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Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast
Episode 428 – Momentum

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In this episode, I share some thoughts a week after setting myself a goal of completing my one hour of intentional physical activity by 7am each morning.

I share how how successful or unsuccessful I’ve been at achieving this goal. I also share why it is that I’ve set such a strict goal for myself.

Also, as it is Monday, I share my results from the scale for this week’s weigh in.

Finally, I shared a few #PABL posts found on Twitter and played some audio that was linked by JustJ3nn.

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment on the blog! You can help motivate me and inspire others by providing your audio feedback for the podcast. Call the voice mail feedback line directly at 859-795-4067 or toll-free at 800-757-1158. You can also email an audio file to feedback@gspn.tv.

Don’t forget to tweet about your pursuit of a balanced life, joining us in the #PABL campaign.

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Happy Monday to you all. As most of you know, Monday is my weigh-in day. I’m very excited to announce that I have lost an additional 2 pounds this past week.

That means that I’ve lost a total of 26 pounds and my waist size as gone from 46 inches down to 41 inches since May 1st, 2009.

In this podcast episode, I share that this past week has been challenging in that I had a few days where I simply lacked motivation and drive. In spite of the way I felt, I was still able to maintain a healthy outlook and attitude toward calorie counting and staying within my minimum goal of working out an hour per day, five days per week.

It’s a shorter episode than usual. Even though the sun was shining and I was feeling better, I’ve still had quite a bit of stuff on my mind as of late. I’m trying to stay productive and moving forward with worthwhile projects and staying free from distractions at all costs. Not only that, I’m desperately trying to maintain my ability to go to bed early so that I can get that much needed early start to the day.

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment on the blog! You can help motivate me and inspire others by providing your audio feedback for the podcast. Call the voice mail feedback line directly at 859-795-4067 or toll-free at 800-757-1158. You can also email an audio file to feedback@gspn.tv.

Don’t forget to tweet about your pursuit of a balanced life, joining us in the #PABL campaign.

Right-Click Here To Download MP3 Version of this Free Episode

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In this episode of Pursuing A Balanced Life, I share some insight and inspiration that I received simply by reading a tweet from my friend Jason Van Orden.

I share a call from Steve Bostedor. Also, I share a conversation I recently had with David Jacobs. Of course there are quite a few other items tossed in this episode as well.

Recent #PABL Tweets

tonialiani #pabl don’t try this @ home…ate like €r@p today but swam .75 miles and still came in 350 calories under.

stephencross Inbox Zero – first time in two weeks (ouch) #PABL

Taquoriaan has walked 12,000+ steps today #pabl

tiwwh @davidjacobs David, how are you doing with the goals your doctor set for you? I’m just checking in. #pabl

queenamy83 I have had too much diet soda in the past few days…colitis is not happy! backing off for a few days!! #PABL

danieljohnsonjr back from another great walk. More than 4 miles today! Since I couldn’t climb up a tree, I opted to climb up a backstop fence instead. #PABL

tiwwh Had a few mis-steps in my #pabl , over the past few days. Decided to stop feeling guilty, & instead re-focus on moving more, eating less.

EvePhoenix Took a great walk tonight & listened to some podcasts. Came back in & drank some water instead of eating a snack. #pabl

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment here on the blog! Or you can call in your feedback on our Voice Mail Feedback Line at 859-795-4067 or toll-free at 800-757-1158. Also, don’t forget to add #PABL to all your tweets related to pursuing a more balanced life.

Note: This is a premium Plus Member Only episode of Pursuing A Balanced Life. If you would like learn how you can get every episode of this podcast as well as all the other podcasts that I produce, please visit http://gspn.tv/plus.

Subscribe To Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast – Free Feed:

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Happy Monday to you all. As most of you know by now, Monday is my weigh-in day. I’m very excited to announce that I have lost an additional 3 pounds this past week.

That means that I’ve lost a total of 24 pounds in the past two months! Not only that, but my waist size as gone from 46 inches down to 41.25 inches since May 1st, 2009. I can’t begin to tell you how great I feel compared to how I felt daily before.

In this podcast episode, I share some feedback that I had received in the gspn.tv community forum regarding podcast episode 412. In it, Mary M. wrote…

Hey yall! I don’t want to be rude but please hear me out and realize that I have good intentions.

Ok, so I am listening to PABL episode #412. Throughout the episode Cliff is talking about his “official” goal is to do physical activity 5 days per week.

Really Cliff??

I think you have set your “official” goal low on purpose. You have stated many times that when you don’t get your physical activity all 7 days it is a “failure” of a day, but then justify it because your “official” goal is only 5 days per week.

I believe that your “actual” goal, the one you really want, is to do physical activity all 7 days per week. I think that in the beginning you set your goal to 5 days per week for the “just in case” moments but that as time has gone by, you have proven to yourself that you can do physical activity everyday and still be productive.

I believe that your goal of physical activity 5 days per week isn’t your “GOAL”, but your “MINIMUM” that you would be comfortable with if necessary. And if you were really honest with yourself, I bet you would be very “unsatisfied” if you only did physical activity 5 days.

I believe that if you were to really search your heart, you are trying to put in physical activity every day.

Maybe it is time to set a new goal. Not meeting it all the time is fine for special occasions (like a family reunion or meeting with a friend for a movie screening).

If you are going to bed every night with the intentions of getting up the next morning and doing physical activity then THAT IS TRULY YOUR GOAL!!!!!

Please don’t take this the wrong way, cause I love ya!!

