Don't give up.....

I apologize I haven't been able to post lately but have entered my busy season at work. So know that I'm still working on my weight loss and will try and post soon.

"Making Peace With The Image in the Mirror"

I stole this title from the book that Jamie Z shared with us in the comments section of my first post.  There is a lot to be said on this particular subject, and I will most defiantly look for that book to read.

We live in a world today that puts huge emphases on body image.  You see all these skinny models that are on the extreme opposite side of where I am, but I always hear about their self image problems.  So if we have self image problems when we are overweight, and when we are skinny is there any hope?  I think that is the big problem!  We need to get to a point in our lives, no matter where we might be with our weight, our financial situation, our relationships, or jobs that we can just be happy and love ourselves.  I truly believe that if we don't love ourselves, that when we lose the weight or make the money we always dreamed of, or got the our dream job we won't be happy then.  If you lose the sixty pounds just to lose the pounds then they will find you again.  If we are happy and can accept ourselves and tell ourselves that we deserve to have happiness when it come it will be easier to hold onto it. 

If you are working to lose weight for anyone besides yourself you are probably doing it for the wrong reason.  Now I am not saying that you can't be motivated by outside sources, but the core drive has to come from within.  I realize that it is easier said then done.  In fact it is really easy for me to tell everyone that we need to love ourselves.  I have identified a problem without giving any kind of solutions.  It is always easy to identify a problem, but almost exclusively harder to detail out a plan to solve that problem.  I am a big fan of examples so let me give you one.  A parent with a troubled teen talks to a councilor and is told that the solution to the problem is to become friends with their teenager and then the will feel more comfortable to talk openly.  All I did there was point out the problem and say a solution.  The problem is that there is a huge blank area there in the middle.   The part about how to go about creating a relationship with your trouble teen, and how to become their friend.

I think that is why a lot of people get frustrated about weight issues is because people can point out to them what the problem is and even give a solution to the problem, but they never tell you how to get to the solution.  We don't know how to do the steps in between to get us to the desired solution to the problem we face.  So here is this weeks assignment; what things can we do to love ourselves?  What things can we do that will let ourselves know that we are worth it?  (please share your ideas with us.  It could literally be looking into the mirror and telling yourself that you love yourself).  So that is our quest this week to look at want things we can do to love ourselves.  What can we do to be happy with who we are?  Please post comments or e-mail me at livnez@gmail.com if you have something longer than the comments to have posted.

The beginning of my journey:

As I have mentioned in other areas of this blog, I am 28 years old and out of shape.  I am hoping to use this blog as a tool to learn for myself and from others the value of being fit.  To learn the skills necessary to live a health lifestyle that can be constantly maintained for the rest of my life.

I feel like there are three major factors that I have to implement to be successful:

The first and in my opinion the hardest and most important is mental control.  Most people probably would refer this to mental health, self control, self mastery, or a number of other things.  In the end it comes down to having the power to make one decision over another while suppressing or controlling outside forces.  Let me give you a few examples of what I mean; I look at a piece of cake or chocolate chip cookie (pick your poison) and my body tells me that it will taste so good.  Now there is a small place in my mind that tells me that the cake or cookie is not good for me, but that is quickly squashed out by the desire to eat the sugar and fat contained in the desert.  Another example; I go out for a run because I need to do something to burn the calories from the handful of cookies I just ate.  I begin the run and I feel great, but inevitably it only takes a few minutes and my body tells my mind that this is really hard work.  My body starts to make justifications as to why I should stop, and when I do I realize that I could have gone longer and actually had a good workout.  This concept of mind over matter brings me to my next two points.

The second factor is that of "we are what we eat."  I can't count how many times I have heard that term, but it is so true.  Our bodies are very complex machines.  If we were to treat our cars like we do our bodies they would be dead on the road within days.  Ever heard of what happens when you dump sugar in a gas tank?  It's not pretty and would really put a cramp in your day.  So why then do we put things into our bodies that we know are not good for us? (see paragraph above)  So part of us staying/getting health is putting things into our bodies that we know are good for it, and abstaining from putting harmful things in.  Now you and I know that is very much easier said than done.  As I said in the title of the blog, it does no good to do crash diets and lose the wight and then gain it all back again (in my opinion).  So let's talk about how we can find a balance of eating healthy (and maybe not loving it) and having the food that we have grown to love.  I believe we can find a balance diet that we can sustain and still have some of the things we love.  So in future post we will talk about what we should eat, and giving ourselves a break every now and then to enjoy the things we love.

Third; we have to keep our bodies physically active.  I don't want to be the father that can't play ball with his kids because I don't enjoy exercising or can't physically do it.  So even if you disagree with everything that I have said about mental strength or eating smart, I hope that you will agree that we should stay active. Again I am no doctor or health expert but I don't think I am steering anyone wrong telling them to stay active.  So like eating we need to find something that we can do that we can maintain into the future.  Many people I know including myself have had a gym membership that are purchased with good intentions and then quickly forgotten.  So not only are you not getting exercise but your burning a hole in your pocket.

So please if you have any ideas for healthy eating, a good exercise program that works for you, or how we can overcome our own self doubts/destructive natures let me know.  Post comments on what information is provided by me, or if you have content you think will help please let me know and you can e-mail it to me.  I will make sure that the person that provides the information get's credit for it.  So lets learn and grow together, and hopefully we can find things to help us be successful at getting our lives back physically.