I’ve talked about health a few times on this blog in the past, though in hindsight I don’t think the timing was ideal. My pattern is that I’d hear about a new-to-me health regimen, I’d get all excited about trying it and proceed to write about it…and then I wouldn’t follow through. Perhaps you can relate to that.
But today is different. Instead of talking about something I will do, I’m going to discuss something I’ve been doing and will continue doing.
I must admit this is a bit of a vulnerable blog post, because I’m going to talk about the way I see myself. I’m happy with a lot of who I am and what I see in the mirror, but it’s a bit sensitive to dig under the surface.
First, I’ll start with the intent: A few months ago, I realized there were a number of aspects of my life that I wanted to improve. I think they had been adding up for a while, and it kind of just hit me that all of them had the potential of improving if I lived a healthier life and lost some weight (I weighed around 165 at the time):
- I wanted to snore less
- I wanted to look healthier, especially in the face area (thinner, better skin), but also the belly
- I wanted to lower my cholesterol
- I wanted to improve sexual performance (I wasn’t sexually active at the time, but this video–which I’ll refer to again in a moment–made me start to think about it)
- I wanted to fit into some clothes that were just too tight
- I wanted to strengthen my back and neck, both of which have caused me occasional trouble throughout my 30s (I’m 38)
I realized that many of these goals–if not all–could be improved if I made some changes and got my weight down to 150. That’s not entirely an arbitrary number, as it’s what I wanted to weigh in college when my metabolism was a beast and I couldn’t gain weight over 145 no matter how hard I tried. Also, just to be clear, I know weight isn’t everything. It’s just a helpful benchmark for me.
I had this goal, but I also know myself pretty well by now: If I jumped headfirst into a drastic lifestyle change, particularly one that takes a lot of time every day, I probably wasn’t going to stick with it for very long. Also, I knew better than to cut out all the edible things I love–I needed balance and room for indulgences.
So over the last few months, I’ve been adding incremental lifestyle changes. I’ll note them below, and then I’ll share the results:
- Daily exercise: I do 120 crunches, 3 sets of 2 different weight/resistance lifts, then I run up and down the stairs in my 8-story building for 10 minutes. It ends up being a 20-minute workout, which is long enough to get my heart rate up for a meaningful amount of time and short enough that I won’t make excuses about doing it every day. An excellent side effect is that it clears my head and often gives me a chance to think about one specific problem I’m working through that day.
- Weekly climbing: This is still new to me, but I’ve been indoor rock climbing every weekend for a month now. While I could probably cut this and still accomplish my goals, it’s nice to have a sport/exercise that is less repetitive than my daily exercise regimen.
- Drink more water: I thought I already drank a lot of water, but one small change has significantly increased my daily intake: I now keep a full glass of water on my desk at all times. I know, that’s probably super obvious to you, but it’s made a huge difference for me since the cup is always within reach.
- Fewer carbs and sweets: For years I’ve eaten a heavy carb at both lunch and dinner. I never even questioned it. And I’ve had a dessert after each of those meals too. I still have dessert on occasion (but not every meal), and I only eat a complex carbohydrate once a day (usually at lunch). I’ve been trying to make sweet potatoes my main carb.
- When I eat out, I eat half: If I’m going to indulge in a meal, it’s when I go out for lunch or dinner. But when I do, I try to eat only half my food. I save the rest as leftovers.
- Whole food, plant-based diet: This is the biggest change. Out of the two big meals I eat each day (breakfast is just oatmeal), I don’t eat any animal byproducts for one of them (typically dinner). A normal dinner for me now is hummus or tofu, kale and spinach salad with pumpkin seeds, oat milk (or almond/coconut), a fresh fruit, and sometimes pita chips and/or carrots.
- Stress less and love more: This is the toughest for me to achieve. It’s one thing to buy oat milk instead of cow milk; it’s quite another to not stress as much about everything! The daily exercise helps, and even just being aware of the goal helps. As for the love part, it’s a work in progress (I have a girlfriend now).
- Sleep better: I’ve been pretty good at getting a healthy night of sleep for a long time now. However, as I wrote about recently, I’ve found that a 20-minute power nap sometime during the day does wonders for me. Fortunately, that’s the exact amount of time my cat Walter wants to sit on my chest every day.
- I don’t drink much and I’ve never smoked: This isn’t a lifestyle change, but I think it belongs on the list anyway. Oh, and I haven’t had a soda in over a month.
One small note is that during this entire time, my sit-stand desk from IKEA has been broken (it won’t stand, and IKEA seems to have no interest in fixing it). I think it would make a big difference if I could get the stand function working again.
Results
- Weight: I’ve dropped from 165 to 153 pounds. Not quite to 150, but definitely on the way there.
- Snoring: Nope, according to my Sleep Talk app, I still snore for the first hour every night. Perhaps this simply isn’t tied to weight for me.
- Lower cholesterol: I’m not sure yet, but I’m very curious about the results when I embark on my yearly checkup.
- Improve sexual performance: Well, that’s a bit personal, don’t you think? 🙂
- Fit into clothes: Yes! This has been great. There were several shirts I simply couldn’t wear because of my belly, but they fit much better now. Same with a nice pair of jeans I had grown out of. I do need to remember to wear a belt with all of my jeans, though, as I’ve dropped at least one pant size.
- Avoid back/neck issues: I haven’t had any back or neck issues in months. It’s certainly possible that I’ll tweak something at some point, but I try to stay vigilant.
- Looking better: You can be a judge of that via the photo I took a few hours ago below. Though I can also be the judge of that: I’m happy with the way I look, though I still feel like it’s a work in progress.
So while all of this seems to be working so far, it’s very much a work in progress. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what I’m doing and what you do to stay healthy, as I’m very open to improvements and variations.
Congratulations on all you’ve achieved!
It’s fantastic that you’ve been able to improve your health and self-image via daily workouts!
Thanks Bez! 🙂
Jamey,
Simply writing down your goals moves the needle from 20%-30% chance of success to more than 85% chance…but, why? You hold yourself accountable for your actions. In my life, I’ve set myriad goals (mostly running-related) and what always had helped me is to establish both a consistent schedule and a tracking mechanism. When I turned 40 and then, 50, I ran 1,000 miles those years (and around 600 in the intervening years) and while I took days off and certainly didn’t run when I was feeling poorly, having that Excel spreadsheet facing me at the end of the day, kept me honest and focused.
Cheers,
Joe
Joe: Thank you for that advice! I hadn’t thought about the impact of writing down the goal, though I do track stuff on a monthly basis, which I find very helpful and motivating.
This is downright inspiring! Well done! I’ve been searching for a lot of the same things in life, but I’m far from there. Congratulations on your achievement!
Thanks Trev! I’m curious about the methods you’re using or have used.
Joe: Thank you for that advice! I hadn’t thought about the impact of writing down the goal, though I do track stuff on a monthly basis, which I find very helpful and motivating.