She also followed that up with this…

Ok, so I finished the episode and had some more thoughts. According to dictionary.com the definition for GOAL is:

1. the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

I guess that my problem with the episode is your use of the word. A goal should be something that you strive to achieve, not just the minimum you would be happy with. You are already past the physical activity of 5 days a week, so anyway…sorry for the rant.

A majority of this episode is my response to this this feedback. I want to post some highlights from what I shared here for the blog.

First of all, here is what I think about when I talk about setting goals:

Goal setting is the process of deciding what you want to accomplish and devising a plan to achieve the result you desire.

Goal setting is a two part process. Step one is deciding What You Want To Do. Step two is working toward the accomplishment of that Goal. Many people know what they want to do but have trouble creating a plan to get there. Goals without action plans are just words. Another way of saying that is that a goal without action plans are nothing more than desires.

When creating a plan to achieve your goals, I think it is important to evaluate your goal to make sure that it has all of the following characteristics. Your goals should be Realistic / Attainable. Your goals should be specific and detailed. You goals should be measurable. And finally, I think it is important to evaluate your goal in light of whether or not it adds to or or distracts you from your pursuit of a balanced life.

Regarding the thought of me setting my “official” goal low on purpose, I’d have to disagree. When I first set this goal, back in May, it actually seemed to be an very lofty at the time. Time came to reveal that I actually had it within me to achieve this goal on a very consistent basis which came as a great shock to me and inspired many others to set similar types of goals for themselves.

While I’ve been averaging between 6 to 7 days a week on a regular basis. The question then becomes… Should I “adjust my goal?” I’ve given this a lot of thought and the answer is no.

I feel that it would be more closely aligned with the Pursuit of a “Balanced Life” to achieve a healthier outlook on the concept of giving my body rest two days a week and not”not overdoing it.” I especially want to avoid “burn-out” which I will blog about in the future.

The truth is that there are still other areas of a Balanced Life that I’m not giving enough attention right now. I believe that as I get closer to the desired balance in each area, there will be more and more occasions where the 5 days per week goal will seem more aligned with where I should be.

I’ve been consuming a large amount of Health and Wellness content lately. Everything that I read suggests intentional physical activity at a minimum of thiry minutes per day, three to five days per week. My “official” physical activity goal is already double the amount of time and on the upper head of what is suggested for a healthy lifestyle.

I have noticed that I seem to try to justify the days that I don’t work out. However, I believe that this is more about my attempt to convince myself that this is not a failure, but it is all a part of adjusting to a more balanced approach and mindset to physical activity.

With that said, I really appreciate the feedback that has been provided on this topic. I’m even more thankful that it came in the context of a genuine relationship with someone I would call friend.

I hope that you might find this topic helpful when you are setting your own goals.

Special thanks to Maggie who called in some audio feedback for this episode. Also, here is the list of #PABL updates that I shared in this episode.

Seaturtle89 Goal: wake at 4:45 a.m. Gym 5:00 a.m. Night all must get some sleep so I can acomplish this Goal #PABL

MrsLTJ Having a good day! Didnt realize starting it off with a ride would make me feel this good! #pabl

aaronmb Rivky has learned how to ride her two wheeler! Film at 11. #pabl

panache113 (aka Jessie) Starting to day #PABL.

melindayork slept in this morning then did 10 Minute Trainer x 3. Now cooling down with a walk on the treadmill. #PABL

EvePhoenix Took a walk yesterday at the mall – and didn’t buy anything! Just took the Nano, and went for the exercise. #pabl

Lindaharderwijk (Linda From The Netherlands) And I finally got my new cross bike today yeah it’s so great used 999 kcal #pabl yeah!!! Feeling good

CaptainsCast Week4/Day3 Couch to 5K run completed. 2.29 miles, 31:01, 13:32/mile, 441 calories. I’ve now completed 12 workouts totaling 23.84 miles #pabl

GalenaG The maid of honor said it was difficult to lace the dress due to weight loss. Size 20 to 14 in a year. #pabl

ffluvssg1 Today’s healthy activities: Walking on the treadmill, health/fitness podcasts, and brought a salad for lunch. Working on time mgmt. #pabl

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment on the blog! You can help motivate me and inspire others by providing your audio feedback for the podcast. Call the voice mail feedback line directly at 859-795-4067 or toll-free at 800-757-1158. You can also email an audio file to feedback@gspn.tv.

Don’t forget to tweet about your pursuit of a balanced life, joining us in the #PABL campaign.

Right-Click Here To Download MP3 Version of this Free Episode

Subscribe To Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast – Free Feed:

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In this episode of Pursuing A Balanced Life, I share how I applied the principles and values of pursuing a balanced life to what would have normally been a very highly stressful situation. Several folks had called in some great tips, suggestions, and feedback.

Also, I shared an audio clip from a podcast that I’m listening to of Jillian Michaels from The Biggest Loser TV Show. She does a radio talk shoe on a station in California. The podcast feed includes all the shows that they air on Sunday. So what I did was subscribe to this feed and simply deleted each episode that was not hers. If you have itunes, you can just click here.

Finally, I shared that that my shoes are showing visible signs of wear and tear from all this walking. I mentioned that I would use an image of them as the album artwork for the podcast. for those of you who don’t have a player that displays the album artwork, this image is posted her for you and it speaks volumes.

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment here on the blog! Or you can call in your feedback on our Voice Mail Feedback Line at 859-795-4067 or toll-free at 800-757-1158. Also, don’t forget to add #PABL to all your tweets related to pursuing a more balanced life.

