If you have been following my posts about Vitalogy you know that I'm sold on it. I have achieved incredible flexibility and lost weight, and my friend Thomas (who is sitting next to me) also loves the exercises and food.

Well, the good news is that Will Nelson and I and Thomas have decided to work together and bring out a 7 day video series that will teach anyone the four basic VitalBody movements and the four basic VitalFood recipies. I'll let you know when it's available.

More later.

I'm at the end of the 30 day Vitalogy challenge. Here are the results in a nutshell.

• 14 pounds lost
• Lots of flexibility gained
• Neck and shoulder pain and stiffness significantly reduced

It's 23 days into the Vitalogy program and I have a pretty good understanding of what it's all about. Let me say that if you're looking for rapid weight loss or exercise that will make you look like a greek god or godess in a few weeks, then Vitalogy probably isn't for you. On the other hand, if that is what you are looking for, then in the long term you will probably fail. Sure, you may drop the weight fast, but as soon as you stop the "special" diet you'll most likely put it right back on. Same with the exercise… the washboard abs will only last as long as you keep up the exercise routines. The gym industry knows that it makes its real money from all the people who sign up to join the gym and then stop coming after a month or two… but they keep paying.

What Vitalogy does is teach you a few simple principles that enable you to become aware of specific things that you do in your day to day life that put you and keep you in the predicament (or rut if you prefer) you are in now. Plus it gives you extremely simple things that you can do to make permanent changes in your lifestyle that will get you out of your ruts. The essence of a long term, lasting solution is that you make small, easily implemented changes to your lifestyle rather than huge drastic changes.  Let me give you an example. If you have been sedentary for a long while, are out of shape, sit in front of a computer all day with your shoulders hunched over, and ache every time you stand up, then it's pretty unlikely you will get much from the Navy Seals Workout. First, you will quickly discover that it's difficult or impossible for you to even do the exercises in the workout… but beyond that you will probably discover that fitting the time into your schedule will also be a challenge. Remember that the lifestyle that is keeping you in a rut includes your scheduling. Same thing applies to going to a gym and doing an hour workout. That's at least one and a half hours you need to find in your schedule… and that's why its hard to keep up.

I think the problem is the "macho" mentality that has dominated the exercise and diet industry in our culture. Think about it. Diet and exercise programs are created mainly by athletes… football players, martial artists, etc. The macho image is that if you do their exercise routine you'll be like them. It isn't so. What Vitalogy provides is a "gentle" approach to exercise and diet. It helps you start moving again and start eating in a sane manner.

For example, I found it very difficult to eat well because cooking good food every day was difficult to fit into my schedule. Vitalogy had a simple solution of cooking once a week or once every two weeks… but when you do cook, cook enough food to last for a while and freeze it. Duh… Why didn't I think of that? The trick is how you fit the cooking into other chores like clieaning up the house.

To sum it up. My experience so far is that Vitalogy is the only reality based diet and exercise program I have encountered. The shock is the huge changes that can happen in a fairly short time just by encorporating simple gentle changes in your life.

The good news is that I have made an arrangement to allow Enjoy A Better World subscribers to be alpha testers in Vitalogy's new 7 Day Intro Program. A note about that will come out shortly in the Newsletter.

This is amazing for 5-10 minutes a day in spare time…

I've received a bunch of requests asking for before and after pictures. Luckily I did anticipate that and did take some before pictures. So, check out the video. I have told a few people that Vitalogy is the first Reality Based Exercise and Diet Program. By that, I mean that it's the first diet and exercise program that deals with the reality of where people actually are and where they want to be. So, my reality was that I had about a two year history of knee problems… and since I couldn't walk much I put on some weight. All that resulted in me getting stiff muscles all over the place and I had restricted movement. My goals were to get back some movement and drop some weight. Take a look at the video and draw your own conclusions.

By the way… The Vitalogy 30 day program has been condensed into a 7 day version. It will be available soon. In 7 days you learn the basics for changing your life.

Ron

As you've no doubt already guessed, I am convinced that Vitalogy really works. The results that hit me between the eyes is that I've lost 10 pounds without any real effort and, most of all, I've changed from walking down the stairs one step at a time because of knee and hip stiffness to walking down the stairs like I did about 5 years ago… like most other people. I have some video of the old me and I'll shoot the new me and post the differences in the next few days. 

Here are my observations. Vitalogy is not for somebody who wants to get big muscles and washboard abs. Actually, that sort of exercise is really the antithesis of Vitalogy. Posture and movement is what Vitalogy is all about, and movement is about the distance you can move, the directions you can move in, and the speed with which you move. That doesn't mean you Vitalogy isn't about strength building. Do the 3 basic movements of Shaking, Twisting, and Lateral Flexion with 3 or 5 pound dumbbells in each hand and you'll find out what strength training is all about real fast.

