Making a Plan
I think being fit and healthy is important. We did a series last year about health. I often talk about how it is similar to getting your finances in order.
And yet I find it easy to optimise my finances and (so far) impossible to sort my health out in the same way.
I turned forty last year. In January, my weight hit 95kg. My smartphone tells me I am obese (not a word most people want to hear). The window for me to make permanent changes to my lifestyle and improve my fitness seems to be closing.
So once again this year I decided to get fit. Just for fun, I am also going to share my progress on the blog (because ten thousand people reading this might help with motivation).
I’m also going to try to use the principles that allowed me to get to grips with my finances. If you are a sleek, trim, money-wasting machine perhaps this post will be useful in that way. And if you are a lard-ass like me, maybe we can shape up together.
GET A GRIP ON THE CURRENT SITUATION
In terms of your finances, this would be figuring out how much money you have coming in and going out, and what you are spending it on.
In terms of my health, the following things are positives:
- I don’t smoke
- I don’t drink much (maybe once every couple of months)
- I generally only drink water and black coffee (no calories)
- I am somewhat active (walk a fair bit, use stairs, etc.)
- I eat somewhat healthy food (vegetables, rice, etc.)
- I seem to put muscle on fairly easily
- I have some knowledge about running, weight lifting, and diet
And the following are negatives:
- I have very high cholesterol
- I have so far failed to create consistent exercise habits (tend to do something for a couple of months)
- I overeat and have an unhealthy relationship with food
- I am borderline obese
- I don’t get enough sleep
- I spend too much time sitting in front of a computer
Not terrible, I guess. My first goals are to eat less and do more exercise (in terms of finance this might be spend less and make more money).
MAKE A PLAN
I’m going to start with some easy goals. Easy goals are good because they are easy and you have a good chance of making them into permanent habits. For finance an easy goal might be to save 10,000 yen a month into a separate emergency fund account.
For my fitness challenge, my first two absolute rules are:
- Walk at least 10,000 steps a day
- Don’t buy any snacks
I got a fitness tracker in the new year, and have been using it to keep track of the first goal. If I don’t have enough steps when I get home, I go and walk around the block a few times. Once I forgot to put the band on after showering in the morning, so had to do 9,500 steps when I got home! Not my finest hour.
The second goal is based on the idea of controlling your environment. It’s a bit like not going to shopping malls if you are trying to reduce your spending, or making a rule to wait a week before ordering something online. By not buying snacks I reduce the chances of my eating them (although note that this rule does not prevent me from eating snacks I am given, or that happen to be in the house).
I also have some supplementary but not compulsory rules:
- Do at least one set of bodyweight exercises (push ups, squats, plank) every day
- Do kettlebell swings in the evening unless the weather is terrible or I am not feeling up to it
- Don’t eat at night (I get home around 22:30-23:00, so eating then means I get to sleep very late). In practice this puts me onto an intermittent fasting timetable, with two meals at 11:00 and 18:00 or so.
The kettlebells are new for me. I quite like lifting weights, but find it almost impossible to drag myself to a gym regularly, and hate waiting for people to get off the squat rack. Kettlebells are an improvement because I can do them at home (well, in the play area outside the manshon), you can do them every day (I find it easier to do things every day than say three times a week, as the rule is clearer) and so far the effects seem to be similar (kettlebells weigh much less than barbells etc. but you swing them so they effectively weight much more when they are in motion).
I read Kettlebell Simple and Sinister, by Pavel Tsatsouline and picked up a 16kg kettlebell. So far I am liking it very much. The book is great, full of Russianisms like: “we do not tolerate weakness, so you do not have a weak hand and a strong hand. Instead, you have a strong hand and a stronger hand“. Tsatsouline is definitely hamming things up, but it makes for an entertaining read and he seems to know what he is talking about.
EVOLVE THE PLAN
Eventually I will increase the amount of daily steps, and once I have bought some new running shoes will run the remaining ones at night. I’ll also move the supplementary rules into the absolute rules section.
If you were working on your finances you might try to save more, or perhaps open a NISA or iDeCo account.
My eventual weight goal is to get under 80kg, and I hope to reach it before the end of August. When I made my plan I was 95kg, and this morning I was 92.1kg.
Wish me luck. I will post updates every so often.
How about you? Any fitness or money goals? Care to make some absolute and supplementary rules, as well as goals, in the comments?
