Wednesday’s Word of the Day – Change
Believe it or not, this is a new WWotD video! Don’t expect a typical SBS video though, this one is different. More subdued, more introspective, more erratic than normal, yet the message is important.
Log My Loss
This isn't a diet, it is your life!
Study Says over 80% of Strokes Could Have Been Prevented
Are you aware that May is Stroke Awareness Month? I wasn’t. Steve Jasper, with Gymsource contacted me offering to write a guest post focusing on stroke awareness. While heart disease has been a fear of mine, strokes occur in my family as well. Needless to say, strokes are a concern of mine too.
By Steve Jasper
Although the recent plight of rocker Brett Michaels has been getting more press than May being National Stroke Month, the two are directly related. This makes a great opportunity to talk more about strokes, and how they can be avoided.
Thanks to the pervasiveness of this Information age we currently live in, health concerns and the information surrounding it spread nearly as quickly as the diseases themselves. For example, you probably recall the widespread hysteria in the United States regarding the Swine Flu. While there were no more death tolls than our regular seasonal flu, the sensationalization of the topic kept it in the news for months. While on one hand, the rapid spread of information can be a boon to preventative medicine, the spread of incorrect or inaccurate information can be detrimental, or even harmful.
Thanks to the rapid information delivery of the internet, and the various media outlets reporting on these issues, we know more about heart disease and strokes today than our parents or grandparents ever did. Many of you reading this article may have had a friend or relative- or even yourself- suffer from a stroke. It is important that you first understand what the underlying factors are that cause a stroke, and how you can take steps to prevent one from ever occurring.
Some people naturally have a greater risk of stroke than others. The factors which put you at risk for a stroke fall into two categories: factors you can control, and those which are unfortunately out of your control. Family history plays a large part in determining your level of risk. Women, and people with immediate relatives who have suffered strokes, are both more likely to suffer an attack than other groups. Also, African Americans are at a much greater risk than any other ethnicity. Unfortunately, there isn’t a concrete explanation for why this is true. It could be that due to higher rates of hypertension and diabetes, African Americans exhibit a greater hereditary risk, according to the National Stroke Association. Pre-existing health conditions such as diabetes or hypertension, in addition to obesity, excessive smoking and/or drinking can all multiply your risk of a stroke.
Avoidable Risk Factors:
- Excessive Smoking
- Excessive Drinking
- Hypertension/High Blood Pressure
- Obesity
- Inactive Lifestyle
Unavoidable Risk Factors:
- Age – As you get older, your chances for stroke increase
- Prior Strokes – The chances of suffering a subsequent stroke increases
- Family History – If you have immediate relatives who have a history of strokes.
- Race – African Americans are more likely to suffer from strokes.
While you might not be able to change your heredity, there are measures you can take to help stave off stroke risk. The National Stroke Association estimates that out of the 700,000 strokes that occur each year, 600,000 could have been prevented by simple lifestyle changes. One of the best and easiest prevention tools is to simply employ a good exercise routine.
Generally, when people are asked what their biggest obstacle towards a more active lifestyle is, the most popular answer is “not enough time.” That’s why one of the best ways to stay fit is with home gyms and home aerobics programs. It’s hard to come up with excuses when you have your own workout routine in your basement or garage. In addition to this, many people feel uncomfortable in public gyms for various reasons. It’s no surprise that lifting weights or exercising in your own home is more comfortable than wiping off a stranger’s eerily sweaty stains from the exercise equipment. If you can combine this lifestyle change with others, such as eating better food, drinking less alcohol, and quitting cigarettes, you will dramatically improve your chances for fighting off a stroke.
Unfortunately, all too often, perfectly healthy people succumb to strokes as well. That’s why it is important to be able to recognize the symptoms of stroke. When a stroke occurs, the sooner you act, the better your chances for recovery. Someone suffering from a stroke will exhibit an inexplicable numbness or tingling sensation on one side of their body, slurred speech, blurred vision, and difficulty with motor control.
Sometimes it’s difficult to prevent the things that hinder our health. But like the old adage goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We need to keep doing our part to spread awareness about the risk of strokes. If we can educate the public on how to live healthier lifestyles, then we can succeed in stemming the effects of this nationwide killer.
Steve Jasper is not a medical expert. All of the statistics cited were from the National Stroke Association and the American Heart Association. If you have any serious medical concerns, please consult a qualified medical professional. Steve is a contributing blogger from Gymsource who writes an all topics related to fitness equipment and more.
Just My Observations – What Do You Think?
The day has finally slowed down enough that I can sit down and peruse some blogs, but much to my dismay, bloglines is down! If you aren’t familiar with bloglines, it is an rss reader thatI use it to help me keep track of all the blogs I read. I have thought about using google reader or one of many others, but bloglines has served me well thus far. However, with it being down this evening, I am experiencing serious withdrawals. 
