Procrastination affects your life

“I’ll start tomorrow." "I'm too busy today”. Is this you? Delaying things, putting them off and constantly stalling can kill your dreams and goals, you might has well see procrastination as the grave in which success is burried in.

Honestly, how many times have you said “tomorrow, not now” when what you really meant was “I really don't want to do this or never”? I think that most of us are procrastinators to an extent (Let's admit it we've all put off things once in a while).

But seriously when we tend to say “I’ll start exercising tomorrow or on Monday I'll start my diet.” Do we really meant it? Maybe we do believe we will and to an extent maybe it is our intention to "eventually do something"...

Perhaps its the rush and adrenaline that comes from a sudden moment of enthusiamiasm, passion, desire or commitment. It could be something as simple as you coming across and ad on TV or on article on a magazine, maybe it's an online post or a conversation with a friend, a good look in the mirror or just reflecting on your life and its events; whatever it is... for that moment it gives you the sense of strength, you feel resolved and committed to your goal. It feels as if nothing can come between you and the promise of tomorrow.

But then tomorrow actually comes... And once again, we face that same decision: to do or not to do? That is the question. Now C’mon (you say to yourself), it’s just one day right? Seriously, how bad is it? Truth be told: Is one more day actually one more day? The answer, of course, is that postponing for one day probably isn’t the worst thing ever; except that one day is never one day. One day becomes two, two days becomes three, and three days becomes months and years.

So even though putting things off occasionally is not a big thing, when procrastination affects your performance, productivity and even relationships in life (these could be business relationship, love or friends), this is the time to reconsider your way of thinking. In my opinion: putting off until tomorrow what you should be doing today is a problem that keeps a lot of people from achieving their goals; being those that you've set with someone or those you set for yourself.

I'll let you in on a little secret: "tomorrow is the busiest day of the week"... hence, you and I both know it can't be done tomorrow, so you'll have to do it later, down the road, someday... if you actually ever get to it.

Then again, last time I checked neither tomorrow nor someday are a day of the week. So if you say Monday I'll start exercising, or Tuesday I'll start eating better (at least start eating breakfast).. or Wednesday night I'll tell the girl of my dreams, how much I love.. or on Thursday I'll send my resume to that and this company: Just do it! Don't wait for the next day or tomorrow or someday...

So lets assume, that today, you want to go from a life of self procrastination to a person of action; how do you get there? Keep in mind it won't happen overnight. But it does starts with changing the way we think. We need to figure out first why we tend to stall, avoid and delay things. Maybe it is out fear of failure, perhaps we have already tried other diets and failed, maybe exercise seems like a tough thing to do, maybe the idea of changing jobs or applying for a new one seems scary or our past failures in prior relationships makes it though for us to approach someone or doing something and getting rejected or hurt. So we then decide to hide, delay and put things off... this could be fatal.

So look deep into yourself and try to understand the cause as to why we are putting off our goals and even responsibilities? For example if in weight loss if you have over 50 pounds to lose and think it might be impossible you will condition your mind to believe that and so you are starting your journey with a defeated mindset, and at the very first sign of obstacles or when you hit a plateau its easy to quit and give up or just delay your ability to actually start doing something. However you will not lose 50 pounds in two weeks, sometimes you lose a few here and there, some weeks maybe you can't see much difference in your body mass... but that constant resolve to do what is right and keep exercising will get you there and that is the key to success. Every step of action you take forward will make you better.

Setting realistic goals, writing them down, keeping a food journal and just regular exercise will help condition your mindset for change and to continue taking productive action steps instead of delaying or putting things off.

I read a quote from Og Mandino and it said: “I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids.

With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek to rest. I will act now for now is all I have.

Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now.

Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place.

I am the person.”

Look, if you want to accomplish something, anything in life: lose weight, shape your physique, start a new career or a business, fall in love, better your relationship, whatever your goals may be: YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Don't put it off til "tomorrow" or "someday"... Make TODAY the defining moment to stop procrastinating and chase your dreams.

- ed

Metabolism and Fat Loss

It's possible that at sometime you or someone you may know (that has been trying to lose weight and get into shape), have probably said or heard the words such as, "I just eat one meal a day to lose weight" or "I'm afraid if I eat, I'll gain weight". But sadly, this is the reason as to why so many people are in the "battle of the bulge". People all over the world still believe that by skipping on eating breakfast, or even three meals a day will cause them to gain weight.

