Monday I introduced you to the thinking of Reinhard Engels, author and creator of Everyday Systems. If you click on the link to his site, you will see a link to his book The No “S” Diet on the right side of your screen. This really isn’t a DIET book.  It is a book about how to have eating habits that will sustain you at your ideal body weight.  The idea is to have habits – patterns of behavior that are deeply ingrained so you do them without thinking – that are beneficial.  If you need to change and by that I mean like me need to lose excess fat and build a little muscle, then you need a habit different from the one that got you where you are.

I have written about the change process before.  Does the term “Pre-Contemplation” sound familiar?  If you read this and thought”I can’t make a new habit” or thought “I don’t want a new habit”, then you are in a stage of (non)behavior change called pre-contemplation.  If you accept the need to develop new habits but can not imagine when or how you will do it then you are in contemplation.  The most important thing to do is to decide what it is you want exactly and how you will benefit from having it. Write those benefits down!

Lets say you are like me and need to drop 15 pounds of fat. In addition I need to firm up my flabby muscles. Now my muscles are relatively strong. I easily lift my 200 lb. dead-lift weight and can move it around in the basement. What I can’t do is lift it more than 5 times and or pull it up past my upper thighs. I could not carry a back pack of 20-30 pounds on a trail all day and I can’t do more than 5 pull-ups which means I can’t climb a 20 foot rope. What do I do about both losing weight and getting stronger and having more endurance?

The first thing is to improve my diet. I don’t believe that there are inherently bad foods. I do believe that there are very wrong ratios of macro nutrients. Remember macro nutrients are in major categories like fats, proteins and carbohydrates (carbs). Since there are no “carbohydrate deficiency diseases” this is the least important macro nutrient. There are foods that contain carbs but they also contain important ingredients in a good diet like special plant based nutrients called phytochemicals and fiber. Most of the carbohydrate you eat should come from plants that can be eaten cooked or uncooked like tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, avacadoes, almonds, walnuts, cabbage, bocchoi, romain lettuce, beets, endive, kale, mustard greens, okra, etc… You get the idea. If you have to cook it before eating then eat less. This list includes grains, beans, legumes. Eat  these high carb containing foods sparingly.

Reinhard in his book distills down the the rules to the basic 3 No’s:

1. No Sugar

2. No seconds

3. No snacks

His book explains the reasons behind these and takes away excuses.  Excusitis is one of the major reasons people fail completely to accomplish most of what they want to do.  Instead of finding a way, they fail to try again.  By making it simple and not permanently removing the opportunity to have fun food or celebration food, Reinhard gives the follower of this habit formation program a st of guide lines that steers them away from the habits that have made most of us fat – eating between meals and drinking sweetened beverages.  One other contributing factor is lack of activity – living a passive life.  Spending too much time sitting and too little time on our feet.

I suggest you purchase the book and also join my Personal Empowerment Program (PEP). The first 100 memberships are free (10 are now taken). Just click on the link and sign up. It is free, safe and will help you become a person with great wellness habits. I can also help you lose up to 20 pounds in 8 weeks. I will be offering a course in September on this very topic. Watch for the opportunity to sign up. In the meantime, I welcome your comments and your participation in my PEP.

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Reinhard Engels is the author of Everyday Systems and the book The No “S” Diet.  One of the things I admire the most about the SYSTEMS he has developed is the exercise system he calls the “Shovel Glove”.  Reinhard says the most important piece of exercise equipment is a timer.  He recommends a 14 minute a day muscle strengthening routine every weekday.

I agree with him that habits are all important.  It is important that your habits are easily sustainable for the long term and that you do them regularly just as you plan them.  Exercise is an important part of being well. Over Exercise or over enthusiastically doing too much to start and burning out and quitting is not going to get you far. This plan is intended to fit into your life long term.  It is complimentary to a life eating plan and a planned way of sustaining your health and energy.

Reinhard has a series of YouTube videos on the various movements he recommends.  I have embedded one below.  I suggest you look at them and read his information contained on his site Everyday Systems.  He recommends that you start very light. The idea here is to establish a habit. Getting sore or injured won’t help you do that. Begin light using just a broom stick or maybe the handle for a sledgehammer or pick.  As you progress, you can increase the weight you use.  The idea is to develop strong muscles in a useful way so that if you had to shovel snow or dirt, hammer some large spikes or lift and pull repetitively as in moving, you can do it.

Take a look a the video and tell me what you think in the comments section. Remember I offer a free membership in my personal empowerment program. I encourage you to sign up to receive 20+ mp3 audio files to help you in your quest for the leanest strongest body you can have and to improve and sustain your health and wellness for the long term.

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Reason number one ________________________. Insert your name in that blank. You have worth and by your words and your actions you either increase that worth to yourself or you decrease it. You can build a reserve in your brain so that if it gets sick, you have enough cells connected in so many ways there is some to spare. You build reserves of power, will power, strength and flexibility, and determination by improving and maintaining your fitness.

Reason number two: You are protected from every major disease that causes early death. Your risk of cancer, heart disease, Stroke, Hypertension, Lung disease, Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, are all decreased.

