Dean
Dean
Why is it that when I have so much to be thankful for my focus tends to be on those things that I don’t have?
Am I the only one who thinks that way, way too much of the time?
10 years passes very quickly.
On October 14th, 2002 our son Derek passed from this earth into the presence of God.
It was a terrible day, no doubt about it.
You wake up in the morning and everything seems normal, and by the next morning your life has changed – dramatically.
It is said that time heals all wounds, but I believe only God can do that.
What time does is provide perspective and growth, if you let it.
In the first few years Octobers brought not much more than heartache.
Now I look on them as a blessing, because every year I am given a gift.
A reminder to slow down and focus on what it really important.
I am thankful for the 11 months that Derek was with us, and I am thankful for what has come into my life since he has been gone.
And while I don’t have Derek with me now, I have blessings beyond compare.
Family. Friends. You.
There are moments in our life that define who we are, for better or worse.
And it is only by God’s grace we stand at all, never mind in the face of circumstances we would not necessarily choose. I am thankful for a strength beyond my own frailness.
I am still growing, and learning.
To truly be thankful for a decade of blessings.
I love you Derek.
Dad
This Saturday October 13th we will be having an open gym from 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. in both locations, as we prepare for the upcoming SkiErg Sprint World Championships.
Come on in and ski 1000m, check your time, and set your goal. We will be talking strategy, pacing and technique throughout the morning. You won’t have to be here the whole time, so stop by for a 15-20 minutes slot and get some work in.
See you there!
Last week we discussed the PPW formula for success.
Planning + Preparation = Winning
You had an opportunity to get a head start as we revealed the PPW Shopping List, Part 1 and Part 2
Having the food you actually want to feed your body with on hand at all times is the only way to make sure it happens, regardless of your nutrition strategy.
If you are on the “Donut Diet” you need donuts on hand – makes sense, right? 🙂
(P.S. – Don’t be on the Donut Diet)
This week we are getting down to brass tacks and revealing what “Eat Your Way Right Through The Holidays” is all about.
As with our S3 Team Transformation Contest earlier in the year, “Eat Your Way Right” is Habit Based.
Why?
Because diets don’t work – at least in the long term.
The very word itself lends itself to a temporary fix rather than a permanent change.
It’s one of the reasons we don’t just hand you a menu plan and say “eat that”. What happens when you reach the end of the plan, or the one we gave you doesn’t work for you? You go back to your default eating, which is what got you where you were in the first place. And that just doesn’t make sense.
Short term thinking rarely leads to long term success. When we focus on the “outcome” rather than the behaviors we set ourselves up for failure.
Let’s say you want to lose 10 pounds in the next 2 months. Your whole focus is on that 10 pounds, and at the end of the 8 weeks you weigh yourself and you lost 8 1/2 pounds. Your mind immediately focuses on the 1 1/2 pounds you didn’t lose. I have seen it over and over again. You were wildly successful, and yet somehow you still are disappointed.
So how do we stop that?
We create and track measurable behaviors (or habits) that are supportive of our long term goals. The habit is something I can control and measure. If the habit I am developing is to eat breakfast every day, I either did it or I didn’t. When I do it consistently I know it will positively affect my desired outcome.
So while our outcome based goal for “Eat Your Way Right” is to positively affect your body composition, we are going to focus on the habits it takes for long term success.
Here They Are:
Habit 1: Eat 4-5 times per day or every 3-4 hours
Habit 2: Eat complete, lean protein with each eating opportunity.
Habit 3: Eat vegetables with each eating opportunity.
Habit 4: Eat veggies/fruits with any meal. Eat “other carbs” only after exercise.
Habit 5: Eat healthy fats daily.
Habit 6: Don’t drink beverages (soda, beer, etc.) with more than 0 calories.
Habit 7: Eat whole foods whenever possible.
That’s where your shopping list comes in. Eating off that list gives you the least margin for error when it comes to being compliant with these habits.
Our goal is to be compliant 90% of the time. Anything less than that and you really aren’t making much of a habit of the habits, now are you?
Below is copy of the chart you will be provided with to track how well you are doing with the habits.
Filling out the chart is pretty simple.
An “x” means your meal was compliant to the 7 habits.
An asterisk “*” means the meal was not compliant in some way. Could be you drank a beverage with more than zero calories, forgot your veggies, or decided to eat that donut after all.
A “0” means you missed a meal, plain and simple.
An “s” is a good thing. This denotes a “splurge”, which is defined as a planned non-compliant meal. Could be you are going to a party, or want to have pizza with the kids. The great thing is that you can have between 3 and 4 splurge meals a week and still be 90% compliant. Perfection is not necessary, warranted or even desirable.
At the end of every day and week you get to see how you did. Instant Feedback!
Take another look at the chart above.
It shows I was 74% compliant for the week – not terrible, but not what I need to do to make progress.
It also shows me that the 3rd meal of the day is a challenge spot for me. It shows that most of the time I am either missing that meal or non-compliant, and it gives me an opportunity to evaluate why. Is it a planning challenge? Am I just not taking the time to eat? Once I nail down the “why” I can figure out how to overcome that particular challenge.
This tool not only helps you, it helps your coaches help you. If you are consistently 90% compliant and making little progress then we need to refine your strategy.
“Eat Your Way Right” is pretty simple.
On October 15th you will step on the scale and your coach will record your weight.
You will pick up your first “Success Checklist” and start recording your compliance.
On October 29th we will collect your completed compliance checklist for the first 2 weeks. When you hand it in you will be given another checklist card for the next 2 weeks.
