Author Topic: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?  (Read 16822 times)

ender

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What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« on: July 09, 2018, 06:13:21 AM »
I know that Dave Ramsey isn't perfect for personal finance. It's worse than the optimal. But for a lot of people, doing exactly what he says is 100% better than their current state.

While I feel very Mustachian in terms of my ability to execute on financial outlook/goals, I do not feel similarly about personal fitness/health. It feels like I am constantly fighting uphill battles and never really winning.

Which leads me to my question, is there a good "Dave Ramsey" like equivalent in the personal health/fitness area? Something that might not be optimal but consistently gets people some results if they just do it - and is designed in a way which focuses on the behavioral change way like how FPU does?

Comar

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2018, 06:28:16 AM »
Best I can think of is crossfit. There is the group support of big classes and people are just told what to do. If you don't have major disability issues you could try that out. Or hire a personal trainer who will guide you.

SilveradoBojangles

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2018, 06:37:09 AM »
Honestly, if you do any exercise at all consistently it will "work", though I suppose it depends on your individual goals. The key is creating a routine where you have some exercise built into your day, every day, so that you are consistent. You have to get to the mindset where it become non-negotiable, or you will talk yourself out of it. For some people this is walking or biking to work, for some people this is a run first thing in the morning before any other competing time needs come along. For some people this is exercise classes or gym time on your calendar, or a hike with a friend. If you keep doing it, you will see results. And then when you get used to it, you miss it when you don't have it.

lemonlyman

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #3 on: July 09, 2018, 06:46:18 AM »
I think Mike Matthews is pretty close to that. He has a book Bigger, Leaner, Stronger. If you follow it, you will see gains. 5 day exercise split and knowing your nutrition macros is a big behavior change. If you get a barbell set and squat rack like what MMM has, you can do most of it at home.

ericbonabike

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #4 on: July 09, 2018, 06:57:39 AM »
Personal fitness is very closely aligned to a mustachian attitude in my opinion. 

The secret to building wealth comes down to a simple formula:
Earn More / Spend Less

And we all know that earning more gives you "margin" which can hide or fix your spending mistakes.  If you make 100,000 a year, you can blow a larger percentage of your income on stupid things.  If you make 30,000 a year, that's less true.   But we also have all heard of people who make 250,000 a year, and spend 300,000 a year.  And every raise they get translates to increased spending. 

In fitness the formula is:
Move more, eat less

And the same is true there.  If you ride your bicycle 4 hours a day every day, you can eat a lot of crap.   More so than the average couch potato.   But I have known people who exercise like fiends, eat like crap every single day and consequently overweight.  They're in good shape, just 50 lbs too heavy.   So, exercise is like income.  And eating is like spending. 

Super simple.

And the same thing is true.   

drudgep

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #5 on: July 09, 2018, 07:11:53 AM »
For me it is P90X and Tony Horton

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #6 on: July 09, 2018, 07:22:11 AM »
For me it is you must do something it doesn't matter what.

I've been back and forth on various things but what worked was this "plan". I made a decision to do some kind of "workout" even a 5 minute walk aiming for daily.  I am allowed to take any day off for any reason BUT in order to take a 2nd day off there must be a dam good reason.  This guarantees I do something at least every other day but I'm not firmly committed to anything.  Mostly I run or speedwalk.

wenchsenior

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #7 on: July 09, 2018, 08:14:17 AM »
I think the parallels with Mustachianism are two fold: 1) you have to figure out your stumbling blocks and hack them; and 2) you have to set goals (short and long term) and figure out the most motivating way to work toward them.

Ramsey's strength is that he figured out that, for most people, the primary goal is getting out of debt and the most common stumbling block to doing so was feeling overwhelmed by it and not tackling it, or starting to tackle it and not feeling that any progress was being made.  And he built a business out of that.   

I kind of feel like fitness is similar.  So, OP, I think you should think about what the particular stumbling blocks are for you, and what are your goals?  E.g., do you slip up by eating out too much?  Are you a habitual snacker? Etc.  And e.g., is your long term goal to have a ton of muscles? Or is it to bring cholesterol/glucose numbers down?

Once you decide those particulars, people on this board might be better able to help you hack them and give advice about what 'guide' might be best suited to you.

SimpleCycle

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2018, 08:48:22 AM »
I think the brilliance of Dave Ramsey is he is mapping out a life plan, not just a "get started" plan.  He acknowledges that you can't do it all at once, and that you can start small and in the end experience big results.

Most people don't want to "start small" with fitness, they want big results fast, even though just like with personal finance, health and fitness is a lifetime game, not a one time fix.  I actually can't think of anyone who is focused on lifetime health and fitness through a series of baby steps, but I think that's a fabulous idea.  Another big problem is that no one really agrees on the basics at this point.  Three meals and no snacks or six mini meals?  HIIT or steady state cardio?  Bodyweight exercises or heavy lifting?  Paleo or plant based?  Everyone has a different angle.

For me, the key has been to focus on behavioral changes, since they are the only thing I can control.  I guess I am taking a bit of a baby steps approach myself.  Right now I focus on getting four workouts a week and writing down everything I eat.  Writing down what I eat was a small behavior with huge dividends, because it provides the data for what my next "baby step" should be in terms of nutrition.

I use a ridiculous product called FitBook, which is basically a $23 notebook that guides me through goal setting, food journaling, and workout scheduling.  Each one covers 12 weeks, and I probably could switch to a regular notebook at some point, but I find the structure really helps me, especially thinking in 12 week chunks of time.  Once I have done the planning, I am pretty good at executing my plan.  The key for me is having that clarity of what I am supposed to be doing.

FIREGuy

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #9 on: July 09, 2018, 09:38:18 AM »
Two huge things:

1. Find something you like to do.

I'm a runner because I love running. You have no idea how many times I have heard someone say "I'm gonna run a marathon" only to be followed by "I hate running so much." THEN DON'T RUN A MARATHON. It has to be something you want to do, or at the very least don't mind or else you won't do it.

2. Find someone to do it with.

Getting out of bed at 5:30 to workout out is tough. Getting out of bed when you know there is someone out there ready to workout with you? Much easier. If you can find someone who shares the same goals, it makes getting the job done light years easier.
« Last Edit: July 09, 2018, 09:40:15 AM by FIREGuy »

NorthernBlitz

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2018, 09:45:10 AM »
I think it's probably something like Tim Ferriss's slow carb diet.

I think that the Ramsey approach appears to be pretty simple (i.e. DIY) and gets it mostly right.

I think that the same is true for the slow carb diet. It basically boils down to: Eat beans / lentils at every meal and don't eat beige food (except cauliflower) + Do kettle-bell swings every 2nd day.