Make sure you watch Dr Michael Mosely’s Horizon Programme, “Eat, Fast, and Live Long”. His book on 5:2 Diet is good too. I did it and lost 20 kilos over 4 months. My wife liked it as it was free. I still do it, every other week.
Interesting. I’ve tried IF before, but not the 5:2 diet. Seems very doable.
Hi Ben — Dave and I (now 43 and 49—birthdays in February) made a real commitment to fitness when we saw how our parents aged. 1 side–fit / walk/ go to the gym…. the other—10 years younger but CAN’T walk now because they WOULDN’T walk for so many years. We know which side we want to be like. So we put fitness into the schedule like work— public gym once a week for weights, soccer once a week for me (2 or 3 times for Dave) in addition to normal walking / bike riding. I want to add yoga (at home) and swimming (public pool) to our regime. Good luck to you and interested in seeing your progress.
Sounds like a varied and practical routine. I’d love to get into a yoga habit. Perhaps I will add it to my supplementary rules 🙂
“Simple and Sinister” was the routine I was doing when I completely blew my back out. Couldn’t walk for about a week. That was about a year and a half ago now and it is still not right.
I know a lot of people rave about kettlebell swings, but be careful man!
Thanks for the warning!
I’m not happy with my form yet, and won’t be using anything heavier than my 16kg until I can do 100 swings with perfect form…
Suspect it will take a while. Hopefully I won’t injure myself first 🙂
Every autumn, I sign myself up for half marathons. Did four last year. They are expensive about 5000yen a pop but they get me out running through the summer.
I like the idea of running distance races, but not the idea of doing them with thousands of other people.
I did a ‘virtual’ 42 km walk last year (I did it here in Japan at the same time my friends were doing the real one in London). Enjoyed it a lot and didn’t have to queue for toilets 😉
Yes, keeping active and eating good food is a no brainer.
I recently got the Apple Watch and the one thing I like the most is the way it keeps track of everything … like …. your exercise minutes, standing time and how much you move every. There are goals and it keeps track of it all, I can’t talk for other watches but the Apple Watch is much better than I expected, esp in this area
Ah, the Apple Watch. A friend of mine got one and raves about it: https://adrianleis.weebly.com/blog/apple-watch-activity-app
Someday I will be able to afford one 😉
Regarding Running think Barefoot Style. I’ve been running for 46 years. 2 years ago I changed from heel strike to forefoot. Totally different gait and cadence. No more than 5 mins per day for the first couple of months to allow your anatomy to cope with the change. But worth it as in my case no more back pain. Plenty of tutorials on YouTube. I had to buy running shoes a half size longer to prevent my toenails hitting the front of my shoes.
I got quite into running a few years ago (was doing 25km long runs every week), mainly thanks to Chi Running. Really recommend it. Of course, that habit didn’t last more than a couple of months…
I watched the marathoners go by from our local park (October). I wouldn’t call it common, but of the 15,000 or so runners, barefooters came by more than I would have expected.
I’d love to ditch my running shoes and go barefoot, but not all dog walkers pick up the mess and there’s too much broken glass about.
Ben, You state you have high cholesterol. Last time I had a health check by my GP I was also told that my cholesterol was too high, but the blood result didn’t differentiate between HDL and LDL, which is neccessary to know to fine tune one’s diet and fitness strategy.
No, I got the numbers. They were (very) bad. They’ve been bad for a couple of years now (that we know about). So far I am refusing to take statins, but may have to give in if losing a lot of weight doesn’t help…
Ask about (google) Zetia. Not off patent yet so no generics, but it goes about it in a different way than statins.
Orchestra conductors are supposedly long-lived. And not particularly active people.
Hard to take up as a retirement hobby tho… 😉
Ben, If you can, have a look at BBC’s “Trust Me, I’m A Doctor”, Series 7, Episode 2. Dr Mosley presents an experiment where Coconut Oil lowers bad cholesterol, but there is no explanation as to why.
I have a big jar of that! Should probably go back to using it 🙂
Read Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. Without good sleep everything on your list will be twice the struggle.
I have two exercise related goals and I stick to them. Cycle 1000kms a month and stretch for 10 minutes after a hot bath. I never drink or smoke.
Cycling is a great way to get exercise without it feeling like you’re actually exercising. It just feels like being a big kid again. Why not add that to your list?
I enjoy cycling to work when the roads aren’t covered in ice… It’s always winter or allergy season that screw up my exercise habits.
