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1. Thou shalt control thy portion size.

Of this entire list, this rule is (A) the simplest, (B) the most effective, (C) the hardest to follow, or (D) all of the above… The answer is D. This step is crucial to controlling your weight, and it applies to everything, not just junk food. Even if you’re cooking a reasonably healthy dinner, don’t assume you can just load up your plate because the items are healthy. You want to keep your calorie count down, which means cutting back across the board.

While this rule can be difficult to follow, the benefit is that you don’t need to "outlaw" any foods. You can eat french fries… just limit yourself to a small handful. You can have dessert if you’re out to dinner, but split one item with your friends.

Now, I’m not saying that you can eat as much junk food as you want as long as it’s in small portions. You should still strive to keep things healthy. What I’m saying is that you don’t need to cut out all of the "not so healthy" stuff. If you do that, your diet will fail. Period.

Here are a few quick tips for helping you to control your portions:

• Create one plate with an appropriate serving of everything you want for your meal, and then put the food away. Don’t sit at your table with all the items in front of you where you can keep taking from them.
• Same applies for snacks. If you’re going to eat crackers, don’t sit with the entire box. Take out X number of crackers, then put the box away.
• If you’re feeling really hungry when you’re going to eat a meal, try to take 2/3 of what you feel like taking. You may feel like you need a huge serving because you’re hungry, but you don’t, trust me.
• Eat slower. This relates particularly to the previous item. By eating slower, your body will have more time to realize that you’ve consumed food and your hunger will diminish (without you eating a ton before it does).

2. Thou shalt eat many small meals, rather than a few large ones.

In addition to controlling portion size, it’s also beneficial to move from 3 main meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner) to 5 or 6 smaller ones. This allows your digestive system to maintain a higher degree of efficiency by continuously breaking down and digesting new food, as opposed to trying to deal with 3 large "clumps" of food. This may be difficult depending on your schedule, but try your best. I find that breaking lunch into 3 small meals at 10am, noon, and 2pm works well. Note, make sure you’re dividing up the size of your meals when doing this. You’re not just adding more meals on to what you’re already eating… That’s bad… You’re taking what you currently consume and dividing it up further.

3. Thou shalt consume the bulk of thy calories early in the day.

Consuming the bulk of your calories early in the day will keep you energized and allow your body to process the food you eat. You’ve probably heard that breakfast should be your largest meal — which is decent advice. However, eating a huge breakfast isn’t for everyone. It’s certainly not for me. I usually start my day with a protein shake, and then eat decent sized meals later in the morning and in the early afternoon. The key is tapering down your consumption by late afternoon and avoiding a massive dinner. The later in the day that you eat, the less time your body will have to digest and use that food, which brings me to the next commandment…

4. Thou shalt do little, or no, eating during the 2 hours before bed.

Avoid snacking before bed. You want to give your body time to breakdown and digest what you eat, and as far as I know, you’re body is not very efficient at doing that while you’re sleeping. This may take a little getting used to, and you may have to deal with a little hunger before bed for a week or two before your body adjusts. But once it does, this rule is much easier to follow. Additionally, this will help you to develop an appetite in the morning — which is when you should be eating. If you have to nibble on something, try to go with a small amount of a reasonably healthy food, like some peanuts, or a handful of cheerios.

5. Thou shalt keep heavy drinking to a minimum.

This may or may not be a problem for you. I like going out on weekends, so if you’re like me, try to keep your drinking in check. I’m not going to tell you that you can’t have a few drinks on a Friday night, but try to find a balance or routine that works for you. I personally like to have 1-2 moderately strong cocktails before I head out, then I’ll just "coast" on that and end up having 2 - 3 light beers throughout the rest of the night. I’m not going to pretend that those drinks are good for me, but it’s certainly better than drinking a 12 pack of beer, or having a bunch of random drinks at a bar. Try to find a routine that works for you, both calorie-wise and buzz-wise. Also, do your best to avoid getting really bombed, it’s probably going to happen on rare occasions if you’re young, but it’s seriously bad for you. And last, but not least, stay away from late night taco bell, or other fast food.

6. Thou shalt combat hunger with fruits and vegetables.

If you’re looking for a snack, or something for one of your 5 - 6 daily meals, fruits and vegetables should always be at the top of your list. You can cut down your calories significantly by replacing meals, or other junk food, with them. No, it doesn’t have to be broccoli or spinach or something like that. Look for things that you like. On the fruit side, melon is great. I’m a big fan of watermelon. Does it have some sugar in it? Sure. But it’s almost always going to be significantly better than chips, pretzels, or other snack items. On the vegetable side, try celery, carrots or cucumbers.

