I’ve also noticed that when I sit in the ol’ office chair all day, I feel flabby. Mentally. Emotionally. Willpower-ly. You want to overcharge me on my phone bill? Sure. Whatever.

Yet it seems that even just a few minutes of strength training (with proper warm-up, of course) can fuel confidence in a way no jaunt on the elliptical can.

Is it a testosterone thing? An adrenaline thing? Maybe we feel stronger after pumping iron because our muscles stay contracted after the workout.

Or maybe it’s all in our minds. Rick Hanson wrote in The Buddha’s Brain that making a certain muscle movement can create a feeling in our brain—making a facial expression will really heighten the emotion, he says, and making muscle movements of strength will give us a sense of strength.

Whatever it is, it seems undeniable that strength training makes us feel like a “boss”! These have become some of my favorite confidence-boosting workouts:

If you’ve wanted to tackle a tough project, ask for a raise, stand up to a bully or haggle over your phone bill, roll out your weights! Stash one in your glove compartment, slip one into your giant purse and pound one right down onto your desk at work. Even just looking at it might make you feel stronger. Or, stick with the bodyweight exercises so you can do them on the fly. Best of all, this counts as your mandatory midday workout.

If you’re just getting started with strength training, read Randy’s latest post. If you’re knee-deep in it, what’s your power workout?

So the month is half over and we’ve been seeing the bonuses and pitfalls of the iShaper challenge here at the office. Overall we love the concept, though as we progress there are definitely going to be a few changes. (This morning we switched from beans to rocks because beans just weren’t big enough)

In the end, though the biggest thing to remember is the weight loss isn’t about any one thing, especially creating permanant weight loss. Being healthy isn’t a single choice and a lot of people have somewhat different takes on what is and isn’t healthy. One of the biggest benefits that I’ve seen so far in the challenge is that it showed me that I was already doing a lot of healthy stuff already, and it made it easier to make other little changes.

When I think of the challenge I keep getting reminded of a scene in the move A Bug’s Life.

Now, it was used in the negative, but the theory is sound. Are you going to see the pounds melt away by making one positive choice? Probably not, but when you add up all the positive choices you make (or maybe add a few to help you along) the weight will start falling off a lot easier.

Personally, I’ve been trying to bulk up, and with the challenge I noticed that I was already getting a lot of exercise each day (those of you following us on Facebook know we have a pickleball court in our office and we happen to have a fairly competitive group so you can always find someone willing to take you on). I was hitting my calorie goals, but I wasn’t drinking enough water and I wasn’t necessarily getting the right kind of calories.

I figured on top of what I was normally doing, I would see if I could get a few more beans each day by drinking my eight glasses of water and ensuring that I hit my levels of protein and reduced my levels of sugar. They weren’t huge changes and they weren’t hard to do, but in the first week I gained 4 lbs. Like I said, I’m trying to bulk up a bit, so for me, this was awesome!

What little things can you change that might make all the difference? Going on a diet is difficult, but changing one or two things each week, trying to get a few more rocks in your jar, isn’t as hard, and it makes a big difference.

That’s the main thing I love about the challenge.

For those that have been keeping up on the challenge feel free to let us know what you’ve liked and haven’t liked about it in the comments, we’d love to hear about your experiences.

Here’s 5 interesting studies that I’ve read recently that you might find helpful (or not) but I couldn’t dedicate an entire blog post to them.

• 1. A Long Commute is linked with Obesity and High Blood Pressure

This one isn’t so much shocking and it’s pretty important. You see, if you live more than 10 miles away from where you work then you’re much more likely to have high blood pressure and at 15 miles you’re at greater risk of obesity.

The problem was I couldn’t think of a way to write an article that didn’t make me sound stupid. You see, there are some links to the study with bloggers giving helpful tips like “find a new job!’ or ‘Maybe think about moving?’ and well, that just made them sound a little out of touch. I don’t know about you, but I’m not one to go house/job hunting because it could lower my blood pressure. Seems kind of like moving a mountain to get closer to a molehill.  (That’s how that saying goes, right?)