26 km round trip four times a week is pretty decent exercise.
Due to a powerful thirst I’m about 25kg overweight. I’ve had a lot of sucess losing weight recently with a low carbohydrate diet. Nothing fancy just less carbohydrates and a lot less beer
I had lunch with a friend on Friday and he reminded me weight loss is basically all about eating. Might have to adjust my plan slightly 🙂
I turned 43 in September, and at 1.84m and almost 88KG I was worrying about my long term health. I wanted to be healthier so I could be around for my young children. I started the keto diet, and after around 3.5months I weighed in at 74.5KG last Friday. I’ve been doing some exercise as well, but as they say, weight is lost in the kitchen. My blood pressure is also much better than it was pre-keto.
And I’m curious, why would the kettlebell swings you want to do depend on the weather? Do you only do them outdoors?
You are doing way better than me, being taller and lighter. Have to get my healthy eating of reasonable portions on!
Edit: Oops, I just saw you do the KB outside. You don’t need that much space, though, so maybe get rid of that excuse ;o)
Ha, ha, yes. I live in a manshon, and as you know a kettlebell is basically a cannonball with a handle on it…
One thing Pavel insists on in the book is that you drop the kettlebell if you lose control of it, to avoid injury.
There are no places in my home where I would want to let go of a kettlebell in motion 😉
Yay we wear the same fitness band!
I got it in December and have been using it to keep myself on track. Did you download the app too? It also tracks sleep and graphs weight fluctuations, I am able to wear it 24-7 and quite like it.
My step goal is 10,000/daily and I want to be able to get an annual average of 10,000 steps/day. Consistence is important for me.
I also joined a gym late last year and train with a trainer once a week. Other days I do circuit training (6-8 strength exercises, 3 sets+ each, total less than an hour) or just fast walk for 30-60 minutes depending on my condition that day.
I also measure body composition with my trainer once a month. I am currently at 31% body fat and am aiming for 22% this year.
Ha, ha, it is such good value that I’m not surprised 🙂
I did get the app. I also got one for my wife once I realised how much I like it.
I like the idea of working with a trainer, to help me with my form as well as for motivation. Might have to look into that.
Mary,
FYI http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42864061
Just read this article: pretty good summary, and I like Andy Morgan’s website too 🙂
https://japantoday.com/category/features/opinions/how-to-stay-in-shape?
Back from a 2 week vacation with my wife, the bailing out, beating off alligators, running errands and whatnot. Health is indeed an issue that affects us all.
We are what we eat. Its always surprised me somewhat to see what people put into their bodies on a regular basis. Convenience store food for starters. Loads of empty calories in flavorless white bread, fried foods and sweets. No wonder so many people want to lose weight.
Never mind that most foods we consume are fully digested before reaching the colon where large volumes of bacteria crave nutrition so they start to eat the colon lining itself. In general we all have to consume more fruit and vegetables. I don’t think we will see person becoming obese from eating too many apples or pears. Sugary snacks are the enemy. I believe its safe to consumer an apple at 10pm without worry of bad cholesterol or becoming fat so what we eat trumps when we eat it.
Fasting is beneficial, I have read that a weekly fast/purge is highly effective in reducing senescent cells. This has a synergistic effect in reducing both inflammation “ensho” as well as keeping their numbers reduced. I don’t have kids so I do a weekly Sunday 18 hour fast. I find I need to distract myself and the PC/web is great for that.
Exercise can indeed be a challenge. What has worked for me is that I only listen to my favorite podcasts when I walk or ride. There is all the incentive I need. I purchased a recumbent exercise bike and hit that when its raining outside when I get home (usually around 10:30pm) Otherwise its on with the headphones and a walk of at least 45 minutes to an hour 5 times a week.
No caffeine after 16:30. That and the exercise means I hit the pillow tired and fall asleep very shortly thereafter.
Stretching. I do this religiously 5 times a week. You need to find something you enjoy listening to. I listen to Italian Opera recently but something that clears the mind is best for me. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND feldenkrais as its saved me a tremendous amount of pain and suffering. Others like Yoga or whatever. Just do it as they say. It reduces inflammation and as we get older the Senescent cells numbers increase further complicating the problem.
Eat whole foods. Nothing from a bag in the supermarket. Buy the potato, peel it, boil it and consume it. Don’t eat salad dressings which are more empty calories, olive oil and vinegar are best. Its a wholistic approach which has worked for me.
