With the flipping of the 10-year digit from zero to one, the thought of a new decade brings a lot of positive momentum for me. I’m in the midst of completing my first personal annual review (the idea courtesy of Chris Guillebeau at The Art of Nonconformity), and it is definitely filled with positives and negatives. I feel like I’ve spent an awful lot of time on the negatives lately here on Almost Fit, so I’m going to keep that part of the summary short.

Equally as important, with the new decade upon us it’s time to set a few goals, and start knocking those pins down, one at a time if I have to.

The Good

On the positive side, I’ve done one thing really well: I’ve maintained steady income for a year – though the impact on my diet hasn’t been so great. For some this idea of having a consistent income is an assumed fact of life, but for many of us it is far from assured. Along the lines of work I’ve also greatly downsized the number of side projects that I was pursuing at the beginning of the year (in January of last year I had 9 personal, full-time projects/business beginnings – and was coming up short on all of them). Taking a quick mental inventory I’m down to 3 enjoyable part-time projects, including Almost Fit.

This is progress.

Another positive includes dramatically improving my cooking and prep skills (in my opinion at least); my wife and best friend is an excellent cook, and I’ve been under her culinary wing for a few years now. I feel that in the last 6 months I’ve really started to develop stronger culinary instincts – meaning I pair food together better, I cook more efficiently, I burn or overcook food much less often, and have good ideas on how to improve a dish I’m cooking by taste. I’m getting to know the flavor profiles of foods and seasonings much better, and I have a clearer understanding of herbs and spices that balance flavors.

These advances in cooking have made cooking at home that much more enjoyable. Of course, it also makes overindulgence a bit too easy at times, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Other positives (that are no less important) include keeping up with my ever-changing children – solving problems and setting them up for success (no small feat); remodeling my wife’s painting studio from bare bones to finished product (finishing this weekend); several small family vacations; and I’ve greatly improving my photography skills and knowledge – as well as starting a new project on the subject.

The Bad Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark It

Welcome to Almost Fit. Generally Almost Fit focuses on one simple thing: Eating Real Food in Moderation. However, I’ve been a bit dormant lately, and I felt that an explanation might be in order. This is a personal entry on where I’ve been, however I’ll be returning to my regular format soon in one way or another, as I’ll hopefully get to in this post. feel free to skip this article – it’s not for everyone. Thanks for reading.

Let me start out by saying this post is not about food, moderation, eating, exercising, or just about anything else that normally appears on Almost Fit. In fact, this post has more to do with the state of this site, and some non-food inspiration that seems to be working it’s way into my mind.

To be brutally honest, over the last few months or so I reached a burnout point as the sole writer of Almost Fit, and I didn’t even realize it until it was in full swing. And to take it a step further, the burnout goes beyond this site: although I haven’t abandoned the principles of eating real food by any means, I’ve certainly let a lot of things through the gates that I have not allowed in quite some time. Quantities have crept back up, types of foods that I’d normally avoid have slipped back in (read: too much bread, beer a little too frequently, and more than a few restaurants and food carts that I’d probably do well to moderate, if not eliminate for a while).

So what does that mean? Have I given up? Failed, even?

It means, I think, that I’m human. Just don’t tell my kids quite yet – I still would like them to think of me as exceeding that bar at least for another year or two.

“So there’s this thing called Work/Life balance. Ya’ mighta’ heard of it.”

I think the heading here says more about where I’ve been than probably anything else. In the current economic climate, you don’t need to be reminded about how things are, but sufficed to say I do not take anything for granted with my current contract work in my day job. I am focused, effective, but more than that – mildly obsessed with exceeding expectations. I work many more hours than I should (and than I bill for), but these days I think it’s what you have to do to stay valuable when there are a dozen others in line behind you who would gladly fill your shoes. I freely admit I might be wrong, but frankly, the consequences of failing are not worth the risk of giving less right now. You have to hustle, no two ways about it.

However (and this is a BIG however), I also realize that things have gone a little too far. Too much work, whether it be the actual doing of the work in front of the computer, or continually solving problems in my mind in the “off hours” of the day. Too much working, not enough living. My ultimate fear is that I will burn myself out on this contract by working excessively, and it will be at the sacrifice not only of the income but of my health as well. And of course, above all else, to the detriment of my family, which I cannot ever afford.

