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Q: I have a not-so-secret secret: I hate bacon. I loathe it. When it comes to pork belly, chops, tenderloin, or ribs, I’m all in, but there’s just something about bacon I just can’t stand. I recently tried it again for the first time in 10 years to make sure I hadn’t grown out of my aversion, but sadly I haven’t.

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Starting a new week is hard; Mondays can be rough. You get up early, you work all day, you drink a lot of of coffee. But you deserve something else – something a little bit cheesier. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.

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The Kitchn Cure 2015

The Kitchn Cure Day 16: Clean the under-the-sink area and your trash can.
Join The Kitchn Cure: Sign up and see all The Kitchn Cure assignments

Gasp! What is this? We are already on the final week of the Cure? Time sure passes quickly when you throw yourself into a project! This final week of the Cure has a few challenges (like today’s under-the-sink clean-out, if your kitchen is anything like mine), but mostly it’s about caring for our kitchens on a simpler, quieter level.

This week may be all about “the small stuff,” but it’s these small details that bring us a sense of satisfaction and contentment that the larger, more obvious projects can’t touch. These are the final touches — the last dabs of this and that — that will complete the picture and bring everything together.

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The Roundup

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Roundup

Blast from the Past

As we age, our brain’s ability to process information with speed and efficiency steadily declines. But a new study shows that higher levels of fitness can curb cognitive decline in older adults by increasing the volume of key parts of the brain, especially those responsible for reasoning and problem solving. These results suggest that we can improve our brain health by changing our lifestyle even as we age.

I’ve said it before: poor cognitive function as we get older is not inevitable. If you want to age well, minimize neurodegeneration and protect against common (but not normal) conditions associated with aging, you need to take matters into your own hands.

Exercise is one of the key strategies for keeping your brain sharp as you get older. I’ve outlined other strategies in this post from way back in 2011, nearly all of which are a component of my healthy lifestyle program 14Four. There’s no reason to expect significant cognitive decline as you age, and it’s important to make these lifestyle changes well before your cognitive function is even an issue.

Research Report

  • Dealing with stress is more important for health than reducing stress.
  • It took just 2-3 days for men in this study to start developing insulin resistance.
  • This study compares effect of caffeine and light on melatonin production before bedtime.
  • A new study not funded by a drug company shows that Paxil is not safe for teens after all.
  • Another study suggests that modulating the gut microbiome affects cholesterol metabolism.
  • Our sinus microbiome plays a role in chronic sinus problems, according to a new study.
  • Another study explores how antibiotics may disrupt the gut biota.
  • From ‘Me’ to ‘We’: identification with social groups can protect and enhance health and well-being.
  • Statins could be sapping your energy right at the mitochondrial level.

Worth A Look

  • This standing desk solution on Kickstarter looks like a good one.
  • Get free access to my keynote, “Healthcare from Scratch” — or buy the full access pass.
  • Autism and gluten-free eating: results of an anticipated study have been released.
  • Mark Sisson examines three primary arguments against widespread adoption of gluten-free diets.
  • Are negative thoughts keeping you from living your healthiest life? The Ancestral RDs discuss how to improve your mindset and start living more positively today.
  • The diet industry goes through crazes non-stop, from low fat, to low carb, to ketogenic, and beyond. But could these diet crazes be harming us more than helping us get healthy?
  • Are you accidentally destroying your metabolism? Overtraining and undereating can cause self-induced hypothyroidism.
  • Better posture: Why ‘shoulders down and back’ isn’t the best advice.
  • The diets of our ancestors went through a profound shift with the addition of meat. But researchers argue that another item added to the menu was just as important: carbohydrates.

For the Foodies

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Getting dinner on the table during the week can be a feat even in the best of times. Making that happen when you’re juggling a busy schedule can feel almost impossible. You’re certainly not alone on that one; we’ve been there, too.

Luckily there’s a solid dinner solution, and it doesn’t involve takeout, cereal, or random grazing through the pantry. These 20 meals are just what you need in your back pocket when you want a satisfying dinner, but are short on time and energy.