I am 54 years old and weigh about 82 kilos which is a little heavy, but I eat too many sugary snacks. I know it but am otherwise in good health. We went hiking in Italy, it was about 2 hours between towns in lovely Liguria and I passed numerous younger people panting and sitting with their fancy exercise cloths. Its great they were out there, but it was clear they are “weekend warriors” 🙂
Make the time to eat slow food. I cook a big pot of tomato sauce from scratch 2 times a month. We make enough saue for 4 or 5 meals, then freeze them. No hidden sodium which is in ALL packaged foods which is very dangerous for the blood pressure, no ramen or other modern Japanese foods unless its a special occasion. Brown rice and miso soup is best with some grilled fish and veggies if you must. BUT I would refrain from the Soy Sauce which is another empty sodium festival for our bodies.
Just remember that our cells evolve over time and as we get older the malfuntioning ones just broadcast Ensho causing a cascade effect and increasing in strength over time.
best of luck to us all
Hi Paul
Great point about the stretching. I’ve been meaning to get started for a while now.
Great post, Ben. You can’t enjoy retirement if you aren’t healthy. Just a few things to add. I’ve been doing kettlebell exercises for several years. Pavel’s “Enter the Kettlebell” is also a great book and DVD combo. Tim Ferriss also recommends kettlebells in his “Four-Hour Body” book. Be careful with your form or you can easily hurt your back. I use a 20 kg; 15 kg; and 10 kg. The 10 kg is great for the ‘Turkish Get-Up’ exercise and for one-handed swings. I’ve found sets of 20 to 25 swings, then a short rest also works well. For the last year I’ve also been using the TRX Suspension Strap system, developed by a Navy Seal. It is all body weight and can easily be used at home or even when traveling. The TRX exercises are often combined with kettlebells.
A note on IF. I’ve been doing the 16/8 IF for over a year and really feel great. I eat dinner between 6 and 8 pm, and don’t eat lunch until noon the next day. In the morning I find that coffee, no sugar but with coconut milk and MCT oil helps trigger the ketogenic [fasting] state, and lets you burn more fat. 12 hours is minimum for hitting the fasting state and 18 is best. On Sunday I go 24 hours and have a smoothie for dinner.
The Tim Ferriss podcast has some great interviews with sports science experts on IF, and exercise.
I’m 68 in a couple of months, and I send my health check-up figures to my daughter, a doctor, every year, and I have no problems anywhere. She says a heart attack is impossible. My BMI is in the normal range [173 cm/ 68 kg]. That being said, Arnie’s BMI when he won the Mr. Universe contest was well into the ‘obese’ range. Muscles weigh a lot! So, its not the weight that’s a problem, but the fat.
By the by, changing your diet will have a greater effect on weight loss than more exercise, but they are both needed for continued health. The exact methods and diets and/or exercises themselves should be determined by personal self-experimentation.
As Woody Allen once said:
“I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.”
Thanks Steve. Good advice. I don’t think I have enough muscle to screw up the BMI reading unfortunately!
Good luck to you! I should be doing the same thing, especially the more exercise part.
You should get your sleep dialled in. It will go a long way to helping you reduce your weight by allowing your body enough time to clear out toxins and regulating other things, like hormones (and it is good for your brain, too).
Dr. Michael Breus knows all about sleep, and you can even take a short quiz to see what kind of sleep cycle you have. His book is “The Power of When”. http://www.thesleepdoctor.com
As for exercise, look at GMB: https://gmb.io
One of the guys, Ryan, lives somewhere in Kansai.
And high cholesterol, if not already, start taking omega-3s (fish oil or krill oil). My husband develops high cholesterol under stress and bad eating habits. He did take Lipitor for a bit and it brought it down, but I now have him on fish oil. Use of statins will actually give you heart disease. More exercise and better sleep will help reduce cholesterol, too.
Thanks Catherine! I eat a ton of fish, so hoping extra fish oil not necessary 🙂
GMB looks interesting, will check them out. Sleep is my bane. I sleep okay but get home really late and leave early in the morning. Hopefully just four more years of that though…
Eating your omega3s is better than taking a supplement. Be sure you are eating oily fish, such as salmon and herring.
Don’t wait on the sleep. Bad sleep affects you in many ways that you don’t realize until you have good sleep.
Indeed, I agree Catherine. Nothing substitutes for the actual thing when sourcing nutrition.
