Exercise

Abandon That Negative Mindset

on February 4th, 2012 by Rob

All too often, I see people that say- “I hate to exercise”.

I will be the first to tell you that this is how I once felt. Sometimes I still feel that way.

But what we SHOULD feel is what I normally do- that is, exercise is not just a means to an end— to lose weight.

All the time I see bumper stickers and running gear that says “Running is cheaper than Therapy”- How true!!! I look forward to running now. I know that one of the only things that gets me out of bed sometimes is the prospect of seeing my friends and drinking coffee and visiting after a run.

My point is- it didn’t happen overnight, but if you can stick with it and find some friends—– exercise can be something to look forward to and enjoy.

Remember, Get up!!! Get Moving!!! Get a Better Life!!

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Yep- That Was Me!!

on January 19th, 2012 by Rob

Harriette Cole- United Feature Syndicate

I have had so many e-mails asking if that was me in the Sense and Sensitivity advice column the other day. I am flattered by some of the mail. I hope that I can continue to inspire everyone to try to make positive changes in your life and in your health.

Here is the letter that I wrote to them… it was in response to a person in Jackson MS that said that they were Lethargic and were having trouble losing weight.

BUDDY SYSTEM KEY IN BATTLING OBESITY-

Harriette,

Wanted to make a quick response to Lethargic, Jackson MS.

I think that your tips for Lethargic, were right on. The things that you suggested were excellent.. especially your last sentence— suggesting that Lethargic “Tell yourself you are worth it, and then do something every day.” I think that this might be the most important part of the process. Until we are ready to realize our “self-worth”, it can be very difficult to “Get up! Get Moving!! And Get a Better Life”.

I too was an obese person living much the same situation. No matter how hard I tried, I was unable to get going. A HUGE part of my success was finding a group of people that were trying to realize similar goals. Once I had that support group, the task and hand became so much more attainable.

Yes, walk around your neighborhood. But find some friends… some work-out friends, to do it with you. Go to the gym—- but it is SO much easier to get there if you have something to look forward to (i.e.- seeing your friends). And always remember the old axiom, that “Misery loves company”— It’s true!

If Lethargic would like to contact me. I am also in the Jackson Miss. area. I have a blog, www.weighdownsouth.com and have been successful in not only losing some weight, but in keeping it off for over two years. I would offer to let Lethargic come and do some workouts with me… if they are up for it.

I changed my life. And believe me, if I can, anyone can.

Remember- Get up!! Get Moving!!! Get a Better Life!!!!

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Millsaps Cross Country Fund Raiser

on January 10th, 2012 by Rob

Check it. About that time again. And this one is for my friend Andy Till. Come on out and join us if you can.

Race is February 11th at 9:00am!!

This is an open 5,000 meter cross country race. You can walk it or run.
Feel free to form a team with friends or compete individually.
Proceeds benefit the Millsaps Cross Country and Track & Field Team.

Awards:
* Top 10 male and top 10 female receive medals.
* The overall male and female winners will receive gift certificates for pizzas
from Pizza Shack and gift certificates for shoes from Fleet Feet.
* 18 and under male and female will receive trophies.
* Masters and Grand-Masters male and female winners will receive gift
certificates for pizzas from Pizza Shack.
* The winners of the team divisions will receive gift certificates for two large
pizzas from Pizza Shack.
* The first male to break 15 minutes and the first female to break 17:45 will
receive a $500 gift certificate to Fleet Fleet.

Directions to Choctaw Trails:

From Jackson – I-20 West towards Clinton, take the Springridge Rd Exit,
left on Springridge Rd for 1.5 miles, left at McRaven Rd (stoplight), drive
1.5 miles and Choctaw Trails will be on your left.

Team Divisions:
Teams are made up of 5 runners and the top 3 times will be averaged.
There is a male and female division.

Contact Coach Till if you have any questions. andy.till@millsaps.edu
www.msracetiming.com

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Don’t Add Those Extra Pounds at College

on September 2nd, 2011 by Rob

I swear, I think this is me from my freshman year!!! Well, not sure I was ever this thin but you get the idea.

I have said many times that college is really not a place to learn. It is a place to practice. Practice life that is. For many… including me, it is or was the first time away from home. It was the first time that I was able to make choices completely on my own. I didn’t do such a good job.

