Hamenopi

Last week, I shared how by using simple accountability principles, I was able to identify certain key problem areas in my weight loss journey. By identifying them, I was able to increase my weight loss an extra pound a week. That is insane! What's more, I also was able to enjoy better brain food via books and get more well needed sleep. 1 stone, 3 birds. Another thing I noted was how I was just throwing away food. Leftovers accumulated in my fridge, tossed week's end for a fresh supply. Houston! We got a problem here! I'm here hemorrhaging food and money while complaining about the price of organic produce! It not something I could just bandage. Some were just small portions but others could be re-purposed into new meals with ingenuity. Come on! There has to be a better way! Luckily I was building my nutritional play book and found a few. I want to share them with you. Food Hacks Every week I was discarding Italian style ground beef to make room for Mexican style

An interesting part of accounting is you can build a nutritional play book. You also end up learning a lot about yourself. One thing I found out is I'm far more likely to consume a ton of calories after 10 pm. 2 tons when watching TV with my wife at night. Popcorn appears. Wine appears. Chocolate appears. It's there. It's convenient. It's easy. So it's consumed. Mindless. Without Account. Destroyed Progress I started tracking and accounting for it. You know, the whole accountability part. I woke to a glaring hole in my diet, a devious deficiency in my nutritional strategy. I was a late night food druggie! No matter how good I did during the day, when I watched TV after 10, without thought I'd destroy all my work! Boob Tube Zombie If you're anything like me, 4 hours vanishes every time I look at a TV. I'm not even saying Binge watching from time is bad but when it's the norm, that's the issue. Last year, a decent sleep was the actual

Just like food, you consume thoughts. Consider that for a minute. Every second a hero's feast of thoughts lies before you. Some thoughts are your own while others are from those you know. Still others from origins not immediately obvious. They all sprinkle across the table before you, ready for consumption. The question is... With which thoughts do you feed yourself? Like food, not all thoughts are healthy. Some can even make you physically ill! Healthy and unhealthy, positive and negative, good and evil, life giving and toxic! Your tables is a smörgåsbord of different thoughts. Which ones are you eating? A Mental Harvest Thoughts dictate emotions and emotions dictate actions. When you consume a seed of thought, you bring it into your own body. Once within, you water and grow the seed into a plant of emotion. Eventually, those emotions bud flowers and bear forth the fruit of our actions. I ask you, Does an orange tree grow apples and an apple tree grow oranges? No! The seeds

Okay, so logging your food is tedious and boring. I get that. I feel you. I felt the same way. At first it is going to be tedious and boring. The gold is worth the dig. Risk out on it and you'll see. I just want to go over a few perk I found on my personal accountability journey I think may convince you to pick up your mental shovel and start sifting. The week you lost 5 pounds. You don't have to work to remember what you ate to get there. It's written down. The week you gain 5 pounds. You don't have to work to remember what you ate to get there. It's written down. You become more aware of the food you consume. You are able to assign nutritional and caloric values to food. You can review and begin learning what foods are a great fit for your goals and what foods are a bad fit for your goals. The Fun Stuff This is when you can start hacking the system in your favor. This is where the Nutritional Rubik's cube finally makes sense. This is where you rea

I would eat healthy for 3 day in a row. I'd get my greens in and eat grilled chicken or fish. With Quinoa! I'd get ground turkey instead of beef for taco tuesday. I'd even make it a lettuce wrap instead of a tortilla! I was doing good! Then on the 3rd slam down a greasy 1000 calorie burger for lunch. Of course, on the 4th day I woke up full of regret and was certain I ruined my diet for the week. I was bloated and cranky and felt like a bleeding failure. So I did what any sane person would do, I gave up on my diet until next Monday. Giving Up I've wrote previously in my newsletter how lack of consistency wasn't my biggest problem but my perception of myself when I wasn't consistent was. I want to expand on that. When I tripped up in my diet, I mentally and emotionally started to sabotage myself. After a bad day, I woke up and saw myself as a failing fat guy who couldn't figure out how to lose weight. I'd step on that scale and see all the

I advocate accountability groups and parters. In fact, I have a few of both. But the biggest game changer for me has been developing personal accountability. Before you run for the hills, let me break it down so you. Accountability is not punishment Accountability does not mean eating a snickers, feeling regret, then running to the gym for 3 hours of HIIT. It does not mean eating a reeses, hate crying yourself into the fetal position, then promising to fast the next three days. That's called punishing yourself! Punishment HIIT and Fasting have their place in health and nutrition but it shouldn't be punishment. Just like Snicker's and Reese's have places and it shouldn't be shame. That's driving down resentment road with your emotional brake lines cut. These stories don't have happy endings! Note: HIIT and fasting is not necessary for weight loss. Neither are Snickers and Reeses. I'm using hyperboles to compare and contrast. Accountabilit