Consistently... Drinking

As a guy who likes to enjoy a social summertime cocktail, I was recently surprised at how intense it was to stop consuming alcohol for a few weeks.

I thought I would have no problem. But apparently the drink a day or a few a few times a week was training my system to count on that night-time dose of sugar. And when I suddenly turned off the supply, my body rebelled. No energy. Moody. It was so unexpected and more dramatic than I thought. But at the same time, I watched as a stubborn layer of fat around the waist melted away in just a few days.

Apparently, while in body maintenance-mode and generally watching what I eat and controlling portions, those social cocktails were helping to retain a little extra padding in the love handle department.

I culled the following information from resources on the web which might motivate you to take a cocktail sabbatical as well.

> "A couple every day" adds a LOT of extra calories to your daily diet. If you're talking about two 150-calorie beers, that's 300 calories extra a day or 2100 extra calories a week. Multiply that out for a year and you have 109,200 extra calories! That's potentially 31.2 pounds of fat in a year.
> If you DO account for the calories in those drinks, then you have another conundrum - the alcohol calories displace good valuable food calories. Drinking gives you empty alcohol calories with virtually no nutritional value (and some negative value in more way than one), while pushing out important vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, fiber and other good stuff.
> Alcohol also inhibits fat burning. While your liver is busy metabolizing alcohol, it puts your fat metabolism on hold.

By the way, there's a major risk to drinking every day - even just one or two - that most people don't even think about: Daily drinking is habit forming. Anything you do every day easily becomes a habit that is difficult to break later. On the other hand, if you could establish the habit of working out, stretching, or eating 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables every single day, those would be habits worth forming!

Here's an idea, fill that shot glass with a teaspoon of Coconut Oil, one in the morning and one at night!

The Best of the Boards Is Just Showing Up

I continue to be inspired by the people who invest time and energy into a lifestyle transformation and use helping others succeed as fuel for their motivation.

This is the experience of the message boards of MyBeachbody.com. These boards are the opposite of the competitive gym locker room. Within this simply constructed community is a fabric of support without judgment, of firm guidance toward what works, with no expectation of perfection, and the kind of breakthroughs that are most dramatic through self-discovery.

It's the kind of support people wish their families would give them, but which comes more naturally where everyone shares a common goal and similar challenges. And it's a lot easier when there is no other agenda except mutual success.

From time to time members forward me examples of inspiration or breakthroughs which are so noteworthy, I will try to be more diligent about including them on this blog. Below is a post from one of the more exciting threads, the 100 Pound Pioneer Forum.

Standout Beachbody success story, Virginia (aka Gin) emailed me the post with this opening comment, which is so telling of the kind of heart that beats within these message boards: "I thought her comments on "magic" were great ones. Somehow I think this time she will reach her goals. I'm excited for her!"

If you have yet to dive into the boards to find real support, and experience how giving support is as empowering as getting it, this post might give you a nudge in that direction:

kmlclara
Posted 07-20-06 09:45 AM

Hi Everyone - haven't checked the thread in a couple of days - there is a lot to read and digest. I wanted to say a quick and ENORMOUS thank you for Gin to offering her support and wisdom to all of us. I have been 'involved', although MIA for a couple of years, with BB and Gin is someone I immediately gravitated to because, well, SHE LOST A HUNDRED FRICKIN' POUNDS and is a tireless cheerleader. For me there is always the 'I wish I could do that' factor. When you are a hundred pounds or more overweight I think it is easy to live vicariously through other people - they do all the hard work for us (me). I have realized that instead of gluing myself to those I find inspiring I must focus on being the inspiration in my own life. Gin was once where we all are - she got out there and found the answers to her questions - she didn't hide, she put herself out there and asked for help from a lot of different people. I am writing this because what Gin said about becoming potentially overwhelmed gave me an insight. I need to become part of a community - that means sharing myself - the good, the bad, the ugly - with everyone instead of whispering it to one person. It takes courage to make this journey and acceptance. If we are working out with Tony, Debbie, Chalene or our cat we have to have to courage to say "I can only do one of these *$%# leg lifts. Tomorrow I will try to do two" and not give up because we can't do all 16. (as you can probably tell by this long winded post I am working things out in my own head and hopefully this will make sense to someone and spark something in them....) I guess what I am really trying to say is, in the past, I have gone to people like Gin, and thought if I just talk to them the magic will rub off...and it just doesn't work like that. Someone else can't do this for me. Someone else's passion isn't my own. They can inspire and motivate but I need to show up with commitments I can keep and a willingness to push through some hard times. And with 100 pounds to lose, one thing I can count on is a my fair share of hard times. But what I give too little credit to is the unexpected things I will find along the way that dull those hard times. Geez. Listen to me, would ya? Thanks for helping me work this out in public, in my community.

kmlclara

Kite Tube -- Ouchie

Doesn't matter what kind of shape you are in. When you push your limits, do something stupid, show off, or do all three, you can get very hurt.

