When starting this journey of change for fitness or nutrition here are 7 questions to ask yourself. This can also be applied to any area of your life not just with fitness or nutrition or better health.
2. Affirm yourself in reality. Where is your body now, where do you want to be. How long did it take to get this current body???
A lot of people who start a weight loss journey will do so with a certain image of themselves in mind already.
Most people had a previous body that they had when they were younger as we are not born overweight or obese. ‘I want that again' they will say.
However, a lot of things have changed. In order to get there you have to take certain steps. In some cases you may have to accept the fact you may never get back there– in most cases this is mostly a mental hurdle rather then ‘is the body capable'?
The first step is actually taking a good hard look at where your body is. Down below is a good action plan to get yourself back to health.Â
Take a photo with no shirt for guys and a sports bra for women. As minimal clothing as possible here. Pictures don't lie. A lot of times when someone starts getting overweight or obese they don't like seeing pictures of themselves– this is the start. You must accept the fact that you need to do something, otherwise it will just get worse and worse. I know for me, I rarely have any pictures of myself when I was the 222 pound me. The below one is like one of 3 š
Take your measurements. Below is a video of the areas we always measure for a transformation challenge. The areas are
Neck
Chest
Arm (dominant)
waist
hip
thigh
calf
Numbers don't lie. Waist is the most important number here. Belly fat is the worse fat we can have. Not only the subcutaneous fat that you can see on the outside, but even worse then that is the visceral fat stuck around the organs.This is the most inflammatory fat. So even if someone is a ‘normal, healthy weight' they still could be TOFI- Thin on the outside, fat on the inside. Waist should be below 40/35 for man and woman, otherwise you have one of the markers for metabolic syndrome–which you do not want.
Get your blood markers tested. Here we go again with numbers. Some people can feel fine but the numbers don't lie. The most important tests for health are below
Cholesterol Particles Test- Total cholesterol is a worthless number–unless it's too low. I consider too low under 200. And under 250 for someone who is over 60. There is good LDL and bad. The bad is hard dense. The good is large fluffy. So we need to know what percentage of each you have to determine if you are healthy or not. I just had mine done in October 2017 and my total cholesterol was 258 but the vast majority was the large fluffy kind. My cholesterol presentation can be seen here.Â
Triglycerides- TG's are an independent risk factor for every single disease you never want to get. A better way to tell if you are at risk for heart disease or stroke is Triglycerides/HDL ratio. It should be under 2.00 and the closer to 1 the better. If it's over 2 then you need to make lifestyle changes today. Mine was .41, the year before it was like 1.16. If your TG's are over 150 then you are eating too many carbs and processed foods. I say it's better to have it under 100 for ultimate health.
Fasting Insulin
Fasting blood sugar- 100 or under is normal. 110-125 is pre-diabetic. Over 125 is…….take a guess š
Vitamin D- between 70-100. This is deficient in over 80% of the population in the US. It is basically a precursor for every single thing in your health that you want to improve. You want to take it with vitamin K2, however if your cholesterol is low then vitamin D doesn't matter; cholesterol is the precursor for vitamin D……Interesting…….
Magnesium levels-– Magnesium is involved in more then 300 processes in the body.
C-Reactive Protein- Basically a marker of inflammation in the body. Inflammation opens you up to every disease or pain you will ever experience in life.
HbA1C- some people put more stock in this. It is meant to be an average of your circulating blood sugar for 3 months. However in healthy people the numbers could be inflated. However if you have weight to lose and you are not at your ultimate body composition then this number is good to know. We can see from the numbers if you are consuming too many carbs and processed carbage.
Set your goals.Goal help here. If you don't set goals for the specific areas of your life you will never improve. Simple enough. This ties into the WHERE DO YOU WANT YOUR BODY TO BE part of this blog. Set up a short-term, medium-term, and long-term. Check out the goal help link above or check out my mindtamer program.Â
Pick your help. What workout program will you do? Are you even healthy enough to start one? What nutrition program will you start with? What doctor will you use– what is their philosophy on nutrition— do they prescribe drugs over nutrition????—then it's time to find a new one. Do your research on everything. Every workout program is not the same—- the trainers of that program need to mesh with you as well. My programs are all listed below.
Reset your mind. Probably the most important part of all of this. Most people fail because they are going into their journey with the same mindset that got them in trouble. You have to become an expert on you and your body. Nobody cares as much as you. Finding your Why is something that is huge for this as well. Why are you doing this? I created a document that ties more into my online superfoods business but everything still applies to mindset and creating the strongest one possible for this journey. You can check it out here.
Remember this is a journey. You did not get where you are overnight, and you will not return to health overnight.
The main goal is not weight loss. EVER!!!!!
Even if you have 100, 200, or 300 pounds or more to lose. It is always health. Get healthy. That is when life changes. Energy, weight, body fat, blood markers, etc……all normalize when you get healthy. A diet is not healthy. Working out 7 days a week for 1-2 hours a day is not healthy. FOCUS ON HEALTH!!!
Hi! Iām a friend of Rae Bunyak. I would love to receive some information about times, cost and your location.
Thanks for your help.
Miranda, we have a couple different starting points.
We always recommend starting with a success session with me: https://improvementwarriorfitness.com/success-session-registration-form-hilliard-oh/
You can find our pricing and other FAQ’s here: https://improvementwarriorfitness.com/services/group-personal-training-improvement-warrior-fitness/faq-large-group-fitness-improvement-warrior-fitness/
If you have additional questions please email or call JasonYun@ImprovementWarriorFitness.com 614-304-1426