Following these methods probably doesn't get you to be the absolute best you can be in either area. But, they're both straight forward ways to get most of the benefit at the beginning of the journey (and you'd probably be fine if you just did these).

« Last Edit: July 09, 2018, 09:47:34 AM by NorthernBlitz »

skekses

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #11 on: July 09, 2018, 09:48:54 AM »
Ender,

When you start a new fitness/health program, do you find yourself abiding by conventional advice? Something like "lift weights 3x per week" or "run X miles every day", etc?

I ask because when it comes to fitness/health, I think the conventional advice fails most people. The reason that it fails is because you won't love the activity and if you don't love it, then you won't stick through the pain and monotony very long.

Instead you need to experiment with different activities until you find something that you enjoy and want to do - then everything falls into place from there. It doesn't need to be optimal from the beginning. You'll find that one interest can naturally lead into fitness progression. As you try different activities, identify what you like or don't like about it and then tailor the next experiment accordingly.

Activities can fall under any category. Like the outdoors? Try rock climbing. Like music? Try dancing. Have a competitive spirit? Try team sports. Like Kung-Fu movies? Try the martial arts. Or archery, fencing, horseback riding, spelunking, parkour, snowboarding, kayaking, mountain biking, surfing, whatever. Try them all and see which one you come out of thinking: wow, I'm sore and can barely move and I can't wait until I can do it again.

Then progression may look something like this: love rock climbing at the gym -> motivates you to try rock climbing outside -> motivates you to improve cardio fitness -> discover that you can tackle longer or steeper hikes -> discover interest in mountain climbing. At each point, the improvement is more of a surprise rather than part of some master plan. Sometimes the master plan can be overwhelming when you are at the start of your journey. If you had gone straight from the couch to trying to climb a mountain, it may have been too much too soon, leading to discouragement and back to the couch. Instead, you found a way there that felt completely natural and the pain points were surmountable.


rdaneel0

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #12 on: July 09, 2018, 09:58:37 AM »
I'm not a crossfitter but I feel like that might be the closest thing to an all encompassing theory on fitness. If you start with a Whole 30 (there are a million meal plans, recipes, even delivery meals) you can use, and then get involved in a CrossFit gym, they will pretty much tell you exactly what you need to do.

I do have some gripes about CrossFit, I think it can be dangerous for non-athletes since the focus is on pounding out reps more than perfecting technique, but it does seem to be effective for people who like a straightforward plan.

Intrigued

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #13 on: July 09, 2018, 10:22:04 AM »
The Body Coach may fall into this category - recipe books under the lean in 15 concept, HIIT workouts under 20 mins etc. Has been a big success in the UK but spends more and more of his time in US now and he's on facebook, Instagram etc. Bit gimmicky in places with his catchphrases that got him noticed but works well. He also has a sign up scheme for tailored plans and workouts which seem to get very good results for those that stick at it.

Dr Chatterjee also has some interesting books and podcasts with basic pillars for general health and well being in modern society but less exercised focused.

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #14 on: July 09, 2018, 12:43:04 PM »
Don't eat bread
Don't eat fried food
Don't eat sugar
Eat lots of veggies and clean foods
Exercise 4x a week. Every other day. Serious sweat inducing exercise. Not what most overweight folks at the gym do. On off days do yard work, vacuum, clean etc. As you lose weight and get to your target weight you can pull this down some, example maybe just 3x a week.

I weigh all my food. Look at what a serving is and weigh it out. Start with that and gradually reduce as you become accustomed to less food intake.

Try to maintain a 16/8 fast or 14/10 fast. That is, you eat over 8 or 10 hours and then DO NOT EAT ANYTHING for the remainder. Ie finish dinner at 7 pm and don't eat until 9 am. Do that everyday.

wenchsenior

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #15 on: July 09, 2018, 01:19:04 PM »
Don't eat bread
Don't eat fried food
Don't eat sugar
Eat lots of veggies and clean foods
Exercise 4x a week. Every other day. Serious sweat inducing exercise. Not what most overweight folks at the gym do. On off days do yard work, vacuum, clean etc. As you lose weight and get to your target weight you can pull this down some, example maybe just 3x a week.

I weigh all my food. Look at what a serving is and weigh it out. Start with that and gradually reduce as you become accustomed to less food intake.

Try to maintain a 16/8 fast or 14/10 fast. That is, you eat over 8 or 10 hours and then DO NOT EAT ANYTHING for the remainder. Ie finish dinner at 7 pm and don't eat until 9 am. Do that everyday.

These don't sound like "baby steps." They also don't sound like something that will work for everyone. For example, if I do a 14/10 fast, my blood sugar will drop so low I'll pass out. Whee! Not a baby step! I'm not saying the things you present won't work. But they are somewhat drastic.

Maybe they are like Mustachian face punches. DO THESE THINGS NOW! Debt / sugar / cars / bread are bad and your hair is on fire and you're overweight!

Though the underlying Mustachian message is more like "carefully evaluate spending so you can start to align it with your values." So carefully evaluate your eating so you can figure out if it's aligning with your values of "being energetic", "improving body composition", "looking better in the mirror." And then carefully evaluate how you spend your time. Can you replace 30 minutes of TV (or some other "low value" entertainment) with a more active form of entertainment?

I agree.  That's why I suggested that Ender should indicate what his goals and stumbling blocks are before people offer specific advice. 

bittheory

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #16 on: July 09, 2018, 01:23:20 PM »
Personal fitness is very closely aligned to a mustachian attitude in my opinion. 

The secret to building wealth comes down to a simple formula:
Earn More / Spend Less

And we all know that earning more gives you "margin" which can hide or fix your spending mistakes.  If you make 100,000 a year, you can blow a larger percentage of your income on stupid things.  If you make 30,000 a year, that's less true.   But we also have all heard of people who make 250,000 a year, and spend 300,000 a year.  And every raise they get translates to increased spending. 

In fitness the formula is:
Move more, eat less

And the same is true there.  If you ride your bicycle 4 hours a day every day, you can eat a lot of crap.   More so than the average couch potato.   But I have known people who exercise like fiends, eat like crap every single day and consequently overweight.  They're in good shape, just 50 lbs too heavy.   So, exercise is like income.  And eating is like spending. 

Super simple.

And the same thing is true.

Excellent insight and analogy. Applies to much of life.