7. Thou shalt drink lots of water.

This one is simple. Not only does drinking water prevent you from drinking juice or other beverages with calories in them, it helps your body with various things, like digestion and keeping your skin moist. If you’re not drinking water regularly throughout the day, you should be. Period. Having a glass of juice, or a cup of coffee or tea, here and there is fine, but your "go to" drink should really be water. Keep a pitcher of it in the fridge.

8. Thou shalt exercise at least 3 times per week for 30 minutes or more.

If this seems like a lot to you, there’s something wrong. Everyone should be able to dedicate at least 90 minutes a week to exercising. Claiming otherwise is a cop out. If you’re strapped for time, you can try breaking it down into 20 minutes, 4 - 5 times per week, but don’t go under 20 minutes. You need to spend enough time doing something to actually get your heart rate up. Yes, you need to get your heart rate up, so if you’re going to be doing something like lifting weights, instead of cycling, go for less weight and a higher number of reps. For example, with respect to burning calories, doing 4 x 20 presses with 50lbs is going to be significantly better than doing 3 x 8 presses with 80lbs. If you’re going to be cycling, running or using an elliptical, try to push yourself, specifically for the last 10 minutes — this is really where it counts. If you’re not sweating at the end of your workout, then you’re not pushing yourself enough.

9. Thou shalt vary thy workouts.

This is an important factor in fitness, and it’s often overlooked. Varying your workouts is important for a number of reasons. First, it allows you to work different muscle groups, as well as different aspects of your fitness: strength, speed, stamina, explosiveness. Second, it prevents your body from adjusting to a single routine. Think of it like this… Suppose you’re a guitar player. How good are you going to be if all you practice is one song? You might be great at that song, but overall, you’re not going to be nearly as good as you would be if you practiced many. A similar principle applies to working out. Will hopping on the same bike workout every other day burn calories? Yes. Will it give you the same level of conditioning, toning, and calorie burning that a mix of workouts will? Probably not, so keep this principle in mind when designing your workouts:

• Decent - Exercise bike on level X for 30mins, 3x per week
• Better - Exercise bike on a random program for 30 mins, 3x per week
• Best - Exercise bike on Monday, weights on Wednesday, elliptical on Friday, for 30 mins each

10. Thou shalt focus on consistency, not intensity.

Slow and steady wins the race! Never is that more true than when dealing with weight loss. Your chances of losing weight and improving your health are much greater if you make a few moderate changes to your lifestyle and stick to them indefinitely. I know you want to see the results now, but if you decide one day that you’re going to cut out all junk food, count calories, and go to the gym 5x a week, you’re not going to last… you’re not… There’s probably 1 person in every 500 who can keep up a lifestyle like that, and guess what, they’re already skinny and in shape… ie - it’s not you. So make some moderate changes, stick to them, and you will see results.

And now of course the disclaimer. I am not a doctor, nor do I have any "official" evidence demonstrating that the above items will, in fact, help you to control your weight and improve your health — however, it is my opinion that they will. These suggestions may not be beneficial to everyone in all cases. You should consult your doctor before making any drastic changes in your diet or exercise habits.

A few weeks back a business partner of mine mentioned that he was considering doing an online computer science master’s degree program. He didn’t graduate with a CS bachelor’s degree, but is pretty tech savy and is thinking that he could suck it up and take the GRE’s and the prerequisites, then move on and complete the course work over a two year span. Having development / programming skills is a huge asset in the online startup game, so that’s probably his main motivation. I think it’s a good move for him, especially with online college degrees becoming more recognizable.

When he first brought up the idea, I thought about whether I could see myself going after a master’s degree, being that I already got my bachelor’s in CS from Virgina Tech. However, I was pretty quick to dismiss the possibility. I already have the skills I need. I have a bunch of successful online businesses. And, even while I was in school, I crammed my 4 year program into 3 years to get out into the working world…Why would I go back to dealing with classes and course work?

The other day, however, he sent me the program information for the online master’s program at North Carolina State. I took a quick look at it and realized that I’d be able to skip both the GRE’s and the prerequisites, because I graduated above a 3.5 GPA with a bachelor’s in CS. That means that all I’d really need to do for the master’s would be to take 10 CS courses (30 credits) online… Suddenly this idea is becoming tempting.

Logically, it’s not a great move. Will I be improving my skills? Not likely. I might gain some knowledge in theory, but it probably won’t be beneficial to my day to day work. Will I make more money with a masters? I doubt it. Hypothetically, it could come into play down the line at some point, but as a self employed developer, it’s not going to help me out much. In fact, I’ll probably lose money overall in both paying for the program and in sacrificing time for the courses… But despite all this, I still have a slight urge to take on the challenge, just to say I did it.

Anyway, we’ll see what happens. I won’t be applying anytime soon, but maybe in another year or two… you know, after I get rich and retire.

I fly pretty regularly. Probably not as much as some, but I’d say at least once a month. I feel like I have air travel down to a science and can get in and out of the airport with some efficiently — but there are a few things that people do to hold me up, and it seriously bothers me.

1. People who stand still on flat escalators. Standing on staircase escalators? No problem, you have your bags with you, fair enough… but there’s no excuse for standing still on the flat ones. The airport didn’t spend tens of thousands of dollars installing these things so that you can be a lazy sack of sh*t. If you’re really that tired, step aside and take a 5 minute breather. Or better yet, call one of those golf cart type shuttle things… Don’t get on and block me while I try to use the escalator for it’s intended purpose: moving faster.
2. People who stand in line to board the plane 30 mins early. Ok, you’re seated in row 6. They’re calling rows 25 to 30. Yet, you felt it necessary to walk up to the plane entrance and get in everyones’ way while they try board… No one is going to steal your seat, now go sit down.
3. People who are flabbergasted by the security check. Newsflash, about 6 years ago they started making you take your shoes off. That laptop of yours? It’s gotta come out of the bag. Water bottle? don’t try it… Next time, do everyone a favor and prepare for these things as your approach security, rather than holding up the line for 5 mins while you figure out WTF is going on.
4. The person in your isle seat who decides that they’re not in a rush to leave the plane. Guess what? I am in a rush, and you’re blocking me in. I realize that for you, sitting in a parked plane may be equally, or more, stimulating than getting back to your actual life, but I’m not trying to sit here for an extra 10 mins. Take your sh*t and get off the plane, you’re not doing anybody a favor.
5. Your friend who insists on getting to the airport 4 hours early. I know you have a friend like this. Unfortunately, so do I, far too many of them… and despite the fact that you fly 10x as much as they do, they insist that they "know how busy airports get" and that you need to arrive at least a few hours before your flight. Ok, next time, you do your thing, and give me a call after you get through security… that should give me enough time to wake up, pack, cab it to the airport, and meet up with you as we board the plane.

For those of you who follow MMA, you obviously know who Anderson Silva is. He’s the UFC’s 23-4 middleweight champ, and generally accepted best pound-for-pound fighter in the world right now. But who you may not know is Demian Maia, a 9-0 up and coming jiu jitsu ace. And by "jiu jitsu ace", i mean ri-fucking-diculous at jiu jitsu… probably one of the top 3 grapplers in the world.

I was blown away by his submission of Nate Quarry last weekend at UFC 91 — not because Nate Quarry is great fighter, he’s not — but simply because he pulled half-guard, swept him, took the back and choked him out in a total of about 30 seconds.

So does he have a fight with Anderson Silva coming up? Well… no, he’s got at least one more fight (potentially against Michael Bisping) before he gets his title shot. So why am I talking about it?  Well, because as far off as it is, I actually think Demian Maia can and — dare I say it… WILL — beat Anderson Silva in the future!

People say that the best style against Silva is wrestling… wrong. The problem with wrestlers is that they’re generally bad at finishing fights. They might catch you with some strikes if you have weak stand-up, or they might lay on top of you for 3 rounds and grind out a decision if you have a weak ground game — but Silva isn’t weak in either of those areas, plus you get him for 5 rounds. No, the best style against Anderson Silva is elite level jiu jitsu, elite enough to control someone who has a black belt themselves.

There are a couple guys with that elite level jiu jitsu in the middle weight division: Paulo Fihlo, Rousimar Palhares, maybe even Travis Lutter. The problem with these guys is that they have horrible conditioning. If they don’t get a submission in the first round, they basically give up. Demian Maia doesn’t have that problem — and he’s even a notch above these guys skill-wise.

Anyway, that’s enough rambling. If you’re still reading at this point, just remember this: Assuming the middle weight title race pans out as I expect, I’m going on record and saying that Demian Maia will work his way up to a title shot and beat Anderson silva ~8 months from now. Now here’s some sweet footage of Maia owning people on the mats. Love this music…

I had a few friends staying at my place last weekend, so we decided to take a walk over to Chelsea Market. Chelsea Market is really cool indoor market on 15th and 9th with a bunch of boutique type shops and eateries. A lot of times they have art displays or musicians as well, which is nice.

Anyway, they have a small coffee shop in there called Ninth Street Expresso. I hadn’t noticed it before, but I grabbed a latte this time around and it was awesome! The menu is really simple; there aren’t even sizes. You just pick your drink: expresso, americano, latte, mocha, etc., and pay (cash only). If you’re in the neighborhood, check it out… or better yet, call me and give me an excuse to run over there with you. I attached a pic of my latte to the right — beeaauutiful (I felt guilty drinking it).