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LenDentonThrive Letter #6 - Simple Rule #4 Measure What Matters

Part 4 of the 4-Part ThriveAge Simple Rules Series

Happy Saturday! I’m Len Denton, and I’m glad you’re here!

This week, we’ll be bringing the Four Simple Rules series to a conclusion. We’re talking about Simple Rule #4 - Measure What Matters.

Simple Rule #4 provides ThriveAge with the feedback loop we all need to make smart decisions about nutrition and exercise options. With Simple Rule #4, you’ll have real information at your fingertips to help you assess if you are heading in the right direction; and course-correct if you’re not. Without that info, you’d be flying blind.

Simple Rule #4 is the final piece of the puzzle that turns the Four Simple Rules into one powerful system to help you lose weight, get fit and stay fit for life!

Here’s a quick overview of this week’s edition of the LenDentonThrive Letter:

• The Big Idea - This week, we tackle Simple Rule #4 - Measure What Matters.

• Tip of the Week - this week, I’ll share the critical five things that I measure as part of my own personal ThriveLife, and why these measurements matter!

• What I’m Eating - a quick look at a typical ThriveAge-compatible meal or snack. (Warning - non-professional food photos below!)

• What I’m reading - Now that we’ve completed our reading of Atomic Habits by James Clear, we’ll steer away from the book stack and take a quick look at a few key news items that you can benefit from!

I’m really glad that you’re here! We have a lot to cover in ten minutes or less, so let’s get started!

1. The Big Idea - ThriveAge Simple Rule #4

I absolutely love to measure and track my nutrition and exercise programs!… no one ever said…ever!

Simple Rule #4 tells us to measure what matters!

Today, I’m going to share three things with you about measuring what matters:

1. I’ll quickly explain why measuring matters if you are trying to lose weight and get fit. And, especially if you are interested in staying trim and fit over the long haul.

2. I’ll give you some insight into what to measure.

3. I’ll show you how to take the pain out of measuring by making it simple.

Why Measuring Matters

Let’s quickly look at three reasons why measuring really matters in our weight loss and fitness efforts.

First, “what gets measured, improves.” This is a famous quote often attributed to management guru Peter Drucker. It means that in order to improve something, it needs to be measured, tracked, and studied. That makes sense, right?

(I also know from personal experience that nothing seems to improve if it isn’t being measured!)

When we measure and track something, we can see how it’s changing, and whether those changes are good or bad. In business, we measure all kinds of things from product quality to sales performance to customer satisfaction. Businesses do this because it works. Anything less is simply guessing. And, a waste of time and money.

This works in our personal lives as well. We track and monitor our investments, our kids’ performance in school, and our golf scores. We do it because we know it helps us to get better.

Second, measuring works really well with human minds. When we track things, we monitor charts and graphs. Over time, our unconscious actions begin to align with those graphs, working to push the graph in the direction that we consciously want it to go. It tends to focus our mind on the necessary actions needed to make the chart go in the desired direction.

Visualizing data causes our minds to better remember the trends we are trying to create on those graphs. We then begin to align our actions with the unspoken desires to make the lines on the chart do what we intended. Conversely, we tend to avoid actions that will negatively affect the chart outcome. It’s not magic… it’s neuroscience!

Third, what gets measured gets results! For example, research shows that people who track their nutrition and exercise lose more weight than those who don’t track. And, they are also shown to maintain their weight loss for longer!

What To Measure

The goal of ThriveAge is lifelong health and fitness. To achieve it, then sustain it over the years, there are basically four areas of your life that need to be systematically measured:

1. Nutrition - the single most important factor in your weight and overall health is your nutrition. Focus on nutrition helps you to lose weight initially, then to maintain a healthy weight over time. Nutrition is also a major factor in determining our long-term medical health outcomes.

2. Exercise - it’s a major complementary factor in initial weight loss. Exercise is also critically important to longevity and long-term health. In ThriveAge, one of the most important aspects of your personal exercise program is it’s measurability as described in the 4 PM Framework. (See newsletter #5 for more information on the 4 PM Framework.)

3. Body Weight - a healthy body weight is the foundation of fitness. Maintaining that healthy weight is the key to long-term fitness and medical health.

4. Medical Health - some guys have existing medical issues such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, etc. It’s important to keep track of these kinds of issues with the help of your medical care team.

