Some Advice From BenDoesLife

Advice.

Another popular e-mail question: “What advice can you give me, as someone who needs to lose a lot of weight, and is just starting?”

I have thought this over many times and narrowed it down to the four commandments.

1. Be public.
If you keep this to yourself, it will be easy to quit. The thing about having a health problem/addiction, is that the natural impulse is to hide it and keep it secret that you’re trying to better yourself. But, it’s also easier to quit if it’s just you that knows about it.

And here’s a secret: Unlike some addictions like alcoholism or drug use that are hideable, obesity is different. People know you’re obese. It’s not your little secret; you’re not fooling anyone (no matter how much black or vertical lines you wear). So if you want to change, tell people. It seems embarrassing, I know. And it’s hard, but you’ll find that the people that love and care about you are going to be excited for you.

2. Get involved in something official.
The feeling of being a part of something bigger than yourself will keep you motivated to keep going. Join a local fitness movement (running club, cycling group, weight watchers, etc…) If you have a group of people with likeminded goals, you’ll keep coming back. As a bonus, if you join a running club, you’ll have official races (Crazy scary, at first, but really no big deal.) that you can work toward to keep you having goals. Get involved. You won’t regret it.

3. Do something that you enjoy.
Running isn’t for everyone, so don’t do it if you don’t want to. Do you enjoy rollerblading? Good. Do that, but do it enough for it to work. Love cycling? Perfect. Did you swim in high school and kind of wish you could get back into it? Great.

If you hate what you’re doing, you won’t be doing it for very long. If I had said at the beginning, “I’m going to get really freaking good at doing the elliptical,” BenDoesLife would have lasted two weeks. Find something that works for you and kill it. You can do it.

4. Be a smarter eater.
And I don’t mean you have to find a popular name-brand diet thing. If you want to, fine, but they aren’t for everyone. But you have to eat better and, more importantly, smarter. Are you and your friends going out for pizza? Ok. Have two slices instead of seven (which was my number of choice.) Want something easy for breakfast? Toast an English muffin rather than a Pop-Tart.

And, if nothing else, learn portion control. Our portion sizes are completely out of whack these days, and what you think is a small meal is probably still more than you should be eating. It’s going to take a month or two before you’re used to the smaller portions but you’ll get there, and it’s imperative that you do. Give it time.

———————

My 120 pound journey.

MID-WEEK FIRST WEEK!!!

WE'RE HALF WAY THROUGH THE FIRST WEEK!!!!

I don't know about you guys, but I gotta admit, I'm feeling REALLY GOOD!!!  It's so weird, so listen to this.

After lifting, and doing a spin class on Monday, I got a terrible migraine.  It lasted all the next day (yesterday).  However, this morning, I woke up feeling really great, had some eggs, few hours later did my mid morning snack (protein shake) just had a healthy turkey sandwich for lunch, and I tell you what, I'm felling SO GOOD today!!  I'm focused, energized, a little sore from my lifting on monday (feels good), and best of all, so totally motivated!!!!  

2 weeks ago, I would sometimes have to take the elevator to get only 3 floors up at work.  I was so tired, sore, achy, and couldn't comprehend using my energy to do something so ridiculous as walking up stairs.  This week, I don't know what it is, but I've been running up the stairs, and expect it to hurt so bad after I do it, but it just feels great!  I love how fast my body is reacting to exercise and good diet.  It's been really fun to feel the change.  Obviously, I can's see any physical difference, but I sure as heck FEEL a big emotional, mental, and energy difference.

I'm super pumped to go work out tonight with Cody (Thanks again Cody for being my work out buddy, you have no idea how motivating it has been for me!)  

Anyway, I just thought I'd report my own progress, and I encourage everyone else to do the same!  Everyone sharing this kind of thing with everyone I think will really help!

I highly encourage you guys to send me articles, videos, pictures, etc. of things that will help to continue to motivate all of us!!  Please check the blog often, I'm trying to put things up most every day, Bri has sent me an awesome article that I'll post on the blog, I recommend checking it out.  It's pretty much what we're all doing right now, and it feels great to be one of those people who really cares about feeling good.  And I am more excited about how I feel than I have been since I was a Valet at the broodmoor and lost all that weight.  

Anyway, send me your stories and stuff so I can post them to the blog!!

