5 Lessons You Can Learn By Taking An Extended Vacation.

Today I want to share with you how taking an extended vacation can actually be beneficial to your life and what I learned from taking an extended travel of my own.

Last year at this time I was in Florida, and what really inspired me to go was to spend the winter in Florida with my grandparents as well as see if Florida was a place I actually wanted to live.

Upon taking 3 months to visit Florida I learned about myself and thought that sharing these 5 points with you may be help / inspiration for you, if you are thinking of taking travel time.

1. In preparing you learn the art of discipline.

One of the most valuable lessons I learned from my extended vacation was actually in the preparation of saving up the money for it.  To save up the money I needed for my travel I learned the art of not spending too much money on "useless" items.  

Six out of seven days per week I would eat on around $10 per day.  I still allowed myself one day per week to spend as much money on food as I pleased, but other than that I ate as healthy as I could as cheap as I could.

This taught me to be disciplined in what I spent my money on.  I love luxuries in life, and sure I could've bought some nice clothes, gadgets, or a cool car, but I knew trying out an extended vacation would be far more worth it for me.

2. I learned that the warm weather and sun had an impact on my happiness.

This is one topic that everyone differs on, but living in a climate we love can greatly improve our lives and happiness.

Personally I love to get fresh air and take daily walks, as well as get sunlight.  In the cold, dark Michigan winter, I easily neglect this part of my life.

I personally find myself more productive and happy during the summer or warm months.  Being in Florida for the winter, almost every day was basically summer, which meant I was taking walks or swimming every single day, as well and getting fresh air as much as I could.

If you want to visit somewhere that you think would help improve your happiness, going their for an extended stay is a must!


3. Expansion of your mind.

Travel can be a great experience to open your mind up to a new way of seeing things.  When I did my extended travel, I saw new places I never saw before.  My favorite being a quick 2 day trip to Miami.  

After our stay in Miami my dad and I drove all the way to the end of Key Largo and back up to Winter Haven in one day.  During this day, I got to see not only 1 Pagani Huayra (my dream car) but 3 of them at Prestige Imports.  From there we went through Brickell and decided to drive down US1 to the Keys.

This was an experience we both never got to have before.

I would say Miami was the biggest eye opener personally.  Over the past 10 years or so I have always been looking into Miami.  I would consider it my dream city to live in, in the future.  Seeing the skyline, the yachts, walking South Beach, and the mansions in general is magnificent!

I believe experiences such as this one, can have a massive impact on how you see the world as you move forward in your life.


4. You will learn which type of lifestyle you enjoy most.

Another big reason for me taking this vacation was to learn if I really wanted to live the type of life I thought I wanted to live.

Everyone has different views of how they would like their life to look, however I would say that everyone can figure out FOR SURE the type of life they would like to live by doing an extended vacation.

It gives you enough time to live a life more on "your own terms", and when you go come back from your vacation you will know for sure if your old life was the one you want to continue the path on, or if you would like to "start" life a new way. 

5. When and if you do come back, you will be able to set goals more true to yourself.

Since the vacation I have learned a lot more about myself and where I want to go in life.  Although I don't have it all figured out, I would say that I have more clarity than I did before on the goals I have set for myself.

For you, extended vacation time will help give your mind clarity and open you up to find out where you really want to go in life.

Closing thoughts.

I hope that these tips have been useful to you and inspire you to travel somewhere that you feel that you need to go to.  Maybe you want to get one of these experiences or all 5.  Whatever you feel you need in terms of travel, give it a shot and see where it takes you!

The Exact Blueprint I Have Been Implementing Along My Fitness Journey.

Today I want to share with you the blueprint I have been following since I have started my health journey.  For about the first 4 years I was doing this technique unconsciously and really just started to realize I was implementing this within the past year or 2.  

This is what has worked for me and I really just wanted to make an in depth blog on how you can have it work best for you as well.

For those of you that are new to the blog, I used to be 25 pounds overweight and eating McDonald's, drinking Coke everyday.  I was pretty average weight wise but was a little chubby and was headed down the road to being fat.

