Searhing for the Inner Me Without the Help of Google
Before I could develop a system I had to define who I was and what my goals were. I spent some time doing soul searching, and I came to define myself as an “urban” soul, true to the core; a person with a passion for efficient execution and an ongoing love affair with anything convenient. The system that I had in play (working out everyday) wasn’t convenient and so it didn’t work. It wasn’t in sync with me.
Soon after I began thinking about who I was and what my immediate desires were, I was able to make a connection. I love convenience, hence, my system must emulate convenience. Just how do I create this system?
- I tried not eating anything (that lasted about 2 hours)
- I tried doing Pilate’s and Yoga (my machismo got the best of me after the first class)
- I tried counting calories, burning a set number of calories per workout/set. (Who wants to keep a notepad around to write down everything you eat and do, not me said the flea!)
Searching… No answer..
C’est Imposiblé!!
I think an entire month went by that I stopped going to the gym altogether until one day I was casually browsing through Men’s Health Magazine.
They usually have interesting tidbits here and there but by and large their content is more geared towards older men (30-40s) who’ve lost their spark. Me? I don’t have a problem getting it up, I just have this issue with being the shadow of my former 6-pack-having self.
So leave it to me to find their “Belly Off Club” articles, — you know, those inspiring stories of how some 350 lb guy loses 200 lbs by doing some ungodly task. Running 7 miles a day? No thank you. No, I shan’t be doing that!
One story in particular however, mentions how Joe, a 370 lb man,
- did regular exercise – check
- cut out his fatty food intake – check
- and ate the same thing every day at every meal – huh
and lost 180lbs in 7 months!
(Gears in my head start turning)
Wait a minute! What?
…ATE THE SAME THING EVERYDAY??
…HOW CAN ANYONE DO THAT????
…Sacre Bleu, C’est Imposiblé!!!!!
…I COULD NEVER!
Instantly, I died and came back to life again.
No really… I had what is known as an epiphany. One of those rare moments in which I admit that I am wrong.
So these many thoughts crossed my mind in the process:
What is food really?
I can’t possibly eat the same thing everyday or can I?
Is my priority what the food tastes like or is it what the food is doing for my body?
Would eating the same food everyday help me reach my goal?
Hours of searching for an answer led me to this:
Answer: Eating the same food everyday helps your body do what it does naturally: identify chemical patterns. Repeating food patterns can encourage your metabolism to become an Olympian food incinerator. source: some health website
Whoa!
This is your food in a fiery metabolism. It does not stand a chance in hell.
So there it was. Years of utter hedonism brought me rather close to a fall from grace. Prisoner of my own insatiability, I have been programmed to desire nothing less than a varied palette. Of course I can only blame the media for that, but here is where I took control back.
The “I can’t have chicken for dinner I had it for lunch mentality” died that day.
For those of you asking “What does this have to do with money?” — this is a 3 part series so give me a minute! lol.
How I Lost Weight and Gained Control : Change of Heart
How I Lost Weight and Gained Control 2 : Perfect Timing
How I Lost Weight and Gained Control 3 : Money Matters
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I thought we agreed we weren’t gonna show actual pictures of ourself? Did you shave your belly?
Pictures of ‘ourself’ eh — lol.
Yes well as you can see from my avatar I’m not that fat to begin with lol.
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Don’t you just love the way the ads show Jenny Craig and Operah’s weight Loss secrets. LoL
Nope, can’t do it. I just love food too much. I’m adventurous and I love seeking new things. Doing the same thing everyday is too mundane. I try to find new restaurants almost everyday: cheap, expensive, new, or old. I try it all. How can I manage it?
I can’t do the gym because it’s so mundane and boring. It’s repetitive and no fun. It’s like work instead of fun. I prefer exercising such as rock climbing and river rafting and snowboarding. I’m looking into archery. But all of that costs mucho money. And I can’t do that all the time. I tried Wushu, yoga, warrior yoga, taichi, racquetball, and trampoline jumping. I love them all, but I can never keep a systematic method of going though. How do I do the exercising bit now?
For people like me: I lost about 8-10 pounds one month just by eating half of my order. That way, I got to enjoy everything I liked. Just eat half. That’s it. Bread only in the morning, also. And no soda. Try Arnold Palmer’s…they’re almost just as delicious as soda, and it’s more adventurous and less bland. It works, almost.
Almost…if you have the discipline.
Yeah I totally hear you on that. Sometimes to be happy though you have to make sacrifices. For me it was realizing that the sacrifice wasn’t really that bad since I had been tricked to begin with. I like to blame big media for making us feel like we have to have all this variety in life –That if we don’t we’re living less. The reality is it’s not doing anyone any good to think that way. The minute I stopped thinking like that things began to change.
From a skinny’s person point of view, its the same struggle if you’re trying to find discipline. Routine helps me stay focused on goals. Whether its forcing myself to wake up earlier every morning to hit the gym or to spend less to reach my monthly retirement savings goal. A schedule may seem boring but it pays off in the long run when you see the nice rewards that come from it. A fit body or a nice retirement nice egg.
See part of the point I was trying to make is that it had nothing to do with discipline. If you find a system that works for you it make look like your disciplined from an outside perspective, but really you’re just doing what is most natural to you!
Wow, now this is interesting. Who woulda thunk? Eating the same thing everyday…but the explanation makes PERFECT sense. I’m definitely going to try this. Thanks for steering me here! On to Part 2…
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