Progress Report

I fell off the exercise wagon. I caught something nasty on a flight from Nashville and out of it for a while. Here is my program for getting back on it.

1 minute of walking in place
1 lower body exercise
1 upper body exercise
1 core exercise
1 stretch/flexibility exercise
Aim for 12 reps
Use a 5 lb when weights are needed

If you’ve fallen off the horse, pick yourself up and get back on it. Don’t be discouraged. If you keep going and keep learning, you will improve.

Book Review: Little Shifts by Suzanna Beth Stinnet

Stinnett, Suzanna Beth. Little Shifts: Tiny Shifts that Make a Big Difference. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2004.

Stinnett has a utopian vision. If the people of the world, particularly women, will unleash there imaginations, we can they can transform their lives and the entire world in the process.

Before reading this book, I asked someone else who had read it if it was New Age-y. They said not much. As I was starting to read it, they skimmed it again and said it was more New Age-y than they remembered. It is, but in a philosophical way. Stinnett doesn’t express her views in religious terms, but like many self-help authors, indicates that some powerful, abstract force is shaping our lives and the world we experience according to our own consistent thought. For Stinnett, this is imagination directly.

It’s not all about thinking. As the title indicates, Stinnett recommends many little things people can do to make themselves happier and healthier. She calls many of them radical steps. They are radical in the sense that few people take the time to do them and they could result in a change of perspective; they are still little things that ordinary people can do.

The main audience for the book is women. Stinnett feels that women’s views and perspectives have been underrepresented in our culture and as they begin to express themselves, they’ll bring a new dimension to society that can make it fuller, happier and more sustainable.

The book has an unexpected environmental message. A concern for the environment carries through the book and one chapter is largely devoted to things people can do to improve the environment. As with the rest of the book, the vision is grand and the steps are small, so the focus is on making little changes to the way we live, buy and use (and reuse) products that can reduce our negative effects on the environment.

Order this book here.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
One Small Thing Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer

The (Mostly) Walking Diet: A Book Review

Sansone, Leslie. Walk Away the Pounds. New York: Warner, 2005.

Leslie Sansone says people can improve their health and lose weight without changing their eating habits. They have to exercise, but it’s mostly putting one foot in front of the other.

The opening chapters deal with the benefits of exercise. There is a particularly focus on the benefits of walking.

This leads to a description of the exercises that are used in the program that makes up much of the book. It walking and several moves that can be done while walking to mix things up. It also includes resistance exercises that can be done with light dumbbells, weighted balls or bands. There is also a chapter devoted to shoes and other equipment to help you get off on the right foot.

The middle of the book lays out a 6-week program of walking. It starts out with a mile of walking (about 2,000 steps) and builds of up to 4 to 5 miles (8,000 to 10,000 steps). Along the way, it adds periodic resistance exercises. Following the program, you’ll walk 64 miles in the six weeks. The pages make a diary for keeping track of your progress through the program.

From there, walkers can keep going. Sansone devotes a chapter to continuing the program, ramping it up, and overcoming plateaus.

What about eating? Though Sansone says it’s not a necessary part of the program, she suggests that you’ll probably want to improve your eating habits as your health improves and your body demand nutrition to support its new level of activity. She discusses this in a chapter that includes a nutrition primer and several tips on better eating habits.

Sansone also devotes chapters to dealing with stress and having a balanced life. Exercise can alleviate stress and its negative effects, but there are other things busy people can do to reduce stress, make life less hectic, and find more balance.

The book wraps up dealing with motivation. Proper motivation is needed to stick to a healthy lifestyle and Sansone discusses perspective, habits, and environmental changes to help walkers stay on track.

The book is written to a female audience, though program is probably just as suitable to men. Several short success stories appear throughout, briefly discussing the success of women who have tried the program.

A DVD is included with the book. It is a walk-in-place program that leads the viewer through a 1-mile walk in about 18 minutes.

Order this book here.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
The 6 Day Body Makeover by Michael Thurmond
8 Minutes in the Morning for Extra-Easy Weight Loss by Jorge Cruise
How Much Does Your Soul Weigh? by Dorie McCubbrey

Book Review: 8 Minutes in the Morning for Extra-Easy Weight Loss by Jorge Cruise

I recently posted this review at Keenan’s Book Reviews. As a small step, you might add just one of the recommendations from this book to your life.

