Day 28...Food is everything

Sorry for the brief hiatus. I got away from the blog, and honestly the weight training for a few days. I shouldn't have but I did, so back at it now.

Which is not to say I did nothing. Actually I rode in a short bike tour on Sunday, which was amazing. I had hoped to post some pictures from it, but I couldn't fit my phone anywhere in my bike gear, so I had no camera!

Tonight was my return to hockey. I've played every year for along time, and was looking forward to hitting the ice a little thinner this season. I felt better than in the past, but not as good as I'd hoped. More work to do I suppose.

It's easy when you are writing a blog alone at your laptop to forget that there are real people reading it. Walking into the dressing room tonight was a reminder. A lot of "hey it's the blogger!" "hello fitman!". All good-natured stuff, and a couple guys commented on the slimming. I won't forget anytime soon that people are reading this!

I'm doing a pretty good overhaul of my routine to achieve my results. But sometimes it is smaller changes that bring about massive improvements.

Today I want to spotlight TG, another colleague of mine from work. TG has worked out pretty frequently as long as I have known him. He also is a big time foodie, great guy to travel with as he will have done all the research you could ever need on local eateries.

But TG wanted to get a bit healthier. So he found a website, www.myfitnesspal.com and started to record his food.

All of it, Everyday.

He kept working out, still ate at great places, but when logging his food he noticed a few things. For example, he had a favourite after-work snack. What he didn't know was how calorie filled a snack it was. Logging showed him, he changed his behaviour, and bit by bit the weight has been coming off.

TG at one point logged all of his food for 420 STRAIGHT DAYS. An incredible run, broken only when he had to travel to India for work, got caught in the time change madness of travel, and according to the website, missed a day. I think he's logged everyday since

What did this lead to? Over 35 lbs of weight loss, really just because he logged his food. That's it, it was that simple.

TG, through his dedication to this small change, reminded me that exercise can't outwork a bad diet, and we can't really judge our diet unless we accurately account for what we do. So now you'll find me on www.myfitnesspal.com , working to come close to the level of success he has had.

There are a lot of tools out there, some free, like myfitnesspal, some that will cost you a bit more, like www.bodymedia.com, there's people out there too, like Rob from www.trainersonsite.com or maybe just friends who can help. People who have been there, and know the way out. The point is they are out there, tools and people alike, all ready to help us get fit. All ready to give us guidance, assistance, hope.

Utilize them, any of them, all of them. You don't have to do this alone, you don't have to struggle in solitude.

Pickup the phone, surf to a webpage, read a book. Arm yourself with the tools that are there, apply them consistently (420days!) and success will come.

Weigh in tomorrow, talk to you then.