Focus

How many windows are open on your screen as you read this? Does your email program inform you every time you get a new message? Do you carry a smart phone? What's on your virtual desktop? Your physical desktop? What's on your mind right now as you are reading this?

This is the age of distraction and Leo Babauta, who blogs at the immensely popular Zen Habits site, is here to help. His new book Focus is all about how to have more productive time by trading quantity of engagement for quality, distraction for devotion.

I started reading Focus at Starbucks while waiting for my son's activity to end. It was really hard. Why? As I was reading about about unplugging and concentrating on one thing at a time, I had two work emails buzz on my Blackberry in the course of 20 minutes - at 7:45 at night! - and I was dying to check the score of the Monday Night Football game.  Yeah, Leo has a point.

The two things I remember from my first read of Focus are "single tasking" and the "most important tasks" list.

Single-Tasking. Basically, your brain isn't meant to multi-task. Switching gears slows you down, which probably doesn't surprise you.  But Babauta clearly paints the other sacrifice of multi-tasking: you aren't creating. Your best ideas never come out. So clear your workspace, close all of your programs except one app, if it's what you need to complete your task. Frankly, as a recovering multi-tasker, this will take practice.

Most Important Tasks (MITs).  Babauta is a big fan of David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD), but he departs in two important ways. One is that he advises regaining control (cleaning your office, basically) in 15 minute increments, rather than the up to two-day capture GTD recommends. This will help you get going. But Leo also takes issue with the GTD principle that it's not about prioritizing tasks. Instead, Leo recommends identifying three Most Important Tasks at the beginning of each day, so that you're not just managing workflow, but you're doing what matters most, and creating uninterrupted time to focus on completing your MITs. Makes sense to me.

What I like most about Focus is that it's written by a guy who owes his career to on-line work. His blog has been featured in Time magazine and allowed him to quit his day job. This isn't your grandma telling you to put down the new fangled technology, he gets it.  So he has credibility telling you, yeah, put it down (for a while, anyway).

Focus is available as a free download in PDF format. For nine bucks, I opted for the Kindle format, mostly because I listen to books on my Kindle while commuting (hope that isn't considered multi-tasking!), but also to get some bonus chapters by other authors. There's a full-price option, too, with tons of bonus content you can read about on Leo's website. 

I recommend that you read the breezy Focus, as a simpler, more present life can't hurt your efforts to eat healthier. On Friday, I'll further explore the connection between a decluttered life and healthy weight.

My New Minimalist Blog Design and Other Updates

Hi all. I have basically had a mini-vacation for the past week. Monday was just plain crazy - a "record" two inches of snow hit Seattle and, I'm embarrassed to say (as a snow warrior from Pennsylvania and New York), shut down the city. It took me four hours to get home from work in the gridlock traffic.

The office was closed Tuesday and Wednesday waiting for the snow and ice to melt and was closed anyway Thursday and Friday due to Thanksgiving. The time, plus my mother-in-law's new "mifi" hotspot (who knew my MIL could be a trendy techie?), gave me a great opportunity to update my site.

I've been reading a lot of minimalist blogs lately (more on that soon), and have come to the conclusion that I need to declutter my life. Since I didn't really have access to my life at my MIL's, I started by decluttering my blog.

Here are a few changes you can expect:

A cleaner design.

Less "stuff". I had this silly notion that somebody might want easy access to every post I've ever written. Most of those sidebar links are gone.

One post on the main page. I'm trying to go for quality over quantity.

Easier to find the good stuff.  This being my 151st post, I actually have written a handful of posts worth highlighting.  I've created two new pages:

     All-Star Posts. The most helpful posts, by category.

     Pounds Off Profiles. The most interesting of those stories of athletes and public figures who have lost weight.

Blogging when I have something to say. I liked my Monday, Wednesday, Friday routine, but I've decided to give myself more freedom. Mostly, I'll write when I think I might have something that will be high quality. And since any not "all-star" post will disappear as soon as the next one is written, I can write something frivolous sometimes, too.

