I started a little how to article that I figure I would post here.
There is nothing in here that isn't available elsewhere and on this forum but I think it is a good quick read for people to get started.
HOW TO LOOK BETTER and GET IN SHAPE TODAY!
This is geared toward men but is good advice for people of all ages male or female.
Most men can increase their confidence, self esteem, and looks by 2 or 3 points in a short period of time.
Instant changes
Get a haircut
This is the simplest and fastest way for you to look a whole lot better! I don’t mean that you should just go in and do the same old thing you have been doing for the past 5 years, no this is the new you and you need a change. Look around a bit and find something that you think may work for you. Keep in mind that you will be getting several haircuts and you will probably change your hair a lot more often now that this is the new you.
Try this for kicks if you have had the same cut/style for a long time. Come to understand that whatever style cut you get is going to be better than what you have now and it will grow back out. Go into a beauty salon and find a hip stylist, I like to find the ones that are a little on the wilder side maybe they have visible body piercing. Tell them you are redoing your image and allow them to do their magic. They can give you an idea of what they will do first. If you don’t like how this turned out, try a different person next time for your cut.
Personally I go with a messy/spiked look and have some flexibility in how I want my hair to look day to day. The messier it looks the better.
Style
Develop your sense of style but do it over time. You are probably in need of new clothes but don’t rush off and buy a new wardrobe. Without some thought, planning, and taking a step back first you are likely to just dress the way you have been accustomed to in the past.
Start off simple, get a pair of jeans or pants and a shirt or two. Don’t be afraid to try something new and different that you have not tried before. I used to buy pants at a cheap price in Kohl’s or target for example and get a button up shirt to go with it. What I didn’t pay attention to before is the fit of the clothing and overall style. For me I have found that Structure/ Men’s Express is an ideal store for me. In fact when I buy something else I now notice how different it fits me, especially in the way most clothing does not show off your body style at all, it hides it. Trust me go to Men’s Express and allow the staff to help you, don’t leave there without getting at least 3 new articles of clothing which include a shirt and pants. Let the staff help you and ask them questions!
One mistake that I made is that I bought too many clothes at once; I don’t regret it and I like everything that I bought. If I would have gone a little slower I would have realized that I can sport looks that I couldn’t imagine myself sporting before, so take your time and let it grow on you a little.
My current style is pretty simple, I wear jeans (usually Express) and a shirt. My shirts give me the variety for the most part and I have a good jean selection to choose from also. I almost never tuck my shirt in (that is just me) and I wear button up shirts a lot. I also wear nice tees and sometimes but not too often I sport a polo shirt. To my surprise some of the best feedback I have gotten was when I was wearing a very inexpensive tee shirt from Old Navy. I picked up several different shirts of the same style but different colors. It is a very simple look but it works.
Shoes matter! When I wear a black shirt I wear black shoes/belt, brown shirt brown shoes and belt. White button up shirt black shoes, white t can go with black or tennis shoes.
Recently I went into a clothing store which was a little more hip than most. A gentleman with his wife or girlfriend commented about how people in their forties don’t shop here. I looked at him and he looked good overall and young. He wasn’t 19 or 25 but perhaps early to mid thirty’s. Regardless of how old he is, he could easily pull off a look wearing the clothes in that store if his mind were up for it. My point is that you shouldn’t close your mind to an idea too early without giving it a try first.
Another recent eye opening experience that I had was to go to Las Vegas and observed the styles that men were sporting. It was especially interesting to see how much they changed when you went to the various hotels and the ages as it related to styles.
Whatever you do don’t let your wife or girlfriend or anyone else for that matter dress you. You need to find what you like and shop for yourself; you will learn to love it.
Start to get a tan
Either lay out on Saturdays or Sundays for an hour or get your butt in the tanning booth ever now and then, this will make you look a lot better if you are fair skinned.
Whiten your teeth
There are many teeth whitening products out there, grab one and try it. Try to do it often and give it time to work. Understand that once you whiten them you need to redo them often.
Get in shape
I never had to worry about my weight. I was always thin and ate whatever I damn well felt like at the moment. Once I started working a desk job and focusing so much on work and aged a little, it caught up to me and I didn’t even know it. I still thought I was thin but was too busy to look in the mirror and notice that I was getting fatter and was actually overweight. Obese people comment to me that I am being ridiculous, look at me I am thin and have always been that way. They are correct; I am thinner than much of America and overall looked healthy to most people.
When I looked at various information regarding weight loss and guides for healthy weight I noticed a huge difference in opinion. By most counts I was just barely overweight. But I don’t want to be a little overweight I want to look and feel great! So I have started to and continue to change my lifestyle to create a healthier and better me. I don’t know what my weight will be in 6 months per se but I am more focused on body fat that weight. I will probably need to bulk up when I am finished cutting but first thing is first. My current goal is to find my hidden 6 pack (abs) then I will go from there.
The first thing to understand about weight/and or fat loss is that you need to allow time for change. You simple cannot expect any type of huge change in a short amount of time. Gradual changes in your daily lifestyle will bring you closer to where you need to be.
