fitness

Five New Year Weight Loss Tips

Don Grier

Happy New Year!   I have culled through my content on the Wellness Leadership blog, podcast, and this blog to find the five best tips for those starting a weight loss journey.  Hopefully, these tips will lead you to a healthier, happier New Year.

Visualize Your Why for the New Year

The first thing this New Year is to define your purpose.  Each morning, wake up with a “why” in your 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 can’t go on.  Why’s are imperative to change a bad habit or get out of a rut.

It is important to have a visual representation of the outcome you want to obtain. This representation will remind you why you are making the change and help 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 is 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).  As represented in this Vision Board, I wanted to lose weight, look decent for my reunion, and get healthy in memory of my parents.

New Year weight loss Vision Board
Make A Vision Board

You can take concrete steps daily this new year to wake up with your why. I accomplish this through journaling and meditation. I use the Gratitude Journal (located here ) to help prompt me to realize my why. 

So, do not wander and wallow in the unknown this New Year.  Instead, visualize your why and build a better future for yourself and others! To read more about developing your why, read this blog.

Put One Foot in Front of the Other this New Year

On January 2nd, you see the same thing in gyms worldwide each New Year. Membership jumps as everyone tries to lose the pounds they put on over the holidays. The February phenomenon follows that as gym attendance takes a significant nosedive.

Often, people who join the gym and leave early in the new year start too fast out of the gate. They decide to try to sprint instead of walk and injure themselves.  

Others failed to take the second step after joining the gym.  Perhaps they were too self-conscious about their appearance in their exercise clothes or afraid to ask for help on the weight machines.   Either way, they did not follow the cardinal rule when starting.  You need to put one foot in front of the other. 

I have experienced the need to take it slow but still go. Weighing over 350 pounds when I started ten New Years ago, I could not walk far because of my joints, so I did low-impact water aerobics. I then progressed over time to the elliptical trainer. By the journey’s end, I was doing four hours of Spinning nonstop or walking 50 miles in one day. Remember, start with baby steps and then progress.

So, like the Winter Warlock in that old holiday favorite – Santa Claus is Coming to Town, just put one foot in front of the other, and you will soon hit your wellness goal. To learn more about this topic, read this blog.

Be Consistent Like Army Football

Army football had a great year, except for that one loss to Navy.   The key to their success is the same key to a positive weight loss journey: consistency! 

The Army football team does not have many plays, but what they do have is run consistently. Each player knows exactly where to block in their Flexbone Triple Option set. This scheme is run only at the Service Academies and requires discipline and consistency. Due to the smaller size of the players, each player needs to execute flawlessly. 

This consistency also served me well, as I lost over 170 lbs! I did not have a lot of plays in my weight loss arsenal, but I consistently did what I did have (tracking points, walking, mindfulness). Each day, I tracked my food, walked a mile, and meditated for at least 10 minutes. Much like the Army team pounds the football down the field, I pounded away the pounds with consistent execution!

To learn other rules of wellness from Army Football, read this blog.

THINK Before You Speak in the New Year

We all know the adage: Think before you speak.   However, take it a step further and follow the acronym THINK this New Year.  

  1. T – Is It Truthful? Here is one of the thoughts that ran through my head when I was 358 lbs.  “I do not have any willpower, and I am too tired to break out of this rut!”  That statement was not truthful, and on second thought, I realized it.  I had jumped out of planes at Airborne school and passed the strict discipline of the black hats.  I had the willpower, so it was not a truthful statement.  If you focus on falsehood instead of the truth, you attack yourself, others, and the wrong problem.
  2. H – Is it Helpful? Do not dwell on the mistakes of the past.  It is not helpful to dwell on the Quarter Pounder you ate.  Instead, it is beneficial to think about what triggered the momentary lapse and plan how you will do better.
  3. I—Is it Inspiring? I cannot tell you how much reading inspiring books and quotes has changed and fashioned my inner dialogue. Don’t preach to the choir; Be Inspired when you communicate to yourself and others!
  4. N—Is it Needed? Too many random, negative thoughts clutter our inner and outer dialogue.  Do not cloud your thoughts with unneeded worries or fears; focus on what’s now and needed!
  5. K – Is it Kind? This is the most critical part of the acronym: Be conspicuously kind to yourself and others.  A kind act to yourself will allow you to drive to improved health when you have a momentary setback.  Being kind to others will have a double whammy.  It will bring you joy and lower stress. 

