Ryan DeBruyn's Blog: Being a Healthier Author

Day 14: Being a Healthier Author

It’s been two weeks now and I hope we can all say we’ve made some progress. That progress doesn’t need to be compared to anyone else’s. It doesn’t need to be weight loss related. Progress is as simple as making one health-conscious decision since we began this journey. If that is one more than you normally would have made, then you deserve a pat on the back. However, here is the trick. You can’t celebrate that one change next time we check in. So, make another, and maintain the first. That’s the journey we’ve committed to!

Let’s start by talking about how we can have a ‘cheat meal’ but not miss our macros. If we want to have pizza, sushi, nachos, and beer it’s still possible. The struggle that exists here is planning that ‘cheat.’ Let’s say we want to have Pizza tonight for simplicity’s sake. Well, in the morning we can input that Pizza into our tracking app which will give us the information needed to plan the rest of our day around that cheat meal. If the Pizza takes up half of your daily calorie allowance, then eat differently for breakfast, and lunch so you can enjoy that Pizza and still hit your goals.

Now the next struggle ties into the first. Portion control. If we’re at all similar a large stuffed crust deep dish is a serving size.

This is probably my most difficult struggle every day. I was taught young that we don’t leave food on our plate and that food is better warm. These two things make it hard for me to not just go back for seconds or thirds. So, I have been taking a plate and packing up the rest before I sit down to eat. This way I have my meal and don’t just eat more cause it’s available. This problem was exacerbated by my beautiful girlfriend who often doesn’t finish her plate and asks if I would like it. We had to discuss my priorities and about her no longer offering. In her mind this is a kind gesture, and I love that she wants to share with me. Still, for my current goals this is SABOTAGE (lol).

Another struggle that I ran into was trying to use intermittent fasting. In essence I was constraining my eating to an 8-hour window, and if I had any plans or chores during that time, I was trying to force food into my body later. This made some of the food I consumed not part of my approved choices because I traded speed for quality. I was losing weight consistently with this method, but I worried that I was losing weight too quickly. This was an odd problem to worry about, as one of my goals is to lose weight. However, when we lose weight, we don’t want to cannibalize our muscle mass to do it.

As mentioned in an earlier blog this is how after losing all the weight, we struggled to get off, we gain it all back because our bodies can’t burn the calories we return to for our normal diet.

Another struggle that I’ve fought with is the desire to skip my activity for the day. Sometimes it’s getting late, and I don’t want to do it. I got all the other stuff done that I needed to for the day. Why can’t I take a day off from this? Luckily, I joined a group for accountability. I didn’t want to let myself or them down and so I got up off the couch and got on the bike. Remember we are trying to get to that 21-day habit, so use that and every tool you can put into your bag to get up off the couch and get in your activity.

Progress:

Average Weight for last week: 271.03 lbs / 122.93 kg / 19.36 Stones
Daily Calories: 2450 – Missed a few times
Daily Activity: Biked everyday
Mental Health: Noticeable Uptick

Okay, today will be the final post for about a week. Depending on comments I receive I will try to write a blog addressing them.

Because this is the final blog for a bit, I want to talk about some of the pitfalls that we can fall into. Whenever I talk to friends about trying to lose weight, usually the first thing I hear about is a diet that worked for them. Some of these diets are actually great; sadly many of them will cause problems in the long run. I always hold my tongue when someone tells me about how this new fad diet worked. I keep quiet because it worked for them, and I am genuinely happy they have succeeded. Then when I get home I look up these diets. Sometimes what I find isn't good. So, today, I am going to address some of those diets in broad strokes.

So when we diet, the goal is usually to lose weight. Correct? Once we have lost that weight, many of us want to go back to eating normally. Here lies the problem with many of these diets. They will help us lose weight, certainly, but we will lose MUSCLE and FAT in equal parts. Some of these diets are not nutritionally sound or attempt to put the weight off too fast. So, if we're going to start a new diet, we need to do our research and be wary of anything that is shedding five pounds or more in a week.