No more "Weekly Recaps." I needed this structure when I began, but now these feel a bit tedious. And they can't be a lot of fun for you to read. Sometimes, I had something great to say, but it was buried within a weekly recap format that covered several topics.   Don't worry, I'll still keep my weight loss on the sidebar for accountability and a detailed scoreboard in the pages section. (For the record, I skipped seconds on Turkey Day and kept my gain for the week to .5 pounds.  I consider this a win.)

Hopefully these changes will improve your experience reading The Pounds Off Playoff!

Pounds Off Profile: Harry Potter's Harry Melling

Imagine getting your dream job not in spite of being overweight, but because of it. Would you be motivated to lose weight? What if your current job was likely to lead your bio for the rest of your life? Would you be tempted to wait until the job was over before starting your weight loss? And what if you were still in your immortal youth, with no concerns about your health for the foreseeable future?  

That was Harry Melling's situation.  Don't recognize the name?  How about Dudley Dursley?  Honestly, I didn't know them either, but my 10 year old son (who was Harry Potter for Halloween) was able to tell me all about Dudley Dursley, Harry Potter's rotund cousin in the famed J.K. Rowling series.  Harry Melling is the actor behind Dudley's character in the Harry Potter movies, including the current blockbuster "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Melling had the round face to go with Rowling's description of a spoiled child who had become fat as a result.  When he won the role at age 11, he was by his own admission eating thirds for dinner and as many as five Toffee Crisp candy bars in once setting.  At age 18 though, he realized his acting career would be limited if he could only access fat guy roles.  He began to be active, move more, stay busy, and eat sensibly, going from 16 stone to 11 stone, 5 pounds (a loss of 65 pounds).

For the whole story, read the Daily Telegraph interview with Harry Mellling and a short account of Melling needing a fat suit to play Dursley in the final movie. Before and after photos are here.

When I was Harry Melling's age, I was gaining weight. I had no reason to gain and many reasons not to, but mostly I was living life and enjoying being young, without regard to my weight. This young man did the opposite, and if he keeps it off, he'll be much happier in at least one starring role: Harry Melling, former overweight child actor.

Photo credit Hung Chieh Tsai

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your holiday with family.  Relax.  Get some exercise.  Watch some football, maybe.  But don't diet.  As long as you don't go on a weekend long binge, one great meal will not set you back.

Thanksgiving is not why you're fat.  This is why you're fat.

Week 44 Recap: Fair Weather Biker No More

This Week's Plan
No Junk Food

Weigh-In
This Week:   -2.4 pounds
Total Loss:   30.5 pounds

No Processed defeats No Junk Food to advance to the Final Four.

Week in Review (and NSV)
I fell in love with our local trail on beautiful summer days over the past two years.  Seventy-five degree days without a cloud in the sky and peek-a-boo glimpses of glorious Mt. Rainier.  Wildflowers and people of every culture and ethnicity.  In August, I took several pictures of the trail before settling on the header that is atop my blog.  There were many beautiful vista from which to choose.

The trail is big enough that it never seemed crowded, but usually seemed busy with walkers, joggers, cyclists, and pedestrian commuters.  The small trail head parking lot I use (with a stunning view of Mt. Rainer on sunny days!) is always busy, even at capacity on beautiful summer weekends and evenings.

You probably know where this is going.  My revelation on Wednesday that I need to exercise more led to encouraging comments and emails from many of you (thanks!).  The message was to bundle up and get out there.  Thursday I was on the road and Friday night I had the kids by myself, so Saturday morning it was.  The parking lot was deserted when I got there.  The skies were mostly cloudy with occasional sun breaks.  The wildflowers, long gone.

I set out on the trail with no aspirations for a new personal record, just looking for a good ride.  The weather was not an inspiration, but neither was it a deal breaker.  The worst part was some debris on the trail from a recent wind storm and a slight burning sensation breathing in the cold air. I replaced intensity with a couple of added miles through an adjoining park and neighborhood.

In the end, I had an hour and fifteen minute bike ride.  No personal record.  No beating 46 minutes.  But I beat 44 degrees, a worthy enough NSV.

Upcoming Week's Eating Plan
Three Strikes.  It's a good one and I'll need it.  Big Clyde just finished El Tour de Tuscon!

Bill Clinton's Weight Loss

The Pounds Off Profile is a politics free zone. Almost certainly, you have strong feelings about our 42nd president, positive or negative.  This isn't about that.

