Body for God!

A friend of mine posted a great blog today about honoring God with our body. Here’s a link:www.fredmckinnon.com

It’s encouraging to see others who actually see and believe that eating any and everything is a major lack of discipline and doesn’t honor God. The Bible says that our bodies are a dwelling place for God’s Spirit. Paul, says that he “beat” his body into submission, which translates into being the boss of our body and not giving in to every whim and craving. Exercise and eating right is the only way to accomplish this.

Many people that want to shed excess weight immediately go into “dieting” which in a sense is the worst thing you can do. If you diet and don’t exercise, then as soon as you stop dieting you’ll gain back the excess. If you continue to diet the rest of your life, you’ll curse your existence and hate everyone else for enjoying that cheesecake in front of you.

The only true solution then, is to make a lifestyle change. This is the hardest thing for anybody. We can start a diet. We can even start to exercise, but if we don’t change our lifestyle permanently, it won’t last. I’ve struggled majorly with a few excess pounds, everyone tells me I look fine the way I am, but trust me, I KNOW that I’m carrying around about 15-20 excess pounds and it just drains me.

My wife and I started at the beginning of the year on a great program called Body for Life. I recommend it. I’ve already seen some great physical changes in my body. I haven’t lost any significant weight, though. I chalk that up the fact that I’m lifting weights vigorously and adding musclemass at the same time I’m burning away some fat. What has changed is my shape. My pants are falling off, and my sleeves are getting tight around my biceps and shoulders! Yay.

We’ve taken a few weeks off. We’re going to get started again with another cycle next week probably.

Tip: to see significant change in you body you need to do 3 things.

1. Make a lifestyle change. Do it. Just do it.
2. Get a partner (or 2). Be accountable to someone.
3. Track your progress. Take pics, keep a chart, blog about it. This really helps you stay on course.

Have a great day!

Russ

Body for Life update

So, I’ve fallen off the face of the blogosphere for a few weeks, but now I’m back.

Quick update on how our journey is going.

We started in January full-steam ahead and went 6 weeks hardcore. In those six weeks I was thrilled to see my body begin to change shape and my metabolism speed up a bit. Weeks 7 – 9 weren’t quite as intense as the novelty of the B4L program began to wear off and all that was left was the routine. We didn’t totally blow it, but we began to eat a snack here and there, mostly related to our involvement in student ministry and group gatherings. Our workout routine stayed pretty steady, we missed a few days. Weeks 10-12 were not all that great. Our workout routine fell off to almost non-existent. I got a flu-like cold, compounded by allergies and had absolutely no energy or desire to work out. All in all are eating habits have been pretty consistent, as we only shop once a week and by only healthy foods.

I guess our biggest weakness this first 12 weeks, was giving in to NOT working out. I think our eating was great, but our exercise regiment kind of fell off.

So here we are at the beginning of another 12 week cycle and hopefully by April 27, my 30th birthday, I’ll be in great shape!

Have a great week!
Russ

Body For Life Update

We are beginning week 8! This is exciting. My goal is to actually follow the plan through April. The Body for Life program is only 12 weeks long, but we’ll actually do ours for 16 weeks.

I turn 30 on April 27th, so I hope to see a huge difference in my before and after photos!

I had chicken and rice with broccoli for lunch today. For breakfast, I scarfed down a bowl of oatmeal and a small portion of low-fat cheese. For my mid-morning snack, I had an orange and another small portion of low-fat cheese.

This weekend was a little crazy, so we kind of had a free weekend (Saturday & Sunday) instead of a free day. I didn’t over do it though. We were busy and had very long days each day, so the workout didn’t happen on Sat.

All in all though, I’m excited to be able to say that we’ve worked out and ate very healthy for 8 weeks! It’s awesome. I’ve noticed that I feel more energized and I really believe my immune system is a lot healthier since I’ve been eating a 1-2 pieces of fruit each day.

I’m really craving our sloppy joes though. Maybe we can have them again next week. We have a great recipe from the Eating for Life cookbook.

God’s Best!
Russ

Free Day On Body For Life

I thought today I’d post some of my thoughts on the “Free Day” that is included in the Body for Life fitness and nutritional plan.

First, for those who don’t know, Body for Life is a very simple program to follow. Just plan everything and stick to it. No counting calories, no fad diets, no extreme workouts, just a no nonsense, balanced approach to a healthy lifestyle. Basically, the plan calls for 6 days of exercise, which includes 3 days of strength training (with weights/machines) and 3 days of cardio (running/jogging/cardio machines, etc). Also, 6 days of eating good balanced meals 5-6 times per day. This basically means 5-6 meals (and what I call snacks) made up of a small portion of protein, a small portion of good carbohydrates, and throughout the week eating a few foods that have essential fatty acids in them, also known as EFAs or good fats.

All, that being said, it’s basically SIX DAYS ON, 1 DAY OFF.

As one who follows the Judeo-Christian belief system, I see great significance in this arrangement, whether it was initially intended or not. In my set of beliefs it’s imperative to take at least one day of rest each week. Every other day is meant for work.

That aside, it’s a great system. Enough “work” to get you super excited about having one free day to NOT exercise, and to eat whatever you want, and enough “free day” to make you want to get back on the “healthy” stuff again.

I think psychologically speaing, it’s a good system. Basically you reward yourself for a week of hard work and discipline. And that reward is just sweet enough, and yet a bit “bitter” to make you really appreciate the good healthy stuff. Now, before I go any further, just know that when I refer to our free day, it’s not a huge ALL YOU CAN EAT, stuff yourself to the gills, eat until you drop marathon pig-out session. But it’s just a time to have a soft drink, a burger and fries, that dessert you’ve been craving, some pizza, or whatever you crave during the week, you get the picture.

Because you’ve been disciplined and stuck to your plan all week, our metabolism is pretty much in high gear. By having some of the foods you really enjoy that aren’t quite as healthy, in moderation, you get to pacify that craving, but your metabolism is high enough to burn it off without problems. Just remember it’s not a contest to see if you can eat as many bad calories as you did the previous month in just one day.

We take our free day on Sunday, because it works well with out schedule. Choose which one works best for you and then stick to it. If for some reason your schedule doesn’t permit you to keep a free day on that planned day, choose another one for that week, and then get back to the plan the next day. Just remember, 6 days on, 1 day off.

Hope that gives you an idea of how it works!

We’ve been working the Body For Life program for 6 weeks now, and we’re 2 days into our 7th week. We did upper body yesterday and it was a good tough workout. I ove the “pumped” feeling I get in my arms after the upper body workout!

Have a great week.
Russ

New Slim-O-Meter Pic

I wanted to post these every 2 weeks, but its been closer to every 3 weeks, so I decided to just post every 3 weeks. In the 3rd one it’s funny because I don’t have a full beard anymore, so my face looks different, but overall it’s neat to see the changes taking place in my body!

Today we work legs. We’re going to try a new leg press that our gym got in. Should be tough.

Went jogging around campus last night. We only ran for 1.3 miles, but it was a little chilly and when we were driving back home we decided that we could easily do that route twice. So next time, we’ll buckle down and run the route 2 or 3 times.

We had a really delicious dinner last night. It was supposed to be a turkey dinner, but we used chicken instead, but all in all it turned out very well. A very light, yet satisfying, chicken/stuffing/veggies meal.

God’s Best,
Russ