Sustainable Systems

, ,

How To Make Your New Year's Resolution ACTUALLY Stick

, ,
How To Make Your New Year's Resolution ACTUALLY Stick

Hey Derek here and it's almost New Year's!

That time of year where some of us get super motivated to turn over a new leaf while the rest of us complain about the inevitable lack of commitment of the January resolutioners.

As much as I personally don’t like stereotypical New Year’s resolutions - those which tend to fill the gyms in January only to be abandoned less than a month later - I do think that New Years’ offers a great opportunity for a “fresh start” that we can take advantage of if we do it right.

, , , , , , ,

How To Become Your Own Coach

, , , , , , ,
How To Become Your Own Coach

Well, it's the Tuesday after Thanksgiving here in Canada and we're just getting into the cool fall weather here in Cambridge, Ontario.

Rach and I went on a walk this morning through a trail by our house and had a good conversation about where we are at in our own fitness journeys. 

At times, because fitness is our business and because we have such high expectations of ourselves, we don't notice how far we've come. 

This past month has been one full of indulgences and opportunities to get off track, yet as we sit here, after 3 weeks of family vacation, a ridiculously busy two weeks after getting home and a turkey filled thanksgiving weekend, both of us are looking and feeling better than ever!

, , ,

How to Defeat Holiday Weight Gain (While Still Enjoying Pumpkin Pie!)

, , ,
How to Defeat Holiday Weight Gain (While Still Enjoying Pumpkin Pie!)

For us Canadians, this weekend is Thanksgiving. (Sorry American's you'll have to wait a month to get your piece of pumpkin and apple pie!) 

With thanksgiving comes many things. Cooler weather, the changing of leaves, time with family & friends, hockey (or football) and of course food. 

Delicious, enticing, calorie-rich food.

...and lest we forget, with that food comes one less welcome addition: That extra 5lbs of holiday weight.

Ugh!

Now if it was just about avoiding gaining weight it would be easy. 

You'd just stop eating when you got full, skip out on dessert and drinks and workout the way you normally do. Easy peasy.

The problem is that most of us are not ready to sacrifice the enjoyment that comes with thanksgiving dinner. It holds a special place for us sentimentally, and to be honest it's just nice to have nice feast once in a while!

So with that as our context, we have a problem to solve:

"How can you avoid gaining weight during the holidays when there is abundance of delicious, tasty food, and more importantly, how can we do it without hating our life and missing out on the enjoyment of our beloved thanksgiving feast with friends or family?"

, ,

Three Simple Tools to Allow You To Eat Whatever You Want at Social Events

, ,
Three Simple Tools to Allow You To Eat Whatever You Want at Social Events

Last night we were out at a social gathering and there was an assortment of treats available. For the last 3 weeks, we were on a cruise with an all you can eat buffet, delicious food left right and center! AND, over the last month, I've dropped 4lbs to reach the lightest I've been in almost 6 months. (A recent goal of mine since extra weight is a big hindrance in calisthenics - my latest fitness pursuit)

What's more, I've been far less stringent with what I've eaten than in past attempts at a similar goal. 

Rather than relying on my willpower to get me through the mass of food that's been in front of me, (let's be honest, there are only a select few people who can maintain that) I used a few simple strategies to allow some surprising indulgences while still slowly dropping weight.

So, what's my secret? Read on to find out...

,

6 (+3) Critical Habits for Sustainable Fat Loss

,
6 (+3) Critical Habits for Sustainable Fat Loss

As you know here at Live For Today Fitness our mission is to make sustainable fat loss easier for you. Yesterday I came across a great article that does just that, so I had to share it with you.

Eric Bach is definitely one of the up and comers in the fitness industry. This week he put together a great post on adampine.com called 6 Habits of Successful Long-Term Dieters. 

, ,

How to Create a Daily Ritual... and Actually Stick to It

, ,

Over time Rachel and I have picked up a few habits and practices that greatly help reduce stress and ensure that we get the most important things (the things I really need to do) done. 

Although everyone has slightly different circumstances, I think these can be equally useful for many different walks of life.

In order to ensure that they happen, we have them scheduled into a few daily rituals. If you can schedule an evening, morning and perhaps after work ritual, it significantly decreases the mental burden required to remember various morning tasks and puts you on autopilot through the many mundane tasks so you can free your mind up for other mental tasks.

, ,

The Art of Letting Little Bad Things Happen: Get the Big Things Done and Take it Easy on the Rest

, ,

Hey Everyone, Derek here.

Unfortunately this week I don't have a whole lot to post. I started a post on how to critically analyze research studies, but quickly realized that to do the post justice I will have to put some serious time into organizing it. There is simply a LOT of components to cover. 

At first I felt bad about this, like I was letting myself, our business and anyone who reads our blog down. Then I remembered this post by Tim Ferriss. It's titled The Art of Letting Bad Things Happen.

In it, Tim reminds his readers that sometimes it's ok to let little bad things happen. You don't always have to be perfect. Sometimes you just have to let the little things go wrong so that you can take care of the big things. As long as those big things are taken care of, who cares if you screw up a little thing?

,

Our Morning Ritual: How We Set Ourselves Up For Success Every Day

,

It’s ironic that we’re posting this today. For some unknown reason, this morning we didn’t stick to our morning ritual. We started off strong by getting adequate sleep and prioritizing our main tasks, however sometime after that we let ourselves get off track. 

We were still reasonably productive, and we got some good things done, but our stress level was much higher than normal during the process. On top of that, we ran out of time for one of our main objectives for this morning – finishing and pre-scheduling this blog post. The blog post is still making it up, and a little stress won’t kill us, but mornings like this one are definitely not something we want to repeat. 

Below we outline 5 steps that we try to stick to in order to keep our morning organized, productive and stress free.