Just a quick post to let everyone know about some big savings on fitness, weight loss and workout DVD’s at Amazon.com going on now until January 24th.

There are over 200 fitness titles on sale for up to 50% by some of the biggest names in the industry. I have listed them by groups and a few titles that I like. They are only on sale for another 13 days or while supplies last.

You’re saving $6-$10 per DVD and you don’t even have to dig through the discount DVD bins at Wal-mart (Come on I know I’m not the only one who’s done that before)

The Biggest Loser Workout DVD’s
-The 30 Day Jumpstart
-Power Sculpt
-Cardio Max
-Bootcamp
-Weight loss Yoga
-Last Chance Workout

View all Biggest Loser DVD’s on Sale Here

Jillian Michael’s DVD’s
-30 Day Shred (Excellent)
-No More Trouble Zones
-Banish Fat, Boost Metabolisim

View All of Jillian’s Titles on Sale Here

10 Minute Solution

There are over 21 titles in this series on sale here are just a few:

-Fitness Ball Workouts
-5 Day Get Fit Mix
-Blast Off Belly Fat
-Rapid Results Pilates
-Fat Blasting Dance Mix
-Target Toning For Beginners
-Kickbox Bootcamp with Keli Roberts – (I could take her )
-Quick Tummy Toners
-Plus 13 other titles. One thing is for sure, the producers of these videos are not fond of fat!

View All the 10 Minute Solution Titles On Sale Here

I’m not going to go into anymore detail, you get the idea. Great titles, Big savings and they are all eligible for free shipping (if you spend $25 I think).

Check Out All the Fitness DVD Titles on Sale (Including Denise Austin and Kathy Smith) Here

Please note that these link to amazon.com and I receive a small commission from any items that you purchase, just so you know

Living in Canada I get the full effects of the 4 seasons. From the bitter chill of winter to the hot and humid summers. Since I’m not a huge fan of spending all my time in the gym, I need to get outdoors and that means I have to deal with the elements.

Reviewing the past few years of my weight loss journey I wanted to see which season has been the most effective for losing weight and why? Here are my thoughts on Winter weight loss vs Summer weight loss.

Summer Weight Loss

These are some of the positive activities that I can do during the summer time (May – August, Yes I know summer starts in June)

Running

I’m an avid runner, 5k’s and local runs around the neighborhood are what I enjoy and in the summer time it’s fairly easy to get 5 runs a week in. The nights are comfortable and with the sun setting after 9pm I’m able to finish my runs before the sun sets. This is a huge psychological boost for me plus I’m able to burn a ton of calories and I’m not sitting in front of the TV.

Team Sports

Softball and Basketball are 2 team sports that I love to participate in (despite injuring my knee playing basketball that sidelined me for 3 months). Basketball in particular really gets your heart pumping and utilizes muscles you forgot you even had. Outdoors courts are everywhere and you can even get a great workout playing alone.

Softball is not considered a big calorie burner as half the game you’re sitting on your butt. But I like to play in Tournaments that go all day. I end up playing 4-5 games in a day and that eats up a lot of calories.

Yard Work

I don’t have a huge yard but it is big enough to keep me busy all summer long. Cutting the grass, gardening, trimming, pruning and pulling the damn weeds (Canada has a ban on pesticides for use on lawns and it’s killing me).

Golf and Mountain Biking

Golf is expensive but a great workout, as long as you are walking the course and carrying your clubs you’re burning a ton of calories. (I skip the carts, including the beer cart….most times )

I’ve recently gotten back into mountain biking and wow did I miss it. Trail riding is a huge calorie burner, especially if you have a crappie Walmart brand bike like mine (seriously it only has half the gears it used to have and the remaining ones slip, Hint hint @TrekBikes please send a new one my way ) Trek Bikes are the Nike of mountain bikes.

Outdoor Time With The Kids

My kids are at the age where they want to spend all their time outside riding bikes, playing at the park, going for walks, playing soccer, frisbee etc.. my point is we are always out side during the summer. Weight loss and burning calories aside spending time with my kids is the most important part of my day.

Winter Weight Loss

These are the positive things about trying to lose weight during the winter months (November to March)

Clearing The Snow

We get a lot of snow (the last 2 years almost broke the all-time records) and clearing it is no easy task. Shoveling 6-10 inches every few days is great for burning calories if you’re doing it properly. Plus on my street once you’re done your driveway you help your neighbors finish theirs.

Playing in the Snow

Once you’ve piled the snow it’s time to play in it, with the kids of course. Building snowmen, snowball fights and tobogganing are what make winter and all that snow worth having. Packed snow is heavy and toboggan hills are steep and all that lifting and incline walking help to burn off the excess calories.

Skating

While I’m not a great skater, in fact I can’t even stop, I do like to get out on the outdoor rinks and ponds for a few hours of skating and shinny with friends and family. Plus holding the kids up while teaching them to skate really works the back.

So Which Season is the Best for Weight Loss?

Now while I have to admit I am way more active in the summer time outdoors than the winter time, looking over my weight charts it looks as though Winter is when my weight. BMI and body fat% drop to their lowest points of the year.

There could only be 1 reason for this: FOOD.