Hopefully, that last statement highlighted the problem. But if it didn't; here is why losing muscle is a huge problem. We've established activity makes you healthier. This is because moving around uses your muscles, which then require energy. That energy is converted from the calories we eat and the muscles in our bodies are the primary burners of those calories. In short, the more muscle, and the healthier the muscle; the more calories we can consume without gaining weight. So, losing some of that muscle during a weight loss journey is extremely detrimental. Unfortunately, it only shows up after we have put off the weight and return to our normal scheduled programming. Many fitness professionals call this ballooning. We drop a bunch of weight and begin eating normally again. And the weight comes back faster than before because we aren't burning calories like we used to. Now, this isn't saying you need to go lift weights and build muscle to be healthier.

Will lifting weights help you on a weight loss journey? Absolutely, and I will cover this in a later blog.
Is it necessary? No.
Just let's make sure we aren't losing muscle alongside fat because we're eating poorly.

The right way:

Okay, so we've touched on some diets being dangerous. Let's talk about one method that is tried and true; Small caloric deficits paired with activity. If the diet we're reading about talks about deficits then it's probably somewhat sound. To understand deficits, though, let's start with Surplus eating.
Surplus eating is probably what got us here in the first place. It's having calories above and beyond what the body needs. Those excess calories are converted to fat stores. Going over the number of calories your body needs continuously will cause weight gain.

Quite often we don't actually change the amount of food we are eating so much as the amount of activity. This has the same effect. As an example, let's say we used to burn five hundred calories a day from walking. Suddenly, we haven't been walking because the COVID commute is from our bed to our couch. Yet, we keep eating the same amount. Suddenly, we have a consistent surplus of nearly five hundred calories a day. Boom not only are our muscles getting unhealthier, but we're also gaining weight.

Now to talk about Caloric Deficits. To slowly lose fat while maintaining muscle; deficits is one of the safest ways to go. Instead, of going on a strict one-version-fits-all diet that says eat exactly these foods in these quantities. It's best to figure out what caloric number our body needs and eat just under that each day. This ensures that our body is getting the nutrients it needs to maintain muscle while also burning fat consistently to make up that SMALL difference. This method has the added benefit of allowing us to eat the foods we've been eating already with small changes.
Why don't people do it all the time then? It takes some patience and tracking of our food. Some weighing, and a lot of discipline. Unfortunately, many of us give up when we see the mountain in front of us.

However, if you want to try it, my suggestion is to start with a 100 calorie deficit, or less even. First, we need to figure out what our body needs based on current weight, height, age, and activity level is important. Check a few websites and average them out. Also, check the previous blog about nutrition basics for some help understanding calories and macros.

To be clear. I am not saying all diets are bad. I'm only hoping that people will approach diets with a bit more knowledge now.

If you are thinking of trying a new diet, do your research. AND shoot me a message if you're still not sure. I'm by no means an expert but I can probably try to help.

It's a Marathon Not a Sprint

Maybe that's too cliche...BUT it really does describe our current fight. It's really easy to stop doing something because we're not seeing immediate results. It's even easier to feel the soreness and accumulated exhaustion that a change like what we're going through brings, and choose to take a day off; Pat ourselves on the shoulder, and put off today's activity for tomorrow.

We've been good, right?

Don't fall into that trap. The gravel rest area looks like a good place to stop for the day, to set up camp, and make for the summit tomorrow. The problem with the loose stone is that it sticks with us; on our shoes, and on our gear. In the future, we could be climbing and those small stone chips could cause us to slip and fall. Or even worse. A rainy day strikes and were definitely going to slip. The problem with a BAD DAY of rain is that they never come by themselves. Usually, it heralds a rainy season.

Building a Habit

What we're doing is building a habit. We're creating consistent and persistent changes in our lives. Just like any construction project, it's really fun to plan, but the instant you start tearing stuff apart, the task becomes real and very large. There is good news, though. When we stick to the plan and complete one task after the next, progress is made. Once we've done it long enough a habit forms and we'll get better at it. That habit is what we are after.

The 21 / 90 rule...
What is it?

