10 days

samuelgina91

Hello,

I am a revisiting my fitness journey for the third time but I decided to make very small changes one has been to join the gym and get my money’s worth. The other smaller changes has removed sugar in my coffee for the past three months, and for the last one month swapping dairy milk for vanilla soy milk. Altogether I am 9 lbs down but want to set a mini challenge of recording a consistent 5000 steps a day for ten days. I may already do this but the only pedometer I have is my phone and I tend to leave that everywhere so my tracking will only count for when I have that device on me. I am inviting you to join me and mark your progress daily. Also leave a comment on the small changes you are making so we can spread ideas.

steveko89

I like your mindset of small, sustainable changes and building habits; that's definitely a proven approach. However, I'm curious about the changes you've chosen to make and I'm going to play devil's advocate a little.

I get reducing or removing sugar in one's coffee as a measure of calorie reduction, but swapping regular milk for soy milk seems unnecessary if a calorie-neutral change.

Similarly, I'm all for trying to move more but what is the net effect achieving 5000 steps/day? How much more is that than you get organically and is that effort purely for the sake of chasing some extra NEAT calories?

I'm not trying to belittle your efforts, but I challenge you to think differently about directing your effort towards changes that will make bigger impacts. You mention that you're revisiting trying to improve your fitness, think about what derailed past attempts. What are you vices, pitfalls, and biggest obstacles? Directing your efforts towards eliminating, or at least mitigating, the high risk/high cost situations that impact your consistency will likely make a bigger mark on your success and/or the sustainability thereof.

For instance, I identified that I frequently would hit up the vending machine at work, so I stopped carrying change/small bills to kick the habit. I also identified that my logging was poor Friday-Sunday and I was mailing in portion sizes; tightening that up made a huge difference. Lastly, after some schedule/routine changes with my wife and I that working out in the evenings was not feasible so I put a lot of effort into making it as easy as possible to get up early to workout before work instead of after.

samuelgina91

steveko89 wrote: »

I like your mindset of small, sustainable changes and building habits; that's definitely a proven approach. However, I'm curious about the changes you've chosen to make and I'm going to play devil's advocate a little.

I get reducing or removing sugar in one's coffee as a measure of calorie reduction, but swapping regular milk for soy milk seems unnecessary if a calorie-neutral change.

Similarly, I'm all for trying to move more but what is the net effect achieving 5000 steps/day? How much more is that than you get organically and is that effort purely for the sake of chasing some extra NEAT calories?

I'm not trying to belittle your efforts, but I challenge you to think differently about directing your effort towards changes that will make bigger impacts. You mention that you're revisiting trying to improve your fitness, think about what derailed past attempts. What are you vices, pitfalls, and biggest obstacles? Directing your efforts towards eliminating, or at least mitigating, the high risk/high cost situations that impact your consistency will likely make a bigger mark on your success and/or the sustainability thereof.

For instance, I identified that I frequently would hit up the vending machine at work, so I stopped carrying change/small bills to kick the habit. I also identified that my logging was poor Friday-Sunday and I was mailing in portion sizes; tightening that up made a huge difference. Lastly, after some schedule/routine changes with my wife and I that working out in the evenings was not feasible so I put a lot of effort into making it as easy as possible to get up early to workout before work instead of after.

Sorry I copied the whole text, these are great questions. The first time I lost weight was for high school graduation which was just running and p90x. The second time was last year but the detrimental factor of a stressful year, and poor workout partner and unintentional antagonistic home support. This has been resolved by getting my own car and more autonomy in my life in general. Also making peace and declaring loudly that I could only be responsible for my own health and no one else’s despite some not so nice family members beliefs. The swap for dairy milk vs soy is actually to control my acne which is helping significantly, and keeping me a lot fuller longer due to the slightly higher amount of protein and I am not crashing as much so I drink at least one coffee less than I did before and I snack less. In general my dairy is in coffee. Finally the extra 5000 steps is just something I want to work into what I am already doing as this month there are huge wildfires in the area and there is an air advisory warning so my regular exercise is on hold until it clears as my asthma will flare in this air condition. But I also just want to add this in to my regular day of starting with a twenty minute walk in the morning and in the evening to attain this. I work from home most days now so without a mini goal like this I don’t realize how much I am not moving. I hope this answers your questions.

samuelgina91

Sorry I forgot to answer about my vices, really the big one is inactivity and the second being I love sweets. Right now it is all just out of the house and not purchased but hard to do when family members buy them and literally ask me to get them for them. They are my parents so I have too. But I am switching to blueberries this month when I need something sweet. And if I do have ice cream or cake etc. it is a much smaller portion and combined with an active day. I also tend to spend more time with myself now as I kind of use food to socialize.

steveko89

@samuelgina91, I sympathize with having to maneuver less-than-helpful family members and not being able to be in full control of the food you have access to. I'm not too far removed from living at home to remember that struggle (5-6 years ago). My mom freaked out the first time I came home with a tub of protein powder (I think it was muscle milk) and she accused me of taking steroids. Technically, I've been "in maintenance" for years but do bulk/cut cycles; she still freaks out if I mention "losing weight" but doesn't bat an eye at "losing/cutting fat" which is odd to me.

I digress, it's not sexy but the most impactful habit I've fostered is being meticulous about my logging. Regardless of how much I'm working out, how "healthy" my food choices are, my logging being on-point and having my calories in check is the best indicator of success for me. I can't say I have a particular food vice, I'm an equal-opportunity overeater, but I hear you on sweets. Oikos triple zero greek yogurt might be worth a try. Their flavors are pretty solid, good protein, 100 cal per, though the dairy may bring your acne back.

samuelgina91

Thank you for the suggestion.