Stop The Negative Talk, Take a Walk, and Be Thankful.

Some say the key to health is reducing calories, while others say exercise is the key. Both are important, but controlling negative thoughts is the key to weight loss. A positive outlook and a can-do attitude work wonders on your body and soul. 

When striving to get well and be a better leader, you should first stop the negative talk. You must replace “can’t do” with “can do.” 

Also, you need to stop the practice of “worst casting.”  The racing voice inside your head blows the simplest setback into a full-fledged downward spiral. The best way to stop the negative talk is to take a walk.

When your mind is racing, and you’re feeling stressed, don’t reach for a Whataburger – take a walk!  Preferably outside.  It will do three things for you. 

First, it will relieve stress and calm you down.  Especially if you are out in nature, hearing birds singing and smelling the flowers. 

Second, it will allow you to catch up with your thoughts and combine them coherently. One thing that helps with this second one is listening to a relevant audiobook. I cannot tell you how often I solved the latest problem or came up with a blog story by listening to a book.

The last rule is to focus on thankfulness instead of worry and anxiety.  No matter the difficulty of the situation, you can be thankful for the learning experience.  To read more on this topic, check out this blog.

A New Year, A New You

Hopefully, these five tips will help you improve your wellness this New Year. 

How to Stay Healthy in the City That Never Sleeps

Don Grier

I just got back from the city that never sleeps last week.   My wife and I had a great time with our son and his wife, and we got a lot of exercise.  We walked at least 12,000 steps each day.  New York could also be called the city where everyone walks. 

When I weighed in on the day I got back, I was half expecting to have dropped a few pounds. However, I was shocked that I had gained 5 lbs. in 5 days. How did that happen? I ate a little more, but not to excess. I did not eat pizza, steaks, or more than a beer a day. The extra exercise should have countered it. 

After reviewing my Fitbit data while trying to soothe my aching muscles, I identified the twin culprits.    I should have known since both problems have waylaid my wellness journey in the past.  The person who barely sleeps and seldom stretches went to the city that never sleeps and always walks! 

Too little sleep and insufficient stretching have been the two most significant negative factors in my health, including during my weight loss journey when I lost 170 pounds. Here are just a few anecdotes to prove my point. If you want to read more about my wellness journey, read our blog page. You can also listen to our Change Well Podcast.

1. Impact of Sleep Apnea on Health. 

I had undiagnosed sleep apnea as I was heading to my peak weight.  Sleep apnea is a severe sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly starts and stops.  I thought I was tired from too much work, but I was not getting a restful sleep.  I also was impacting the sleep of others, as my kids noted (and recorded) on a vacation trip.

I went to a sleep study, where they confirmed sleep apnea and prescribed a C-PAP. As you see below, a C-PAP is a medical device that forces air through a mask to open up your airways. Even though I looked like something out of my Son-In-Law’s Steampunk movies, I wore it every night for a year until I rectified the condition.  The impact of getting more sleep was immediate and positive. In one month, without changing other habits, I lost twenty pounds.

Sleep apnea causes several conditions that lead to weight gain. The first one is metabolic syndrome, which includes high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels, high blood sugar, and an increased waist circumference and is linked to a higher risk of heart disease.  I had all of these, including yet-to-be-diagnosed with heart disease. Another symptom is daytime drowsiness and irritability, which makes it harder to exercise and raises the level of cortisol. 

I could go on discussing how lack of sleep wreaks havoc on the hormones that control appetite, but the bottom line is that sleep apnea and lack of sleep must be tackled head-on. I got so much benefit out of my C-PAP that I took it with me on all my business trips. It was a pain lugging it around in airports and finding distilled water late at night once arriving (the machine requires it), but that ugly mask in an equally non-stylish grey case saved my life and my health.  And after a year of using it and losing a great deal of weight in part because of it, my sleep apnea was resolved.

C-PAP Machine

2.  Anxiety and sleep deprivation. 

Sleep apnea is not the only thing that detracts from a good day’s rest.  Anxiety and worry can cut into your sleep time and can cause weight gain and lack of productivity.  I still struggle with getting enough sleep, and more often than not, it is due to the worst casting of upcoming events or replaying negative things from the day before. 

The impact of less than seven hours of sleep due to anxiety is harmful to health.   I have now tracked my eating and health habits for ten years in Fitbit and the WW applications, and the number one factor correlating to a weekly weight gain, in my case, is not getting enough good sleep.  I have maintained my weight through a momentary eating binge or a weekend on the couch, but if I have had a bad week of sleep, I will gain.  Everyone is a bit different, but that is the case with me. 

