It’s 3 days after Thanksgiving, and you are tired of turkey and leftovers. So, you decide to go out and eat or order on UberEATS. What do you do to stop adding to the pounds? Here are 5 proven methods to stop from overeating when eating or ordering out!
1. Track before you attack. The first rule is always to figure out what you will have before departing. Most restaurants now post nutritional values in menus on their website. Read the menu, pick your menu items, and record the calories before departing. Like a good soldier, never eat without a good plan of attack.
2. Bring it to Boots! Portion control is the key to keeping your weight down and your friends happy. In my case, my friend is a bear/dog named Boots shown below.
I always think of my buddy Boots when craving a big steak. I then make a conscious choice. I eat 5 oz. instead of 10 oz of a Porterhouse, cutting my calories in half and making my dog leap in delight! This trick also works with humans, but it is more fun with dogs. Half your plate and make your friend feel great!
3. Stop the cravings at the Concierge. Rule 3 works best when traveling, but is easily modified during the current pandemic. I had access to a concierge lounge back in BP (Before Pandemic) time, when I was traveling a lot for work. I would hit the concierge lounge and load up on vegetables before going to a restaurant for dinner. Many times, I would skip dinner and just eat in the concierge lounge. I lost over 100 pounds following this trick. I swear by it! The approach still applies even with limited or no travel. Eat some vegetables or small appetizers at home before ordering or eating out. Fill up on veggies, instead of filling out on steak and burgers!
4. Eat like a Plebe. The faster you eat the more you repeat (think Buffet). When I eat out, I go back to my training and eat like a Plebe! We learned to eat slow at West Pont, by squaring our meals, so we would not wolf down food.
Here is how you square a meal. You lift your fork straight, bend your fork at a 90 degree to your mouth, straighten your arm back out, and then bring you fork completely down. You do not bring your fork back up until you completely chewed your food. On top of this, you needed to take small bites to be able to recite knowledge to senior cadets without your mouth full. All served to slow how fast we ate, and cut down on our food intake, while practicing good manners. 35 years later, I still eat like a Plebe.
5. 3 out of 5 Ain’t Bad. I cannot claim this last rule, since I learned it from a colleague. Every meal at a restaurant usually includes 5 options: bread, appetizer, entrée, dessert, and alcohol. The simple rule is to keep it to three!. Either Bread, Drink and an Entrée or some other combination. Remember scrap 2 and keep 3! While I can’t claim this idea, I can confirm it works and claim the below song parody to emphasize. Make like Meatloaf and remember.
I want you,
But I don’t need you,
And there ain’t no way I am ever going to eat you,
Each morning I wake up with a why in my heart and head; sometimes two! What is a why? A “why” is the motivation for taking on something difficult and the purpose for doing so. A why drives you forward even when you feel you can’t go on. Why’s are imperative to change a bad habit or get out of a rut.
I did not always have a why nearby. I did not have an overall cause or purpose from 2007 to 2014. I wandered without a why, for those seven years. In the process, I gained over 100 pounds, lost my drive, and in general was a bear to be around. The years of wandering without a why are described in this blog: Fit to Fat: Lessons Learned While Doubling My Weight
Then three things hit simultaneously at the end of 2014 that got me back on track. First, I learned that I had a serious health issue caused in part by my weight. Second, I received an invite to my 30th West Point Reunion. Third, I received a discount to Weight Watchers (now WW) through my company. The three combined to develop that first why. I decided to lose weight and increase fitness to look presentable for my 30th reunion and regain my health!
I was introduced to the power of “why” at Weight Watchers and have expanded my understanding through my own story and experience. Here are 4 things you need to implement your unique why.
1. Visualize Your Why. It is important to have a visual representation as to the outcome you want to obtain. A visual representation serves to remind you why you are making the change and helps to keep you motivated when times get tough. One way to do that is to create a Vision Board; a series of pictures and text snippets that visualize your goal.
Below you see the visual representation of my first “why” that I created at WW on the Hay House Vision Board app (located here Hay House Vision Board). I wanted to do two things as represented in this Vision Board: to lose weight to look decent for my reunion and to get healthy in memory of my parents. Pictures include my company from West Point, a picture of my parents, my WP graduation picture, a picture at near peak weight with a classmate, an image of my family, and me working out in support of my mission! I topped it all off with my class moto “For Excellence We Strive, 85”.