At the end of 4 weeks (November 9th) we will have you step on the scale again.
Simple.Straightforward.Accountability.
Look guys, we all need to take a look in the mirror once in awhile and ask ourselves if we are really doing what it takes to reach our goals.
This is not magic. It still involves taking action which is the key to everything we do. Reading this blog post isn’t going to make you drop a pant size or fit into that little black dress.
You gotta DO IT!
Shoot me your questions below.
Make It Happen!
Dean
Yeah I’m Talking To You!
The awesome Paulette Wolfe (of Wolfepack fame) created this cool chart to help us keep track all the way through Day 100.
Not only does it help you keep track, it keeps a cumulative total – right up to 5050!
No excuse for not keeping track now – thanks Paulette…
You Rock!
Plan to NOT eat this stuff!
I was reading the paper yesterday and came across Dr. Oz’s column in the paper. Now I know how much some of you love Dr. Oz (right Betty?) so I figured I’d give him a shout out.
Anyway in the article he refers to the “Five Food Felons”
The list got me to thinking about a crucial part of our nutrition plan.
The actual planning!
Because there are some foods (like in the list above) you need to plan to avoid. Added sugars for example. You have to read the label and see what’s in there, which is another good reason to purchase as much “label free” whole foods as possible.
Well if we are going to “Eat Our Way RIGHT Through The Holidays” we are going to have to implement the other PPW…
Planning + Preparation = Winning.
We’ve talked about it before. You can’t go into the grocery store and wing it. From the moment you walk through the door you are being set up to buy more, and the choices ain’t all good.
To that end we have created “The PPW Kitchen Shopping List”.
We are getting some of these printed up for the contest, but here’s the first part of our challenge to you.
The next time you go shopping buy only items on this list.
Should really simplify the process, and you will be feeding your body what it needs.
Plus you’ll have a head start stocking your kitchen with “EYWRTTH” friendly fare, and you will be setting yourself for success.
Make It Happen!
The PPW Kitchen Shopping List Part 1
The PPW Kitchen Shopping List Part 2
I hope y’all have taken advantage of our friend and professional massage therapists introductory offer of 25% off your first visit to Peace & Balance Body Therapies – it’s not too late!
Christen sent me a note to let you know that her location has changed (a little suddenly due to circumstances beyond her control) to 19 South State St. in Concord, just a hop, skip and jump from where she was.
Now is the perfect time to get in, get some body work done, and check out the new location.
Thanks Christen!
At Get Fit NH it is our goal that our clients achieve their best health – that’s no big mystery. But sometimes there is something going on inside of us that makes achieving optimal health more challenging.
And that’s where Dr. Detectives like Dr. Laura Jones from Whole Health Concord come in.When a patient is having a difficult time dropping bodyfat, even if they have been compliant with their nutrition plan (this is key), it is appropriate to investigate further, and that’s what this seminar is all about.
We have been talking to Dr. Jones for sometime about setting up a program where our clients could be tested to make sure their hormone profiles, thyroid, cardiac markers, etc. are where they should be and the body is ready from a biochemical standpoint to make maximum progress.
To that end Nancy and I had ourselves tested for the profiles Dr. Jones thought appropriate for each of us, and she is going to be using our results as an example during her seminar.
I am a little anxious about it, because I haven’t even seen them yet!
Now I know we aren’t all science geeks out there, but I assure you Dr. Jones is a can’t miss! She is a talented and dynamic speaker who makes challenging concepts easy to understand. No geek speak!
Mark your calendars now – this seminar is sure to be packed.
Solving Your Biochemical Mystery: What’s preventing you from achieving optimal health?
Dr. Laura Jones
Wednesday, October 17th
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Get Fit NH Concord (Click for Directions)
There are two ways you can read that one.
“Eat Your Way Right Through The Holidays” – such as, eat everything in sight from Halloween to New Year’s and ensure yourself 10 new pounds of belly blubber for the new year.
OR
“Eat Your Way RIGHT Through The Holidays”, as in eat correctly and supportively over the next few months, enjoying the seasonal treats in a planned and controlled way, continuing to focus on good habits and making progress.
Big Difference! (no pun intended)
Starting Monday October 15th we will be starting Phase 1 of our “Surviving the Season” transformation contest and seminar series.
Each “Phase” will be 4 weeks in length – long enough to make progress, short enough to keep us from being overwhelmed. Yes you’ll have some “stuff” you gotta do – but not so much that you will go crazy trying to keep up with “one more thing”.
Along the way we will be hosting nutrition and planning seminars to help give you the tools you need to succeed.
More info coming in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!
Mark your calendars: the 4th Annual SkiErg World Sprints will be held November 9–11, 2012.
This 1000-meter race allows you to compare your time against others worldwide in a one-weekend showdown of speed.
How it works: Race 1000 meters on the Concept2 SkiErg between November 9–11, 2012. Post your time to the Concept2 logbook by 5 p.m. Monday, November 12, 2012. The worldwide winners of each age group will receive a special prize; prizes will also be awarded for the top three times in each age group.
Get Fit NH is proud to be a host for this event, so don’t miss out. We are sure to offer up our own prize package for our local winners, so you’ll want to get it on it. We will also record and submit all athletes times, so we have that part covered for you.
Stay tuned for more info and dates before the event where we can get some extra training and practice runs in.
It’ll be a blast!
It was unanimous among all the Get Fit NH family who participated in last weekends Warrior Dash at Gunstock.
It was a BLAST!
We are proud of you all for conquering your fears and getting out there and Making It Happen.
Check out the photos of some of the gang below, and make your plans to do to next one!
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