Episode 3 Importance of routine with weight loss and a healthy lifestyle

Today’s episode I walk you through what a day in my life looks like and how I schedule my week. I also discuss the importance of self care and how having a good schedule and routine is key to weight loss and long term weight maintenance. I cover how and why I grocery shop the way I do, my meditation routine, journaling and reading schedule. All of this I find has been the core to my success. Finally I cover my gym schedule, running and general workout routine. One other topic is how important having set rules around your routine and how to use them to hold yourself accountable and limit interference from others.

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Transcript

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Hi I'm Thomas welcome to the parachute advice. My life has taken a lot of twists and turns and on this podcast I will dive into those. The goal is to help everyone listening learn from my experiences and hopefully avoid some of the mistakes I've made hi welcome to today's episode of the parachute advice podcast, I'm your host Thomas today I want to discuss something I've been thinking a lot about lately, as I approach the 3-year point in this crazy Journey I've come to realize one thing routine has been key to this process and all of My Success I think the importance of having a solid set routine as vital, it's how I hold myself accountable every day and every week I use my routine to guide what I do when I do it and how I do it and I also use it to push myself even when I feel unmotivated. That said. Don't be overly restrictive on yourself I catch myself doing this from time to time and it creates a lot of stress routines are great but flexibility needs to be built in for example I'm a push a little too hard on my training and have to take a day off and just recover from the injury or strain I put on my body, and that's fine because it's still part of my plan for long-term success. As the great tennis player Arthur Ashe put it the ideal attitude is to be physically loose and mentally tight. I treat my routine like this but what does that line even mean, well Ryan holiday in his book The obstacle is the way says it this way to be physically and mentally looses to be Reckless to be mentally and physically tight as to be anxious but physically loose mentally tight is to be powerful, how does this apply to me let's start with this idea I have certain set rules I follow around my routine and that's not to say I can't and won't change things up to accommodate the unexpected but deviating from my set rules is always the exception and not the rule no pun intended there, so let's take this example I work out after work 3 to 4 days a week for 30 to 60 minutes this is my rule period, right now my set days are Monday Wednesday Friday and Saturday for working out Sunday is always a rest day and Tuesday and Thursday are optional cross training days,

so when asked hey do you want to do a happy hour grab dinner I tell people sure I'm free after I workout and shower so for me that's usually about 6: 2:14

30 on days I'm going to the gym. If that doesn't work for them cool but that's my rule and routine. That's a diff a week ahead of time and event gets planned where it won't work run my rules no biggie I can adjust and have adjusted I might for example do this, Tuesday Thursday and Saturday for the set workout days instead of my standard plan and then I do cross training on Monday Wednesdays and Fridays for other people it might go something like this,

hey can you make the 7: 2:48

00 a.m. meeting at work know I have a rule I drop my kids off at school every day period no need to explain past that. You would be surprised how often if you had said no I can't make it you would get pushed back but when you say no I have X rule there's little to no pushback from people. That's where having set rules is key. Are there times you need to be flexible absolutely but don't let others force you to compromise on making yourself a priority, when I hear far too often from parents is I just have so much going on juggling work and being a camp parent I can't prioritize time for myself whether it's working out reading or just unwinding from a long week, well I can tell you from my personal experience just how this can play out as I mentioned many episodes ago I lost both my parents early in life in particular my dad who had decided for his career in the military he would never make us family relocate when he got a new base. What was the result his willingness to let others compromise his putting himself first I think directly led to his early death what makes me think this. Wow what is last military assignment was two hours away from where we lived what did he do he commuted daily on top of that he had the Deep desire to still make time with family a priority. Yes this is an admirable thing except when it puts your own health and well-being at risk so this was the result.

He started every day at 5:00 a.m. he got up showered and hit the road to get to the base by 7: 4:14

30 a.m. On top of that to save money he would often skip the fastest route because it had tolls.

