So as part of my period of intense physical training and eating I'm going to set a weight loss goal. By January 1st 2013 I will lose 60lbs. That is 3.3lbs per week for the next 18 weeks. My current weight is 321lbs. I'm also going to do measurements so I can calculate my body fat percentages; those numbers are yet to come.
Every Monday morning I'll record my current weight, and as a novelty I'll be counting down from 18 weeks to one week until goal.
Monday, August 27, 2012
To begin, and yet not to begin...
Yes I'm confused by my own title as well. I guess it is my homage to the problem of beginnings. Beginnings by their very nature must have an ending. Without getting overly philosophical about this I'll just say that in my case, given my tendencies and struggles with weight and over eating that I've had since I was young, I do not want to begin another weight loss program, but I want to change the way I view who I am. I fuel and exercise my body so that I am healthy and fit.
I've long recognized that people who are fit just do things differently than people who are not. Just last week I was playing a gig with a man who is very fit. As I partook of the free soda's in the break room he drank water. But he's thin! Always has been! Surely he can drink what ever he wants! Yeah, he can and he chose water.
I have enough knowledge for a healthy mindset. I know what I need to do to be healthy. I just need to stop looking at it as moments of great effort to have good habits which are inevitably followed by the 'reward' of eating too much, or eating bad food. The guy drinking the water was not on a weight loss regimen.
I read an article about weight loss that mentions that we should not believe the 'myth of discipline'. The point of the author was that either we are passionate and love being healthy and so we will naturally follow our passions or not. The author is right on.
Simple discipline or saying to ourselves I want to eat poorly but I'll force myself to eat in a healthy way is the hard way to do things. This white knuckle approach to weight loss is doomed to failure because who can be happy in a constant state of struggle against oneself? But if you can change what you desire, or at least focus your desires on things that are of more value to you, then, you are armed with purpose, desire, and conviction. These are much more powerful motivators than simple discipline. In other words 'I want to be healthy and physically fit more than I want to binge on cheeseburgers and fries.' Instead of 'I cant eat burgers and fries.' Just thinking that makes me want some.
So what am I beginning? Nothing. Beginnings must have an end. I am changing the way I think about health and my body. My body is currently out of shape so I am entering a phase of intense physical training and more restrictive diet to get it into shape. Once I've gotten my body into good physical condition I'll transition into a less rigorous routine designed to maintain for life.
Semantics? Yeah probably, but the alternative of a few weeks, or months of being on 'a program' followed by a few weeks or months of eating a ton of bad for me food has only produced an out of shape body, and a defeated psyche. I am a healthy person. I am a fit person. That's just who I am.
I've long recognized that people who are fit just do things differently than people who are not. Just last week I was playing a gig with a man who is very fit. As I partook of the free soda's in the break room he drank water. But he's thin! Always has been! Surely he can drink what ever he wants! Yeah, he can and he chose water.
I have enough knowledge for a healthy mindset. I know what I need to do to be healthy. I just need to stop looking at it as moments of great effort to have good habits which are inevitably followed by the 'reward' of eating too much, or eating bad food. The guy drinking the water was not on a weight loss regimen.
I read an article about weight loss that mentions that we should not believe the 'myth of discipline'. The point of the author was that either we are passionate and love being healthy and so we will naturally follow our passions or not. The author is right on.
Simple discipline or saying to ourselves I want to eat poorly but I'll force myself to eat in a healthy way is the hard way to do things. This white knuckle approach to weight loss is doomed to failure because who can be happy in a constant state of struggle against oneself? But if you can change what you desire, or at least focus your desires on things that are of more value to you, then, you are armed with purpose, desire, and conviction. These are much more powerful motivators than simple discipline. In other words 'I want to be healthy and physically fit more than I want to binge on cheeseburgers and fries.' Instead of 'I cant eat burgers and fries.' Just thinking that makes me want some.
So what am I beginning? Nothing. Beginnings must have an end. I am changing the way I think about health and my body. My body is currently out of shape so I am entering a phase of intense physical training and more restrictive diet to get it into shape. Once I've gotten my body into good physical condition I'll transition into a less rigorous routine designed to maintain for life.
Semantics? Yeah probably, but the alternative of a few weeks, or months of being on 'a program' followed by a few weeks or months of eating a ton of bad for me food has only produced an out of shape body, and a defeated psyche. I am a healthy person. I am a fit person. That's just who I am.
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