It's a simple concept that says it takes three weeks, or twenty-one days to form a habit. That's a huge milestone in this journey and it's when the new activity in our life is no longer a puzzle piece without a home. Suddenly the activity has become part of our day and thus it becomes easier.
The next part is to turn that habit into a lifestyle. That's the three months or approximately ninety days. That's why I say it's a marathon, not a sprint. We need to have the true goal in mind to know where we are going but not get discouraged by the size of the task. All we have to do is take one step at a time.

Tips to success:

One of the things I like to do is track things over a larger time period than day-to-day. It gives me the daily sense of accomplishment but, if done right, also shows me better-measured progress. According to my scale this morning, I've lost four pounds since day one. The problem with taking a single day's weight as success is that tomorrow I might be heavier again. This is normal! A body fluctuates up and down about five pounds. So there is approximately a ten-pound variance. By taking each measurement over a week and averaging it we are less likely to get discouraged and more likely to see the actual progress from that week!

Thank you everyone for keeping me working at this. The plan moving forward is to do another blog post tomorrow and then put out a blog once a week. So Day 7 and then Day 14 etc. However, I would love your feedback. I would love to hear about areas that you might like me to discuss. If you comment below I will attempt to make posts in between the weekly blogs to cover those topics.

It's about that time to talk about DOMS. Typically, the third day into a new workout or activity routine is the peak of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

Luckily pain isn't only in the muscles. Yay us, right?

Today, let's talk about some tips and tricks to deal with these newly discovered pains, in muscles we didn't even know we had. And ongoing problems too.

Muscle and joint soreness are unfortunately commonplace as we start putting our bodies through different activities. Our bodies adjust themselves against stresses. So, if we sit in a chair writing all day (talking about myself here) that becomes the new normal. The pain is our bodies healing from the damage of the new actions. BUT here is the good thing about most body pain; Our bodies come back stronger. Since some of that pain is inevitable let's talk about mitigating it so we can get on with our days.

Stretching:

This one is a huge help. Muscles have a tendency to stiffen up the day after activity. Stretching after the activity the day before will help reduce this effect. One thing about stretching is that we should try to avoid doing it when cold and we should also avoid stretching before activities.

Tip #1: As a kid, it was common to add stretching into a warm-up. That information has changed in the present day. Stretching before strenuous activity actually increases the chance of injury. Crazy right?
Note: There is something called active stretching which is what most people use nowadays before activity. I will try to get into this in a future blog.

Tip #2: Waking up sore is common, and if we can't stretch when cold does that mean I have to do something right away? Not with this tip. Try taking a long hot shower. Stretch your calves and shoulders in the shower itself. Then when you get out, stretch any other stiff areas.

Foam Rolling or Massage / Massage Guns:

This is a second option for muscle soreness mitigation. Not as helpful for joint pain, but usually working the muscles around a joint does help.

Unlike long lengthening stretches, foam rolling is actually a really good thing to do before an activity. The palpation of the muscle fiber will help work out knots and tight muscles without compromising joints as stretching can do. But foam rolling period is a great way to keep muscles healthy. It's like a massage we can perform on ourselves using our body weight. Nowhere near as relaxing, unfortunately, but definitely helpful.
Massage or Massage Guns are great for relieving muscle soreness also. I highly suggest a massage gun for targeting areas that are giving us problems. Hit that area with it every day and I guarantee that we will start seeing a change. Massage is fantastic as well, but a little harder to get regularly for most of us. Unless someone marries a masseuse... and I mean if you did...#winning?

Again the goal with all of this is to push through and stay consistent. We shouldn't let sore muscles or joint pain keep us from our consistency.

In closing here is tip 3. Try to find like-minded people and create a support network. A group can help motivate us. "We all support each other - each individual's success is a victory for us all. Keep consistent and let's keep working hard together."
Thanks, Doug Lohse for the quote.

Eating Healthier (The confusing Basics)

Okay, what's healthy eating? That should be a really simple question and answer. I'm afraid it isn't. There is a new study on nutrition published every five minutes. No, I didn't fact-check this, but it's probably somewhat accurate. It sure feels that way, at least.

BUT don't let that discourage you.

Eating healthier doesn't mean taking on a diet that makes us miserable. Again like with being active. This is about making small sustainable changes. It's about tracking what we're eating, which admittedly can be the tough part. Still, once we begin, it gets easier, at least with the app I use. It begins saving my meals and so I can just repeat them later.