He worked to 45 and then he hit the road getting home around 6:00 or 7: 4:24

00 about once a month he would stop at the base PX to do some grocery shopping because of the time groceries and truth be told the big ones coffee and cigarettes for him were drastically cheaper there. Then he might not be home till 8 p.m. it was family dinner because we had a family rule we always ate together no matter what. This was a rule rarely broken for most of my childhood. Then time with his kids wife and his father who lived next door that maybe some stuff around the house like Bill Payne or other home repairs that were. Then he'd hit bad by midnight to get his 5 hours of sleep, he did this five days a week for four years between the two packs of cigarettes and multiple pots of coffee a day and a complete lack of time to do any sort of physical activity you could imagine just how much I believe this played into his heart attack why do I tell you this story, well, I hear it too often I just don't have time to fit in 20 or 30 minutes of exercise three or four times a week I have so many commitments between work and family here's the way I see it that's great you put those first. Who will put that first when your dad was that harsh, yes and it was meant to be I could go on about stories like this or the classic I can work long hours and not see my family while they're young because we have so many years ahead of us two in the best case scenario wake up one day and have them leaving for college or in a worst case scenario you're just gone one day and you never got the time with them, but worse than that they never got to know you. My sister and I were very lucky in that my dad retired from the military and struggled to find a full-time corporate job the result was him being at home for two years as a full-time dad. The key I think is knowing and setting a routine and sticking to it you have to make yourself the priority. If you're not striving to be the best you then you are certainly not being the best version of yourself for others like your spouse or children or even your employer if that's something that's important to you, here's another example of how I have used rules to make managing my routine and life easier and in the process frankly alleviate stress I have multiple groups of friends and often after making plans with one group of friends another one asks if I'm free to do something instead of weighing the pros and cons and all of that I have a set rule that treats them all equal once I make plans those are my plans first plans overrule other plans. Now obviously if the opportunity is something crazy or a once-in-a-lifetime that may change but then I default to align that Mark Manson has said and his base idea from the blog post the entrepreneur Derek severs once wrote it goes like this. When making any major life decision remember if it's not a fuck yes then it's a no. A great example of this in my own life was back in 2016 when I got a call a week and a half before the date of the trip I had the opportunity to go and visit Oak Island in Canada. Yes the famous Oak Island in Nova Scotia that you've probably seen the TV show about this has been a dream of mine since I was a kid and it learned about the island and the treasure. This was an example of a fuck yes moment I'll never forget booking everything that night and going into work to tell my manager I was going he said well let's look at things and talk about it since most of the department is already off that week I looked at him and simply said to be clear I wasn't asking. I will be gone that week for this trip I just need to know if I have a job or not when I return thankfully I did but I was fully prepared for the consequences. So how does this story I tell you play into my routine well it's the rules I've set in the focus on making myself a party that helps me plan my week and stay on track, some of these rules I've had for years some I've only developed in the last year or two but all together they have really developed into a system that makes my life easier but most importantly much happier. So here's my average week in the routine I have around it, I tend to view my weakest Sunday through Saturday so that's how I lay my things out Sunday I'm up for coffee watch a little TV and get ready for church most weeks then if the weather's nice it's a motorcycle ride and I stopped for a light lunch or a beer to Brewery. I usually fit in a grocery shopping trip to pick up Necessities for the week at some point on Sunday, I warn you now you're going to see a theme I seem to go grocery shopping frequently this is for several reasons some logical and some that are just weird. Let's start with the logic my diet to be successful has become pretty set not on what I eat but more on what I use in my cooking. Like packing oh snap brand pickles in my lunch when I get the best price on them at all these which is one of my favorite low calorie snacks from there when it comes to low calorie string cheese and egg whites it's always Woodman's grocery store. Kroger or Myers has the best selection and prices on frozen vegetables usually plus I love Myers Frozen chopped kale so as you can see I may need to go to multiple stores to stock up next I try to maximize sales. But the final reason and the weird one is I find grocery shopping relaxing I know it sounds weird as hell but I think it goes back to my days of cooking and one of the things I truly loved the challenge of finding things and making them work as a meal. Back to my Sunday post motorcycle rider other activities of the weather's not nice out is then home to cook dinner and do some meal prep for dinners and lunch I usually pack salads for the week and make half cup portions of sugar-free Jell-O, why do I prepare my own Jell-O cups simple I'm cheap it saves me about two dollars a week. Yes I know that doesn't sound like a lot but it's also something to do and it makes me feel like I'm being proactive in my budgeting while it might not be much. I do think little things like that add up as we cover the personal finance episode those kind of savings can really turn into true savings as long as it's not hindering your happy life, finally I might portion out a protein of choice for the week like yogurt roasted chicken imitation crab or canned tuna, that said for flexibility I always keep shelf-stable items on hand for lunches in case I don't have time to do lunch prep. Like proportion cups of rice canned tuna Snack Pack sugar-free jowls and cheese like Laughing Cow. Often I buy and use proportion items like tuna pouches or my new favorite single serve imitation crab portions that I get at Meijer. Next is dinner I'll try and make something that gives me easy to use leftovers for during the week for example I might roast off a few pounds of chicken and vegetables or make a big pot of stew or Congee rice porridge, then it's usually some work on my podcast chores around the house and then relax to watch TV and get through the Sunday scaries. You know what I'm talking about it's the worst part of the weekend The Dread of the upcoming week I try to find things to do to distract me from the Sunday scaries like maybe a movie or some light reading then it's too bad. Mondays are work and then a short easy run by short I mean usually a 5K and then dinner I might do some office work and then relaxing with TV. Before bed it's 5 to 10 minutes of meditation then journaling and finally reading for 30 to 60 Minutes for meditation it's either simple instrumental music while following the love yourself like your life depends on it process laid out in the book by Kamal, or I use