For this blog post, I decided to take a small break from my Twitter Client for Mac tutorial series and discuss something a little more useful š . I felt that a fitness post would be most appropriate around this time of year as all of our āGeek Gutsā begin expanding.
Itās December 23rd and as we gear up for Christmas, we are also compiling our New Yearās resolutions. And Iām sure that on most peopleās (especially us computer geeks) lists is something related to weight and a healthy lifestyle. So, I wanted to discuss a little bit about how I made fitness a priority in 2010 and how you can too in 2011.
I began my fitness journey at the beginning of 2010 where I weighed in at 185 lbs and had 19% body fat. Now, I am in not way saying that I was a thick dude. I have been blessed with a stellar metabolism, but I definitely didnāt look āin shapeā. More importantly I didnāt have a clue about living a healthy life style. Being a geek, I sat for hours at my desk every day, eating quick foods and drinking soda.
One night, I saw a commercial for the fitness program P90X and was actually very intrigued. Donāt worry, Iām not including any affiliate links or things of that sort, so please donāt think Iām trying to sell you on something. Needless to say, I went on YouTube to find out just how legit this program was. After some browsing, I was quite impressed and inspired. It seemed that after 3 short months (seriously no time), people had changed their entire life around in terms of health and fitness.
So, I did what any geek would do and took a visit to the Bay and acquired a copy from some Pirates. After checking out the program for a week or so, I was hooked and decided to go legit and purchase a copy. Within 3 months, I began to absolutely LOVE exercising, in fact I became a little addicted to it :/ . I learned how to track what foods I was intaking as well as replaced much of the crappy liquids I was drinking with water.
After completion of the program, I was down to 163lbs with a 12% body fat and have been exercising since. Iām not posting photos because I feel that would be in bad taste. Check out others on YouTube.
Now, this is a really lengthy intro (kind of sounds spammy too, sorry), but the point is, itās not hard to get into a healthy routine. I have talked to tons of people about my ātransformationā (I hate this term), and almost every person asks me how I got started. Everyone either feels that itās too late for them, or they will start ātomorrowā. So, here is a formula for you lazy geeks (I can call you that because thatās what I was last year :))
Now, this is just the beginning. The biggest problem with diets/fitness programs/etc is people donāt look at them as a lifestyle change, they see them as temporary. People say crap like āI want to be XYZlbs or fit into a size Jā. Donāt do that! Sure these are nice goals to have, but DONT MAKE THEM THE REASON YOU EXERCISE AND EAT HEALTHY. If you do, you are just setting yourself up to fail. Exercise and donāt eat crap because you want to be healthy. Do it because you are sick of being tired and lethargic all the time.
Of course you would say thatā¦ I did too. Thatās why I love P90X. Itās only 1 hour a day and within that hour, you are told exactly what to do. I always felt that to exercise, I had to spend hours in the gym, running, lifting, blah blahā¦ No, one hour a day. I spend that reading Reddit. Get up an hour earlier, go to bed an hour later. Stop eating on your lunch break and exercise then. You can always eat at your desk when you get back.
So, you have decided that 2011 is going to be your year; you are going to get in shape. Here are a few tips to help you stay motivated.
To wrap this up, Iām not trying to sell you on P90X or any other fitness program. I just feel that it will be a killer start and give you all of the tools needed to launch into a healthier, more fit 2011. Also, you will start seeing results very quickly.
I hope you have enjoyed this post and I would LOVE to answer questions as well as point to more resources. I have linked all of the referenced resources below for you to check out.
ļ»æļ»æThis post is part of iDevBlogADay, a group of indie iOS development blogs featuring two posts per day. You can keep up with iDevBlogADay through the web site, RSS feed, or Twitter.