See… I went to Ole Miss. A place that one of my friends has described as Disneyland with a bar. It really is the happiest place on earth… except Sunday afternoons when you are hung-over and you have a paper due and you can’t believe what you did last night… and “What!?!?!?! I hit on who??????? —— different story for a different day. But you get the idea. I for one did not make those good choices.

Well, how do you make them? Believe me, I know it is much easier to go to Wendy’s and get something than to cook. Almost impossible to cook in a dorm room and frankly, my apartment was not much better. Not because it was not equipped…. because I was not equipped. See, my Mom had done all my cooking up to that point.

Well, here are a couple of tips to help you along.

1. Two words- FRESH FRUIT. Easy as easy can be. Honest to God… all you have to do is run it under the water and you eat it. Grapes, apples, peaches—- geeesh, if you go with a banana you don’t even have to stick it under the water.

2. Salads at the fast food joint. Just don’t get all the dressing on there. Worst part of a salad and can make it WORSE than a burger.

3. Chicken and baked potatoes at the fast food joint. These were the staple of my diet when I was in the People Magazine Weight Loss Challenge. I would go to Back Yard Burger regularly and get a Blackened Chicken Sandwich, baked potato with just a little butter and un-sweet tea. Worked like a charm.

4. Nuts- eat these as snacks, weather it is in your dorm or your car. Just watch the portion sizes as they can be full of fat. But overall, I promise you these are better than Twinkies!!! No brainer.

These are just a couple of tips that you can use. Also, get to the gym. Most colleges of any size are going to have a gym for students. Probably part of your tuition that you can use it…. or maybe your activity fee. You are paying for it (or at least your parents are) so you might as well use it. Go there. Hang out. You can find some people to work out with. Play basketball with. Get moving with. When you go away to college, you will be meeting all kinds of new people- might as well be the right kinds. Use it as an opportunity to make “work-out” friends if you have never had them before.

Most of all, make the right choices about alcohol. I want everyone to have a good time and to fit in and make friends and chase girls and all that… but for the love of God, take it easy. Young people’s minds are effected by alcohol differently than older people.

Remember, Dean Wormer says that fat,drunk and stupid is no way to go through life.

Get up!! Get moving! Have a better life!!!!!

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How Fast Can You Do It??

on August 5th, 2011 by Rob

Can your stop watch predict your demise??

Well, I don’t know ,that… but it can predict how healthy you will be before that demise.

O.K.- here is the deal. A bunch of really smart guys (there are a lot of them- I read about them all the time) at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School- got together and studied 66,000 people (aged 20-90) and determined that:

A. How fast you can run a mile is a good predictor of future heart problems.

B. This speed is just as good of a predictor (for middle age folks) as is high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

The level to which you are in good health is indicated by how far under a 10minute mile you can run.

If for example, you are 50 years old and you can run an 8 minute mile… there is about a 10% chance that you will have future heart problems. (This goes up to a 9 minute mile for women)

If it takes you more than 10 minutes (or 12 for women)… your chances of heart problems go up THREE TIMES!!!

The point here is that when I say that you can lose weight just walking… that is true. But if you want heart health, then you need to RUN!!!! DON’T WALK!!!!

Get Up!!! Get Moving!!!! (FASTER!!) and Have a Better Life!

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More Weight Loss Myths Revealed

on July 21st, 2011 by Rob

Did a story about this some time back and I think it might be time to check out some more “myths” about weight loss.

To me, it really is as simple as move more, eat less. Of course, we all know, it is not that simple. There are all kinds of questions. All kinds of things that everyone has heard about how to lose weight. All kinds of things that they have heard that might or might not be correct. Let’s just take a quick look at some of those.

1. To lose weight, you must exercise long and often- Well, this is kind of true and kind of not. I am a big proponent of running. It is great for you, burns lots of calories and I enjoy the way it feels- when I am done. However, it is not really necessary. It is possible to lose weight by WALKING. I know… Walkin’ is for Haley Barber (Let’s Go Walking Mississippi ad campaign we have had here for a few years)… but the fact is that it burns calories too. It may just take a bit longer.

2. You have to join a gym to exercise- NOPE. Walking and running are free. Just get out there and “do it”.

3. Weight Loss provides more benefits than exercise- Nope again. Skinny people that do not have good cardiovascular health will die before obese people that do. So get out there and run.

