Transforming the Body: Achieving a Flat Stomach
As Steve Jobs said: “What is the world’s most expensive bed? The hospital bed. You, if you have money, you can hire someone to drive your car, but you cannot hire someone to take your illness that is killing you.”
Physical health affects our self-esteem, social likability, ability to move and longevity. Startups can be quite stressful. Constant and prolonged juggling of many responsibilities. Founders could have almost no time left in their day. A good eight-hour sleep might become a luxury on many days.
If you are about to do a startup, using the time beforehand to get in good physical shape is a wise move.
Rather than making this a general note, I decided to share my weight loss journey. This was many years ago and the good news is my weight is the same as I publish this today. Please note that there is an easier way. Eat less. And make it a habit.
Weight Loss Summary
What to Ignore
People. Most of them. More than two-thirds of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese. Being humans, we look for “similarity”. Most of my family, friends and colleagues kept commenting that I didn’t need to lose any weight in the first place. They think chubby is cute. I felt lean and strong is sexy.
National Institutes of Health has a healthy weight guideline chart. This was quite helpful. The wide weight range for each height is due to body frame width (small, medium or large).
"Why” is far more important than “How”
“Why” is the inspiration. Inspiration is super effective. It is long-lasting. Motivation is expensive since it takes constant energy and almost daily prepping up.
For me, the “Why” was Longevity. And the gratification after getting in shape is fantastic!
On the eve of my birthday, I was sitting upstairs in my bedroom and thinking. What would be one positive change in my life before my next birthday? As I looked at myself in the sliding door mirror, I decided that I wanted a flat stomach before my next birthday. That’s how it started. Note that my goal wasn’t to lose 35 lbs. I didn’t even know how much I needed to lose. I didn’t drink in excess and I don't smoke. But I had the typical beer belly.
Early Decisions
Even though I didn’t have my “How” figured out, I decided not to take any short cuts and enjoy this journey. I had been a term member of my gym for many years. But I enjoy the outdoors way more than the machines. So I decided to focus on three areas:
How
It’s an open secret: workout and diet. I’ll cover the workouts in this note and diet in a later note.
I tried different cardio activities. Jogging, hiking, swimming and cycling. And also some cardio classes at my gym. Swimming produced the best results for me. It was a full-body workout with low impact. It ended up becoming my favorite. Here’s a snapshot of my workouts during the twelve months:
On some days, I jogged two miles, swam two miles and did cycling for twenty miles. Yes, all in one day.
Trivia
What Worked
Founders and early startup employees have long hours. I'm sure each of you has a unique method or set of hacks to staying fit. I'd love to learn.
Enjoy healthy living!
Physical health affects our self-esteem, social likability, ability to move and longevity. Startups can be quite stressful. Constant and prolonged juggling of many responsibilities. Founders could have almost no time left in their day. A good eight-hour sleep might become a luxury on many days.
If you are about to do a startup, using the time beforehand to get in good physical shape is a wise move.
Rather than making this a general note, I decided to share my weight loss journey. This was many years ago and the good news is my weight is the same as I publish this today. Please note that there is an easier way. Eat less. And make it a habit.
Weight Loss Summary
- My Height: 5 feet 8 inches
- Final Weight: 135 lbs.
- Total Weight Loss: 35 lbs.
- Final Waist: 29 inches.
- Duration: 12 months flat between two consecutive birthdays.
What to Ignore
People. Most of them. More than two-thirds of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese. Being humans, we look for “similarity”. Most of my family, friends and colleagues kept commenting that I didn’t need to lose any weight in the first place. They think chubby is cute. I felt lean and strong is sexy.
National Institutes of Health has a healthy weight guideline chart. This was quite helpful. The wide weight range for each height is due to body frame width (small, medium or large).
"Why” is far more important than “How”
“Why” is the inspiration. Inspiration is super effective. It is long-lasting. Motivation is expensive since it takes constant energy and almost daily prepping up.
For me, the “Why” was Longevity. And the gratification after getting in shape is fantastic!
On the eve of my birthday, I was sitting upstairs in my bedroom and thinking. What would be one positive change in my life before my next birthday? As I looked at myself in the sliding door mirror, I decided that I wanted a flat stomach before my next birthday. That’s how it started. Note that my goal wasn’t to lose 35 lbs. I didn’t even know how much I needed to lose. I didn’t drink in excess and I don't smoke. But I had the typical beer belly.