So, it’s time for a few changes. Minor adjustments, but changes nonetheless.

The first thing? Take weekends off. I haven’t really done that in months – at least not mentally. I am one of those people who checks their work email at all times of the day and evening 7 days a week, fearing that there will be a minor disaster (and amazingly, there never is). Well that needs to change.

Second, I have GOT to renew my focus on exercise for mental health. Exercise helps me to keep things in perspective much more so than any other activity. Sadly, it’s also the hardest to do for me and the first thing to go when a deadline is approaching. My exercise plan is to start small of course, but I have an idea on how I’m going to get myself back on track – but more on that in an upcoming post.

Third, of course, is diet. Getting back to the basics of moderation and proactive choices. I’ve got a pretty big library of ideas here on this site to review; I’ll be doing that in the coming weeks and hopefully sharing what I find with readers.

Inspired – again

When I started Almost Fit, I had many inspirations, but one or two blogs in particular really convinced me of the value of creating something meaningful in this format. As I’ve mentioned many times, Zen Habits is certainly one of those sites. In some ways I think Leo (the creator of Zen Habits) and I have developed different views on specific subjects (I like Apple products, but I don’t believe they are the solution to simplicity necessarily, nor do I believe they’ll be shaking Microsoft’s hold on the personal computer any time soon – but I digress), but it is still essential reading for me daily.

Another site that absolutely continues to inspire me is Chris Guillebeau’s site, The Art of Nonconformity, which energizes me like few others. Chris is attacking his business in incredible ways, and is consistently hitting the ball further and further out of the park. I subscribe to his site via RSS and email so that I don’t miss a post.

But where I’m really headed with all of this is a specific post on one of my essential reads: Get Rich Slowly. The particular post to which I’m referring is titled simply, “Failure is Okay.” In it, J.D. describes his experience trying to ice skate, and relates that to his experience with Get Rich Slowly. This particular section really hit home:

It’s never too late to change direction, to start making smart choices. If you’re 40 and don’t have retirement savings, you can start saving tomorrow. If you’re 30 and staggering under the weight of credit card debt, you can cut up your cards and make a commitment to change direction. The wonder of the future is that it can be built upon the ashes of the past.

I have reread this article several times, reminding myself that leaving Almost Fit dormant for a while does not constitute permanent failure; it has been a chance for me to recalibrate my views, and now to build upon the ashes.

Hopefully this is the beginning of great, new things in these parts. I hope you stick around to find out.

Best to you,

Metroknow

Bookmark It

Ed. note: This entry is about working toward lifelong dietary goals by eating real food in moderation. The list of techniques will change over time, but this is where I’m starting from. This is actually an update from an article I wrote a little over a year ago, including my observations, corrections, and a handful of new ideas. Your constructive feedback is always appreciated. If this is your first time here and you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing via RSS. Thanks.

“Action Feeds Motivation.”

This thought occurred to me as I finished my first run of the year today, in the rain and wind. Yes, you read correctly: my FIRST, as best I can recall. As many readers have noticed, I’ve been a little scarce lately. I’ll write another post soon with my theories (and a few personal facts) on why that has been so, but for now I thought it was more important to simply do something about it. And as it turns out, that phrase, “Action Feeds Motivation” is going to be one of my recurrent themes for Almost Fit in 2009.

A year ago I was fully motivated to pursue these techniques. I didn’t need a whole lot of inspiration; I was ready to go. Over the last few months however, I haven’t been “feeling it” like I was. That tide however, is changing. So in an effort to really rekindle that fire I decided to review some of what I wrote a year ago to try to learn from my successes and mistakes, which is one of the great side-effects of writing your thoughts down in a public format like this one. For this analysis, I came back to one of my all-time favorite posts: 33 tips on how to lose weight without dieting, and one that I now think, after a year of trying out this approach to eating, needs a little revision.

As regular readers know, my focus here on Almost Fit is to do one simple thing: Eat Real Food in Moderation. No low fat this or low carb that; just real, whole foods in moderate amounts. As simple as the statement is, the principle is much harder to apply, particularly if you live in what I think of as a culture of excess. Most of us have come to accept as normal the gigantic, oversized meals that are available at every restaurant you go to, and on every food commercial or ad you encounter. We’ve confused quantity with value, and we’ve also convinced ourselves that the cost of food should be minimal – meaning it’s common to think that we simply can’t afford to eat better. I disagree; however, applying it on a daily basis is a lot like trying to light a candle in a hurricane.