I would go to the dentist and usually have a new cavity.  I wasn't on the best route in terms of my health at this point.

But for whatever reason (I honestly can't remember why) I decided to change my habits.

It started off slow but over time I got to the point I am currently at today (continuing to improve every single day).


What most people do.

Along my path, I have noticed that many of us look for the quick fix or drive to dive in 100% with their diet cold turkey.  This is more of a new years resolution type of mentality and although it may work for a select few, for most of us it doesn't. 

Think of it, if you are currently eating fast food on a daily basis how likely are you to suddenly want to eat some grass fed beef and spinach?  

Although this is a healthy and tasty meal from on paradigm, from another it'll be one of the worst meals you could imagine!




The Blueprint.

What the blueprint I will share today will help you do is to, over time level up your paradigm in terms of health.

The exact blueprint I have been using along my journey is actually extremely simple and easy.  You can basically start from wherever you are and see results!

Like I already stated, when I started my journey I was eating Mcdonald's and drinking Coke nearly every single day, and was able to drop 25 pounds of fat.


When I was starting out along my journey I remember I would eat greek salads with sweet Greek dressing or whole wheat sandwiches with lunch meat. 

Although now I would rarely eat these foods, back then they were great for the place I was coming from.

Slowly improving your diet is what has worked for me and what may work well for you also.

Easing into your diet not only helps you to improve over time, but it makes it easy to start and easy to stick to as well!

The same applies for implementing a more active lifestyle.

Back when I was first starting out along my journey, I was playing video games for about 5 hours per day every single day, and wasn't active whatsoever.

Now as I write this I workout 3 days at the gym, do 2 ab workouts, 4-5 days of stretching/yoga to improve my flexibility, and take walks whenever possible (more often in the summer than winter).

I remember when I was first starting out I would go to the gym and mostly dabble with whatever exercises seemed the most fun.  At thiat point I wasn't really making any progress, but I think I did need that stage in my journey to get to where I am today, although I wouldn't recommend you go join a gym without a plan first.

Closing thoughts.

I hope the blueprint is just as useful (if not more useful) for you than it has been for me so far!  I have found in my life that this is the easiest way to implement and create new healthy habits.

Knowing what you have learned here, what is one area of your life you are going to start to improve on using this blueprint?

Make the best of today,

Brian

Bodybuilding Physique Update 7: Seeing Some Gains.

This past month has been a great month for me in terms of fitness.  I am starting to feel more like I am re-connecting with the reasons I started in the first place.  My motivation to workout has grown and it is almost feeling effortless.

For a while I noticed myself before getting in a pattern of trying to get through the workout.  And although I was making progress in terms of increasing the weight I lifted, it wasn't feeling as fun as it used to.  It almost felt like more of a chore, where as the past couple of weeks it felt like a hobby again.

I really got into this whole fitness thing to create the best life for myself as a whole, to feel good on the inside and outside (plus who doesn't like to see their body transform?).

My current measurements 

Arms: 12.25 in

Legs: 19 in

Calves: 14 in

Waist: 29.5 in

Chest: 35.5 in

I did have a small increase in my arm as well as chest size over the past month, however there was no change to my legs or waist.

In terms of how much I eat I will start to intake 2,700 calories per day and see where that takes me over the next month.  The reason I wasn't doing this in the past was because I was scared of gaining fat.  If you have read the previous physique updates you know this is all a test to see what is working best for me at the current moment in time, so I would like to see how eating 2,700 calories on a daily basis affects fat gain.

Where I want to be within the next month.

Over the next month I would love to bring all of these numbers up a quarter to half an inch, while keeping my waist the same size if possible.

Closing thoughts.

I am glad to re-connect with the reasons I started working out in the first place.  I am hoping to use the motivation I have to fuel my drive (even more) to achieve my weight goal of 165 pounds of lean muscle with 8-10% bodyfat by 2024.

Did you start your own fitness journey yet?  If not start today, and follow along the journey.

We can achieve our fitness goals together!