Be Healthy, or Stay Home!!!

Tanner Phillips

Weight Loss Challenge Czar

What Exactly Does a 6,190 Calorie Lunch Do to Your Body? - The World Newser

NEED SOME MOTIVATION!?!?!?!?

Watch the following video, and it will give you some motivation to stay away from eating out!!

What Exactly Does a 6,190 Calorie Lunch Do to Your Body? - The World Newser

THE PHILLIPS CLAN ULTIMATE FAMILY WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE

INTRO / SUMMARY

Okay, so since no one else has really taken the reins on this, I have decided to nominate myself the “Weight Loss Challenge Czar”.  I am going to put together some rules, regulations, and goals and stuff that we can all adjust and change as you see fit.  I’m going off of what I remember from our conversations one day like 2 months ago about our family having a little contest to motivate all of us to get healthy.  Please make recommendations and tell me what to add or take away. 

This challenge is not one that any one of us should fail.  The Goal of this is not to pressure anyone to lose weight, but to MOTIVATE all of us to reach PERSONAL GOALS (Whether they be weight, fitness, or something else).  If you only have 5 or 6 pounds to lose, then you can set a goal for yourself that you feel will make it fair to all of us who are “larger in stature” and have more weight to lose.  For example, as we all know, Dan and BriAnn don’t have an ounce to lose.  They should probably GAIN some weight if anything.  But to make it fair (AND FUN) they could set a personal goal for themselves that will equal the difficulty some of us (me) will face in trying to conquer this.  They could give up Sugar, soda, or anything else they may like, but isn’t good for them.  Or, they could simply make personal fitness goals for themselves.  (be able to ride a Century in a certain amount of time by such and such time, OR SOMETHING)

The Goals that are set, are TOTALLY up to you!!!  No one in the family, not even mom or dad has a right to tell anyone that their goal isn’t good enough, hard enough, high enough, etc…  This is a personal goal, which you should feel inclined to make hefty.  Don’t say that you commit to losing 15 lbs when you could stand to lose 35.  Don’t say that you’ll commit to working out 1 – 2 times a week, when you have, or could make the time to do it 4 -5 times. 

This Challenge should be a way for us to push ourselves, and motivate ourselves to accomplish something that we have always WANTED to do, but just haven’t motivated ourselves enough to do it for whatever reason.

RULES / REGULATIONS

THIS CONTEST OFFICIALLY STARTS TODAY: September 21, 2010

I’m starting today, but since it’s short notice, you all have until MONDAY of next week to prepare yourself Mentally and physically to get this started.  Yes, I am starting early, but I don’t want to wait, cause I’m feeling all motivated, and I have by far the most weight to lose, so it really doesn’t matter.

I WELCOME ALL OF YOU TO START TODAY WITH ME AS WELL IF YOU CAN!!

Rules:

YOU MUST:

-          Fill out the survey I sent to you earlier -- CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHpwVUpYVHc3T0h3SDRKcmVnTmpyaVE6MQ

-          WE HAVE 6 MONTHS TO ACCOMPLISH OUR GOALS (Should this number be different?  I just threw it out there, tell me if it should be diff.)

-         Determine a Goal that you want to reach – It doesn’t have to be unreachable, make it achievable, but also NOT EASY, it should be a goal that will realistically take you about 5 or 6 months to achieve.   For Example, I would LOVE to get down to my high school weight, this isn’t my Ideal weight, I was still fat in High School, but it’s a heck of a lot better than I am now, and I would kill to be at that weight still.  So that’s my goal, then my STRETCH Goal weight, is my IDEAL weight, and this is for personal motivation, it will NOT Determine whether you’re eligible for the trip or not.

-          Have a Guaranteed Weight (Determines Trip) and a Rainbow and Butterflies Weight (Personal / Not Required for Trip)

-          Fitness Goals: Determine How many times a week you commit to moving and breaking a sweat. Don’t make this easy.  If you try to take the easy road, you’re only going to cheat yourself, and you’ll lose a great opportunity to have a support system that you won’t have if you wait until “some other time”.  Try to make the commitment to at least work out 3 – 4 times a week.