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For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering three questions from readers. First, what’s the deal with lead in crock pots? Some say lead leaches into the food when we cook with crock pots, while others aren’t so sure. And if the leaching of lead from crock pot ceramics into our food is, indeed, a problem, what equivalent product do I recommend? Next, a new study indicates that human norovirus is highly prevalent in oysters. Should we stop eating the canned smoked oysters from Crown Prince? And finally, do we really need to consume extra carbs with our creatine to get the full benefits?

Let’s go:

Hi Mark,

Fall is here & I just got myself a new larger crockpot! I have been using it a TON (even though it’s not actually cold here in the south yet).

I was enjoying it immensely until I innocently Googled a question about my crockpot & found warning after warning about crockpots containing lead & leaching into our food, especially when we add acids like vinegar for bone broth or tomatoes in chili.

I checked crockpots out on MDA & found lots of recipes, but no warnings.

Should I be concerned about this? I have growing children. And I certainly don’t want to cause myself problems either.

I’d love for you to give us the lowdown.

Crockpots are my favorite kitchen tool! But, I have already made changes to the food we eat, I guess I can make changes to the way I prepare it too… if I HAVE to.

Thanks,

Beth

For millennia, lead has been used in ceramic glazes. And eating and cooking food using ceramic cookware glazed with lead can certainly cause lead poisoning. Consider the couple who got lead poisoning from brewing kombucha in a lead-glazed crock, or the person who did the same with kefir and got similarly poisoned. We know that acidic solutions can leach large amounts of lead from lead-glazed ceramics. It’s a real possibility.

That said, crockpot manufacturers are aware of the problem and ceramic glazes these days are universally advertised as lead-free. Hamilton Beach claims its cookers contain no measurable amount of lead. One blogger went around asking the top crock pot companies about lead, receiving assurances from each company that either they had no lead in their glazes or crocks or that their lead levels were within FDA limits. But FDA limits technically allow some lead. And if you’re cooking meals for growing children with developing brains (whether they be in or out of the womb) for whom even tiny amounts of lead can hamper that development and cause epigenetic changes that reverberate through life, you’re right to be extra cautious.

Still, another blogger tested a few top brands (including a model from 20 years ago) with an XRF gun and found no evidence of lead in any of them. Personally? I have one. I don’t use it a whole lot anymore (you’ll learn why down below—it’s not due to lead), but I don’t really worry about the lead issue.

To be extra sure, buy a test kit online and run the tests yourself. In addition to doing a swab test of the ceramic surface and a leaching test using vinegar heated for four hours, I’d suggest preparing a typical meal in the pot, making sure to incorporate an acid (vinegar, tomato, red wine), and testing the food. To be extra, extra sure, take your crock pot and an acidic meal sample down to a third party tester. You should be able to find one on Google or Yelp (just search “lead test”).

Here’s what you do if you’re a real worrier and can’t get the notion that you’re poisoning your family out of your head:

Get an Instant Pot (or this earlier version which is just as good).

I’ve talked about these babies before. It’s an electric pressure cooker that plugs into the wall, sits on your counter, and renders the toughest slab of gristly animal into melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. Plus, Instant Pots can also make fantastic broth in a fraction of the time it takes on the stove, as well as act like crock pots, rice cookers, steamers, sauté pans, and other functionalities I’m probably forgetting right now. Best of all, the Instant Pot cooking pot is stainless steel. That means it’s easy to clean, non-reactive, and contains no lead at all.

You’ll be getting several-times the functionality of the crock pot without any of the worry—misplaced or not—over lead. Your kitchen game will increase exponentially.

I love the Crown Prince smoked oysters (Trader Joe’s) and with your blessing/recommendation, enjoy them often. However, just received this information/link. Now I am concerned. Can you comment. I value your opinion. Thank you.