Note: This is a premium Plus Member Only episode of Pursuing A Balanced Life. If you would like learn how you can get every episode of this podcast as well as all the other podcasts that I produce, please visit http://gspn.tv/plus.

Subscribe To Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast – Free Feed:

gspn.tv Plus Members Get Every Episode Using The Plus Feed Generator.

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Oddly enough, too much focus and attention on the Health and Fitness aspect of our lives can cause our lives to be thrown off balance. Since May 1st, I’ve been pursuing a healthier lifestyle that incorporates a generous amount of daily physical activity. I have also had a major paradigm shift in the way that I look at food and its nutritional value.

While I’ve been devoting a large portion of this blog and podcast to the topic of Health and Fitness, I’ve been just as focused on focusing more attention to the other areas of a balanced life such as Community, Work/Career, Family, Faith, Personal Development, and Recreation. It’s a balance between Health/Fitness and all of these areas of our lives that truly cause us to enjoy the abundant life that God has provided us.

In this podcast episode, I share several things that took place over this past weekend. Prior to my focused pursuit of a Balanced Life, I would not have been able to enjoy all the events things that took place. However, because of the values and principles that I’ve been learning and applying to my life, I found myself living in the moment on a more consistent basis.

By the way, I mentioned that when I posted this episode, I’d put my weigh-in day results in the show notes. I’m excited to tell you that I’ve lost another 2 pounds in the last seven days for a total of TWENTY ONE POUNDS LOST SINCE May 1st!

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment on the blog! You can help motivate me and inspire others by providing your audio feedback for the podcast. Call the voice mail feedback line directly at 859-795-4067 or toll-free at 800-757-1158. You can also email an audio file to feedback@gspn.tv.

Don’t forget to tweet about your pursuit of a balanced life, joining us in the #PABL campaign.

Right-Click Here To Download MP3 Version of this Free Episode

Subscribe To Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast – Free Feed:

gspn.tv Plus Members Get Every Episode Using The Plus Feed Generator.

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I never dreamed that Monday mornings could ever become a highlight of my week. However, as many of you know now, Monday is the day of the week that I’ve set aside as my “Weigh In Day.” Yet another week has gone by where I lost exactly the amount of weight that I had set out to lose. I lost two additional pounds last week for a total of 16 pounds lost since May 1st, 2009.

In this episode of the podcast, I share some other exciting items related to balanced living. I had an amazing weekend focused on spending time with my family.

It started off by fulfilling my goal of obtaining childcare Friday night so that I could take Stephanie out for a date night.

On Saturday, I was given the opportunity to work all day and skip out on a family reunion picnic for Stephanie’s mom’s side of the family. Instead of taking her up on her offer to work through the day, I made a conscious decision to spend time with my family. I’m glad I did.

I not only had a great time with family, I also had the opportunity to go for a five mile walk. Check out some of these photos that I took while on my walk. You can click on the thumbnails below to see the larger image.

Sunday evening, we actually went to a Drive-In movie double feature. There is a great database of drive-ins if you click here. In the podcast, I shared how much we enjoyed this experience and what we saw while we were there.

Maurey sent in an excellent review of the Wii’s Active Personal Trainer Program.

My friend Frank called in to let us know how he’s been encouraged recently and his new found passion for waking up early in the morning.

I share a brief audio clip from the Fitness Rocks Podcast that supports my idea of putting your goals out there so that others know what you want to achieve with your lifestyle changes. It makes more sense when you listen to it in the episode.

Erik Fisher called in with a great suggestion! He suggested that we have a call in show for those of us who are Purusing A Balanced Life from time to time. I thought it was such a great idea that I’ve gone ahead and set up the first call for next Monday at 8:15pm Eastern Time. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO REGISTER! (It’s Free!)

Finally, I share some highlights from those who are using the #PABL in their tweets

jportier 1163 steps so far today and I haven’t made it too the gym #pabl

CMSawyer No candy bars or snack cakes on breaks at work for over 3 weeks now!! #PABL

Bear1 Walked 3.37 miles and felt great. I did not stay at home at all today I got 7120 steps #pabl

erikjfisher Back from 3607 step walk. Recovering from yesterdays activity (17225 steps = 8.5 something miles!). Gonna eat light and relax today. #PABL

tonialiani #pabl 8440 step (goal 7000). Lots of firing at the university but I thankfully still have mine. Spent day w/fam & friends.

danieljohnsonjr I need to create another notch on my belt. Apparently I’ve lost another inch. #PABL

DadGetsFit Finding balance by taking my kids out individually on Saturdays. This morning is a daddy-daughter date. She likes yard sales & donuts #pabl

QueenAmy83 I just ordered mine, have you?! Are you Pursuing A Balanced Life? Why not tell the world with a PABL Sticker! http://gspn.tv/stickers #PABL

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment on the blog! You can help motivate me and inspire others by providing your audio feedback for the podcast. Call the voice mail feedback line directly at 859-795-4067 or toll-free at 800-757-1158. You can also email an audio file to feedback@gspn.tv.

Don’t forget to tweet about your pursuit of a balanced life, joining us in the #PABL campaign.

Right-Click Here To Download MP3 Version of this Free Episode

Subscribe To Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast – Free Feed:

gspn.tv Plus Members Get Every Episode Using The Plus Feed Generator.

Those who have been following along the past few weeks know that I’ve been making some significant lifestyle changes.

Sure there were some who were not convinced at first, including myself. However, as time went on, it has become evident, to most people, that these changes that I have made are not just a fad.

The changes I speak of are not only related to health and fitness, though this has certainly been a primary focus as of late. I look forward to blogging and podcasting about many of the other areas of pursuing a balanced life. However, there are just so many new things that I’m learning about healthy eating habits and physical fitness that I want to share at this point in the journey.

