“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.

For me, Almost Fit is much more than just a hobby - it’s part of a much larger life picture. With Almost Fit, I have two distinct purposes:

1. To improve my health before it’s too late. From my perspective today, losing weight and getting fit is a critical first step in accomplishing my greater goals. Writing Almost Fit inspires me to continue down that path. Writers like Walt Whitman and Thoreau have explained with much greater skill and dimension than I the connections of body, mind, spirit, and the world around us. These are ideas to which I subscribe. For me, my physical state has a very direct impact on how I see myself, how that perception is communicated to others, and my sense of place in the world around me. It affects both my physical ability and my emotional momentum to do the bigger things that I want to do, whether it is to run a marathon, invent something revolutionary, or climb El Cap.
2. To improve the lives of others on a grand scale. I’m one of the many who have spent the majority of my life trying to get or keep my weight under control. This has all sorts of implications, as I mentioned. I have tried everything short of drugs and surgery, with varying degrees of success. Now however, I think I am on to the best solution of all - eating real food in moderation. My hope is that I will be able to help get the word out and impact the lives of others who have struggled with this as I have. And I am doing so, thanks to the Internet, on a global scale.

And this is just phase one.

Inspiring minds want to know

We all have our own aspirations of course - and some of us are still trying to figure out what those are. Whether your goal is to set a lifelong, positive example for your children or to lead a mora of Spartans into battle armed to the teeth - The biggest prerequisites for success in any endeavor are that you must be moved, committed, and determined to accomplish the task. And as important, you have to do the work that is required to get there. For me, getting a handle on my physical state is part of that work.

I am a big believer in finding inspiration in others, which always helps me to get started on the task at hand. For bigger life questions, I look to people who expect more out of life than to pass the time, standing still in a job for 8 hours a day for the best years of their life, until the time is up.

Chris Guillebeau is one such inspiration. Chris’s site is called The Art of Non-Conformity: Unconventional strategies for life, work, and travel. He recently wrote a report for which the timing, for me, could not have been better. He is no guru or prophet; he is simply an excellent writer who is striving to change the world by whispering the unheralded death of mediocrity through a global bullhorn.

With this, I identify.

Chris has published his manifesto which is entitled, A Brief Guide to World Domination (and other important goals): How to Live a Remarkable Life in a Conventional World. The report is spreading like wildfire thanks to a virtual army, myself included, who are enthusiastically fanning the smoke signals of change in a digital age.

Think Global, Act…Global?

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.�
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The message of World Domination is simple: Each one of us can live a remarkable life - we just need to choose to do so. Changing the world for the better does not have to be a product of circumstance. If you want to change the world, the most important thing to do, is to start.

But there is a catch.

If you aspire to greatness, you have to think on a bigger scale than you might be accustomed to thinking. In fact, you have to think of your impact for good on a global scale. Thanks to nearly instant, worldwide communication technology, stimulating positive change in global terms has never been more possible. The good news is that accomplishing your goals does not have to be at the expense of a greater good. In other words, you can do great things for the world while you accomplish your own goals. They are not mutually exclusive.

The bad news is, there is a whole system of conventional thinking that will tell you otherwise.

What are your dreams?

To determine our own goals and to live a life that our children and our children’s children will call extraordinary, Chris has distilled the process down to asking two basic questions that those of us who want more out of life have to answer:

#1: What do you really want to get out of life?

#2: What can you offer the world that no one else can?

The questions are simple, but for many the answers may not be. If you are one of the fortunate few who already know your life’s answers, my sincere congratulations. If you are one of the rest of us who are striving to figure this out, don’t panic. You’re not alone. But don’t analyze it too closely. The single greatest mistake that most of us make is not failing in the process; the critical error is never starting in the first place.

For me, the journey is underway. At the time, I didn’t even realize it was starting, but looking back, I’m now approaching month 7 of doing the work (with Almost Fit being the cornerstone), even if I don’t know where precisely my path is leading. I don’t have my final answers yet to questions one and two. But what I do know is they both involve work, trade-offs, and a willingness to sacrifice a degree of comfort for a while in favor of accomplishing truly great things.

The choice is yours - no strings attached

If you are interested in living a life that is remarkable, making changes that will ultimately benefit both yourself and others on a grand scale, and living a life that is uniquely your own, consider reading Chris’s manifesto. It is only 29 pages, it is without charge, and is well worth an afternoon of exercising your rods and cones.

