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Im overweight. Just typing that conjures up a package of less-than-pleasant feelings and concerns. Am I at risk of diabetes? Is there a physical inactivityrelated disease lurking around the corner?

As I change my lifestyle, the last thing I want to do is learn all the scary details about just how bad my health has become. It feels like opening the mailbox when you know theres a pile of bills waiting for you. Yet, after many years of working with the American Council on Exercise, I understand the necessity of evaluating where I am today so I can measure my progress and evaluate growth on my healthy-living journey. I choose to let this determination surmount any intimidation or fear I feel, and Im ready to take my baseline. And I'm doing it by following these five steps:

The important first step in any attempt at lifestyle change involves knowing where you currently stand. To change, you have to know what youre changing.

Many people, especially those of us who are overweight or obese, tend to underestimate how poorly were eating or overestimate how much were moving on a daily basis. As you will see, I certainly did.

So, before moving forward, I had to take an honest look at my own habits. I had to ask myself, what am I really eating? How am I really moving my body?

Before diving into this project, I created a 14-day food and exercise journal. Thats enough time to balance out some highs and lows and give a good representation of how I typically eat.

I started with total calories, comparing my actual caloric intake to my goal intake of 2,500 calories per day. In my first two weeks, from a calorie standpoint, I didnt do too bad. In fact, I was either below or within 100 calories of my target on nine of the 13 days. The most calories I ate was on day 5, with 2,865 calories.

The one day I didnt count calories on was day seven for one simple reason: life got in the way. I recorded my breakfast and lunch, but then went out to dinner after being snowed in for three days. Dining out can make it very difficult to know exactly what you consume. How much complimentary bread did I really eat? What exactly is in that sauce? What about the drinks? How big are the portion sizes of the meal?

Eating at restaurants is an important social element in most of our lives and I knew that there was no way I would be staying out of restaurants for the next 12 months. Most people wouldnt. After I realized I couldnt really estimate how much I ate that night, I decided Id better devise a plan to eat more intelligently when I go out in the future.

In my first two weeks, from a calorie standpoint, I didnt do too badly. I was either below or within 100 calories of my target on nine of the 13 days. The most calories I ate were on day five, with 2,865 calories.

Next I looked at my carbohydrate, fat and protein (collectively known as macronutrients) consumption.

Now, Im no nutritionist, but I feel bad news on the horizon. If my carbohydrate and protein percentages were low, that can only mean one thing I was consuming too much fat.

I came close a few times, but never actually got down to the goal of only 20 percent of my diet being from fat. Prior to doing this exercise, I never would have guessed that my diet was this high in fat.

While I knew that what I was eating before I started this journey didnt align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, I was surprised to learn that I was almost exactly on target with my total caloric consumption, but I was eating 36 more grams of fat each day than I should be. This may not sound like much, but 36 grams of fat equals 324 calories of extra fat each day.

As you can see, its vital to know your current habits before trying to establish new ones because what youre doing every day may not be what you think youre doing. Prior to this exercise, I had no idea what it would take to have fat be only 20 percent of my total calories. Now I know that its not necessarily the amount of food Im eating, but the types of food I choose. If I can find a way to replace some fat with protein and carbohydrate while keeping my total calorie intake steady, I will be well on my way to meeting my initial goals.

I learned some big lessons during these 14 days, the most important of which was that I was more than capable of eating well one day at a time. Consistency was my problem. I needed to develop some tools and skills to turn one or two good days per week into three or four, eventually leading to me making the right nutrition choices the majority of the time.

When it comes to exercise, the conversation is much simpler. The Physical Activity Guidelines recommend you perform at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity, as well as two or three muscle-strengthening activities each week that are moderate or high intensity and involve all major muscles groups. In other words, I need to do at least five 30-minute cardio bouts and two full-body resistance-training sessions. Thats seven workouts a week. In order to give myself a day off each week, I will either have to double up one day and do both cardio and strength or extend those cardio sessions to at least 38 minutes each, which would cut the number of workouts down to four.

During this two-week baseline period, I performed about 60 minutes of cardio each week, falling far short of my goal. I also performed three sessions over the two weeks where I did core-strengthening work and flexibility training, along with a few strengthening exercises.

The week before beginning this project, I visited my doctor, who ordered some blood work so we could establish a baseline against which to compare any future progress.

The results of my physical exam were not ideal, which wasnt surprising. My body mass index (BMI) was 37, which put me in the Grade II Obesity category, and my blood pressure was at the low end of the prehypertension category. When it came to my bloodwork, there were four areas of concern. Total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL (high-density lipoprotein, also referred to as the good cholesterol), and HDL risk factor. All were elevated except my HDL, which was too low.

