60 in 3 Reboot - Step 1, What Does Being Healthy Mean To You?

I haven’t updated this site in almost a year because I’ve been busy with quite a few other things. I tried out a fashion blog but decided I knew nothing about fashion (something my girlfriend would heartily agree with). I’m currently writing a self improvement blog and we’ll see how that goes. Still, every few weeks I think about 60 in 3 and I miss it. I miss talking to all of you about my workouts, eating plans and exercises. I miss hearing from you about your questions, your triumphs and challenges. A few weeks ago one 60 in 3 reader wrote me an email about how inspired this site had made him and the success he had in losing weight and getting in shape. That clinched it for me, I knew I had to get back to this place and to all of you.

So here’s the plan. I’m going to start posting on 60 in 3 on a regular basis. New posts will be up every Monday just in time to distract you from coming back to work. Topics will be the usual, exercise, workouts, eating, weight loss and all the rest. If you have questions or suggestions for articles, please feel free to send them my way. In the meantime, I thought I would start this reboot with a quick series of articles on how to get started. Which brings us to today’s post, getting started…

Step 1 – What Do You Want?

What does being healthy mean to you? Does it mean losing weight? Does it mean being able to run a mile in under 15 minutes? (you laugh but that was one of my original goals). Does it mean looking good in a bikini? Does it mean dropping your cholesterol levels or your blood pressure? These are all very different things and in many cases they might actually require different techniques, eating plans, training methods and life changes. So which of these matter to you?

Write Them Down

Take a moment to write down what being healthy means to you. These phrases will not just determine what sort of changes you need to make in your life, they will also serve as motivations and goals, so make them realistic, specific and measurable. For example:

• I will take two inches of my waist by May of next year
• I will lose 50lbs by next April
• I will fit into my old pants by next Easter
• I will be able to run a mile in under 10 minutes by next spring
• I will get a clean bill of health from my doctor when it comes to my blood pressure by my next physical in June of 2011

Check For Conflicts

A lot of times we write things down without really thinking about what they mean. We put down things like “I want to bench press 300lbs by next summer” right next to “I want my back to be healthy by next June”. Well, those two are probably mutually exclusive. Not necessarily so, that’s true, but most people who have back injuries should focus on those before they move on to lifting weights. Another common mistake is to make things unrealistic. For example, it’s simply not realistic to lose more than 1 to 2lbs of weight per week. Sure, you can do it, but it’s not healthy.  Still, don’t worry about this too much right now, we’ll focus these goals a bit more as we go along.

Last But Not Least

Keep your goals with you. This isn’t meant to be a one time exercise for you to get rid off as soon as you’re done. These goals will guide you for the rest of your life in some cases. So keep them with you, frame them, put them on your computer background, print them out and hang them by your bed, do whatever it takes to keep them in mind.
Next Monday we start getting our butt in shape

Well….

Some of you already know this, but 2008 / 2009 were a rough time for me on a personal level. I thank all of you who helped me and those of you who sent well wishes.

After a long pause and a brief attempt at a fashion website (it was fun!), it seems like I am back to blogging. I thought about restarting 60 in 3 but the truth is that I want to talk about more than just fitness. Just as I learned a lot about myself and getting in shape through my experiences in fitness, I feel like I’ve learned a lot over the past few years about coping with stress, dealing with loss and leading a happy life. So I’ve opened a new blog called Equally Happy which you can find at www.equallyhappy.com. If you’re interested, come on over.

Thank you all for allowing me to be a part of your lives.

An End But Also A Beginning

Two years ago I started 60 in 3 as a way for me to help people who were struggling with the same health and fitness issues that I was.  It was a way for me to share what I had learned and also to learn from others.  In that time I have greatly enjoyed both the writing and the reading that were part of maintaining this blog.  However, in the past few months, as I’ve gone through a few life changes and as I’ve learned more about myself, writing 60 in 3 has become more of a job and less of a passion.  I began dreading the days on which I was to write posts and I started seeing this blog more as a way to make money and less as a way to help people.  That’s wrong, and it’s not what I want to do.

So, in the past month I started looking for a new passion, a new way in which I can help people and still feel motivated.  I had quite a few ideas but the one that finally stuck was one which popped into my head at random while strolling through New York.  As some of you know, I’ve always disliked the fashion industry for fostering an unrealistic and unhealthy body image for men and women.  The various magazines and websites out there show you pictures of people who are impossibly thin, have a dozen people to do their hair and makeup, wear outfits that are professionally assembled and use an army of photoshop artists.  Then they tell you to do the impossible and imitate the way they look.  At the same time, I do enjoy dressing well and I like seeing other people looking good.  So it occurred to me, why not show the world that it’s possible to look fashionable without going to the extremes that the fashion industry tells us to go to?

And thus, Look A Day was born.  Look A Day is my way of telling people “you can look great even if you’re not a fashion model”.  I know, it’s a very different idea than 60 in 3, but for me, it’s all part of the same idea, a way to show people that being healthy is not out of their reach.  Looking beautiful is not impossible.  So if you like the idea, join me over there.  I will be posting a new “look” every day, and yes, while the site currently has only women, I am planning to add men too.  If really like the idea, feel free to share it with friends, Digg it, stumbleupon it or any other way in which you can help spread the word.  And if you don’t like the idea, stay tuned.  60 in 3 is going on a short hiatus, but it will be back in a somewhat different form in a month or two.

Thank you all for being with me through this journey and I hope you stick with me as I take my next step.

Website Resolution

Ready Lynn C commented last week on a resolution issue with 60 in 3. Seems like she was seeing text going all the way to the edge of the screen. Is anyone else having this issue? If so, can you tell me via comments or email which browser you’re using along with version of the browser and your screen resolution? I’ve tried a lot of combos but I can’t recreate the issue Lynn was discussing.

Thanks,
Gal

Technical Difficulties Fixed, For Now…

As you can see, I managed to find a new look for 60 in 3 that does not blow things up (I think). This new look might be temporary, depending on how many broken things I find. If you see any issues, please report them to me via comments or email.

Thank you,
Gal

Technical Difficulties

Unfortunately, our Wordpress upgrade seems to have broken our old theme here at 60 in 3. I am currently experimenting with a few new ones so please don’t be alarmed if the site looks a bit different.

Announcement: 60 in 3’s Future

Thank you all for putting up with me while I was going through some personal issues.  I’m not through them yet but I know what I want and I’m trying to do it.  However, that’s not a topic for 60 in 3.  60 in 3 was created as a place for me to share fitness, exercise, diet and health tips and I’ve decided that it should remain that way.  I’ll create another blog to share some of my personal development experiences and focus here on 60 in 3’s original purpose.

Thank you,

Gal

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