There are a ton of applications you can use. My fitness pal is likely the most well-known, but my suggestion is to use My Macros+. It has a one-time upfront fee and then no ongoing subscription fees. We may have to snap pictures or manually add some of our food items the first time, but it remembers them after that. Regardless, of what application we use, the important part is to get an idea of what we're consuming.

At a minimum let's input our food for a week and see what our overall calories usually are. Get a baseline of what our MACROS are. Meaning, how much of our calories come from Fats, Proteins, and Carbohydrates? If you're like me you will find that we're eating way too much fat.

The first kneejerk reaction here is to cut out all fats. Don't do this! Don't cut out all your carbs or proteins either. Let's just take a look and see if something stands out to us.

What do we see?

The first week that I recorded my traditional diet this is what I saw:
Low calories for a day, 1000. High calories for a day 4200. Average 2000 calories per day.
High-calorie day; Carbs 317g, Fat 151g, Protein 270g
Average-calorie day; Carbs 301g, Fat, 160, Protein 57g

What changes got made?

Maybe the major problem is obvious, so forgive me if I explain. That is wildly inconsistent eating. Having a deficit of nearly 1000 one day and then a surplus of 2000 another isn't healthy. My body doesn't have a carry-over button. It will handle huge swings like this poorly. Not to mention for my body type and weight I should be closer to 3000 calories. So, goal number one was to be more consistent.

The second part might be less obvious from just those numbers. Still, I hinted at it earlier. I was eating too much fat, and far too little protein. So the new goal is P: 240(g), C: 300(g), & F: 100(g) for a total of 3060 Calories. The total calories I took from an online source. I just input my age, height, and weight. This number is to maintain weight which isn't my overall goal but it is a start.
After I had the calorie total I broke it back. Simple rules: 1g of fat is about 9 calories, 1g of carbs is approximately 4, and 1g of protein is also about 4 calories. Now from my readings, a good breakdown of your calories is 30%+ from protein, 40% from carbs, and less than 30% from fats. After that, it's just math.

I feel like nutrition is a large topic and so I will try to hit on it again. Mostly to cover cheat meals and how to handle them etc. For me, I am going to allow myself 3 cheat meals this week.

I will likely get sushi for all three of those. Don't judge me! It's delicious.

Being Active - It isn't all going to come back at once...


This is different for every individual. What is your level of activity now? What was the best you ever felt? Would you like to get some of that back?


The number of times I am breathing hard after activity, and I think to myself, is likely too many to count reliably. The number of times I listen to people tell stories about what they used to be able to do, myself included, is also extremely high.


The trick here isn't rushing back to that place in your life. It's about acknowledging that you aren't there anymore but believing you can return. The first step on this journey is to make a single change.


These changes need to be achievable and small. You need to have given yourself room to fail. You need to make allowances to cheat. Finally, you need to be kind to yourself because there is enough negativity out there without us piling more onto our own shoulders.


So what's achievable? For me, that goal was 8000 steps a day. Over the last two days, I have managed 2000 and 3000, respectively. Still, you will notice that I checked off being active both days. That's because I found an alternative. Walking for me is slightly challenging at the moment because I am locked inside my house. I took a trip recently to Branson, Missouri, and am now in government-issued quarantine. Trust me, there are only so many laps around the kitchen island you can do 😉.


Luckily, I have a Kinetic Bike Trainer and a bike. So, instead of 8000 steps, I biked for 30 minutes and 31 minutes over the last two days. Minor internal arguments followed. In both cases, I intended to bike first thing in the morning, right after I woke up. In both cases, I "missed." So, I found myself downstairs spinning the wheels at 8 pm after internally pleading with myself. I still think one of the only reasons I did it is because of these posts. That's okay though, the reason isn't important; it's more important that I am being active. So thank you all.


Still, my goal with these posts isn't only to help myself. I am hoping to inspire some others to begin their own journey. So, what is more, active for you? If you already walk 8000+ steps a day, do you need to do more? If you are walking no steps a day, do you need to do more?


