Dan Baker

Dan is a professional speaker working with the trucking industry

Want to get in shape in 2010? Just get started!

A famous comedian once said he didn’t exercise. He said, “I use my body as a means for getting my head from one place to the next.” There are all kinds of jokes and stories making fun of exercise and staying in shape. One of them is that you’ve got only so many heartbeats, and you don’t want to use them up running on a treadmill.
Well, though such humor may get a laugh, it’s not very funny. It’s not funny because your physical health is one of the two most important realities of your life. I have hundreds of driver friends and clients, and many of them are overweight, out of shape and feel tired all the time. They tell me they know they’ve got to get in shape and start some kind of an exercise program.
     Well, I have an idea. How about just getting started? Just start doing something easy, simple, inexpensive and time-saving? Interested? Here it is:
     Don’t eat until you’re satisfied, eat until you’re not hungry. Regardless of what your mama told you, you don’t have to clean your plate. You don’t have to finish that hamburger or that steak! Yes, you frugal types will have trouble with this because you hate to feel like you’re wasting stuff. Well, just get a “to go” box and take the rest with you. But don’t eat it all on the spot.
     Notice that I’m not talking about what foods are good or bad for you. I am just talking about amount. Quit eating when you are not hungry, and it will amaze you how much less you eat. Look at yourself as more of a “snacker” and less as a “Dinnertime Dude.” We know that people who lose weight eat a little bit a lot more often.
     I know a lot of dieticians will
get all over me for saying that
you can  eat anything you want  as long as you only eat it until you’re not hungry anymore. Well, you can get to that later. For now, however, when you’re just getting started, let’s work on learning to eat until we’re no longer hungry.
     One more item that’s just as easy: Don’t eat anything after 7 p.m., if you can help it. Many of the “miracle” diets sell you all kinds of gimmicks with instructions to follow their regimen and not to eat anything after 7 p.m. That last piece of advice is often far more effective than the gimmicks or the diet itself. Simply maximize the time between your last meal of the day and when you go to sleep. It’s a well-kept secret for weight loss. You don’t hear much about it because it’s free. Try it.
     One of my favorite one-liners is that you have to teach yourself how to treat yourself. This is a beginning, and if I get to write another article around here, we’ll go to the next step. Work on this one for a while and see if you see a little less hanging over the ol’ belt buckle.