• 2. Pistachios increase the amount of good bacteria in your body

I like pistachios, but not enough that I’m willing to deal with their shells most of the time. (And unlike peanuts, they just don’t taste the same when you didn’t just rip them from their shells). However in this study they did tests on several different types of nuts and showed the Pistachios increase the levels of good bacteria in your body. And good bacteria, is well, good!

• 3. If you’ve had a stroke a simple drawing test might show your risk of death from another stroke.

Now if you’ve already had one stroke, you know a lot more about your specific health concerns (hopefully a doctor has enlightened you). But scientists in the UK showed that their patients who failed a simple drawing test were 3 times more likely to die of a stroke later on.

• 4. Living Closer to a Roadway after A Heart Attack Puts you at Higher Risk of Death.

If you’ve had a heart attack and are living near a interstate roadway, there is a pretty big increase in your chance of dying within the next 10 years. But it’s not all bad news, I mean you could always try to counter it with this study that shows an increase in sexual activity has a great effect on Heart Attack Survivor’s Health.

• 5. Eating Too Fast Could Increase Your Chance of Diabetes

This one is interest, but they can’t find the root cause of why eating faster would cause the issue. While they couldn’t create a direct cause-effect correlation, they were able to show that when they gathered up 700 people, those with type 2 diabetes were 2.5 times more likely to be the faster eaters.

But, as we all know, fitness advice sometimes falls short of reality. Constantly jumping up to walk to coworkers’ offices in the middle of a project, rather than calling or emailing, might not be feasible. And taking a midday exercise break can render you tired and distracted back at the office.

So how are we supposed to prevent work from killing our health, and our health from killing our productivity at work?

I wrote in my last post that, for me, the biggest obstacle is that regular mini-breaks keep me from getting into my “work groove.” And when I’m in cerebral mode, I don’t exactly feel pumped for exercise. However, I like solutions as much as I like pointing out problems, and the bum grooves in my office chair are getting a little too deep!

So I’ve rounded up tips from productivity pros that, when applied to exercise breaks, might help us find a happy balance at last.

See if any of these tricks help you stay focused and fit at work:

Match your workout to your work mode

Grouping similar activities, called “batching,” eliminates some of the mental setup time required between activities. Why not apply it to exercise? If your schedule involves a series of quick activities like phone calls, emails and errands, try squeezing in a brief high-intensity workout or two, which may keep your energy going. If you’re working on a mentally intensive project, on the other hand, a moderate-intensity walk could actually help you clear your head and gain a new perspective, solve a problem or refocus on priorities.

Schedule it

Don’t squander your exercise time! Making a schedule at the beginning of the day, including breaks, should help you avoid cutting into break time by dawdling at the water cooler or spending too much time checking email. A regular routine creates automatic cues in the brain, so switching between work and exercise will soon become effortless. Knowing that a break is coming up in 15 minutes may give you an extra productivity push too.

Mentally map out your break

Start thinking about your break while you’re doing other tasks; visualize when you’ll go, how you’ll prepare (change shoes, then bathroom, then water fountain) and what you’ll do (10 flights of stairs, or walking twice around the block). It will be easier to switch tasks if you’ve already started mentally preparing, and visualization has the added benefit of creating a mental pact with yourself to do something.

Leave off strategically

When writing his books, there’s a famous author who pauses at a spot where he can easily pick back up again—often midsentence. The brain hates incomplete sentences, he explains, so his mind stays dialed in to the work and he has no trouble jumping back in when he returns to it. A to-do list and a few notes might help you pick up where you left off, whether you want to move around for 10 minutes every hour or head out for a long workout during lunch.*

Drink up

I just read this in Fitness Magazine: dehydration is a big cause of fatigue and lack of focus after exercise. So if you’re heading out for a midday workout, be sure you’ve had plenty of water first and keep drinking when you get back. Plan to drink around 73 oz. of water per day, the article recommends.

