That title is so deep.
The choices you made yesterday have no impact or influence on the choices you will make today. Yesterday is gone and today all you’re left with are the results of the choices you made in the past.
That doesn’t mean you have to live with them.
- It doesn’t matter that you’re 5, 25, or even 125 pounds overweight.
- It doesn’t matter what you ate yesterday.
- It doesn’t matter that you didn’t go to the gym yesterday.
- It doesn’t matter that you’ve been gaining weight for the past 25 years.
- It doesn’t matter that you’ve failed countless diets in the past.
All that matters are the choices you make today. Your previous choices and experiences have no affect on how today starts and ends. You might be discouraged and look back at previous weight loss attempts and think, “I’ve never lost weight before, why would anything change now?”
I had never lost any weight on countless attempts before either until last January. Since that time, as I’m sure you know, I’ve lost over 125 pounds.
I’m so glad I didn’t let yesterday get in the way.
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
Good advice! It is so easy to discourage yourself when you are focused on the mistakes of yesterday.
Forget yesterday! Even halfway through a day you can say the same thing. Just because you ate 5 donuts for breakfast and snacked your way through the morning doesn’t mean you have free rein for the rest of the day because you cheated. At any point in a day you can stop yourself and say “I fell off the wagon but I will get back on right NOW”.
Too many of us use the excuse, “I’ll start tomorrow” and finish the day off cheating our way through.
That doesn’t just go for food either.
There you go Tyler – a topic for your radio spot.
I came to make the same point as Cat — yesterday hell, this morning? Poof! Gone!
If you didn’t get up and go to the gym this morning like you were supposed to? You can still eat properly the rest of the day.
Even if you ordered a deep-fried appetizer for dinner, that doesn’t mean you should now order dessert, too, because the meal is shot.
Every good choice you make helps.
(And I’m really bad at this, btw. This is very much a do as I say, not as I do scenario. I’m apt to consider entire weeks shot to hell if they start badly, but I’m trying to change that.)
Always good to remember and you have to live your life this way in every aspect. I ‘m going to use this as my fb status today!
I remind myself of that almost every day… the best I can do is make today count! So insightful!
Awesome post!
Yesterdays have kept so many people locked into behaviors.
“But that is how we always do it!”
Your post will give me something to go on for a long time.
Thanks
Great Job Tyler. Its a great way to live your life, in the now.
Great post! There’s no point in looking back unless it’s to learn from your mistakes. Today is a new day!
This is one of my favorite posts on your blog.
Awesome..so simple ..but yet so meaningful..and deep..
I had a question. This is for Tyler and everyone else.. on average.. how many calories would you say you burn per gym session?
Because even if you do calorie deficit at some point the calories burned shld increase everyday or there would be a specific generic number for everyone to maintain. the weight..
It aint easy figuring this out.. suggestions anyone?? I would be grateful for any advice…..
On average I burn about 5-600 calories per session. You’re right that you’re going to have to increase the number of calories burned in order to continue losing weight. However, the calorie deficit you’re trying to reach can also be obtained by eating fewer calories during the day, not just by working harder or longer at the gym.
As you lose weight the number of calories your body requires to maintain itself is going to decrease. I would recommend either checking out an online calories per day calculator (like the one at mypyramid.gov) or find a formula that will help you do it yourself. Most of these calculators will take your age, height, weight, and activity level and give you an estimation for how many calories you can eat per day to lose, maintain, or gain weight. I would try using the calculator over trying to figure out exactly how many calories you burn per day because it can get very tedious trying to calculate calories burned based on everything you do from the time you wake up until you go to bed. You can use the number you get from the calculator as a starting point and work from there.
Here’s a quick example (based on the mypyramid.gov calculator):
For a 25-year-old 6′ 200 lbs male the amount of calories required to maintain weight is 3000 per day. This is assuming you have ~30-60 minutes of exercise most days on top of every day normal activity (exercise level can be either less than 30, 30-60, or 60+).
Since there are 3,500 calories in a pound, you can subtract 500 calories from that number and lose a pound a week(500 calories per day * 7 days in a week = 3500 total). So if you wanted to lose two pounds, you could eat 2000 calories a day instead of 2500. you can play around with the number of calories you want to subtract to find something you can maintain on a daily basis but still lose weight. It all depends on how fast you want to lose it.
You shouldn’t go below 1200 as a woman or 1500 as a man or you’re body will go into “starvation mode” and start trying to conserve as much body fat as possible.
Thank You David.. that was really helpful… gave me an idea on how to proceed !! awesomeness !!
VC
This a a great post and great reminder. All too often, I see people who want to lose weight make one little slip-up and sabotage themselves by letting that mistake inspire a day, a week, a month, or a year of bad choices and laziness. And then we’re in the same (or worse) position as we were when we started. Thanks for reminding us all that when (not if) we err, we need to forget that and make the next decision the right one.
“Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory.” Ghandi
everyday man – everyday.
Well said, Tyler!
Excellent point, Tyler. Everyday’s a new day whether yesterday was good, bad, or indifferent.
Can’t changed what happened yesterday…great stuff.
Exellent post!
It’s so true. And I want to tell you that yesterday, I got on the track (for the first time in about a year) and ran a mile in 11:30 without stopping to walk, which is HUGE for me. I don’t know if you remember, but about a week ago I commented on your post where you asked, “How much weight have you lost lately?” and I confessed that I’ve GAINED weight. Well, I’m not ready to weigh myself yet, but this week I decided to get serious (again) about working out and eating better, and I feel really good about it. I even got new running shoes, and they make a WORLD of difference.
Thanks for being a continual inspiration.
You’re right, that is deep.
It’s the truth. If we all keep looking back at yesterday, and not changing today- what would be the point????
Beautiful Post.
I’m going to quote the Dog Whisperer here… “dogs live in the moment. ” Well, so should we humans.
Excellent point Tyler, as always.
I like that title. Means a lot. I have quit so many times in the past. I can’t even say for sure what has kept me going until now even at a point when I wasn’t losing for a period of three weeks. the frustration I felt to quit was immense. Instead of quitting I did something about it this time. I got my RMR measured and found out I wasn’t eating enough calories and my body was rebelling by going into starvation mode. I met with a nutritionist and trainer and my first week into it I lost 3.6lbs!
Tom Brokaw
http://www.ihategreenapples.com
This post is AWESOME. I say this because, I was always on the tomorrow diet. As in, “tomorrow I will start my diet”. Tomorrow always came and I never started. Or I would start for a couple of days and then stop. Always leading me to come back to making a fresh start tomorrow.
Now I realize that we need to concentrate on making the best choices we can for today! We leave yesterday behind and deal with our tomorrows when they come. One day at a time.
~Kellie
Such a great reminder, Tyler! Yesterday is over and tomorrow isn’t here yet, so live TODAY consistent with all of your dreams, goals, and intentions. Today I am choosing HEALTH.
Pumba: You’ve got to put your behind past you.
Timon: No, it’s you’ve got to put your past behind you.
Thank you for the reminder :)
You should write a book.
Hi, Tyler!
Somehow I stumbled upon your blog and I’m hooked. I’ve been reading for hours now, your journey is epic.
I’ve been working out/eating better since the beginning of this year… wow, it feels amazing to lose (it’s a victory just to see an OUNCE less than before!). Last year was a rough one for me. Lost a baby through another miscarriage, had a molar pregnancy, did 6 months of chemotherapy and all the while I gained so much weight. I didn’t feel happy for a long time. I’ll be reading about your journey, looking for all the things that I’m sure I’ll be feeling at one point or another as I lose my weight.
So thank you for having this site for us.
Katy Wilson
Absolutely the way I feel. Sometimes I step off the scale and it read 3 lbs more than I had anticipated. I just mumble under my breath “read ‘em and weep dude.” Then I finish off the rest of work out know that I just need to do today’s work.
Good post Tyler
And this is why we less than 3 you…
<3
Your blog has def been one of my biggest motivations, and good reads when I’m feeling confused!
So far March hasn’t been the greatest, but this post puts me back in place. Who cares about yesterday.. lets worry about now, and tomorrow!
Good post!
You have no idea how much I needed that. I have been feeling like the wieght hasnt been coming off the way it could be coming off…I havent been been puttting that initial effort in, and I was looking for a little inspiration, and there it is! Thank you so much!
Tyler… I can’t even BEGIN to tell you how much I needed to read this today. I’ve been so unmotivated for the past few weeks and this blog entry truly hit home! Thank you :)
I wanted to let you know how much I liked this post. I found your blog about a month ago, and you have inspired me to start changing old habits and make a new path for myself. This post really did it for me. I have printed it and read it often. I also have created my own blog to document/hold me accountable for the weight loss and health gain I want to achieve. Thanks. I’m not letting yesterday get in the way anymore!
It is wonderful for you to write this post and give support to all those blogs that are currently out there that I read that almost every post begins: “Well, I screwed up today” or “I really blew it today” or “I only had a very small serving of [....] that is fattening but I stayed the course.” etc.
They see that you are able to do this too [slip up] and still go on and have a successful weight loss.
I also applaud the fact that you eat out a lot and enjoy what you eat, again giving others license to follow suit -”because if 344 can do it”, then so can they, right? Although I think a lot of people miss how much you work out. [Calories in/Calories out]
Congrats on your weight loss and your support of all of those out there that follow your blog.
**I should add on the slip up comment – who hasn’t slipped up when attempting a new goal – be it weight loss, learning a new skill, quitting a bad habit, etc.