For me, last year was The Year of Fitness. I spent all of 2010 focused on losing weight, building muscle, and generally improving my overall health. I had great success. And since the end of the year, I’ve managed to maintain my fitness with very little effort. (Meaning: I eat what I want — within reason — and I try to be active, including Crossfit workouts several times a week.)
That said, I feel like I’m still not exactly where I need to be. I don’t want to obsess over my weight, but I think ideally I’d be ten pounds lighter. Also, my flexibility sucks. It’s so dreadful that my doctor once told me, “You’re as flexible as a two-by-four.”
To that end, I’ve decided to spend two months making fitness job one again. During May and June, everything else takes a back seat to eating well and getting exercise. This is tough. Like everyone, I have a full schedule, and it’s difficult to squeeze in more time for exercise. But I’m going to do it.
Inspired by April and Sierra, I’ve started taking yoga classes to help with my flexibility. Now that the sun is here, I’m trying to walk three to eight miles per day. (Today, I may bike instead.) And I’m doing more yardwork, too. Plus, I’m diligently tracking my calories again.
My goals for May are to get my weight below 170, to drop my body fat below 23%, to boost my muscle mass over 37%, to burn more than 3000 calories per day, to walk more than 10,000 steps per day, and to get more than 110 minutes of exercise per day (100 minutes of moderate exercise and 10 minutes of vigorous exercise). Each of these is ambitious but doable. The only question is: When will I write about money?
Speaking of money, here are some of my favorite articles from around the web over the past week:
First, the folks over at The Motley Fool (home of GRS writer Robert Brokamp) shared two words that will save your retirement. The Fool’s advice isn’t anything you haven’t already heard before. In fact, if you’ve been reading Early Retirement Extreme (as I have lately), you already know what the article is going to say: Earning more is great, but spending less is the best insurance you can give yourself. Really folks, personal finance actually is that simple.
My friend Neal at Wealth Pilgrim had the germ of an interesting piece last week. He addressed the question, “Should we sell our home and become renters?” People are surprised lately when they hear me say that if I could do it all again, I’d rent. But it’s true. Sure, renting has its disadvantages, but there are plenty of reasons to consider it, too. Neal looks at some of the pros and cons. (In fact, I wish he looked at them even more in-depth!)
Kiplinger has a round-up of fifteen websites for finding online deals. We’ve discussed many of these before, but it’s nice to see them collected all in one place. And if you’ve never looked at deal sites before, you’ll probably want to read the article to familiarize yourself with them.
Finally, despite some recent GRS posts questioning the minimalist movement, it still has a lot of draw for me. It’s not that I want to own nothing. I just want to own less. Because of this, websites like The Tiny Life appeal to me. The Tiny Life is a blog all about tiny homes and tiny living. Here’s a recent Portland news story about “micro homes”:
(This comment from YouTube makes me laugh: “Moronic and a sign of socialism and communism that is now HERE in America. This is a dream? THIS IS A NIGHTMARE.” I just do not grasp how somebody makes the leap from tiny homes to socialism. It makes my brain hurt.)
To me, the drawback of the tiny homes in this news story is the price. Roughly $150,000? Holy cats! Part of the appeal of a tiny house is the cost savings. There’s no cost savings there. Sounds like a racket for the developers to me.
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Do you have to go somewhere to work? Is it close enough to bike to? If you just bike there, you’ll get exercise, require your car less, and use time that would be spent sitting in your car for a good use.
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Good luck. I used the period of Lent, where I typically ‘give something up’ as a time to give up ‘being lazy’ which translated into working out regularly. That actually gave me the push to keep up with it. I wrote a few articles about the progress along the way. Now, the challenge is to keep up on the work I put in!
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JD,
Could you please write a post soon about why you’d be a renter if you could go back and do things over? I’ve read so many times about how you live in your “dream home,” so it would be very instructive to see what has changed your mind. I’m currently in a condo search, even though I have very reasonable rent in the exact location where I want to live, so I’d love to hear your perspective before I pull the trigger on a purchase! Thanks!
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Margot, for one thing, people change. This was my dream home in 2004. In many ways, it still is. But what I value now is not the same as what I valued then. (This is a huge point that happiness researchers try to make — it’s impossible for the Present You to know what the Future You will want and desire.)