In the 2008 article, I stated:

“I don’t believe that moderation in itself is the answer; eating moderate amounts of garbage still means you’re eating garbage. If I eat real food, in moderation, I am convinced that the weight will come off naturally. Changing my diet to focus on vegetables first, and then moderate amounts of high quality meat, grains, and dairy, makes sense to me. And so far, its working with little or no negative side effects including the emotional struggle that I associate with every diet I’ve ever tried, and I haven’t had to buy a single pre-packaged plan or frozen low fat dinner to do it.”

I still very much stand by these statements, and my diet and current condition is living proof. And that’s because I’m now thin, right?

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark It

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a personal letter to Almost Fit readers, both long-time friends and new acquaintances. I will be posting a "Best Of" article shortly, but I think you'll agree that this letter was already plenty long enough. Thanks for reading, and thank you for hanging in there with me in my recent absence. UPDATE: I dozed off last night, so this is now a Saturday post. A day late - but that's what you get for blog dollars ]

Tonight is the one year anniversary of a mild obsession: testing whether eating real food in moderation can actually work to lose weight and achieve better health.

And the principle corollary: Is it possible to live moderately in a culture of excess?

No low fat this or low carb that (both of which I had previously tried, exhaustively, to no permanent success); just eating real, whole, and at times decadent, foods – the key of course being to keep the quantities in check.

Before I get started, let me just say that it’s been a long day; I slept about 3 hours last night before heading out at 5AM for a 4 hour drive to Seattle for a business meeting at 9, and then turned around several hours later to drive 3 1/2 hours back home (don’t ask me where the missing 1/2 hour went). I’m admittedly exhausted, but some things simply cannot wait, things for which any devoted writer knows sleep deprivation is no match.

In honor of this anniversary I am sitting down with my laptop and a stiff margarita – ice, fresh squeezed lime juice and a healthy dose of tequila – evaluating as honestly as I can whether this year’s changes have been worth the effort. So if things get a little squirelly, you’ll know why. Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark It

In case you haven’t noticed with my references to software analogies, occasional odd conversational mannerisms, and interspersed star trek/star wars/80′s TV quips, I am a bit of a geek. While my wife has worked hard to reform my lifelong social and fashion ineptitudes, at heart, I still want a lightsaber.

I may also fly stunt kites. And know a thing or two about 3D animation.

As part of this curse, I also tend to like to read the stats of my blog, even down to the nitty bits of mindnumbing server data, looking for clues about well, you all. Don’t worry, I don’t know anything about what you did last summer. Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark It

“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.”
-Alan Keightley, as quoted from A Brief Guide to World Domination by Chris Guillebeau

Regular readers of Almost Fit know that I have been mentioning the words World Domination for a few weeks now. Have I gone mad? Do I think that eating real food in moderation will create a position as Potentate of some small nation state? Maybe. But if such a seat were ever offered, I would have to pass – The aspirations that are already on my list are more than enough, and do not include the title of Magistrate. But anything is possible. Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark It

Ed. Note: This is a reprint (with a few changes) of an article I wrote a while back as a guest post for the guys at GetFitSlowly – Mac and J.D. are some of my principle inspirations for writing about this process, and their site is highly recommended. I’ve had several requests to repost the article here, so I am doing so today. If you enjoy it, please give it a vote via your social networking tool of choice, such as Digg or StumbleUpon. Thanks. Oh, and if you’re new here, welcome to Almost Fit. Please leave a comment and introduce yourself.

When it comes to food, exercise, and our obsession with obesity, the French appear to break all of the rules of Western thought. By and large those who live a traditional French lifestyle eat for pleasure and satisfaction, they often smoke (arguably a stereotype), and they drink regularly. Despite a diet proportionally high in things like saturated fats, the French have remarkably low rates of heart disease and obesity. Welcome to the French Paradox. Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark It

Ed. note: I have been off in the mountains in pursuit of fish – but I got a chance to check in. I’ll be sending pictures of the fishing adventures soon – now that the power is back on. If you enjoy this post, please consider receiving Almost Fit in your inbox. Thanks.

