Live Healthy Guide
March 2022
March 2024
Over the past year and a half I have been able to slowly change my lifestyle and get in the best shape and lowest weight of my adult life.
There have been some upsides - I feel great, I have more endurance than ever before, I’m quicker than ever before, I’m actually starting to be able to see my abs, I can do the splits, I no longer groan when get out of my chair, and more. I’m down 50 pounds. There have been some downsides - I’m going to need some new jeans and a new belt, but that’s probably it. I can deal with that.
The books Younger Next Year and Outlive have been the inspiration for the lifestyle changes I made. Understanding the science, biology and chemistry behind what these changes will do in your body helped me stick to it.
The goal isn’t to lose weight but to be healthy. Losing weight is a byproduct of a healthy life.
These are the changes I made and the ones I will encourage you to make as well.
Live Healthy Lifestyle Changes.
1. Figure out your “Why”.
Why do you want to get your health together? What is going to be your ongoing motivation? Vanity probably isn't enough or you would have already achieved it.
Finding the right “Why” is the most important part. For instance, if your “Why” is you will die in 2 days unless you change your lifestyle, you will probably make the changes necessary. Take some time and come up with a compelling “Why”. Change your “Why” and change your life.
For me, there were two “Why’s”.
One - I decided this was going to be important to me. Being healthy was going to be one of my values. I didn’t want to be a typical obese American. I decided that it was important to me to be in good health and to be fit and trim.
Two - I wanted to be healthy for any future grandchildren. I didn’t want to be huffing and puffing while playing with them. I don’t want to struggle to get up off the floor when I’m tussling with them. I wanted to be active and able to coach their soccer teams, run around the yard with them, etc.
Somehow, for me, those “Whys” were enough. But find your “Why”.
2. Accept this is a permanent lifestyle change, not a diet.
This is not a diet or something to be done for a period of time.
This is a permanent lifestyle change. So, find a rhythm and pattern that you can sustain over the long haul. If its too extreme you won’t be able to sustain it longterm. Find a way to live with food that is healthy, flavorful, and yet allows you to lose weight over the long haul.
It’s a marathon and not a sprint.
If you mess up and overeat, or pound an entire cheesecake in one sitting, no worries, you’ll just get back on the horse tomorrow. It’s a lifestyle. There will be good days and less good days. We just want the majority of our days to be wins and to keep to our program.
I’ve found it helpful to weigh myself everyday, hopefully at a similar time of the day. I also keep a running log of my weight so I can celebrate new lows. This has been helpful to keep my mind in the game and to be intentional about my journey.
This is my starting log back in 2022 and you can see I didn’t really lose anything for the first two months. It’s a long haul, but slow and steady wins the race.
There is no short term weight loss that won’t revert back if your lifestyle reverts back.
Take the long road. The old is gone, the new has come.
3. Listen to your body
Listen to your body. If you're hungry, eat something, but if you’re not hungry, try to avoid bored eating or sad eating or comfort eating. Ask yourself before you eat, “Am I hungry, is my body asking for food?”
Also, as you’re eating, ask yourself throughout your meal if you’re content, if you could stop eating and be full. Don’t finish food just to finish food. Wasting food is better than an unhealthy life. Put what’s left away and come back to it later if you’re hungry again. I have lots of leftovers in the fridge. If they go bad, they go bad. My health is more important than a little wasted food.
One of the habits I’ve found helpful is the 7 Bites trick. When you sit down for a meal, take 7 bites, good bites, of your food. Then give it a minute and ask yourself, Am I still hungry, do I need to eat more? If yes, then go ahead and take 3 more bites and then ask again. If you can stop eating, do so and put the food aside.
4. Eat later in the day.
Here’s my normal day food plan:
Start the day with some Bulletproof coffee. I add a spoonful of MCT oil/coconut oil and a scoop of collagen peptides to my morning brew. This stems off hunger for most of the morning. it also tastes great.
I also prepare a water bottle with half a lemon sliced and 1” of ginger root sliced. I drink this throughout the day and it helps stem off hunger significantly. It’s also great for digestion. If I get hungry, I drink some of this water first and see if the hunger goes away. It normally does.