I am sorry to say that I don’t have all your web addresses memorized. I may just have to visit your blogs tomorrow if it doesn’t come up soon.
Before I get to my thoughts for the night, I will give a quick update on the day. I did exercise this morning, but only about 75% of what I have been doing. I am about to do some more push ups to get me closer to where I should be for the day. Eating has also been less than stellar quantity-wise. The food choices were overall good, but I munched on things most of the day during the training. Thankfully it was fruit, but as I wrote the other day, too much of a good thing may not be a good thing. Now on to the meat of the post for the night:
I have had a thought/blog post on my mind quite a bit lately, but I haven’t taken the time to write about it. It is just a casual observation I have made, but interesting nonetheless. Let me give a little background first though. I read a lot of weight-loss blogs most every day and have done so for the greater part of the last 18 months. During part of that time and the months prior to that I visited a lot of weight-loss forums. I read a lot of news articles and studies, and I do a fair amount of my own research. Keep in mind that I haven’t taken the time to validate the claim I am about to make, but it sure seems to be accurate. It seems to me that weight-loss bloggers experience a much higher success rate than the typical person seeking to lose weight. Statistics have to be taken with a grain of salt, so take this with that in mind – some studies seem to indicate only 5% of those who attempt to lose weight successfully do so and keep it off. The forums I visited did not seems to have a very high success rate. People I meet personally often talk about their failed dieting efforts. That is not what I see overall in the weight-loss blogging world. Sure, there are those who do not experience the success they are after, and their blogs die. There are also those who seem to be struggling getting started with it all, but they hang in there, which is really encouraging. Then there ere are those who go through dry spells or plateaus, but they keep kicking and eventually start losing again. And there are those who seem to experience losses week in and week out. Finally, there are those who have lost the weight and have kept it off. Ultimately though, those who stick with the weight loss blogging seem to experience success.
I can’t put my finger on why this is though. Is it the support offered in this community? I think that plays a part in it. Is it the fact that with a blog you are laying it all out on the line more so than you do elsewhere? Possibly. Does blogging give us the ability to be more open, thus more able to deal with the emotional issues we may be struggling with? Perhaps. I don’t know what the reason is, it just seems to be.
With all that being said, if you are one of those who is trying to lose weight, and you don’t have a blog, perhaps it is worth considering. If you are a blogger who isn’t experiencing the success you want, just keep at it, you are in a good crowd. For those who are still fighting the fight, you keep at it also. Many of you are inspirations to others, whether you realize it or not. Those of you who have lost the weight and kept it off – you are most certainly inspirations. Whether you know it or not, your comments and encouragement go a long way in this community. Last, to those healthy living/fitness bloggers who offer encouragement to the weight-loss bloggers, we appreciate you. Thanks for your support.
How about the rest of you? Have you noticed the same thing, or am I looking at the blogosphere through rose-colored glasses?
Setting Goals
The big news of the day is the achievement of my yearly walking goal. The weather wasn’t looking good for tomorrow, so my wife and I walked 4.1 miles today, which brought my yearly total to 750.17 miles. Just to put that in perspective, that is like walking from Miami, Florida to Charlotte, North Carolina or starting in San Diego, California and walking almost the entire length of the state. Woot! There will be no walking tomorrow or Friday. I need to use that time for some inner reflection and planning.
Eating was so-so again today. Not bad, not good, just maintenance. There is nothing wrong with maintenance — when you are done losing weight! Really, I am not that worried about it, I am not going to hit my Hot 100 goal of 185 though.
It is just two days until January 1, 2010, and the beginning of The Perfect Ten challenge. Have you determined what your goals are yet? If not, you aren’t alone. It is time to quit procrastinating though.
While we are on the topic, let’s talk about goals for a moment. I am sure many of you have heard that goals should be S.M.A.R.T., that is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. Have you really thought about this though? The reason goals should be smart isn’t necessarily to help you achieve the goals, it is to keep you from getting frustrated and quitting. Let’s look at each of these a little closer:
- Specific – One of the most common resolutions on January 1 will be to get into shape. Well, that is fantastic, but what does that mean? Are you going to do strength training? aerobics? a mixture? How much time can you devote to this? A better goal would be something like attending a kickboxing class three days a week or walking a minimum of 12 miles a week. Another idea here is to remember the W’s – “what”, “when”, and “why”, and their cousin “how”. “Who” and “Where” are also sometimes applicable, but not as much as the others.
- Measurable – How many times have you seen or perhaps even said that your goal is to lose weight? Then after a period of time you are frustrated when you have only lost a pound. Let’s face it, you achieved your goal of losing weight, but you were frustrated because you didn’t achieve what you wanted to achieve; however, you never formally stated what you hoped to achieve.