Oysters harbor, transmit human norovirus: Avoid raw ones

“Oysters not only transmit human norovirus; they also serve as a major reservoir for these pathogens, according to research published August 28 in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. ‘More than 80 percent of human norovirus genotypes were detected in oyster samples or oyster-related outbreaks,’ said corresponding author Yongjie Wang, PhD.”

Pat

Good news: your oysters are safe. Canned oysters are subjected to several rounds of heating.

First, they’re steamed in the shell at 105° C for 18 minutes.

Next, they’re either smoked for 10-20 minutes at 100-120 °C or, in newer facilities, for 20-30 minutes at 130-150 °C.

Then they’re added to cans along with oil (in this case olive oil) heated to 100 °C.

The cans are sealed and placed in a pressurized steam bath for 70 minutes at 120 °C.

Norovirus won’t survive all that heating.

The lead author of the study agrees, saying “eat them fully cooked, and never raw.” He’s totally cool with people eating oysters, as long as they’re cooked. Now, I’m not sure that’s necessary for everyone. I love slipping oysters down my throat. Raw, living oysters are one of the rare foods I can eat and intuitively know that I’m consuming something extremely nutritious. I almost get a burst of energy and good will from a half dozen of the raw, briny things. Besides, norovirus, while unpleasant, isn’t dangerous to anyone but the most immunocompromised, like the elderly and babies. The biggest danger from norovirus is the dehydration that can occur when you’re vomiting and spending your entire day on the toilet. But I don’t know too many infants getting pulverized raw oyster in their bottles, and I’d suggest that seniors derive more benefits from the bioavailable minerals oysters provide than they risk eating a few oysters.

Hi,

My name is Zach Resnick and I’m a big fan of the blog. I’m currently trying to stay in nutritional ketosis, but I’m also trying to build muscle mass. I’ve looked into creatine monohydrate as a supplement and have started taking it a few days back. However, after doing more reading on the subject the consensus seems to be that taking creatine with lots of carbohydrates is recommended for optimal absorption.

Given that I’m prioritizing staying in ketosis, do you know if it makes sense to take creatine just with my post workout meal as per normal? Is it ok to add a few extra carbs than normal to help with the creatine? I just fear much of the creatine I’m taking will be wasted and cause digestive issues if I don’t add some carbs back into my diet.

Thank you!

Zach

You’re good.

A 2005 study in experienced swimmers found that loading creatine was just as effective with carbs as without them. One group took 5 grams of creatine + 100 grams of carbs every day for five days. The other group just took creatine, no carbs. After a baseline performance test, they repeated the test after the loading phase. Both groups experienced similar benefits to swimming performance after taking creatine.

Another study found that taking either creatine alone or 250 calories-worth of carbohydrates alone produced equal improvements to repeated vertical leap performance over placebo control. The creatine supplementation caused a bit of weight gain (1.5 kg) from water retention.

But you’re also good if you take a few carbs with your creatine. If you want to do that and stay mostly ketogenic, you have a couple options: the cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD) or the targeted ketogenic diet (TKD).

On a CKD, you spend the majority of the week in ketosis, only eating carbs on one or two days. You might be ketogenic Monday through Friday, exercising all the while and capping the work week off with a really intense glycogen-depleting training session, then go high-carb, low-fat Saturday through Sunday to refill your depleted and newly-insulin sensitive muscle glycogen stores.

On a TKD, you stay ketogenic but selectively eat carbohydrate before, during, and/or after your workouts. Most people seem to benefit most from pre- and peri-workout carbs. These aren’t large carb loads—15-30 grams of relatively fast-absorbing, simple carbs. Baked potatoes, white rice, sweet potatoes are excellent options. Fruit works, too.

Whichever route you choose, just take the creatine around your workout. There may be some small advantage to taking the creatine post-workout.

Creatine shouldn’t upset your stomach or affect your digestion, but it might increase your water requirements. Just be aware of them and drink water when thirsty, as always. Consider sprinkling in a little sea salt, too.

