Dan on December 17th, 2005
Goal #6: I’ve decided to roll all of my fitness goals into one large goal.
My body fat percentage is 10% or less on the first day of spring (March 20th). By the first day of summer (June 21st) my body fat percentage is less than 8%. My weight is at 140 lbs or higher due to muscle gain.
First I’d like to take a look into my past. I grew up with two wonderful parents. Both have been overweight nearly my entire life. My father is an excellent example of how being overweight can affect you physically.
As far back as I can remember my father had back problems. Various things would set off extreme lower back pain. He tried aspirin, he tried a chiropractor, and various other solutions. Most provided temporary relief but eventually the pain would return. I don’t remember exactly when, but sometime when I was in high school he decided to lose some weight by adding exercise and cutting out some unhealthy snacks. He bought a tredmill and started running almost daily. He started working out in the gym at work during his lunch break. If my memory serves me correctly he lost around 30lbs, bringing his weight down from ~180 lbs to ~150 lbs. Just like that the back pain disappeared. He got his motorcycle out of the shed that had been stored for over 20 years and started riding again. He could do more physical things without the worry of pain.
My point here is that your weight is more than just something that forces you to buy larger clothes or makes you short of breath. It brings your entire body down. By being overweight you say “I don’t care about myself.” What kind of image does this present to other people?
What about my body and weight? Well, I’ve always been a bit over ideal for body fat composition. My average weight for 7 or 8 years now has been 145 lbs (I’m 5′ 5″ tall). Up until 2 years ago the only noteworthy exercise I had done in 10 years was a year of track in high school, a quarter of Kung Fu in college (more on this later), and a few hiking trips or brief runs. My diet was never horrible but it wasn’t great. For example, freshman year at college (2000-2001) I ate my meals on campus. The main cafeteria is a buffet style all you can eat smorgishboard of fried foods, pizza, ice cream, and other unhealthy items. Many of my friends gained a few pounds that year. I have enough self control to not go overboard and managed to maintain my weight. However, I chugged Mountain Dew like it was being discontinued. My roommate and I went through 6 pack after 12 pack of the stuff.
Towards the end of that year I slowed my consumption of the sugar water down. It was getting expensive and I knew it wasn’t good for me. Over the summer and the following school year I changed to 100% fruit juice. I was still living on campus but started eating a bit better, with more subs and less fried food. When I finally moved off campus in 2002 I began cooking my own meals, which is a story unto itself 
George Forman and chicken became my new best friends. I was still eating quite a bit of pizza and unhealthy snacks but my regular meals were becoming quite healthy. Luckily I’ve never liked many beef products. That helped eliminate the majority of red meat from my diet, other than the occationial bowl of chili or taco.
In 2002, when I took Kung Fu, I decided that I needed to do something to improve my muscle mass. One of the things I never liked about my body was a severe lack of abs. During my high school years I would have trouble getting to 20 sit-ups. Our twice a week Kung Fu sessions consisted of a 30-45 min workout followed by a lesson and practice. The workout was excellent. It consisted of many core exercises and stretches. By the end of the quarter I had visible abs and my overall muscle mass had increased. I continued to do push-ups, sit-ups, and crunches daily. It seems that everytime I move I stop these basic exercises for a few months. Then I remember now easy they are, how little time they take, and the benefits and I start doing them again.
Since I moved in September I’ve lacking exercise. Prior to moving I weighed about 145 (I’m 5′ 5″) with a waistline of 30″. I had a bit of extra fat but nothing to really worry about. I did daily curls with dumbells, pushups, and crunches. In the hectic move I stopped everything. At the start of the dietary changes I weighed 133.8 with the same waistline and my pants were getting tighter. That means I lost almost 10 lbs of muscle! That’s obviously not good. I’m guessing that most of the lost muscle was in my legs since I hadn’t been moving around enough.
As I changed my diet I started some basic exercises. When I wake up in the morning I do push-ups, crunches, and chin-ups. I put the chin-up bar in a doorway that I walk through at least 20 times a day. I try to do 5 chin-ups whenever I walk through and am not carrying anything.
The way I do my morning exercises is to slowly increase the reps over time. Right now I do 40 push-ups (soon to increase again), 60 crunches, 12 normal chin-ups and 7 underhand chin-ups. I’ve visibly noticed a small increase in upper body mass since I started. These simple exercises are a great place to start, but they won’t help my reach my goal of 10% body fat. For that I need aerobic exercise.
Here in Rochester, NY the winters are long and cold. Running in snow isn’t my idea of fun so I decided I needed to join a fitness center. That will allow me to not only run indoors but will give me access to the strength building equipment I lack. Plus it will provide my favorite workout, the rowing machine. If you’ve never used a rowing machine you don’t know what you’re missing. Rowing provides a total body workout with very low joint impact.(1) Rowing is also recommended in Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle.
The problem is I haven’t joined a fitness center yet. Why? The New Year. Everyone has discounts and specials for people who choose to lose weight. I can go another month without extensive aerobic exercise to save a significant amount of money.
So why are you still reading this? Purchase your copy of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle or a similar lifelong fitness and nutrition plan and start today! How can you possibly regret a better body?