one of the Peloton guided meditations I find this is a great way to relax bring down my heart rate and get prepared for bed it just makes my sleep a lot better for journaling I use a one-line add a five-year Journal do this, I have a series of questions I used to trigger what I write about and we'll put that at the top of the page so that each year when I look back I can answer the same question and see how things have changed over time some days I just note key thoughts about my day. Sometimes I'll put down a negative thought to get it out of my head so that I can rest better. Each day at works out to about two or three short sentences for reading I'm often in the middle of reading two or three books at a time. I read the daily meditation from the daily stoic book written by Ryan holiday then I usually do an activity based reading items such as the mental toughness handbook then I'm usually reading another book like something from Malcolm Gladwell, world leadership book or something else of Interest like something on running most recent was a book A co-worker gave me titled the what I talk about when I talk about running by a Japanese author. I keep a running list of about 20 or 30 bucks on Amazon that I can pick from when I finish my next book, this meditation reading routine I make sure to do every work night at the very least journaling I do every night, it might be shortened like a five minutes sleep or breathing meditation and then just two page daily stoic passage of the day. Just recently while talking about this I had someone ask me why do you do this. Do you think of that messed up and you need to improve that much well my response was no I don't but thanks for asking. I do think I always have room to grow and get better why wouldn't each one of us want to strive every day to be better. I'll revisit the idea I covered back in the personal mindset episode I first learned this concept listen to the American Glutton podcast and episode on mindset I listened to from time to time as a reminder. Tom cure talked about a motivational mindset principle that was built around the concept of combatives and the Warfighter mindset but it can and should be applied to all aspects of your life and he calls it the kill your clone, and it goes like this every night at midnight you want me to clone of yourself from 24 hours ago. You will fight your clone to the death if you have done even one thing to be better than you were 24 hours ago you'll be victorious so every day ask yourself what have you done to kill your clone today. You only have to be one one thousandth of a percent better than your clone but you have to be a little piece better to win the core idea is every day what did you do to better yourself, what have you done to kill your clone today you win each and every night when you go to bed if you can name one thing you did to better yourself again it doesn't need to be something crazy like a hard workout every day, we're not having a good time at dinner with friends maybe you had a rough day at work. Got home far later than you expected instead of doing your work out as planned you shortened it or perhaps today is the day you just spend some time reading on leadership, you still did something to improve yourself you killed your clone the rest of my week my routine is pretty much the same as what I just covered, one other aspect of my day I make a priority is over my lunch at work I make it a point to read then as well I have a list of websites that I read every day to stay up to date on the latest news this includes items tied to technology current events and Industry specific topics, I currently work for a company that produces large mining equipment so it's topics on mining minerals and since I meant supply chain that as well. Tuesdays and Thursdays are usually grocery shopping after work see there it is more trips to the grocery store to relax, why those days well where I live and I think for most places Wednesday is the start of the new ad with previews coming out online on Tuesday, I'll review the new ad and see if there are items I need that will be on sale or items that I want to stock up on when the sale ends Tuesday. I also keep a running list on my phone of items I am low on or need for around the house and compare that to the ads. The list is organized by stores and based on either that store being the only one who carries that item or the store that usually has the best price, after grocery shopping it's home for spending for 20 to 30 minutes or it may have been a 20 to 30 minute weight training session at the gym at my office. Then dinner relaxing pre bed meditation and reading Wednesday's are usually long run days depending on my training Planet somewhere between a 10 and 12 k. Dinner and then stretching and rest Thursday will be a spin or cross training and rest, during the winter months I'll often have a college basketball game I have season tickets my alma mater Fridays are then my second long run of the week usually, this one is again somewhere between 10 to 12 K and less training for a longer race I may also move my long run to Saturday if I need more time to complete it and instead of doing a short 15-minute spin class. I found I perform best if I don't take more than one full day off of activity but as I mentioned I will drastically limit length and intensity the day before a long run. Finally Saturday I get up and I either run if I have a long run to do then home shower or it's straight to coffee if I don't have a long run plan. During the season I will get up and enjoy my coffee while watching this old house like my dad and I used to then it's chores around the house or a long motorcycle ride if the weather's good. Off and I'll ride 100 or 200 miles to a brewery across the state just to have a beer or a light lunch and then explore back roads on my way home, at this point if I'm feeling stressed or just generally off for the day I might do a late day run or work out again and then make dinner if there's something good to see I've no plans with friends I'll go see a movie by myself otherwise it's out with friends for the evening Saturday is the one night a week I let myself skip meditation and reading if I had to bed later than normal.

For me my nightly routine starts at about 9:30 and work nights and 10:30 or 11: 16:57

00 Friday and Saturday.

This usually means I'm actually getting to sleep by 10: 17:03

30 or 11 and work nights and then it's Sunday and I start things all over again, I find the set routine very helpful as I mentioned for both my physical and mental health it makes holding myself accountable that much easier for example just the other day I had zero interest in doing my easy 5K run on a Monday. But that's what I do and I had no valid excuse to skip it once I was done I was glad I did I felt so accomplished not to mention how mentally good it makes me feel, but if I hadn't had that set routine and rule in place I think it would've been a lot easier to skip that in closing I just want to share this last thought. Make yourself a priority it isn't selfish I would argue it's actually the exact opposite if you're not the best you can be then you're not being the best spouse parent friend sibling or employee you can be and I think that's frankly selfish thank you for listening please join me again for future episodes. You can contact me at parachuted Vice podcast at gmail.com again that's all one word parachuted Vice podcast at gmail.com. You can also follow me on Instagram at parachute advice again thank you for listening and please like And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Music.