He used to be pudgy. He's had heart bypass surgery.  He's had stents put in. His fast food fetish was the premise of one of the all-time funny Saturday Night Live sketches as SNL mocked him at McDonald's.  But things have changed...

Bill Clinton has taken control of his health.  Have you seen him lately?  He's downright skinny, having lost 26 pounds, back in the neighborhood of his high school weight.  He looks rejuvenated, too.

You may have heard he was slimming down for Chelsea's wedding this summer and that is true, but clearly his motivation is much more substantive.  After conducting his own research, Clinton committed to Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn's plan to prevent and reverse heart disease.   It takes my "No Processed" plan to an extreme, but Esselstyn's research cites success in not just avoiding heart attacks, but even allowing the heart to heal itself.  I  can't verify Esselstyn's claims, but President Clinton is a true believer.

Clinton describes his diet in this video with Wolf Blitzer on CNN.  It's a highly plant based plan, with no meat,  poultry, dairy, and only a very little fish.  What he does eat are fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, and a protein supplement.  (Esselstyn can be seen on CNN here discussing the plan.)

It is often said that Jimmy Carter is a better ex-president than he was a president.  Bill Clinton often eschews the premise, citing the power of the White House in the lives of people around the world as not replicable by civilians, even effective do-gooders and philanthropists. But when I see projections that one-third of Americans could have Type 2 Diabetes by 2050, I'm not so sure that any president could do something more important than reversing the weight and health crisis in America.  Bill Clinton's doing that for himself, and this time, all Americans - Republicans and Democrats alike - should consider his example.

Photo by sneakerdog on Flickr

Motivation to Exercise

Sometimes things scare the sh*t out of me.

I had one of those moments last Tuesday listening to Fresh Air on NPR on the way home from work. The show, titled "Dialysis: An Experiment in Universal Health Care," examined the policy implications of nearly universal coverage of kidney dialysis under Medicare and how our model of for-profit providers is more expensive than in other countries and has a much higher mortality rate.  Doctors are rarely involved, clinic staff are often poorly qualified, facilities sometimes aren't clean, and incompetent mistakes happen. You can read the gory details in the Robin Fields' article in the December 2010 Atlantic, "God help you. You're on dialysis."

This post isn't about public policy or how screwed up our health care system is.  It's about my reaction to the story.  You could not listen to that story and ever want to be subjected to dialysis if at all avoidable.  And many times it is avoidable, or I should say many times it is brought on by conditions that are avoidable.  

I've lost about 30 pounds, but I'm still dangerously overweight and mostly sedentary.  This is the voluntary signup plan for dialysis.  And my visceral reaction to the NPR story is changing my approach to exercise.

I have to admit, exercise has not been a part of my weight loss strategy.  The research I have seen says that you have to exercise A LOT (45-60 minutes daily) for it to produce significant weight loss.  But what I missed is that regular exercise is essential for cardiovascular health.  I love biking, but other than that, I haven't good about exercise, especially these days of rain and 5:00 darkness.

So I am committing to 150 minutes of exercise per week (5 days @ 30 minutes, or the equivalent).  It's not a lot and probably won't make much of a difference in my weigh-ins.  But it should keep me healthy, and out of our dysfunctional health care system.  I think we need to fix the system, but until then, we need to fix ourselves.

Week 43 Recap: Better is not Good Enough

A sample of snack food from my conference

This Week's Plan
No Junk Food

Weigh-In
This week: +3.4 pounds
Total loss: 28.1 pounds

Non-Scale Victory
Despite my disappointment in the scale this week, I am pleased to have started exercising again.  I'll write more about that on Wednesday.



Week in Review
In many respects, I had an amazing week. That's the weird part of my gain.  Let me explain.

This week was the craziest of all of them.  Right up until my weigh in, I was proud of my effort.  Why?  Twice  a year, I attend a three day conference related to a grant my organization has received.  This week, I flew to Florida on Wednesday and flew back to Seattle on Saturday night, arriving just hours before my weekly weigh in.