Don’t believe that an extra cup of water will really boost your brain power? The IdealShape team has done a great deal of research on the connection between hydration and clear thinking, and it turned out to be so crucial that the foundational CD in the hypnosis for weight loss series teaches us how to drink more of it.

*Don’t forget to fuel: If you plan to exercise during your lunch break, you’ll obviously need to eat beforehand. Skyler Meine and I rounded up a list of easy-to-digest pre-workout meals for U.S. News—have a look.

As for dealing with getting sweaty at work, a reader of my last post has it down; check out her comment.

And now, for the big question… do you think it’s effective—or safe—to walk and work at the same time? Would you ever use a Trek Desk?

Other good reads from IdealShape:

Water you waiting for?

Use Hypnosis to take charge of your Weight

Make the Most out of Breakfast

And now, for the moment of truth: sometimes you can master motivation, flawlessly fuel your workout, and have your gym and snack bags packed—and still not be able to fit exercise into your daily routine.

Not midday, anyway.

I’m an afternoon exerciser, because it’s my best time of day to exercise. But even if you work out in the morning or after work, research says that everyone should be taking a midday pause to get some daily excersise. Sitting for 8 hours is great way to die early, no matter how active you are the rest of the day.

So, dutifully, I aim to work out in the afternoon. Only my “midday pause” typically turns into a three-hour affair. First, there’s mentally shifting gears between work and exercise. Then I have to eat a snack, change clothes, exercise for an hour, shower, change back into work clothes, eat another snack, and get back into thinking mode. And voila: I’ve spent three hours “squeezing in” a daily workout.

Which is why, most days, I rarely bother to peel out of my office chair. And I’m not the only one who has a hard time switching gears mid-workday. Most people don’t even break for lunch, let alone a workout.

But our legs, back and metabolism are begging for it.

Have you figured out how to weave workouts into your daily routine? If so, what’s your secret? Do you stair-sprint around the building all day? Rope your friends into a lunch break stroll?

If you’re cycling to work for National Bike Month, have you figured out how to duck into the supply closet for a wet-wipe bath before someone mistakes you for Edward Scissorhands? (Or am I the only one whose bicycle commutes involve ratty helmet hair, a bike-greased face and inexplicable clothing tears?)

I’d like to compile as much advice as I can for my next post, because this is becoming a critical issue for a lot of us as the average workday gets longer. So if you have some tips for “switching gears” to incorporate exercise throughout the day, please share them!

Read the follow-up post: 5 Ways to Stay Active at Work (Without Getting Fired)

Other Good Reads:

The Secret to a Fitness Routine that Sticks

The Exercise Conundrum–It Takes too Long

Why Exercise is Essential for Weight Loss

We love it when we help in any way we can. Whether it’s our full program or just the shakes or supplements, we want to provide all the tools you need to be successful in your weight loss. So here is Scott’s story, in his own words:

“I am 42 years old and have been overweight since my college days.  I am five foot, five inches tall and weighed 207 pounds at my heaviest just last year.  Like many people, I have tried to diet numerous times with various short-term successes.  About five years ago, I did lose close to 20 pounds but gained it back again within a year.   I have tried several more times since then without any results.