Cruise, Jorge. 8 Minutes in the Morning for Extra-Easy Weight Loss. New York: HarperResource, 2004.

Jorge Cruise lays out an eating and exercise program intended to help people lose about 2 pounds a week. It also includes steps to take to build up the emotional and social support needed to reach and maintain your ideal weight. Some of the major points of the program appear below.

Exercise in the morning

This is where the book gets its title. Cruise asserts that your morning sets your metabolism for the day. If you kick start your metabolism with exercise in the morning, it will stay relatively high during the whole day. This will help you burn fat all day.

Exercise is essential

Exercise builds muscle. Muscles use energy. The more muscle you have, the more energy you use, even when you are not exercising. The more energy you use, the more fat you burn (or do not put on).

The “Cruise Down Plate”

This is a simple way to measure the right amount of food in the right proportions. Divide a 9-inch plate into three sections. One-half of the plate should be vegetables (or fruit is an option for breakfast). One-quarter should be carbohydrates (whole grains are best). The remaining one-quarter is for protein. The meal can include a teaspoon of fat.

Flaxseed oil

Cruise loves flaxseed oil. It has the right kind of fats (omega-3) and it helps you feel full. It is not suitable for cooking, but the preferred oil for any other use.PeopleYou will need social and emotional support to be successful in weight loss. Cruise has several tips you can use to build up a support network for yourself and to become a supporter of someone else.

Order this book here.

Book Review: Genesis

I recently posted this review at Keenan’s Book Reviews. I think regular reading and meditation on God’s Word is an important part of a Christian’s spiritual growth.

Genesis. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

It’s hard to even begin to discuss Genesis in just a page or two. It covers a great patch of history from the creation of the world to the death of Joseph, who brought Israel and his descendants to Egypt, where he was a high official, to save them from a famine. A lot happens in between.

A lot happens in Genesis, but three major thematic events occur: the creation, the fall of man and the God’s initiation of a plan to redeem people. The creation is described in a chapter. Man’s wonderful life with God before the fall takes up another chapter. These are important issues, but since they occurred before the problem of sin became the central problem of human life, they are presented as establishing scenes.

The fall takes up a chapter, too. Eve is deceived and believes ill of God. Adam stands by passively letting it happening and following her into sin. They broke there relationship with God and since then humanity has been a slave to sin and a victim of sin’s consequences, ultimately death.

God immediately steps in to begin to repair the relationship with man. Yes, in His justice He judges man, as in the flood of Noah’s time and other times in Genesis and since. However, Genesis also establishes God as the hero of the story who rescues people from sin and reconciles them to himself. He provides a sacrifice for Adam and Eve and covers them. This pattern repeats throughout Genesis and the Bible until it finds its ultimate expression in Jesus Christ.

In its major themes, Genesis is the establishing chapter in our enslavement to sin and God’s heroic action to free us, love us and make us part of His family. In its details, Genesis is full of interesting stories. We are introduced to several of the major people of Biblical times: Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) and Joseph. One can get the impression that the Bible is all about these people.

The things God did in their lives reverberate through the Bible. God revealed his plan of salvation step-by-step, each time making a connection to the past as He opened up something about the future. In this way, Genesis isn’t tossed aside with the coming of Christ, but becomes part of the background and evidence for our faith in the One who completed the divine work of salvation that began as soon as we needed saving.

You can order this book here.

Progress Report

I read Dorie McCubbrey’s How Much Does Your Soul Weigh? this month. She suggests that you throw out your scale and measuring tape, so I won’t post any measurements this month.

Book Review: How Much Does Your Soul Weigh? by Dorie McCubbrey

I posted a review of this book at Keenan’s Book Reviews and thought readers of this blog might find it interesting.

McCubbrey, Dorie. How Much Does Your Soul Weigh? Diet-Free Solutions to Your Food Weight and Body Worries. New York: HarperResource, 2002.

Dr. Dorie McCubbrey calls herself the “Don’t Diet” Doctor. McCubbrey has a real doctorate in bioengineering. She bases her approach to better health and life from not dieting more on her work as a licensed professional counselor.