That’s it for today, everyone. Thanks for reading and be sure to chime in with your comments and input down below!

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Admit it — most of us have a slightly codependent relationship with frozen potstickers. Sometimes I truly wonder if they were invented to be the perfect solo meal — finger food with a five-minute cooking time being the two major qualifications for my lazy solo meals, anyway.

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Originally posted at: http://www.nerdfitness.com/

Meet Mike, or Dilnad as he’s known around the forums. Mike has one of the best transformations I’ve seen. Not only has he completely transformed his life and his body, but more than that he’s transformed his outlook on life. If you are a Nerd Fitness Academy member and community member, you know “Dilnad.” He’s one of the most active and supportive Rebels, and we’re lucky to have him on our team as we battle against the forces of the Empire.

Mike is a Software Quality Assurance Specialist. That mean’s he’s a nerd (and proud of it) who tests software used in tax preparation.

If you feel like you go to work day in and day out, stuck in a cycle of unhealthy behavior, Mike’s story is for you. Here’s how he describes his old self:

“I would go to work, stop at a store on the way home for food and snacks. Watch TV, Stuff my face, pass out on sofa, wake up, snack, sleep, shower, work, rinse and repeat. I really didn’t care about much of anything – life was something to be endured.”

I love Mike’s story. He transformed physically, but his mental transformation was nothing short of amazing: he went from not giving a shit about much of anything to loving life more than…well, life itself!

Mike’s story jumped out at me for a few reasons:

  • He tried multiple forms of exercise before finding the right thing for him.
  • When Mike decided it was time for a change, he realized he didn’t know a lot about how to get healthy. But that didn’t stop him – he started doing SOMETHING immediately, and learned as he went.
  • Even though he was losing some weight initially, he realized there was a more complete picture to health. After discovering Nerd Fitness and The Academy, he changed up his diet and incorporating a full exercise picture, things really began to improve.
  • Bonus: Mike can rattle off all 50 states in alphabetical order from memory. What a nerd!

Today, Mike’s in the best shape of his life, a positive influence to everybody in our community, and excited to meet the next challenge.

Desk jockeys, this one’s for you!

Mike in 2013: 326 pounds

mike - level 1

Here’s mike a few years ago in 2013. At 326 pounds, he decided that he finally had enough and needed to make a change. He realized he felt terrible, and one day decided to make a change. He didn’t know where to start, but he did know he wanted to live past age 50, and things weren’t looking good up to that point.

So what did he do? Because the Empire had its grips in him, he did what most people do, and started eating “low fat, heart healthy” meals. Fortunately, he ALSO started walking, and started TRYING to change his diet for the better. And that, while imperfect, was a hugely important start.

He wasn’t an underpants collector.

He wasn’t “working out,” he just made sure to walk 10,000 steps each day using a pedometer. He lost some weight, but noticed he still felt bad. And, to top it off, his health indicators were not improving.

As he explains:

My blood pressure was no better and my diabetes was only under control with medication. It was exciting to see some pounds drop off but rather unfulfilling and lacking in the pleasure of leveling up. Of course, at the time I didn’t know of this pleasure so I didn’t know what I was missing. it started purely about losing weight and hoping to live a little longer.

And so, he soon hit a wall – the weight loss stopped. As he started to investigate, a friend mentioned strength training. Soon he discovered Nerd fitness, read about the Paleo Diet, and that’s when he decided to level up his approach to getting healthy.

I found Staci’s article on a Google search and stayed up way too late reading the tabs I popped open, and it was GAME ON the very next day!

Mike: August 2014

Mike 08-17-2014Mike’s first “battle log” entry was in August of 2014.  After making just a couple of entries, the idea of leveling up and becoming your own character hooked him. He quickly joined The Nerd Fitness Academy, and started with the Barbell Batallion. This was a big change, because prior to that he was working with machines (if you’ve been reading NF for a while, you know we are not fans of machines and expect them to rise up and revolt at any moment – okay not really).