I found out about IdealShape while researching meal replacement nutrition and dieting on the internet.  The great stories and information on the website convinced me to give it a try.  I read the reviews about the shakes and decided to start with those.  I ordered the shakes and started my new diet at the beginning of this year.  In addition to a renewed commitment to exercise, I began replacing several meals a week with the shakes.  I noticed results right away and quickly started to lose 1-2 pounds in the first several weeks.  I found the shakes worked great for meeting my on-going weight loss goals.  I set my goals at five pound increments (e.g., 200, 195, 190, etc.).  I would get close to my goal but would seem to stall out there for several days.  By substituting more meals with the shakes, it jumpstarted my weight loss again and I would clear that goal and head for another!   Because of this effective method, I don’t use the shakes every day but substitute meals with shakes as needed to reach my goals.  In just over three months I have reached a weight of 176 pounds, 31 pounds less than my heaviest weight!  While I’m not sure I will attempt to go much lower than 175 pounds, I will continue to use the IdealShape shakes to maintain my desired weight.  I have confidence I easily do that with the use of the shakes.  I also love that they provide over half your daily nutritional requirements in one shake.  I’m sure the other aspects of the IdealShape plan are excellent, but I have found the results I wanted just by using the shakes.  The only problem I have now is no clothes that will fit me!  I need a whole new wardrobe.  A small price to pay for being in the best shape I have been in since my early 20’s!”

Awesome job Scott!

As you know, Scott is now one of the 12 finalists who will be flown to Utah in the fall. There, our contestants will meet the entire IdealShape staff, get a personal photo shoot, and we’ll decide (with the help of our facebook community) who’s sailing away for 7 days of fun in the sun on a Caribbean Cruise with $2,000 spending cash.

5 Slots left, will you be one of them?

Other good Idealshape reads:

February Ship Shape Challenge Winner

December’s Ship Shape Challenge Winner

Reanna Lost 65 Pounds!

So…bean jars!

Exciting, no?

Alright, alright, beans in a jar may not be as exciting as slaying dragons but for me it’s a definite improvement. As we said, one of the biggest hurdles in weight loss is not losing weight. When the numbers on the scale aren’t changing, it’s hard to keep going because you can’t easily see the difference you’re making on your own life.

This is going to start with the IdealShape staff, though we welcome anyone that wants to join us as we test how this works.

Last week we all got jars to decorate however we wanted and now we’ve been given a bag of beans. On May 1^st the contest will begin. Each time we make a positive choice we get to place a bean in the jar. Every time we get a full night’s sleep or we choose to drink water over coffee; we place a bean in the jar. Yes, they’re little things, but so are the beans. However, by the end of May, we hope to see the effect of all those little choices and how they add up.

Along with this there will be bonus challenges (or “quests” for nerds like me) each day. Sometimes it might be something that some of us are already doing, or other times it might be a task that we just can’t accomplish. (I.E. The bonus challenge being biking for 3 miles when I don’t own a bike.) but it will hopefully give us ideas of little things we can do that we might not be doing. Breaking out of the mold as it were.

So if you want to join us, go ahead and grab a jar, and make sure you’ve liked us on facebook. That’s where we’ll announce the daily bonus challenges for you guys. And yes, we are looking into giving the iShapers that do join us a little reward (“epic loots” as it were). We’ll also update all that stuff on the IdealShape Facebook page.

And remember these jars are filled by just living healthier. Even if you don’t need to lose pounds (or even if you want to gain weight) you can participate in this with us. We’ve all got an ideal shape. Let’s find it together.

iShape, uShape, we’ll all Shape, our IdealShape!

Other good IdealShape reads:

Gamifying your Healthy Lifestyle

Should you Love your Workouts?

How to Stay Happy on your Fitness Regimen

I’m a full-functioning adult (or at least, I pretend to be one) and yet I have lived my whole life with video games. At the age of four I was pulling the NES controller out of my mom’s hand because she just couldn’t avoid koopa troopa’s with the finesse that was required of her. After saving money for a long time, I recently invested a sizable sum of it into a computer that, someone else my age might have otherwise used as a down payment for a car. This was done all for the purpose of getting the highest resomulutions from my video games.

“No, you have to jump up…Not like tha-JUST GIVE ME THE CONTROLLER!”

