Hey Everyone:
Thought I would share a post I did for my yahoo group today in here. Keep in mind that it does not relate to most of you since many in here I think have a grip with their minds and their bodies. I just thought it would be a good talking point. Talk to you soon:
Hey everyone:
I hope all is well. I also hope everyone had a great Independence Day. I know I did; I went to 2 picnics and the weather was fantastic other then a passing rain shower that cooled down the temperatures nicely. I also cheated on my nutrition plan on that rare occasion which always makes me remember why I do it, why I do all of this. Eating healthy for a vast majority of the time makes those rare cheats taste so much better. It also makes me realize that I am only missing out on a few good tastes, whereas if I flip-flopped the scenario and ate poorly 99% of the time and good 1% of the time, I would be missing out on fantastic feelings of accomplishment and liveliness, not to mention all the physical improvements that come along with eating right. It is not a hard decision!
At these family picnics, I am surrounded by my closest family and friends, who all are completely aware of my lifestyle. Some envy it, although they too could easily follow in my footsteps. Others hate it, and I am not quite sure why. Maybe they feel that I think I am too good to eat and behave how they do? Maybe they hate it because they can't figure out how to do it themselves? Maybe they hate it because they are all sitting around stuffing their faces and I am in the backyard playing football with all the kids feeling that age myself? Others are inspired by it; it undoubtedly comes up with someone at every picnic I attend about "how should I eat," or "how should I train," or "what does it take?"
I actually love the attention since I live and breath this stuff. I would choose to talk about fitness or nutrition with someone any day of the week over the normal small talk experienced at picnics. For me, it is not just because I have a passion for this stuff. That is not why I choose to talk about these things over the small talk. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot more to life! However, for me, when I truly connect with someone while discussing health and nutrition, I love seeing those switches flip and knowing that there is a chance that by simply talking and adding a little inspiration, I may have added a few years to this persons life. I may have improved the quality of their life. I may have made changes that affect them on all levels of life have it be confidence, success, motivation, etc. That to me, is what makes all this worth it.
During these situations is when I learned that acting out what we know already about our health is not as simple as "choosing to do so." There is a lot more at play here then just a simple choice. We can be intimately aware that we should make lifestyle changes in order to improve our lives or secure a long and healthy time here on this planet. We can even know exactly what needs to be done. Yet, many of us, even with this knowledge, never take action. Or, we try for such a short time and see little to no change in our bodies; so we give up on it... we lose hope. It took us years to get fat and out of shape, please don’t expect the opposite to happen overnight.
I belong to many groups in life and on the web that are centered on health. It is amazing how many individuals come to me and the first questions they ask are, "what exercise can I do to tone by butt," or "what kind of supplements should I consume to maximize my results." These kinds of questions are completely bogus!
There are a few "backbone" components to leading this lifestyle that MUST be present in order to succeed. Primarily these components are mental capacity, education and nutrition. Training comes second. Training is the easy part. The problem is, most people think getting into the gym is the “be all end all” to their problems. They lack the backbone components I previously mentioned and all these individuals do is walkthrough a vicious cycle of killing themselves in the gym and giving up, over and over again due to lack of results.
In this day of age where, especially in the great United States of America where instant gratification is the key to happiness, our media and huge corporations that bleed green thrive on us like a hawk chasing small prey. I don’t know about you, but I am not O.K. with people treating me like this. I am also not O.K. with having others play mind games with me, or misleading me. These market makers are so keenly aware of our desire for instant gratification and how easily we let it consume our minds. Through this, they created an atmosphere where they easily make us believe that changing our bodies and shaping up is as simple as a bottle of pills for $12.99, or some crazy piece of equipment that makes you lose fat, tone up, build muscle, and rid cellulite all at the same time that cost .93 cents to make and sells for three easy payments of $45.99. We may not believe in these exact far-out products, but we deep down believe that hard work in the gym should yield results in a short period of time. This is why people come to me asking first about certain exercises and supplements. They are looking for the secret that I may know and they don’t. Guess what, there are no secrets! This is also why people give up so easily when they don’t get the instant gratification of losing weight or building muscle.