You are better off if you are fit, no matter what your weight. This begs a definition of fitness. It ain’t being able to wear a Speedo guys or a bikini gals. Lots of thin people are over fat! They have very little muscle and the ratio of fat to muscle is too high. They are not fit. To assess your fitness measure these things your pulse for one minute before and after a one mile brisk walk. Record your walk time and the two pulse values. Do as many as you can without stopping. If you are less fit, do them from your knees. If you are more fit, do them on toes and hands. If you do not know what to do, go to YouTube.com and search for videos of people doing push ups. Then have a friend help you do the Sit-and-Reach. This is better viewed than explained but here is a written explanation from the Mayo Clinic:

• Place a yardstick on the floor. Secure it by placing a piece of tape across the yardstick at the 15-inch (38-centimeter) mark.
• Place the soles of your feet even with the mark on the yardstick.
• Ask a helper to place his or her hands on top of your knees to anchor them.
• Reach forward as far as you can, holding the position for two seconds.
• Note the distance you reached.
• Repeat the test two more times.
• Record the best of the three reaches.

The last two assessments are to measure your waist at the umbilicus, needs to be less than 40″ guys and 36″ gals. Then look at a chart and assess your BMI. It isn’t super accurate, but it is a ball park number. I have a calculator in the pages here on my blog.

Reason number three: You set a good example. The old if I can, then you can. Once you have been in action for 6 months you are in a position to encourage and help others to do the same.

Reason number four: If not now when? What is more important? Many people and I think more women than men, put off their self care because they feel they need to do for others or need to use the time more wisely. WRONG! You need to care for yourself first. Remember what they tell you on a plane – if the oxygen comes down – put it on yourself first then on someone else, even your kids. The same applies here, you have to do for you first, then for others. The basics, sleep, eat, bath, exercise and relax are all necessary.

Reason number five: You will be more productive. You will sleep better, feel stronger, have better stamina, miss less work and be able to do more. More isn’t always best, quality counts too, but both will improve as your muscular and brain stamina increase. It is a proven fact, get the book Spark by Dr. John Ratey and read the studies for yourself.

There you have it. 5 reasons to exercise now, not later. Quit putting it off, get started. Just start slow and build up to it.

Watch this blog for the opportunity to sign up for 4 weeks of positive wellness encouragement. I will have a sign up form available soon. would you like to get an email each day with a link to a 3-5 minute podcast with some ideas and encouragement about your total wellness. Be watching, it is coming soon. Let me know what you would like to hear? What questions do you have or how can I help you solve a problem with your wellness. Let me know, if you have it one of my other followers has it also, so please ask, leave me a comment on it.

A pdf from the Mayo Clinic is at the end here to help you track your fitness progress.

fsm14_persfitassmt

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Here is a YouTube video on the exercise style of Paleolithic man. We carry the genes of that ancestor and if you want to live long and healthy you may want to consider the principles here.

Ansel Keys is the man who originated the low fat diet theory for preventing heart disease. How well does it work?
Keys lived to age 100 and below is his picture.

Another pioneer of health and fitness, the antithesis of Keys is Jack LaLane. Here is a paicture of Jack at age 93.

If you want to read more about these me and find where I got these links, go to Jimmy Moore’s
Livin’ La Vida Low Carb Blog.

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There have been some very interesting studies published in 2008 about dieting and what diet is most effective. What has been proven are these “facts”.

• fasting insulin levels are lower on diets lower in carbohydates
• cutting calories caused participants to lose weight but no mention of body fat percentage is made
• more people seemed to be able to stay on diets that cut calories from carbohydrate than from fat

It would appear that this is a major change in the way nutrition has been preached for the last 30 years.  We know that too many of us are fat but what is more important is that too many of us are unfit. Overfat and fit is better than thin an unfit. many thin people are over fat – the percentage of their body that is fat is too high because they have too little muscle.

One article I read recently advocated exercise as a means to “burn more calories”.  This is probably a bad reason to exercise. Especially because slow, low intensity exercise is emphasized.  It is better to do more intense exercise while reducing calories from food that stimulate too much insulin. What type of exercise do I mean? Why? Because it is the BMR – basal metabolic rate you want to influence and this is done by building more muscle. BMR = the calories you would burn if you lay in bed all day. It is the largest expenditure of calories – 10 calories per pound per day. That by-the-way is the least amount of calories you can eat per day an remain healthy. Just watch the blend of Protein, Fat and Carbohydrate. If you aren’t sure what to do, just remember there are no carbohydrate deficiency diseases.

Well, you need to know how intense is intense. There are a number of ways to do this – heart rate monitors, oxygen utilization calculator or just plain old common sense. Here is an article on About.com on Perceived Exercise Intensity. The autor is funny in making the point that you know how hard something is for you to do. For someone who is 68 inches tall and weighs 300lb and does not lift heavy weight regularly, just walking a 3-4 miles per hour will constitute intense exercise. It can take 2-3 days to recover from 30 minutes of exercise perceived as a level 7 for 30 minutes. I do not suggest you start there.

Start with a PAR-Q. This form, a physical activity readiness questionnaire, will tell you if you need to see a doctor before beginning exercise. Do a google search, it is easy to find one. Or, download the one I attached at the end of this article.  You should definitely get some advice from someone with experience in helping de-conditioned people start and exercise program. There is a huge difference in training someone over-weight and someone who has been exercising and wants to move up to the next level. The idea is to get moving and to make it count by keeping it intense and emphasizing muscle strength and endurance, not calories burned.

Let me know how I can help you. Make a comment about exercise routines that have worked for you or ask me a question. Remember this is something you and 5 friends could discuss with me in a live audio seminar – just ask me to set one up, I have 4 opportunities left in 2009 for you to do this with 4 friends. OK, get busy getting those muscles stronger and your body fat lower.

par-q

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