The point is, we’re now beginning to see a generation of people who are now adults and don’t remember a time when there weren’t video games. Is it a bad thing? Are we lazier, unhealthier, and unmotivated? Only time will tell, but I certainly don’t think so. More and more people are seeing the appeal of video games in general. Just last Christmas we got to see my grandma doing what some might call ‘shaking her tail feathers’ to video games to accumulate points while an announcer shouted things like “Smooth moves!” and “That’s how it’s done!” at her.

Which finally brings me to my point. There is a term called Gamification, that has been coined recently. In the most general sense it’s about taking tasks that people do not normally enjoy and creating a way to make it more enjoyable while providing incentive to accomplish the task at hand.

Here’s a great video that expands on the idea of gamification.

It makes sense to me, as a “gamer” that turning innocuous tasks into a game can create a sense of accomplishment. For example, I was recently playing a video game where I was given the option of collecting and organizing books. Sound fun? Probably not, especially given the fact that at one time I had spent hours collecting and meticulously organizing books while a dragon flew around over my head and local citizens were relying on me to battle it.

“What? No, I’m not crying…but it’s just…so beautiful.”

Was I having fun? Looking back, I just…

I. Don’t. Know.

I mean, I did it, and I was happy when it was done…in a, “I will never share this accomplishment with anyone because they will call me a nerd” sort of way. But I can’t pretend that the book collection was a roller coaster ride of emotions…So, if video games can take the menial task of organizing books and make it rewarding, why can’t it do the same thing with healthy living?

Actually, there are those trying to do this very thing. Many of you know about a site called Spark People, and at the end of the year we talked about an up and coming site called fitocracy (which has officially launched). These are both built in a way to gamify healthy living. Collecting points or ‘experience’ from healthy tasks and leveling or using the points to get prizes.

Going back to the gamifying education video, the main thing about gamifying something is turning negative reinforcement into positive. They used the grading scale as an example; every student walks into a new class with an A, but every mistake they make, lowers their grade. The A isn’t a reward for doing well, it’s what you get for not making mistakes.

Losing weight can sometimes feel the same way. We boil it down to pounds because we, as humans, like to quantify everything. The problem is that when the scale doesn’t change (and it’s not always going to change) we get discouraged. We didn’t get to see the benefit of our healthy lifestyle. But that’s the thing. Every good choice you make, every time you pick a glass of water instead of a sugary beverage, you’re becoming healthier and stronger.

So, should we throw a parade every time we make a healthy choice? Well, no, nothing that extreme, but there should be a way to see how the good choices we’ve made add up. We should be less focused on the scale and more focused on our overall health. But like I said, it’s natural for us to want to quantify things. It’s why blog posts that are turned into lists are usually more popular, and it’s why we have created scales for everything under the sun. When going to a doctor, you’ll notice they don’t ask if it hurts; they ask “On a scale from 1 to 10, how bad does it hurt?”

“On a scale from 1 to Nietzsche, how bad is this existentialism you’re feeling?”

The IdealShape team has always been behind the idea of positive reinforcement and we’re going to see what changes we can make using these kind of ideas. In fact, we’re having a company contest in May to see how these changes affect us, and we’d love for any of you to join us. But I’ve rambled on enough for now!

This post is going to be a two parter and we’ll talk about what IdealShape is doing with this information tomorrow. So…stay tuned!

Other good reads from IdealShape:

iShaper Challenge! Are you Game?

Should you Love your Workouts?

How to Stay Happy on your Fitness Regimen

It was a good question, and one that we definitely wanted to address. That’s why we’re excited to announce the inclusion of ResveraShape Plus into the product line. It has all the benefits of ResveraShape, but we’ve added to the formula to make it one of the best weight management products on themarket.

First, of course, we added Slendesta to help you feel fuller longer, making it a great addition to your weight loss plan. And while we’ve talked about the great benefits of Green Tea in the ResveraShape supplement, many people had a hard time with the caffeine levels (about 1/3rd a cup of coffee’s worth). To address this, we used Black Tea in ResveraShapePlus to provide all the benefits of green tea, at 1/5th of the caffeine.

