Lose weight easily - by following these

productivity principlesChange your habits, your routine, and make things work. Lose weight, keep it off, and have a healthier life style.

Volker Ballueder September 2015

ForewordThis is not medical advice nor am I a member of the medical profession. I am a personal development coach with a passion for productivity. After many years of piling on weight, doing some exercise, I thought it was time to get rid of my belly, and tell the world how I did it.

This is a guide of what worked for me, worked for others and what might work for you. You might find that some things work better for you, others won’t. At time of writing I am back to eating chocolate, yet monitor closely what I eat. I started experimenting to find the best balance for myself. How far can I push my own limits to not gain weight. And the only way of doing that is by monitoring what I do.

There are no guarantees. These are only suggestions on how to make it work.

This guide is not only about loosing weight. This guide is about understanding your body, understanding your needs, and achieving your goals. Latter could be any of the above, or just fitness, or just a better life. The choice is yours!

The idea for this guide came whilst working on a productivity book which looks at similar principles that help you achieve your goals. This will be released at a later stage.

For me the 80/20 rule worked: 80% of my results are down to dietary changes. Less, more healthy food. The rest, 20%, is down to exercise, and an active life style.

So really, if you are looking at the overall goal, I believe this book summarises a life style change rather than weight loss … yet it all depends on your model of your world and what you want to achieve. Join me on my journey.

Everyone is different. Everyone has different goals. I hope you find it useful whatever your goal.

The Basics - The Goal!

The start to loosing weight is not about loosing weight.

The start to loosing weight, similar to achieving anything, is to set a goal.

The more you focus on loosing weight, the more you will focus on your actual weight. Focus on your goal instead.

If you want to stop smoking, don’t focus on the smoking. Focus on better health for instance.

Have something positive to focus on: A positive goal! Something you want to move towards to.

The Positive GoalI want to be healthy and fit.

I want to see my kids grow up. I don’t want to die of a heart attack.

Once you have the goal setting done…

… the rest is simple, really 😉

You know why you are wanting to lose weight? This goal will motivate you.

Remind yourself of your goal. Often. Every day. Every time you wonder why you are doing it. When you struggle, when you win.

Put reminders in your phone or post-it notes on the wall. Visualise what you want to achieve. A big poster over your bed. Remind yourself to motivate you.

Find a new routine that helps you achieve your goals, new habits (steak with salad, a beer less, salad instead of a sandwich, walking instead of the bus, running, etc.). More details on the following pages.

Routine & HabitWhen I speak about habit, I mean things you do on a regular basis.

Having breakfast is a habit (as supposed to people not having breakfast). If you are eating the same thing every day, it becomes a routine.

Routines help you to continue with habits on an ongoing basis. That means that any habit can form new routines, healthier routines.

I have a habit of getting up early. It became a routine after about 9o days. It is now my routine and I continue doing it as I have the habit of doing my exercise before I go to work in the morning.

Anything that you do unconsciously is a habit; sitting on the same seat on your train to work for example.

Having certain routines and schedules helps you to stick to things and establish new habits.

To achieve your goal … you need

Stamina: don’t give up easily.

Read the Compound Effect (Darren Hardy) as he tells you, that anything small adds up to anything big. Which sounds like common sense but it helps to be reminded.If you lose 100g of excess weight a day, you would be loosing 3Kg a month (30 days*100g=3kg).

A habit of eating good food (80%), and being consciously aware of what you eat will help you. This habit forms as you realise how bad certain foods are for you. Deep fried Chinese take aways for instance or burgers and chips from the local pub.

A routine for exercise (20%). As stated in the previous slide, it is easier to stick to your exercise if you have a certain routine, like before work, or in your lunch break, or every Monday and Thursday evening after work. Schedule it into your diary if that is easier for you. Make sure to stick to that routine for 90 days, then it becomes just a “normal” part of your life.

Count Calories

For the initial 8 - 12 weeks, make sure you count your calories (e.g. MyFitnessPal) - it helps you to understand what you eat, and what makes you fat!

If 80% of weight loss is down to your diet, then it is important for you to understand which effect a donut has. And, vice versa, which effect it has to

NOT eat it.

The above app will help you count calories. It is an essential part of understanding your status quo and what you might want to eat instead. Most apps

also offer you a guide on how much you are allowed to eat to lose a certain amount of weight.

How do you know what to eat and what not to eat?

This to my mind is common sense. Don’t eat (or eat little of) fried or processed food. Stop eating chips for instance, or ready made meals. If you do take clients out on a regular basis like I do, then eat steak, ideally lean cuts, with a salad instead of adding triple fried chips or fatty cuts of meat.