- Attainable – Ah yes, this is the one many of us fall prey to. How many times have you heard someone else say (because we wouldn’t do this, right?
), “I am going to lose 50 pounds over the next ten weeks. After all, I lost five pounds the first week, surely I can do the same thing for the next ten, right?” Yes, you can lose five pounds a week, but in reality that is a mighty steep goal for most people. When we are talking about attainable goals, we are talking about things you could achieve if you devoted the proper resources to it, but in reality you aren’t committed enough to devote that level of resources. Thing long and hard about your goals though and make sure you are willing to put in the effort it takes to achieve them in the time frame you have set. - Realistic – This is closely related to attainable. The difference is that unrealistic, at least in this context, refers to goals that you do not have the ability or background to accomplish. For example, if I set a goal that I was going to run an ultra-marathon in ten weeks that would be pretty unrealistic. Or, better yet, if I were to set a goal that I was going to bench press 400 pounds in the next ten weeks, that would not be realistic.
- Timely – Finally, we have timely. This means two things to me. First, I knew that my work schedule was going to go absolutely crazy last August through November, which it did. If I had set intense exercise and fitness goals that pushed me to my limit during this time, I would have likely failed. We have to consider our circumstances and the timeliness of our goals. This fits right into being attainable. Timely also means we need to attach a time frame to our goals. To say my goal is to lose ten pounds leaves the door wide open for this to take the rest of my life. Thankfully, The Perfect Ten has this built in, but we don’t often have a deadline like this.
So, if you haven’t made out your goals for The Perfect Ten yet, get busy, but be sure they are S.M.A.R.T. goals so you have something to get motivated, not frustrated, over.
Speaking of The Perfect Ten, I have had a couple of questions about having to tell something about yourself along with your update each week. First of all, yes, this is a requirement. However, it doesn’t have to be overly revealing. For example, you could tell that your favorite childhood music group was Wham! or that you only eat green bananas. I am not asking you to tell things that make you uncomfortable or things that make you prey to the creepy stalkers out there. Reveal what you wish, but realize that it can be pretty insignificant things. I’ll try to give more examples and ideas along the way. Also, in this same vein, I am intending on posting my first update a day early to give everyone an example of what I am looking for. For those who already know me, you know I am not too hung up on form here, just be sure to follow the defined rules.
Last, if you haven’t shared The Perfect Ten on your blog yet, what are you waiting on? The whole purpose of this challenge isn’t to do this alone. It is to bring the whole dieting and fitness community a step higher. For all of us to be a little better off in ten weeks than we are now. Yes, some lucky person is going to get an awesome prize from RMAX International, but you know what? Many of us are going to get a prize far better than this. We are going to be a bit healthier at the end of the ten weeks than we are now. So get out there and share this thing. Let’s do what we can to make a difference in 2010!
Lifestyle Changes for a Better You
As we are all getting prepared to publish our Perfect 10 goals, one thing we need to consider is exercise. One of my favorite bloggers, Wendy from The Whole Way, is a real health and fitness guru, and she has been kind enough to share some of her words of wisdom with us today. And now, heeeeere’s Wendy:
The day I woke up in 2002 and decided to live a healthier, happier, more productive life I knew I had to make four lifestyle changes:
- Quit smoking (change unhealthy habits)
- Eat real food in moderate amounts (lose weight, eat only what is sufficient to my/your body’s needs, get a decent balance of nutrients)
- Get active (on a daily basis at whatever level is appropriate – start where you’re at)
- Be mindful (show up for my/your life, pay attention to the choices I/you make)
These components are intertwined, moving in and around each other in varying patterns and shades and shapes. One cannot exist independent of the others, even when the relationships seem subtle.
It may feel easier or more manageable to create change in one of these areas at a time. And, that particular area may change over time, or even daily for that matter. Heck, it might even change from moment to moment. But, the reality is: each area has to come into focus in order to live a healthy lifestyle.
In my case, I took on the smoking, the daily activity, and the control of the elbow-bending at the same time because I could not figure out how to separate them. I was mindless about the mindfulness, though in hindsight, I see I did begin to incorporate this into my daily life about the same time.
Anyway, I quickly figured out that activity – yes, exercise – made losing the weight much easier and created changes in my body shape which I found desirable and rewarding. After reaching ‘goal weight’ (a concept which should be fluid, I believe), exercise allowed me to stay in that general weight vicinity and not obsess about daily food intake. It was a relief to not step on a scale for weeks on end, to not mentally calculate how much I was consuming of what, to remain mindful of my eating but not a slave to food.
As my eating habits began to change, regular activity took on a much more important role in my evolving lifestyle. Later on it became important enough that I changed careers, becoming a personal trainer and later took additional training to be a nutritional counselor.
So, what I am really wanting to tell you with this long story is this: you need to move!