Dieticians and nutritionists have been telling us from the creation of IdealShape that controlling hunger and cravings was the key to healthy eating. Take hunger out of the equation and better food choices are made.

It wasn’t long after these meeting that we discovered, Slendesta, the premier all-natural appetite suppressant.  Slendesta increases the release of the hunger control hormone CCK.  We added it to our shake formulation and it got raving reviews from our customers and has been helping I-shapers lose weight ever since.

Finally, we’ve talked about the Resveratrol found in ResveraShape, and how awesome it is for you. In ResveraShape Plus we use a more condensed version of Resveratrol (Trans-Resveratrol) to increase the amount in the pill by 20%.

All in all, we’re really excited about the new product that our I-shapers motivated us to create!  We wouldn’t be in business if it weren’t for you guys and we love that we got to include you in our creation of this ResveraShape Plus.

So check it out and see if it you don’t find ResveraShape Plus to be everything you could want in a weight loss supplement.

Check it out here –> ResveraShape Plus

You’ve tried discussing the health benefits. You’ve tried scaring them with the facts.

You gave up dessert hoping they’d join you, and you lavished them with praise when they dusted off their bike.

You gently explained that you were worried. Then you bitterly announced they looked 9 months pregnant.

And after all this… it seems you’ve had no influence whatsoever.

Mom’s still carting around large McFrappés. Your spouse insists that trekking up and down the stairs is plenty of exercise. And your kids, you suspect, are squandering their lunch money on Cheetos and Mountain Dew.

Trying to influence healthy habits can seem like walking across a minefield. You know that you have to be careful, with kids especially, but really with everyone. Even well meaning campaigns can backfire.

Yet when a loved one’s health is on the line, keeping the peace isn’t an option. The IdealShape program was created to save the life of David’s foster dad, over 400 pounds, who had refused to budge. “Project Tom” was a success, and the IdealShape mission took off from there.

I’ve spent many years trying to help my family adopt healthier habits, with some successes—and some failures. I’ve learned a lot about being a successful influencer along the way:

Simple “hang-ups” often have complex underlying roots.

What seems like laziness or stubbornness to you might not be such a black and white issue for someone else. (So “I’ve gotten it together—why can’t you?” tends to be very ineffective.) People will resent an oversimplification of challenges they’re dealing with, and rightly so. Instead, be compassionate and perceptive rather than prescriptive as you help them work through it on their terms.

Use positive reinforcement, not bullying or threats.

Anger and frustration are sometimes understandable—you want to see your loved ones make positive choices for themselves. But unleashing these emotions will only hurt your cause. Ask any psychologist, teacher, parent or pet owner: positive reinforcement is the most effective way to influence behavior. Chastisement will get you little more than a “surprise” on your pillow.

Be creative.

Different approaches resonate with different people, and the one that finally clicks might not be what you were expecting! If you hit a dead end, don’t keep at it; look for new clues. My brother gained weight when he hit his teenage years and was really bummed about it, but whenever I tried to get him interested in exercise, it increased his resistance. Finally I got the hint: teenage boys don’t want warm-fuzzy advice from their older sisters. So I pretended to order myself a subscription to Men’s Health. The magazines quickly disappeared from the coffee table, and he’s been exercising zealously ever since.

Know when to back off.

This doesn’t mean giving up, just laying low. Sometimes when you stop pushing, others start listening. Or it turns out they were listening all along. They just needed a chance to take ownership of the healthy habit, and to get all that weird stuff—heart to hearts, taking advice, having one’s actions and appearance become a matter of public discussion—out of the way, in order to focus on getting started.

What’s the hardest obstacle you’ve come upon in trying to help the people in your life be healthier?

Check out these related articles:

• Are you sabotaging your spouse’s diet?
• 5 ways to get your kids to eat healthier
• Why Disney’s Habit Heroes exhibit failed