GuitarStv

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #17 on: July 09, 2018, 01:57:14 PM »
Honestly, if you do any exercise at all consistently it will "work", though I suppose it depends on your individual goals. The key is creating a routine where you have some exercise built into your day, every day, so that you are consistent. You have to get to the mindset where it become non-negotiable, or you will talk yourself out of it. For some people this is walking or biking to work, for some people this is a run first thing in the morning before any other competing time needs come along. For some people this is exercise classes or gym time on your calendar, or a hike with a friend. If you keep doing it, you will see results. And then when you get used to it, you miss it when you don't have it.

Generally speaking, I'd agree with this . . . but I'd also add one important detail that's missing:  Growth and measurement.

Your chosen sport/activity needs to have a way for you to progressively improve and challenge yourself, and you need a simple way to chart that progress.

Take jogging as an example. 

Without growth, initially everything is good.  You get out there a few times a week, feel better and are getting healthier.  But then you hit a point where it gets stale and boring.  After a couple years, you're not really improving any more . . . it's not exciting any more . . . so you quit.

With growth, initially everything is good.  You get out there a few times a week, feel better and are getting healthier.  You progress from doing a mile, to five miles, to the occasional twenty mile run.  You track your speed in a notebook and regularly see improvements.  The improvements slow as you become a better athlete, but they are always there . . . steadily creeping up.
Changing your diet for the better doesn't have much visible impact, but a few months on a new diet and you can look at your records to tell if it's working for you.  Preparing for a 5k race and you notice that your average speed goes way up even though the mileage drops.  You have a record of what level you were at before an injury, so have a goal to shoot for when you're finished healing and ready to get going again.

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #18 on: July 09, 2018, 02:38:05 PM »
For me it is P90X and Tony Horton

Me too.   Do the full course of P90X and you'll be in the best shape of your life. 

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #19 on: July 09, 2018, 03:27:53 PM »
Baby Step 1: take a 20 minute walk every day

SachaFiscal

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #20 on: July 09, 2018, 04:09:29 PM »
Personal fitness is very closely aligned to a mustachian attitude in my opinion. 

The secret to building wealth comes down to a simple formula:
Earn More / Spend Less

And we all know that earning more gives you "margin" which can hide or fix your spending mistakes.  If you make 100,000 a year, you can blow a larger percentage of your income on stupid things.  If you make 30,000 a year, that's less true.   But we also have all heard of people who make 250,000 a year, and spend 300,000 a year.  And every raise they get translates to increased spending. 

In fitness the formula is:
Move more, eat less

And the same is true there.  If you ride your bicycle 4 hours a day every day, you can eat a lot of crap.   More so than the average couch potato.   But I have known people who exercise like fiends, eat like crap every single day and consequently overweight.  They're in good shape, just 50 lbs too heavy.   So, exercise is like income.  And eating is like spending. 

Super simple.

And the same thing is true.

Excellent insight and analogy. Applies to much of life.

+1

You have to figure out the amount and type of activity and food that works for you to lose/maintain your weight.  It requires experimentation and consistency.  It helps to do the same thing for a month and track what you are doing. If you don't see results, tweak the plan (eat less, move more) and track it for another month.  This is a slow process but eventually you will figure out what works for you and also develop good habits in the meantime.

For me, I try to eat foods that I like but also are nutritious and make me feel full without being too high in calories. Usually for me that means high fiber fruits and vegetable, whole grains, beans, and nuts.  Some people like the low-carb style but I don't like most of the foods on that plan, so I won't stick to it.  I like to track my calories in MyFitnessPal (just like I like to track my network in a spreadsheet).  I try to do a variety of activities during the week so I don't get bored and so that I use my body in different ways, exercising different muscles.  I'm not much of a hard core exerciser but I'm working up to doing 30-60 minutes a day of walking or pilates or yoga or biking or dancing or body weight exercises.  Some days I don't do it but my goal is to do that everyday. I personally find it easier to eat less than to move more.

Johnez

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #21 on: July 09, 2018, 04:38:14 PM »
Don't eat bread
Don't eat fried food
Don't eat sugar
Eat lots of veggies and clean foods
Exercise 4x a week. Every other day. Serious sweat inducing exercise. Not what most overweight folks at the gym do. On off days do yard work, vacuum, clean etc. As you lose weight and get to your target weight you can pull this down some, example maybe just 3x a week.

I weigh all my food. Look at what a serving is and weigh it out. Start with that and gradually reduce as you become accustomed to less food intake.

Try to maintain a 16/8 fast or 14/10 fast. That is, you eat over 8 or 10 hours and then DO NOT EAT ANYTHING for the remainder. Ie finish dinner at 7 pm and don't eat until 9 am. Do that everyday.

These don't sound like "baby steps." They also don't sound like something that will work for everyone. For example, if I do a 14/10 fast, my blood sugar will drop so low I'll pass out. Whee! Not a baby step! I'm not saying the things you present won't work. But they are somewhat drastic.

Maybe they are like Mustachian face punches. DO THESE THINGS NOW! Debt / sugar / cars / bread are bad and your hair is on fire and you're overweight!

Though the underlying Mustachian message is more like "carefully evaluate spending so you can start to align it with your values." So carefully evaluate your eating so you can figure out if it's aligning with your values of "being energetic", "improving body composition", "looking better in the mirror." And then carefully evaluate how you spend your time. Can you replace 30 minutes of TV (or some other "low value" entertainment) with a more active form of entertainment?

The MMM version of fitness lol.

Honestly it kinda sounds pretty basic though. It's a matter of establishing your end goals and taking steps to get there. Dave Ramsey's goal is zero debt and maintain, but there's the whole process of cutting up cards and paying down debt to get ya there. Maybe first steps would be to cut out the sugar in coffee and go full protein for breakfast instead of egg McMuffins.

DrMoney

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #22 on: July 09, 2018, 04:47:19 PM »
The first thing that came to mind was Dave Ramsay = Couch to 5K

CindyBS

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #23 on: July 09, 2018, 05:26:23 PM »
It is only food related, not exercise, but I have had a lot of success with "The Mindful Diet" by Ruth Wolever and Beth Reardon.  It is a program out of the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine, which also holds classes and seminars you can attend on the same subject if you are in the area.  It is a lot about mindful eating, stress reduction, learning to listen to your "full" and "hungry" signals, stopping emotional eating, etc.  It is not a diet in the sense of "don't eat this, don't eat that" and calorie restriction.

Another tip is to just make exercise a daily habit.  I have bigger routines I do, smaller workout routines, and sometimes it is only a 2 mile walk.  Sometimes I only do 50 jumping jacks and thats it.  But the most important thing is to actually work out.  Just keep moving and don't let perfection get in the way of progress.   

Adam Zapple

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #24 on: July 09, 2018, 05:57:00 PM »
P90x is cool but more of a short term blast as opposed to a lifelong workout routine.  It is also a huge commitment.

