I know I did. And I'm not. But that doesn't make everything they do and say wrong...does it?
So... back to my question,
"WHAT ARE YOU?"
I know it's a little Zen, but humor me, a little mindfulness can go a long way.
Have you ever asked yourself this question?
Have you ever answered back? (Oooo, that's scary.)
Aside from giving me the scientific definition of a human,
or telling me you're one of God's wonderful creations,
or "you are what you eat",
Did you ever wonder what you are?
What makes you the YOU that you are today?
(By the way, you can make a good argument for any and all of those three answers. At least partially.)
While I believe that we are all created special individuals with unique blessings and burdens, I also strongly believe that we are the masters of our own ship once we have left the port.
You are in control of much of the good that comes your way...
And responsible for much of the bad as well...
In essence...
What you are is... (drum roll please)
And responsible for much of the bad as well...
In essence...
What you are is... (drum roll please)
'YOU ARE THE SUM OF YOUR ACTIONS'
"Oh no, it's all my fault!"
No, it's not ALL your fault, but you have to take some of the blame.
Everything you do for or against yourself is weighed and calculated and you are the result.
More things done to improve yourself vs. things to harm yourself and you move in a positive direction.
And vice versa.
Let's see how this applies to our condition, specifically, whether we are overweight or not.
You may have a slow metabolism, thyroid problem or whatever.
That means that your body burns less calories than everybody else's.
But YOU ate more food then your body needed to sustain itself.
Your metabolism didn't put the food in you're mouth.
YOU did.
YOU were supposed to do cardio a certain number of days a week to burn off extra calories, and YOU missed your cardio session 2x this week.
Multiply that by 52 weeks and you've missed 104 sessions.
If you burned an average of 500 calories per cardio session
(I don't care what kind you do or how long it takes you to do it),
you would be about 15 lbs. lighter right now.
That's why your fat loss has stalled.
Not your slow metabolism.
Your metabolism is just your personal daily calorie expenditure.
It's how we respond to it that gets us in trouble.
Most of us eat too much and exercise too little.
And you know what? That really sucks!
I know from experience. I have a super-slow metabolism.
I get fatter when I smell food.
Not really, but if you're reading this, you know what I mean.
I know what you're going to say, because I've said it myself...
"But I'm hungry!!!"
Are you?
Really?
REALLY?
Really?
REALLY?
The next time you get really hungry and are about to swallow more calories in one meal than your metabolism calls for all day,
I want you to pause,
be mindful,
then ask yourself two questions before you dig in.
One..... "Am I really hungry?"
and Two..... " What am I really hungry for?"
and Two..... " What am I really hungry for?"
Oh no! I just opened a whole new can of worms...
I hope I don't get so hungry that I eat them (all in one sitting when no one's around).
Until next time, Be Strong
Scott (a.k.a. The Fat Kid)
P.S. If you have constructive comments...
or you think that I'm a big jerk...
I'd love to hear from you
Some strong things to think about, Scott. These are questions we all need to stop and ask and answer for ourselves if we are ever to make great strides toward a positive future.
ReplyDeleteI think many people put off facing these questions to avoid the pain that might come along with it. What people need to realize is that a little constructive pain right now, can save them a LOT of destructive pain in the future.
But bad habits are usually associated with a disregard for the future. In other words, with self destructive habits, people don't consider the consequences of their actrions until after the deed has been done.
Thus the MINDFULNESS you speak of, is such an important key. I think that exploring ways that we can condition mindfulness is a very interesting topic to probe.
Great job.
This was a great post. I'm glad that I stumbled upon it.
ReplyDeleteI've been doing Jillian Michael's Making the Cut program since June. I've lost 23 lbs. I was so grateful for the results that I started my own weight loss blog. (All pain - No Gain). I haven't lost any weight since November and I'm getting beyond frustrated. I decided that my body was probably getting used to what I was doing so I need to change things up a bit. I started going to the Y. I weight lift a least 2 times a week, I take a 1 hr Zumba class, and I take at least three 1 hr spinning classes as week. I try to eat around 1400 calories a day and I drink 3-4 Liters of water, so I don't have a clue as to why I'm not losing anymore weight. I was wondering if you could help me out.
I look forward hearing from you.
s.j.foster@hotmail.com