Lift Like No One Else, So Later You Can Live Like No One Else

 #22

It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. -Socrates

Fit Tip: Strength is the Best Metric of Progress

Even if you know this is true, it is easy to forget and get distracted by something like your weight on the scale. The scale can be so misleading as our weight fluctuates for reasons other than just fat loss. You wouldn't want to be dehydrated or lose muscle and mistake it as success when you step on the bathroom scale and that weight is lower. Also, not everyone's goal is weight loss, so it is even less effective then. Another mistake people make is placing value in the calories burned during their workout. Of course calories were burned, who cares? Are you fitter? Did your workout make you better at something or improve your long term health?

This is why strength is one of the best ways to measure success in the gym. If you are able to lift more, or lift better, you have gained something valuable. If your strength has improved you have gained muscle and/or skill. If your goals include weight loss, strength gains are still a great metric for improvement because more strength equals more muscle equals easier fat loss. 

Even if you are a runner, cyclist, or fan of some other cardio-based sport, gains you make in that sport ought to be more encouraging than calories burned or weight dropped on the scale. 

Five Ways You Can Save Money and be Healthier

1. Buy mineral salt instead of buying expensive electrolyte powders or sports drinks. If you are buying Gatorade or Powerade then this is especially a big fix. The classic sports drinks are mostly sugar and food dye. The most important part of a truly hydrating beverage is the sodium content. Sodium, a.k.a. salt, is pretty cheap on its own. Buy some Celtic sea salt if you wanna be fancy and get some extra beneficial minerals in there, and now you have access to a dose-able electrolyte beverage. 
2. Purchase and process large cuts of meat. This saves a lot of money, as opposed to buying things like deli meats or pre-cut small portions. Thick-sliced ham or turkey is way healthier and cheaper than deli meat, even if purchased over the meat counter. Take this a couple steps further and try buying a portion of an animal from a farmer to be butchered. In many cases you can get much higher quality meat for cheaper than the price of the worst ground beef at the grocery store. You could never get a ribeye for $3-4 a pound at the store, yet this is exactly what happens if you are able to buy part of a cow (or a whole cow). It is an investment that pays off for both your budget and your health.
3. Stop buying alcohol. This is an easy win. Alcohol has zero value besides the small amount of social value it can provide on occasion. On occasion. It effects the body negatively in many ways including making it harder to lose weight and sabotaging sleep. Keeping your fridge stocked with beer is simply setting yourself up for failure. This makes it easy to grab a cold one after any hard day or during any grilling session. No one will judge you for not having any beer to offer them. You do not need to have large bottles of hard alcohol in case you and the spouse decide to treat yourself. Go out, enjoy it on date night, otherwise keep it out of your grocery bill; you are paying for poison. 
4. Trade a lot of your cleaning agents for cheaper alternatives that are also less harsh. Window cleaner and disinfecting sprays can be replaced by a cheap jug of vinegar that is diluted into a spray bottle. If you want to get super crunchy you can even get recipes for homemade dishwasher or washing machine detergents that usually are mostly baking soda. 
5. I will take the cheap shot at risk of sounding like Dave Ramsey: Go out to eat less or skip the fancy coffee. It's fair to say almost every time you go out to eat your meal will not be as healthy as what you would make at home. If that is not true for you, start making better meals at home. It is so easy to overindulge in a big way when sitting at a table with free bread or chips or a mound of French fries. It is obviously more expensive to eat out, so choosing to limit this as a healthy habit that saves money is a no-brainer. Have a plan, nothing too detailed or far in advance, so that you are ready mentally and physically to prepare dinner and don't resort to going out so easily. If you barely go out once a month, then relax, this tip ain't for you. If you pick up coffee from a coffee shop or even the gas station, you already know it is far more expensive than making it yourself or settling for the cheap garbage at work. But even if you are willing to spend the money, why not tweak your order a little. Ordering a cappuccino or a latte starts your day with a potential 300 extra calories. You could try ordering fewer syrups, caramels, or cream in your custom coffee to cut down that way as well. A tall cup of sugar just doesn't seem like an effective start to a good day. 

    

Challenge for the Week: Drink Your Water

We are going back to the basics this week in preparation for summer. Check your water intake. Are you drinking close to a gallon every day? Is most of your beverage intake water, or have all the other fun beverages crept in to make up most of your liquids? The challenge is specifically this: you must have one pint (16 oz) of plain water in between anything else you drink. If you had one cup of coffee and are about to refill... ope... drink the water first, then go for it.