I wholeheartedly agree with @GuitarStv about growth and measurement.  Stronglifts 5x5 changed my exercise habits forever because it is quick, simple and forces measurement and growth.  I learned how to do compound exercises which work multiple muscle groups at once and are very efficient.  As a busy dad, this was (is) right up my alley.  MMM follows similar workout routine(s). 

Medhi, the creator of stronglifts, is very entertaining if you read his fitness advice and his app is flawless (and free) and makes the workouts simple.  You just follow the app.  I get that this style of workout will not be for everyone but it was great for me.  Other similar workouts are Wendler's "5-3-1" and Rippetoe's "Starting Strength."

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #25 on: July 09, 2018, 06:06:29 PM »
I am finding that there is more to weight loss than food and working out. When my life is out of balance I gain weight. Balance is a individual thing. But when I have a ton of things that I am working on that are out of my control I cannot focus on myself. Once I feel like I have more control of my world I find workout out and diet easy. I am not reaching for the wine or the sweets. I look forward to my workouts, I have no issue getting up to meditate or do yoga in the morning before my 8 year old is up. When life is out of balance that does not happen.

I know what to do. Eat right and move. Right now I am playing with mental game of changing my body and being hungry in the first time in my life is not making me crazy, but rather I look forward to being hungry as my diet is working. I am using the food towards my goals which is to get in the best shape of my life by my 40th B-day. I have about 40# to drop from the last 5 years of insanity of getting to massive life goals, Black Belt, hitting 7 figures, and other smaller things. But I now have the time and energy to focus getting back into shape and making the right food. 

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #26 on: July 09, 2018, 07:19:12 PM »
Don't eat bread
Don't eat fried food
Don't eat sugar
Eat lots of veggies and clean foods
Exercise 4x a week. Every other day. Serious sweat inducing exercise. Not what most overweight folks at the gym do. On off days do yard work, vacuum, clean etc. As you lose weight and get to your target weight you can pull this down some, example maybe just 3x a week.

I weigh all my food. Look at what a serving is and weigh it out. Start with that and gradually reduce as you become accustomed to less food intake.

Try to maintain a 16/8 fast or 14/10 fast. That is, you eat over 8 or 10 hours and then DO NOT EAT ANYTHING for the remainder. Ie finish dinner at 7 pm and don't eat until 9 am. Do that everyday.

These don't sound like "baby steps." They also don't sound like something that will work for everyone. For example, if I do a 14/10 fast, my blood sugar will drop so low I'll pass out. Whee! Not a baby step! I'm not saying the things you present won't work. But they are somewhat drastic.

Maybe they are like Mustachian face punches. DO THESE THINGS NOW! Debt / sugar / cars / bread are bad and your hair is on fire and you're overweight!

Though the underlying Mustachian message is more like "carefully evaluate spending so you can start to align it with your values." So carefully evaluate your eating so you can figure out if it's aligning with your values of "being energetic", "improving body composition", "looking better in the mirror." And then carefully evaluate how you spend your time. Can you replace 30 minutes of TV (or some other "low value" entertainment) with a more active form of entertainment?

Nothing will work for everyone. You tell someone to run, you’ll find someone that can’t. Same goes for virtually everything else.

The above advice is great for good, normal, healthy people. You’re right - if you’re diabetic or pre-diabetic, it might not work. Granted, some people with type 2 can actually basically reverse it by cleaning up their diet, same with hypoglycemia (speaking from personal experience with some hypoglycemia, and now I have zero issue with intermittent fasting and find it fantastic in many ways)

Obviously those with health issues should do more independent research to what suits their needs. If someone asks me for diet advice, they better speak up that they are diabetic before I go wasting my time giving them advice. As such - we can probably assume the OP has no major health issues preventing them from a normal healthy diet or activities.



Honestly - what I’ve found over the years is probably 90% of people like to ask for help, and like the idea of eating healthy and exercising, however they don’t have the will power to follow through and make changes and it usually just wastes people’s times that actually help out.

Personally - with 15+ years of hardcore diet and exercise experience, I think the biggest piece of advice is baby steps, as mentioned. You have SO MANY people make these New Years resolutions and go all hardcore and then get discouraged when they don’t look like a magazine cover model in 3 months. Sorry - but do all of that for 10 years and you’ll see. Granted, if you also have genetics and haven’t ruined your body by being too obese.

GU

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #27 on: July 09, 2018, 08:43:24 PM »
When most people say "health/fitness" they really mean "look better naked." If you really meant that you want to look better, then diet is a lot more important than your workout regime. The Dave Ramsey for diet is low carb + intermittent fasting. The more involved, but better diet is counting macros based on current goal (see here: https://renaissanceperiodization.com/whens-best-time-use-iifym/). Diet + plus any reasonable strength training program puts you on the road to your aesthetic goals. Be realistic too—many of the jacked guys on instagram use all sorts of photography tricks, in addition to roids.

If you really meant "health/fitness," crossfit probably is the Dave Ramsey answer. You'll get told exactly what to do, you'll get coaching, you'll get group accountability, and an intense, varied workout. Crossfit gyms vary in quality—obviously, you want to find a high quality one that caters to your goals. Some boxes have lots of competitive athletes, others cater more toward soccer moms. A gym that has been open for a while and has experienced coaches is usually a good sign. Crossfit is usually not a good match, however, for people who are not very naturally athletic. You have to learn lots of difficult physical skills to do crossfit well, so if you've never been good at sports or other physical activities, it may not be the best fit.

Focusing too much on one type of exercise is probably not optimal for health, for two reasons. First, it will wear down your joints faster if you're constantly doing the same movement. Second, there are different athletic skills and benefits—if all you do is jog, you're missing out on the benefits of anaerobic exercise, for example. Lifting, sprints, cardio, calisthenics, it's all worth doing if you're trying to optimize health. Sports are another great way to stay fit.

Slow2FIRE

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #28 on: July 09, 2018, 09:42:36 PM »
I'd recommend Jeff Cavaliere (AthleanX Channel on youtube).

You can "buy" workout programs from him, but really everything you need to know is on his youtube channel where he brings in all his knowledge as a physical therapist and former NY Mets assistant strength coach.  He has Youtube videos showing refinements on lifting techniques to avoid injuries, get more out of your exercises, why you may have a specific lifting injury symptom, etc.

ender

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #29 on: July 10, 2018, 07:44:24 AM »
I agree.  That's why I suggested that Ender should indicate what his goals and stumbling blocks are before people offer specific advice.

Mainly, the normal stuff. Losing weight (I am ~5'8" and ~215 pounds), getting more muscle strength, and not feeling like I'm overweight and out of shape (which I am). We're having our first kid in a few months and I'm not really wanting to continue this trajectory for the next 30 years.