In addition, my hemoglobin A1c levela test commonly used to screen for diabetes was slightly higher than it should be. There was also concern about elevated enzyme levels that might indicate that I have fatty liver one of the many risks associated with abdominal obesity that have been a concern for me in the past.

The next day, I had 90-minute session with my personal trainer. My trainer took skinfold measurements, which revealed that my body-fat percentage is 26.9%. Anything above 25% is considered obese. The trainer also took a series of circumference measurements at the hips, waist, abdomen, biceps, chest and thigh.

Finally, I completed a series of physiological assessments that measure muscular endurance and involve simply doing as many repetitions as you can with good form. These tests came with some ups and downs. I scored good and excellent for push-ups and squats, respectively, but I was in the poor category for curl-ups and the 1-mile walk test.

Knowing where you stand is essential for two reasons. First, you cant know what changes you need to make to your diet or exercise regimen to improve your health and overall well-being if you cant honestly assess what youve done to become overweight in the first place.

Second, having a way to measure success is key. If the bathroom scale is your only means of tracking progress, frustration is almost certain. After a few months, you may find that youve hit a frustrating weight-loss plateau. But if you know that your clothes fit differently, that your waist circumference has gone down by three centimeters, or you can do six more push-ups than you could at baseline, then you can find small victories to help keep you motivated.

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I went to bed on January 31, 2017, knowing that I would start changing my life first thing the next morning and I meant it this time! Without exception, everyone I told about this project looked at me like I was a bit nuts, including my wife, my friends and my doctor. Its a huge challenge, especially for someone who has made very few genuine efforts to lose weight before, but Im ready. Wish me luck and join me.

Im proud that NBC BETTER invited me to share my journey every two weeks with you through the completion of The Lifestyle Project and beyond,and now I want to hear from you.

Have questions about my journey? Ask me on Twitter from noon to 1 p.m. EST Thursday, September 7.

Want more tips like these? NBC News BETTER is obsessed with finding easier, healthier and smarter ways to live. Sign up for our newsletter.

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5 Steps to Kicking Off an Effective Weight-Loss Plan - NBCNews.com

Maybe not.

If you've grit your teeth through a workout despite being sick, tired, or injured, or even just tend to plan your entire life around your workouts, youve more than likely stepped into that Twilight zone of when too much of a good thing becomes counterproductive.

This is how to tell if you've crossed the lineand why you should scale it back, stat.

Check out some of the weirdest weight-loss trends through history:

Too much here can be difficult to measure and is largely dependent on the individual, says Nathan Jones, a physical therapist at Atlas Physical Therapy in South Carolina. An elite-level athlete whos used to working out a ton is better equipped to handle the stress than the typical gym-goer, says Jones.

ButJC Deen, a personal trainer based in Nashville, says that indicators that you might be overdoing it at the gym can include: feeling tired all the time, having a hard time sleeping, being unable to go as hard as usual in your workouts, experiencing a loss of interest in working out, and generally feeling irritable.

Anything that's bad for your body and overall health is going to be bad for your weight-loss goals. First of all, over-training can lead to an increase in the stress hormone cortisol, which can tank your metabolism and mood, and even cause you to store more fat.

Plus, the idea that you can erase that dinner of lasagna and chocolate molten lava cake by working it off at the gym is misguided and inaccurate.[Women who overexercise] typically feel that exercising is a way to maintain their shape, and if they cut back, they will regress, gain weight, and not be able to eat as much as before, says Deen.This concept of working out to earn your food intake is something he sees often among the clients he works with.

However, areview of studies in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, for example, shows that exercises impact on weight loss is often modest. (We've all heard that weight loss is 80 percent diet, 20 percent exercise, and that's actually pretty accurate.)

Another 2015 paper from the University of Alabama suggests that using exercise to create a calorie deficit is not as simple as calculating your calories in versus calories out.That's because simple math doesn't account for the fact that the body is dynamic. Basically, just because you burned 300 calories on your morning run doesn't mean you can eat an extra 300 calories at happy houreven if you're still within your calorie goals for the day.Metabolism is complex and our bodies burn calories in many ways, of which exercise contributes just a small part. And using exercise to offset or justify high-calorie foods just hurts your long-term motivation.

That said, exercise is a part of the weight-loss equation, just not the main part, which is where rest days come into play. It can be super easy to overdo it on exercise and under-do it on rest days. The urge to be extreme in fitness seems to be woven into the stretchy-spandex fabric of our culture: No one glorifies not exercising. In fact, working so hard that you puke sometimes seems to be encouraged.