With that said, the concept of “Cheat Days” has come up in a few conversations, both in previous “attempts to lose weight” and most recently with the “lifestyle changes” that I’ve been making. I’m going to simply throw out my opinion on this concept and ask you to understand that it is only “my opinion.”

Please note that, as I write this post, this is the time that I’ve considered formulating my thoughts into words on the concept of “Cheat Days.” This post will resemble my initial thoughts as far an official opinion on the subject.

In the past, I’ve attempted to lose weight through “dieting.” In my mind, I define diet as a temporary change in eating patterns for the purpose of losing weight. I’m not alone in this sort of definition as the Random House Dictionary defines dieting as… “to select or limit the food one eats to improve one’s physical condition or to lose weight.”

It’s a bit confusing to some when I declare that I AM NOT DIETING but I am trying to incorporate a Mediterranean diet into my lifestyle. Of course I’m using the word “diet” here as defined by “the foods eaten by a particular person or group.”

To get right to the point, what I am doing is not temporary. I am, in fact, changing my lifestyle. I have made “permanent” changes to what I eat. However, to go a step further, there has been a major paradigm shift in how I view food and nutrition altogether.

For me, the concept “Cheat Days” does not coincide with the concept of lifestyle change. To demonstrate my point, I did a quick Google search and found the following in an article titled “Cheat Days.”

Quoted from http://www.chetday.com/cheatdays.htm

Some people call it a “Free Day,” others call it a “Cheat Day.” Whatever you call it, it’s definitely a good idea to “relax” your diet once a week and eat something you really enjoy, provided that you do it in moderation.

If you try to be too strict all the time, then you are only setting yourself up for cravings and binging (not to mention it’s no fun). Food is one of life’s great pleasures so it’s not productive to completely deny yourself of anything that you really want.

Pick a “cheat day,” perhaps on the weekend, and give yourself permission to have one “cheat meal” of whatever food you want. Consider it your reward after a week of perfect eating and perfect training. If you eat five or six times per day (like you should be), that’s at least 35 meals per week. If 33 or 34 of them are perfect, then one (or even two) “cheat” meals aren’t going to hurt.

I could not disagree more with this guy!

The word “cheat” can be defined as “to violate rules or regulations.” I’m going to go for a bit of a stretch here and say that I define cheating, in the context of Cheat Days, as “to violate your principles and values” as they relate living a more healthy lifestyle.

It’s no wonder that some people choose to call them “free days” as opposed to “cheat days” as if you look up the word cheat, you’ll see that the word is so tightly associated to the words, “defraud,” “deceive,” “dishonest,” “unfaithful,” “swindle,” and “impostor.”

The term “Free Day” is no better. Free as opposed to what? The fact that we would consider ourselves slaves to our decision to healthier eating habits just doesn’t seem to be a healthy thought at all. I fear this concept perpetuates the notion that making a lifestyle change in the area of our eating habits is a means of “depriving” oneself.

In fact, in the quoted text above, the author even says, “it’s not productive to completely deny yourself of anything that you really want.” He then goes on to suggest that you should “give yourself permission to have one “cheat meal” of whatever food you want.” In fact, by the end of that statement, he says that even two such meals throughout the week would be a suitable “reward” for such hard work on staying on track and these would not likely hurt you.

A great friend of mine, Fred From Long Island, recently shared the following statement in the Health Fitness And Accountability section of the gspn.tv Community Forum. (Note: Quote Used By Permission. Also Note: This section is only viewable to registered forum members who are logged in.)

Recently I listened to an episode of Fitness Rocks in which Dr. Monte mentioned that overindulging on “special days” (as I call them) is a BAD idea, but I am guilty as charged.

For example, I used to eat maybe three slices of pizza and two garlic knots. Yesterday I ate two slices of pizza and one garlic knot, but I should have eaten maybe half a slice and half a knot. I kept up with my treadmill walking, so the net effect was zero.

I might not be so lucky next time.

I have to agree with Dr. Monte on his stance the overindulging on “special days.” He states that everything that we do with our body “TODAY” will have lasting effects in our overall health moving forward.

If we have deemed that “overindulging” is not a healthy activity to participate in, wouldn’t we want to avoid such activities altogether in pursuit of a healthier lifestyle?

I’ve never heard the concept of a “Cheat Day” or “Free Day” to someone who has made the decision to quit smoking. Could you imagine someone telling you, I only smoke during special occasions such as birthday parties and weddings. What if they said that they do this as a means of rewarding myself for not smoking the rest of the time? Or heck, what if they said that they once read that “it’s not productive to completely deny yourself of anything that you really want.” Sounds silly doesn’t it? Or is it just me?

A paradigm shift in the way that we view food is essential in understanding that our decisions for healthier eating habits are not a means of depriving ourselves, but a means of treating our bodies with the full pleasures of the nutrients that it desires and needs to provide us with optimal health and wellness.

In all fairness to the author of the article I quote above, if you read the entire article, you’ll see that the he actually makes some pretty good points to follow up what I quoted above. Some of the important statements include the following:

There’s never any excuse for “pigging out” and blowing your diet completely.

I also don’t recommend taking an entire day off your diet.

With that said, I still disagree with the author overall.

In fact, later in the article he writes, “Because the months of severe dieting may have put their bodies into “starvation mode.”

I guess that this is where the fundamental disagreement stems from. If you are dieting, as defined by temporary changes to your eating habits in an effort to lose weight, then I suppose that what this author states can seem to make a bit of sense.