Success in weight management and overcoming eating disorders is an inside job. Throughout the book, this is contrasted with the external sources of weight problems and attempts to deal with them.

According to McCubbrey, weight problems have their source in trying to fit ourselves to standards that come from the world around us. Even seemingly healthy people can have weight problems and eating disorders that come from this external orientation. To deal with these, people play “games” which are strategies and behaviors for controlling weight that don’t deal with the real problems.

McCubbrey herself suffered these problems and played many of these games. Her struggles with body image and perfection led hear into anorexia, bulimia, excessive exercise and periods of being overweight.

The solution to these issues, and to the broader issue of living well, is intuitive self-care. Practicing intuitive self-care involves getting in touch with one’s inner wisdom about what is good in eating, exercise and living. It is living from the inside out instead of the outside in.

McCubbrey offers strategies for practicing intuitive self-care. She describes them as feeding the soul. This “diet” for the soul involves learning to love, listen to, and express your true self. To help readers practice this soul diet, she offers several recipes, which are exercises to practice. Some of these deal directly with the way people eat and think about eating. Others are directed toward meditation and discovery of one’s true desires.

The book is in many ways more of a self-help book that a diet plan. It doesn’t focus on changing behavior of lifestyles (lifestyle change is one of the games), but on living from the soul.

Order this book here.

Eleven Small Steps for Job Seekers

Finding a job can seem like a huge task, especially in a difficult economy or if you’re dealing with the recent loss of a job. Keeping things in perspective will make your job search seem more manageable. Finding a job is a big deal, but the things you must do to find a job a mostly small task. Here are some small steps you can take today to start your job search or keep it moving.

Proofread your résumé
Proper spelling and grammar in your résumé is an important part of presenting a polished, professional image. While you’re looking it over, you may find you may want to update it and make other improvements. That’s fine. Get yourself started with the small step or proofreading.

Contact one friend who doesn’t yet know about your job search
Networking is an important part of the job search and many people find jobs through their existing connections. More people results in more leads and more opportunities for you. In addition, old school friends and distant relatives you don’t often see may be glad to get a call or letter from you and answer your request for help.

Go to one meeting
Face-to-face networking opportunities can be especially fruitful. If you belong to a professional or civic organization, go to the meetings. You may be able to attend meetings of local chapters or state associations at very little cost. Professional association meetings in particular can present opportunities to meet managers and executives of potential employers as well as others who work for those companies. Go to these meetings prepared to make a good impression and to learn a lot.

Take one person to lunch
If you’re out of work, you may feel isolated from others. Take care of your social needs by inviting someone to lunch. Make it doubly worthwhile by someone wise who may be able to help you. When you make the appointment, let them know what you’re expecting of them whether advice, encouragement or just company. Though money might be tight for you now, if you invite someone to lunch be prepared to pick up the bill.

Research one place you want to live
Your job search may present an opportunity to relocate to a place that better suits you. If you want to live in a seaside resort, near the mountains, closer to relatives, somewhere warmer, in the country or in the city, consider it now. Many cities have web sites and even small communities may have chambers of commerce that can give you information about area employers.

Research one company for which you want to work
If you’re looking for work anyway, you might as well aim for that dream workplace. If there is a company you admire, that produces esteemed products or service or has a great reputation for treating employees well, check it out. You could be enjoying the benefits of working there. Even if you don’t get a job with your employer of choice, you’ll learn something about what you like and dislike in a workplace that will help you evaluate other employers.

Send one unsolicited résumé
While you’re researching companies, you may discover you really want to work for one, or even for a particular person. An executive may look very friendly in their profile picture or you may sense they have real hiring authority. Send them a letter briefly explaining your interest in their company and what you can do for them. Enclose your carefully proofread résumé.

Respond to one ad
While many people find jobs through networking, some find them through ads. If companies weren’t seriously hoping to find good candidates through ads, they wouldn’t waste the money. So look through your newspaper or job listing web site and respond to one of those ads.

Read one book
If you’re between jobs, you may have time for reading you didn’t have before. Books can provide you a wealth of information and, if you borrow from your local library or friends, it may be free. You can choose books to help you improve your job search, learn new skills or just escape in an entertaining story for a while.

