weight loss

Knowing that I could lose weight without exercising really opened my eyes to what was causing the weight gain and how much of it had to do with nutrition – (A LOT if not all).

It made me wonder why I wasn’t taught this? I feel like…if there’s an instruction manual on the basics of being a human being…how to eat should be somewhere close to the front of this manual – and definitely not left out totally.

It also made me wonder how many people were unaware of how easy it is.

I was going in a complete wrong direction focusing on discipline and beating myself up for not being disciplined. I would try to force things. “I will not eat _____ anymore! I am going to eat healthy this year!” All hype, no results.

I found my answer going social. Like…real in-person meetings with people who had solved this problem. It was the second time I had solved a problem socially.

There are so many benefits to exercise. I’m amping it up this year, so I value it so much. For most, it’s just not necessary for losing fat from your body. This can be solved at the level of nutrition. 3 meals a day. Lots of vegetables per meal (1.5 lbs of veggies a day). Low to no sugar and flour (if you’re me, then no sugar or flour products!). No snacks, but sufficient meals. No late night meals past 7:00PM.

Think habits. Think long term. Think of solving this problem at a habitual level that you do for one day, then repeat.

I’m being pretty vague here, because I don’t want to tell you exactly how I solved it – partially because I’ve gained the weight back after losing it. This has been due to work and career, so I’m learning that. But losing it did show me it’s not as hard as I thought. And I’m also pretty vague because if I tell you exactly, I rob you of the opportunity to solve this problem socially. Talking with many people who have gone further down this journey is so worth it. They can eliminate your sticking points. They can inspire you and get you over your self doubt.

This is so possible for you. Don’t go at it alone. Enlist all the help you can and focus more on health than weight loss. In fact, during this time of losing all this weight, we were only to look at the scale once a month. Weight loss (or weight maintenance if you reach your desired weight) is the by-product of healthy habits. Healthy habits will serve your for a lifetime!

One insight I received after losing about 110 pounds (332lbs to 220lbs) is the constant thought “I’m fat”…that society drilled into me…was not true.

I looked at my much smaller body and wondered where the weight had gone. Did it evaporate? Was is still physical matter somehow? Could I go and visit it somewhere?

I also realized that no matter how big or small I was, I was not my body…because if I was my body then a part of me would leave when I lost weight. I didn’t feel like any part of me left though when I lost weight, so I could not be my body.

A more accurate statement is…I am a steward of a physical body that is fat. If I say I’m fat – then I merge me with my physical body. While they are connected, they aren’t the same.

I have been placed with the responsibility to be a steward of my physical body. Some people do a better job of being a steward than others, but “I’m fat” cannot be accurate because it would mean the “I am” is my physical body and that’s not true.

It’s similar to the insight Eckhart Tolle had when he had the thought “I can’t live with myself”. This was the moment things began to change for him, because he realized that if he couldn’t live with himself, there had to be two separate entities for that thought to be accurate.

I’m stupid, I’m scared, I’m confident, I’m sleepy are also technically inaccurate too. I’m stupid indicates you are your intelligence. I’m confident and I’m sleepy indicate you are your state of being. All not true.

You might say “hey…I’m not anything specifically…I’m a combination of many things” or “I am all those things in totality”.

Let’s say you have a person named Bill. People think of Bill as a tall, fat, loud, annoying human being. But is he really? or are these just labels we’ve used to identify him in our minds.

Just something to think about on this New Years Day…and know that all these labels are just that…labels – not who you truly are. And hey, while you’re not your body, you ARE a steward of your body, and it’s in everyone’s best interest that you take the best care of it you can.