I looked at the Vision Board each day. It drove forward when times got tough. I looked at it after getting through TSA with my CPAP machine, so I could get good rest on a work trip. Or when hitting the hotel gym at 9 PM after work. Or when avoiding a beer and eating vegetables at the concierge lounge. Slowly but surely it kept my eye on the prize as I lost 100 lbs. before the reunion.
2. Adapt Your Why. Once you obtain one “why”, focus on another. Whys are not static. The excellence of today is the mediocrity of tomorrow. A new reason or mission can drive you on to greater things. Here are three of my subsequent “Why’s” to show you what I mean.
First, my reunion served to stoke two new motivations. Having lost 100 pounds, I wanted to lose the other 50+ lbs to achieve Lifetime designation on WW. Second, I wanted to do something to remember a fellow officer who was lost in Afghanistan by supporting returning Veterans. Combining the two, I created my second Why that led to the creation of the McEvoy Memorial Walk in support of the Merivis Foundation. I trained from August to Veterans Day in 2015 to walk 50 miles in one day in support of Merivis and the Young Marines of the Capital Area (read more here Go Big to Get Small – The Art of Improbable Goals ). In the process, this why drove me to my Lifetime weight goal and raised funding for these worthy organizations. Here is a YouTube clip on the walk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaaijB9ybX4
My next goal was to maintain my weight and support the children of St. Jude’s by becoming a Certified Spin Instructor and riding the entire 4-hour St. Jude’s Ride for a Reason. I talk about this motivation in the following blog Spinning is Winning! A Ride for A Reason.
Spinning helped me maintain my weight, diversify my exercise regime, help a worthy cause, and gain a new skill. Now I was ready to play it forward with my current Why.
My current why came about due to two events: a milestone birthday and the ongoing pandemic. Having been given so much, I wanted to pass it on to others. I came up with a new acronym for my Why – CRAFT. The acronym stands for Coach, Religious, Author, Friend, and Teacher. You can read more about CRAFT here 5 by 5, Rumination on a Milestone.
In simple terms, I wake up each day whether in this blog, my continued workouts, or wellness programs paying it forward. It is now my mission to teach others how to heal both their body and soul, especially during this difficult time. To impart what I have learned through example, stories, and wellness programs. Read about one such wellness program called Peloton Pandemic Pandemonium here .
3. Share your Why. When you determine your why, do not keep it to yourself. Share it with friends and family to help prod you on and keep you on track. The ability to share helps you immensely. I am grateful both to my WW Round Rock Saturday group and my sister in law Sheri and niece Rachel for creating Facebook groups. These communities allowed me to share my motivation and progress toward health. Live and share your why with friends to keep moving forward!
4. Wake Up with Your Why. I end with the beginning. Each day you can take concrete steps to wake up with your why. I accomplish this through journaling and meditation. I use the Kindness Journal (located here Kindness Journal) to help prompt me along to realizing my why.
Each day I record three “I am statements” to help me visualize my end goal. Here is a recent example in pursuit of my current why: “I am a devoted coach that passes on the lessons that have served me on my health journey to improve the lives of others”. I also visualize my favorite moment from the day before and list the thing that I will do today to help make the world better. The journal helps me focus on why I was put on this earth. Along with meditation in the form of prayer, I remain fixed and progressing towards my why.
In closing, do not wander and wallow in the unknown without a why. Instead, visualize your why with these four simple tricks and build a better future for yourself and others!
The ongoing pandemic is stressful. The recent pandemonium around the Presidential Election even more. What is the anecdote? Peloton Pandemic Pandemonium (PP))! What is that? Read on!
Peloton for those uninitiated is a virtual platform for cycling and other exercise programs. You can ride with other cyclists around the world virtually! You can do so either on the Peloton stationary bike or by using the Peloton virtual service available on your phone, with your own equipment. On Peloton Live In-Studio rides you can compete with other cyclists on the virtual leaderboard. They have excellent instructors who are fun and uplifting like my four favorites Jenn Sherman, Leanne Hainsby, Alex Toussaint, and Kendall Toole. The others are great too!