But rest is necessary for you to continue seeing results. According to a study in theJournal of Strength and Conditioning Research, "full training recovery is essential to optimal performance." When you get to the point of being unable to properly recover from your sessions and youre not making progress, youre just putting more wear and tear on your body than necessary, Deen says.

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) defines a rest day as a non-training day, which means that youre not doing anything to physically challenge your body and you hopefully spend time away from the gym. Sure, you can take it as permission to sit on your tush and watch Netflix all day, but experts often recommend doing light activity, or active recovery, to help you recover faster. Some examples include a brisk walk or moderate hike, mobility work, yoga, or technique work at the gym.

Your rest days should be pre-established. Rest days are oftentimes baked into thoughtful workout programs. For example, you may work out hard four days per week, take two active rest days (think: yoga or walking), and one day completely off to relax. If all youre doing is running day in and day out, theres a good chance youre going to develop some nagging pain in spots around your hips, knees, and ankles, says Jones, who sees these problems often in his clinic.

More isnt better because we can only recover from so much, and doing anything above and beyond what we can recover from oftentimes just leads us to regress or hurt ourselves, says Deen.

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This Is How Your Workouts Could Be Sabotaging Your Weight Loss - Women's Health

Where in the world has Jordin Sparks been? The American Idol winner is making headlines again as one of the Miss America 2018 judges, and fans can't get over how great the 27-year-old looks!

The singer previously talked to Life & Style about her 55-pound weight loss and how she's managed to keep it off. I was carrying a five-year-old. Its insane, she shared in 2013. Fall 2010 through March, that's kind of when I lost the first 30 pounds. By March of [2012], I [had] lost 50. And then I maintained it for the rest of the year.

Jordin in 2007 (left) vs. 2017. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

She added, I was in the gym all day long. When I got up I would hike, then I would go to the trainer. At night, I would go to my Latin dance fitness class." But Jordin hasn't just become a pro at healthy eating. Back in 2015, she gave Life & Style her five steps to getting over a breakup after splitting from fellow musician Jason Derulo.

No. 1: "Make sure your core people are around you. My mom and my dad were my rock." No. 2: "Find some good music that you can sing along to and sing it at the top of your lungs! I have a really, really great one 'I Don't F--k With You' by Big Sean." No. 3: "My mom told me to do a personal video every single day to see how far I've come. She even showed one of her old ones... Its amazing because I look back at the videos and see the difference."

No. 4: Its so cathartic and therapeutic to write your thoughts down because then theyre not all jumbled up in your head." And No. 5: "Stay busy! I think that really helped me at the time. I had a lot to do and for those moments that I would focus on something else, I didnt have to think about that or what was happening or what was being said!"

Given that the brunette beauty is now happier than ever with boyfriend Dana Isaiah, we'll take any advice she has to offer. Keep up the good work, girl!

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Jordin Sparks Has Managed to Maintain Her Impressive 55-Pound Weight Loss! - Life & Style Weekly

Its a beautiful, sunny day here on Long Island, and after Im done writing this to you, Ill be taking the dog out for a walk before heading out for my last couple of sessions of the day. I would take him out now, but the mailman is delivering post to the complex I live in, and lets just say that my dog is not the mailmans biggest fan:-/

Now then, how to replace pasta in your diet! One of the most common food groups my clients come to me eating in troves right when we begin working together are grains. Bread, cereal, pasta, riceYou name it! And with the faulty dietary advice weve been given here in the States for the past 60 or so years, its no wonder so many folks (myself included!) have struggled with their weight in this neck of the woods!!

Modern grains are inflammatory, and lack nutritional value. FYI: If a food product has to be fortified with vitamins and minerals, you should seriously wonder just what REAL nutritional value it truly has;-)

When my clients start up with me, we nip cravings and poor food choices in the bud with three things:

1) My Food Guide, which reviews the three different phases of nutrition my clients will follow as their program progresses,

2) My Healthy Recipe Book, which provides them with 72 different recipes spanning breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, appetizers and desserts, and finally,

3) Daily accountability via the MyFitnessPal app.

You can have your cake and eat it, too, provided you either find a healthy alternative to a bad food choice, or you make your own cake with healthy ingredients, instead. And while my Recipe Book has a couple of delicious noodle-based dishes, Ill give you some free advice right here;-)

When I desperately want pasta but dont want to crack, Ill go to the grocery store and buy one of two vegetables: A squash, or a zucchini. There are a bunch of different kinds of squash, and obviously, if you get a spaghetti squash, the preparation process is a little bit different than what Im about to lay out for more traditional squashes.

