Losing Weight and Your Bucket List

After seeing Rob Reiner's 2008 movie "Bucket List", many of us created our own. But without the confidence and good health that being in at a normal weight creates, we might find bumps in life's super-highway, and detoured from our dreams!

Losing Weight is the Number One Bucket List Item!

A 'bucket' list might include things like, "Travel to Europe", "Find someone to love", "Bowl a 200 game" or "Write a book". There are many websites that focus on bucket lists, such as Super Viva, Your 100 Things, and 43 Things. Enter some form of " lose weight" into their search boxes and you'll find that many people have those words on their list. In fact, according to the USA Today article, "Making a bucket list before you kick" by Cathy Lynn Grossman and Laura Bly, The New York Times reports that the top bucket list goal is losing weight.

How to Reach that Number One Bucket List Goal

We all know that simply adding "lose weight" to your bucket list is not enough; that it must be broken down into an action plan. To reduce that number on the scale and look the way we want, we must eat less and exercise more. And more importantly, we must reduce the cholesterol clogging our arteries and fat around around our hearts in order to enjoy every other aspect of our life! After all, without good health, what really matters?

Bucket List Action Items to Lose Weight

For our general well being, it is imperative that we work on eliminating poor habits and try to live by four healthy lifestyle rules.

1. Eat healthy foods and watch portions - Pick foods that will nourish your body, fill you up and provide lasting energy. Fill your pantry and refrigerator with foods at the low end of the glycemic index. Eat more fresh vegetables, fruit, lean meats and whole grain, and reduce intake of saturated fats and refined carbs. Learn what a normal portion should be and vow to NEVER supersize meals!

2. Get Exercise Every Day - Many of us dread exercise and make excuses for not having time for it. But, lumberjacks aside, most of us live a lifestyle that doesn't require much physical exercise, and often our daily routine is sedentary and doesn't burn the calories we consume. Find a way get your heart pumping and muscles flexing on a daily basis.

The American Heart Association recommends a minimum of 30 minutes of physical exercise daily. My friends and I are part of a fitness challenge through Facebook, in which we each visit the event page daily and post our 30 minutes of exercise for that day. We see posts like, "Abs and legs at the gym", "Parked across the street from the concert and got in a 15 minute walk each way", "Did my Cardioke Workout routine", or "30 minute power walk after supper" Some posts are at 6 a.m. and others at 11:00 p.m.!

Weekly, incorporate a combination of cardio, stretching and strength training for total-body benefit. Once you make a habit of moving your body on a daily basis, you'll think more clearly, feel more positive about life, and miss that 30 minute workout if you skip it.

3. Get Enough Sleep - Inadequate sleep affects your physical and mental health, and sometimes our bodies misinterpret fatigue for hunger. The Mayo Clinic website states that lack of sleep can affect our immune system, but they also warn, "For adults, sleeping more than nine to 10 hours a night has been associated with weight gain, heart problems, stroke, sleep disorders, depression and other health concerns." So, get enough but not too much!

4. Find a Way to Deal with Stress - Stress can negatively affect our bodies by causing insomnia, lead to depression and make us produce more Cortisol, which can make us fat. If we are stressed over our finances, our relationships or job, we may have a belly as troubling as our problems. Commit to facing your reality head on, and devise a plan to make the changes that you need to make.

Ironically, dealing with stress is easier if you are working the stress hormones out of your muscles through exercise, getting enough sleep, and nourishing your body with adequate nutrition. See a pattern forming here?

Tie Your Other Bucket List Dreams to Being Fit

If you live your life with good health in mind, many of your other Bucket List Dreams will coorelate.

>Travel - Enjoy every vacation to its fullest but don't use it as an excuse to gain weight. Enjoy the local menu wherever you visit but find a way to burn off the calories. Use a city's walking trail to sightsee or the hotel's fitness center to pump some iron. If you slip up, jump right back into your healthy routine the minute you download your vacation pictures onto the computer!

>Money - Reduce your spending by eliminating the empty calories in fast food and junk foods and the inherent medical costs that being overweight can create. Take a second job to pay off bills; work as an aerobics instructor at a gym, walk the neighborhood taking census information, or write online about fitness. Increase your 401k savings so you can enjoy your Golden years as a fit, active Senior, golfing in Arizona or snorkeling in Cozumel!

>Love - If single, sign up on a dating website and meet new people. Just knowing that you have a date is incentive to watch your diet and show up looking svelte! And once you have a positive body image and a hopeful outlook on life, you might find your dating calendar full and find the love you seek!

>Excitement and Adventure - By experimenting with your adventurous side regularly, you'll feed your spirit and soul, make new friends, burn calories and stop eating out of boredom or loneliness.

Since a bucket list is a lifetime "to do" list, work on one or two items a year until they become your normal, and one day you'll realize that your life is a healthy balance of responsibility and adventurous fun and has become a healthy example for others! Get out the pen and make that bucket list right now, and if you need to, put "lose weight" at the top of the list!

Resources:
USA Today Website
Mayo Clinic Website