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Off-Topic Discipline vs Life Balance

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steve-in-kville said:
Didn't know where else on the forum to go, so we'll start here.

This has been on my mind a lot lately. I consider myself a very spiritual person and as one that has suffered with mental health issues since my teenage years, I tend to keep my finger on the pulse of what is important to me, who I allow in my life, and so on.

As some have followed, I've upped my game working out. I have set a goal to loose certain amount of weight before end of summer. (I have two adult children getting married and want to fit into the suit I was married in!) I realize I will never be my high school weight, but I want to get reasonably close.

I've resisted counting calories and macros and have tried to not allow the numbers on the scale to mean to much on a day-to-day basis. I'm in my mid-40's, so its not like I *need* to loose that much weight but I want to as my own personal goal (30 pounds in 90 days, or as close to it as possible).

So for your guys & gals that are near my age (or where when you started to take fitness seriously), am I taking this too far? I always thought disciple and life balance sorta went hand in hand, but perhaps I've become unbalanced?

Sorry, I had to wax philosophical there, but I could use some direction.
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Steve, maybe turn this around. Consider that being that much overweight was the result of a poor life balance, with perhaps eating or physical activities negatively impacted. And for you to now eat healthy, probably less, and do physical activity is moving in the direction of a good life balance. Nothing you've written suggests that you have become, or are in danger of becoming, obsessed with either the desired outcome or the process. Perhaps you have become less unbalanced?
 
WxHerk said:
Ignore naysayers, they're talking instead of doing.
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+1

Gypsyplumber said:
I need to eat right now because my stomach is growling”
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lol, I'm in bed now (10pm) and my stomach is already growling. my next meal is at +-2pm tomorrow. How will I make it?

Gypsyplumber said:
eating is often more of an emotion than a necessity. Since I started fasting I realized I only need one or two meals a day and I sustain myself perfectly fine.
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Never have I read a truer statement. it took me at a year or 3 of fasting to identify my emo-eating habits. It's now year 5 of my intermittent fasting journey and I still succumb to the emotional chocolate (whole big slab at once) 1or2 times a month, then I feel guilty and want to smother the guilt in chocolate.
 
So I can't help with suggestions for your quick diet but I will mention the diet I have been on for the last 4 months.

Rusty Moore's high carb for fatloss.

It's somewhat goes against what most people recommends these days but is in essence a low low fat high starch carb diet.

No food is really off the table as long as you track the overall fat.

However saying that I found batch cooking the easiest way to adhere to the diet.

I lost about 3KG but more noticeable is going down a belt size.

I don't count calories & still eat like a bit of a pig at times but I found I was able to still lose fat while but feeling hungry all the time + I could continue to train without much issue.

Main mental problem is eating the same foods all the time but I haven't found it that bad.
 
I tend to have a baseline of discipline that prevents too much of a slide in any one facet. I pour it on in 4-6 week blocks, some as long as 12-16. During these periods I dial in nutrition a bit tighter and my training is a lot more militantly consistent. If I have a goal (I want to regain 10 lean lbs rapidly) I will really pound it in. If the effort is making life unpleasant in my day to day, this is no different than if I am sore and sluggish everywhere but in the gym- why am I doing what I’m doing?
Be aggressive, but take the middle path.
 
Check out Dr. Krista Varady's work on modified Alternate Day Fasting. She was doing research on fasting (a lot of which is muddled) and set out to do her own studies, which eventually concluded that eating just 500 calories every other day gives you all the benefits of fasting without any downsides. I do this by eating 90g of peanuts on those days.

I have found this the easiest way in the world to lose weight, especially if you lead a busy life. It takes zero self-discipline.
 
I work in sales for a healthcare company that specializes in habit change to prevent chronic disease. We sell into employers.

Here is what I'd tell you. It's about changing your eating habits. Period.

Second DO NOT LOOK AT THE SCALE. The scale is the big lie, it also is a demotivator. Sure, you'll lose weight right away, but you're going to plateau. Will you get a case of F-ititis? Or will you be resilient enough to carry on? Eat clean and no snacking. Exercise and WALK every day. Have a cheat meal or 2 one day a week to keep your sanity and reset your leptin levels. Log your day. Did I eat well? Did I exercise? Did I walk? Did I drink enough water? Did I sleep enough? Put a check next to each. That is how you should keep score.

I know you said you struggled in the past with mental health? How is your mood? sleep? energy? resilience? anxiety? Evaluate this and write it down at the beginning and every month.