5 Tips To Help You Lose 25 Pounds (Or More) Of Body-fat

What's up it's Brian from GaniFit and in this blog what we are going to talk about are 5 tips that you can implement over the next couple of months to take the first steps in transforming your body and achieving the fat loss results you desire.

Before we jump into this blog, I wanted to give you a little background on myself and my story.  I am someone who has dropped 25 pounds of fat and completely changed my eating habits, which in turn changed my life.  

I literally used to eat at McDonalds 4-5 days per week.  I would rarely, if ever drink water and it seems like I would have 2-3 cavities in my teeth every time I would go to the dentist.  I was headed down a dark road and would've kept going if I didn't implement just a few healthier habits into my eating routine.

I would guess that if I would have never changed my habits that right now I would probably be 100 pounds heavier than I currently am.

So where are you right now?  Do you want to just drop a few pounds of fat or do you wish to lose a substantial amount?  Whatever it is, these 5 tips I am going to share with you here today will drastically help you accomplish your goal.

Drink water

By far the biggest change I made in my life to this day is by switching out drinking pop with drinking water.  Not only is pop empty calories, but it was the biggest contributor to how many cavities I have.

It has also been shown to cause diabetes because of the high sugar content in pop.

If you are like I used to be and drink pop on a daily basis, with every meal, then you know that switching to water can be extremely hard.  

So what I suggest here is starting off slow.  At first just switch out one glass of pop with one glass of water and keep improving from there.

Currently I drink 2 bottles of water within the first 10 minutes of waking up.  If you would've asked me 5 years ago if I would be doing this, I wouldn't even be able to picture it!

You can literally transform your entire life just by implementing water into your diet, but just because it is such a game changer, that doesn't mean there aren't other ways to help you lose weight.  Just think of implementing water into your diet as a tool in your toolbelt.

Intermittent fasting

I want to start off by saying that intermittent fasting is another great tool, but it isn't some magic way to just get lean and shredded.  You can intermittent fast and still gain weight if you are going overboard on what you eat during your eating window.

That being said, what I like about intermittent fasting is that it gives you a way to only have a set amount of time to eat.

This means you are less likely to eat all day and snack on food that you shouldn't be snacking on (if its outside of your eating window).

I personally like the way it trains my mind to not always seek the instant gratification of eating food right when I wake up.

If you would like to read some of the benefits of intermittent fasting click here.

Walk at least 3 days per week for 30 minutes (or more)

Walking is something that I have found to not only be a great way to get some relaxing cardio and burn a few extra calories, but its also very fun.  Maybe you are someone who hates to get onto the treadmill and run, or maybe you are currently unable to run in the first place.  Walking is a great way to not only burn a little bit of fat, but calm the mind and enjoy the nature or city that you live in.

I started walking about 3 years ago, and its something that I still do today.  I actually look forward to a walk.  And if I am feeling stressed I will find any excuse to get out and go for a walk on a nice day.

Even just walking for 30 minutes a day for 3 days per week you will start to notice a difference in your life!

Implement protein rich foods

This tip is one that I just recently picked up but I know that it is very true.  By eating protein rich foods you will feel fuller most of the time.  This is actually what I am currently doing to lean bulk and it has helped me tremendously. 

Now if you are someone who is over weight I highly recommend getting foods such as chicken breast or tuna, which have very low calories and high protein.  These food can also fill up your entire plate and still be far  less than 1,000 calories.

Right now one of my favorite meals that's simple, easy, and cheap to make is literally just a bowl of brown rice and a can of tuna.  For me this can fill me up for hours.  

If you pair this tip with intermittent fasting, and drinking water, losing weight will be effortless.

Take cheat days

This may sound weird to you but I am being completely serious.  Literally take cheat days.  

Cheat days will keep you sane while you are on your fat loss journey.  They give you a way to reward yourself for eating healthy and practicing the rest of the habits we talked about above, and help you to allow yourself to eat out at places with the people you care about.

This is the hardest part about losing fat is when you are always being tempted to eat the things those around you are eating.  

But if you allow yourself to take a cheat day or cheat meal every once and a while you are able to have fun, and stick to your diet.  (I personally take s cheat day every week or two.)

