so what about exercising?

I blogged a few weeks back about my "Spring Break Exercise Challenge" (described here). Initially, I was looking forward to checking in sooner, reporting on how the week-and-a-half went afterward, but something amazing happened: I never stopped exercising!

Nobody could be more surprised about this than I - my disdain for the gym is no small secret, and I avoided regular exercise throughout my weight loss and for more than two years at my goal weight, mostly due to issues related to lack of time and of interest. I had always exercised sometimes, very inconsistently, but never seemed to discover what would turn the occasional recreational outing into a regular part of my lifestyle.

Magic happened over spring break, however. Getting out daily for a while turned exercise into a habit for me - I don't do it every day, but now it's a part of my consistent part of my life (like drinking!). I just don't feel like I've had a great week unless I've been able to make it out to the mountains for to the basketball courts at least a couple times. Turns out that all I really needed was to find that initial motivation to move more, and the habit building took care of itself.

Like so many things in weight loss and in life, habit building is essential to making exercise a part of your life long-term, beyond that initial burst of motivation that we all get from time to time. I suppose the most important morsel of knowledge I gleaned from my exercise challenge is this:

When you attack a problem head on, making a clear, achievable goal and working it through to success, you've already taken the hardest step towards successful, sustainable habit-building.

That having been said, I look forward to balling my way to the biceps of my dreams ...



I'll let you know how that goes.

This is why you're fat.

I'm not gonna lie - I've had a perverse obsession as of late with thisiswhyyourefat.com. If you haven't surfed over there, it's essentially a collection of photos featuring disgustingly caloric edible creations which, if a made a regular part of your diet, would provide a clear explanation for why you're fat. Having a couple deep-fried beerritos a week can't be too good for the old love handles.

But this site, gross and comical though it may be, really made me think - it really isn't that hard to tell why we're fat, is it? Whether you wear them on your sleeve or carry them deep within your subconscious, people struggling with their weight have at least a couple obvious causes of their robust waistline, and addressing these must be key to slimming down. Stated simply, I think we should try to figure out why we're fat, then figure out how to be skinny. We can do this through simple observation.

Ever watch skinny people eat? Most of them don't eat like folks with food issues do. My sister is one of these slender freaks that eats half of what's on her plate, savors every bite of her fave foods, and won't eat dishes that aren't that satisfying. Eating in moderation, tasting every morsel, and choosing foods wisely, huh? That must be why she's skinny!

Myself, at my old weight, was the polar opposite. Why would I want to leave perfectly good, uneaten food on my plate at the end of a meal? Why bother to taste and chew when I could shovel food straight into my throat? And as for just eating foods I like? EVERY food was my favorite food! Why was I so big? Probably because I was eating like a fat guy - that's why I was fat.

So I guess that's something to think about - if (to a great extent, anyway) our eating habits our connected to our physique, then what does your eating style say about YOU? My transformation from fat to slim was accompanied by an ESSENTIAL eating-habit-shift from "fat eating" to "skinny eating." It's not magic; our weight is determined by our calorie intake and expenditure, effected to a great degree by our style of eating.

I know the shift can be made - I did it. And YOU CAN TOO!