In truth, as long as you are eating the right types of foods and exercising, then 4 to 6 meals a day will actually work better to boost your metabolism than eating the wrong quantities or not eating often enough. Yup, you need to eat in order to lose weight and drop body fat!

Resent research predict that 42% of Americans will be considered obese. And currently about half of Americans over the age of 20 now being considered "overweight". This is why now more than ever, we need to understand how metabolism works in relation to losing weight. Why risk having a heart attack, a stroke, developing cancer, or diabetes when all you have to do is make a few minor changes and live a healthy life?

First, a person's metabolic rate is determined by the number and size of respiring cells that compromise the body's tissue, and the intensity of the metabolism in these cells. These two factors combined are what makeup the physiological foundation of the amount of energy (calories) in which a body uses.

Keep in mind that energy cannot be created or destroyed, just changed. As we know, energy comes from the foods we eat. When talking about weight loss, there are three components of balanced energy, which include calorie intake, calories stored, and calories expended. The way it works is that if the amount of calories taken in equals the amount of calories being expended (burned), then there is balance and the body's weight is stable.

On the other hand, if the balance becomes positive, caused by more food being eaten than is burned, energy is destroyed or in better terms, stored as body fat.

Keep in mind that even if you are eating a diet considered low-fat you can still gain weight and ugly fat. The reason is that most dietary fat is stored while the body is burning carbohydrates and proteins for energy. The problem is the when a person gains weight, the increased level of fat becomes stored energy until the calorie balance is negative. For that to happen, the amount of calories burned needs to exceed the number of calories being consumed, no matter what the macronutrient content.

Metabolism is the rate at which the body uses energy to support the basic functions essential to sustain life. This metabolism is comprised of three parts, which include physical activity (20%), Thermic Effect of Food, also called TEF (10%), and Resting Metabolism Rate or REM (70%).

Physical activity is the amount of energy your body burns up during normal, daily activities to include housework, recreation, work, exercise, and so on. Obviously, someone that is physically active will burn more energy than a sedentary person will.

TEF accounts for the energy used in digesting and absorbing nutrients, which would vary depending on the meal's composition. When a person overeats, TEF is increased because more food must be digested. Here is where metabolism becomes very interesting and what causes so much confusion.

One pound is equal to 3,500 calories, so let us say a person consumes 3,500 more calories than normal. That individual would not gain one pound because the TED is accounted for but if 3,500 calories were cut trying to lose weight, then TEF decreases since there would be fewer nutrients to process. The result is that with energy expenditure would decrease, meaning that the individual would lose less than one pound in weight. In other words, by cutting out too much food, TEF cannot work as it was designed to do. But keep in mind that I'm not saying you should go around eating a bunch of junk food. After all, the calories you do consume need to be healthy foods but what this does mean is that when you do not eat, you are actually working against your body in fighting weight gain, not the other way around.

Finally, the RMR refers to the number of calories the body needs to run its essential functions, as well as chemical reactions while in a rested state. This aspect of metabolism accounts for the greatest number of calories burned every day. What happens is that if lean weight should be lost because of increased protein metabolism, then RMR decreases. Typically, you would see this happen when a person goes on a very strict diet. In this situation, the body is forced into a negative nitrogen balance, which means a greater amount of protein is lost than what is replaced because of less protein/energy intake. When this imbalance occurs, there is a gradual loss of lean weight, which then lowers RMR.

What happens many times is that dieters will limit the amount of lean weight loss with intense exercise for the muscles to develop a need to maintain more protein. When this happens, the body is forced to use more energy from stored fats.

In order to have your metabolism fired up all the time (making it work for you), some simple steps can be taken:

• Regular Exercise is one of the best ways to boost your metabolism: By adding a few extra pounds of lean muscle, the metabolic rate can be increased by up to 200% each day. Remember that lean weight can burn as much as 20 times more calories than fat weight.
• By eating smaller meals and more often, you can boost your metabolism rate.While you need to eat healthy foods, studies prove that what matters most is how much of a person's body weight is attributed to fat. Excess fat is what links to major health problems. Therefore, it is important that you maintain a healthy weight but more crucial that you monitor the fat-to-muscle ratio.

If you follow these recommendations and you are surely on your path to jump start your metabolism and drop plenty of unwantd body fat.

Eduardo Lorenzo, NASM-CPT specializes in sports performance, injury prevention, corrective exercises, physique enhancement, Boot Camp and weight loss programs.