3.  The Benefits of Stretching.

Now, let us switch to my other nemesis: stretching. Some people love to stretch; I hate it! However, after tweaking my back numerous times and having all the flexibility of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, I know I need to do it.

The health benefits of stretching are well-documented.  One of the most significant benefits is that it helps prevent injury.  I know this firsthand from the times I have been laid up in bed due to a back spasm or my legs locking up on me.  However, these problems have significantly reduced since I started my daily stretching habit.

Another benefit of stretching is reducing anxiety. Deep breathing practices combined with stretching have been shown to reduce stress and stress eating. You do not need to be a Yogi to benefit from stretching, deep breathing, and meditation. As for me, I stretch in a pool while silently praying. The pool’s buoyancy helps me with my tight muscles and ability to do stretches that require balance, like a hamstring stretch.

Now that we have examined the adverse effects of not sleeping and stretching and the positive benefits of doing so, let’s return to my recent trip to New York.  NYC is called the city that never sleeps for a good reason.  If you are anywhere in the city, you must deal with street noise at all night hours (even eight floors up as we were) and light pollution (in our case, we are directly across from the Empire State Building).  Even though I wore a sleep mask and earplugs provided by the hotel, I could not sleep well.  Also, anxiety from having to make a big decision and meeting new people for the first time seriously curtailed my sleep – an average of less than 4 hours of sleep for the time I was there. 

Next, let’s look at my failure to stretch.  Despite walking the whole High Line, Chelsea Market, and most of Brooklyn, I did not do as much as a calf stretch.  This contrasts with my wife, who had scheduled a robotic massage from Aescape.  If you are interested in seeing what a robotic massage is, I have included a link to a video from Aescape, a company mentioned on The Late Show.  The result of my lack of stretching and my wife’s forethought in scheduling a massage is I tweaked my back on the return flight, setting me back a few days while she was back at it the day we returned to working at our Apiary.

4. How to Sleep and Stretch Better

My previous experiences and a recent trip to  New York indicate the importance of sleep and stretching on health.  Here are four practices to help you sleep and stretch more.

1.  Establish a relaxing pre-sleep ritual. To sleep better, you need to quiet your mind before going to bed.  Read a book.  Listen to quiet music. Pray or meditate.  And most importantly, turn off the TV and your phone.

2.  Limit noise and light pollution. This may not be possible in cities like NYC, but try your best with blackout curtains, earplugs, and sleep masks.  Also, if you can, turn off your Wi-Fi.  I have found that turning off the router at night helps with sleep.

3.  Turn on white noise or natural sounds.  I have found that listening to the ocean or rain sounds helps me sleep.  Several manufacturers make devices that play soothing sounds for sleep

4.  Stretch to reduce anxiety and encourage sleep.  Keep up your daily stretching habit when on vacation to relieve muscle tightness and stress.  No matter the small size of a hotel room in NYC, you can still find room to do a calf stretch.  Better yet, have the forethought to schedule a massage like my wife.

I will close in my usual manner with a song.  I may not be Frank Sinatra, but I started spreading the news about the importance of sleep and stretching in NYC and worldwide.

Start spreading the news, you need it today,
You must sleep and stretch in New York, New York.
These ragged boat shoes have walked all day.
Right to the very heart of it in old New York.

I want to sleep in the City that never sleeps,
And find I am rested well; top of the heap.
My muscle fatigue is melting away,
I got a robotic massage in old New York.

If you can sleep and stretch there, you can do it anywhere.
It’s up to you, New York, New York.

Be, Be the Bamboo to Lose Weight and Improve Your Wellness

Don Grier

One of my favorite movies is Caddy Shack.  One of my favorite lines is when Chevy Chase tells Danny his philosophy on life and golf.  He says, “Stop thinking. Let things happen and be, be the ball.”  Chevy then goes on to hit a perfect golf shot blindfolded.  Danny then tries after prodding from Chevy and sends the ball into the pond. Why am I discussing a comedy movie on today’s Change Well podcast?  Like Chevy, I want to pass on some hard-learned lessons using a fitting metaphor.  Hopefully, my metaphor will lead to a successful wellness journey without the need to fish your ball out of a pond.  So, to all the Dannys and Danielles out there, if you want to Change Well, be, be the bamboo.

