HACK YOURSELF | PART 2

What does it even mean to HACK YOURSELF?  I am not sure what others mean when they say, “hack” but for me, its about figuring out a shorter, more effective way to get something done.  The key word here is EFFECTIVE.  Meaning, it works.

In HACK YOURSELF (part 1) I discussed the need for putting YOU FIRST and what that means.  Such as taking responsibility, creating a vision and the power of deciding to do something (taking action) about whatever it is you are unhappy with in your life.  And that fact that no one else is going to do it for you.  I also brought up the deep, dark secret, of focusing in your nutrition first, and how its 80% of the formula (for looking and feeling great).  Now its time to tackle a few other topics, such as MOVING and NUMBERS but I don’t just talk about them, I want to give you some strategies for implementing them.

MOVE IT – EXERCISE ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH

We’ve already discussed the idea of focusing more on your diet, than exercise.  So I really like the idea of thinking about moving vs. exercising.  Because I am here to tell you, excising alone is not enough.  Forget the weight loss goals, we need MOVE GOALS.  If you eat lean and clean 80% of the time, AND move more all day, you’ll achieve you goal of losing weight and being fit.  So many people don’t even go to the gym, let alone those who do, so here are some great “rules” to live by when it comes to moving more.

1. Get up and move as much as possible, all day long. Set your watch or your phone or you Fitbit and get up and move.  Find creative ways to be more active in general.  Even if you never step into a gym, do a short, brisk walk and stretch every morning and night.
2. Commit to working out vigorously at least 3 x per week for just 30 minutes. If you want to do more, great, but at least 30 minutes, 3 x a week.  Consistency and intensity are more important here than anything else.
3. Power up. Next time you are tired after lunch, try my Quick 100 Rep Body Weight Workout  (25 squats, 25 lunges, 25 pushups and 25 jumping jacks).   This quick little workout will get the blood pumping, wake up and invigorate your body, mind and spirit, all in less than 5 minutes.

IT’S ALL A NUMBERS GAME (WELL SORT OF)

If you really want to take control, know your most important numbers.  Your ideal healthy weight, your body composition, your BMR, daily calorie intake limit and your movement goal.

1. Decide what is an ideal, healthy weight that you’d like to be… most of know that number. And the minute you start to slide, the minute the pants start to feel tight or the number starts to creep, get back on your program!
2. Your body composition (really, we are talking how much of your weight is body fat and how much is everything else). For women, a healthy body fat is UNDER 25% but ideally, under 20%.  For men, healthy is under 20%, but ideally under 15% is better.
   • Know your BMR (basil metabolic rate)  – Think of BMR as the base number of calories your body burns just to stay alive, keep your organs and brain functioning, without even moving.  And that’s a number you don’t want to see drop.  For example, if you weigh 150 lbs. and your BMR is 1800 (calories), you don’t want to lose 20 lbs. to get to 130 lbs. and drop your BMR to 1600 (which means you now have to eat even less.)  This is why it’s so important to maintain (or better yet, BUILD), your lean body muscle:  it will burn calories even when you are not moving. (We covered this in our BLUE PRINT FOR SUCCESS BLOG)

3. Discover and stick with your daily max caloric intake. How many calories a day should you consume?  How can you build meals around this number? For example, if its 1800 calories a day (as your target), build out 4 meals of 400 calories each and 2 100 calorie snacks.  YOU can do this stuff!
4. Move goal… how many calories a day do you need to MOVE? It doesn’t matter if its in the gym or on a sidewalk, or in your living room.  If your BMR is 1600 and you eat consume 1600, then you need a 500 calorie MOVE GOAL to lose weight!  30 minutes in the gym, being active all day, taking an evening walk are all ways to hit that number.  Don’t like to move that much, better give up some more calories then.

The idea here is that you have to do BOTH, move and eat clean.  A quick note on QUALITY of the calories you are consuming, hence the (SORT OF) reference.  Organic grass fed meats, free range chicken and turkey, lost of veggies and salads, some fruit, but mostly unprocessed foods is the way to go.  Low fat, high sugar foods will tip the scale of skyrocket your calories faster than you can say, “Don’t eat that!”  And more importantly, sugar make you want to do one thing… eat more sugar.

Join me for HACK YOURSELF PART 3 next week where I will discuss finding ways to control your (emotional) STATE and how feeling up and positive helps you move and eat better), creating habits of accountability and how to stay on track once you reach your goals.

Until next time…

Phil Dozois, Owner, Breakthru Fitness

…Stay tuned for next week’s HACK YOURSELF (Part 3)