my workouts look like?

Whatever it is that you want to know, tell me and I’ll do it.

I want 2009 to be your best year ever, but I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what you want.

Thanks and have a happy and safe new year!

I’ll see ya in 2009!

Ed Scow, aka The Fit Dad

P.S. – don’t forget to leave comments letting me know what you want to learn in the coming weeks and months.