There is a misconception that when you go out with clients you need to drink or eat unhealthily. If you read this far you are not a youngster anymore that eats a lot on business occasions just because it is free? Or eat because they can? If you read this you have done all the beer drinking challenges of this world, you don’t need to prove yourself to be able to eat a big T-Bone Steak with chips, gravy and mashed potatoes, washed down with three pints for lunch. You are in control of what you want to eat. And if that is a salad, a piece of baked fish or a small fillet steak, this is up to you.

Have the confidence to say NO to the 3rd pint, the 2nd glass of wine or to drink non alcoholic beer. Don’t let society dictate to you what you should or shouldn’t eat or drink. The choice (! and you have a choice) is down to you.

If it is easier, make up some allergy or dietary requirement that doesn’t allow you to eat certain foods. Or save your cheat day (see later) for the days you take clients out.

The rule of thumb is, that if your grandmother would have made it and ate it, it is probably alright for you too. One knows that a burger from a fast food chain or fried food isn’t good for you (unless in moderation but we come back to that later - if you are really serious of loosing weight, those foods should be banned). Crisps should be kept to a minimum. Chocolate as well. High fat, high saturated fat and high calories in small packaging isn’t good for you. Salty food isn’t good for you either.

Track your exercise

Track running, cycling or walking (e.g. Strava, Moves) or use a

spreadsheet.

Again, by tracking what you do, you realise how little active you might

be. Or where you can improve.

What exercise?

Based on NHS guidelines, 2-3 times 30 minutes of cardio and 2 days of muscle

strengthening exercises a week are

enough exercise, depending on

intensity, age etc. (see link for details)

How to get started - cardio

Find a routine of 2-3 times a week of cardio exercise that you can stick to. For me, early mornings works, to get it out of the way whilst the kids are still asleep.

This could be running. Or if you are really overweight, start with a mile of walking, then work it up to two miles of walking once you can walk a mile without loosing breath.

Start out where you are comfortable.

If you are average fit, you can start with 30 minutes of moderate exercise, e.g. 3x3K runs from 6-6.30 am so you don’t skip it at the end of the day because you are tired. PS: If you are a total beginner, start with 10 minutes work out. There is lot of guidance online on how to build up to a 3K, 5K or 10K run pending your experience and fitness level. The same is true for cycling, swimming etc.Alternate between running, brisk walking (depends where you start out at), walk/running alternations, elliptical trainer, cycling etc.

Any cardio counts. 3x a week. Do a run, then a swim, then another run. Do what you enjoy most. At a later stage, you might want to look at 2x45 minutes runs per week.

Guidelines vary but 90-120 minutes of cardio exercise a week is enough to keep weight off. If you can, why not join a running club. You get guidance, a routine, and meet new people. Don’t be afraid to go as a beginner, you won’t be the only one!

Muscular ExerciseGet some weight training equipment if you can. A bench press or pull up bar or kettle bells might be good.

If you don’t have a lot of room or cash, you can use your body weight. Or learn how to use kettle bells (watch out for the risk of injuries).

QuickFit App: 7 minute work out. Freeletics is another app - both are based on body resistance exercises.

Build up planks from 15 seconds to 2 or even 3 minutes over 3 months. Front and side planks.

Do push ups, start with 1, build it up to 30 over the month, add one a day; alternate between narrow and wide ones.

Do any kind of muscular strength training 2-3 times a week. Work up a sweat. I started with bench press 3x a week, working up to 50kg and 5 sets of 5. I stopped it in favour of kettle bells, 2x a week for 10 minutes. It keeps the weight off and gets my heart racing. I break a sweat and it doesn’t take much time.

Exercise plan example

Beginner: 3x15 minute run a week or 1x15 m swim & 1x15 m run & 1x20 m cycling7 minute body resistant workout 4x a week & 2x a week bench press with 20kg working up to more.

Advanced: 2x60 m run (2 x 10K)2x10 m kettle bell training (get a coach to start with) 3-4x a week planks (build up to 2 m for front planks, 1 m to side planks), and 30 push ups

And anything in between. As I am neither a medical professional nor a fitness instructor, I can only advice you on what worked for me. Yet we all start out at different levels and progress differently. The more weight we have lost, the less exercise we need to do to maintain the loss as our metabolism changes too.

Before any exercise is undertaken you should consult your physician. I researched the internet and started with interval running training which I soon abandoned as I felt fit enough to do a 5K quite easily. Others did that training twice before running their first 3K. We are all different.

Anything you track, you can improve upon.

Want to monitor your sleep get e.g. Sleep Cycle.

Want to monitor your alcohol intake get Drinkaware.

Get the BMI Tracker for weight. Or better, track your measurements (My Size in app store, or others).