One of Mike’s first steps when joining the Academy was running through the “nutrition module” in the Academy. After quickly devouring all of those lessons, he immediately started making changes. In fact, he went all in. He describes this change as primarily paleo, with plenty of Greek yogurt.

Mike 9-18-2014Mike also doesn’t do “cheat meals.” He know’s he is consistent, so when he wants to eat or drink something that doesn’t fit, he just enjoys it and fits it into his diet plan:

I’m loose but consistent with my diet. If I have to eat something fried or the occasional cookie or diet soda, or even the much needed small glass of bourbon once every week or two, I just do it. No fears, no regrets. I’ve learned to make solid decisions for the lion’s share and it’s served me well.

One thing that struck a chord with me, hearing about Mike’s story, was his commitment. It’s often easy to make up excuses, telling ourselves we don’t have time or the money to get healthy. Mike realized he was telling himself those lies for years in half-assed attempts to get fit. I’m was very impressed to hear how he handled it:

Mike 2-18-2015

I was gearing up for a vacation the first week of September. I saved up 100 dollars over the course of months to go play Texas Hold’em at the casino during my vacation. I decided that if I was going to gamble, the Nerd Fitness Academy’s payout was much a bigger reward for the money risked so instead of playing poker, I invested in myself, joined the Academy, and actually WORKED OUT on vacation!!

Something special happens when we make a definitive financial commitment in ourselves – it becomes REAL: we tell ourselves “welp, if I spent the money I better follow through with my plan!”

Now, in addition to strength training, Mike tried several other forms of activities for his fun “training” (climbing, lifting, hiking, TRX), and ultimately found his favorite: running. He started to use strength training and Yoga to support his running.

Mike 8-17-2015He identified something to keep him motivated, and built his plan around that excitement, and now Mike crushes it in the running department. Go scouts!

Running is my passion and my joy.  Right now I’m focused on training for my first 10K race in October with plans on continuum my training for the Kentucky Derby Mini Marathon in April. My strength training, diet ,and yoga are all support activities to help me build and maintain the healthy runners body I strive for.

Mike’s Story

Mike 2013 to 2015

After 2+ years, there are a hundreds of different lessons learned and successes to impart on the next generation of rookies. So, let’s dive in and hear directly from Mike.

Steve: Thanks for being an inspiration to the entire Rebellion man. So tell me, what was the hardest change to make?

Adapting my diet while eating out. I go out to eat with people from work a lot and it’s hard for them to always accommodate me. I’ve learned to bring my little oil and vinegar containers and can always find at least a salad with some chicken in it somewhere (Hey, that’s what I eat now!).

Steve: It sounds like you built up some serious dedication. What would you say was the most important change you made that helped you succeed?

I built mental fortitude!! I’m kind of an injury magnet: Hamstring strain, shoulder injury, rib cage injury, knee(s) injury, another rib cage injury, knee surgery(non injury on this one but a setback still), knee injury. I play hard and, well, shit happens. It’s really hard to keep your diet up and keep fighting, but I’ve just learned to do it, unfortunately through practice. NEVER GIVE UP! Plus, making the comeback is awesome. You get to re-celebrate previous triumphs!! After hitting 5 miles again on my runs, all I could think was: WIN!

Steve: I think I need to write an article about that mindset, thanks for the idea my man! What about your diet? How did that change?

I jumped in hardcore and pretty much went strict paleo from day 1. No exceptions for a good couple of months. I decided I wanted to add yogurt into my breakfast due to the tons of protein and the beneficial probiotics. I have no problems with dairy, so it stuck. Plain Greek organic. Now, I’m on autopilot and my diet is no longer a chore…it’s just what I do – it’s part of how I live, and I allow myself some more latitude as needed. If I feel like eating a cheeseburger and fries, I eat a cheeseburger and fries. It doesn’t happen all that often because it’s really just not what I eat anymore. I make the good decision most of the time and it has worked flawlessly for me. It’s possible, although I can’t confirm it, that I’ve sipped a shot or two (literally that little and infrequently) of bourbon on the occasional weekend throughout the entire process.