You may have other factors that need to be included in your own personal version of Simple Rule #4. As for me, I keep a close watch on my cholesterol levels with the help of my physician through quarterly blood testing.

Making Measuring Simple

The key to success in measuring what matters is to keep it quick and simple. Keeping it quick and simple requires using the right tools for the job. And, some of the areas to be measured are easier than others. Let’s take a quick look at how to keep it as simple as possible, starting with the easiest area first.

Medical Health - This is usually the easiest area for guys because almost all of the measuring is done by medical professionals. All we have to do is book the appointments and show up on time and the medical team does the rest.

I recommend that you keep a copy of all of your health-related test results and information in a file or stored digitally so you can compare your changes over time. This is especially helpful with things like blood-test results and PSA scores. The keys here are:

• Work with your doctor or care team

• Keep a personal record of your results

Body Weight - This is also an easy one. Weigh yourself daily and keep track of it in either a notebook or a mobile app. (I use the Fitbit app). Consistency in your daily weigh-in process is important. I recommend weighing yourself early in the morning, usually before you eat or drink anything, and before you dress for the day. The keys here are:

• Do it the same way every day.

• Use a digital scale

• Record the results in an app or notebook

Exercise - Measuring exercise can be challenging depending on the program you’ve chosen. If your main exercise component is moderate aerobic activities like walking, jogging, biking, or swimming, most fitness trackers can handle the task. Not only will they keep track of things like distance, but most can also link the activity to your heart rate while exercising. This is really useful to help you see how your level of fitness is improving over time. The keys to simplifying tracking your exercise are:

• Choose a mode of exercise that is easy to measure and track. Initially, choose a cardio exercise to help you lose weight.

• Use digital tools like fitness trackers and apps to capture your activity and record it in meaningful ways. Examples are Fitbit, Apple Watch, Garmin, etc. Devices are available at price points ranging from $80 to $800.

Nutrition - For most guys, tracking nutrition is usually their most challenging focus area. At a minimum, you need to be aware of the foods you are consuming. In some more advanced plans, you are required to keep track of details such as counting macronutrients or calories.

Most guys consider this to be too much effort and complexity, thereby sacrificing their most powerful tools for weight loss and better health.

ThriveAge’s FoodIQ system is designed to help guys to eat smarter, so they can access the benefits of a healthier diet. FoodIQ foregoes calorie or macronutrient counting, focusing instead on counting food portions and categorizing foods into one of three food zones (Green, Yellow, and Red). FoodIQ also provides you with a daily Food Quotient, a score that tells you how well you’ve eaten on a daily basis. The higher the Food Quotient, the better your nutrition! Using the FoodIQ system, I track and plan my food intake in less than 5 minutes a day!

The keys to simplifying your nutritional tracking are:

• Keep track of everything you eat

• Use an efficient tool like FoodIQ to track your nutritional details

The best way to make measuring and tracking your health and fitness easy is to do two things:

First, choose a simple, uncomplicated plan. This is especially true if you are just starting out. And second, get the right tools and put them to work. With the right plan and the right tools, you’ll be ready to launch forward into your own ThriveLife!

Summary

We measure activities to ensure that the results are what we intended them to be. That’s especially important when it comes to our health and fitness. Simple Rule #4 provides the essential feedback loop that we need to ensure that our efforts are leading us to become healthier and fitter as we go forward.

Simple Rule #4 is the last piece of the puzzle that transforms the Four Simple Rules into one powerful system to help you lose weight, get fit and stay fit for life!

Measure What Matters.

Want to Go Deeper?

Do you want to dive deeper into ThriveAge and what it can do in your life? If that sounds like a smart move for you, then consider subscribing to the LenDentonThrive Letter. It’s totally free!

As a bonus, new subscribers will receive a free .pdf version of Chapter 1 of my upcoming new book, The ThriveAge Way (The Over-50 Way To Lose Weight, Get Fit & Stay Fit For Life).

ThriveAge is the roadmap to your custom-built ThriveLife!

2. Tip of the Week: Top 5 Things I Measure

This week, I’m sharing five things that I measure and track as part of my ongoing journey to the ThriveLife. I’ll also share why I think each one is important.

#1. My Weight - a healthy body weight is the foundation of fitness. My daily weigh-in is the quickest and easiest way to know whether my program is on track or not. If my weight trends upward for a day or two, I simply adjust my food intake to bring it back into line.

