This is a bit of a motivational post. This post is a mind exercise, not a muscle exercise.

More Gyms. More Health Products, Yet Less Healthy

It is truly amazing that America has the highest obesity rates in the world, yet more gyms and health clubs than any other country. We spend more on health care than any other country, yet rank 37th in the world for effectiveness (Without getting in a health care reform debate, our poor health care has a lot to do with treating disease after it has happened, and little on preventing the problems in the first place.)

Fast-food chains spend billions of dollars on advertising each year to get us to eat at their places of business. Does this huge amount of money influence you? Maybe, maybe not, but it does influence many people around you.

Are we to blame the systems around us for the obesity problem? We can, but the problem is truly within each and every one of us. If you are overweight or obese, the blame is on you and you alone. If you want to change your life, it starts in your head.

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Do you weight yourself every morning? How about a couple of times per day? Does it drive your absolutely insane?

Then why do you do it? I won’t lie, I used to think that weighing yourself everyday makes sense, especially if you are on a diet and exercise program. But sometimes our bodies don’t make a lot of sense. We can work our butts off in the gym and eat right all day long, and still gain weight the next morning. We can eat a ton of food, wake up, and actually lose weight.

It would happen to me all of the time, and it’d set the precedent for the rest of my day. If i didn’t lose weight after a great day of exercise and diet, I’d get depressed for the rest of the day. If I did lose weight, then I’d end up doing what I was going to do anyway.

I’ve learned to weigh myself just once a week. If your happiness level is tied directly to your weight, then you should do the same. Daily fluctuations in your weight are not worth thinking about. They will drive you nuts.

Set a goal for yourself – If you’re on a long-term weight loss program (30lbs in 2 months for example), set weekly goals. That’s about 4 lbs per week. If you are pushing yourself to eat properly and get a lot of exercise, then you will stick with it all week long until “weigh-in” day. If you’re weighing yourself every single day, then you are going to think way too much about what you are doing.

Focus on How You Feel – When you don’t focus on the number of pounds you weigh, have lost, or have gained, you think about other things. Ideally, you’re focusing on your goal. And if you’re doing everything right then you will be more concerned with how you actually feel (which should mean you feel good!). How you feel is far more important than your weight or body fat percentage.

If you’re a habitual weigher, try only weighing yourself once a week and see how it does. I think most people will benefit from this because you will be much more focused on what’s important.

OK, maybe that headline is a little untrue. As far as I know, there is no TV on the planet that feeds you food while you watch.

But lets be honest. Americans watch more TV than any other country, and America is the most overweight country on the planet. The correlation is there. Take a look at this graph: correlating the amount of hours of TV watched vs obesity rate.

Can’t find the United States on that graph? Take a closer look at the lonely dot on the upper right hand corner.

Replace TV with something Productive

The data is there. Watching TV doesn’t add on calories to your tummy, but it does absolutely nothing to help you burn them. As you sit there, watching your favorite shows, you’re not doing anything for your body to burn those calories you ate today.

A simple remedy for this is to replace an hour or so of TV with something productive. Take a walk, hit the gym, whatever. Just get off your ass and MOVE! If you can’t stand missing your favorite shows, get yourself a Tivo. Reward yourself after a workout by watching your favorite shows without commercials.

As Americans, we’ve fallen into a trance with our TV’s. It’s so bad that the NFL started a program to encourage kids to go outside and exercise. We’re going in the wrong direction with our priorities in life, but heck, it’s been like this for ages.

Studies on happiness have shown that people are not happiest when they are watching TV. It would be safe to assume that we enjoy TV so much that it makes us happy, but that is not the case. There is no interaction with TV, there is no input from us.

Instead, we find ourselves happiest when we challenge ourselves, whether mentally or physically. Replace some TV with working out and exercise and you will reap the benefits.

“Eat to live. Don’t eat to live.” I don’t know who to give credit for that quote, but it has deep meaning when it comes to being healthy. I’ve checked out some blogs lately, and I see a lot of people skeptic about dieting. They think, “I don’t know if I can do this because I’m used to such and such a food everyday.” When it comes down to it, dieting, like everything else in your life, is a habit. If you’ve read any of the dieting articles on this website, then you know we don’t believe in the idea of changing what you’re eating for a few weeks to reach a particular goal and then once you’ve reached it, going back to your old habits.

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Why People Do What They Do When It Comes to Fitness

No intro to this article; I’m just gonna get down right down to it. Some may be offended or insulted by this article, but unfortunately my information does not take into consideration anyone’s feelings. I’m here to give the information honestly and truthfully, because that’s what reveals character.

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Lift Heavy!

“DIG! Bury Me! Underneath! Everything that I am!” – Mudvayne

“Heavy! I want it Heavy!” – Disturbed

“Yeah! You push it! Yeah! You push it!” – Static-X

We all love music. I find that some bands are better used as the soundtrack to my weight training than others. While my local pussyfoot gym spins tracks from the latest Britney Spears record, in my head I’m singing Mudvayne and Disturbed tracks over and over again, hell I even sing out loud sometimes (but not too loud). Yes, I do need an Ipod Nano, but I digress.

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