I read it camping on the North Umpqua River.

To be clear, Chris is not selling anything; the manifesto, as I said, is free. There are no MLM schemes behind door number three and there is no commitment required, though I do recommend subscribing to his blog (I do). Operators are not standing by, and there is an unlimited digital quantity to go around, so take your time. This is simply the opportunity to read a thoughtful piece of work that may open your eyes to your own potential, and may spur you on to achievements that you did not think were possible for an army of one.

One last thing…

Chris is a busy guy. In addition to reading the posts on his site, I follow his broadcasts on Twitter. I love the sense of global connectedness I get when I read one of his messages about being lost somewhere in a province that I have no idea how to even pronounce. In fact, in a recent message, he was relieved to be in the familiar comfort of a major airport in Asia.

How many people from this country do you know who would say the same?

Ed. Note: This post took me a while to compose because it is important to me. I hope it sparked your interest. The photos, by the way, are all shots we took in Paris. If you enjoy Almost Fit, please consider subscribing or sharing the posts with your friends. Thanks.

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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……

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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.

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This is the second part in the series, “How I quit eating fast food”. If you think it might help others, please consider sharing it via Digg, StumbleUpon, or your favorite social media tools. Thanks. And don’t forget to check out part 3, “20 tactics to kill the fast food habit“.

“Just because it’s toxic doesn’t mean it’s not tasty.” - MastersInTheMaking.com

As I made clear in part 1, I think it’s fair to say that I have an issue or two with my lifelong personified compadre, Fast Food. That’s not to say that it’s my ONLY issue (oh and by the way, speaking of issues, a big “thanks” to the coiners of that ubiquitous ’80s phrase, “global thermonuclear war” for ruining my trust in humanity - Nice work), but in my opinion the fast food hang-up really does have the possibility of killing me in a hurried, greasy fashion.

And if I have one rule in life, it is that when I go, I do not want my mournful passing to be in any way associated with Grease. And thus why I am neither an auto mechanic nor John Travolta.

Further, to prevent a future experience that includes balloon-like medical devices being inserted near my nether-regions in an emergency effort to clear out my brittle arteries, I have quit frequenting fast food restaurants since the beginning of the year.

How am I doing it, considering I seem to get the hankerin’ for Kentucky Fried Chicken every few months as if there is some sort of time-release chicken nugget flavored tablet wedged somewhere in my right parietal cortex?

If you read nothing else, read this

In my opinion, there are very few things in life that you can give up permanently. Does fast food in all of it’s forms fit that category for me for all Eternity? I can’t say - I don’t wear that cologne. But for right now, I have decided to exclude it from my diet altogether (both fast food AND cologne) to allow myself to create the HABIT of eating better.

For me, the only way that I can do this is to say no to fast food completely. Who knows; at some point fast food may become “real food”…But from my vantage point today, I highly doubt it. For now, I’ve decided it doesn’t fit the current picture of my life.

In other words, giving up fast food is a reasonable goal for me, today. Where you draw your own line is, well, your own business.

How to quit eating fast food

There are three parts to this process for me: Educate, Decide, and Act. Read the rest of this entry »

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“Look, Dave, I can see you’re really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.” [2001: A Space Odyssey] - Sir Arthur C. Clarke [photo courtesy of FilmReference.com]

When it comes to losing weight, managing stress over the last several months has been my biggest challenge. While I’m still ahead of the game at 26 lbs for the year, my recent progress has really slowed. (You can read more about my progress in my most recent status report, “Forget Lassie - Simple Carbs are Man’s Best Friend“.)

While it is certainly true that daily stress might be more manageable if I were exercising regularly (without question), here’s the problem: So far I haven’t been able to find the motivation that gets me out in the cold and rain of a wet Oregon spring. I am eating well, and I think those habits that I’ve been working on have really paid off in the sense that I’m still losing weight slowly. However, until I get a better handle on the pressures of my current situation and make room for regular exercise, I don’t expect that my weight loss will be accelerated further than it’s current rate. I am certainly not giving up on finding a way out of my front door to go for a run; however, some bigger changes might be in order.

In doing some reading about the effects of stress, it’s clear that beyond inhibiting weight loss, prolonged stress can have real physical consequences. In Dr. Will Clower’s recent book, The French Don’t Diet Plan: 10 Simple Steps to Stay Thin for Life, he addresses some of the characteristics of a body under stress, particularly as they relate to the overproduction of cortisol.