Steve: Ha! Good for you man. We’re okay with drinking in moderation but know it can lead to many problems too, so good on ya. What about before you found Nerd Fitness?

Pre-Nerd Fitness, I had a sad attempt at a good diet. “Lean” meats like deep fried chicken fingers (heh). Take out Chinese food. Thin crust pizza. I had basically given up cheeseburgers and thick crust pizza, but other than that I didn’t mo much different.

Steve: Wow, so tell me about tracking. Did you take measurements often?

Honestly, I don’t track my food (aside from the Academy quest at the start). That’s my favorite thing about my eating strategy. As for my body measurements and weight, I have every single one of them (except the one weekend I was on vacation) detailed in my Academy Battle Log thread as well as every single workout (including every mile I’ve run, to Mordor of course). I’ve now taken to documenting it on my blog.

Steve: What about your support system? Were you an army of one or did you have a jedi council of support?

Mike 1 Year Side

I have a small cheering squad at work. A great boss (very tolerant of my workout and physical therapy schedules), a couple of weight lifting and running guys, and a woman who’s in my corner, a fantastic listener and my greatest cheerleader!

I have a group of runners from my local run club who are always willing to share knowledge. The Academy forums have been my lifeline and my place for accountability. I’ve also become involved in a WhattsApp group that spawned from the Academy. This is a group of folks I’ve become really attached to. We laugh and joke, and help each other through life!

Some wonderful friendships have been forged there. Finally, I can’t leave out Kent, the owner of my local gym. He has been a coach and a friend for a year now. Helped me with my form on EVERYTHING. I hope he doesn’t read this and find out I’d gladly have paid him double.

Steve: Thanks for sharing that Mike, we’re of the same mind that who you surround yourself with and how you spend your time is a big influence on the results you can expect. Now, what would you tell somebody who’s tried and failed but ready to try again?

I always tell them it only takes a leap of faith for a couple of weeks, go for it, and see what kind of changes result! But give it a FULL-EFFORT chance. Those changes will provide you the fuel to push for more changes and then it becomes a perpetual snowball effect. Good stuff! Just give me 2 lousy weeks!!

Steve: What else, besides your physical appearance has changed?

My confidence!! I actually have some. I walk tall and proud.

Steve: And finally, the important stuff, Nerd Cred: Star Wars or Lord of the Rings?

Star Wars any day, all day, even Jar-Jar and Ewoks (My cred just dropped)

Steve: Favorite video game of all time?

Do you even have to ask? …. Obviously, Super Mario World!!

Steve: Quote to live by?

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.
— Henry Ford

Why was Mike successful?

Mike 1yearPic

Millions of Americans are now where Mike was in 2013: unhappy, unhealthy, and stuck. But, it looks like Mike found out how to be the healthy 1% and change his life.

Here’s a quick recap of how Mike did it:

Mike didn’t collect underpants. No, not literal underpants (well, maybe, I have no clue). Mike ALSO didn’t collect metaphorical underpants. Instead of waiting around, reading for hours, days, weeks, or months, he got started immediately. His diet wasn’t perfect, his workouts were poor, but he started. And maybe most of all, he started walking. Every day.

Mike didn’t wait for the perfect workout or diet plan to come along, but knew he had to dive in, learn as he went, and make changes when he could. Today, everything looks pretty darn good to me: A workout he loves, and a nutrition style that he finds effortless, rewarding, and flexible.

Mike didn’t give up: Mike has had several injuries and setbacks. And hey, it’s easy to fall off the wagon, when life throws a banana in your path. Instead, Mike has sets goals, and uses each setback as a new challenge. He loves coming back from an injury, because it gives him a chance to re-achieve milestones and gain the level he lost.

We can choose to deal with setbacks in many ways. We can decide to use a challenge as an excuse to quit, or we can find a way to view the positive side of it – to use it as inspiration and a positive momentum builder.