1. http://www.concept2.com/05/rower/musclesused.asp
Dan on December 17th, 2005
Goal #5: Change diet to a balanced and complete 6 meal-a-day plan, based on Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle COMPLETED!
This was the first goal I completed. After finding polyphasic sleep I decided that I needed to change my nutrition and excercise regiments. I’ve never been overweight but I knew I could improve on my diet. I ate 3 meals a day with 3 planned snacks in between. My diet was extremely high in carbs.
I searched high and low for a lifelong plan and found nothing but short-term diets and fads. Short-term diets drop weight temporarily but do not work over the long run. Finally, after extensive searching through bookstores, websites, and reviews I stumbled upon Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle.
This ebook was written a few years back by Tom Venuto. Tom is a body builder who has done extensive research into the effects of nutrition and exercise. He compiled his knowledge into a 350+ page ebook which turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle teaches a lifelong plan of proper nutrition and exercise. Your diet consists of a proper balance of carbs, protein, and fats. Tom also teaches to use 6 smaller meals a day to help maintain your metabolism. 6 meals fits perfectly with the 6 cycle polyphasic sleep schedule I want to try. The recommended exercise routines are logical and straight forward. My only complaint is the lack of scientific references. However, almost everything he presents is logical and has been proven to work over and over again.
Major changes such as diet and exercise or sleep patterns can have a major effect on how your body functions. I decided that my diet was the easiest to change so that’s where I started. I began eating 6 balanced meals, totaling ~2000 calories. I had found that I was eating 2000-2500 calories a day prior to the change so I felt that 2000 would be a good place to start.
That was on November 21, 2005. Today I couldn’t be happier about my diet. I’m never quite full but I’m also not hungry. I very rarely have the urge to buy junk food. As the book suggests I cheat a maximum of once a week, usually some unhealthy snacks at a friends or a slice of pizza for a meal. The only downside I’ve found so far is that cooking all this food takes a lot more time and dirties many more dishes. I empty my dish rack 3 times a day now! As with anything, if you feel that there is a need for it you make the time. Now that I’ve been following this dietary plan for over 3 weeks the extra cooking time doesn’t seem to impact anything else. I’ve found ways to cut down cook times, such as cooking food in bulk and reheating for other meals.
The most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. Don’t give in to fad, unbalanced diets like Atkins. Following a lifelong, balanced diet with exercise will help you lose weight and keep it off for the rest of your life. Visit the Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle homepage and see if it’s right for you. Why not shed those extra pounds and get the best body you can have? Health is the single most important thing in life. Without good health you have nothing.
What about exercise? Well, that’s a seperate goal I will cover tomorrow.
Dan on December 16th, 2005
Do you toss your money away? Probably. Most people waste cash every single day. Do you buy coffee at a cafe? Do you smoke, have your shoes shined, or eat out frequently? Almost everyone has something small they waste money on that could make the difference between being rich or poor.
How could a cup of coffee or a pack of smokes a day make you rich? Let’s assume on average you spend $5 a day that you could save by making coffee at home, bringing a lunch, quitting smoking, etc. If you put your $5 a day into an investment that provides a dismal (dismal in my eyes) 10% yearly yeild, in 41 years you will have over $1 million!!
Imagine retiring with $1 million for only $5 a day. A worthy investment? I think so. If you increase it to $10 a day you’ll be a millionare in 34 years. Earn 15% a year with a $10-a-day investment and it will only take 25 years to earn $1,013,352.87!
So is it worth it to you to giving up that small consumable to retire young with plenty of money?
Dan on December 15th, 2005
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I’m going to sidetrack a bit here and talk about my favorite pair of shoes. Bear with me here. I bought these shoes 2 years ago. I only wear them during cold weather (autumn to spring). However, I ABUSE them almost every time I put them on. I walk through salt-filled puddles, snow, and rain. Once I used them to push mud into tire ruts and totally coated them in the process. Despite this abuse they still shine right up! Sure, there is a bit of leather missing around the top, the fine tread pattern is a little worn, and the shine won’t stay for more than a week but who cares? I’m amazed at how well they have held up. Even the laces are original. Who makes these mighty fine shoes? Sketcher. If my memory serves correctly they cost around $110.
What’s the point of this story? Go buy Sketcher shoes? No. The point is that everyone has their “Sketcher shoes.” Everyone has those small, amazing things that makes life interesting. Once you find your pair of Sketchers enjoy them for all they’re worth. However, don’t dwell on them. I know my shoes will wear out at some point and I’ll move on to my next pair. Something else will take their place as a small amusement. There are plenty of new things out there that can provide the same enjoyment. Always seek them out.
Dan on December 13th, 2005
Goal #4: Between my personal net worth and the value of any companies I totally control I have a total worth of at least $1 million by the age of 30.
This goal is self-explanatory, despite being quite a challenge. I’m giving myself 6 years to earn $1 million. That’s an average growth of $166,667 per year! How is this possible? Well, I’ll address the breakdown of this goal into smaller goals in the future, as well as long term financial goals. I strongly believe this to be possible.
So what is your medium term financial goal? To own a home? To have a specific net worth? To max out your retirement funds yearly? Setting these goals is very important if you want to enjoy long-term success. Start with a long or medium term goal, then break that down into shorter and shorter goals. As you achieve you will find each goal becoming easier and easier to achieve. Start setting your goals today!