I'm leaning towards doing a "mostly Whole 30" and just buying the P90X stuff.  I guess I can make a commitment to doing that for 90 days and reevaluate?

Ftao93

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #30 on: July 10, 2018, 07:47:23 AM »
I'm personally very fond of this free site:

www.darebee.com.

Free, all the time, forever.  I do toss them a few bones here and there.    The community is supportive and the workouts are a lot of fun.

Cranky

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #31 on: July 10, 2018, 08:10:48 AM »
I think it depends on your goals - a lot of people are talking about a level of fitness that seems kind of boring to me, personally, and unlikely to be sustained over the long haul, frankly.

But if you want to feel better and more energetic and keep up with your kids, I think it can be pretty simple.

Get more exercise. Get a fit bit and track your steps. Take a walk every day.
Eat better. Eat more vegetables. Cut out soda. Only have one treat/day.
Take care of your teeth.
Get enough sleep.
Get a flu shot.

Honestly, those cover about 95% of health/fitness gains. They’re cheap and you can do them all your life and raise your kid doing them, too.

GU

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #32 on: July 10, 2018, 08:32:30 AM »
I agree.  That's why I suggested that Ender should indicate what his goals and stumbling blocks are before people offer specific advice.

Mainly, the normal stuff. Losing weight (I am ~5'8" and ~215 pounds), getting more muscle strength, and not feeling like I'm overweight and out of shape (which I am). We're having our first kid in a few months and I'm not really wanting to continue this trajectory for the next 30 years.

I'm leaning towards doing a "mostly Whole 30" and just buying the P90X stuff.  I guess I can make a commitment to doing that for 90 days and reevaluate?

Sounds like your goals are mostly aesthetic. Calculate your TDEE, subtract 500 calories, and eat that much every day. Doing this, you should lose about 1 lb a week. Do that for 2-3 months. Then recalculate your TDEE, and eat that many calories for 1-3 months to stabilize your New weight. Then reassess, and if you want to lose more weight, do it all over again. No complicated puritanical whole 30 grocery list necessary. Also, try to eat .75 - 1 gram of protein per lb of body weight (so if you weigh 215, try to eat 160 - 215 g of protein a day. Whey protein shakes are your friend. I recommend myprotein for the best quality to price ratio, and they taste “good”).  Be sure to factor in your exercise regime for tdee (any good calculator should anyway ). 

P90x is fine, but realize that it’s a 6 day per week commitment. If you already struggle to get to the gym or exercise, it might not be wise to make such an abrupt change. Maybe do the reddit calisthenics program for a while and then reassess after a few months.  https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine

wenchsenior

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #33 on: July 10, 2018, 08:38:25 AM »
I agree.  That's why I suggested that Ender should indicate what his goals and stumbling blocks are before people offer specific advice.

Mainly, the normal stuff. Losing weight (I am ~5'8" and ~215 pounds), getting more muscle strength, and not feeling like I'm overweight and out of shape (which I am). We're having our first kid in a few months and I'm not really wanting to continue this trajectory for the next 30 years.

I'm leaning towards doing a "mostly Whole 30" and just buying the P90X stuff.  I guess I can make a commitment to doing that for 90 days and reevaluate?

ETA:  A lot of people on this thread have suggested what seems to me extremely hard core, all-in approaches (like Whole 30, which requires a fair amount of meal planning and also planning for times when you have to eat away from home),  or 90 day full on fitness attacks.  That MIGHT be an approach that really would work for you, but for a lot of people it would be far too overwhelming for them to stick with it.  That's why I suggest you evaluate your own psychology and habits first.  No point adopting something that is hard to stick to.

So where are your 'stumbling blocks' that are preventing you from doing these things?  Re: habits and psychology, I mean.

Is it how much you eat at regular meals? Or specific food choices you make?

When are you susceptible to eating poorly? E.g, At work? At night while watching tv? When you first get home from work?

When you think, 'I should get in shape', what prevents you from getting up right away and starting an exercise program? Is it that you haven't prioritized it and locked it into your daily schedule so it keeps getting bumped for 'things that come up'? Is it that you aren't sure what type of exercise you want to do?

Etc.  That's really what I was asking.

These types of projects are mostly mental, I think. It's a lot easier to adopt new habits if you can identify exactly where/why/when your desire to take action breaks down, and figure out specific work-arounds.

In other words, practically everyone who isn't slim and fit regularly thinks to themselves, "I need to eat better and get in shape" but most don't, so I feel that isn't a super-helpful way for you to approach it.

« Last Edit: July 10, 2018, 08:42:46 AM by wenchsenior »

ender

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #34 on: July 10, 2018, 09:59:54 AM »
ETA:  A lot of people on this thread have suggested what seems to me extremely hard core, all-in approaches (like Whole 30, which requires a fair amount of meal planning and also planning for times when you have to eat away from home),  or 90 day full on fitness attacks.  That MIGHT be an approach that really would work for you, but for a lot of people it would be far too overwhelming for them to stick with it.  That's why I suggest you evaluate your own psychology and habits first.  No point adopting something that is hard to stick to.

So where are your 'stumbling blocks' that are preventing you from doing these things?  Re: habits and psychology, I mean.

I *think* my primary blocker right now is information overload.  That's partially why I like the "Dave Ramsey" approach and after reading this thread am leaning towards something like P90X and whole30ish. It's black/white. A plan. Just need buyin for "the plan." Not "buyin and research and figuring things out."

I think I need something much more "do X for Y days" than, "read this website, pick stuff and do it, I love it!" because I'm just not going to do that based on my history.

HPstache

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #35 on: July 10, 2018, 10:45:48 AM »
I am trying to get into personal fitness a bit, so I agree with you, it would be nice to have a Dave Ramsey equivalent!  I think the first baby step would probably be to start tracking food intake and activity / excercise... similar to Dave's "you need a budget, track every dollar" mentality.  Even though the first Baby step is save $1,000 for an emergency fund, really the budget comes first.

I got a new Samsung phone a few weeks ago and it came with a fitness ap.  I started messing around with it and it's fun to track calorie intake and exercise.  That's what kind of started me on this journey as weird as it sounds.  Tracking these things is a huge eye opener, I'd be the one to sit down and eat probably 6 servings of costco tortilla strips without even batting an eye.  Now I realize that is like 700 calories and that would take me jogging 4 miles to burn haha!

