The ELEM-6 Diet Now Has Its Very Own Blog! And...

The ELEM-6 Diet has taken the blogosphere by storm! That's why I've decided to give this plucky little diet its very own blog site. You can find it here: http://elem-6.blogspot.com/   

And... that's not all: my amazing sister, Lauren, who herself has lost 60 pounds(!) using the ELEM-6 Diet, will be blogging with me and sharing her keen psychological insights about how one gets a grip on one's inner attitudes about food, self-image and many other things, all of which I think you'll find a greatly helpful and very encouraging.Unlike me, Lauren brings to the table some real credentials as a writer and a seasoned professional in the area of behavior modification (and I don't know about you, but my behavior seems ever be in need of yet more modification!) I'll let Lauren tell you more about her professional experience and her personal achievements with weight loss and in many other areas. Together we're going to coach you as you let the ELEM-6 philosophy sink in and begin to practice the many ELEM tips we'll be giving you along the way.

Be sure to bookmark the ELEM-6 blog and visit often as you take the plunge and begin to EL and EM in the weeks and months ahead. Lauren and Iwill be here (well, I suppose I should say, "there") Of course you are more than welcome to continue visiting Random Acts of Intelligence as often as you like. I will continue to blog here as well, on subjects of all sorts.

ELEM-6 Diet, Part-9: ELEM-6 is One-Year Old Today!

And we've now sold over 100,000 copies of the book! Just kidding there, but who knows? If Oprah has me on before she goes off the air...well, then it could happen.

Here are the details in brief: I began to EL/EM-6 on November 20, 2008. Ten months later I had lost 80 pounds. I went from weighing 240 to my present 160. That comes out to 8-lbs per month, or just 2-lbs per week. See? If you only have 40-lbs to lose you can either lose it in 5 months by going for the 2-lbs per week, or--you can lose 1-lb a week for the full 10 months. It's up to you! Get out a calendar and figure out what you want to weigh and how long it will take to get there. That's exactly what I did.

I know, I know--Thanksgiving is just days away. If you decide to wait until after, who am I to give you a hard time about it? No sweat. However, there is one big advantage to starting now: doing so will send a bold message to yourself--and everyone else--that you really are serious about this. And, you will be able to look back and say, "If I can EL/EM on Thanksgiving, why, then I know I can do this!" It'll get you off to a great beginning; and beginnings are important.

Speaking of beginnings; have we picked up a good pair of walking shoes yet? You'll need the shoes, a digital scale, some sweat pants and perhaps a zip-up sweatshirt with a hood. Have you bought some new kind of cereal and other food? Not necessary really, but it helps.

Now I want to get very specific so, if you need it, you will have a clear pattern to follow. It is very important to begin the night before. What I mean is, you need to lay out your sweats, socks, shoes and things by a chair or somewhere easy to get to. You don't want to be rummaging around in drawers at 4:30 in the morning. Did I mention you'd probably have to get up early than you are used to? You do. Live with it!

If you are like me you will come to--I know it seems impossible to believe--absolutely cherish the first couple hours of the day. I wouldn't have believed it myself, but it's turned out to be so true for me. From 5:00a.m. to 6:30a.m. is now my favorite time of day. I think endorphins may play a role. At any rate, you must EM. Starting with 20 minutes is OK at the beginning if you really can't do any more, but just accept that you will need to build up to a full hour before very long. An hour-and-a-half to two hours is ideal if you can get there.

Here is an EM tip: extend your time by extending the route you walk. Add a block or two here and there until the course you set takes about an hour. In my case I use one very wide and long street as my course. Not really a course because I just walk up and back a couple of times and that's that. It takes me 15 minutes up the street and the same time coming back. So I do it twice and there is my hour. Then I walk, stretch and cool down for another 1/2 hour.

Well, I have more details for you but I'm sleepy and it's beddy-bye time for me--I've got to get up at o-dark-thirty!

Hang in there--keep taking in the ELEM-6 principles. Let the motivation arise within you as you think, "I must, I can... I will!" You can do this!

A happy and blessed Thanksgiving to you and yours.

The ELEM-6 Diet, Part-8: A Brief Review

wOK--I will assume you have by now done at least some of the things I have suggested in earlier posts. You have, haven't you? I have suggested both mental steps you need to take as well as very practical things you need to do.

Let's review:

1) You learned the meaning of ELEM-6 The diet no one is talking about!

2) You discovered there is no silver-bullet and that your metabolism is not the issue. (If you are still thinking your metabolism is to blame, then you need to pick up the phone and make an appointment with your doctor so you can settle the question once and for all)

3) You got a hint that time management might be one issue to tackle if you are going to add a full hour to an hour-and-a-half to your daily schedule. Yet another bullet to bite. (Perhaps this should be called the Biting Bullets Diet--there seem to be a good number of them needing to be bitten!)

4) You learned that a visit to your doctor could be motivating--especially if said doctor tells you about the likelihood of your developing diabetes or a heart condition as a result of your excess weight. Have you been to your doctor yet? If your doctor doesn't make an issue of your weight, then encourage them to! I mean it. Ask him or her, "Doc, do you think I need to lose some weight? How much should I loose to avoid future health problems? If your doctor is too timid to give you the stern lecture you need, then make your doctor give you one!

