Guest Post - Chip part 2

Today is part 2 of our interview with Chip.  If you missed part 1 from yesterday, go back and read it   here.


Tell us about the Excel spreadsheet you're using.

As I said, I haven’t been counting calories as I should, and so I needed to know whether what I was doing with my nutrition and fitness was actually working.  I bought a Tanita bathroom scale that measures weight and body fat percentage, and it gives me some of the feedback that I need.  But I wasn’t always recording my weight and body fat percentage, so I didn’t have a good way of looking back to see whether I was moving in the right direction, especially with the body fat percentage.  Using the spreadsheet has shown me that I have basically hit a plateau, as far as my weight and my fat/lean ratio.

I usually go to my PC in the morning after I weigh myself (to check email, news, facebook, etc.), so I decided to use the PC as a tool to record those numbers.  I made a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to do that, and I added formulas to automatically calculate my fat body mass and my lean body mass.  Then I added a line graph, so I could visualize my progress over time.  If the line representing my lean body mass is going up and the line representing my fat body mass is going down, I know I am headed in the right direction; otherwise, I know I need to change something.  I saved the spreadsheet to my PC’s “desktop,” so I can just click on the icon and my spreadsheet comes right up.  Here is what a page of the spreadsheet looks like:

A lot of people want to start a diet program, but don't know where or how to start.  For someone who is sitting at home reading this, what is your best advice to them on how to get up off the sofa and begin? 
I think each person’s motivation for weight loss is different.  But I would tell that person to first visualize what he or she would want to look like or be like, if that could somehow magically happen.  Then, I would say that, even though it won’t happen by magic, it can happen.  We know that there are proven ways to do it.  In fact, if that person is reading this blog site, he or she has seen the amazing results that are possible. I would tell the person to think about reasonable and achievable short-term goals and how meeting that first goal would affect the reasons he or she wanted to change in the first place.  Seeing that I could reach the intermediate goals that I had set for myself gave me “early wins” and that success keeps me motivated to set and reach my next intermediate goal.  So I would tell that person that, with the right information, even moderate changes in diet and activity can move you closer to that image of what you wanted to look like or be like. And as you start to like what you see happening, you will get excited about making further changes that will get you to your own ultimate goals.  

Lets talk about the passion4profession 8-minute, level-1, ab workout video on YouTube that you used.

The only regular exercise I had been doing was stomach crunches holding a 13-pound dumbbell on my chest, and while that was increasing the size of my abdominal muscles, I wasn’t losing the fat on the sides of my waist.  So I was looking for a better routine.  I searched the web and found a series of YouTube videos with three levels of 8-minute abdominal muscle workouts.  Level 1 can be seen here.  In addition to this workout video, the main passion4profession YouTube site, located here , has other ab workout videos, videos for other muscle groups, and videos that show you how to do each exercise properly.  The videos use 3D animation to highlight the muscles that are worked by each exercise.  By the way, some of your videos showed up on the “Recommended” section on the right-hand side of the passion4profession YouTube videos, and that is how I discovered your blog.
Any other tips or suggestions you'd like to share?

I guess my experience has shown that it is important to approach weight loss and fitness as a lifestyle change, rather than as a temporary change in eating and exercise.  For that reason, I would suggest that people spend some time getting to understand the basics of nutrition and fitness and the types of food and exercise that are likely to help us reach our goals.  Then, from among those choices, we can select a balanced set of foods that we find appealing and enjoyable, and we can find ways to exercise that we actually like to do.  Listen to music while exercising, running or swimming, if that makes it more fun for you.  (Yes, you can listen to music or even read an audiobook while swimming, using a waterproof mp3 player, such as “Swimp3” .  It uses bone conduction instead of earbuds.)  By doing those things, we can maintain our weight loss and fitness, because it doesn’t feel like we are depriving ourselves of the things that we enjoy.

Also, I know first-hand that stress can cause weight gain and low levels of fitness.  And sometimes, our weight gain itself causes us even more stress, such as when we worry about our weight or when other people comment about it.  It can become a vicious cycle.  So taking steps to reduce chronic stress can be an important factor in reducing body fat and developing muscle.  I have learned that extended periods of stress can cause the body to secrete higher-than-normal levels of a hormone called cortisol.  Elevated cortisol can interfere with the body’s glucose metabolism, cause muscle deterioration, and result in the excess abdominal fat that is associated with higher risks for hypertension, stroke and heart problems.  Ironically, the regular exercise that I didn’t think I had the time for, could actually have reduced the stress that came with my job, and I might have avoided the belly fat that accounted for most of my weight gain.

Finally, it is never too early, and it is never too late, to improve your diet and exercise.  Not only do you feel healthier and more attractive, but you actually start to feel better about yourself in other ways.  And you realize that your other goals in life are achievable, too.  But the earlier you begin, the sooner you can achieve that image of yourself that you visualized as your ultimate goal.

If anyone would like a copy of the Excel worksheet, leave a message in the comments section below for Chip so he can get a copy to you.  I'd like to thank Chip for coming by and sharing his story with us.  He has some great insights and shared some great tips.  See everyone on Monday for our weekly progress reports!