You need to move regularly. If you aren’t already, you need to start. If you are already, you need to constantly challenge yourself by notching up the physical exertion expectation. You need to show up for your life, not waste another minute of a life which is precious, get your heart ticking a bit faster and move yourself into fitness.
I’m not going to spend time telling you why you need to move. You already know, well and good, that daily physical activity is necessary. I knew it when I started. I didn’t need to do research on why it was a good idea, I simply needed to drag my sorry backside out of bed early in the mornings and haul it around the block. The changes this created in my life, that was all the ‘research’ I needed.
Where to start? Well, where you’re at. Find where your level of conditioning, or deconditioning as the case may be, fits in to a continuum of daily activity and then do it – jump in, with both feet, a fierce heart, and a brave grin.
Build up your aerobic base by walking. Walk daily at 55 to 65% of your maximum heart rate (you can determine your maximum heart rate here and find out how to measure your heart rate here). Your distance will naturally increase as you gradually get into shape. When the walking becomes less of a challenge, try jogging or any other activity which takes your exertion level to 65 to 75% of your maximum. Build in recovery time (rest) from this level of intensity. Move on to running, or skating/swimming/biking at between 75 and 90% of your maximum heart rate.
Aerobically, and anaerobically, now you’re cooking. And I mean that literally! You have stoked a metabolic fire which will only help project you further into wellness and wellbeing.
Nonaerobic activity is important too. Strength training – using free weights or machines, body weight, and/or natural environments – and activities for balance and flexibility and mindfulness – like yoga and tai chi – are also integral to the landscape of your healthy lifestyle. Strength training will, among other things, reshape your slimming body, do outstanding things for your self confidence, shift your base metabolic rate into a higher gear, and amaze your friends and families.
Lifting weights or knowing what strength training exercises will best meet your needs can be daunting. I would be more than happy to answer questions and offer advice. You can post a question or send a private message to me at my blog and I will do my best to be of service.
So, if I were to lay it down briefly (which I could have done right at the beginning of this): the better your fitness level, the better your brain works, the better your body feels, the better your health outcomes, the better your life. What could be simpler?
Oh, and those four components I listed at the top? Well, I am making those changes and I love that it is always a work in progress!
Thank you Steve for allowing me to guest post on your blog and for being such an important part of this vital, thriving blog community-in-search-of-health. Blessed be.
Thank you Wendy.
You heard it folks – let’s be sure our Perfect 10 goals include getting up and moving! Speaking of The Perfect 10 Challenge, you have signed up, haven’t you? If not, what are you waiting on?
If you are looking for advice or assistance in your journey to healthiness, there is no better place to begin than a Health & Fitness Specialist like Wendy. If you are in the market for this type of advice, you can reach Wendy via phone or email, both of which are available on her Contact Page.
South Beach Steve Showcased
The big news of the evening is that I have been showcased on Louisa’s Weight Loss Diary. Louisa has done a fantastic job putting together and interview and introduction to the South Beach Diet. Do me a favor, if you are short on time tonight, stop reading my post and head on over and read her’s. Please be sure and leave her a comment.
The next big news of the evening is that I walked this morning! Woot! I know it has been so long you all probably wondered if I had given up on it. Well, okay, so maybe it hasn’t been that long, but it has been a week. Let me tell you, it was COLD, but only when the wind was blowing. When it wasn’t blowing I was terribly overdressed. I only put in 2.3 miles and my pace was much slower than normal, but I did it. I plan on walking again in the morning, even though it is supposed to be in the teens. In addition, I have also done 20 push ups today – two different times.
Eating was very good today as well. Breakfast was the typical apple with natural PB, but I also added four thin slices of bacon. Lunch was a very small serving of white beans and a can of tuna. I did have a few hot peppers for a mid-afternoon snack though. Supper was the big meal of the day. I had a large taco salad (no tortillas, of course). It was delicious! I am sure I will have a sf popsicle or some other snack before bed.
I ran across a story some time back about “brown fat“ It seems that this brown fat is not the same as the typical fat in our bodies. In fact, if you are so blessed with higher than normal percentages of brown fat, your body has a higher basil metabolic rate. In fact, jut 50 grams of brown fat can increase your basil metabolic rate by 20%! Did you read that? 20%! One thing this article leads me to believe supports a long-held theory I have had. If a person is hot natured, they have a higher BMR. I have always been extremely hot natured. While I have also always been overweight, I have typically eaten tremendous amounts of food – amounts so large is usually shocks people. This makes me wonder whether my metabolism is naturally higher. If that is the case, how sad is it that I was so overweight? Of course, that is just theory and coffee talk as I am never going to go to the trouble to find out, but it is interesting nonetheless.
Advertisers
The following advertisers help support logmyloss.com. Their advertisements do not indicate my support of their product. As always, buyer beware.