Get any other app you think will help you tracking things. Apple Health probably does a lot of it.

Set goals on daily calorie intakes based on your weight goal, and stick to that (see app for details earlier).

Don’t beat yourself up for a cheat day a week (1!).

Be honest with yourself and don’t cheat on yourself. Focus more on the fitness aspect, and the weight loss will happen as a ‘by-product’.

Don’t think you can do it all immediately, see compound effect.

Some important pointers…

Routine (again!)Totalling 2-3 days cardio and 2-3 days resistance/muscular training and have a couple days off a week. I always take the weekends off to not interfere with the family commitments.

If you have time and you feel fit enough, do some resistance in the morning and some cardio in the evening. I used to cycle to the station and had a weight bench in the garage. I did 3 sets every morning and evening when I took the bike out and when I took it back.

However, make sure you will have a day or more of rest in between your runs or your resistance trainings; let your body get used to it and recover fully.

Remember: start slowly, monitor and most of all make a plan what you want to do each day; follow that plan and make it happen, improving a little every day.

If you are a total beginner, then build it up little by little. There is no rush. Work on your goals, change the exercise routine as you get fit. You won’t be able to run a marathon in a week. This is a guideline.

What to look out for?

The key is in the detail!

Don’t overdo it, start slowly but if you are fit enough, build up to whatever you feel comfortable without pushing yourself. Rule of thumb for running is to not increase your distance by more than 10% each time.

Seek professional advice on how to use equipment to avoid injury.

Invest in good footwear for running and generally in good equipment. Don’t save at the wrong end. This avoids injury!

Make sure that you don’t cheat on the food. The nutritional intake is key (80%) and eat enough, don’t starve yourself but don’t eat rubbish food. A healthy food balance within your chosen calorie limit plus the exercise will do the trick. It takes longer for some and the body will adjust to the lower calories and higher output over time, for you to feel less hungry. The way your body burns food (metabolism) will change. If you have a few hard weeks, keep going. Don’t give up. Remember your goal, remember why you are doing it! Apps like MyFitnessPal will help you to figure out how many calories you should eat.

If you ever feel something is wrong, go and seek medical advice or see your GP immediately.

Food example - what I do.

I start the day with porridge and a double espresso.

When I get hungry at work, I eat bananas. Up to 7 a day (!).

If I really MUST snack, I eat nuts, seeds, or occasionally dark chocolate.

My lunch is usually sushi, lean meat and salad or if going out with clients, I eat as healthy as I can. I am confident to eat whatever I like. I don’t drink alcohol at lunch. I stay away from processed food.

Evening meals are humous with Ryvita (cracker bread), some carrots or cucumber, ham or salami, taramasalata or some tapenade. Not a lot of bread, maybe some olives, boiled eggs, or on occasions an omelette with cheese.

I keep my meals simple. The odd take away as a “treat” and home made wholegrain base pizza with some cheese. Slow cooker food, lean meat, small portions. On occasions a meal out with the family.

What did I do?I weighted 95 kg at Christmas 2014 and was already quite fit, exercising on a regular basis. However, I didn’t lose weight, as I stuffed my face.

I improved my fitness routine and (re-)introduced weight training in December 2014.

I stopped eating huge meals, unhealthy meals but didn’t starve myself.

I cut out chocolate, crisps, unhealthy snacks and alcohol (latter for the month of January).

I started eating healthy for most lunches; I stopped snacking on chocolate bars.

At dinner time I started to eat cracker bread, see previous slide.

I run up to 2x 10K a week.

I get up at 5/5.30 am to accomplish my goals: training and writing.

I have an active life style. I aim for 10,000 steps a day, not counting running.

I monitor what I eat, drink, exercise, do… to improve upon.

I have lost, and maintained a loss of, ca. 8 kg over 6 months after I started. My weight is around 87 kg, I was as low as 85 kg being called skinny (!) and I had to buy a lot of new clothes! I consider that a good thing!

I maintain a routine of two runs a week, regular strength building exercise (kettle bells) and body resistance training.

I have a healthy, balanced life style. I allow for the odd indulgence but monitor (without obsession) what I eat/drink.

I consume alcohol in moderation, eat (dark) chocolate (if at all), sometimes crisps, hardly ever chips, take-aways are a lot less frequent (2 per month on average).

I enjoy life and … I am living and enjoying my new healthy and sportive life style.

Results

What was my goal?To have a healthy and sportive life style.

To see my kids grow up.

To not look like an old middle aged man with a fat gut.

Goals achieved.

And in the meantime, I love weighing less too!

Contact me.

Volker Ballueder cb consulting

Coaching to help YOU!

volker@ballueder.com