The answer is no unless you, like me, want to make a change. Then the answer is yes, and what can I change. Walk longer. Walk changes to jog. Bodyweight exercises etc. Reach out to me if you want; we can find something that works for you.



Handling a "Miss:"


Yesterday I didn't perform any sort of stretching routine. I had the time to do it and can even point to the easiest moment. Right after I finished on the bike and sat on my phone for 30 minutes. But for whatever reason, I didn't.


Part of this journey is acknowledging that you aren't going to hit every goal along the way. This is about making one small change at a time and then trying to be consistent with it. For example, I didn't hit the stretching yesterday, but I will add it again today.


Don't chide yourself for not getting something done. Instead, allow yourself to fail, but not give up.


Today's goals:
Eat Healthier
Be Active
Perform a stretching routine

Day 2: Being a Healthier Author


Office improvements!


Today I want to discuss some changes I have made to an area that authors and many other professions spend a great deal of time. The Office.

First, let's start with a really important subject. Being present. How many authors and professionals dread going into the office? My guess is quite a few.

My advice:


Personally creating small changes to your office can help renew your energy and excitement. That's one trick I learned when I started writing, change of location or scenery is a good thing. So while it's important to try to be conscious about ways to improve posture, and reduce time sitting for long periods. The most important thing for someone who makes a living sitting behind a computer is to be there.


Every so often Feng shui your space or if COVID allows, take a day to go work at a coffee shop. Simply moving your stuff around also forces you to organize, which will tick off a mental task you probably didn't know you were holding onto.

Second, ergonomic support and conscious health.


How many writers begin writing on a laptop sitting in bed or on a couch?
Again my guess is quite a few.

My advice:


That's amazing that you are getting words on the page. Keep doing it. Don't change anything if it's working for you. However, once you start to feel your back complaining or any other part of your body screaming at you consider making some of these changes.
Office Chair: Get something that is appropriately sized and offers good support. You will spend a lot of time in it. Personally, I purchased a Secret Lab chair cause it was the only one that had a size comfortable for a half-giant.


Standing Desk: Consider getting yourself one. Set some timers and adjust your posture to standing for a certain length of time. As much as I just said buy a good chair. Get your butt out of it from time to time. Keep your blood flowing and move around. It really helps. My standing desk is pretty basic and just an add-on. In the future, I hope to buy a better one.
Ergonomic Keyboard: This is my newest purchase and arrived yesterday. I was lucky enough to try a coworker's (You could also say boss Dakota Krout's) KINESIS Freestyle and realized that I could write without hunching my shoulders. There are many options here but doing something every day trains your body. Take it from an athlete who counted on this phenomenon to excel. Don't train your back or shoulders to hunch while you write!


Future considerations:


Ergonomic Mouse: When the time is right I am going to try purchasing one of these. I know a lot of editors who spend most of their time scrolling and could use this.
Lighting: Make sure you have proper lighting. Especially for those times that you need to spend extra non-daylight hours in the office to finish up a project. My next goal is to install better lighting.


That's it for my tidbits that I have discovered. I would love to hear yours. Feel free to comment.


Today's goals:
Be active (8000 Steps or equivalent) (Yesterday was biking in the basement. Kind of on quarantine lockdown)
Eat healthier
Perform some sort of stretching routine

My journey back to "healthy" starts today.


Some people may not know this about me, but I used to be a professional athlete. From my own personal experience, I can tell you that it is quite a huge career change to become a writer. Not at all in the mental challenges, but very much so in the physical requirements. These two pictures of myself tell the story, along with my current weight. I used to play beach volleyball and indoor volleyball at 200-220 pounds.


I do not post this to make a point of weight being tied to health. It isn't, it is just a convenient measuring tool! I make this post because my lifestyle is what has changed and my weight is a by-product of that. I will be sharing with anyone interested a multitude of adjustments that I make or have made on this endeavor. So, stay tuned 🙂

My one and only goal is to share with you my journey back to feeling healthier. On my journey back to playing a sport I still love. Albeit at a much more fun and recreational level...


My first goals:

Improve my office setup.

Be more active (8000 Steps or equivalent a day)

Improve my nutrition

Lower my weight below 270 lbs


Come join me!
Any advice or tips are always welcome.