Wednesday 100303

Check out this tasty morsel of a course out. I spiced up some chicken that I cut down the middle and stuffed it full of spinach, red onions, and mashed avocado. Threw on some tomatoes because I like'em. This was really good. I added in some sliced cucumber and a few glasses of iced green tea. What a meal it was.

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One thing that I wanted to talk to you guys about is sustainability. If you haven't already tried many diets before or altered your nutritional intake somewhat on another occasion, you will find out that sometimes sustaining this change seems to be the biggest obstacle preventing an increase in performance, a change in looks, and/or that all around feeling of energy and pep. This is due to motivation among a few other things. Usually when we set out to make a change in our life, we look for a few things, one of them being quick results. We have little time or patience for results as most things in our life come when we need it to come.

Think of this, if you order something over the internet, you have the option of ground, 3 day, 2 day, next day, etc. If you are at your house and you don't want to cook, you are but a phone call away from getting someone to bring you something. If you want money now, you can hit up an ATM. Basically, this has helped you develop a short temper for waiting. Unfortunately, this have transcended materialistic objects into matters of vanity as well.

We want to look good and we want to look good now. We don't want to wait. The thing is, we don't have to wait long if the correct measures are put into place. Even though I know this and you may know this, there are still those out there that have given up on themselves in favor of eating whatever the hell they want. I don't blame it all on them as most people are ignorant to what healthy eating really is (and no, I am not just referring to PALEO). Most have this idea that there is something out there that you take or do for a week, maybe a month, an poof, you are this supposed hot person that graces the cover of a fitness magazine. HeLLo. Doesn't work that way.

Go and ask a natural bodybuilder or fitness model how hard it is to gain weight or cut up and look like a chiseled human being. It is super tough. It takes so much dedication. You almost have to be crazy. But it can be done.

The underlying factors here are perception and motivation. Don't have enough of either and you will fail. I don't care what diet you are on. Most diets are unsuccessful because motivation is not at the top of the list. It is a mental thing just as much as it is a physical thing. Do you perceive yourself as able to achieve the performance/look/feeling that you are setting out to reach? Do you have a specific performance/look/feel that you are wanting to reach? Because if you can't or you don't, your motivation will fall by the wayside very soon and this blog will just be another blog among all the other blogs that you pay a visit now and then just to see what's new.

What do you want to achieve? I don't want to hear, "Oh, I thought I might look and feel better if I drop a few pounds." That is not specific. Not by a long shot. I want to hear something along the lines of, "I would like to drop exactly 12 pounds, or I would like to be able to do 10 strict pull ups in a months time, or I want to feel just as good as I do when I am finished with a workout, when I wake up in the morning." You can even go more specific than that. The more specific, the better.

Being specific will help you to determine where your initial motivation is. If you say, "I wanna lose 2 pounds," I am going to assume that you aren't very motivated to lose weight but if you say, "I would like to lose 50 pounds," I would say that your initial motivation is high and now begins the journey of trying to maintain that motivation until the 50 pounds are gone. It can be done if the motivation is there and maintained and if you perceive yourself able to reach a 50 pound loss.

I have seen this in action with lots of other things. I have seen people lift weights when I for sure thought they wouldn't be able to but I forsook their determination. When I think there are boundaries for certain people, they either live up to them or surpass them. Some desire to be better so bad that it becomes a reality sooner than I could ever expect because of their motivation. Motivation is such a powerful thing.

If you want to succeed, you have to find motivation and you have to maintain it. You have to refresh it. You have to embrace it. You have to make it happen. Don't get into a deal with yourself if you don't perceive yourself able to get to the end result. Once you make that deal though, keep reaching for it. Everyday, keep reaching for it. One rep, one step, one meal, one day, one hour, one minute at a time but keep moving forward. If you need to take a step back in order to take two steps forward, then by everything that is holy, take that step backwards.

A good example of one step backwards in order to keep moving forward, is when you need to substitute an unhealthy, starchy carb in place of your usual vegetables/fruit. When you are going to a dinner with friends, a lunch date with co-workers, to the movies, etc. and you just want hang loose a little. It will be okay if you have a little (or whole bucket of) popcorn, or you get the french fries every now and then. Sometimes we need this and sometimes it is actually good for the body for revving up the metabolic furnace.

You just have to prepare your mind for it and let yourself know that this is only a temporary sidetrack and then actually return to normal eating habits immediately. Usually, if you have been eating well for some time, eating bad will give you a hangover and you'll want to return to eating healthier anyways. I just don't want you to get caught up in the whole "I can't eat this or that," or "Screw it, I messed up, I'm just gonna eat everything in sight now." This will help sustain motivation.

I am not proposing that you just start eating this way all the time but sometimes you just gotta make due with what's around. For example:

Where ever you are, make choices based first on protein. What protein sources are available? Junk jerky made with MSG? If that is all they got, then that is all they got. Do they have hot dogs or hamburgers? Trash the bun (the bun is worse than the french fries, believe me) and just eat the meat. Shit, double up on the meat. Protein releases a hormone called glucagon which serves as many things but largely as an opposite action to insulin. Glucagon calls upon the liver to release glycogen (glucose) into the bloodstream when blood sugar is getting too low. It also keeps the cells of the liver, muscles, and fat from uptaking this glucose for use as energy.

The above is important as insulin does the opposite, it causes the cells of the liver, muscles, and fat to take up glucose from the blood which then causes the body to more readily use fat from adipose as an energy source. Here is a picture to kind of give you an idea:

This is why protein consumption is so important. It generates the production of glucagon into the blood stream in order to keep the insulin response from carbohydrate intake in check.

Once you have identified your protein source, it is now time to scavenge for carbohydrates that are the least destructive. Look for fruits, sometimes there is a lonely fruit basket at a concession stand near you. If there isn't fruit, look for the next best thing. Stay away from buns and liquid calories. If it ends up being french fries, share with someone so that you don't eat the whole damn thing. Finally, if the meat is a fattier cut, don't worry about getting in fats as there are plenty in the meat. Just look for water and absolutely at no time should you purchase diet soda.

If anyone needs extra help, I'm available for personal consultation. Shoot me an email.