Things to wrap your brain around ...

1. Accept your genetics
   
2. nothing comes easy
   
3. you do not need any supplements ... ever
   
4. accept responsibility fot being big
   
5. be positive
   
6. decide now to not let other people impact you negatively
   
7. accept their will be highs and lows along the journey
   

What am I Selling?

There is no good reason this book should sell. I have no sexy tag lines. No promises of great abs in 6 weeks. No special diet routines. No magic pills. What I am putting down is what I believe is the God's-honest truth. What I am putting down are things that went through my mind for years. What I am putting down came about because I am witnessing the entire country get fatter and fatter. I see so many more fat children and stories about epidemic increases in diabetes, depression and other disorders. And we have so many cool reasons to sit at home. High-def TV is awesome. Video games are fantastic. And the internet makes so much possible.

Have you ever been to a foreign country for a while and then flown back to the US? What is one of the first things you notice? For me, it is how many fat people there are. It just is not the same elsewhere? Why? We are an extremely wealthy country with much more free time and access to toys than anywhere else. On top of that, many food manufacturers have made processed foods so cheap and available that they are damn-near impossible to escape. Eating processed sugars, fat and carbs is SO much more inexpensive that eating healthy produce for example. It is so easy to eat this stuff ... but it is poison to your body.

Thinking in a new way

Here are some things for permanent health and physical well-being that you may need to change in your brain ...

1. The body is complex but the basic rules are simple. The body is so complex we really do not have many definitive answers on many exercise and nutrition questions. Like any area of study, there are conflicting research and opinions. The basics are eating healthy foods especially lots of fruits and vegetables. For fat loss, consume less than you expend but not too much so that you starve your body. Exercise of any sort can only benefit you. Get plenty of rest.
   
2. Everyone is different so listen to your body How your body reacts to certain foods and certain types of exercise varies from person to person. During your journey to change your eating and exercise habits, listen to your body. If you feel really sleepy during the day ... think "what did I eat?", "how much have I slept", "when did I go to sleep or wake up?", "how much exercise have I been doing?" ... you can learn so much about yourself. You may find you have intolerances for certain foods. conversely, when you feel great, ask the same questions. Figure out what works for you. it will only aid in your happiness.
   
3. No excuses and don't feel sorry for yourself. I get it. You know someone who is fit and it comes easy for them. They eat just about whatever they want and still look great and seem healthy. Great for them. This is not the case for you. If you are fat, it is your fault. This is the hardest thing to admit to yourself, but you must do it. This is one of the few things I will tell you you MUST do. Are genetics important in the size you are today? Yes. You could have the genetic deck stacked against you. You may have so much working against you that you want to let it beat you. But know this. There has never been a person who wanted to get to an ultra-lean body who couldn't. I know people who have lost over 300 pounds and reached single-digit body fat (I am thinking of a male friend in this case). That person had to work really hard for a really long time but he wanted it and got it. Can you imagine losing that much weight? Can you imagine how much he learned in the process? How much stronger his mind had to become ... much more so than someone to whom everything came easily. Your biggest genetic deficiencies can be the source of your greatest achievement. Don't sit around and bitch and whine about how you got dealt a lousy hand. If you do, you have already set yourself up for failure. Just buck up and realize you might have to work harder. You might have to be more strict with your diet. But if you want it, you can get it. And your appreciation will be orders of magnitude greater. Do not blame the birth of your kids, a lousy relationship with a partner or family or personal illness on your troubles. They definitely make things harder, but do not cheat yourself into thinking they are the reason you are fat. You are fat because you don't eat and exercise well enough. If you realize this and accept it, you are well on your way to permanent fat loss. Because the next time you have to spend days in the hospital taking care of family or have to go on a long grueling business trip, if you believe in excuses, you will set yourself up to revert to every old habit and eventually your old physique. This is very hard for people and people tell me "but you don't understand how hard thing have been in my life". I do not doubt that things have been tough, but change your mind on how you approach things.
   
4. Patience and diligence We are talking here about healthy, slow and permanent fat loss. This takes patience. Many weight training and fat-loss programs are centered around 12 week programs. 12 week programs are wonderful. 12 weeks is a great time period for intense exercise because you can see great results in that time without your body adapting too much to your workouts and nutrition and hit a plateau. Many bodybuilders and fitness models use a 12-week pre-contest routine to get themselves in top shape so I have no problem with anyone going on a 12-week program. But I want people to think long-term. If the 12 weeks is used in conjunction with a year-round healthy lifestyle, that is perfect. One issue I have noticed is that many of these 12 week programs are contest-centric. in other words, you take before and after pictures, submit them to a panel of judges and you could win some pretty nice prizes. All of those things are good motivators on the short term, but you must think long term. i have seen many people have amazing 12 week makeovers only to revert to their old physiqe in the same amount of time or less. Slow and steady wins the race. Whatever your long term goal is, when you get there you shouldn't be bouncing up and down like a yo-yo. Go slow and steady. Learn as much as you can along the way. When you reach some of your shorter-term goals, maintain that level for a while. Learn what it takes to stay there. Experiment with different workout routines that fit your lifestyle. Then, next time you run into a difficult situation, you are likely to stay within a reasonable weight range and maintain your good health.
   

The layers ...

So on the idea that you really have to peel back the layers and start with the first layer, or the basics, here is my first stab at the layers ...

The First Layer:

1. Know where you are. Take some basic measurements and write them down. Heights, weight, body fat if you have access to something to measure it ... or use a measuring tape to take body measurements. Put this on paper or in a spreadsheet with a date and this is a good starting point.
   