Mike is a huge part of the community: If you’ve spent time around the Men’s Academy, you know Dilnad. Mike is one of the most active members we have, and used that activity to keep him thinking and being healthy. As you heard, Mike used the Academy and other resources at his disposal to create a group of incredible supportive people. They message each other regularly, share victories and setbacks, and use each other to support one another… not unlike a party in an rpg. Who’s on your team?

Mike changed his diet, and leaned on his habits: If you’ve been following along, you know that every success story includes some major dietary changes. Mike knew how important diet was, and made a serious commitment early in his journey. His advice for others? Pointing out the “snowball effect” of habits. And that’s a great way to think about it: In the beginning, the snowball has a hard time building up.

But the larger it gets, the larger the surface area and the faster it grows. That’s also how habits work: in the beginning it’s hard, but if you stick with it, not only does progress get easier, but it becomes nearly effortless to maintain the new changes after they’ve been established as a habit. Make your new dietary changes a habit, and every day of your journey doesn’t have to feel like an uphill battle.

Mike started to save his own life. Now he does it for joy: Mike’s motivation was to avoid an early grave. But today, Mike has built intrinsic motivation around exercise. He writes:

“I no longer do fitness to lose weight. I’m a runner who strength trains. I do it for joy! JACKPOT!”

Find an exercise you love, and discover that getting healthy can be fun.

He kept track of his workouts: In order to get excited for the next workout, you need to see yourself making progress. And you can’t make progress if you don’t know where you came from. That’s why tracking your workouts and knowing what you need to improve is so important. Mike tracked nearly every workout, and made sure he had the accountability from his support team to make progress. He made detailed public logs, and even started his own blog to keep his commitment.

If you want to level up your character, you have to be able to visualize progress – visualize an experience bar moving forward. That’s why tracking is so important. Imagine an RPG without an experience bar. Suddenly, at some point, you just level up. Makes grinding for hours a little less fun, right?

Be like Mike

Mike Climbing

Mike cracked the code, but you can too.

Put a focus on your diet, develop structures in your life to keep you accountable, understand habits, and find a workout you love.

If you’re sitting in an office and looking to change, look at Mike: It CAN be done! Best of all, you don’t need to work harder. You don’t need to starve yourself, or spend hours on a treadmill.

Instead, you need to work smarter. Understand how your body and brain work, and implement changes that you know will stick. No 30 day diets. No cleanses or detoxes. Real changes that will get you healthy.

And most of all, start today. You may  not know the exact changes you need to implement, but you need to pair action with learning. Start walking every day, like Mike. Learn and improve as you go. I promise you, in two years, you won’t recognize your new habits.

Mike, thanks for being awesome, and an inspiration to all of us.

Questions or words of encouragement for Mike? Leave it in the comments!

-Steve

PS: I’m proud to share that Mike is a big success story from the Nerd Fitness Academy our online course complete with workout plans, diet strategies, recipes, mindset discussions, and a leveling system that allows you to complete quests, earn experience points, and level up.

If you feel like Mike back in 2013, I’d be honored if you’d check out the NF Academy – it comes with a 100% money back guarantee and has helped thousands and thousands of people level up their lives…literally!

PPS: The whole Nerd Fitness team and I (and 300 NF Rebels) are down at Camp Nerd Fitness this week, so make sure you’re following us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram if you want to follow along with the adventure :). This will be the only article this week!

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Most of us celebrate each morning like it’s a special day for drinking coffee, but this week you have an extra-special reason to pour yourself a great cup: October 1 marks the first official International Coffee Day.

Orchestrated by the International Coffee Organization, International Coffee Day is all about celebrating coffee. There are events taking place all over the world — each and every one of them devoted to your favorite drink.

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http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

Q: Why do so many big colanders/strainers function so poorly? Most of them can’t drain out all the water — instead of getting dry pasta or veggies, everything is left in some water that won’t ever drain out of the holes!

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