End Of The Year Calories Don't Count

A much lesser known, but equally serious condition, is the "December Fifteen". It happens to most of us every single year.

It starts at halloween when we let our guards down and indulge in the candies and sweets that we have successfully avoided since the beginning of the year. Then at Thanksgiving time we gorge on the wonderful pies and trimmings that accompany our healthy turkey dinner. Finally, at Christmas, our defenses are destroyed and we find ourselves eating holiday treats instead of exercising. We tell ourselves that the end of the year calories don't count and we allow ourselves the opportunity to eat whatever we want. 

Is it any wonder that the most popular New Year's resolution is focused on losing weight. The end of the year binge is fresh on our mind and we are ready to do something about it.

I Subscribe To Responsible Bingeing

I confess. I thoroughly enjoy the freedom to sleep in and eat savory (ok unhealthy) food during the holiday season. I don't mind the weight gain or the fitness loss. I admit that the older I get, the harder it becomes to step back into the rhythm of daily exercise and eating unsavory (healthy) food, but I don't care. I love the chance to eat without guilt.

The opportunity to cut loose suits me well. By the time New Year's day rolls around, I am actually feeling sick of all the sweet and rich food. I find myself ready to return to my healthy diet. The fact that my pants no longer fit comfortably inspires me to get back in the gym. Rested and well fed, I enter the new year with a desire to pursue my physical goals. 

This re-kindled fire usually motivates me to hit it hard until the next Halloween arrives. Then I happily slip into binge mode again.

To Your Health

I want you to be healthy. I want you to be active as you advance in years. I think it is possible to take a break from all your hard work, as long as you are responsible. Unless you have very little resolve, I am certain that your commitment to a healthy lifestyle will not be destroyed by a couple of weeks of feasting on a high calorie taste filled diet.

My friend Peter Urmston recently said that his New Year's resolution is to gain enough weight so that he can be on the Biggest Loser next year. Of course I am not recommending that for everyone, but Peter is an Ironman Triathlete and I seriously doubt he will reach for this new goal with the zeal he went after his Ironman training.  

I guess what I am saying is that you don't need to have killer abs. They require much more work than they are worth. It is very important to strengthen your core muscles, but we must live a little along the way. We can be fit without denying ourselves the occasional pizza or chocolate chip cookie. Just leave the bingeing for the end of the year.

I Know I'm Crazy

Feel free to write to tell me I am crazy, but please be advised that I already know I am, and I won't deny it. I firmly believe that it is this kind of thinking that keeps us all sane. Life is too long to always deny ourselves a double bacon cheeseburger with onion rings and a vanilla shake. Every once in a while we need to splurge. I give you permission do it without feeling guilty.

Live Today! Love Today!

Andrew Thorn

760-559-3548

Building Endurance

I am fairly confident right now, that on any given day, I could decide to run a marathon without any additional preparation or advanced warning. 

I can do this, because of the consistency that I mentioned above. But I wasn't always in this good of shape. In fact, when I began running, a little more than ten years ago, I could barely run to the end of my street, which is only about 150 yards. 

To get to where I am at now, I had to train. I didn't even begin by running. When I first started, all I did was walk. I charted a course that was about a mile and made it a point to walk it three or four times a week. I remember it being difficult for me to do. I walked up a hill by my home and then back down it and I was tired before I got to the top of the hill. There were many times that I cut through a vacant lot without ever making it to the top. It was hard for me to do, but I stuck with it.

At first, it was hard for me to even imagine running. It seemed like too much work and I didn't know I would enjoy it. I remember the first day I ran my route, instead of walking it. I felt so alive. I was surprised I could do it and my confidence was boosted. I decided to create a new route and things just kept building from there.

Pretty soon, I was regularly running routes that were 10, 15 and even 20 miles long. I began to feel energized instead of tired during the day. Even at the end of most runs, I felt like I could go farther.

Surprising Benefits

The physical benefits were amazing, but they did not compare to the emotional and mental benefits, nor are they enough to keep me running. 