Severe dieting may certainly help you to achieve a goal of massive weight loss. However, from everything I’m reading, “severe dieting” is far from the healthiest choice one can make in the pursuit of actual physical health.

Just the other day, I posted another entry titled “Eating Healthy Foods Has Made All The Difference!” In it, I share that I’ve not deprived myself of food. In fact, I’m eating more often than I have have in my past. What I choose to eat and how much I eat at each has drastically changed.

Last night, after having eaten very nutritious, low calorie foods all day long, I was still 863 calories under my allotted daily calories calculated for me to loose a healthy 2 to 3 pounds per week. Stephanie was kind enough to make a trip down to McDonalds and buy me a Hot Fudge Sundae. That snack was 330 calories.

When it was all said and done, I still went to bed well under my daily allotted calories for the day. I didn’t go to bed feeling that I was deprived of anything. I did not “cheat” or “break free” from my decision to live a more healthy lifestyle.

Snacks such as ice cream and chips may have little to no nutritional value at all. However, that doesn’t mean that these items are “unhealthy.” What is is “unhealthy” is eating foods that contain little to no nutritional value in large quantities on a habitual basis.

I never exceeded a daily net calorie intake of 1,901 calories during the Month of May 2009. Most days, my net calorie intake was around 1,500 calories or less!

During that month, there we three days when I enjoyed a serving or two of Peppercorn Ranch Sun Chips. However, those servings were carefully weighed out in in either a one ounce or two ounce serving and I stopped when that amount had been consumed.

These were not cheat days. These were just days where I allowed myself to eat a food item that provided less nutrition to my body than other choices I could have made. I made these choices in moderation and what fit in with what I had determined to be healthy eating patterns for my new healthier lifestyle. A determination that I have made based upon my educating myself about health and fitness through a number of available educational resources.

I don’t feel the need to “cheat.” In fact, on an almost daily basis, I am learning something new about how my body works with and reacts to the various types of foods that I eat. Therefore, for me, every day is a “Free Day!” Free in that I am breaking free from the “slavery of ignorance” as it relates to heath and nutrition and my old eating habits that were slowly killing me.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

In this episode, I look back at the month of May to see the achievements that I’ve made. During the month of May, I lost 14 pounds and I lost 3.5 inches around my waistline!

Not only that, but since I kept a great log of my step counts, I thought it was impressive that I walked 289,800 steps which turns out to be approximately 145 miles.

I shared some thoughts from an article that my good friend, Richard Emblem, sent over to me. The article is titled How soup can help you lose weight.

Richard tells me that medical journalist Michael Mosley investigated the latest scientific breakthroughs in slimming and that he uncovered ten of the simplest ways you can shed those pounds.

1 Don’t skip meals
2 Use smaller plates
3 Count calories
4 Don’t blame your “metabolism”
5 Protein staves off hunger pangs
6 Soup keeps you feeling fuller for longer than solid food
7 The wider the choice the more you eat
8 Low-fat dairy products help excrete more fat from all your food
9 Exercise goes on burning calories when you’ve stopped – even while you sleep
10 Keep moving even in the home or at work to lose weight

I also mention the blog post titled “Eating Healthy Has A Made All The Difference” that I posted this weekend. In that post, I share the types of foods that I’ve been eating lately that have allowed me to lose so much weight and not feel like I was depriving myself.

Erik Fisher had asked if were a non iPhone calorie counting app for the non iPhone user. I did find a program called Diet Controller for Mac, Windows, or Linux users as well as a program from Calorie King for Windows users. They are expensive in comparison to the iPhone apps though.

However, a quick Google Search for “online calorie journal” turned up a few online solutions. Some are free, some have membership fees. Here are three you might want to review.
http://www.my-calorie-counter.com
http://www.myfitnesspal.com
http://www.myfooddiary.com

Jenny H. sent in an email telling me about an audio lecture titled “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers.” It’s a part of the Stanford University’s Healthy Living series on iTunes University.

I’ll let you listen for full details on all of the above and and the few other things that I’ve covered in this episode.

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment here on the blog! Or you can call in your feedback on our Voice Mail Feedback Line at 859-795-4067 or toll-free at 800-757-1158. Also, don’t forget to add #PABL to all your tweets related to pursuing a more balanced life.

Right-Click Here To Download MP3 Version of this Free Episode

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So I lost twelve pounds in the first three weeks of my changed lifestyle. I’m actually quite eager to weigh in for week for Monday morning.

Some might think that I’m starving myself or that I’m on some sort of “fad diet.” This could not be further from the truth. In fact, I’m eating several times during the day. I’ll often wake at 5am and have a healthy breakfast. Something like two eggs and a slice of 100% whole wheat toast. I’ll then go for a walk in the morning, usually 3.5 miles or more.

During my morning walk, I burn around 400 calories, which is more than what I had to eat before the walk. After the walk, I’ll typically have a healthy snack. Either a fresh fruit, an ounce of nuts, or a yogurt. Because I have plenty of protein in the morning, this keeps me feeling full and satisfied till around 11am. That’s when I’ll have myself a very filling lunch.

For lunch, I’ll typically either have two servings of soup (only 140 calories) or maybe a deli sandwich. A deli sandwich for me would include two slices of 100% whole wheat toast, 2 ounces of deli fresh lean turkey meat, once slice of white American cheese, and a few slivers of red onion. Such a sandwich contains LESS THAN 300 calories total! With either my sandwich or soap, I’ll have a fresh piece of fruit, an ounce of nuts, or a yogurt.