FireHiker

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #36 on: July 10, 2018, 10:53:08 AM »
Someone here posted the "No S Diet". I read the link (too lazy to find it right now) and that may be a good place to start. I'm paraphrasing but basically it's No seconds, snacks, or sweets, except mostly on days that start with S (weekends and "special" days, like birthdays, a special holiday).

skekses

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #37 on: July 10, 2018, 10:57:36 AM »
ETA:  A lot of people on this thread have suggested what seems to me extremely hard core, all-in approaches (like Whole 30, which requires a fair amount of meal planning and also planning for times when you have to eat away from home),  or 90 day full on fitness attacks.  That MIGHT be an approach that really would work for you, but for a lot of people it would be far too overwhelming for them to stick with it.  That's why I suggest you evaluate your own psychology and habits first.  No point adopting something that is hard to stick to.

So where are your 'stumbling blocks' that are preventing you from doing these things?  Re: habits and psychology, I mean.

I *think* my primary blocker right now is information overload.  That's partially why I like the "Dave Ramsey" approach and after reading this thread am leaning towards something like P90X and whole30ish. It's black/white. A plan. Just need buyin for "the plan." Not "buyin and research and figuring things out."

I think I need something much more "do X for Y days" than, "read this website, pick stuff and do it, I love it!" because I'm just not going to do that based on my history.


It feels like your primary blocker is that your motivation stems from some vague idea that you should be doing something, but you are missing a true underlying driver (health scare, upcoming event where you want to look good for others, desire to improve in a sport). In your case, you may need a more structured environment to keep you going. That could mean a program that tells you what to eat or how to work out that day, a coach/trainer, a workout partner, etc. In other words, somebody to hold you accountable.

I will re-iterate that finding an activity that you personally find fun will make the journey much easier. What works for one person will not work for another. 

TSpacagna

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #38 on: July 10, 2018, 10:59:59 AM »
I'd recommend Jeff Cavaliere (AthleanX Channel on youtube).

You can "buy" workout programs from him, but really everything you need to know is on his youtube channel where he brings in all his knowledge as a physical therapist and former NY Mets assistant strength coach.  He has Youtube videos showing refinements on lifting techniques to avoid injuries, get more out of your exercises, why you may have a specific lifting injury symptom, etc.


+1 on the Athlean Workouts. His YouTube Channel is great, and if you can afford to buy any one of the workout programs (I've done Athlean AX-1, their beginning course) I highly recommend it. They do a great job of saying why these workouts go how they go, there are diet/nutrition plans you can follow or just take ideas from, and he offers more video segments w/in the programs called "Coaches Corner" where he gives you more info, motivation, etc. He also offers subsititions for some of the workouts based on whether you are working in a gym or at home.

What I like most about it is it's all relatable to actual movements and sports, which I think makes it more palatable than just saying "Ok, I have to lift this weight 12 times now"


runbikerun

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #39 on: July 10, 2018, 11:18:35 AM »
I know a few people who've lost significant amounts of weight and kept it off. I'm lucky enough to be one of them. There's no particular exercise that unites the people I know who've done it; same for diet. What is close to being universal is that they compete - not necessarily at a high level, or even against anything other than their own personal records, but simply because they want to do better tomorrow than they did today.

If you take up lifting and want to get stronger, you'll find it a lot easier to eat a plate of steamed chicken and broccoli knowing what it does to rebuild tired muscles.

If you start playing for your local soccer team, you'll find doing shuttle runs in the rain on a cold Thursday rewards you in spades when Saturday comes.

If you decide to take running seriously, you'll find yourself getting rid of all kinds of bad habits in the quest for a sub-50 10k, or a sub-35 five mile.

There's a fistful of ways to get healthy and fit. What a person needs is to find the route they think is most satisfying.

SimpleCycle

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #40 on: July 10, 2018, 11:35:44 AM »
With those goals, I think I'd do something roughly like:

1. Pick if you want to start with diet or exercise.  Exercise is a bigger boost to your overall health, diet is better for weight loss.  I'd make the case for exercise first, because you'll have more leeway when you start on the diet part of the project.  Whether you work on cardio first or strength first is also a matter of preference.

2. Pick a cardio exercise you like.  Mustachian options are walking, running, biking, swimming.  Do it 3x per week until it is a habit and easy.  Start with 20 minutes a session and build to 40-50 minutes.  Bam, you're meeting the recommended 150 minutes per week of aerobic activity.

3. Pick a strength program that seems doable.  I also like darebee.com, but New Rules of Lifting is a great series too.  Add 3 days of strength to your 3 days of cardio.  Do it until it is a habit and you start seeing results.

4.  Keep doing your exercise, and start writing down everything you eat.  Do this until it is habit.  If you lose weight just by keeping a food diary, keep at it until your weight loss slows, and then move on to the next step.

5. Cut your caloric intake by 500 calories per day, using your food diary as a tool.  See how you feel and how your weight loss is. Do this until your weight loss slows, then reevalute your caloric needs as mentioned by a previous poster.  Now you have the basics of a fitness and weight loss plan in place.

6. Progress your exercise in some way - step up cardio intensity, add intervals, lift heavier weights.  Keep adjusting this ad infinitum to meet your needs over the years.

7. Fine tune your diet in whatever way it needed to reach your goal weight.  Track your macros, cut carbs, eat more protein, etc.  Whatever you find works for you.  By this time you should have a pretty good sense for how all your tracked food affects your weight loss, so just continually make adjustments until you are reaching your goals.

8. Keep doing the food diary and workout plan forever.

This plan sort of assumes you start off needing a Dave Ramsey approach, and by the end you're more of a Boglehead or Mustachian.  As you work at it more, you learn more, and you become more self-directed and able to adjust on your own.

Assuming you go with your plan of Whole 30 and P90X, I'd consider starting with P90, which is less intense than P90X.  You can get all of the programs with Beachbody on Demand.  All the P90 programs will give you results, so I'd progress through the original intensity levels even though everyone starts with P90X these days.  And if you don't mind a program aimed a women to get a little less intensity, you can start with Jillian Michaels Beginner Shred, then progress to the regular 30 Day Shred, then start P90 if you want to ease in and build a little more slowly.

Good luck.  I find fitness and weight loss substantially harder to keep up than good money habits.

wenchsenior

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #41 on: July 10, 2018, 11:42:38 AM »
ETA:  A lot of people on this thread have suggested what seems to me extremely hard core, all-in approaches (like Whole 30, which requires a fair amount of meal planning and also planning for times when you have to eat away from home),  or 90 day full on fitness attacks.  That MIGHT be an approach that really would work for you, but for a lot of people it would be far too overwhelming for them to stick with it.  That's why I suggest you evaluate your own psychology and habits first.  No point adopting something that is hard to stick to.

So where are your 'stumbling blocks' that are preventing you from doing these things?  Re: habits and psychology, I mean.