This conference is paradise for the gluttonous, but a dieter's nightmare.  The picture above is a part of the afternoon snack.  In addition to the brownies and cookies, they had boxes of Crackerjack and jugs of full-fat looking chocolate milk.  And like the cool neighbors on Halloween, they were giving out full size Snickers bars.

I ate nothing.

Other snacks were similar: large bags of M&Ms, donuts, etc.  I tried not to look.  Breakfast and lunch were buffets, generally good tasting and not good for you.  I used to eat lots and take more back to my room for later.

This time, I didn't eat one bite in my room.

In fact, I consumed about 2000 fewer calories per day than in the past (!!!) and I was feeling optimistic about my weigh in.  And, as I alluded to above, I exercised more than any week since summer.

The problems:

• Too much eating out.  Dinners on the trip were at TGI Fridays, Tony Romas, Chili's, and one touristy fish restaurant.  And hotel buffets for breakfast and lunch were no better.
• Large portions.  Even though I did a great job avoiding junk food and snacks, I just ate too much at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Not enough sleep.  It was hard to fall asleep in a hotel room, and wake up was at 4:00 AM Seattle time.  Unfortunately, I almost always gain weight when I don't get enough sleep.
• Dehydration.  This was a big one.  I kept the coffee flowing to stay awake, had drinks at dinner, exercised, and spent about 15 hours on planes.  All worked against me keeping hydrated, which probably hurt my weigh-in.

The good news is that because I avoided junk food, I felt better at the end of the conference than I ever had.  But I am really bummed not to be doing a good job of pushing Big Clyde (The Clydesdale Project) in the Throwdown challenge.  So here we go again.  I am issuing another "Joe Namath guarantee": I will beat Clyde this week.  Take it to the bank.

Pounds Off Profile: Mike Williams

I was watching the Seattle Seahawks dreadful capitulation to the New York Giants on Sunday when I heard Joe Buck mention, "...he had ballooned up to 300 pounds and was out of the league..."  The story was about receiver Mike Williams, a huge talent out of USC who had eaten his way out of the NFL just four years after being a top ten draft pick for the Detroit Lions.  (For many NFL guys, 300+ pounds is standard, but not receivers, who are paid to run like the wind.)

Apparently, Williams had just lost his motivation, and things spiraled out of control.  It was a train wreck, and few thought Williams would ever been seen in the NFL again.  Williams' lucky break came when former USC head coach Pete Carroll left the Trojans sinking ship for the helm of the Seahawks.

This time, after two years out of the league, Mike Williams made the most of his opportunity.  He he dropped to about 235 pounds, which works on his 6'5" frame.

How'd he do it?  Mindset was the most important part.  Williams wanted to make something of his career, be something to his kids, and not squander his immense talent.  As for the weight loss, he has no product to sell you, crediting lots of cardio, which includes basketball, boxing, and Pilates according to his Wikipedia page (so it must be true).  "I don't have any magic beans or anything like that," Williams told the Seattle Times.  Love that quote.

The lesson for all of us?  The mind is the most important weight loss tool.  Commit.  Act.  Move.  Eat well.  It can be done.

Photo credit Rob Ketcherside

Take a BOW to Combat Stress

The reflection that accompanies the POP process has made it clear that I'll only be able to get so far with my eating/weight/health without finding ways to keep stress eating under control.  And to do that, I need to keep stress under control.

It's not easy.  We all have our sources of stress. Mine comes from long hours at work, too many items on my "list", and trying to be a good father and husband in an active family.

For the longest time, stress felt like a "soft" concept, and I felt I needed to deal with "real" problems instead.  But I've come to the realization that stress not only impacts my weight and long-term health, it also reduces my effectiveness at work and at life.

After a little research, I wrote a post about stress eating with some plans for reducing stress.  It helped, but one of the things I realized was that I need an easy to remember shortcut that I can use in the moment when I am feeling stress.  Getting enough sleep and saying no to extra commitments are important, but they won't help you at the very moment you are feeling stress taking over.  For that, I've come up with a shortcut...

Take a "BOW" to relieve stress.  Remember these three things you can do in the moment to regain a relaxed state.

