This is a cheatsheet of notes I’ve been taking and practicing in my own fitness journey. My goals are not to get jacked but to be generally fit and capable, lose weight, decrease overly high BMI, and reduce body fat percentage. Here’s what’s been of help to me on this journey.
Contents
Tracking
One simple note, use a checklist so you know what’s done, use bullets for reminders, organize by headings.
Everything under the Exercise heading is completed in 60 minutes. I try to do it every day. That’s it.
Lifestyle
- Work-from-home or retired lifestyles require only one meal a day
- Make it a good meal, healthy and filling, and one you enjoy
- Enjoy coffee, tea, or other zero-calorie drinks to suppress your appetite during your fasting hours
Discipline
- Consistency and resilience are key
- Consistency trumps intensity and duration for general fitness
- No need to go hard for general fitness but sweating is a good goal
Stretching
- Daily full body stretching is important
- Stretching is so important that if you could only do one I’d recommend stretching
Exercise
- Treadmill for walking makes it easier to exercise when you don’t want to go out, walking 2.4-3.0mph is enough, no running
- Being tired after exercise is a good thing, your body is making you rest to build back better
- Walk 5000-10000 steps per day but start lower and work up to it
- Walking backwards daily, even slowly and even for 5min, is very good for coordination, knees, shin bones, and shin splints. Do it safely, though, even I’ve fallen down walking backwards after doing it for years. Beginners, frail, and elderly should not walk backwards on a treadmill and should only attempt with solid hand supports.
- Recumbent sit down bikes are a pleasant alternative when you don’t want to walk
- Resistance bands for resistance training, very easy to use, cheap, highly recommended
- You only need 1h of exercise per day if it includes stretching, walking, and resistance training. No need to overdo it, burn out, and get discouraged.
- Watching tv or listening to music, audiobooks, or podcasts while exercising will make your workout go faster
- You’ll be amazed where the time goes just reading an article while working out
- Having an exercise or walking buddy is a huge motivator and very enjoyable for conversation
Muscle
- Even a little muscle is better than letting your muscle atrophy as muscle eats calories even when you’re not working out in order to maintain itself
- Use elastic resistance bands to build up muscle as they’re cheap, quick, and easy
Fasting
- Fast from late evening to noon or later, at least 12h anyway, don’t overdo it though and get faint
- Fluids that don’t have calories are okay
- My daily fasting routine is from about 10pm to waking up, coffee in the morning, exercise, plate of veggies, coffee in the afternoon, then eating a full meal about 4 or 5pm.
- Start fasting just an extra hour or two and work your way to longer durations over weeks and months
- Eat and drink something if you feel faint or sick
Appetite
- Coffee is an appetite suppressor, I have one in the morning and one mid afternoon to keep me from eating until late afternoon, that helps get my minimum 12h fasting in
- Tighten your belt to help suppress hunger
- Wearing tighter pants also helps suppress hunger in the same way
Meals
- Eat a plate of veggies and fruit after exercise, it’ll fill you up until you have your real meal and help you get your vitamins and minerals
- Eat more meat protein with your daily meal to fill up without adding calorie weight
Exercise Clothing
- Buy a nice breathable, fast-dry moisture wicking workout shirt for a more enjoyable exercise experience
Medicine
- You really shouldn’t be on medicine or drugs if you’re not already taking care of your exercise, fasting, and diet
- Prefer natural substances over drugs where possible and as long as it’s working for you
- Avoid Big Pharma medicine if at all possible. They’re chemical concoctions that always come with side-effects.
- Ozempic is interesting for its sugar/guclose metabolism effects which is a primary area of concern for modern food consumption in the West. It’s worth some research.
- Stop getting covid vaccines and any mRNA vaccines as they inhibit your immune system from optimal response and prevent your immune system from developing viral memory [learn more]
- Do other things to protect against flu and covid, such as getting fresh air, getting sufficient Vitamin D, proper dental hygiene including flossing, and salt-water nasal sprays (I believe the most important of them all) [learn more].
Type 2 Diabetes
- Type 2 diabetes is more a lifestyle + genetics outcome than something like a disease you contract, and it’s not something that needs insulin unless it’s allowed to progress.
- People self-manage type 2 with just general fitness, exercise, walking, resistance training (resistance bands), losing weight, etc.
- The closer you are to “fit” weight, bmi, and body fat percentage, the less likely you are to be diagnosed with type 2 and the more likely you are to recover from the effects of type 2 if you adopt healthier exercise, fasting, and dieting to reduce weight, bmi, and body fat percentage