Okay - so where do we start?

For those of you who have kept up with our journey so far, first let me offer my thanks. Being able to share what has become a true passion for us has been, in itself, hugely rewarding.

But - our goal here at 40SomethingFitness is to inspire others to achieve their own goals. Inspiration is fine and good, but we all need specifics at times. So, if we've achieved the "inspiration" part and you're ready to start taking steps, here are a few things to get you going.

Step 1: Making the commitment to a better you

Okay - this may not feel like you're actually "doing" anything, but I'm convinced that this is worth investing some real time to dealing with. What do I mean by commitment? I think it encompasses all of these things:

• Understand why you are committed to a better you. For us, we were tired of being tired, unhappy with our bodies, and riding the roller coaster of "feed and crash." What is it for you? Be specific about what you want to change. Picture it clearly and, maybe, even write a letter to yourself.


• Understand where this commitment fits in with your other life's priorities. Let's face it, we're all pretty busy and we have a lot of obligations to others in our life. But you're going to have to make choices in the near future. The demands on your time will not ease up. When our trainer asked us separately to rate our commitment on a scale of 1-10, we both said "eight, because life happens and things come up." So - which things will come up that you will let your priorities shift. Because, honestly, most demands on your time will adjust for you if you stand your ground.


• Understand when you can fit your commitment into your schedule. Everyone has their preferences about the best time to train, but the truth is the best time is when YOU can train.

When you have a serious talk with yourself about your level of commitment, you have a pretty fair idea of how far you will go to make it happen. Set yourself up for success - a permanent transformation to a better you.

Step 2: Put together your nutrition plan

In Part 3 of our Healthy Transformation story, we outlined a number of nutritional approaches and our take on each of them, ending up with the guidelines we follow. If you haven't read that yet, and you don't know where to start, I recommend taking a few minutes reading the overview.

If you have any health issues, especially metabolic or cardiovascular issues, make sure your doctor is aware of changes in your diet, so you can discuss impacts to medications or other possible changes.

These are our recommendations for healthy adults who will be combining a nutrition and fitness regime for weight loss:

• Emphasize protein first at every meal. Protein helps build muscle and keeps you full. Breakfast foods like yoghurt and eggs are great alternatives to cereal. Try and leave the breads and buns behind at lunch.


• Get creative at adding veggies everywhere you can. Fresh spinach goes on a lot of things. Cauliflower is deeply under-appreciated. And you can make a stir-fry out of just about anything in the crisper drawer in about 10 minutes.


• Eat some fruit - not a ton - but some. Berries are best.


• Make any grains you eat the closest thing to the whole form possible.


• Ditch soda and sweetened beverages in favor of water and/or unsweet tea. It's quite simply the easiest way to remove a lot of calories from your daily intake, and the sugar spikes are awful for a healthy metabolism.


• If you can afford it, switch fresh or fresh frozen ingredients for things that come in a box. The amount of hidden sugars and other interesting chemical components make sticking to a nutrition plan much more difficult.

Step 3: Implement your nutrition plan.

• Plan your meals. Especially as you're getting started and changing your default selections, you may not have everything on hand that you need to cook differently. A meal plan at least a couple of days into the future will help you ensure you have your macro nutrient priorities (protein, fat, carbs) in order and key ingredients in your fridge.


• NOTE: If you're an iOS user, the free app MyFood (among others) is a handy way to check the nutritional content of fresh foods and ingredients.


• Cook things in bulk. Having key elements in place and ready to use will make meal prep easier and take away the temptation to go back to old habits. We make the following things ahead of time to cover three or four meals' worth:




• Chicken breast - sliced into 1" strips, seasoned and pan-grilled in olive oil. We use it in wraps, stir-fries, sandwiches (on homemade bread), and just on-the-fly.


• Egg salad - six eggs at a time. Great for on-the-go protein in a hurry.


• Mixed salad - we use Hefty or Debbie Meyer green bags and make up about a gallon of salad at a time. Takes minutes to throw in a bowl. Ten minutes if you boil an egg and dice up some of that pre-cooked chicken in the fridge.


• Fresh salsa - very simple to make (we will share the recipe on a forthcoming page) and a great topping for just about anything. You'll never buy a jar again.


• Steel cut oats (apples & cinnamon) - A cup of steel cut oats (dry) makes about six servings and it refrigerates and reheats beautifully.


• Pot roast or carnitas - A large roast in the crock pot is about as effortless as it gets. We usually get about six servings out of a roast. Precooked, you have key ingredients for Philly cheesesteak, mexican style dishes, or just picked out of the bowl.


• Snacks - we make roasted garbanzo beans and three-bean salad that make grazing healthy and tasty.




• Plan for "temptation triggers". Having the right kinds of ingredients and prepared snacks readily available will keep you from wavering when you're thinking about that afternoon cookie at Starbucks. Make sure your food goes with you. Also, watch out for triggers based on routines or rituals. Where are you most likely to indulge in an impulse snack? For me, it used to be the after-work gas or grocery run. I still look extra hard at the Whatchamacallit bars at the quicky-mart.


• Purge your pantry. You're not on a "diet". You're not in food jail, some day to be let out for good behavior. You're changing your nutrition to feed and nourish your body machine. Being respectful of your budget, get rid of any of the Hamburger Helper, Cheese Nips, chips, and other nutritional crud that doesn't fit into your plan. Donate it if you'd prefer not to waste it. But you don't need it. It's another step of a full mental commitment to turning over a new leaf.



Get involved, get inundated.


We've published a series of links that we like. Most of the sites are published in blog format that allow you to subscribe to updates daily. One of the great things about these authors is that they are not shy about sharing the sites and blogs they like. Then you're running with scissors.

Among these links, you will find access to some great recipes to help with your meal planning. As they are fitness-focused, the recipes are composed and explained in a way to make the task easier (macro nutrient breakdown, calorie count, and usually fresh ingredients). We have stolen liberally from many of them. Fun fact: eating healthy is not bland, boring, self-denial. It's delicious!

I believe this is an important step. To change your mindset, you've got to change your context. Opening a world where people eat, sleep, and breathe fitness is a powerful way to impact how (and how much) you think about the subject.



But what about the gym?


You can't out-train a poor diet. No amount of work you do, no training program you can conceive will give you the kind of progress you want if your kitchen isn't in order. This is a journey; it involves some monumental changes in attitude and behavior. Taking things in steps and making incremental changes will allow you to adjust and make you more successful in the long run.

In upcoming posts, we will break down the elements of an effective training program.