How to Lose Weight

So over Christmas this year I hit the Tim-Tams heavy! Perhaps the worst thing about living overseas is meeting Australians and learning how to bite off both ends of a Tim-Tam to suck your tea through the biscuit. If you have never tried this, don't! Basically, this left me with a layer of extra fat that I wanted to get rid of. Due to a back injury hitting the gym was not an option so I took to the kitchen. 

There is a saying in bodybuilding circles, "A Six-pack is not built in the gym but in the kitchen". This is very true. The vast majority of the following information I have learned from Kevin McGarry, a friend and one of the best personal trainers I have ever met. He basically taught me that by putting your body into caloric deficit for a period of time fat will burn off. Our bodies need a certain number of calories each day to provide the energy we need. Caloric deficit means that we aim to provide slightly less than the body requires, thus requiring the body to burn excess fat, for a period of time. 

In order to learn how many calories your body needs each day you need to use a calory calculator like this one or this one. The following information needs to be inserted:

• age
• height
• weight
• sex
• exercise level

This will then give you the number
of calories you need each day in order to maintain your current weight. If you want to get bigger add more calories, if you want to lose weight (get shredded) take slightly less calories each day. The Bodybuilding.com calory counter will actually go that bit further and tell you exactly how many calories to take according to your goal. 

So as can be seen in the image above I need to reduce my calories to about 1900 in order to burn off some fat. I advise you to give yourself about three months. This is the start of my third month and I have lost about 9 lbs. You can lose weight faster using diets but this is a lifestyle that does not restrict what you eat. I was on 10 days holiday recently and very much enjoyed the buffets at breakfast and dinner. I maintained my weight at the amount I lost by not exceeding 2300 calories a day. 

A Day of Food at 1900 Calories

Here is a day of eating for me. On this day I knew that I would be going out for a staff appreciation dinner that evening to a great burger joint. I watched my calories carefully at breakfast and lunch so I could go wild in the evening! 

Breakfast
Oats 300 + Peanut Butter 100 + Rasins 150 = 550
Lunch
Taco Salad 300 + Slice of Bread 100 = 400
Dinner
Burger 600 + Fries 350 = 950

Total = 550 + 400 + 950 = 1900

As for how to know how many calories are in the food you eat. Currently, I just Google and have been keeping a list of everything. Another great way to do this is to download the My Fitness Pal app developed by Under Armour. After a while, you will be able to tell about how many calories are in your meal by looking at it, as you most likely eat the same things over and over again. 

I hope this helps somebody to meet their weight goal while enjoying life!

Principal's Principles #4

Welcome to the fourth installment of the blog series Principal's Principles. At this stage, I am completing my fifth year as an elementary school principal. The following are some of the learning that is taking place in my life during this stage. 

Distribute Leadership

Plan like you are leaving! Anything can happen and you may have to leave your school tomorrow. One of the best things you can do is have a succession plan in place should that happen. This is done by developing a strong leadership team and distributing leadership as much as possible. Initially, as a new leader, you may feel insecure and that you want to be in the spotlight for every occasion. You need to get through this stage as soon as possible if you are in it. 

Some practical ways to put this into practice are the following. Have lead teachers, coordinators or other key staff members lead assemblies. Distribute the load of planning and leading parent workshops throughout the year among the leadership team you have developed. Include a couple of people in your recruiting process. Teach them how to interview and call references. In particular, if you teach them to call references you are ensuring the safety of your students and the mental health of your current staff. 

The Bus

Closely connected to the section above is the leadership saying: get the right people on the bus and get them in the right seats on the bus. This means that hiring is crucial. I have a saying, "I do not care about PYP or PhD, just give me a good teacher with a good attitude." I put much more weight in the reference calls than the interview. Through careful recruiting, you get the right people on the bus. 

Developing a solid Professional Growth Program is then important to develop the people you have hired. I believe in promoting internally and developing the proven talent that you have. This is the second part of this saying, get them in the right seats on the bus. I suggest you promote internally and get competent people that you trust in lead teacher, coordinator, and other key positions. 

Accreditation

This one is huge and has the potential to transform your organization. If you get your head around this it will be worth its weight in gold for you. I will most likely write a separate blog post about this. Accreditation agencies such as ACS WASC, CIS or NEASC have developed research-based standards over decades to guide schools. These standards form the basis of what makes a good school. Learn what they are inside out. I encourage you to apply to serve as a visiting team member with one of the above organizations. This will rapidly increase your learning in this area. 

As you go through the accreditation process with your school, utilize it to its full. If the leadership team can really understand the value of an Appreciative Inquiry, Action Research, self-study process, it can transform the school. The action plan that is developed as part of this process should drive all you do at the school. This is particularly beneficial in times of crisis like the current COVID-19 pandemic that we are experiencing. 

Professional Development

Align your professional development plan to your schoolwide action plan. Connect it to your teacher professional growth program. Ensure that you are not selecting PD on a whim with no follow-through. Plan it according to your action plan. For example, if one of your schoolwide goals is child protection then you should have child protection training as part of your PD program. Basically, it is a rule that the more you connect everything at the school, the faster you will bring about lasting change. 

Baby Photos

My final bit of advice is to use baby photos. If it is a graduation, presentation, or whatever, if you put up pictures of your students when they were babies, it will immediately change the atmosphere in the room:-)