Why did I pick bamboo, of all things, for my words of wisdom?  Bamboo has many characteristics and traits you should strive for to improve your health and wellness.  Here are a few reasons to be like the bamboo when facing life’s challenges. You can listen to the podcast here

1.  Bend, but don’t break. 

Bamboo, when facing a stiff wind, bends but does not break.  Likewise, when you face a challenge or stressor, you should adapt to the challenge, bending but not falling back to negative behavior such as stress eating.  Practice the resilience of bamboo and be flexible.  If things do not go your way immediately, adapt and go with the flow.  The storm will pass, and you will be stronger when facing the challenge.

2.  Build a robust root system. 

Bamboo is slow-growing.  You do not know the plant is taking root for the first five years.  But during this time, bamboo grows in an extensive root system.  Likewise, a person trying to grow healthy and mentally resilient must nurture a system of habits that will nourish them to become a new, better person.  The first tendrils of wellness may not seem much.  In my case,  my first tentative steps to wellness were small.  I started walking around the block and changing my late afternoon cupful of M&Ms for an apple.  I started with only five minutes of meditating and listening to a poem to nourish my soul. 

But this network of habits built upon each other over time and spread. I tracked the increasing support system of positive, nourishing habits with a phone application called Streaks, which showed growth and consistency.  I went from 5 minutes of meditating to 30 minutes of prayer and 2,000 steps to 10,000.  Like bamboo, the changes from this network of habits were not very noticeable at first but formed a robust root system that nourished explosive growth in wellness over time.

3. Build upon your foundation for explosive growth in wellness.

The five years bamboo spends building roots underground pays off in rapid development.  Once the root system is set, bamboo explodes upward, growing up to thirty-five inches in a single day and thirty meters high overall.  Once you build a network of reinforcing wellness habits, you should seize on it like bamboo and grow to even higher goals.  Once you have your wellness habits set, it is important to keep pressing forward by redefining your goals and changing your why.  Here is an example from my wellness journey. Once I hit my target weight, I pushed on to a new goal of walking fifty miles in one day to support Veterans.  After that, I changed it up, became a certified cycling instructor, and participated in five hours straight in spin classes to raise money for St. Jude’s Hospital.  Having spent all that time and effort building your foundation, be like the bamboo and explode upward, building on each goal using your root system for nourishment.

4.  Adapt to the environment. 

Another fantastic quality of bamboo is that it grows in many different climates. It is resistant to disease and pests and needs little water.  In fact, during hot, dry periods, Bamboo leaves curl up to conserve water.  In a drought, some of the leaves even fall off to self-mulch. 

When you embark on your wellness journey, the adaptability of bamboo provides a powerful example.  If the weather turns cold, like in Des Moines, Iowa, look for an indoor venue to keep your walking habit up.  In my case, I walk around the Des Moines skywalk.  If you are on a work trip out of town, look to the concierge lounge to load up on the vegetable plate instead of having a heavy dinner on an expense count.   You can thrive like bamboo in any environment with some planning and forethought.

5. Strength through simplicity. 

Bamboo’s strength comes from its simplicity.  Unbelievably, bamboo has more compressive strength than concrete and has a comparable strength-to-weight ratio as steel.  This strength is due to its uncomplicated design, a hollow fibrous tube with few leaves or branches.  Likewise, when structuring a strong wellness practice, you should avoid the clutter of fad diets and the latest trends and exercises.  Instead, focus on simple and effective walking practices, sufficient sleep, a well-balanced diet, and quiet time away from stress.  Focusing on the simple and decluttering your life from stressors will strengthen you against life’s challenges. 

Five Summer Time Tricks To Stay Fit

Don Grier

Summer officially starts tomorrow, June 20, but the heat index has already crept into the 100s in Austin for a few days.   If you want to continue to Change Well with physical activity, we all need a few tricks to stay cool when it is hot.  Here are a few techniques I use to keep active during the doldrums of August. 

1. Sunrise, Sunset.  They say the early bird catches the worm.  But I say the early walker catches the cool breeze. (ok, make that a warm breeze in Texas).  The good news for those working is that the sun rises earlier and sets later in the summer.  That means you don’t need to search for a flashlight to take your walk before or after work.  I always use the early and late sun to walk before or after work (or both).  This way, I catch the morning sunrise or glorious sunset when the temperature is less hot.  You rejuvenate yourself before a busy day or decompress after a stressful one.  Nothing soothes stress better than birdsong carried on a cool morning breeze or seeing the sun touch down over a shimmering pond.   To change up the lyrics a bit from a song from Fiddler on the Roof:

Sunrise, Sunset,
Sunrise, Sunset,
Avoid the heat of day,
Cool breezes fade after the morning,
Turning into a stifling haze.