I now run without thinking about running. I run without feeling pain and without feeling challenged. I just run. It is so much more than physical, in fact, I hardly ever realize that it is a physical activity.

My run time is a time of meditation. It is the alone time that I use to think and make sense of everything that is going on around me. I see things more clearly when I am running than at any other time. I truly see it as a time of personal inspiration and revelation.

Our Biggest Challenge

You may be thinking. "that sounds good for you Andrew, but I am not a runner and I have no interest in becoming one." That is ok, because I am not really talking about running, I am talking about building endurance. 

I love this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do – not that the nature of the thing is changed, but that our power to do is increased.

His words help me articulate that the benefit of endurance is that we become more capable of doing the things that we need to do in order to stay fit and active. Our biggest challenge may very well be that of enduring to the end. The end of what? The end of our mortal lives.

There may come in time in my life when I am unable to do any of the things that I currently do for enjoyment. This thought does not frighten me because I understand what it means to endure. It means that we find a way to make it, even when we are tired, and even when what we normally do doesn't work any more. The key is to constantly persist at making forward progress.

What are you doing to learn the lessons of endurance in your life?

What challenges are forcing you to discover new pathways to success?

How can you increase your ability to stick with a difficult task that is good for you?

I am certain that when we spend our time doing the things that foster opportunities for us to become our best, we build reserves of strength that make it possible for us to not just endure, but also to enjoy life with a smile on our face. 

Live Today! Love Today!

Andrew Thorn

760-559-3548

I trained for my swim without using my legs. I thought it would be wise to conserve my legs for the bike and the run. Under normal conditions, I was easily able to complete the 2.4 mile swim without the use of my legs.These were not normal conditions, and this swim was brutal. I had to kick all the time just to keep myself above the waves. 

At the half-way point, I was exhausted. I began to breathe on every stroke which put me out of my normal rhythm. In my struggle, I failed to get my head high enough out of the water and instead of breathing air, I gulped a mouth full of water. Immediately, I began to choke and to gag. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t catch my breath and the more I struggled, the more I began to feel like I was about to perish in the lake. This was a real fight for my life. I didn’t panic, but I knew I was in serious trouble.

What Will Everybody Think?

As my peril worsened, I began to think negative thoughts. My self talk included statements like, "You are really stupid Andrew!", "I don’t know what made you think you could do this in the first place?" and "You are going to die out here."

As I imagined the headline, and the story in the paper about my death in the lake, I began to be afflicted with one prevailing thought: "What will everybody think?" This thought, literally began to consume me. It was all I could think about. I actually began to visualize the conversations my friends and even people who didn’t know me would have. They all said the same thing; "that sure was stupid way to die – what the heck was he doing that for anyway?"

Escaping Fear and Doubt

In the midst of this turmoil, which I am sure occurred over a matter of milliseconds, I heard a loud voice from within me say, "Andrew, you are about to die, and all you are worried about is,"What will people think?" Yes, they are going to think you are stupid, so quit worrying about what they are going to think and start kicking and fighting and doing whatever you have to do to survive. Remember your training as a Boy Scout, and use it now to save your life."

Immediately, I flipped over on my back and began to employ the elementary back stroke while I cleared my own airway. Within a few more seconds, I was in control and confidently finished the rest of the race.

Belief In Self

I could not rely on anybody else in the lake to save me. The other swimmers were engaged in their own battle, and most likely unaware of my struggle for survival. The training I received wasn’t any good until I began to implement it. I couldn’t look to anyone else to save me. I had to save myself.

After the race was over, I began to see some significant parallels with my struggle in the lake and the struggles we all face in life. Too many times, we worry about what other people are thinking. It sometimes paralyzes us and makes us unable to do what we need to do in order to grow and be successful.

As I thought about the two struggles, I realized that belief in self, is a crucial leadership quality. Nobody likes to follow a leader who indecisively moves along worrying about what the people will think. We want to follow leaders with a vision, who act with a certainty of who they are and what they want to do. 