For anyone considering climbing onto one of these things, a Kite Tube, take a CEO's word for it -- don't. On the second day of my one annual week off, I climbed on this, our newest water toy, to give it a go. Attempt one was fun. I got around 5 seconds of air until a flight error twisted the tube and slammed me into the water. I got off for the day to let someone else try it.

Day two -- I climbed on to see what my body had learned. We turned the boat into the wind to get more lift with less water speed, and thus, perhaps, softer falls. After two hops, I was up... the video camera recorded the whole thing, thirty two seconds in flight. FANTASTIC! The people in the boat were mesmorized as I piloted this baby behind the Mastercraft. Then there was a gust. And the giant kite realized that, with no tail, it was untethered and free to flip around over and over. I looked down at the water from about 25 feet up and held on. (I had decided the night before that holding onto the tube was probably better than letting go. "Keep correcting and you might stay in the air". )

The kite literally did a 360 in the air, and for a moment I thought I had it under control. That is, until the moment I hit the water, basically slamming my shins into cement hard water, crushing my knees, and collapsing my entire body onto my legs. Think "cannonball position" in a vice.

One week later, and I just read the thing has been taken off the market by the consumer product safety commission. Looks like I got off easy compared to some people! I can still move my toes and breathe. I guess this is one of the times that being an early adopter has its disadvantages. Next year it's straight water skiing for me. Next year. Hopefully I'll be able to walk, run, and take a full breath without pain by then.

Hollywood as Home, and Friends Making Movies

Hollywood is a fun place to live. In so many movies each year you see stores, buildings, corners and sites that you drive by every day. It's kind of surreal in that way, the fictionalizing of your reality around you, and I can only imagine what it will be like when Ava realizes that it's actually uncommon to have a film crew take your front yard over to shoot a scene.

Beachbody has its own brush with Hollywood from time to time, as companies license videos and infomercials from us from time to time to fill a TV screen in the background of a scene, or our editing equipment gets repurposed overnight to edit one of our staff's very own shot at filmmaking big time. (More on this in future blog posts)

Currently there's a documentary in theaters which is getting great reviews, and with which Beachbody has deep roots. Chris Paine directed a movie about his enthusiasm for, and disappointment with the loss of, GM's electric car, called "Who Killed The Electric Car."

I met Chris years ago when Tony Horton invited me on a ski weekend, years before Power 90. Chris was one of the five who headed of to Utah. Chris was a brilliant guy, who was thoughtful and fascinated with life in general. He was also running a very successful web-design/development company. As I got to know Chris, I got invited to barbecues at his Santa Monica home, and one weekend he was particularly excited about his leased Electric Car. One by one everyone at the party got a sixty second trip around a parking lot to experience Chris at the wheel with the same comments to each of us -- "It's absolutely silent, you don't even know it's on!" and "Can you believe how fast it accelerates?"

He loved the thing. And I can remember getting an email from him announcing his disappointment with the notice that GM was collecting the cars. I thought it would have ended there.

Chris had just sold his company, an event which was lucky for me, because we picked up the core of our early web development team in Rich Abronson and Erick Hoppe from them, standouts at Chris' company who were looking for the next entrepreneurial mountain to climb. We hired them, and the look and feel of Beachbody.com was born.

Meanwhile, I kept getting emails from Chris. He had begun to investigate and document the demise of his precious car. And what felt like it would be a hobby or pet project that would go away the next time Chris got a big business idea, the email updates kept coming.

It's a couple years later, and I'm reading about Chris at Sundance, Chris in France, and his film is now in wide release, getting paired up with Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth directed by Davis Guggenheim! This is a feat. I've seen dozens of great directors and great films get completely ignored. The filmmaking process is hard, but the film distribution process is almost impossible, so it's incredibly exciting to see a guy take his personal curiosity and interests, and create something magnificent from it that really gets seen.

I hope millions of people see this film, not just because it was made by a good guy who's eye for talent had a significant impact on Beachbody.com, but because it's a well balanced documentary on the fate of the electric car which is entertaining and important to understand. Congratulations Chris!