The Voices Told me to do it!

#03/71 Keep an exercise log

Friday Weigh-In Time! I wasn't quite sure what to expect and I admit having exposed myself to the world I definitely feel the pressure. Ultimately my point in doing the blog is to keep myself accountable to you the readers and to myself. Each week I receive more people telling me what they are going through and their struggles and successes. I guess it's easier to speak to others who are experiencing the same trials and tribulations we all are going through. Are you really going to bare your soul to Jillian from Biggest Loser? She's skinny, healthy, and beautiful. But, you know what I bet she's real bitch and a Nag. People who have never been fat just can't relate. It's like saying I can relate to a Black man/woman and the prejudice they experience? Come on? It's not the same thing. I'm not white or Black I'm Chinese who grew up in Middle Income America. For me to say I experience the same kind of Prejudice as a Blackman living in the projects is insulting. Same goes for slim/healthy people. Anyway, the weigh in results? 205lb. Now, it's important to note I always round down and work with whole numbers. If I didn't I can tell you I was pretty close to 204lb and was tempted to figure out way to get rid of the some water weight. But, that would be cheating! I was pretty excited because this was the first week I really felt I was healthy enough to exercise.

I decided this blog I'd focus on Keeping an Exercise log. I hate keeping logs, which is ironic because I have a finance/accounting background. So you would think that would be easy. Well I can tell you, getting paid to keep track of data is no big deal. But, when you keep track of your own progress whether its your diet, exercise, finances it's not fun! However one of the saying I try to live by is: If you aim at nothing you'll hit it every time!

Keeping the exercise log helps track progress and gives you an insight of your habits. For my purposes, I keep 3 exercise logs: 1)Martial arts log which tracks my techniques/drills, 2)Walking/step log which tracks how much easy or steady activity and 3)General Exercise log which tracks my body building/cardio workouts. The log I want to focus on today is my walking/step Log. Since tracking my steps/day I've increased it by around 800-1200 steps per week. By Sunday I should be around 45,000 steps. Walking is one of the easiest ways to lose weight. Dont need any special equipment and you do it anyway throughout the day. All you really need is a pedometer(make sure its calibrated) to track daily activity and record it each day for the week. To increase your steps all you do is find reasons everyday to walk just a little bit more. Even in an office environment which is what I'm in I'll take the long way to get water or coffee(dont let your boss know they wont be happy). At lunch, I'll intentionally go out to Target or Walmart park at a further spot than usual and just walk and do some window shopping. If you have been inactive this is an easy way to slowly work into more intense workouts.

Have you noticed throughout the day you hear voices in your head telling you things? Voices that justify not exercising? Or to eat those cookies/doughnuts/bagels in the break room? Odds are you probably do, don't worry you're probably crazy, but most people are. If you are hearing more voices since you've been trying to change your lifestyle it's probably a good thing. Those voices are the negativity in your life creeping out. I notice them this week loud and clear trying to get me to snack. Trying to get me not workout..."Hey, you can workout twice as hard tomorrow?" "No big deal...you're not that fat?" I realized this week that between 1:30-5:00(end of work day) they would tell me to snack, to munch. Was it because I was hungry? No. I just had lunch half hour ago? The only reason I had to eat was literally because I was bored! Come on guys you didn't become fat overnight, nor will you lose weight overnight either. Those voices for me and maybe for you were the voices of fear. Fear of change, Boredom. Just keep the Status Quo...you're not popular enough to be slim?!! WTF is that all about? Mental programming! Years and maybe a life time of it. Dont listen to those voices listen to the other voices that remind you why you are in the game! The voices that push you to go further work harder, focus! One day at a time my friend. One day at a time. It's also important to note, I'm not a Psychologist so please dont tell your Therapist I told you to listen to your voices or to add more voices. If you have issues get help please! I'm just another Nutjob on the Internet like everyone else. I just so happen to log my issues! Listen to your voices...when they say Give Up...agree Give up...but not on you, give up on your bad habits and negativity!

Just Live,

Anthony