Exercise for one minute
You might also have time to get in shape. Even if you’re employed full time, you might benefit from a little exercise. Physical activity has many benefits including relieving the effects of stress and searching for a new job can be very stressful. Start with just a minute a day and you may soon find yourself getting much more active and healthy.

Do it again
No one of these things is likely to result in you finding a job on the first attempt. If you exhaust the list, go back and do it again. If you’re feeling great, you may want to do much more in a day. If you’re feeling stuck, one small step may keep you going in the right direction.

If you’d like to reprint this article in your magazine, newsletter or blog, please send an enquiry by e-mail.

Progress Report

It’s nice to see my weight come down after it went up last month. At this rate it will take 50 to 69 months to get back to a healthy weight. Considering that it took years of creeping weight gain to get where I am, that doesn’t seem so bad.

Here is my current daily exercise program. To a more fit person, it may not seem like much. To someone out of shape it may seem like a lot. Don’t be discouraged. At the beginning of the year, I started with just 10 pushups a day. The current program is a result of taking many small steps, increasing in increments that seemed very small and easy to me at the time.

standing spinal twist 1 stretch each side
side bend 1 stretch each side
Squats 25 reps

mad cat arch 1 stretch
hip extensions 15 reps each side
push ups 20 reps
Crunches 20 reps
Squirms 10 reps each side, alternating
lower back isolate (bridging) 10 reps
crossed leg 1 stretch each side
Curls 20 reps each side with 10# barbell

walk dog 30-45 min over 3-4 walks a day

Thanks to those who’ve submitted something to the blog. This blog is a part-time effort, so it may take a while to respond.

Progress report

I was disappointed to see that I put back on some of the weight I lost. I’m gratified that my waist was smaller anyway. I admit that I suck in my gut for all I’m worth when I measure my waist, but I’ve been doing that all year. I still have a positive trend, even if it might take 27 to 72 months to reach my healthy weight. As I keep saying, I’d rather make slow progress that sticks than quick changes that don’t.

I took a small step this month by checking out an exercise book from the library. In addition to the exercises I’ve already committed to doing, I did one exercise from the book each day over the three weeks I had it checked out. For you, just borrowing an exercise or diet book from the library may be the small step to take, even if you don’t do anything more with it.

I’m still working on some changes to my eating habits that seem like small steps. This has been the more difficult thing for me, but I’m confident I can make little changes that will lead to good results.

Progress Report

I don’t have a lot to report this month. I decided to do five more of each of my exercises, now 15 each of pushups, crunches and squats. Its and example of how one small step can lead to another.

I feel I’m having some success increasing my activity level. To really improve my health, I’ll need to address my eating habits, too, more than I already have. So I’m making a small step commitment to come up with an idea for a small step to improve my eating habits. I’d like to have one idea that I feel is small enough for me to do by the end of the month.

Celebrate the Little Things

Most of what I’ve written about on small steps BIG CHANGES have been about making commitments to small changes and the experiences I’ve had following through on mine. I think it’s also important to acknowledge our small successes.

If you’re like me, you probably have a really big goal in the back of your mind, even if you’re focused on doing the little things you feel you can easily do. Your small steps are still steps toward that big goal.

It is easy to think that we haven’t succeeded until we’ve reached that big goal. However, every step we take in the right direction and every positive result we get along the way is a success worth celebrating.

If you’ve been following this blog, you know the small steps I’ve taken on mostly relate to improving my health and losing excess weight. If I wait to celebrate until I reach my ideal weight, I’ll have a long wait.

I’m trying to celebrate, or at least acknowledge in some way, the little improvements I’m noticing. I’m not buying clothes in a smaller size, but the clothes I have are fitting better and I’ve even advance a hole on my belt. I’m feeling a little more energetic, which may be because spring is here, but I’ll take that with pleasure.

I encourage you to take notice of the little changes you’re seeing because of the small steps you’ve taken. It will give you a boost, help you stick to the changes you’ve made and help you commit to new small steps. Someday you may surprise yourself to discover that you’ve achieved those big goals you had in the back of your mind.

Progress Report

I’m glad spring his here. I’m tired of being sick. Since making my first small step commitment, I’ve missed almost three weeks of performing it due to flu, cold and being down in the back for a few days at the start of this month.