Bonus: Don't restrict calories to an unhealthy limit

One of the biggest mistakes I have made was a couple years ago when I was trying to get shredded and I restricted myself to 1,200 calories per day. 

Sure I was dropping fat, but this caloric deficit was far below my maintenance calories.  This caused me to lose months of muscle gain, and once I came to my senses, it made me gain the fat back because my body was used to the low calories at this point.

Restricting calories to an extreme is usually a bad idea and just ends in losing your progress.

Closing thoughts

I hope these 5 tips of how to lose your first 25 pounds of fat have been beneficial to you.  I would love to hear which tip you are going to implement today (I recommend the tip on drinking water).

Make the best of today,

Brian

The Pro's And Con's Of Cheat Days (How You Can Make Your Diet Enjoyable).

In today's blog I want to share with you the good and bad of taking cheat days.  This is all from what I have experienced over the past couple of years and what might influence you to either start taking cheat days or stop taking cheat days depending on your current circumstances.

I have been taking cheat days every week or so since I have read Tim Ferriss's book the "4 Hour Body".   This book is pretty much what got me into taking cheat days in the first place.  Although there is controversy whether cheat days are good or bad for you, I wanted to write to share with you a pretty neutral position so you can decide what is best for you in the long run.

Basically the determining factor is going to be your willpower.  However even if you have strong willpower you may still crave junk food every once and a while (just less often than others might crave junk food)


The Good.

1) Cheat days keep you sane throughout your journey.

This is probably the biggest reason I would recommend starting to take cheat days.  If you don't already know, most people that start a diet eventually end up right where they started.  Being right back at square one can be discouraging, and often cause you to give up.

You can have all the knowledge in the world, but with no plan or applied knowledge, it is useless.

If you start a diet and it says you can NEVER eat a certain food ever again, how likely are you going to be to stick to that diet?

Even if you can stick to it for a month, you will most likely jump back to eating the "bad food" again or even more.

In other words you are going insane without that food.

Now if I tell you, "stick to your diet for 7 days and after that 7 days you can eat whatever you want on the eighth day" how much more likely are you going to be sticking to your diet?

Chances are high you will follow through.  Not only will it keep you sane, but it will keep you accountable and you will actually get a reward for your effort of eating healthy for those 7 days!

2) Makes the journey more enjoyable.

No diet or healthy journey is fun when you are never able to eat certain foods.  Just imagine you go to an ice cream shop with your family or freinds and everyone else is eating creamy, smooth ice cream in a waffle cone.

Most likely you are going to be hating every second of it if you don't allow yourself to ever eat ice cream.

Now I'm not saying to just eat ice cream everyday, but what if you had one day a week where you could.  You are in the same scenario except now you can have the ice cream.  

How much more enjoyable will this scenario be now that you are able to enjoy the ice cream and spend some memorable time with your family or friends?

3) Doesn't really effect fat gain.

This is kind of a touchy subject here.  At first when I tried cheat days this sounded counter intuitive.  

I though to myself "how could eating an enormous surplus of calories not effect fat gain"  I though it would all be BS.

But I tried it anyway and tested it out.  Sure enough my waist didn't ever get any bigger from taking cheat days.

The best way I can describe this is to think of it this way.  If all you eat is junk 6 out of 7 days and eat a salad on the seventh day how much of a difference will this make on you losing fat?

Not much right becuase its one salad or one day of salads when 90% of the time you were eating junk.

Basically the same principle is applied but in reverse for cheat days.  (You aren't going to gain fat for eating 10% junk food and 90% health food).


The Bad.

1) Overeating / going overboard.

This is a problem I find myself falling into too often on cheat days.  Most cheat days I end up eating more than I should and just eating to eat as much junk food as I can in one day. 

Although it is fun for me to do, there have been times where I would eat so much where I would be throwing up all night because of how much I ate.

This doesn't happen as much anymore, but I still do usually over eat past being full.

2) The way you feel the next morning.

I would almost describe this bad side effect to feel how I expect a hangover would feel.