A lunch like that listed above will get me through until around 3pm which is when I’ll allow myself about 200 calories for a snack. You guessed it, it will consist of either yogurt, nuts, or fresh fruit.

For dinner, my wife has been doing a terrific job of creating very low calorie dinner items which include fresh vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats like fish and chick.

When I follow this eating pattern, I’m usually WELL UNDER my allotted calorie allowance for the day.

So how am I losing so much weight? Sure I’m walking a lot.. But that’s not it. And yes, I’m counting my calories! That’s important also! However, the key is that I’m doing both of them. Perhaps even more important is the types of foods I’m eating when I take in those calories!

Want to follow me in my pursuit of a more healthy lifestyle and balanced life all together? Why not subscribe to the Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast?

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Monday mornings have taken on a whole new meaning for me these days. Monday is the day of the week that I’ve set aside as my “Weigh In Day.” One again, I’m excited to announce that I have continued to drop a few pounds.

In fact, in the past seven days, I’ve lost another 3 pounds. This brings my total weight loss to 12 pounds in only three weeks. I also lost an additional 1.5 inches from around my waistline. Quite literally, there is less and less of me as the weeks go by.

In this podcast episode, I share my excitement not only about my weight loss, but I also share an exciting story from this weekend. I’ll first share the story with you…

This past Tuesday evening, I took the family to the “Dollar Saver Cinema” to see the movie, “Race To Witch Mountain.” It was an enjoyable family movie that our family enjoyed very much.

I had some major client projects to complete and a podcasting webinar to prepare for this weekend that caused me to have to work late into the evening Friday and all day long on Saturday.

Since I didn’t have much time with the family on Friday and Saturday, I decided to surprise the family by treating them to lunch at Chipotle (our family’s favorite place to eat) and to a movie at the Deluxe Cinema. We saw “Night At The Museum 2.” It also was an enjoyable family movie.

The story, however, happened as a conversation that occurred during our lunch at Chipotle.

Meagan, my 11 year old daughter, asked me… “Dad, where did you get all the money to take out out to eat and to the movies twice this week?

I responded by telling her that it was the result of me focusing a lot on my work and due the blessings of picking up a few new clients recently.

Then Meagan says… “But Dad, you haven’t been working as much lately, you’ve been spending a lot more time with the family lately!”

That my friends is what this whole “Pursuing A Balanced Life” thing is all about!

Also In This Episode:

I share some highlights from those who are using the #PABL in their tweets.

stephencross: Are you making smoothies? NYT article to get you started. http://tinyurl.com/oyupkk #PABL

TIWWH: Still working on my “baby steps” of the Dave Ramsey financial plan. The going is slow, but sure. #iWant to be debt free! #PABL

stephencross: Its nice do my exercise in the AM not PM. Love the weekends #PABL

ffluvssg1: Getting on the treadmill for an hour #PABL

tonialiani: #PABL under calorie goal today by 334, steps 5021 (21 over goal) drinking water. Tomorrow’s step goal is 5500.

marcuscarey: Before it gets too hot I’m going to plant my garden.

TIWWH: Got new pedometer today. Figuring out my LiveStrong iPhone App. Armed w/ these tools, I am #PABL. Also need to balance rest, recreation, etc

jportier: Total Miles Walked Yesterday: 8.74 Miles / Total Geocaches Found: 45 Caches #PABL

I share the significance of this tweet:

nkvanhoosier: @erikjfisher what’s #pabl?

I share some thoughts on this conversation:

johnbuehler: Falling of the #pabl wagon for a day or two. Giant chipotle burrito for lunch…yummm!

GSPN: @johnbuehler Chipotle tortilla is 290 Calories. If you get a Bowl w/rice, black beans, chicken, salsa, & cheese is only 640 calories. #PABL

GSPN: @johnbuehler Walking “fast” for 60 minutes would burn off 400 of those calories. #PABL

I also read a bit from a blog that was found in this tweet:

DadGetsFit: I’m just a bloke who eats less, moves more and lives to blog about it. #pabl – Link: http://dadgetsfit.wordpress.com

I finish off the podcast by sharing and responding to two awesome bits of audio feedback from Erik & Toni!

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment on the blog! You can help motivate me and inspire others by providing your audio feedback for the podcast. Call the voice mail feedback line directly at 859-795-4067 or toll-free at 800-757-1158. You can also email an audio file to feedback@gspn.tv.

Don’t forget to tweet about your pursuit of a balanced life, joining us in the #PABL campaign.

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This is part 2 of 2 of the podcast where I ask the question… Is there enough time in the day to really live a balanced life?

In this episode, I pick up where I left off in podcast episode 401. I review the areas of my life that I desire to achieve balance in. These ares are Faith, Family, Work/Career, Health/Fitness, Community, Personal Development, and Recreation. You may notice that I accidentally left out community when I was recording.

I also share my reaction to Family From The Heart podcast episode 058 where, after three weeks of daily consistency, Stephanie says that she is not yet convinced that I can sustain this lifestyle for the long haul.

Also included in this episode are your stories! That’s right, I’ve included many of the things that you have posted on twitter using the “#PABL” hashtag. It’s been remarkable to see how many people are being inspired and encouraged through our joined effort in Pursuing A Balanced Life.

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment here on the blog! Or you can call in your feedback on our Voice Mail Feedback Line at 859-795-4067 or toll-free at 800-757-1158. Also, don’t forget to add #PABL to all your tweets related to pursuing a more balanced life.