5) You found that putting off the day of reckoning would not do. You confronted that simple yet profound three-part statement one needs to say to one's self at some point: "I must, I can, I will."

6) Then I encouraged you to elicit the prayers of a few trusted friends. I hope by now you have told three or four people that you need to--and intend to--lose a significant amount of weight in the near future and have asked them to be praying for you in this regard. Have you?

7) Next came the revelation that no day is a good day to begin a diet. In fact, there is not a single day in all 365 which is a good day to begin a diet. They are all bad and every single one of them right near some holiday or birthday or some other celebration which will involve lots of food. I'm writing this on November 9th. I know what you might be thinking: "Well, you know, Thanksgiving is coming up real soon--this would be a really bad time to begin. I'll just wait until after Thanksgiving." Then, after Thanksgiving, guess what? It's Christmastime. That too is of course a terrible time to begin a diet. "I know," you may be thinking, "I'll wait until the New Year. Yes, that's it. The newness of the year will give me just the boost I need to get me started." Uh-huh. New Year's Day comes with a special dispensation of will-power, generated by the shining resolutions made the day prior, does it? Never really worked that way for me--at least not as far as dieting is concerned. I had a whole day to spend around the house with all kinds of leftover Christmas cookies, Chex Party Mix and all kinds of goodies. My New Year's dieting resolutions usually lasted until about lunchtime.

8) Next, I encouraged you to go get a few items. Remember what they were? Here is a hint: Bathroom scale (digital); good walking shoes (I like New Balance); sweat pants and hoodie. If you will be walking early in the morning you may also need some gloves. If you want to burn a few extra calories along the way, then pick up a set of hand-weights while you're at the store. Start with the real light ones: 2 or 3 pounds. By buying the things above you will further motivate yourself. Oh, I almost forgot. If you don't already have one, perhaps you should get an i-pod or a little arm-band radio so you can listen to your favorite music as you walk.

9) The last thing you learned about is, for me, a key part of the ELEM-6 Diet Plan. That is the part about giving yourself one day a week off. One day in which you eat whatever you feel like in any quantity your heart desires. I call it my "free day." Some people tell me it couldn't work for them or didn't. Perhaps. Still, I find it to be a great incentive each week during the preceding six days. I'll may write more about my "free day" in the future.

Well, that is enough review. My next post will be my attempt to get you to at least approach the starting line (if you haven't already done so) and set a goal, and set a date on the calendar for arriving at your goal. I'll get the starter's pistol ready. I can't wait! On your mark...

PS-- For me, this will be the start of ELEM-6 Year II Wow, how time flies! :-)

Weight Loss, Self-Image, Time Management and the Apple Cart

Little did I imagine, back in November of 2008 (the 19th to be exact) just how much an appointment with my doctor was about to change my life. People see my weight loss and think that's the big change. From their vantage point I know it is strikingly true. My appearance is so changed that some people at church are even struggling with a bit of cognitive dissonance and saying things like, "That was weird--I didn't recognize you for a moment there." I have to admit that, even for me, the thin-ish guy in the mirror is strangely unfamiliar still. I actually think my face looked much more friendly and warm when it was more rounded. And now that I have gone and shaved my head, my appearance looks, even to me, more different still--rather turtle-like really. Except for my white scalp and skin, I now look like one of the BlueMen (I love their music/act!). I suppose I'll get used to that turtle-headed guy in the mirror, but perhaps I'll need to try and purposely smile more to make up for the kind of gaunt monkish look my face has now taken on.

As I began to say, my appearance is not at all the biggest change since I began to lose weight. The biggest change is a shift in how I see and manage that ever-faster moving element in my life--that illusive, fleeting, mercurial, conveyor-belt-ish thing we call time (Remember that song by--Who was it?--called Time? It was all echo-y and psychedelic). My doctor had been on my case for two or three years about my weight. She said I needed to get more exercise and to do it more regularly and intentionally. I would always answer that I just couldn't fit it in to my busy schedule. I was already getting up at 6:30 or 7 and that seemed pretty early to me.

As I left the doctor's office with my prescription for Metformin--and a glucometer with which to prick my finger several times a day and record my blood-sugar levels--I determined that, convenient or not, I'd have to find a way to squeeze some exercise into my routine. The only place in my schedule for any new activity was in my mornings. Ugh. This would mean getting up earlier. I began getting up at 5:30, but after getting dressed and wrapped up (It was cold then in late November) it was ten-'till-six which didn't leave much time to walk and then take a shower. Eventually I found that the only way I could get ready and get in a sufficiently long was to get up at--gulp--4:45. Some days were really miserable. Now, almost one year later, this formally absurd hour of the morning seems a pretty "normal" time to get up. Nowadays for me, "sleeping in" means sleeping all the way through to 5:30 or 6:00. I guess it just proves that one can get used to nearly anything.

Well, Time compels me to wrap up this post and hit the "Publish Post" button so my waiting readers--both of you--can have a fresh morsel to consume. Now I must do some further research into something called Single Malt. Perhaps I will blog about my findings at some future time--Time permitting that is...