Do what works for you. Again, listen to your body. If you can make it past noon, hopefully to 2:00 or 3:00 without anything to eat and then just have some protein, a piece of ham or chicken, you will enter ketosis (when the body only is burning fat) later that afternoon. Ketosis feels great and is great for clear thinking.
Then I eat a normal dinner but still try and keep carbs to a minimum. Again, it’s a marathon not a sprint. There’s a time and place for pizza. Throughout the meal I will ask myself if I’m still hungry or can be done eating. If so, I put the meal aside and come back to it if I get hungry later.
Don’t let yourself get too hungry or you’ll binge. Keep your hunger to a moderate amount. If you get hungry, first drink your lemon/ginger water and see if that helps. If you’re still hungry eat some protein.
Remember, slow and steady wins the race. Don’t lose weight too fast - 1 or 2 pounds a week max. If you lose weight too fast your body freaks out, gets scared of starvation, and holds on to any weight it can. Then losing pounds gets really hard.
5. Sugar isn’t sweet.
Try and avoid processed sugar as much as possible. Full Stop.
The effect of sugar on your insulin system is dramatic. Hello, pre-diabetes. Sugar is an indicator for the digestive system controls, it lets the system know how much digestive enzymes to release. When you eat processed sugar, the body releases a lot of digestive juices, taxing the system and stressing your pancreas. You also digest your food to the extreme and getting every last calorie out of it.
Again, a little sugar occasionally is ok but avoid it as much as possible. You’ll feel great and won’t have those sugar crashes.
Full disclosure
My late nights are not good, I’ll admit that, but if my days are good I still make headway. Maybe someday I can get mastery of my late night snacks and that would even be better. I’m just being honest.
6. Fat is your friend, carbs are not.
Try and avoid carbs as much as possible. We live in America so that won’t always be possible and I’m not saying go on the some extreme eating plan. Just as much as possible, when you can, avoid eating carbs.
Instead, eat fat. Fat is good for you, adds a lot of flavor and is a great source of energy. Most of the belief that fat is bad for you is not based in research. You can find a ton of documentaries on Youtube that debunk that theory. Use cream not milk in your coffee. Add butter to dishes. Fat is your friend.
7. Exercise is the best thing you can do.
Do cardio for at least 45 minutes 6 days a week. I do the elliptical machine in the morning and listen to uplifting music, combining working out and good mental health time.
After cardio I stretch, do 2 abdominal exercises and then one weight exercise. I usually do either curls or squats on alternating days. But sometimes I just don’t have it in me. The squats, which I’ve never done until recently are the most impactful. No more groaning when I get out of a chair. In theory I should do a whole set of weight exercises, but I wouldn’t do them if that was the expectation. This way I can certainly do one weight training exercise. I hope to come back later in the day and do more but I rarely get that done. When I do - bonus!
I try to be active during the day in little ways. Pickleball, taking the stairs, parking farther from the door, taking walks.
8. Find a way to manage your stress.
Stress is a healthy life killer. Cortisol, the stress hormone, tells the body to store up fat as there is a problem out there and our body wants to be ready for it. Remember the body’s number one desire is to survive. If we are stressed our body is in agitation mode and losing weight, especially around the middle of the body, is almost impossible.
So talk to someone if you need to to learn how to manage your stress. It is super key in living healthy.
9. Little things add up
An active lifestyle is a healthy lifestyle but it takes intentionality.
I made a commitment this year to always jog or run up stairs, except when I’m heading up to bed at the end of the day. This was a challenge in Petra, Jordan, hiking up to the monastery but I was able to largely run them.
I end the day with the sauna. We don’t know how this helps but studies have shown there are significant health benefits of a sauna routine, although the actual reasons for this are not known. I also very recently discovered the cold plunge at a nearby club. I found the sauna/cold plunge combination to be very refreshing.
I hope this helps inspire you to make some changes and live healthy. There’s no reason to stop doing the activities you love before you’re 80 due to bad health.