Right-Click Here To Download MP3 Version of this Free Episode

Subscribe To Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast – Free Feed:

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In this episode of the podcast, I ask the question… Is there enough time in the day to really live a balanced life?

I also share the areas of my life that I desire to achieve balance in. These ares are Faith, Family, Work/Career, Health/Fitness, Community, Personal Development, and Recreation. You may notice that I accidentally left out community when I was recording.

This is part one of the discussion of Striking The Balance as I had noticed that the show was running long and I needed to make a phone call to one of my consulting clients. At the end of the episode, I asked if you would please take a moment and leave a Five-Start review of the podcast in iTunes. For ease of use, you can go directly to the appropriate page simply by going to http://gspn.tv/itunespabl. Thank you in advance!

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment here on the blog! Or you can call in your feedback on our Voice Mail Feedback Line at 859-795-4067 or toll-free at 800-757-1158. Also, don’t forget to add #PABL to all your tweets related to pursuing a more balanced life.

Right-Click Here To Download MP3 Version of this Free Episode

Subscribe To Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast – Free Feed:

gspn.tv Plus Members Get Every Episode Using The Plus Feed Generator.

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I’m so excited to announce that I am now nine pounds lighter than I was two weeks ago! In this podcast episode, I share how I did it!

Also in this episode… I talk share my thoughts on whether or not I can consistently achieve weight loss week after week until I meet my goal to be at my goal of 185 pounds. I share more about the #PABL campaign.

After you get a chance to listen, feel free to leave a comment here on the blog! Or you can call in your feedback on our toll-free listener line at 800-757-1158.

Right-Click Here To Download MP3 Version of this Free Episode

Subscribe To Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast – Free Feed:

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I recently blogged about My Journey of Physical Fitness To Date. In that post, I mentioned that I had turned to the gspn.tv community for encouragement and accountability as it relates to the goals that I had shared with them.

Today, I would like to share a glimpse of the type of encouragement that I have been receiving from the community. In this post, I’m also going to propose a way that we can all inspire each other.

One thing that I’ve been doing through this journal has been to post regular updates regarding the number of steps/miles I’m walking and the amount of calories consumed during meals or a total at the end of the day. I’ve been posting these both my Facebook and Twitter profiles.

Here are just a few examples of the things I’ve shared online and the type of interaction that I have had with the community related to these updates.

Of course, I’m not only sharing my triumphs. I have also shared when things were not going so well. To show you just how valuable this sort of encouragement and accountability is, just take a look at this exchange…

What you don’t see in the exchange above is a Twitter Direct Message that I had received from my friend, Stephen Cross. I usually delete direct messages after I’ve responded to them. However, he said something about how he was wavering in his decision to walk on the treadmill that evening. He suggested that if I would resolve to not cheat and drink a bottled water instead, he’d resolve to get on the treadmill. Keep that in mind and look at the last post on the image above.

All the updates that I’ve been posting the Facebook have also been posted to Twitter. Something happened yesterday that I certainly didn’t expect at all! Have a look at this:

Now, as many of your know, I’m a total geek! However, I realize that not everyone in the gspn.tv Community is a geek like myself. That doesn’t keep me from sharing my love for all things geeky! And that is why I want to explain the significance of the Twitter post from my friend John Buehler. Where you see pound sign “#” in front of a phrase such as “#keepupwithcliff” that is called “creating a hashtag.”

Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They’re like tags to you photos on Flickr, only added inline to your post. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol: #hashtag

The best part about hashtags is that it is a very easy way to create a “group” of sorts on Twitter. For example, I had got a huge chuckle out of John’s “#keepupwithcliff” hash tag, so I tweeted about it. Then, immediately, a few others in the community jumped on board by using it, simply to carry on the humor just a little bit further.

However, the nice thing about #hashtags is that you can search for them on your Twitter Home Page and on Twitter Search. Do me a favor, CLICK HERE and read the pop-up image from the bottom-up, in reverse chronological order.

The image you just clicked showed the exchange with the #keepupwithcliff hash tag that John had created. Now I know that John had meant this as a joke, or maybe not. My friend, Daniel, posted that the #keepupwithcliff hashtag “…could be for any Cliff-inspired aspirations! Like leaving our full-time jobs in insurance?” That exchange gave me a great idea that I believe could be a great, additional, way for the gspn.tv community to encourage each other to live more balanced lives.

I would like to propose the use of a new #PABL hash tag. That #PABL would stand for “Pursuing A Balance Life.” Basically, the concept is that whenever you post a status update that is related to your pursuit of a more balanced life, simply add #PABL to the end of the update. These posts don’t have to be limited to heath/fitness. Here’s another example of a #PABL post….

What will happen if you do this? First off, you can search for #PABL on twitter at any time to see what others are doing in their pursuit of a more balanced life! This could encourage you and is an easy way to find posts from other community members where you can encourage them!

If you wanted to, you could add this search to your home page on Twitter. To do so, simply follow these steps.

1. Log into Twitter & go to your Home Screen.
2. Type in “#PABL” into the search box on the right & click the search button.

3. Click the “Save This Search” link at the top of the results:

4. Now you will see #PABL as a saved search on your home screen.

I don’t think I need to go into great detail on how I think this could be beneficial. I think what I will do is simply publish this blog entry and make an announcement about it and see how it goes!

If anyone ever asks you what the #PABL stands for, you can simply sent them to http://gspn.tv/pabl and it will forward them to this post.

So that’s it. Why not leave a comment below and let me know what you think about this idea?

If there has been one area of pursuing a balanced life that I’ve struggled with most, it would have to be the Health and Fitness category.