I *think* my primary blocker right now is information overload.  That's partially why I like the "Dave Ramsey" approach and after reading this thread am leaning towards something like P90X and whole30ish. It's black/white. A plan. Just need buyin for "the plan." Not "buyin and research and figuring things out."

I think I need something much more "do X for Y days" than, "read this website, pick stuff and do it, I love it!" because I'm just not going to do that based on my history.

Ok, good.  You know you need structure.  That's a good step.

I harp on this b/c  for me, so much about diet and exercise seems to be a result of my mental framing and habits and so little seems to be about my 'personality or character or willpower' or whatever essential-ist term you want to use. I was spotty about exercise for YEARS and could never figure out why.  As a consequence, I tended to think of myself as a rather lazy, sedentary sort.  But that was totally wrong b/c I exercised tons without thinking as a kid, then got very into solo 5-mile hikes as a young teen (loved them and was 'addicted'....did them almost daily), then (seemingly randomly) I stopped exercising entirely and ate tons of junk food as an older teen, then got VERY into daily hour-long swims for my first few years in college, then became gradually less active later in college/grad school.  By my 30s I had become a total yo-yo exerciser, all or nothing.  Completely sedentary for months at a time (bed to computer desk to couch to bed), then would work out a ton (making myself prone to injury) to get in shape for field work for 3 months, then immediately would lapse back into being sedentary for 9 months. 

I mean, WTF?!  I could not figure out why I could stick to a routine so easily at some ages/life stages, become addicted to it and vow never to quit, and yet then lapse into slothfulness for periods of long years. 

Eventually I had to re-frame how I approached the whole thing: My view of myself, how I structured my life and days, what little things I allowed to motivate or demotivate me, etc.  At this point, I've had a progressive exercise program for more than 3 years, the longest since I was a young college student.  I'm still a long way from as fit as I'd like to be, but after hacking so many of my 'barriers', at least I found something that I not only have stuck to, but LOVE.  I feel that old sense of 'addiction' to it. And I don't think I would be here if I hadn't examined all the ways I kept unconsciously self-sabotaging my previous attempts to stick to exercise.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2018, 11:45:37 AM by wenchsenior »

partgypsy

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #42 on: July 10, 2018, 11:51:29 AM »
For me the equivalent was the behavior of default of walking when you could walk somewhere (aka walking every day).
And also 2-3 x a week doing exercise videos that I enjoyed. It's kind of like eating peanut butter sandwiches, a little monotonous, not optimal, but you are at a better base level of fitness than the default. 
I'm going to add to this the 7 minute workout. 

eta some things that Dave Ramsey has, that should be added, is structure which means very simple rules you do not deviate from. In this case it would be something like do 20+ minutes of exercise on Mon, Wed, Friday Sat, or something like that. Can't make exceptions.
The 2nd thing is measuring progress. I don't personally do this, but if you walk you can either measure the time you walk, or the distance. Try to increase that (either walk faster and/or walk longer). If you are doing reps, do them faster, add to them or add weight.
For me, my problem right now is I'm in "ok" shape but I have a little belly. I have learned from experience that my belly is basically the last thing to tone up on my body. So while doing things like crunches, planks and pilates helps, I have to both eat well (lay off snacking and wine), and seriously up the cardiovascular component of my work out (tone up entire body) to see results there. It just is what it is. That's what I am going to work towards.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2018, 12:00:20 PM by partgypsy »

runbikerun

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #43 on: July 10, 2018, 12:03:35 PM »
I'm not a huge fan of how strongly strength training is advocated when people seek a straightforward guide to getting lean and fit. For people who absolutely hate doing strength training, it's counterproductive, as it reinforces the idea that the only approach worth taking is that of jumping into strength training. In reality, I suspect the Couch to 5k program has probably had a bigger effect on more people than any strength training program.

The simple and effective approach does not necessarily involve picking up a single weight or doing a single bodyweight exercise. It involves finding something physically taxing that you enjoy and working hard to get better at it through improvements in diet and training. It's entirely possible to become dramatically healthier, fitter and leaner without doing any strength training whatsoever.

partgypsy

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #44 on: July 10, 2018, 12:06:18 PM »
With those goals, I think I'd do something roughly like:

1. Pick if you want to start with diet or exercise.  Exercise is a bigger boost to your overall health, diet is better for weight loss.  I'd make the case for exercise first, because you'll have more leeway when you start on the diet part of the project.  Whether you work on cardio first or strength first is also a matter of preference.

2. Pick a cardio exercise you like.  Mustachian options are walking, running, biking, swimming.  Do it 3x per week until it is a habit and easy.  Start with 20 minutes a session and build to 40-50 minutes.  Bam, you're meeting the recommended 150 minutes per week of aerobic activity.

3. Pick a strength program that seems doable.  I also like darebee.com, but New Rules of Lifting is a great series too.  Add 3 days of strength to your 3 days of cardio.  Do it until it is a habit and you start seeing results.

4.  Keep doing your exercise, and start writing down everything you eat.  Do this until it is habit.  If you lose weight just by keeping a food diary, keep at it until your weight loss slows, and then move on to the next step.

5. Cut your caloric intake by 500 calories per day, using your food diary as a tool.  See how you feel and how your weight loss is. Do this until your weight loss slows, then reevalute your caloric needs as mentioned by a previous poster.  Now you have the basics of a fitness and weight loss plan in place.

6. Progress your exercise in some way - step up cardio intensity, add intervals, lift heavier weights.  Keep adjusting this ad infinitum to meet your needs over the years.

7. Fine tune your diet in whatever way it needed to reach your goal weight.  Track your macros, cut carbs, eat more protein, etc.  Whatever you find works for you.  By this time you should have a pretty good sense for how all your tracked food affects your weight loss, so just continually make adjustments until you are reaching your goals.

8. Keep doing the food diary and workout plan forever.

This plan sort of assumes you start off needing a Dave Ramsey approach, and by the end you're more of a Boglehead or Mustachian.  As you work at it more, you learn more, and you become more self-directed and able to adjust on your own.

Assuming you go with your plan of Whole 30 and P90X, I'd consider starting with P90, which is less intense than P90X.  You can get all of the programs with Beachbody on Demand.  All the P90 programs will give you results, so I'd progress through the original intensity levels even though everyone starts with P90X these days.  And if you don't mind a program aimed a women to get a little less intensity, you can start with Jillian Michaels Beginner Shred, then progress to the regular 30 Day Shred, then start P90 if you want to ease in and build a little more slowly.

Good luck.  I find fitness and weight loss substantially harder to keep up than good money habits.