Our summers are filled with barbeques, steaks, burgers and hotdogs and drinking with the neighbors. We tend to eat out more often (patio season) and with all the activities I do I tend to eat a lot more than I normally would.

One of my vices has always been nighttime eating, in fact I still struggle with this today and in the summer time it is so easy to hop in the car and hit the drive through or the convenience store for a bag of chips.

I hate the cold I mean sometimes it gets so bad that I feel like moving to Florida or California. The cold is a huge deterrent for my nighttime eating habits and the snow gets in the way of that as well. Unless I’m going outside with a strong purpose and I’m properly dressed for the cold, I stay inside. This gives me time to prepare better meals and plan ahead for the next few days, plus I have an excuse to use the treadmill in the basement.

What season do you lose most of your weight in? Let me know what you think.

Just a quick update on what I have been up to lately. As you can tell from my post frequency that I haven’t been very active online, or offline for that matter. After injuring my knee 10 weeks ago I’m now just able to bend my leg enough to start running in short bursts. This is very encouraging and I’m using that progress as motivation to restart a serious weight loss program.

Over the last 10 weeks I have done everything perfectly in order to GAIN weight. I’ve consumed way more calories than I’ve burnt, exercise has not been a part of my routine at all and my stress level has shot through the roof. Add all that together and what do you get?……..FAT and lots of it.

I have been receiving comments about how much weight I’ve gained and to top it off I need to buy a new pair of suit pants tomorrow for a wedding, since I can’t even get my old ones done up anymore.

Now this may all sound negative but I don’t see it that way. Sure it’s been frustrating and at times depressing but I look at all of these things as lessons and motivation. For example:

1. Not being able to run/walk until now has made appreciate how enjoyable it is just to take a nice slow walk around the neighborhood with my family.

2. Having to buy new pants, give me an actual physical target goal to strive towards. (Fitting into the old ones again).

Most importantly this whole experience has reinforced the principals of weight loss, that diet and exercise are both equally essential to maintaining and dropping the excess fat. Neglect one and the weight comes back slowly but neglect both and weight gain is very rapid.

So that is basically what I have been dealing with over the spring and first half of the summer. I feel that I’ve regained my focus now and I’m looking forward to big changes in the second half of the summer. Also look for more regular post updates as that is part of the plan.

Finally, I turned 32yrs old last week, great time to re-evaluate my goals!!

Who needs money? Well if you could use an extra $250 then I suggest that you head over to John’s weight loss blog at Johnisfit.com. He is having a blog contest for the month of June with the top prize being $250 cash plus other great prizes. Entering is easy, go to John’s weight loss contest for all the details.

Follow Me on Twitter

Twitter has been exploding recently and everyone is using it including myself. I mainly use it as a tool for social interaction to ask questions and to find interesting new sites and stories. Most of my tweets are about what I am doing in my daily life as well as my latest posts on weight loss weapons and some of the other sites I run.

I go under the name @steve_wlw and I invite you to follow me. If you are interested in deals and saving money I am just starting to tweet about these exclusively under @debtslaying you can follow that as well.

I look forward to chatting with you

I was telling a co-worker of mine the other day a story about the time when my first daughter was born. I had been sleep deprived for weeks on end and I was practically falling a sleep at the wheel on my drive home from work. Most nights I had to pull over on a side street for a 15 minute power nap.

One night in particular freaked me out but now looking back I can see the importance of it. I got in my car at work like any other night and started to drive. Swiping my security pass was the last thing I remember until I opened the car door in my driveway!

I had driven 50 km and didn’t remember a single red light, left turn, right turn or any other cars on the road.

Your Body’s Auto Pilot System

I’m sure that all of us have had situations like this where you do something that you’ve done a million times before in the past but have no recollection of actually going through the motions.

I think this is your body’s auto pilot system. It engages when there is a problem or when you are out of balance. In the the incident above I was way over tired and my mind just couldn’t devote the energy needed to focus on every little detail of my drive home. In essence it tuned out everything around me.

It Happened Again

What triggered me to tell this story to my friend was something that happened a few weeks ago. It happened again . I was driving home from work but didn’t remember swiping out of the parking lot, just getting into my car and from there the very next thing I knew was that I was handing the debit pin pad back to the lady at the McDonald’s drive through.

I had driven 10 minutes, placed my order (which I always get), pulled out my wallet and entered my pin# for my debit card before coming out of my auto pilot mode. No word of a lie! The next words out of my mouth were WTF (the long version). I didn’t know weather to laugh or cry.

Formed From Habits

I am convinced that this subconscious auto pilot system is formed by our habits and gets triggered when you are doing something that your mind sees as a major problem or threat.

In the first incident I was extremely sleep deprived and since I had driven that same route day in and day out for so many years, my mind and body already knew what was expected of them without me even thinking about it.

The same thing goes for the “McDonald’s situation” as my wife calls it. I had done that drive through run so many times that once triggered my body and mind knew what they were to do. Instead of sleep deprivation this time it was excessive hunger. I had been trying a new way of eating and I was starving!!! Mcdonald’s is apparently my default choice for food.

This is something that I am going to work on changing over the next few months. I know it’s not an easy thing to change and it will take time to make it happen.

What are your thoughts? Please share your stories with me, tell me I’m not alone in this?