4100weeks

7 habits to help you lose weight and keep it off

A recent Harvard Medical School article presented the 7 habits to help you lose weight and keep it off. Here's an overview . . .

1. Set small, specific, and realistic goals.
Start with a goal of losing 5% to 10% of your weight, and give yourself plenty of time and some flexibility to reach that goal.   

2. Start self-monitoring.
Write down what you eat and how much you exercise so you can see where you need to improve and better understand calories in and calories burned.

(caloriecount.about.com provides a free full calorie counter database with nutrition data for thousands of foods and recipes. It’s easy to use, helps you map out goals and gives you a great snapshot of your daily eating habits.)

3. Find a support network
Find at least one weight-loss buddy for motivation and accountability

4. Energize your exercise.
Try a new form of exercise. It keeps you challenged and less likely to become bored.

5. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep.
Inadequate sleep can lead to weight gain. Waking up feeling groggy and grouchy? You need more sleep.

6. Eat breakfast — slowly and mindfully — every morning.

7. Monitor and modify your screen time.
Not enough time to exercise? Keep track of your screen time (computer & TV) and scale back

 

What's your idea?

Do you have an idea for a business, but don't know how to take the next step? Check out Ahhha. You can submit ideas to the site and Ahhha's community votes on it. The best ideas bubble up to the top, and are given funding or connections to make the project a reality. A 74 second animated clip on the main web page gives you an overview of how it works. 

According to Matt Crowe, Ahhha founder, the link between idea and execution is what's really missing in most peoples' lives.

A challenge for you

 

artwork by Hugh MacLeod - gapingvoid.com

Facing life, and death

“And I just want to encourage people, and inspire them to look at life in that way that they do have control about the way they view every day.” -- Nick Charles, CNN's first sports anchor.

 

 

Simplify your life

I just rediscovered an old article from Fast Company magazine (1998) that I feel is still very applicable, and a must read. Titled Keep it Simple, the article has some great steps you can follow to simplify your life and make more time to do the things you most enjoy doing. Here is an outline of the steps to simplifying your life . . . 

1. It's about time - creating more time, on the job and at home, to do the things you want to do.
2. Less is more - the less you take on, the more time you create.
3. Just say no - No one can maintain more than three priorities . . . so if you have a career that you care about, and a family, that leaves one more priority. 
4. Possessions are nine-tenths of the problem - we all have lots of stuff, and we work to pay for the stuff. 
5. What really matters is . . . what really matters - many people don't know what they want to do. It's often easier to keep doing what we know we don't want to do, or don't mind doing. Simplifying your life frees up time for you to figure out what really matters.