#2. My Food Consumption - My weight and my daily food consumption are closely tied to each other. Today’s food is tomorrow’s weight. For almost ten years, I’ve been following the ThriveAge FoodIQ system, operating at Level-3. Level-3 requires no calorie counting, so I’m able to do my food planning and tracking in about 5 minutes a day. I track this because nutrition is the single biggest factor in managing our health and fitness.

#3. My Daily Steps - My exercise of choice over the past ten years has been power walking. This gives me the level of calorie burn that I need to maintain my calorie balance (since I’m at my goal weight and don’t need a calorie deficit). I rely on my Fitbit tracker to keep track of all of my walking. It also keeps a very useful historical record of my walking results.

#4. My Resting Heart Rate - Resting heart rate is a good measure of overall cardio fitness, so it’s a great metric to keep track of. Fitbit also tracks my resting heart rate.

#5. My Sleep - I’ve started tracking my sleep as one of my 2023 fitness goals. Historically, I haven’t put much effort into sleep, but recent research is beginning to show the importance of getting a good night’s sleep. So, I’m now focused on improving my sleep to get at least 7 hours of good sleep per night. Fitbit helps me track my sleep and provides very useful reports through the Fitbit app.

These are my Top-5 things to measure. Every guy’s set of measurements will vary based on how they’ve designed their own ThriveLife plans.

Measure what matters. Because, what gets measured, improves.

3. What I’m Eating

ThriveAge is a food-first approach to health and fitness. I call it '“fitness for food lovers!” So, each week I’ll be giving you a quick insight into one of my typical meals. No crazy diets, just real food.

This week’s entry is one of my very favorite homemade Tex-Mex meals.

Here’s the break-down:

• 1 Len’s Own Turkey Taco Quesadilla (3 Greens)

• Len’s Own Basmati Mexican Rice (1 Green)

• H-E-B Medium Salsa (1 Green)

• 1-cup H-E-B Jalapeno Refried Beans (1 Green)

This is a total of about 450 calories. But, more important to ThriveAgers, this is a 6 Greens, 0 Yellows and 0 Reds dinner with a FoodIQ of 300. It’s another perfect ThriveAge meal.

Let me know if you are interested in the recipes.

4. What I’m Reading

Now that we’ve completed our tour of James Clear’s excellent Atomic Habits, I’m moving my reading in a new direction by sharing a few news items that you’ll find interesting. Here are two items that I hope you’ll find useful:

1. Can exercise make your brain stronger?

   This short article from Neuroscience News explains how regular exercise helps to improve cognition and can actually promote the production of new neurons. (And, who couldn’t use a few more brain cells, right?) It contains a short video as well.

   https://neurosciencenews.com/fitness-neuroscience-23228/

2. Eating your way to better health!

   Now, this is a concept I can get behind! This quick read from WebMD shows how men over 50 can improve their health by making better nutrition choices.

   https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/best-diets-for-men-over-50

I’m Writing A Book!

I’m a busy Over-50 Guy who has spent the past ten years building a practice of personal health and fitness that relies on real food and smart exercise instead of crazy diets and killer workouts. This process, called ThriveAge, helped me to lose 70 pounds and keep it off for going on ten years. Now, I want to share what I have learned with other Over-50 Guys. So, I wrote the book!

In The ThriveAge Way (The Over-50 Way To Lose Weight, Get Fit & Stay Fit For Life), I share everything I’ve learned about the principles and practices necessary to create and sustain a healthy lifestyle. I call it my ThriveLife.

New subscribers to the LenDentonThrive Letter will receive Chapter 1 of my new book for free. To get your free copy of Chapter 1, just subscribe to the LenDentonThrive Letter.

Upcoming Topics

Here’s a quick look at some of the topics I’m working on for upcoming editions of the newsletter.

• Ten Years into the ThriveLife

• ThriveLife - What It Is, And How To Get There

• Ten Things I Would Tell My 50-Year-Old Self

• Develop a Longevity Mindset to Add Years to Your Life

Please let me know if you have a particular preference in how I prioritize these for publishing, or if there’s a topic you’d like to see in future editions.

Thanks for your time and attention. Have a great weekend. See you next Saturday!

Thrive & Prosper,

Len

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See you next Saturday!