In January of 2008, I started working from home, pursuing podcasting and new media work as my full-time career. I was anything but the picture of physical health at the time. However, I never dreamed I could actually do worse than I had already done up to that point.

Working from home certainly had its advantages at a time where gasoline prices had risen to an all-time high.  However, having my office in the lower level of our home had some major disadvantages to pursuing a balanced life. Some I’ll touch on here and others I’m sure I’ll touch on in future posts.

As I was building my business from the ground up, I felt a lot of pressure to work on my business a great deal. Don’t get me wrong, I loved what I was doing! However, during the first two months, I was literally working around the clock, seven days a week, twelve to fourteen hours a day. (No, I’m not exaggerating. I wish I were!)

There were other things going on at this time which I’m certain I’ll be writing about in upcoming posts. Working around the clock, for me, meant sitting in front of a computer all day long. There were some weeks where I’d venture to say that I hardly even walked out the front door of our home. What was already a weight problem before was becoming a weight crisis. It was not healthy and I could tell that something had to change.

I had many failed attempts at doing something about my physical fitness routine. However, in May of 2008, I decided to go public with my desire to get my physical health under control. I turned to the gspn.tv community and asked them for their encouragement and for them to hold me accountable to the goals that I had shared with them as it related to physical activity at first.

At the time, I started working out for twenty minutes a day, three days a week. I had not yet changed what, or how much, I was eating. I was just trying to take it one step at a time.

In June of 2008, I had a major breakthrough in my physical fitness routine. My wife had received a pedometer as one of many gifts in a gift back from our friend Alison L . Stephanie let me borrow her pedometer as I went out and did my physical activity. I was reminded about the many stories I had read about the 10,000 steps a day program . After just two days, I knew I had to have my own and I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods to get my own.

I made it my goal to get to where I would be walking 10,000 steps a day, at least three to five days a week. The first few weeks I had made it to 3,000 steps per day. A few weeks later, I was up to 5,000 steps per day. It was not until two months later, the end of July 2008, that I had the ability to walk a full 10,000 steps on a consistent basis. It was at that point I began to track the amount of calories I was taking in, using an iPhone application . I was loosing pounds week after week.

With all that being said. I still had my ups and downs. I had days where I was too lazy to get out the door, allowing myself to get tied to the computer screen and where I just didn’t make walking a priority. There were days that I simply didn’t track my calorie intake because I wanted to eat some comfort food to help medicate some of the stress of figuring out what to do next in my business to get us to the next level, moving closer to where we could pay the bills on the income generated from the business. Somewhere along the way, I completely fell off track!  I’m sure I had a lot of great excuses at the time.

This is why the name of my blog and podcast is "Pursuing A Balanced Life" and not "Living A Balanced Life." Okay, well that, and the fact that the other domain was taken.

Things were not helped much by the fact that in January of this year (2009), I had a gall bladder attack. I spent some time in the hospital where they removed both my gall bladder and my appendix. Then there were a few weeks of recovery.

As you might imagine, after having several weeks of being off work, the pressure was on to get things rolling again, and the long hours began again, with me only occasionally going out for a walk.

About two weeks ago, I had noticed some tingling and numbness feeling in my left pinky finger and half of my ring finger. I thought maybe it was carpel tunnel except I understand that would be localized to my thumb, index, middle, and the other half of my ring finger.  I decided to try to rest my left arm as much as possible, but the fact that I was dealing with something that could be associated with diabetes really woke me up to the fact that this area of my life was once again, way out of balance.

On Friday, May 1st, 2009, I had read a post in the Health, Fitness, and Accountability section (Only viewable to registered members) of the gspn.tv Community Forum that my friend, Richard, from the UK , sent me.  He wrote… "May Day today – time for a new walking resolution Cliff."

It was all the encourage that I needed. Since then, I’ve been out walking again, averaging about 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day. In fact, last Monday, I started tracking my weight and calories again.

I’m very happy to announce that in the past seven days, I’ve lost SIX POUNDS and one and a half inches around my waist. Not only that, but I’m eating a great deal healthier as well. I’m not only counting the calories I’m taking in, I’m also carefully watching what kind of foods that are providing those calories.

Of course I’ll be sharing a great deal more about the details of exactly what changes I’ve made in the types of food that I’m eating and how I’ve stayed motivated these past 11 days in the next podcast episode of "Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast."

The numbness in my fingers is still there and has been the past two weeks. I’m going to call and make a doctor appointment today to get complete physical checkup. Please pray for me. To be checked for sugar diabetes means "needles" and I hate those things!

If you’re stuck behind a desk all day and you’ve felt bad about how little you’ve taken care of your health and physical fitness, why not join me in Pursuing A Balanced Life with an increase focus on this area of our lives.

Of course you can follow some of my progress in this, and other areas of my life here in the blog. However, I’d ask you to consider thinking about becoming a gspn.tv Plus Member and subscribing to the "Pursuing A Balanced Life Podcast." If nothing else, why not click on over to http://gspn.tv/plus and just listen to the testimonials there.

In summary…. I’m very excited about my success this past week! The secret to my success can be boiled down to what my friend, Frank (another podcast listener) told me all the time. Eat Less! Move More!

If anyone is wondering, I use the Sportline Walking Advantage 340 Step & Distance pedometer . You can get them at Dick’s Sporting Goods and various places online. There are a lot of pedometers out there and most of them DO NOT do a great job of counting steps. I’ve found this one to be extremely reliable.

The only drawback is that I’ve lost one off my belt clip once or twice in the past. I believe in the motivation that a pedometer provides so much that had purchased several of these as backups.