Breathe.  I am amazed every time that I check my breathing while in the moment of stress it's always shallow.  Even one deep breath, the kind that I learned studying music (breathe down to your toes, use your diaphragm, and your shoulders shouldn't move), can immediately reframe my reaction to a stressful stimulus.  I was reminded of the importance of breathing by a great blog, Zen Habits.  (Incidentally, ZH author Leo Babauta has just released Focus, a free PDF ebook that I'm about to read and may review in this space later.)

Organize.  Effectiveness coach David Allen speaks of unprocessed items consuming your "psychic RAM."  When your inbox is overflowing and you don't have a system to organize your work, it weighs on your mind. Organizing your tasks, having a place for all paper, and getting to Inbox Zero is one of the best ways to avoid stress.  (I highly recommend his books, but you might want to start with David Allen's 45 minute presentation to employees of Google.)

Water.  This is really a placeholder for several things.  Yes, I believe water is calming, as is cleverly illustrated in Lou Piniella's Aquafina commercial.  But it's also a reminder to avoid the substances that put me on an energy roller coaster.  When I'm not effective, I drink extra coffee and eat sugary foods.  Staying with water and nourishing whole foods always helps keep me on an even keel.

The next time you're feeling stressed, try taking a "BOW".  Let me know how it works for you, and what other tricks you use to stay focused, productive, and relaxed.

Week 42 Recap: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

This Week's Plan
No Processed Food

Weigh-In
This Week: +1.6 pounds
Total Loss: 31.5 pounds

NSV
I flew to California for a quick work related trip this week and was stuck in a middle seat.  I try hard to avoid middle seats, but this time it was unavoidable.  Two hours and twenty mintues of pure sardinedom.

Many times I counted my lucky stars that I was down 30+ pounds.  I'm sure those in seats D and F would have been thankful, too. I'm still way too big and it was not a real fun trip, but it was way better than it would have been without my last ten months on the Pounds Off Playoff.

Week In Review
I "lost" 5.5 pounds the previous week, so a small regression is not totally unexpected.  This was also a very challenging week, including two high stakes presentations at work and the business trip.

I really did eat well, for the most part.  I had zero sweets, including Halloween night and thereafter.  I didn't have any junk food, either.

But it wasn't perfect. There was some late night eating and unproductive eating out.  And I had a few drinks during the course of the week, not a huge big deal, but it was not helping.

At the end of the week, I was left wondering where I should draw the line between "heavily processed" and acceptable.  I wasn't sure what to do with certain pasta items, especially in soups.  And I'm starting to question my assumption that my chunky, multi-grain bread and high fiber cereal can be eaten without restriction.

Clyde, I'm sure you're in the lead on our Throwdown! challenge.  But I'll be making up for lost time the rest of the month.

My Next Plan
No Junk Food

photo credit Charles Haynes on Flickr

Pounds Off Profile: Iron Chef Morimoto

Photo credit

As you read on Wednesday, I have joined the "Throwdown! with Rae and Katie" challenge. It's inspired by their mutual admiration of Bobby Flay, which caused me to inquire as to whether any Food Network personalities would qualify for a Pounds Off Profile.

Enter Iron Chef Morimoto.  My wife and I had a brief phase of watching Iron Chef on a regular basis.  It was fun and irreverent and a great premise: two chefs compete in a one-hour contest using a single ingredient as the focus.  A contestant, usually an up and coming chef, takes on one of three "Iron Chefs". There's great drama as they try to beat the clock and their foe, all while trying to figure out how to make a dessert out of mushrooms or duck or whatever the secret ingredient turns out to be.

I've always wondered how those in the food industry deal with the temptations of delicious food all around them.  I mean, nobody's going to tell Morimoto that he has to pay for those scallops he downed while making a sorbet or something.  It must be a challenge, and indeed the Iron Chef got to the point that he felt he needed to lose weight.  Amazingly, he lost 40 pounds in three months.

A common theme of these Pounds Off Profile posts is that many celebrities lose weight the old fashioned way - consuming less and moving more - and that their methods are available to all of us.  An article on the Food Network's web site shares the lessons of Morimoto's weight loss:

1. Cut calories
2. Take a walk
3. Sweat it out
4. Alcohol only in moderation
5. Cook at home

You can RTWA for the details.  And if you're into healthy recipes, here are a few from Morimoto and other chefs who have lost weight.