I love the idea of a big yard, but the reality is different. I love the idea of an old house, but the reality is different. I’m not good at upkeep and maintenance. I live in my head, which means I tend to forget the chores I ought to be doing. It’s a problem. (I’m working to fix it, but it’s a problem.)
Plus, living sort of near Portland has made me realize that I’d really like to be living in Portland. I want to be able to walk and/or bike to everything. I do that some, but it’s a three-mile walk to the nearest town. It’s a ten-mile bike ride to my gym or into downtown. It’s a mile walk to the nearest grocery store. I do these things, but not as often as I’d like because the distances are too great.
Then there’s the cost. We paid a lot for this house, and continue to do so. We barely use the space we have. We’re two adults (and
fourthree cats) living in 1850 square feet on a lot that’s over half an acre. We have whole rooms we rarely use.We’re in no rush to relocate. (We might not relocate for a decade!) And Kris loves the yard. It’s her pride and joy and her favorite hobby. Not to mention that our cats live in a feline paradise. But if it were only up to me, we’d rent (or possibly buy) a small apartment or condo closer in to Portland.
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Great input JD. Thanks for sharing.
I currently rent in a condo across the street from work, the commute is ideal to just about everything (gym, friends, work, grocery store) and my car collects dust in the parking garage as it should–tho I need it for trips to the suburbs to visit family as once there the public transit is subpar.
My “dream home” is a townhouse within a 20-25 minute walk to work with a fireplace, mutliple floors (more than 1), 3 bedroom and 2 bath and somewhere about 1200 square feet. Unfortunately, this is a $550-600k house where I live and until I get married or save a 30-40% downpayment, this is out of my price range.
But in the meanwhile, I have no problem renting!
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It’s good to be content with your current situation!
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Great comment JD, I have similar mixed feelings about living in the suburb I was born and raised in or moving more towards the city. And we just bought our place in 2009.
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Yes, we do change, as our desires and needs and dreams. Way to go, JD, on not blindly sticking to what you thought was your dream and recognizing downfalls – for you, which may not be for others. I owened houses twice (in Portland), and while the idea of a backyard and a garden is awesome, the truth is I am so busy with my daily life, gardening is never a priority, and everything dies eventually:) I like small because I don’t like to waste (space, money, utility, energy…) and I can easily find anybody. The downfall is as rarely as it happens, I do want to be alone once a month – and this is when a spare den would be nice. Next move:)
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One negative to consider with condo’s is the dues. It depends on the age of the unit. My MIL has a condo and even though it’s paid off, with utils and dues it’s $500 a month. She might as well be renting.
Although a good thing is that she’ll have equity. I doubt she would have saved the money over the years.
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Good luck on the fitness thing. I too have an incredible lack of flexibility. It is probably why I get injured so often. I have been really working on improving my flexibility diligently since the beginning of the year. I have made some progress but I have also had to come to terms with the reality that I will most likely never be flexible compared to most people. I am just not built that way. However, I am determined to become as flexible as I can within my bodies capabilities.
I have become a little obsessed with the tiny house idea recently. I don’t believe that I could ever live full time in one of the super tiny ones (the 60 sq. ft. houses you can pull on a trailer, for instance). But, I really do think I could be very happy in 600 sq. feet. I probably have to wait until the kids move out of the house and my newfoundland mix dog is no longer with us… so I have a number of years to find the perfect floor plan for my tiny house.
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I moved into a small house about a year and a half ago. About 450 square feet. Two kids, me and a cat. I love it. When I get home from work it is like walking right into a hug. Easy to clean, cozy. It is too small for the two kids, though, and therefore only temporary. But I realize how much I like a small house. If I doubled the square footage, it would really be ideal, especially if it had a basement and/or an outdoor shed for storage of things like bikes, sleds, etc. I definitely aim for a house of about 1000 square feet of living space. That would ideally add an extra bedroom and one other room, a dining room or a family room. The only things I miss are room for a desk (I am a student and am doing a great deal of writing and researching, kitchen storage space and room for a piano/keyboard and a work in progress kind of room that the kids can leave messy with paint. legos, etc. If I lived alone, this house would be absolutely ideal.