Even so, diligently following my first commitment has lead me to take other small steps along the same lines. I’ve lost 9 pounds since the beginning of the year just by making small conscious adjustments in my level of activity and probably many other unconscious adjustments. At that rate, it will take me another 18 months to reach my ideal weight. That is fine with me. small steps BIG CHANGES is all about the slow road to lasting success.

I tend to be very results oriented, which is both helpful and difficult when it comes to making change in small steps. On the positive side, I appreciate a process that works. On the negative side, I can get impatient with incrementalism. I’m convince that, when it comes to my health goals, incremental change is the only thing that is going to work.

By the way, this is a great time to make a small step commitment. At one time, the beginning of the New Year was observed in March rather than January. English-speaking nations were some of the last to make the switch. So make March the start of a new year for yourself, but instead of making a huge resolution, commit to taking one small step toward your goal.

If you have a health goal like me, Spring is a great time to become more active. It’s nice to be outside most days, and even a few minutes of walking can be beneficial. You can start by just walking to the end of the block, or even from your front door to the street.

More Things of Which I Can Do 10

I started this blog by making the small step commitment of doing 10 pushups a day. With the exception of when I had the flu, and more recently a cold, I’ve kept that commitment and seem to be getting some results.

I’ve been thinking about other small steps I can take to improve my health. Since increasing my activity feels manageable to me (as compared to tackling my eating habits), I’ve thought of some other small steps I can take. I can do 10 squats and 10 crunches. I’m adding this to my daily 10 pushups.

This commitment still amounts to less than a minute of exercise a day. The idea is that I am, and you are, more likely to stick to a very small change, and those changes, expanded and added to, consciously and unconsciously, over time, will bring about big results.

Progress Report

At the beginning of the year, I committed to take one small step to improve my health. My small step was to do 10 pushups a day. I’ve done this every day except for a week when I had the flu.

Part of making successful change is not getting too wrapped up in results. That I’ve done what I committed to do and will continue it is a success. The bigger successes are built on these little ones. I already think the practice of the pushups is changing the way I think about exercise and eating.

Since this blog is called small steps BIG CHANGES, I do feel some obligation to address the changes. In January, I lost 4 pounds and 0.25 inch of my waist. At that rate, I’ll need 2 years to reach my ideal weight. Even so, I’d rather make incremental changes that last than quick changes that don’t. I’ve updated the chart from my first post to show my progress.

One Slice of Tomato at a Time

I’m committing to eat the tomato that comes on my sandwich or salad. When I was a kid, I didn’t like tomatoes. I picked them off anything that had them. I kept up the habit long after my palette had matured. Now I’m committing to eat them. I can handle a few extra ounces of vegetable matter.

Ritual

Since committing to do 10 push-ups a day as a small step, it has become something of a ritual. I think it makes me more mindful of fitting in physical activity where I can, like walking the dog a little farther if it’s not too cold. I think it has made me a little more aware of my eating habits, too.

Spirituality

My own spiritual experience as a Christian is that it is often a walk of small steps. In the parable of the talents, Jesus pointed out how it is those who are faithful in the little things that are entrusted with bigger things. I think y0u can see this principle throughout the Bible.

If you'd like to see what small steps in a spiritual walk are like, you might like to read Walking with God by John Eldredge. With God involved, you're faithfulness gives you a role in a big story, as Eldredge writes about in Epic.

Some other books that may help you develop spiritually include
The Bible
The 4:8 Principle by Tommy Newberry
The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis

Take Small Steps to Improve Financial Outlook

Relatively small steps to pay down debt and increase saving can have profound effects on your finances, especially if they are carried out consistently over time. Here are some links that may give you some ideas for small steps you can take to improve your financial outlook.

See how long it will take to pay off credit card debt at Cardtrack. Don’t be discouraged. Even a little bit of extra payment can shave off months and years.

You can make a similar calculation for your mortgage at Bankrate. CNN Money has a similar calculator and a debt reduction planner.

Recovering from the Flu

I had the flu last week, which made even the smallest thing seem difficult. This week it’s back on the horse. One of the nice things about working in small steps is that if something derails you, like the flu, it isn’t that hard to start again with the small step.