Food back up!

Simpleweight Food is back up and running.  Thanks again for your patience.

We’re in the process of rolling out some new features of the next couple of weeks.  So, we’ll do our best to minimize any downtime.  I’ll write a post with some details coming soon.

Thanks.

Simpleweight Food Being Worked on.

Hey Everyone,

We started upgrading some internal pieces of Simpleweight last night in anticipation of next update coming this month, May.

As a consequence, Simpleweight Food is down for the time being.

We will have it back up later today.  We apologize for the inconvenience.  Everything else should be working normally.

Thanks for your patience.  If there is something we can do to help you with your weight loss management, please let us know.

Warning: I’m going to make weight loss personal

I’m going to make this personal - I just wanted to warn you up front.

Have you ever noticed that when you make a commitment to someone important to you, that you do everything you can to hold yourself to that commitment. Be it your child, spouse, sibling, parents or just a good friend; when that commitment is made you do your best to keep it. You know that if you miss your commitment that you just let someone down who is important to you. Have you ever asked why that doesn’t work for yourself?

Think about it for a second. How many times have you made a commitment to be more healthy? And how many times did you let yourself down? Aren’t you important to yourself? Shouldn’t you worry about how you feel when you don’t meet your own commitment?

Well, I’ve done it recently, and I think I know why. It’s easy not to hold yourself to something you haven’t openly stated. It’s even easy when you mention it in passing. Essentially we’re really not trying to make that commitment because we know it’s easier just not to do.

That ends today for me. Today I’m making a commitment to eating healthy for the next 30 days. In addition I’m going to maintain at least 3 workouts a week. I’m stating it here so that everyone can hold me accountable to my commitment to myself - including me!

Now you maybe saying - that’s great Ryan, but that’s not so hard to do. I agree, it really shouldn’t be, and to ensure I don’t fall short here is the list of items I won’t let get in my way:

• Managing a critical project work with ever ending impending deadlines
• Two extremely energetic young sons ready to wrestle me to the ground first foot through the door
• The fact child #3 is on it’s way
• My wife is on bedrest for preterm labor, and I’m responsible for cooking, cleaning, getting the kids up, and putting them down for bed
• My commitment to continuing development of simpleweight and all of you using our system! Our next release features a new look and feel, along with the beginnings of our social features

Now that’s just a few, I’m sure I could find more if I were looking. And by making this declaration, I’m not saying I’m going to ignore any of those other commitments - in fact I’m going to keep all those too. All I’m saying is that I’m making my health a priority again now too.

My current weight right now: 197.5 lb.

I’ll be posting updates between now and May 22nd, so please check back for my progress. But better yet - why not make your health your commitment too? Join me in making the commitment, who’s with me?

Photo Credit: Avocado via Flickr, by: miniteca

10 weight loss actions instead of reaching for food, and An Excellent psychological eating tip to overcome your emotional weight gain binges.

An excellent tip for overcoming your emotional weight gain binges:

Create a list of 50 things you can do instead of eating when you’re feeling in need of a boost.
Source: Think Slim: http://smallchange.typepad.com/thinkslim/2008/04/emotional-eatin.html

Often times,

• When we’re down, we reach for food.
• When we’re excited, we reach for food.
• When we want to celebrate, we reach for food.
• When we want to meet friends, let’s meet for dinner (we reach for food).
• When we’re sad, we reach for ice cream (food).

Here’s my suggestion:

Do not reach for food.

My friends who do not have weight problems or who are constantly in shape, they don’t do this. They don’t reach for food. They have built up mechanisms to curb their emotional eating.

Sometimes these weight management oriented friends:

1. Exercise or reach for the runners’ high
2. Have a big social open support network of people to call when the doldrums hit
3. Hike or camp
4. Garden
5. Clean the house
6. Rearrange the furniture
7. Heck, some even design/build furniture
8. Play a musical instrument
9. Write in a journal
10. Play a game

What’s the common thread among these slim friends?

They do anything and everything to try to involve physical movement with activities that are away from food.

In other words, my friends who have no problems with weight Do not reach for food.

I suggest we all could do like Think Slim Suggests: Make a list of 50 things we can do instead of eating when we feel we need a boost.

What do you do to overcome your emotional roller coaster?

---

One suggestion: Join the Simple Weight Loss Club today, and visit everyday.

---

3 funny motivational reasons to Lose Weight

Ways to stay motivated during weight loss.

On rainy days, like today in Chicago-land area, motivation can be fleeting. It seems to be common around the internet.  I’ve seen two or three posts today on how to fight doldrums, stay motivated, and be productive.

I ran across this rather funny take on motivation titled:  Decrease your Likelihood of Being Hit By a Meteor.

Here’s the top 3 funniest motivations for losing weight that I saw:

Reason #4: To Decrease your Likelihood of Being Hit By a Meteor
Reason #5: To Decrease Your Likelihood Of Being Eaten By Cannibals
Reason #8: Get Drunk Quicker

The post is funny, but a poignant reminder we have to constantly focus on our own motivation for managing our weight.

Some people have a very life or death reasons for weight gain or weight loss, cancer, heart issues, diabetes, bone structure, and many more.  The Doctor told them, you need to eat right and get in better shape or you will die. In that scenario, it’s a pretty compelling reason to change your habits. Other people don’t have that motivation, they might not see it that way, and only want to use fitness as a way to get more money, power, better looking, etc.

Regardless, whatever the motivation, The motivation has to be internalized. If the motivation is outward pressure from your boyfriend, husband, girlfriend, wife, mom, dad, children, dog, chicken, slug, or favorite trilobite, you will likely return to your normal habits. Repeat this to yourself: What is my motivation for weight loss? I have to find my own motivation.

NEXT ACTION:

Take 5 minutes to Breath, Close your Eyes, and Think: `What are my 10 motivational reasons for physical fitness?`. Write them down and revisit those motivating reasons everyday! Make sure your reasons are sustainable for a lifetime!

Tell me: What motivates you to maintain a healthy lifestyle?

---

Side note:

Ryan and I are in the middle of a simpelweight.com redesign and refresh. As I always ask, What is the number one thing simpleweight.com can do to help you with you achieve your physical fitness goals?

another side note: 3 other interesting articles.

The No-Diet Diet from Real Simple.

How zenhabits.net Leo is going to get in shape

Join Simple Weight for easy to use physical fitness tools.

---