I just wanted to post, that a couple "beginner" videos are not necessarily good for beginners. I bought a Jillian michaels beginner video, don't know what it was, but it was not good. To make it "beginner" they simply reduced the reps but did not focus much on the quality of the movement, and one moved from one exercise to the next very quickly. When I got done I didn't feel like I got much of a workout at all, but it felt like I was at risk for injury in the way the exercises were done.

If you are a woman and willing to shell out a little money, get a subscription to shape magazine. They have mini workouts in every issue you can try out, as well as online info. You can then cut out and use the ones you like, at your own pace.

SimpleCycle

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #45 on: July 10, 2018, 12:34:55 PM »
I just wanted to post, that a couple "beginner" videos are not necessarily good for beginners. I bought a Jillian michaels beginner video, don't know what it was, but it was not good. To make it "beginner" they simply reduced the reps but did not focus much on the quality of the movement, and one moved from one exercise to the next very quickly. When I got done I didn't feel like I got much of a workout at all, but it felt like I was at risk for injury in the way the exercises were done.

If you are a woman and willing to shell out a little money, get a subscription to shape magazine. They have mini workouts in every issue you can try out, as well as online info. You can then cut out and use the ones you like, at your own pace.

I personally like the Beginner Shred video, but as always your mileage may vary.  Now that you mention it, all these videos require attention to form to avoid injury, and it's not always explained well for people without an exercise background.

GuitarStv

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #46 on: July 10, 2018, 01:39:36 PM »
I'm not a huge fan of how strongly strength training is advocated when people seek a straightforward guide to getting lean and fit. For people who absolutely hate doing strength training, it's counterproductive, as it reinforces the idea that the only approach worth taking is that of jumping into strength training. In reality, I suspect the Couch to 5k program has probably had a bigger effect on more people than any strength training program.

The simple and effective approach does not necessarily involve picking up a single weight or doing a single bodyweight exercise. It involves finding something physically taxing that you enjoy and working hard to get better at it through improvements in diet and training. It's entirely possible to become dramatically healthier, fitter and leaner without doing any strength training whatsoever.

Yep.  The most important thing is to find something that you like to do.  If you want to run, run.  If you want to bike, bike.  If you want to lift weights, lift weights.

There is a reason that strength training comes up so often as a suggestion though . . . it's great for people who aren't sure what they want to do for a variety of reasons:
- It's possible to dramatically transform a person's body in a short period of time - and building more muscle makes people look better.  My experience has been that the transformation is more dramatic with weightlifting (mostly building muscle/losing a small amount of fat) than with cardio alone (mostly losing fat / maybe building a small amount of muscle)
- It can be done privately in your home, so you can avoid any feelings of being judged while starting out.  (Going jogging can make you feel really goofy/self confident)
- Progressive overload is very easy to program with weights, and you can see steady progress as you chart what you're doing over months.  You can still do this with cardio (distance/times) but it's a little harder to chart because things like weather can impact your times and distances can require careful route planning/mapping.
- Strength training doesn't seem to cause the same kind of cravings to eat more that cardio does (for me anyway), so it's easier to maintain a good diet

Telecaster

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #47 on: July 10, 2018, 02:49:41 PM »

I *think* my primary blocker right now is information overload.  That's partially why I like the "Dave Ramsey" approach and after reading this thread am leaning towards something like P90X and whole30ish. It's black/white. A plan. Just need buyin for "the plan." Not "buyin and research and figuring things out."

I think I need something much more "do X for Y days" than, "read this website, pick stuff and do it, I love it!" because I'm just not going to do that based on my history.

That's me too.  I don't like much external structure in my life, and prefer to DIY whenever possible (hey!  who needs a financial advisor?  In fact, who needs a job? ) but when it comes to exercise for me it is a lot easier to have "a coach" who tells me what to do, rather than try to figure it out on my own.

There is a famous strength named Dan John who has a saying along those times.  You do something because "coach says so."   So why have a coach? 

First, designing a program takes a level of honesty that people can rarely match. Oh sure, we can all see the obvious with glaring faults and issues, but the fix might blow up some happy little beliefs that you're afraid to confront....

..."Said so" is genius. It completely divorces you – and I mean completely – from any responsibility for your training. Why seven sets of four? Coach said so. Why fish oil? Coach said so. It's an amazing moment of clarity: you can pawn off all your responsibility to someone else. It's genius.


The Cliff Notes is that when it comes to fitness it is hard to be honest with yourself, and hard to follow through on a program that you designed yourself.  We should what we *should* be doing but we avoid it because it is hard or embarrassing.   Sometimes it is just better to have someone else tell you what to do. 

Full article here:

https://www.t-nation.com/training/my-secret-coaching-methods

IMO, all of his stuff is worth reading even if you are not a strength athlete.   

Anyway, I like P90X for those reasons.   There is a plan and a schedule that happens regardless of what I feel like doing.  FWIW, I did a soft start for about two weeks before doing the whole program.  That why I could learn the lifts and the exercises without killing myself.   I originally was going to do a month soft start, but after two weeks I felt I could tackle the whole thing.  There is a new version that is only 30 minutes a day, which I haven't tried, but might be worth considering if you are time constricted.   

driftwood

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #48 on: July 10, 2018, 03:47:17 PM »
...The key is creating a routine where you have some exercise built into your day, every day, so that you are consistent. You have to get to the mindset where it becomes non-negotiable, or you will talk yourself out of it...

Is there some kind of condition in your head such that when you weigh in your head "doing this exercise thing" or not doing it would be a choice you'd always make one way? For me, it was something like a combination of "if I skip even one day, I'll stall, I'll be sore after my next lift, I'll have such a hard time restarting, I won't be attractive enough to attract someone I like, I'll feel like crap, I'll be tired... OMG there's no way I'm skipping this 45 minute workout!"

To overcome laziness/lack of motivation I tell myself that I have to show up and start the workout, but that I can do it slowly, less intensely, lift less, etc... pretty much telling the naysaying part of me that I'll go do it but I can be lazy. Then once I'm in the workout I usually perform with the same intensity that I would do even if I wasn't feeling lazy. You can only run so slow before it's harder than walking, and I think your body has a running pace that it will settle in to even if you're not very pumped about running. Same for lifting... try lifting well below the work load that you should be at and it'll feel stupid and you'll naturally load more.

aneel

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Re: What's the "Dave Ramsey" equivalent for personal fitness?
« Reply #49 on: July 10, 2018, 07:58:01 PM »
What about Jillian Michaels (specifically 30 day shred)? Alternatively, for a super simple approach, try Fitbit. One stop shop for logging calories in and out. Keep the Cal's on the right side of the balance and voila!