Also, ask yourself about your behavior. Do I eat when I'm stressed? (If so, go for a walk or meditate) Do I eat until I'm too full? (If so, set the clock for 20 minutes and put the fork down, or stop when 85% full)

If you want to measure something, measure your waist circumference around your navel once a week.

Geoff Neupert had a free download of his Permanent Fat Loss solution. Not only is the diet doable, but he gives a lot of great advice about battling hunger. What hunger really is vs. pangs.

Good luck
 
BrianCF said:
I work in sales for a healthcare company that specializes in habit change to prevent chronic disease. We sell into employers.

Here is what I'd tell you. It's about changing your eating habits. Period.

Second DO NOT LOOK AT THE SCALE. The scale is the big lie, it also is a demotivator. Sure, you'll lose weight right away, but you're going to plateau. Will you get a case of F-ititis? Or will you be resilient enough to carry on? Eat clean and no snacking. Exercise and WALK every day. Have a cheat meal or 2 one day a week to keep your sanity and reset your leptin levels. Log your day. Did I eat well? Did I exercise? Did I walk? Did I drink enough water? Did I sleep enough? Put a check next to each. That is how you should keep score.

I know you said you struggled in the past with mental health? How is your mood? sleep? energy? resilience? anxiety? Evaluate this and write it down at the beginning and every month.

Also, ask yourself about your behavior. Do I eat when I'm stressed? (If so, go for a walk or meditate) Do I eat until I'm too full? (If so, set the clock for 20 minutes and put the fork down, or stop when 85% full)

If you want to measure something, measure your waist circumference around your navel once a week.

Geoff Neupert had a free download of his Permanent Fat Loss solution. Not only is the diet doable, but he gives a lot of great advice about battling hunger. What hunger really is vs. pangs.
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This. Right here. Lord knows I need it and am going to use it. What convinced me:

I work in sales for a healthcare company that specializes in habit change to prevent chronic disease.

Excellent advice from a man who makes his living providing what we are all talking about.

Also, I'm a Military flyer. The checklist is our cornerstone. It's an absolutely foolproof way to document that I am not forgetting anything and yes, I did do everything I was supposed to.
 
@steve-in-kville I think there are many issues in your post:
1 - Can I lose X pounds in Y days. Others have commented on this, and your goal seems achievable.
2 - Wanting to keep the weight down. Unfortunately, the evidence is that keeping a stable weight after a rapid fat loss is very difficult. Most people who diet and lose weight will regain the weight. It's not impossible, but it's very hard. If it were easy, everyone or almost everyone would be lean. Everyone thinks they will be the exception that confirms the rule, but most people will not. Most people who fail at not keeping their weight down will also not post it publicly on a public forum, so you tend to hear only about the ones who were able to do it. This is very biased advice. Be ready for deception. If you achieve your goal, take that as a bonus.
3 - Mental health. Asking people on a fitness forum for weight loss advice is good for the mechanics of it, but if you have mental health problems, which were only vaguely mentioned, this raises a red flag to me. Mental health is very broad. I don't necessarily want you to tell everyone what they were. In any case, most of us are not qualified to provide advice on mental health. However, if your problems were in any way related to food, I would not do the diet. Period. Too risky. Also, drastic changes in food intake may or may not influence your mental health. We don't know. Many can become very grumpy when fasting for example, even if they never had any mental health problems. If you are still followed by a mental health professional, I would suggest discussing your weight loss goal with that professional.
4 - Fitting in a certain suit. This may or may not be possible, depending on your age and body type when you got married. I know there is no way I would fit in any suit that fitted me when I was 21, unless I starved myself enough to burn through all my muscles. Even at 0% body fat I'm sure I would not fit. At 21, I weighted 145 pounds during the summer (cycling season), at 6 feet tall. I'm sure I now have more than that in lean body mass at 200 pounds.
 
steve-in-kville said:
Thanks again for the replies. I spent some time this past weekend listen to some podcasts concerning this and I may be making some goal changes to be a bit more reasonable.
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It’s been mentioned a bunch of times around here; common in the business world, but equably applicable to health, fitness, or pretty much anything else…
SMART Goals:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time Bound
 
Update: I reworked some numbers and realized how unrealistic this could be and adjusted my goals a bit. I feel a little more confident about this. One reality that kit me was, why do I need to hit my high school weight in my mid-40's? Its funny now that I think of it!
 
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