I would however like to point out that large fish tend to have more toxins than smaller ones. Breeds such as Tuna are chock full of mercury at levels that are dangerous for the un born fetus.
Sadly Salmon is about 90% farmed so it is not the fish we grew up eating. The meat is pink because of the dye they are fed, further these salmon get no exercise and so have much higher fat content than “native” or natural salmon. They are also rife with parasites so much so that we do not eat them anymore. After the massive salmon fishery die off in Chile due to a lack of oversight thus allowing fish to swim in the their own filth and dying of a kind of cholera we now only consume the smaller breeds like Saury, Sardine and the like.
These breeds are also high in Omega 3.
Best to us all
I am off to exercise
Howdy Folks,
Just a few extra comments. First, I just read Pavel’s new Kettlebell book. Much simpler and more to the point than his other books. Over the years the swing and the get-up are the two I had settled on as the best all around exercises, and that’s what he recommends, too. Anyone who would like a .pdf of the book:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0dqeaj8hh4wy58/Pavel%20Tsatsouline%20–%20Kettlebell%20-%20Simple%20%26%20Sinister.pdf?dl=0
As for kettlebell accidents, remember his advice “Quick feet are happy feet.”
Finally, on Omega 3, you need a balanced ratio of Omega 3 and Omega 6. For vegans and vegetarians and people paranoid about mercury in your fish. Hemp Oil is your best bet. You can order it on Amazon.jp. iHerb refuses to send it to Japan.
Happy Trails
Thanks for the link Steve. Much appreciated.
Curious where do you buy the kettlebells other than the obvious “Amazon” ?
I would say that “paranoid” is probably not the best word on mercury in fish since virtually all responsible obstetricians instruct pregnant women to avoid eating the bigger fish breeds because it can lead to complications.
To quote the march of dimes “During pregnancy, don’t eat these kinds of fish because the mercury in them can harm your baby. During pregnancy, eat 8 to 12 ounces each week of fish that are low in mercury, like shrimp, salmon, pollock, catfish and canned light tuna. It’s OK to eat 6 ounces a week of albacore (white) tuna.”
Since I am not going to be pregnant mercury consumption is not a concern for me although the state of world fish stocks is. Further the disturbing state of corporate farmed salmon is worrying. Then again we all choose what to put into our bodies, but for me salmon swimming in their own feces with abundant numbers of parasites worries me enough not to consume it.
Perhaps ya’ll can enjoy it for me 🙂
Hi Paul,
Enjoy the book. Of course, anyone who really enjoys it should buy a physical copy from Amazon, etc. so that the author can receive his due.
[Disclaimer – I got mine from Pirate Bay, worlds largest lending library<grin>]
I bought my kettlebells[ a 20 kg; 15 kg; and 10 kg] at Xebio Sports, a sporting goods chain store in Akita City. Most stores will order them for you if they are not in stock. Shipping would be outrageous from Amazon!
By the by, anyone in the Akita area who would like free kettlebells let me know. I’m retiring the end of March and moving to Thailand. I’ll get new ones there. Too heavy to ship.
RE: mercury in fish…I’ve only read a few recent rumors about how bad it is. I stopped eating fish and meat back in 1969, so I guess the paranoid rumor has been confirmed since then.
“Proverbs for Paranoids, 3: If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers.”
― Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
Quick FYI about kettlebells: they seem to be free shipping up to about 24kg on Amazon (the heavier ones cost more to ship) if you have Prime.
Ben,
FYI cleverguts.com worth a look
How are things going with regards to the diet and exercise? I think feeling like you have someone checking up on you is good for progress.
Ha, ha, I’ll do a proper update post soon, but for now…
Broadly okay except that exercise has been curtailed by an unfortunate event 😉
This may be of interest……..https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b5y6c0
Keeping active is one real key, and that seems to get harder each year (??). One way around this is to make the brain not think its in a “session”. I have bought a treadmill (for running and walking) and set it up so I can watch my ipad while I run or walk and I also have noise canceling headphones. Its a great combo and you can forget about the crazy weather as well and people looking at you
So, your target was to get below 80KG by the end of August. Did you get there?
Ha, ha. I need to do an update to this post sometime soon 🙂
Sadly no. I had a summer holiday to Spain (big mistake), then some injuries, then a bad personal situation so I am back at my ‘normal’ weight of 89kg.
I’ll have another go at the end of the year.