As I have mentioned in several places, (IowaAvenue,for one), on Thursday of last week I left my corporate day job in favor of pursuing personal projects, not the least of which is Almost Fit. As crazy as this may be, I have neither a specific plan nor another job lined up, but I do have a little bit of savings and a bunch of ideas.

Sounds like a recipe for World Domination if I ever heard one.

So rather than spending the days and evenings freaking out, I decided to execute the first step in my loosely gathered plan for world dominance: Go Fishing.

Fly fishing on the North Umpqua river in the mountains of Southern Oregon to be exact. My brother-in-law owns a beautiful campground and RV park on the North Umpqua called Umpqua’s Last Resort. The campground has hot showers and power to every camp spot, as well as two new furnished cabins. We have converged with my wife’s family for a week of camping, playing, and familial merriment, which is a fancy way of saying beer by the river with the cousins.

My first order of business (or so I thought) was to get a wireless Internet connection working. After an hour or so of plunking around with settings on their equipment, the wireless router was up and running, and the range was surprisingly far-reaching

This convenience was short-lived.

Later that evening we had a spectacular thunder and lightning storm which included most of us campers outside cheering on the light show as if it were being presented by the park owners. When the storm picked up (and the rain started), we moved under cover, but the display was exhilerating. Unfortunately, lightning strikes brought several trees down over power lines. No power means no Web connection, which meant Almost Fit would have to wait. The power remained out into the following evening, came back on for overnight for a while, but by the next morning the power was out again.

But all things considered, AC power is a minor inconvenience when your long term goals are to rule the world, or other similar grandiose aspirations.

S’more, anyone?

As you might imagine, on the eating track things have been a little looser since we’re camping. At home, I’ve primarily given up drinking beer in my daily routine, but that rule has been enthusiastically suspended here. I am also eating more meat than I typically do, and very few vegetables unfortunately, although the truth is I feel like I’m eating less over all because it is so hot here. Ah, the vagabond life.

On the plus side, exercise has been in full swing – there are numerous rivers and creeks that flow all over the mountains here, and we’ve been busy swimming, skipping rocks (I’m sure there must be a few calories burned there), and jumping from outcroppings into frigid waters below. I’ve also continued to pursue my 100 push-up challenge goals, as well as daily crunches.

In the next few days I’ll be publishing more on my fly fishing experience here, and many points between, so stay tuned.

Oh, and one more thing:

So what’s all this talk of World Domination? Now that the power has returned, I want to share with Almost Fit readers a little something that is impacting my thought processes over the last couple of weeks. But you’ll have to wait until the next post to see what I mean. Don’t worry – it’s not Amway or some cult – it is simply that I have bumped up against a kindred spirit online, and knowing that others exist with a similar goal in life has really thrown me into an entirely new and positive path.

It seems that quitting my job was very clearly a good idea. At least that is what I’m telling myself.

More to come……

Bookmark It

Ed. note: Here’s a little exercise story about a young man named Metroknow. Why his parents chose that name is beyond anyone’s recollection, but that’s not really integral to the story.

When I watch my soon-to-be four year old, like millions of parents before me I marvel at his sheer level of energy. He plays hard, laughs hard, cries hard, and sleeps hard. In my case I seem to have replaced all of those items with “work” hard. But, I’m getting back to playing a little too.

I grew up playing just about every sport I could get into, though rarely in an organized league. While I went through long periods of constant football, soccer, basketball, and some baseball, I really excelled at competitive volleyball into adulthood. As an adult, my somewhat regular exercise was either biking, running, or pickup games of basketball on weekends.

I was also an avid skateboarder from my early teens to my late twenties, and I have the knees to prove it. Throw in some skiing and snowboarding, and you have several years worth of the orthopaedic surgeon’s yacht payment.

At some point I got out of the habit of finding fun ways to exercise, and life times laziness plus a love of food equals about 5-10 lbs a year gained, multiplied by 7 years. Not pretty.

Why I hated running…for a while

In my thirties, realizing what was happening, I started getting back into running, or so I thought. When I was younger, distance running was much easier (to which I hear a collective, “DUH” arising…). But in my thirties, things like my knees started to make odd creaking and popping noises, my lungs seemed to have atrophied, and my ankles were prone to give out from time to time. What was happening to me? Was I being poisoned?