All you have to do to prepare squash or zucchini noodles is to either buy some pre-packaged, already spiraled squash or zucchini (many stores have this available in the Produce section these days), or you can buy a spiralizer on Amazon, attach the squash or zucchini, and crank the handle. Your vegetable of choice will then be dispensed into a bowl or a plate below in perfect, pasta-like noodles. Next, you have one of two options: 1) You can boil the spiraled squash or zucchini (much you like you would with regular wheat-based pasta), or 2) You can saute it.

I personally go the sauted route, as I feel that vegetables are already water-based, and that boiling them can make them pretty mushy. Ill use either some organic butter, or some avocado oil when sauting, as these can both be utilized under high heat. Remember, cooking with certain Omega-6 rich oils changes the oils chemical composition, which turns it into a trans fat. Trans fat is a man-made, carcinogenic compound that can lead to various forms of cancer, heart disease, and obesity.

Anyway, after boiling or sauting your noodles, theyre ready to eat in just minutes! Just add whatever meat, sauce, etc. that you intended to, and enjoy!

Hope you found this helpful:-) Til tomorrow!

pete@weightlossbypete.com

P.S. If you feel you need more help on the nutritional side, then youre definitely going to want to invest in my Food Guide and Healthy Recipe Book!

The Food Guide lays out the three phases of nutrition I use with my Permanent Weight Loss clients. Phase 1 gets you in the habit of making healthier choices, while Phase 2 really cleans up the frequency with which you eat healthier. Phase 3 is a strict macronutrient breakdown that will help expedite the process of weight loss, all while improving your health and making your body a well-oiled machine!

My Healthy Recipe Book includes 72 recipes spanning breakfast,lunch, dinner, snacks, appetizers and desserts. Im constantly adding to it, but these recipes are easy to make, simple and enable you to have your cake and eat it, too!

Normally, I sell each of these books for $10 a piece, but because Im feeling generous today, you can get BOTH for just $13.99!:-)

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Weight Loss Tip: How to Replace Pasta in Your Diet! - HuffPost

Its a brainstorming process Hall foresees all mentors and mentees at HEALab employing, followed by building a prototype and testing it out. Washbon, a junior, hopes to have a solid enough plan to pitch at one of the many ASU startup competitions before she graduates.

There are so many invaluable resources at ASU, it would be silly not to take advantage of them, she said.

And you dont even have to be a student to do so.

Drew Saenz, a former student of Halls who graduated in 2015 with a degree in exercise and wellness, started a successful company called Team Up that focuses on providing fitness training to special-needs kids. Hes looking to branch out into corporate wellness and visited HEALab on Wednesday to brainstorm with Hall on ways to do that.

Hall immediately introduced Saenz to Washbon and urged them to exchange contact information. Its clear he relishes these kinds of moments, opportunities for like-minded individuals to connect, share and perhaps create something new.

A year from now, they could have a business together, Hall said.

There are a handful of other projects Hall has been working with that he hopes to bring into the fold at HEALab, including a fitness app that uses an avatar to show people how their body will change; a nonprofit that hopes to provide detox services to infants of opioid-addicted mothers; and a business that would provide insurance for preventative health rather than treatment.

As it evolves, HEALab plans to offer a monthly speaker series (beginning Oct. 11); weekly networking and idea-generation meetings; pitch competitions; mentoring and office hours; a space in which all that can happen; and more. And its all available to students, faculty, staff, alumni and the general public.

Thats really unique and smart because if were helping the community, it just helps us, and it helps with ASUs mission of social embeddedness in the downtown area, Hall said.

HEALab will also provide services to participants of Prepped, a free six-week program offered by ASUs Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation that began last year as a way to support entrepreneurs from underserved communities start food businesses.

The official grand opening of HEALab will be in October, but Hall encourages anyone interested in what it has to offer to stop by and check it out on the ground floor of Taylor Place, a residence hall on the Downtown Phoenix campus.

Our goal, said Hall, is to connect the dots between these enormous opportunities for innovation and the resources to make them happen.

Top photo:Erin Washbon meets with the director of the HEALab, Rick Hall, at Wednesday's soft launch of the entrepreneurial space. The startup incubator is geared toward health and wellness students on the Downtown Phoenix campus but is open to students of any major, as well as faculty, staff, alumni and the general public. Photo by Anya Magnuson/ASU Now

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ASU fitness expert says new study underscores tricky nature of weight loss - Arizona State University