It works folks.  The jury has voted, and the winner again is the Iron Chef!

Throwdown!

Great challenges in history...

• David vs. Goliath
• Aaron Burr vs. Alexander Hamilton
• Lincoln vs. Douglas
• Billy Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs
• Al Gore vs. George W. Bush
• Big Clyde vs. Alan

I have accepted Big Clyde's challenge to enter "Throwdown! with Rae and Katie."  Here's how it works: challenge a friend to a health contest, choose a measure, and battle it out for the month of November.  It's a play off of chef Bobby Flay's show on Food Network.  

First, let me introduce the players:

Raegun (Rae) is one of my favorite bloggers.  Her site, Diminishing Returns, is upbeat and hip.  Her site incorporates music effectively, often featuring a new run-friendly track every week. Rae is Canadian, and who doesn't like a hockey loving Canuck?  

Katie's blog is new to me.  But Finding the Thin Within is a good one.  Katie has lost 35 pounds and made many friends along the way.

If you've followed my blog, you know I'm a big fan of Big Clyde and The Clydesdale Project. If you don't know Big Clyde, no, he wasn't separated from birth from Andre the Giant, that's just his on-line persona. Clyde is inspiring and encouraging.  He has gone from couch potato to competitive cyclist.  I really believe Big Clyde is more eager to help others than to help himself.  And he's a great dad.  It's a shame he has to go down, and go down hard.

So what is our "Throwdown!"  Percentage of weight lost.  Just like that TV show.  How am I going to do it?  

• Great Eating Plans.  I'm on "No Processed" this week, then two weeks of "No Junk Food", and finishing with "Three Strikes".  These plans all worked great in the first round and they're going to work again. 
• Back on the (stationary) cycle.  I'm a fair weather cyclist, which isn't working for me these days in cold, rainy Seattle.  So I'm back on my exercise bike and treadmill this month.

OK, Clyde.  You're on.  May the best man win (and both men lose).

Week 41 Recap: No Processed > Cookies

I did it!  My "Joe Namath Guarantee" came through, and then some.  Now on to bigger and better things... Wednesday, I'll be posting about my Throwdown challenge with Big Clyde!

This Week's Plan
No Processed Food

(As a reminder, this plan really means no highly processed food.  Of course, sweets and junk food and the like are definitely out.  But while white rice is out, brown rice is in.  Quality cheese and meat is in, highly processed cheese and lunch meat is out.  Etc.  In reality, living in America in 2010, with a busy job and family, it's not practical to entirely eliminate all processed food.  Nor do I believe all processed food has the same negative effect on health and weight.  I'm hoping to get 90% of the benefit of cutting out processed food, without making the whole thing impossible to sustain.)

Weigh-In
This week: -5.5 pounds
Total loss: 33.1 pounds

NSV
I instantly felt better after cutting out processed food.  Almost immediately, I had more energy throughout the day.  Just felt great.

Week in Review
No Processed arrived just in a nick of time.  Let me share a story that epitomizes why I'm thankful for No Processed.

My organization holds an annual drive to support a major charity that you'd all recognize.  I give every year and it's the charity I donate the most to.  So I'm supportive.

But this year, in addition to encouraging donations, they are going around the building at least once a week selling cookies: chocolate chunk, white chocolate, mac-nut, oatmeal raisin, and peanut butter.  The cookies are $1 each and they are larger than any coaster in my living room.

The first week they did this, I bought TWO cookies.  It was between meals (that's when they get you) and hey, it's for a good cause, right.  Never mind that I donate enough with my regular giving to induce a permanent sugar coma (if it every dollar got me a cookie), it was so easy to justify this as me being "charitable".

Fast forward this week.  When the cart came by, I just gave an unequivocal "no".  I had an apple on my desk and really wasn't hungry because I hadn't gotten on the processed food energy roller coaster.

If I'd have had ANY latitude in my eating plan, I'd have probably made an "exception" and bought one or TWO, like the week before.

So I'm thankful for my current plan and learning to find other sweet sources - fresh fruit - so that I just don't miss that 2:30 cookies.  And you could repeat this story several times this past week by substituting "Halloween Candy" for "cookies."  So yes, "No Processed" is definitely the right plan at the right time for me.