I had used the virtual Peloton app as a supplement to my gym spin class. But now decided to get the bike. I loved it from the moment I got it. And it made me think that my fellow work colleagues would love it too. So, I and a friend came up with a virtual stress valve program appropriately called Peloton Pandemic Pandemonium. Each week we pick up to 3 live rides and post the time and date on our company’s local website. People join with our group’s hashtag and we have a fun virtual race. Also, we give each other virtual high fives and chat as we ride.
Peloton Pandemic Pandemonium helps us stay healthy and happy during these difficult times. Here are the three major ways that PPP helps to keep you sane in these insane times:
1. Endorphins! Spinning, especially the Peloton variety is an endorphin rush. The mixture of music and interval exercise brings a flood of endorphins that helps to counter the darkest thoughts. The endorphin- exercise connection is well documented (read here WebMD Article). PPP is the way to crush, despair with an endorphin rush!
2. Tune-in and Sing! I love exercising to music. Nothing is more relaxing and stress relieving then belting out your favorite tunes as you spin. The good news about PPP is you can sing in the comfort of your own home. No embarrassment and no drowning out by the person next to you. But watch out! Singing too loud while biking at 100 RPMs can nearly cause you to pass out. I need to watch it the next time we do another Hamilton (Robin Arzón) or Bon Jovi (Kendall Toole) theme ride. (Need to add Jenn Sherman’s Epic Sing Along Series).
3. Community. Peloton and our company group PPP is a community. We care about each other. We high five when people hit a milestone and pick them up when they fall-down. In addition, theme rides really help celebrate commonalities and share hardships and trials. One of the best such rides is Kendall Toole’s ride on World Mental Health Day which focused on the importance of Mental Health. See my thoughts especially on Veteran’s Mental Health here. Mental Health Thoughts
So, there you have it. Three ways Peloton helps you with the Pandemic and Pandemonium of today! Message me or comment if you would like to participate in PPP!
One of my favorite songs is Simon and Garfunkel’s “Feeling Groovy” and nothing makes me feel groovier than taking a slow walk Saturday around Lady Bird Lake in Austin. The song goes something like this with apologies for some modifications:
“Slow down you move to fast,
Got to make the Saturday last,
Just kicking down Lady Bird Lake,
Austin is great and feeling groovy.”
Here is a picture I snapped last weekend during my weekly trek. These turtles sure know how to Slow Down, bask in the sun, and feel groovy.
While the word Groovy may have been out of vogue since the Seventies, slowing down to regroup is still key to a better life. Even more so in this time of constant noise and nuisance. Nothing restores the soul and the spirit then a good podcast, a crisp wind and nature all around.
Slowing down is the key to the healthy and happy life. I seldom miss a Slow Walk Saturday for the following three reasons:
1. Time to reflect and adjust. When we are running from one task to the other, there is seldom time to reflect, learn from experiences, and adjust. I find that when I slow down and quiet my mind that I come up with the answer that I need. Proof point? I have been so busy with work and life that I have been having writer’s block. A few minutes and miles and I had ten new ideas when I had been stuck for at least a week. Sometimes the best thing when you are struggling for a solution is slow down, quiet your mind and be thankful for the nature all around you.
2. Destress and feel blessed. Nothing stokes compassion and soothes the soul than to experience nature. It is hard to feel hassled when you see 20 turtles sunning on a log or see a bird take flight. It is a wonder this world! Our role is to revel and reflect the love of God in his creation. Not to strive and stifle. Slowing down makes us thankful for the pauses and pleasures that are in each day!
3. Listen and learn. When you are alone with your thoughts and those of a good book, you learn new things about yourself and your place in the world. I recommend to everyone the library application Libby which provides audio books for free if you have a library card. I have learned so much while walking and listening from how Changing your Habit can Change Your Life to How to be 10% Happier. Truly my Slowdown Saturdays have made me a better person!
Life is not a sprint. It a slow walk to the better angels of our nature. So, take the time to slow down and feel groovy.
