Friday Fun(d) - My (non-FDA approved) health regiment
Welcome to Friday đȘ
Similar to a lot of people, the pandemic made me reexamine my lifestyle choices. The next action after questioning your lifestyle is looking for answers. Many people will try and tell you how to live your life, as social media has built its foundation on this. While I am never going to be of âinfluencerâ status, I continually look to provide useful content that you can use if needed. So here is my outline of some daily lifestyle routines that I have built.
Also, here is to the USA getting 14.5 points and bringing home the Ryder Cup!
My (non-FDA approved) Health Regiment
Your genetics load the gun. Your lifestyle pulls the trigger.
-Dr. Mehmet Oz
There are a few themes I've picked up on as a single guy begrudgingly going out in Nashville. First, it's tough meeting girls in a party city where everything/everyone is always on notch 10. Second, it's especially tough when every guy standing around me is jacked with perfect tans and arm sleeve tattoos. Meanwhile, Mr. Accountant/Writer over here wants to know your thoughts on tech trends or the Democrats' proposal to raise the debt ceiling - not really, but kind of.Â
I say that to say Iâm exhausted of the perfect image or social fabric that society demands from us. It pierces our eyes everywhere we look. Since I am your typical 8-5 working American, I don't have time - quite frankly, I don't know how anyone has time - for the glamorous body lifestyle. So I developed a system that doesn't involve ridiculous hours at the gym, mass lifestyle changes, substance intake, or any ridiculous social media-induced theories. In saying that, I recognize I found a system that works for me and might not work for you. If that's the case, I hope this sparks your imagination of making lifestyle changes.Â
Without further ado, I call this system The Daily â Lifestyle. It is centered around completing two out of the following three essential tasks every day:
Exercise
Eat well
Sleep 7 hours
For example:
If I sleep 7 hours and eat healthily, then I can skip the gym.
If I hit the gym and get some good sleep, I can grab a late-night Sonic Blast for a movie.
If I eat well and exercise, I can moonlight a few extra hours for a project.
The backbone principle of The Daily â Lifestyle is keeping the system simple. When you overcomplicate things, it becomes exponentially more likely you will not continue. With that in mind, here is a little more detail on how I practice each of the three:
ExerciseÂ
Aside from keeping it simple, the habit I practice in fitness is baby steps. I recently spent a week with my 9-month-old niece on vacation, and she is so close to taking her first steps. I kept thinking about how sore she must be every morning trying to build the muscles in her legs to walk. Similar to how babies don't immediately get up and walk, you're not going to be able to run a mile today if you have not done cardio since Facebook was popular.
I broke my wrist in the summer of 2019. After spending 11 weeks in a cast, my arms would shake pressing a 10-pound dumbbell. It is two years later, and I can maybe max press a 65-pound dumbbell. Sure, that's progress, but I've intentionally made it a gradual process. You can't run a mile today, but you can run to your mailbox and back. Then, the next day, you can run to your neighbor's mailbox and back. Until, and I don't care if it takes a year, you can eventually run around your neighborhood.Â
As far as getting the motivation to do it? I used to hate any sort of fitness. I'm lucky to have a high metabolism because I was so lazy in high school and college. For me, I realized after a long day of class or work, rarely would I spend my remaining day at the gym or running. If I was going to be active, it had to be in the morning. So I bought a physical alarm clock and set it on the other side of my room. Every morning, I have to get up and turn it off. From there (naturally, after I jump back in bed as quickly as possible), it's a mental battle of convincing myself to get up. And I do that every day.
Exercise is similar to when I began to write. At first, I needed to write every day to stick with it. Otherwise, I would constantly find alternatives to not write and push it off until I ultimately quit. Now, I enjoy writing and can pick it up and put it down however I please. Exercise is the same way; it's about building the habit. Now, I don't have to go to the gym every day. I've found joy in various fitness activities, so I know I'll be back.Â
A few other tips:
Injuries absolutely suck. On the one hand, medical bills aren't cheap. On the other, nothing puts you in a funk quite like having a nagging injury. That's another reason why I take the baby step approach to anything strength training.
The only reason you should join a gym is that it's convenient for you. Any other reason and you won't go.
I would highly advise building a cardio habit before any sort of strength training. You want your heart to be healthy at 60, not your triceps.
Your body is different from the person who is, quite literally, built different. I can't stress this enough⊠Go at your own pace.
Diet
This is the area that people diabolically overcomplicate to crazy extremes. Again, you have to keep it simple. The quintessential element of your diet is... If you buy it, you are going to eat it. Sure, I want every packaged item in the grocery store, but I don't buy them because I will eat them. Start ordering your groceries online if being in a grocery store makes you grab things, or if you can't control that, get a friend to order them for you. Whatever it takes.
I have not tried any crazy dietary regimens, but I'm sure there are several great ones out there. All I know is crazy diets can complicate many situations that shouldn't be stressed over. Not to mention, people will go to bizarre lengths to keep their eating habits. As evidence, there are more than 40,000 different dietary supplements! And those are only the ones approved by the FDA.Â
Diet is all about controlling what you can control. And do you know what I can't control? Inhaling six cookies if they are available. You know what I can control? Not spending my hard-earned money on them.
A few other tips:
The biggest meal Americans eat consistently is dinner. "Well, actually, breakfast is supposed to be your biggest meal." Well, it's not. Breakfast and lunch have to be small because dinner is almost always large.
If you eat well on your own dime, then you can afford to indulge when it's on someone else's dime. And there is nothing better than pigging out on a free meal.
Budget Bytes is life-changing and will give you easy-to-cook meals with simple ingredients. Also, it will price everything out for you.
Grow up and learn to like fruit
Sleep
Out of the three, this is the category where I consistently come up short (so I eat well and exercise!). I don't really have much to say other than I take the route of sleeping the bare minimum hours (6-7 hours). While it might be the most important of the three (according to Harvard Business Review, it's more important than food), we still have to get up and get stuff done. Â
Don't get me wrong, when I'm on the side of 6 hours of sleep, I'm exhausted. This leads to bad habits of caffeine consumption (coffee). But, overall, I find myself tired at 3:00 p.m. regardless of if I slept 10 hours or 6 hours. So I choose to drag myself out of bed.Â
A few other tips:
Actually, put down your phone before bed. I do it too much, but the few times a week I choose not to look at my phone before bed, it's my best sleep.
Try and not get worked up about anything. Anytime I'm nervous, sad, excited, etc., my mind races, and I can't sleep. There are many good calming Youtube videos I watch or simply read a book before bed to clear my mind. 10x easier said than done.
Maybe if I write this down, I will do it more consistently, but I try and pray every night. Try the baby steps method if you struggle to pray; it never has to be anything elaborate.Â
Finally
This is my first "self-help" piece. I found it easy to write, as I am simply iterating how I live. Because of this, I know that my lifestyle contains unreasonable expectations of some people (thus, most self-help material is garbage). With that in mind, my hope was to convey this lifestyle in a non-braggadocious way. It's changed my life and Â
The number one thing to remember is any goal is obtainable. The hardest part is keeping it simple and gradually pulling it out of yourself. It's going to take time.