At times I have fooled myself into believing that if I believe in myself too strongly, people will think I am arrogant. Now, I realize that arrogance is actually a lack of self-confidence. People want to follow leaders who emanate self-confidence. Their belief in their own self-worth generates an energy that  draws us in and helps us feel confident about becoming a part of their vision.

You Can Do It!

What do you think the world would be like, if all of us could believe in ourselves 100%, 100% of the time? What could we build together from that frame of mind.

I am certain that much of the crime we see, much of the blame we see, and even much of the suffering we see would be eliminated if we could just learn to believe in ourselves. 

I know that sometimes life feels a lot like the turbulent lake I found myself in during my triathlon experience. In those moments, it feels easy to worry about what people will think. It also seems normal to call out for help and feel like a victim when nobody comes to our aid. If we really want the world to be a better place, if we want to be a "Victor" instead of a "Victim" then we need to to develop a healthy sense of belief in ourselves. 

How much do you believe in yourself?

What has to happen for you to increase that belief to 100%? 

What would your life be like if you did?

You and I are in charge of our own plan of excellence. We will never fully implement it, until we see ourselves as brilliant beings who are capable of doing anything we set our minds to do. Go for it!

Live Today! Love Today!

Andrew Thorn

760-559-3548

Then they got serious and said something that I think we all know. The simplicity of their answer surprised me. They said that the reason our health care costs are so astronomically high is because so many of us are unhealthy. 

The diseases that are killing us are being brought about by our own doing. As a society, we smoke too much, drink too much, eat too much and sit around and do nothing too much. Those activities and behaviors are causing us to need care that we wouldn’t need if we made different lifestyle choices. 

Exercise Is Medicine

Like I said, this is not new information. We have been hearing it for a very long time. There are tons of programs that seem to be saying the same thing, but for some reason we continue to smoke, drink, eat and sit ourselves to death.

Sadly, we don’t seem to mind. Fast Company reported the burden of our poor health back in 2007. The article was really on change, it was titled Change or Die. It reports on a study that found that nine out of ten people who are told by their doctor that if they don’t change their lifestyle they will die, are actually unable to change their lifestyle and they actually die. The Frito’s Bandit is killing us. We are having trouble escaping his grasp. I highly recommend that you follow the link and read the article. It is very powerful.

As a member of the United States Association of Triathletes, USAT, I receive a quarterly publication called Triathlon Life. Steve Jonas, a regular contributor to the publication wrote a terrific article on exercise and what we can do to improve our health. Sadly, I can not find a link to the article to pass along.

In the article, he mentions a new organization called Exercise Is Medicine. The vision of this organization "is to make physical activity and exercise a standard part of a disease prevention and treatment medical paradigm in the United States". Their website is awesome.

They are advocating exercise as treatment. Last fall they were influential in helping the Department of Health and Human Services establish new guidelines for physical activity. For the first time ever, doctors are able to write a prescription for exercise, just like they can for medicine. 

Lifestyle Exercise

Many of my clients claim to be too busy to exercise. I know it is hard to get it in each day, but there are ways to deal with it. Perhaps the best way is to incorporate your exercise into your daily life. You can do this by using the stairs instead of the elevator, parking as far away as possible at work or when you shop, or getting off of your public transportation routes one stop early. Be creative. There are a lot of ways that you can get that extra work in without going to the gym.

It is just as easy to change the way you eat. When you shop, look for healthier food. When you eat out, drink water instead of the endless soda glass. A few minor changes will make a big difference. Think healthy. It tastes better.

I think it takes just as much time to be unhealthy as it does to be healthy. With a little bit of effort, any of us can get the recommended 150 minutes per week of moderately intense physical exercise. We just have to plan our day around it. We must want it. If we do, we will see that we get it. Think about it. That is only 2 1/2 hours of exercise per week. How much time do you spend watching TV. Get a treadmill in front of you TV and use that time more efficiently.