The other thing I really like is that the exercises fit into my schedule so easily. I set a timer for about 90 minutes when I am sitting in front of the computer. Then when it goes off, I stand up and do a few exercises. It couldn't be simpler and… this is the really cool part… I seem to work much more effectively.

Well, the bottom line is that I think so much of Vitalogy I have agreed to help create a 7 day Introductory Program. More on that later.

"Hello, this is the chocolate chip cookie talking to you… the one that made Ron slip off the Vitalogy program on day 12… well, actually the first one."

Yup, I just love homemade chocolate chip cookies. So, I have a few yesterday. These are those $1,000 carbs I was talking about in the other post. I still did my shaking, twisting, rocking, and lateral flexion, but I found the temptation too great so I invested in a few thousand dollars in carbs. What I really like about Vitalogy is that it's realistic. It's not like stupid diets that demand you eat nothing but protein or fast on lemonade and maple syrup. Vitalogy is about making change for life, not a few weeks. That means it follows the 80/20 rule. What matters is what you do 80% of the time throughout your life. You're going to have cookie days once in a while, just keep them down to the 20%. So, on day 13 I just need to be mindful of the money I spent on carbs yesterday and try to save them and put them back in the bank over the next couple days. I keep up the protein, fat, carb combination, but alter the carbs to eat nothing but the $5 carbs. So, that means some Green Drink. I'll tell you about that in another post.

Vitalogy works on the idea that you learn really simple stuff, then make variations on it to incorporate it into your individual life. When it comes to foods, it's really incredibly simple. First, there are proteins, fats, and carbs. That's it. The best practice is to include some of each every time you eat. The demon of our culture is that we eat carbs, carbs, and more carbs because carbs not only includ things like cupcakes, but also things like carrots and even lettuce. Ultimately, all the carbs turn into sugar. Now, there are $1000 dollar carbs like cupcakes and $5 carbs like lettuce. The amount is how much you have to pay for eating them. Obviously, the thing to do is eat more $5 carbs… yup, they have all the good things like fiber and vitamins. 

The other thing that's simple is that if you're overweight it makes no sense at all to go on a diet to drop some pounds then return to your usual way of eating so you can put them right back. Instead,you need to think about how you are going to change your entire pattern of eating. The two Angels of VitalFood is that there are a few basic recipies for creating really healthy meals and when you cook you make a lot. With the few basic recipies you can make variations that suit your taste… you end up with a wide variety of things to eat, but they're all really good for you. By making a lot at once you are free from being tied to the kitchen every day. So, for example, one of the basic recipies is for high protein pancakes. When I made them I made about 50 at a time. That's keeping me in pancakes for quite a while. All you need is a freezer. You end up eating healthy, organic (If you so choose), balanced meals about 80% of the time. Vitalogy recognizes that trips to the burger joint will not disappear. You don't spend time every day in the kitchen.

Does it work? As you know, I'm getting back a lot of lost flexibility… and I've lost 8 pounds without even trying just by sticking with VitalFood. Life is definitely getting better.

In 7 days I've finished up the basic learning that needs to happen in Vitalogy. One thing I learned is that the name Vitalogy means the study of (ogy) Vitality (Vital). This program really isn't about getting washboard abs or dropping off weight fast. My own experience is that that stuff really doesn't last. Instead Vitalogy is learning how to make or keep your life full of vitality and youth. It's about changing your whole lifestyle to something that makes more sense. Vitalogy theory is that youth is defined by three things, at least when it comes to the physical body. They are movement, balance, and posture… and in order to have those three things you've also got to have flexibility. When you think about it, little kids run around like crazy all the time. As adults we get stuck in patterns like sitting in an office cubicle all day that rob us of our movement and flexibility. Think about the posture of sitting hunched over a computer terminal all day… got the picture?

So, one huge takeaway for me is that I now set a timer when I am sitting in front of the computer screen… one hour. Every hour I get up and do about a minute of shaking, lateral flexion, rotation, and/or rocking. This doesn't seem like much, but the results are huge. No kidding!! In just a week I've regained a whole lot of flexibility that I didn't even realize I had lost. I haven't developed any macho muscles, but I'm able to move in ways that I forgot about… and the muscle and joint aches and pains are gone. I've done gyms before. I've also done exercise boot camps and a bunch of other "fitness programs". This is the only thing that I have found that you integrate into your life. There's no driving to the gym or exercise program. There's no changing clothes to put on the exercise outfit. There's no making special time during the day to fit in your exercises. You really just integrate it into your life… a few minutes here and a few minutes there.

I've also been really impressed with the whole theory of diet… but that will be the subject of the next post.