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JD-
I love your blog!
I know you won’t listen but you work WAY too hard at losing weight. Do yourself a favor and spend an hour reading “Why We Get Fat” by Gary Taubes. I’ll buy it for you if you promise to read at least some of it.
Either way, thanks for the work you do and good luck with your fitness goals.
Darren
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I have a good friend who is very into Taubes. Plus, he’s like a Crossfit dietary hero, right? I’m familiar with his work, but haven’t read it. I do own Why We Get Fat, though, and it’s on my list of books to read when I get some free time. Actually, why don’t I commit to reading it during our upcoming weekend trip? Let me put a deadline on it: I’ll read the book during the month of May.
I actually don’t think I work that hard at getting fit. I exercise a lot, sure, but I also eat a standard American diet much of the time, which is why I stay in one place. When I actually focus on my diet and fitness together, the pounds come off with relative ease. I just have to find a long-term strategy that lets me meet my goals without being too restrictive.
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Dude, if you need to increase your flexibility I highly recommend you read Pavel Tsatsouline’s “Relax Into Stretch”. Great book, often hilarious, and great exercises. The guy was a Soviet commando, and since you’re into Crossfit, this book should appeal to you, perhaps more than yoga (I like yoga exercises ok but dislike the whole “namaste” vibe).
Also, if you tend to put on weight in spite of regular exercise I’d recommend you cut down on starches. No need to go full Paleo, but if you limit your starches for post-workout meals you’ll see a huge improvement. Eat veggies instead!
I gained 25lbs over the winter from eating stuff like oatmeal, rice, beans, bread and (best of all) crepes. I blame rice most of all. Then I lost the same amount since the end of March by cutting those things out, with no exercise. I only eat corn (whole kernel, not corn flour) or the occasional banana in the morning. Best of all, no loss of muscle mass since I eat lots of protein at frequent intervals.
Just give it a shot and see what happens.
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JD,
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I can see what you’re talking about regarding Present You and Future You. In parts of my life, I try to survey the mass culture and then avoid doing lots of things that most people do and later undo. For example, my current plan is to avoid ever buying a giant house. I look around and see how so many people upscale to a giant house and then fill it with stuff. And then they get older and purge all of their stuff and buy a 1- or 2-bedroom condo. So, despite the pull of lifestyle inflation, I’m going to try to never buy a huge space and not buy a bunch of stuff that I’ll later purge. My condo search is for a 2-bedroom condo or a 1-bedroom with den. And if I ever have a child, I’m sure I’ll sometimes want more space. But then I’ll remind myself that 90% of the world thinks my space is enough room for 10 people, let alone 3, and I’ll suck it up and go on with things. And having less space will help me avoid buying so much baby crap that a baby who is too young to even retain memories has a room full of possessions.
I also see your points regarding urban living. I’m glad that urban living has come back into vogue and that condos are booming (though I suppose that’s making it harder for me to afford one!).
Thanks again!
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Interesting. I’d like more examples of things you’ve found that people often undo later.
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In the off-chance that it’ll get your attention, I’ll second the vote to read “Why We Get Fat”. Your body wants to be healthy, and it doesn’t require so much effort to get it there, once you figure out the not-so-secret secret and quit listening to ignorant nutritionists who tell you to eat fruit all day.
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$150k for those little houses seems like a very bad deal. Maybe its in a very trendy neighborhood or something? I can’t imagine why $150k for a tiny shack would be reasonable market value. I know Portland isn’t cheap but its not that expensive. Aren’t there condos or foreclosures people can buy for considerably less??
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You write about getting rich slowly, but that doesn’t mean you need to lose weight slowly! More time for exercise isn’t always necessary, if you make better use of the time you do have. In fact, Taubes says exercising is a waste of time because you’ll probably, at best, just break even by eating. Rather, focus your time on getting your diet automatic, and then add exercise. Tim Ferriss also recommends diet before exercise, and his slow-carb diet is very easy to follow, and effective.
And, at the risk of information overload, but with the benefit that you’ve probably not heard of this one, check out musclehack.com, which offers two different diets as well as weight lifting regimes. The musclehack blog is a wonderful source, run by a fellow full-time blogger.