To Your Health

Living a healthy lifestyle is one of the best things you can do for your future. We all benefit as a society when you do it, but I don’t want you to do if for that reason. I want you to do it so that you can fully enjoy the best years of your life. There is a reason they call our advancing years the golden years. It is because they can truly be the most stress free and enjoyable years of our life. I want to be healthy so I can grow whole instead of old.

What is the smallest possible change you can make today in the way you eat that will produce the biggest results in your health? How about exercising? What can you do to improve your fitness levels? Don’t become a victim of "use it or lose it". Just do something today that will help you get in shape.

Live Today! Love Today!

Andrew Thorn

760-559-3548

When I race, I discover that there are some who are very good
at swimming, and there are some who are very good on a bike, and there are some
who are very good at running, and even some who are good at all three. I am not
particularly good at any of them, but I am good at finishing.

It takes a lot of energy to be a finisher and it takes a lot
patience. Sometimes the course is more difficult than I expected and I must dig
down as far as I can to find something more. There have been times when I
thought I had nothing left and yet I found just enough to keep going. It is
tough to do and that is part of what I love about it.

There are some special people that participate in
Triathlons. I speak of those who provide emotional support by standing along
the course to cheer us on, and those who provide nutritional support by
staffing the aid stations. Without them, the race would be much more difficult.
Maybe, it would even be impossible.

I cannot describe what it feels like to be feeling
discouraged with the difficulty of the race and then suddenly come upon a group
of strangers who are there clapping their hands and cheering me on. It always
brings a smile to my face. It always lifts me to a new level. I forget for a
moment the pain of the race and I smile and say “thank you”. I know these
people must get something out of it, but I wonder if they know how much I get
out of it. I only see them for a brief moment and I would not recognize them at
the end of the race. In other words, their service is largely unknown. They
receive no reward or recognition. They do it simply as a quiet act of service.

The same can be said about those that staff the aid
stations. Triathlons are long. These people stand in the same place and hold
out water cups and orange slices to the passing participants. Then, they pick
up the mess. The participants only drink or eat a small portion of what they
are given as they pass by, then they throw their cup on the ground. These
volunteer staffers are there to support the racers. They receive no personal
benefit. They are there to provide an act of service for someone they don’t
even know and for someone they will most probably never see again. They are
essential to the race, but usually go unrecognized at the finish line.

I was thinking about this over the weekend. I wondered if I
am expressing my thanks enough to those who are constantly supporting me in
sometimes-thankless roles. It is very easy to thank the prominent people in our
life. I want to make sure that I recognize and thank those who are always
there. Those who fill in the gaps without a lot of fanfare. Those who lift and
support me without any expectation of ever being noticed.

One such person in my life is Antoinette Benson. I worked in
a company where Antoinette is employed. She was not the focus of my work. One
of her many assignments was to coordinate my schedule. I am sure she had a lot
of more fulfilling things to do, but she always made sure I was in front of the
people I needed to see. My success in her organization would have never reached
the levels it did without her support. There was a time during my engagement
with her organization that she was on a leave of absence. That was the worst
time for me. I really missed her help. I was very grateful when she came back.
Her work was just as essential as mine, but she received little credit for her
efforts. I thanked her all the time, but I am not sure she realized just how
significant her contributions were to my success. I hope she reads this today.
If you are reading Antoinette, thanks for all of your help. I could not have
done it without you.

I am sure there are many people in my life that I need to
thank and recognize. I will look for more today and figure out a way to do it. My
question to you; Who is enabling your success? I am sure there are many who are
assisting you in a supporting role. You probably could not do your work without
them, but they probably don’t know it. Reach out to them and let them know how
important their assistance really is. We always talk about how important our
people are, and then we put all of our focus on the results we wish or need to
accomplish. Take some time today to acknowledge the people who contribute to
your success from the sidelines. I guarantee you that you would not be able to
get as much done without them.

Love Today! 

Andrew Thorn

760-559-3548

athorn@telioscorp.com