Although you will not notice a huge change real quickly you can decide on which path is right for you and your commitment level at this time.
First things first! Understand that exercise to a large extent is not your problem if you are overweight. Yes you need to exercise and yes it is recommended but your lack of exercise is not why you are overweight or obese. It is your diet; you do not need to necessarily need to exercise to lose weight, although you are in for a much longer haul. Your results will be much less noticeable but you need to understand that it is your diet that is the most critical factor to weight loss.
For the past 13+ years I have been drinking anywhere from 6 – 12+ Sodas a day. For a moment let’s just suppose that I drank 10 a day. Each can is 150 calories x 10 = 1500. If my diet was such that I would have maintained my weight, the calorie increase from sodas would have caused me to gain a pound ever 2.3 days. You should be aware that a pound is 3500 calories. Lucky for me there is no way that my diet was too high and my metabolism was so good.
If you are anything like I was and you drink a lot of soda’s let me give you a great piece of advice, cut back on the sodas! Reward yourself with a soda a day to start with and try to get off of regular soda altogether. Keep track of what you drink and don’t forget that that free refill of soda isn’t free in terms of calories! I don’t really care for diet that much but if you can drink diet soda you have 0 calories there.
The best drink you can have is free, when I say free I mean 0 calories and it is water. Personally I don’t drink tap water that is not filtered but water is the best thing you can do for your body, drinks lots of it. I always walked around with a Dr. Pepper in my hand before; I have replaced that with water.
Over time cutting soda from your diet may be all you need to do to accomplish your weight loss goal and if you do nothing else I would suggest it, keep in mind you will not get overnight results!
For those of you that don’t have a gym membership and even for those that do have one, start doing push ups tonight! Push ups are a great exercise and it builds muscle all over. Muscles require more calories to exist so the more muscle you build the faster you will loose fat. Remember that you cannot convert fat to muscle you must burn fat and build muscle. When you burn fat you will also burn muscle as well so strength training is very important to an exercise routine. Many weight loss programs seem to ignore the benefit of strength training.
I would suggest that everyone get a gym membership and start going on a regular basis. You need to do both cardio and strength training and eat better to lose fat.
Decide on how many calories you burn and how many you want to consume to lose weight, you may want to consult a personal trainer or doctor to assist. There is a whole lot of information out there on fat loss and I am not going to go in depth here, but you have enough here to get you started. The biggest thing is to get started now with whatever level you can live with.
Hope this helps
There is nothing in here that isn't available elsewhere and on this forum but I think it is a good quick read for people to get started.
HOW TO LOOK BETTER and GET IN SHAPE TODAY!
This is geared toward men but is good advice for people of all ages male or female.
Most men can increase their confidence, self esteem, and looks by 2 or 3 points in a short period of time.
Instant changes
Get a haircut
This is the simplest and fastest way for you to look a whole lot better! I don’t mean that you should just go in and do the same old thing you have been doing for the past 5 years, no this is the new you and you need a change. Look around a bit and find something that you think may work for you. Keep in mind that you will be getting several haircuts and you will probably change your hair a lot more often now that this is the new you.
Try this for kicks if you have had the same cut/style for a long time. Come to understand that whatever style cut you get is going to be better than what you have now and it will grow back out. Go into a beauty salon and find a hip stylist, I like to find the ones that are a little on the wilder side maybe they have visible body piercing. Tell them you are redoing your image and allow them to do their magic. They can give you an idea of what they will do first. If you don’t like how this turned out, try a different person next time for your cut.
Personally I go with a messy/spiked look and have some flexibility in how I want my hair to look day to day. The messier it looks the better.
Style
Develop your sense of style but do it over time. You are probably in need of new clothes but don’t rush off and buy a new wardrobe. Without some thought, planning, and taking a step back first you are likely to just dress the way you have been accustomed to in the past.
Start off simple, get a pair of jeans or pants and a shirt or two. Don’t be afraid to try something new and different that you have not tried before. I used to buy pants at a cheap price in Kohl’s or target for example and get a button up shirt to go with it. What I didn’t pay attention to before is the fit of the clothing and overall style. For me I have found that Structure/ Men’s Express is an ideal store for me. In fact when I buy something else I now notice how different it fits me, especially in the way most clothing does not show off your body style at all, it hides it. Trust me go to Men’s Express and allow the staff to help you, don’t leave there without getting at least 3 new articles of clothing which include a shirt and pants. Let the staff help you and ask them questions!
One mistake that I made is that I bought too many clothes at once; I don’t regret it and I like everything that I bought. If I would have gone a little slower I would have realized that I can sport looks that I couldn’t imagine myself sporting before, so take your time and let it grow on you a little.