When it came to running, things were particularly frustrating. I was constantly trying to improve my time on my little course around the neighborhood, hoping for weight loss results. While I found it was beneficial mentally to get out, I saw absolutely ZERO results in weight loss. Why?

Looking back, there were obviously two parts of the problem:
1. I hadn’t changed my eating habits
2. I wasn’t doing it enough

I know it sounds simple, but the truth is when it came to exercise I was doing just enough….to hate it. I was running for only about 30 minutes or so, including warm-up and cool-down time. I was getting my heart rate up for what I considered long periods within that 30 minutes – but realistically? That was probably a sustained heart rate of 85% for about 7 minutes or so.

That is not going to yield a climber’s physique any time soon.

When I returned from my “run” (which I say with that ultra-annoying two-fingered “quotes” gesture), I was completely out of breath, convinced that I was exhausted, and ready to sit down and eat something good because I had earned it.

Let me just pause and say this: If you are not seeing a stadium full of little red flags waiving like a television pan shot at the coming Olympic games, then I think you may have a lot in common with me way back when.

So what changed? In short, I decided to participate in a charity training event to run a 1/2 marathon. To be frank, while I really was supportive of the cause (and I did raise my $2000 pledge), what I really wanted was some guidance on what I was doing wrong. And it worked. I was introduced to the walk/run technique, which ultimately allowed me to run 13.1 miles without dying. Though I felt like it was a close call by the end.

Do you have something you’d like to share with the class?

Basically I learned that a) If you don’t exercise enough, you won’t see results for many months, if at all and you will HATE it, and b) Injury is the enemy, so take it slow. That is what I did; even at 75 lbs overweight, I was able to complete the 1/2 marathon. Of course, my knees resented me and reminded me of my lack of consideration to them for many months after, but they seem to be a little more agreeable now.

All of that taught me half of the equation: If I want to see real fitness results, I need to exercise for longer than one half hour three times a week. While there may be some intensive programs out there that advocate abs and hind-quarters like titanium in 5 minutes or less, that is really not what I’m interested in. Wait. That came out wrong. What I mean is, my fitness goals are simply to improve my health, not to be the butt stand-in for Brad Pitt.

In the mean time, I am gaining mastery of the second half of the equation: My diet. Eating real food in moderation really does work. 26 lbs lost so far this year. The problem is, while I do feel better, and the weight is slowly coming off, I do not feel strong. I am not sleeping as well as I would like (a lifelong problem), and things jiggle when I walk that I would like to make stop.

That, and each day that goes by, my son is getting faster. I can’t let him beat me just yet – I have to have a LITTLE dignity, don’t I?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider having Almost Fit delivered to your email’s ever-crowded inbox. Thanks.

Bookmark It

“64 oz. soda? Does it come with a chance to win Boardwalk? Well then hit me Brutha!” – Metroknow, 26 lbs heavier

About 6 months ago, I completely quit eating fast food. For me, this was no minor feat. In the first part of this two-part series, I’ll tell you about my relationship (yes, relationship) with fast food. In part two, I’ll tell you exactly how I’m doing it, and how you can too.

I am definitely a card-carrying member of the fast food generation. I don’t know how many times I have made the decision on the size of a combo at McDonald’s based on which of the larger sizes included the most “extra” Monopoly game pieces, which generally led to winning – you guessed it – MORE fast food. I never won that extra-heavy Hummer with the dual 40 gallon fuel tanks.

Why do did I like Fast Food?

Like it or not, here’s the truth: fast food sells – in a BIG way. For me, here’s why:

1. Availability. In many parts of the country, we are simply overrun with fast food and junk food options. In L.A. suburbs, Portland suburbs, and most small towns, when you drive through the business district it looks like this: McDonalds, dry cleaners, cellular phone store, Jack-in-the-Box, stereo store, Starbucks, Taco Bell, KFC, cheap shoe store, Burger King, Wal-Mart, and then McDonalds again.

Repeat that cycle every 4-6 blocks, throw in an Olive Garden, a gas station, and a few 99-cent stores, and you have a drive across America that repeats itself like a Politician stumping from town to town, from sea to plastic-bag-filled shining sea.

Yes, fast food and dry cleaners are everywhere. And I’m not sure which one is more toxic. Someone oughta’ just get it over with and combine dry cleaners and fast food joints. After all, their prices are comparable, which leads me to… Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark It