Something happened as a result of my recent “Stronger than my excuses” blog post from a few weeks ago — some people following me got inspired to make fitness a larger part of their life.

And a side effect of that, I created a new facebook page called ZDXFit for folks interested in improving their health while interacting with others who want to do the same. ZDXFit offers a no judgement zone where folks can come to simply motivate and help each other achieve their goals.

It doesn’t matter where you’re starting from or how far you want to go or how many people follow the page — every little tiny thing adds up and can make a big difference. :)

And as a result of the new group, I decided to write out some of the things I know about diet, nutrition, and fitness (below). Please keep in mind, I simply love this stuff — I am not a trained professional. Please read my tips at your own risk and, as always, use common sense.

My knowledge comes from years of personal experience — things that have worked for me. I’ve gotten fit, fallen out of shape, gotten fit again, taken 20 months off, then started all over — I’ve experienced a lot and learned a lot along the way. But keep in mind that what works for me may not work for you. Every body is different — it is your job to try different things until you find something that works for you.

One of the most informative, no-nonsense, tried and true sources of my information comes from Tom Venuto’s Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle ebook.

As much as Tom’s site has turned into marketing overkill and looks like some silly fitness gimmick (to me), it is not. I really dislike his marketing tactics, but I absolutely love his book. His was the information I used when I decided to get abs. I know it works and his no-nonsense, no shortcuts mentality really worked for me.

While the BTFFTM book appears like it is aimed more towards fitness buffs like me, it has a lot of great no-nonsense nutrition info and good workout info, too. However, you may want to look into his other books that are marketed more towards a general audience — I’m reasonably confident they will have much of the same no-nonsense information.

[Ok -- I just wrote the following from my head, so I will likely come back and edit some things and probably add in links to research and such... but for now...] Read more