My current style is pretty simple, I wear jeans (usually Express) and a shirt. My shirts give me the variety for the most part and I have a good jean selection to choose from also. I almost never tuck my shirt in (that is just me) and I wear button up shirts a lot. I also wear nice tees and sometimes but not too often I sport a polo shirt. To my surprise some of the best feedback I have gotten was when I was wearing a very inexpensive tee shirt from Old Navy. I picked up several different shirts of the same style but different colors. It is a very simple look but it works.
Shoes matter! When I wear a black shirt I wear black shoes/belt, brown shirt brown shoes and belt. White button up shirt black shoes, white t can go with black or tennis shoes.
Recently I went into a clothing store which was a little more hip than most. A gentleman with his wife or girlfriend commented about how people in their forties don’t shop here. I looked at him and he looked good overall and young. He wasn’t 19 or 25 but perhaps early to mid thirty’s. Regardless of how old he is, he could easily pull off a look wearing the clothes in that store if his mind were up for it. My point is that you shouldn’t close your mind to an idea too early without giving it a try first.
Another recent eye opening experience that I had was to go to Las Vegas and observed the styles that men were sporting. It was especially interesting to see how much they changed when you went to the various hotels and the ages as it related to styles.
Whatever you do don’t let your wife or girlfriend or anyone else for that matter dress you. You need to find what you like and shop for yourself; you will learn to love it.
Start to get a tan
Either lay out on Saturdays or Sundays for an hour or get your butt in the tanning booth ever now and then, this will make you look a lot better if you are fair skinned.
Whiten your teeth
There are many teeth whitening products out there, grab one and try it. Try to do it often and give it time to work. Understand that once you whiten them you need to redo them often.
Get in shape
I never had to worry about my weight. I was always thin and ate whatever I damn well felt like at the moment. Once I started working a desk job and focusing so much on work and aged a little, it caught up to me and I didn’t even know it. I still thought I was thin but was too busy to look in the mirror and notice that I was getting fatter and was actually overweight. Obese people comment to me that I am being ridiculous, look at me I am thin and have always been that way. They are correct; I am thinner than much of America and overall looked healthy to most people.
When I looked at various information regarding weight loss and guides for healthy weight I noticed a huge difference in opinion. By most counts I was just barely overweight. But I don’t want to be a little overweight I want to look and feel great! So I have started to and continue to change my lifestyle to create a healthier and better me. I don’t know what my weight will be in 6 months per se but I am more focused on body fat that weight. I will probably need to bulk up when I am finished cutting but first thing is first. My current goal is to find my hidden 6 pack (abs) then I will go from there.
The first thing to understand about weight/and or fat loss is that you need to allow time for change. You simple cannot expect any type of huge change in a short amount of time. Gradual changes in your daily lifestyle will bring you closer to where you need to be.
Although you will not notice a huge change real quickly you can decide on which path is right for you and your commitment level at this time.
First things first! Understand that exercise to a large extent is not your problem if you are overweight. Yes you need to exercise and yes it is recommended but your lack of exercise is not why you are overweight or obese. It is your diet; you do not need to necessarily need to exercise to lose weight, although you are in for a much longer haul. Your results will be much less noticeable but you need to understand that it is your diet that is the most critical factor to weight loss.
For the past 13+ years I have been drinking anywhere from 6 – 12+ Sodas a day. For a moment let’s just suppose that I drank 10 a day. Each can is 150 calories x 10 = 1500. If my diet was such that I would have maintained my weight, the calorie increase from sodas would have caused me to gain a pound ever 2.3 days. You should be aware that a pound is 3500 calories. Lucky for me there is no way that my diet was too high and my metabolism was so good.
If you are anything like I was and you drink a lot of soda’s let me give you a great piece of advice, cut back on the sodas! Reward yourself with a soda a day to start with and try to get off of regular soda altogether. Keep track of what you drink and don’t forget that that free refill of soda isn’t free in terms of calories! I don’t really care for diet that much but if you can drink diet soda you have 0 calories there.
The best drink you can have is free, when I say free I mean 0 calories and it is water. Personally I don’t drink tap water that is not filtered but water is the best thing you can do for your body, drinks lots of it. I always walked around with a Dr. Pepper in my hand before; I have replaced that with water.
Over time cutting soda from your diet may be all you need to do to accomplish your weight loss goal and if you do nothing else I would suggest it, keep in mind you will not get overnight results!
For those of you that don’t have a gym membership and even for those that do have one, start doing push ups tonight! Push ups are a great exercise and it builds muscle all over. Muscles require more calories to exist so the more muscle you build the faster you will loose fat. Remember that you cannot convert fat to muscle you must burn fat and build muscle. When you burn fat you will also burn muscle as well so strength training is very important to an exercise routine. Many weight loss programs seem to ignore the benefit of strength training.
I would suggest that everyone get a gym membership and start going on a regular basis. You need to do both cardio and strength training and eat better to lose fat.
Decide on how many calories you burn and how many you want to consume to lose weight, you may want to consult a personal trainer or doctor to assist. There is a whole lot of information out there on fat loss and I am not going to go in depth here, but you have enough here to get you started. The biggest thing is to get started now with whatever level you can live with.
Hope this helps