Usually after I take a cheat day the next morning feels harder than it should.  

I often wake up feeling substantially less energy than I usually do as well as having a TON of mucuss in my throat and a bad taste in my mouth for the first few hours of my day.

It's not a pleasant feeling but it goes away pretty fast.

Closing thoughts.

After reading this I hope you gained some clarity on whether or not you want to start implementing cheat days into your life.

Just like anything in life there is a good and a bad side to cheat days, but its about what works or doesn't work for you. 

For some people (including myself) cheat days can work really well becuase they give more than they take.  For others it may take more than it gives.

I would love to hear what you are going to do moving ahead in your journey, as well as what your thoughts are on this subject / what you have experienced with taking cheat days.

Make the best of today,

Brian

Bodybuilding Physique Update 6. (Taking Measurements To Track Size & Progress).

In todays physique update I wanted to share with you where I am currently at, as well as what I will be implementing over the next month along the journey to 165 pounds.

Last month we discussed that I would start using MyFitnessPal to track my calories.  I have been eating around 2700 calories on workout days and 22-2300 calories on rest days.  This has resulted in some muscle gain with minimal fat gain (pretty much just enough for me to notice) over the last month.

This next month I am going to stick to 2700 calories on lifting days and 22-2300 calories on abs workout days.

I am also going to start taking measurements of my legs, arms, waist etc. to track my progress and make sure I am actually making consistent gains each month.

My current measurements:

Arms: 12 in
Legs: 19 in
Calves: 14 in
Waist: 29.5 in
Chest: 34.5-35 in

Overall this month has been successful in moving toward my big goal of 165 pounds by 2024 while maintaining a pretty lean body fat percentage.  However the past couple days I have been bloated from pigging out on my cheat day this past weekend.

The biggest problem I have actually noticed from myself this month is there were multiple days where I forgot to track and update the weight I was lifting while in the gym.

That being said, I was still able to make consistent and noticeable gains this past month.

Where I want to be within the next month.

Over the next month I also want to see if I am able to get all of these numbers (except for my waist) up half an inch as well.


Closing thoughts.

I have still not been having any luck with the body fat monitor at the gym, but as always I will continue to keep trying to use it and see if it eventually works for me.

Did you start your own fitness journey yet?  If not start today, and follow along the journey.

We can achieve our fitness goals together!

Bodybuilding Physique Update 5 (Learning How To Lean Bulk).

This month was mostly a good month, for the first 3 weeks I have been gaining muscle on a consistent basis and it was going great, my muscles appeared to be bigger than usual and I was gaining strength most of the time.  However this past week I started to notice muscle loss.

Where I am at now.

My strength still seems to be getting better consistently, and it looks like I am still losing fat (I tried to use the body fat scanner at the gym again, but once again I got the same error code as before).

That being said it looks like I dropped 1% bodyfat since last month.  

This past week however, I noticed some muscle loss.  I believe this is due to starting my job where I walk between 10,000 - 20,000 steps per day, which allows me to be in a deficit  nearly everyday compared to the rest of the month.

Where I want to be within the next month.

Today I did some research on how much I should be eating per day to "lean bulk" at my current activity level and found that it was about 300 - 700 calories more than I currently eat.

It seemed that eating 1700 - 2100 calories per day was working for me to "lean bulk" before I started working again, but once my activity level increased, my calorie intake stayed the same.


Over the next month I am going to test eating 300 - 700 more calories per day and see how this works out for me.  I will continue to do the same workouts and increase my strength on a continuous basis throughout this next month.

Closing thoughts.

Overall this month went well.  3 out of the 4 weeks I made noticeable progress but this last week it really looks like I took a step back even though I was doing the same things as usually in terms of working out.

This next month I am going to work on eating roughly 2550 calories per day on workout days and 2000 - 2200 on non-workout days.  This is just a test for now to see if I start to gain muscle as well as stay at the same bodyfat percentage , or even drop fat.

If you are new and interested in learning more about health and mindset click here to read the blog where I have written nearly 200 articles that will be of help to you along your journey!

Make the best of today,

Brian