I know that as we enter a New Year a lot of people make resolutions. Statistics show that most New Year's resolutions have to do with health, weight, or fitness. Unfortunately most of the time we fail to keep these resolutions for more than a month.
Of all the blog posts I have done, the ones that I discuss my fitness journey are by far the most popular. (Here are links to a couple of past posts. Let's Talk About Health. Let's Get In Shape) I'm pretty sure that's because deep down all of us want to be more healthy.
When it comes to my health I am constantly trying to improve and learn more. This is one of the reasons that I am constantly changing my workout routines.
A couple of months ago I had a routine blood test which came back showing elevated liver functions. Upon my Dr.'s advice I stopped taking my statin medicine, and also many of the supplements I was taking. I was re-tested a month later and my liver functions were back within the normal range. But to my amazement (and discouragement), my overall cholesterol was 200. On the statin drugs my cholesterol had dropped to 128.
What does all that mean? Well, it means even though for the past 20 months I had exercised religiously 6 days a week, and had eaten exactly what the Dr. had told me and yet, literally nothing had changed as far as my overall cholesterol.
This led me to more research about alternative ways of eating that could actually work for me. For the last several weeks I have been eating a cross between The Paleo diet and the Primal Diet. The common thread between these two diets is that they are extremely "clean" ways of eating and encourage the eating of meats, fruits, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables, and discourage the eating of sugar (and sugar substitutes), dairy, processed foods, legumes, and grains.
In addition to those changes I have also changed up my workout routines a bit. I won't list my routines in detail but they consist of 2 times a week doing High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). The best part of my HIIT routine is that it takes 22 minutes to complete (half of that time is resting) yet it is amazingly effective. The other 4 days are a combination of some P90X routines and more conventional weight training, and a day of rest.
Since making these changes I actually feel like I am taking my fitness to a new level. I have more energy, and I have more options on the menu to choose from.
I talk to people all the time that say to me, "I could never do what you do. I don't have the self-discipline." While it's true that it takes self-discipline, I believe the most important thing is motivation. When you get motivated enough, you will make changes. For me, it was the diagnosis 21 months ago that I had blockages in my heart. That got my attention, and motivated me to get serious about my health.
Let's resolve to stick to our fitness goals in 2013!
