Thin Blog

Posts Tagged ‘exercise’

Getting motivated to lose weight has never been a problem for me. The problem has always been the lack of ability to sustain that motivation for the time period needed to lose the weight.

All too often I would see the television show “The Biggest Loser” and resolve to lose the weight and eat better. Somewhere along the journey of the season of “The Biggest Loser” I would slack off and soon it would be the season finale. I would be watching the formally obese contestants flaunt all of their weight loss and say to myself that “I need to go back on that diet”. Somewhere along the way I would waiver from the diet plan and be settled into being over weight again.

It was during the shows most recent finale that I decided enough is enough and it was time to get serious about my own personal weight loss. I had read many books and watched infomercials and I have always come up short. It was this time that I realized that what I was missing was self determination to lose 100 pounds. I decided that my past failures were because I have come up short on sustained motivation because of my lack of self discipline.

Sustained motivation because of a lack of self discipline has always been the overwhelming reason behind my failure to lead a healthier lifestyle. This may seem like a simple statement but it is true. All too often our desire is not rooted deep enough in the decision we make to lose the weight. We launch ourselves headlong into the weight loss quest and limit our ability to maintain our motivation because of the lack of knowledge we possess. The one issue I see present in many weight loss “wannabes” is they do not know what needs to be known to make correct food and exercise choices. One of my early questions was what kind of “diet” plan are you going to start? I have learned that if it is not a plan you can live with for ten years then chances are you will ultimately fail.

The entire weight loss journey is similar to putting a jigsaw puzzle together while horseback riding. In your life you are required to keep moving and make your “diet” plan work for you in the real world. Sure you could lose weight skipping carbs, but could you forgo carbs for 10 years?

You need to wrap your mind around your quest to lose weight. By that I mean you need to obtain basic knowledge and then by applying that knowledge into your daily decisions you will increase your motivation through small achievements. As those achievements come to life you begin to groom the growth of your self confidence which will feed your motivation that will help you to be able to sustain your motivation.

Knowledge is power and that statement holds ever so true in weight loss. With this discovery I have been able to lose 20 pounds to date!

I have a few questions for you. How would you describe yourself while looking in the mirror?  How do you feel about yourself?  How would you describe yourself to other people?  Have you made your weight you?  Have you forgotten your dreams and aspirations because you feel like you are too overweight to accomplish them?   When you look in the mirror do you see a person you would want to be best friends with?  Do you love the person you see?  Can you see past your double chin and the wrinkles around your eyes?  What color are your eyes and can you look yourself in the eyes? 

I am asking these questions because if it is difficult to love the person looking back in the mirror when we are overweight. How do we know we will love ourselves when we are thinner?   We need to love ourselves for who we are, from the inside first, and only then should we can work on controlling our weight.  Many people tend to try and fix the outside by trying every new fad diet or diet pill that comes on the market.  The truth of the matter is the problem isn’t on the outside of us, it is inside.  Dr. Sklare, an eDiets psychologist tells us that we cannot change our weight until we change our minds. 

I know that you want to eat healthy and be healthy, but there is a driving force on the inside of you that steers you in the opposite direction.  My husband Keith and I were talking one day and we both agreed that it is almost like there are two different people fighting inside of us.  One part of you wants to be exercising, eating healthy, and taking good care of your body and then there is another part of you that procrastinates, makes excuses, interferes and sabotages your best interests.  This internal argument goes on all the time within you and it is at the very heart that keeps you from weight control.  If you listen you can even hear the argument. 

So how do we fix this?  How can we make ourselves as one and become united in losing weight, begin an exercise routine and become healthy on the inside first before running to the next fad diet or the new diet pill.

I sit here at the beach today looking out at the Gulf of Mexico with the sun starting it’s daily descent while I am pondering this thing called weight loss.  I have been battling my weight on and off for more years than I care to remember and it was not too long ago that I realized that losing weight is the wrong issue to deal with.  The issue I now know is that a diet is not going to cure my weight woes.  This fact that obesity is in my daily life has led me to the point where I now know that I need to make a lifestyle change and within that lifestyle, I must pursue health.  The end result of that quest for health is, and always will be weight loss as nothing more than a byproduct of that health.

The solution that has come to mind is one that I have to just stop trying to force myself to lose weight.  I have to stop all of the diets and all of the decisions to stop eating chocolate or soda and decide to alter my eating habits in a quest for overall health.  Since I have realized that if I stop trying to fit weight loss into a box called a “diet” and just change the way I live, the weight has started to retreat on the scale.  I no longer get on the treadmill and walk a planned 3 mile circuit because I have learned to realize that I would much rather take my German Shepard Jackie out for a five mile walk.  Instead of going to the gym and forcing myself to exercise I have come to realize that life is so much more enjoyable if I just add more activities into life that I enjoy.

I am not one that enjoys or keeps to rigid exercise schedules and with that knowledge I have learned to do simple things like take a walk on the beach.   As I sit here in Pensacola, Florida on the white sands, I write this with the determination that I need to go for a walk.  I have the desire for a walk not because I want to lose weight but because I know the walk will help with my overall health.  As I extend these thoughts to you just take this thought with you for the next few moments.  As you struggle with your own effort to go exercise stop and think for a moment.  Why should you force yourself to walk on a treadmill for boring and mindless steps when it can done wandering while stepping through the waves on the beach?   The secret is not that you have to find ways to get yourself to exercise, the secret is that you need to find exercise that you enjoy.  Where is your beach?  Where and what do you enjoy doing?  Stop trying to just exercise for the sake of trying to lose weight.  Start an activity that requires effort and you too will be able to find health.  As you get more into your own personal activities you should experience health and through that health…weight loss can and will happen.

Excuse me now because the waves are calling me to introduce my feet before the sun makes it’s daily exit.  Spend some time thinking about what you love to do, get started and watch the numbers on the scale start to change in the direction you desire.

I can remember my days in the U.S. Marine Corps and a host of memories floor the brain cells of all the times I had to exercise or perform some rigorous form of physical exercise.  Back then I did all of those physical things because it was required of me.  I climbed ropes, marched for miles, ran in the sand and did “mountain climbers” for what seemed an eternity.  Back then I just did what I was told to do with no regard for the ability I had because of my youth.  I went to Parris Island in 1979 when I was seventeen years old and when I ran I did not consider it a cardio workout.  I did not contemplate the benefits of navigating an obstacle course.

That was then and this is now.

Today I have set aside a portion of my busy day to be able to fit in some form of Physical activity.  I must plan to cause my heart rate to speed up or I will slip into an extremelty over weight blob of “muscle-less” flab.  Looking back on it all and after quite a few years of physical neglect I have determined why I have had difficulty in maintaining a healthy weight.  Looking back on my Marine days I have realized I have been lacking discipline in my life.  The discipline that is a Marine Corps trait really mutates intself into self discipline.  I have realized that I have been lacking the self discipline to take charge of myself and stop making excuses for having a spare tire around my waist.  As a result I have tried to instill self discipline into my life.   I have to go now but I will write more about self discipline later but until then what ideas does anyone have about inviting self discipline into your life?