Early Decisions
Even though I didn’t have my “How” figured out, I decided not to take any short cuts and enjoy this journey. I had been a term member of my gym for many years. But I enjoy the outdoors way more than the machines. So I decided to focus on three areas:
- Natural movements.
- Low-impact and low-to-moderate intensity workouts.
- Building endurance.
How
It’s an open secret: workout and diet. I’ll cover the workouts in this note and diet in a later note.
I tried different cardio activities. Jogging, hiking, swimming and cycling. And also some cardio classes at my gym. Swimming produced the best results for me. It was a full-body workout with low impact. It ended up becoming my favorite. Here’s a snapshot of my workouts during the twelve months:
- (Indoor) Swimming: My normal would be a mile at least a few days a week. Towards the end of twelve months, I increased it to two miles few days a week. On one weekend, I swam three miles each day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was very draining and I felt like a vegetable. But it tested my endurance.
- (Outdoor) Cycling: Started with cycling around the neighborhood. Increased it to an average of ten miles a few days a week. The longest I went was fifty miles in a day.
- (Outdoor) Jogging: I started with light jogging on flat paths and trails around the home. At times, I did jogging over some small hills in the neighborhood. My dog and I would run a few miles a couple days a week. We increased the distance over time. During one of the long weekends, we jogged over thirty miles.
On some days, I jogged two miles, swam two miles and did cycling for twenty miles. Yes, all in one day.
- Yard Work: With a heavy heart, I let go of my gardener. And started doing basic yard work. I had never done this before in my life. I dug out the entire front yard and replaced the grass with drought-resistant plants. Then I dug out three feet deep holes in the backyard and planted some fruit trees. All tools including the lawnmower were manual. Let’s see how long can I resist buying a leaf blower. So far the rakes have done a pretty decent job for me.
- (Outdoor) Climbing: During the daily dog walks in the neighborhood, I noticed a kid climbing a tree. I thought this is such a natural thing for kids, why can’t we do it? I climbed a few trees off and on in my neighborhood. It’s the real deal versus doing pull-ups from a perfect round-shaped bar in the gym. And so much fun.
- Other Workouts: My gym introduced a whole bunch of high-intensity workouts. Separate workouts for strength, cardio and agility. I did try most of them. It seemed artificial to me. And I like being outdoors more. After a few classes, I stopped it. Even tried Pilates and Yoga. I figured natural human movements could replicate most of these. If natural movements interest you, please have a look at MovNat and Blue Zones.
Trivia
- For fun sake and to build acclimatization to cold I did something stupid. I would swim a few laps in an outdoor swimming pool in December and January. The outdoor temperature was in mid-40's. Cold goes straight to the bone. Having a hot tub right next to the pool was a relief.
- The only thing that I felt not so good about is the loss of my wardrobe. Pretty much everything didn’t fit. It takes a while to build a new wardrobe.
What Worked
- Knowing the “Why”: This kept me going even on days when I didn't feel like doing anything.
- Hyperfocus: This means no multitasking. The ideal case is to not have any other goal for the year. That way the entire energy can go into achieving ONE goal.
- Qualitative Goal: Having a “flat stomach” was my goal, and not losing 35 lbs. Nothing wrong with having quantitative goals, but qualitative goals can be low pressure. It also gives you something to aspire for versus chasing a number which can get boring. When I started working out, I thought that 20 lbs. would be good enough. I was wrong. After I lost 20 lbs., it seemed losing another 10 lbs. would do the job. Wrong again.
- Accepting Imperfection: I didn't follow the Seinfeld Strategy for tracking. At a later point, I realized that for anything to sustain it needs to become a habit. Something that gets done even when we have no motivation or energy.
- Adopting Change: Squash and badminton used to be two of my favorite sports. I was part of the state doubles team. But I wanted to explore low-impact and low-intensity alternatives. And something I could continue lifelong. Swimming, cycling, walking and slow jogging came to the top of the list. Swimming proved to be the best calorie burner and it was a full-body workout. Hence, I adopted it as my first choice.
- Companionship: Having an active dog like a Jack Russell Terrier helped. I’m so grateful Clark is part of my life.
Founders and early startup employees have long hours. I'm sure each of you has a unique method or set of hacks to staying fit. I'd love to learn.
Enjoy healthy living!
Next Note: Transforming the Body: Hacks to Maintain Weight (coming soon)
Let's Talk: If you have a true experience that resonates, please send me an email.
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