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Grant,
Right after I hit the Submit button I realized that I forgot to write something like this. “Hacking” works for not only getting rich slowly but for lots of stuff…I’m guessing pretty much everything. The difficult thing is learning hacks fast enough! Thanks for posting this idea!
Darren
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WRT fitness, The best thing I’ve done is join a team. I don’t know how it works for running teams, or tennis teams, but my inline hockey team really encourages me to 1) show up, and 2) work hard. It doesn’t really feel like work, except the getting there, and getting the equipment on.
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I totally agree. I’ve replaced all my “working out” with sports. It’s just so much more fun that it no longer feels like work. And hockey is probably one of the hardest all-round (strength, power, flexibility, thinking, agility, dexterity,…) sports there are.
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Those are some ambitious exercise goals, J.D. Personally I’m going to do a bit of an exercise focus too when I get home from vacation, but I’m just going to shoot for 7 hours/week of exercise and hitting 160 lbs and then staying under 165 (I usually do this, but I was at 163 when I left and I’ve done a lot of eating on this trip, so I want to make sure I’m not falling behind). I feel like I’m keeping on top of things if I see the scale hit 159 every once in a while instead of slowly inching up from 161 to 162, and then 162 to 163…
I want the 7 hours/week thing to be permanent, or at least “seasonally permanent” for the summer months.
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Whenver I workout, I think about how many calories that i can burn from the workout
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I’m taking 3 months off to hang out with the baby and my fitness has gone completely downhill. I usually go to the gym at work during lunch 4-5 times a week and now the only weight I’m lifting is the baby. That’s pretty heavy and getting heavier though so it is a workout. Now that the weather is getting nicer, we’re going out for more walks. Those small houses sounds expensive. If they are in inner Portland, I guess it’s justified. Makes me want to buy a little plot and put down a tiny house or two.
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How do you manage to save money and still take yoga classes? where does that fit into your budget? I personally enjoy weightlifting and my extra cash goes into gym fee, gear and supplements. The thing is I’ve been trying to keep my muscles fed without blowing my budget. Hey maybe somebody could write that.
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Here in Toronto those little houses would be $400k. It’s all relative.
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J.D. if you ever decide to rent, I have a house with a tenant from hell that I’d love to get rid of…so yeah I have a place for you.
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I’m going to be doing a marathon this year. Just started training!
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JD I owe you a thank you. You’ve written several times about focus. Last November I declared 2011 to be my Year of Fitness. I started November with the Couch to 5k program and was running 3 solid miles 5 days a week by January. I took the first three months of this year to focus on physical therapy to fix some strength and alignment problems which were affecting my knees and now I’m up to 5 miles. I lost the fat I wanted thanks to the running.
In April I decided it was time to add some strength work and your posts about Crossfit really hit home with me. One of our local affiliates ran a women’s boot camp to introduce the fundamentals and get women started in a supportive environment. This week is my first week of attending the group classes after graduating boot camp and joining the gym. I’ve already started to see gains in my performance and am really enjoying the variety.
So thanks for the inspiration for both the focused intensity on achieving one goal at a time and for helping me discover Crossfit.
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I too want to say that the focus thing is a great idea. I’ve been saying for a year now that I want my “focus” to be getting back in shape, and I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working.
Now that I think about it, the reason it wasn’t working was because my “focus” was really on finishing my master’s degree. As much as I said I wanted my focus to be fitness, my degree took up pretty much all my free time. Now that I’m just waiting on the results of my final exam to get my degree, I can actually make fitness a focus in both my words and my actions
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I love exercise, pure and simple. I don’t need to replace it with sports as many suggest, probably because exercise as a word stirrs up some high school emotion? I love goals, exercises, hard workouts, tough yoga classes (with not much Namaste), and the weight stabilizes. But at the same time, I’ll be the first to say no amount of exercising can outsmart bad diet (or bad eating habit, if this is another word that scares). I agree with those who dabble into Paleo – no need to be strict, but surely adhering to main principals had showed me that this is where I fall when loose focus.
I say be bold, reach out, change whatever you want and make things happen. Way to go!
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J.D., this is so timely for what I’m working on too! I like your approach to make fitness the priority for two months.
