Baby steps

For many the road to fitness entails losing some weight first. The first thing to do is have an initial concrete goal. It can be long or short term. Mine was to get back to my high school weight. Trust me, this was a lofty goal. I believe that if you set lofty goals you'll strive harder to attain that goal. This is purely individual, some people just won't commit to the task, others fear failure. To succeed at this YOU NEED TO COMMIT yourself and PRIORITIZE accordingly. That means NO EXCUSES, like I don't have time, it's too dark outside, it's raining. No matter how valid a reason not to commit to the task, it is ultimately an excuse.

My way of losing weight might be the easiest method ever because it doesn't entail cutting back on eating, or even changing your eating habits. How cool is that?! Those who know me know that I love to eat, and I have the sweetest sweet tooth of anyone I know. Sometimes it's a little bit embarrassing because I'll have two pieces of cake at a party or I'll sneak like a dozen cookies. But I'm not too too worried about it because I'm totally fit. If you're reading this and it appeals to you, I'll give you the tools to do it. I don't want anything except for you to succeed!

UPDATE, one paragraph:
Here I am 10 years older than when I initially wrote these words. And while my thoughts are largely unchanged, I do now firmly believe that You-Are-What-You-Eat. I have modified my own nutrition considerably since writing this blog. HOWEVER, I still believe that it can be overwhelming to bite off too much (pun intended ;) and still recommend not to burden yourself with anything but fitness in the beginning (Unless, of course, your Dr has said something different).

During the time that I lost 20% of my body mass, I never cut back on my eating, and now I eat more than I ever have in my life. I love to eat and refuse to cut back. While it's true that I eat slightly differently today, I think that in the beginning it's more important to take those baby steps. And that puts eating habits way down the list, so don't change a thing and don't worry or feel guilty about what or when you eat.

Which leads me to my first baby step. Buy a heart rate monitor. OMG what's a heart rate monitor?! It sounds complicated and expensive. Don't get nervous, it's a cheap and easy device and I'm gonna walk you through it. The most basic premise to losing weight is that we have to burn more calories than we take in. Since we're not regulating what we take in, we have to measure what we burn. We start with raising our heart rates which burns calories. This'll be more fun than you think.

A heart rate monitor is just that, it measures how fast our hearts are beating. You can get a good one for as low as about $40 and up to many hundreds of dollars. I would recommend a simple one like one of these that I found on Amazon: Fitbit or Garmin

UPDATE, 9/12/2016: Since I originally wrote this post, heart rate monitors have become better and a little more user friendly. You don't have to use the strap anymore, the sensor is simply built in to the watch. Here's the Garmin product as of today but Polar and others have similar watches: Garmin

These are just examples, and there's no difference between men's and women's heart rate monitors. I use a Garmin.

Again, don't worry about how to use it yet. Just get one. They also have 'em at Big 5, Sports Authority, REI etc. Just tell the person helping you that you want a simple unit to get started. It might only perform two functions: heart rate and calorie meter. It'll come with the watch-looking thing for your wrist and a belt thingy that wraps around your chest and measures those heart beats. This belt sends a wireless signal to the "watch" and voila! you're reading your actual heart beat.

Next post I'll walk with you through some ways to effectively use the HRM (heart rate monitor). Once you get it read the manual, play with it, tinker with it, have some fun. Don't be intimidated by it, you won't break it. I still use mine every single day and put it on like I do my watch.

Until next time. Smile, you're on the path to fitness nirvana!