-          Take a BEFORE Picture:  Men, take one with your shirt off -- Women, you must be totally butt naked, and you must send it to everyone in order to be eligible.  J  J/K – Girls, if you want to keep a shirt on that’s okay.  These are totally confidential, You will never have to show anyone these pictures.  I simply figure it will be really cool to see before and after pictures once we’re all lean and cut.

-          WEEKLY WEIGH INS – You must weigh yourself every MONDAY and post the weight loss lbs or percentage on the Google Doc I will create.

-          Fitness Log – Keep a work out log on the same google doc of what you did, how many times this week you worked out, and for how long.  This will make you accountable to get off your lazy behind.

-          Diet Log – There is no requirement to be on an OFFICIAL diet.  I will say however, unless you change your diet, you will not lose the weight.  Even though it’s not official, you should have a plan of action.  Your Diet Log is very simple, you’re not going to log the GOOD food you ate, you’re only going to log the BAD Food you eat, Log all the times you CHEATED on your “diet”.  Cheating isn’t banned, but if you keep track of all the times you do cheat, and publicly show everyone, chances are they will decrease, therefore allowing your SIZE to decrease.

-          MOTIVATE EACH OTHER – If you’re married to the fatty, motivate them, if you ARE the fatty, ask others to help motivate YOU.

-          Give me recommendations for these rules and regulations. 

SEMI-OPTIONAL: I’m planning on keeping a photo record of my progress every week.  I’m going to take a picture of my face, and my body every Monday at weigh in time to watch my progress over the next several months.

GAMEPLAN / AND REWARDS

-          Stay on top of this.  Everyone be accountable.  If you don’t use the Google Doc, and email, and stuff to check in with everyone, then the chances of you being successful are very slim.  But not slim, cause you’ll still be fat, but you know what I mean.

-          Weekly Check ins, JUST DO IT

-          When we reach our goals, dad has agreed to do a 3 day River Rafting trip down the Grand Canyon.  He also agreed to fly me to Africa, and make me a partner in his company.  (Dad, don’t try to tell them you don’t remember this part, you may have been half asleep when you said it, but I’m holding you to it!)

-          I think that we should reward ourselves, or our partners when we reach certain checkpoints.  If we stay to our workout plans, diets, etc… one week, I think we should be rewarded for it.  So, if that be treating yourself to dinner and a movie, or just a big slice of chocolate cake, then so be it.  But make sure you reward yourself for keeping your weekly goals.

-          ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO ADD SEND TO ME AND I’LL ADD IT!

MY PERSONAL COMMITMENT AND EPISTLE:

I am extremely embarrassed to admit that I am at a weight right now that is abhorrent to me.  I am the heaviest I’ve ever been, and by far the most out of shape.  Recently I’ve noticed for the first time in my life that it’s very difficult to do certain things.  This is something I’ve never really experienced.  I’ve been able to do most everything anyone else does even as a heavy set guy, but lately, doing things as simple as going up a flight of stairs, or walking a few miles can be agony.  Why am I telling you this?  Because this is my way of putting myself out there, and looking past the embarrassment I feel for how I’ve let myself get here, and it’s my way of becoming accountable to everyone close to me.  I am not willing to live like this anymore.  I am miserable with the way I feel, and look, and I am long overdue for a major change.  I am writing this now, because I personally want to commit to all of you that I will be willing to work my hardest to reach the goals that I have set. I am going to commit myself to sticking to this, and more than just losing some weight to go on a trip, my main goal during the next few months is to focus the most on “Lifestyle Change”.  If I am going to do this for good, things need to change, and that’s going to be my primary focus.  Even if I don’t lose all the weight I would like to, if I can develop the life changes I need to simply be healthier for the rest of my life, then I will count this as a success.

So here is my epistle, and commitment to all of you, publicly and before God, that I will commit myself to the goals set forth herewith.  And I would urge each of you to publicly (to the family) do the same.  I feel like if you’re willing to put it out there, and make yourself accountable, it will be much more difficult for me now to say “screw it”, or give up because it’s hard.  Now that you all know how I really feel about the way I am right now, I can’t take it back, and pretend like it’s not a big issue to me.  As cheesy as you may all think it is, I honestly think there is a lot of power in becoming accountable.  And I would encourage everyone make a similar commitment to all of us.

I look forward to seeing all of our progress over the next few months.

Good luck to everyone, and I’ll see you and your results SOON!

Tanner Phillips

Weight Loss Challenge Czar