I’m getting back into running again and it seems daunting to me as I figure out how to fit it in. For me, it comes down to priorities though. I’ll have to shift to the mindset for the next two months to making my fitness a priority. My mind is always more clear when I exercise so maybe I’ll be more effective during my work hours. I can hope
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I love the little condo idea! There’s a great condo building right in my neighborhood with really useful ground floor retail, on the major bike route through the neighborhood, and I daydream about it – we’re in a similar situation with an old house and a big yard. I don’t like mowing or fixing gutters!
But, as a bike-dependent person, I would want a garage. Our 3-person family has 6 bikes (gotta have one to ride while the other is in the shop, right?) plus a cargo trailer, a kid trailer, and a trail-a-bike. They take up the space in our garage where a car would go, and I don’t want to store them outdoors or in the living room.
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Here’s another vote for “Why We Get Fat”. Don’t count calories! Just cut out the grains and sugar and cut down on the chronic exercise!
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It’s good to know your values. I personally love having a home. For my husband and I we both like “city life” (being close enough to walk to things) AND having a home (being able to fix things up without waiting on the landlord to do it half-assed, decorate without having to worry about repainting or filling in nail holes, garden without having someone mow your flowers down). So, we got a smaller home but one that is in a very walkable location. Yes it would be nice to have a slightly bigger house with a bigger backyard, but we are within walking distance to children’s parks and a campus with jogging path so we joke those are our “backyards”.
As far as the input into diet and exercise, I’m not the one to ask. I think people are way too preoccupied and obsessed with “diets”. Think about the way Europeans eat and live. Keep busy, love your body, love and respect the food you eat. That’s all.
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PS- I don’t want to start a flame war, and maybe everyone’s built differently, but I have lots of “carbohydrates” in my diet (i.e. healthy whole grains with fiber b vitamins and yes calories) don’t eat much meat, but don’t eat a low fat diet either (love using olive oil when cooking). I’m in my 40′s weigh in my 120′s am healthy and yes eat dessert every day. I never feel deprived so I don’t binge on bad stuff. On the other hand the people I know going on these high meat and fat diets lose weight when they are on them, but then fall off and gain back the weight if not more so. The high fat and meat diet to me just doesn’t seem healthy, especially when you consider how the rest of the world eats (who are not overweight and in many countries live longer than us). Sorry, carbs are NOT the bad guys. Eating crap food is.
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I’ll be joining your fitness bandwagon. I need to look at my diet as well.
I just took the plunge and bought a treadmill for myself and the DW. It gets excruciatingly hot here in Texas during the summer, and there are limited times when you are able to actually go out for a jog without suffering from dehydration or risking heat stroke during the summer months.
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JD – how are you counting calories? I use myplate at livestrong.com (http://www.livestrong.com/myplate/). Fantastic tool for tracking what you eat. Bonus points for tabulating all the main nutrients. You can easily see what % of your cals came from prot/carb/fat.
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“My goals for May are to get my weight below 170, to drop my body fat below 23%, to boost my muscle mass over 37%, to burn more than 3000 calories per day, to walk more than 10,000 steps per day, and to get more than 110 minutes of exercise per day (100 minutes of moderate exercise and 10 minutes of vigorous exercise).”
This reminds me of the kind of thinking that led me to an eating and exercise disorder.
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As far as tiny houses go, Tumbleweed houses are available around $40,000, less if you build it yourself. Definitely not $150,000! (tumbleweedhouses.com) My husband and I are looking at a Small House when we eventually want to stop renting.
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I just took the plunge and moved into a 280 sq ft condo with my girlfriend in San Francisco and we love it.
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JD,
Nice article. On the fitness/diet front, have you tried a loose vegan diet? 3 months ago, My wife and I cut out land animals and dairy of our diet. This caused us to eat far more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. My wife and I have lost a good amount of weight and no longer count calories. We have found it hard to actually eat high caloric meals without filling up first.
I say loose vegan, because we still eat fish and minor amounts of dairy. We aren’t doing it for animal rights reasons. We are more interested in living a healthier lifestyle.
We honestly don’t miss the land animals at all. The biggest change is getting rid of the cheese in our diets. Cheese is everywhere in our american diet. I never thought about how much until I gave it up.
Just thought I would throw in a suggestion that worked for me.
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