2. Decide what you want long-term. This is different for every person. If you want a 6-pack or a body-builder of fitness model physique, that is wonderful, but whatever your goals are in reading a book like this and wanting to improve yourself, you need to know what you want. A good percentage of people will say "I want a body like ____". This is a good place to start but at first, decide, in general, what you want. Later you can get more specific and detailed in your goals. But right now, think in your mind where you want to go long-term. This is your vision of how you want your body to look and how you want to feel with the hopefully many years you have to live.
   
3. Eat well. That is a simple statement, but know this. Before you worry about levels of carbs and fat and protein you want to eat, just first start by eating better foods. What are better foods or the "best foods"? There are some great sources but the best is right here. The 130 Best Foods You Can Eat. If you do nothing else than to eliminate all processed fats, processed sugars and processed foods from your diet and ate off this list even without considering portion sizes and what-not, you would have significant health improvements. Yes, there are sweeteners like cane juice on there. There are plenty of ways to overindulge off this list and still gain weight, but if you are sensible and consumed your calories from this list, you will be healthier.
   
4. Get Moving. I am not going to tell you what types of things to do at this point. Just get moving. Walk more, do chores around the house, play golf or whatever you enjoy. We can get to more of the nitty-gritty later on.
   

Some thoughts on title/audience

For the book, the audience would be people looking to get healthier who most likely work a desk job. That is what I imagine, anyway. There are plenty of 12-week programs and what not, but I would gear this towards removing the blinders and sifting through all of the fitness and nutrition rhetoric out there.

For a title ... something about "Peeling Away the Layers". I think this has meaning on many levels. Start with the outer layer ... the basics. The idea is to give a base set of knowledge that would help any person get the right mindset for a healthy lifestyle.

The Steps

Here is my first stab at the steps to permanent body composition changes

1. Goals: Decide what you really want to accomplish
   
2. Nutrition: Figure out what needs to change
   
3. Exercise: Train with goals in mind
   
4. Tracking Results: Keep a diary and hold yourself accountable
   
5. Keep Educating and Motivating: Read about diet and exercise, review your goals, find things to motivate you
   
6. Enjoy Life: These lifestyle changes should only enhance your life. If they aren't, time to reevaluate or change things up.
   

Nutrition is the key

Nutrition, and I prefer to use this term in general much more than "diet", is the first thing anyone who wants to change their body composition should get their hands on. Start today. The problem is there are so many ideas out there. Some are well supported by research and all, even the extreme ones, have at least small truths in them. I find that everyone has a strong position on nutrition ideas even if they themselves may not be healthy eaters. It can be frustrating to someone trying to better their eating habits. Have you ever been trying to exercise or alter your diet only to have someone chime in with their reasons why you would get better results doing things differently? I believe the intentions are usually good, but people preach food ideologies like they do a religion. Here are a few things people have said to me ...

* "Eat only raw foods ... cooking kills nutrients"
* "Carrots have way too many carbs ... you should limit your carrot intake"
* "You should not eat any fruit after lunchtime"
... you get the idea ...

In general, I see people getting hung up on little pieces of information. Again, some truth to all of them, possibly, but they do not dictate how you eat.

NO LIMITS
You cannot be limiting in your way of thinking. If you are a vegetarian or a vegan for health, personal or spiritual reasons, it is a perfectly sound and potentially healthy way of living. High-fat, low-carb diets have their place and have benefits and can be a healthy lifestyle. But when you get to the point where you cannot see the benefits or read the science behind different nutrition ideas, you have already begun to limit yourself. A very healthy way of approaching the subject is to be open minded and understand the benefits of each. Be able to talk about them and understand them. And understand that there are so many variations in each person's biology that different ways of eating can suit everyone's different needs. Your way may not be the best way for someone else. There is no one correct way to eat but there are underlying principles that will keep us healthy and strong.

NUTRIENT-RICH FOOD
Without reading further, if you merely removed all processed foods from your diet and ate natural foods you would get huge improvements in body composition, energy levels, mental health and overall well-being. There is a great book on the "healthiest foods" (link needs to be here). There is a list of 130 foods. If you were to eat items only form that list ... and "only" is basically an endless array of food dishes with so many ingredients on there ... you would be much healthier.

The body craves energy and nutrients. These foods are the most nutrient rich. Could you get fat eating all this stuff? You could ... I could easily eat my daily calorie intake in almonds and cashews .... but balancing foods form this list and you are well on your way.

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?
This is a chapter unto itself. But knowing what you want to accomplish also dictates to some extent your nutritional strategy. Do you want to become a bodybuilder or fitness model? Do you just want to get down to a reasonable weight so you can do daily routines easier? Do you want to gain weight in the form of muscle mass?

If I was training you one-on-one, I would first look at your nutrition and then figure out what you really want to achieve. Everyone is different. I am not going to shove and nutrition methodology down your throat. If you don't mind being overweight but want to lose some weight just to help with day-to-day activities, we can make changes to help get there in a way that does not feel limiting. If you want to have a 6-pack (as is often stated as the goal or "holy-grail"), then there are a different set of changes that needs to take place. Just know what you want. Talk to a trainer or better yet ... someone who may resemble you and have made a similar transformation and use them to your advantage.

An ebook idea?

I am thinking of putting notes together on how to stay healthy as you grow older. More specifically dealing with how a society with so much free time and cool stuff at their disposal can still stay healthy. I thought about gearing it towards desk-job workers but that might be too limiting. I get thoughts and ideas all of the time on this subject so I am going to start jotting them down.