Sunrise, Sunset,
Sunrise, Sunset,
Wait until the evening comes,
Take a walk with the moon and birdsong,
That way, you can walk extra-long.

2.  Stay Cool In The Pool. Playing in the pool is one way to exercise and avoid heat exhaustion. But what if you are not Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky?  I am assuredly not a great swimmer.  I did not know how to swim until I was a plebe at West Point and never got out of the rock squad (those who sink like a rock).  I still do not know how I passed with a C- since I nearly drowned during the timed swim.   

You can engage in activities in the pool other than swimming, even if you’re not in the best shape.  The one that helped me when I was first beginning my weight loss journey was water aerobics. Weighing in at 350+, I entered the pool because it was the only thing I could do without my joints protesting.  Once I overcame my initial self-consciousness of being the youngest in the class, I found that water aerobics provided a fantastic workout. The best part was that I didn’t need to be overly coordinated.  It was my first step in reclaiming my fitness, and it’s still a reliable exercise option when the weather gets hot. 

For all the young parents out there, playing with your children in the pool is not just a way to beat the heat but also a fun way to stay in shape.  When my oldest daughter was learning to swim (not from me, the Rock, but from classes), we used to have a blast playing a game called Butterfly.  I would lift her and toss her in the pool, singing, “Butterfly, butterfly, how high can you fly?”.  She would then swim 15 feet back to me and respond upon return, “Over the trees and meadows!”.   We sometimes repeated that for about 20 minutes. This is how she learned how to swim, and I got my weightlifting done. The bottom line is to be creative when staying cool in the pool and enjoying precious moments with your children.

3.  Drink and Know Things. One of my favorite lines from Game of Thrones is when Tyrian says, “I drink, and I know things.”   I even have a T-shirt with that saying. This is good advice for the summer as long as, unlike Tyrian, you drink water instead of wine and know when to stop and stay hydrated.  You may be saying that advice is obvious.  I might agree.  But here is something that is not as obvious.  You can drink a lot of water and not remain hydrated.  Here is what I mean.

I went on a Kennedy Walk (50 miles in one day) during a hot day. I kept stopping at water stations along the way and became waterlogged. However, around mile marker 35, my muscles cramped up terribly, and I became woozy.  Then I realized that I had not been taking enough electrolytes and had sweated out most of the salt in my body.  I stumbled to a nearby store and was crestfallen when they ran out of Gatorade.  Luckily, they had some jars of pickles.  So I ate some pickles and drank pickle juice and got better.  The story’s moral is that staying hydrated means also watching your electrolytes.  So drink electrolytes with your water, or you’ll be in a pickle.  Ok, that was corny even for me!

4.  Buddy Up.  I usually walk alone to listen to the latest David Baldacci book.  But in the summer, I know enough to buddy up when hiking.  First, it will keep you motivated.  But more importantly, you can watch out for one another.

If I have to exercise in the heat, I try to find a friend to come with me.  This advice has saved me on several occasions directly and probably a lot more indirectly.  Here is an example.   I enlisted my youngest daughter to come with me on a walk one early fall day.  Even though the place we were walking in was wooded, we unfortunately got a bit lost.  Plus, the temperature, which was supposed to be in the low eighties, jumped into the nineties (never trust a weather report).  We finally found our way out, but it would have been scary if I had been alone in the woods in the heat. 

5.  Switch it up with indoor activities.  Lastly, summer is an excellent time to switch up with some indoor activities.  My go-to exercise will always be hiking in nature.  However, it is time to try something indoors when it is 110 in the shade.   Summer, for me, is an excellent time to take on a new Peloton exercise series or to catch up with some low-impact on YouTube with Paul Eugene. Also, if I want to go on a walk, I can always catch up with the latest stores at the mall or what is happening at Costco.

These are five ways to beat the Summer heat and keep your fitness progressing.  Other recommendations include wearing sunscreen and head covering outdoors, bringing a wet towel to cool off, or, better yet, taking a cool shower after working out.  Lastly, do not forget about your pets when you take them outside.  The first rule of “Sunrise, Sunset” is essential for a dog’s paws.   So take them out before the sidewalk gets too hot.  Remember these rules so you can continue to change well, even in the summer heat!