Here’s a summary of some of the common effects:

• Muscles: Blood sugar levels stay at higher than normal levels, which ultimately leads the body to break down muscle tissue in a search for more energy.
• Immune system: Antibody levels decrease, T-cell response to infection is reduced, and white blood cell count is negatively impacted. Common sense says that if you are stressed for longer periods of time, you are more susceptible to illness. Science agrees.
• Bones: Calcium levels in bones drop over prolonged periods, and the ability for the body to absorb additional calcium is reduced.
• Heart: Basic heart performance appears to be reduced by the overproduction of cortisol as a result of prolonged stress; arteries are also negatively impacted in their ability to perform properly. The ratio of sodium to potassium begins to weigh in favor of sodium, which is thought to lead to high blood pressure.
• Central nervous system: Neurological hampering begins, with side effects that often include insomnia and depression. Migraine sufferers can move from an occasional migraine to chronic. Prolonged stress also increases muscle tension (this again is common sense), which increases fatigue, which in turn requires your body to seek out more resources for energy. Of great interest is recent research that links excessive stress to creating eating disorders.
• Weight: Hormones responsible for cravings to eat more are produced (presumably in its search for more energy), but the focus of the expenditure of that energy is typically in your extremities. Your digestive tract is the victim in this case, which may partially explain why ulcers were thought to be stress related. Essentially, you eat more but get less nourishment. What’s more, in recent studies it has been shown that stress hormones contribute to storing fat in your midsection, which is linked to higher risks for certain cancers and heart disease.
• Habits: Eating faster, eating more, making poor food choices, and eating out of necessity rather than pleasure become commonplace. We wind up treating food like gasoline - cheap and convenient, with the stopover to acquire it reduced to a mild inconvenience. Eating should be more than just a mild inconvenience.

Need I say more?

In our culture, we have been trained to look for solutions in the form of a product or a packaged plan. We are told that if we just wait long enough, we’ll soon have a miracle pill that will cure all that ails us. It could happen; certainly we are farther along that road than we were when Sir Arthur C. Clark wrote the words in the opening quote for this article. Sometimes, however, the answer is right in front of us, without a shipping and handling surcharge, or a computer trying to lock us out of the vehicle.

I am taking this week off work, hoping to recharge, catch up on rest, spend time with my wife and children, and reconnect with friends and compadres in the blogosphere. By the end of the week I expect to know what the next week will look like, but beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess, and I’m OK with that.

Stay tuned.

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One of my current favorite sites for quality health discussion is IowaAvenue (IowaAvenue.com). There are a lot of excellent contributors who have a passion for helping others through diet and exercise suggestions.

This morning I was reading one of their forum discussions and ended up identifying some of the core reasons why I’ve decided to try, once again, to head down this road to improving my health. My health has become increasingly important for a variety of reasons, not the least of which are my two children. Here’s what I said:

“My children have probably been my biggest motivator. My goals with respect to my children are to:
- Help them to grow up with better habits than our culture encouraged when I was growing up so that they don’t have the same obstacles to weight management that I do (less TV, little if any fast food, exercise for fun, etc.)
- Set the right example in eating well
- Be able to play with them on the living room floor, or run around with them outside without risking a heart attack
- Be physically comfortable with myself so that they don’t pick up on my insecurities, and make them their own
- Be around long enough to see them find their own path, and hopefully be part of that.

The second part of my motivation, sad to say, is fear…I have diabetes on both sides of my family, heart disease on both sides, and a history of cancer on both sides. So far, I’m fine. But that will change if I don’t.

The third part is more selfish — I know that with a history of diabetes, I am doomed to have to give up the foods I love sooner or later if I don’t adjust my habits. I think I can stave off the onset of diabetes with diet and exercise, at least for a while, which means I still get to eat those foods - but in moderation. So far so good.“

I stand by these motivations, and think that they are all sound reasons to change my life for the better.

In some ways I was extremely lucky growing up - I didn’t develop any substance addictions like smoking or alcoholism, a fact for which I am very grateful to my parents for having guided me away from such things. However, I have developed an emotional addiction to fake foods that I believe have the potential to shorten my life. I believe that if I can get a handle on the healthful habits of good food in moderation, combined with working on the emotional aspects, I will finally, finally succeed.

There are of course no guarantees in life, but I’m doing what I can to increase my chances of being around for a while. Hopefully, a very long while.

What motivates you to improve your health?

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