4. You don’t have to lift weights to lose weight- Well, this is kind of true and kind of false. It is true that you can lose weight not lifting weights… but it is kind of like the run vs. walk discussion from a minute ago. If you want to lose weight… lift weight. When you do that, the after-burn will continue for several hours… burning more calories. This does not really happen with cardio exercise. (It does a little, but it is not significant).

So, there you have it. I hope I straightened you out on a few points. And remember—- Get up! Get moving!!! Have a better life!!!

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Americans and their Weight Delusions

on June 5th, 2011 by Rob

Well… not a big surprise here… more Americans are over-weight than ever before. More Mississippians are over-weight than ever before. But hey, I shouldn’t complain too much- If we hadn’t been in this fix, then I may not have ever gotten my big break, right?

Well, here is something that I read this week that might be a little more shocking to you. It seems that more and more people don’t care about their weight. And it seems that it is because they see more and more over-weight people around them.

A recent survey showed that only8% of Americans believe that they are obese. However, the true number runs around 35%!!!! That is a bit skewed.

The thing is… there are so many other obese people running around out there that we have gotten to the point that bigger is normal.

Dr. David L. Katz (that is so great that there is a Dr. Katz out there in the world- I wonder if he gets lots of jokes) at Yale University says that “We might like to be okay at any size, but the simple fact of the matter is that we are not”.

The deal is this… most people are aware of these problems that obesity causes. But more and more people are getting burned out. They don’t want to do the work and then low and behold, the population is getting bigger- so they feel a bit more normal.

Last year, and this is a staggering figure… the number of people in the U.S. that say they do not exercise at all rose from 37% to 43%. IN ONE YEAR!!!

Holy Cow people. We need to get up!!!! Get moving!!! And have a better life!!!

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Myth #5- Fatterdays

on May 10th, 2011 by Rob

I saw this the other day on another “weight loss blog”- the person said that they were planning on eating this (whatever it was) on “fatterday”… the implication being that there was one day of the week where they could overeat, eat whatever they wanted, not exercise and just let the whole program go to hell in a handbag…

I am here to tell you that this is a bad plan. First off- the thought of trying to be perfect everyday and then “let it all hang out” on one day gives me the Hebegeebies…. (I have no idea if that is how you spell that… I don’t think I have ever TRIED to spell it- and God knows spell check isn’t going to pick that up)—-

My point is this. I would much rather eat SOME of the things that I like EVERYDAY than to try to be perfect 6 days then make up for it on “Fatterday”.

I guess it is just a matter of how my mind works, but I don’t think that this is going to work. I mean, I would wake up that next day and be like— “well, there are just a couple of wings left over- I think I’ll just eat them”.

I think it is better to Get up!! Get moving!! And have a better life!! And eat a little of what you want—- EVERYDAY!!

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The Shake Weight (cont.)

on May 3rd, 2011 by Rob

WOW!!

This is a continuation of a post that I did a while back about this trashy product.

Now, I am not going to say that it is not trashy… but what I will say is that I heard that there MAY be some evidence that vibration MAY add strength and power. BUT- and this is a big BUT… the data suggests that the only way to really do this is with a “Whole-body” platform… under the guidance of a trainer.

So, that being said… the shake weight is crap. It is not going to work. You will waste your hard earned Walmart bucks (yeah, they are all over the shelves at Walmart—- I mean, if it is sporting equipment at Walmart it HAS to be good right?).

The thing is, the Shake-Weights are hard to use correctly and the directions are like most other gimmick weight loss deals…. they recomend too few reps.

Listen, save your money. Take it from me. Get to the gym… hit the bricks- just run. I promise you don’t need a gimmick to lose weight. It’s easy…. burn more calories than you take in. Simple.

Remember, Get up!!! Get moving!! Have a better life!!!!

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OMG! I Feel So Old!!

on April 28th, 2011 by Rob

I wish I could take credit for this… because it is so true. I heard the other day that- “A man will spend his youth trying to make his fortune. Then he will spend his old age trying to regain his youth.”

However, I will say this. It is NEVER too late to exercise.

When I was chosen for the People Magazine Weight Loss Challenge I knew it was not too late. I have said many times that I felt very fortunate that I had not had any ill effects from my obesity. But I will tell you that the check was in the mail. It is a good thing that I started working out when I did.

The thing is, no matter when you start- you almost immediately reap the benefits of exercise and watching your diet. Vascular function will improve… blood pressure will improve and countless other benefits will begin.

It is never too late to Get up!! Get moving!! And Have a better life!!- Even if your 99!!

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