If you knew what I know, you would understand that what you need to focus on, especially in the beginning is establishing a mindset that is geared towards improving. You can consciously desire to change, but if you don't dig to subconscious levels and make changes there, you are never going to succeed. If we let our subconscious minds run wild our entire lives, there is a good chance that most of us associate pain to eating healthy and exercising. We may not exactly think it is going to hurt physically. It might be the pain of giving up the pleasures such as junk food or television that keeps us from moving forward. Pain and pleasure is what drives all of our actions and thoughts. If we associate more pain to exercising then not exercising, trying to change your lifestyle without correcting this deeper problem is never going to work in the long run. Ultimately you are going to give in to temptations or give up. I can’t get into a long discussion about changing and improving mindset today, or this would be a book and the last thing I want to do is scare people off from reading this post. However, the key to all of this is to change our mental associations to work for us. We must change our mindsets so that we associate more pain to not leading this lifestyle opposed to going about with your old ways. Also, we must associate pure pleasure to leading a healthy lifestyle. It can’t simply be, “Well, I want to lose weight so that should be enough to drive me.” We don’t work like that; this will not alter our minds.
You see, I do understand why people have such a hard time with this stuff. I grew up in a family of athletes, and this thankfully made my subconscious consistently move towards health. Many of us are not this fortunate. Our minds are not "groomed" from day one to take advantage of building a better body. It is not until it is too late and our bodies are out of control that we decide that something needs to be done and by then, it is even more difficult to change. But do keep in mind it is VERY POSSIBLE!
As mentioned before, nutrition is another key “backbone” component that must be engrained in your mind before success is inevitable. Nutrition is tied to the mental aspects too, because changing habits that we have had our entire lives is not simple. It takes a lot of effort and “mind play.” Aside from this though, nutrition is a much large component of changing your body then exercise. I am not telling you to throw out the treadmill or shred the gym membership…. that stuff is very important too. However, without the core nutritional strategies that we discuss in this group, you are not going to succeed in the gym.
This is where education comes into play. I usually tell people that the time to act is now. Don’t plan what you are going to do, because nine out of ten times, you will end up never taking action. Rather, plan as you go. Don’t be lazy or haphazard about it. While I urge you to go out there and get a gym membership today, I urge you to go to the grocery store right now and restock your pantries, I also urge you to do your own due diligence. Educate yourself. Become active in groups such as these. Learn how to motivate yourself. Open new doors. Always strive to improve not just in body but mind too. I always say that each of us are metabolically, physiologically, psychologically unique. Therefore, there is no “one right way” to do things. Finding what works for you and leading this lifestyle is an experiment. Aside from the core fundamentals, you really need to test variables on yourself to see how your body responds and you can’t do this effectively and safely, you must be educated. I am not saying you need a degree in dietetics or physiology, but you can’t be completely ignorant.
The goal of this post is to make you think about what you think about. Don’t let your mind run wild. Just as organization and control normally lead to success in other areas of life, the same lies true with our minds. It is easy to just live life going through the motions and letting your mind control your actions and accomplishments. It is GREAT to take control of your mind, and therefore your life. If you do this, it will lead to personal greatness in all areas of your life, not just your physique and health. Be proactive!
I can’t make you take the necessary steps, especially while sitting here masked by a computer over the web. I urge you to keep this stuff in the forefront of your mind however. If you don’t, I guarantee that it will become buried in the day to day, unproductive nuances of everyday living.
I look forward to hearing from all of you.
Take care,
Steve
Thought I would share a post I did for my yahoo group today in here. Keep in mind that it does not relate to most of you since many in here I think have a grip with their minds and their bodies. I just thought it would be a good talking point. Talk to you soon:
Hey everyone:
I hope all is well. I also hope everyone had a great Independence Day. I know I did; I went to 2 picnics and the weather was fantastic other then a passing rain shower that cooled down the temperatures nicely. I also cheated on my nutrition plan on that rare occasion which always makes me remember why I do it, why I do all of this. Eating healthy for a vast majority of the time makes those rare cheats taste so much better. It also makes me realize that I am only missing out on a few good tastes, whereas if I flip-flopped the scenario and ate poorly 99% of the time and good 1% of the time, I would be missing out on fantastic feelings of accomplishment and liveliness, not to mention all the physical improvements that come along with eating right. It is not a hard decision!
At these family picnics, I am surrounded by my closest family and friends, who all are completely aware of my lifestyle. Some envy it, although they too could easily follow in my footsteps. Others hate it, and I am not quite sure why. Maybe they feel that I think I am too good to eat and behave how they do? Maybe they hate it because they can't figure out how to do it themselves? Maybe they hate it because they are all sitting around stuffing their faces and I am in the backyard playing football with all the kids feeling that age myself? Others are inspired by it; it undoubtedly comes up with someone at every picnic I attend about "how should I eat," or "how should I train," or "what does it take?"
I actually love the attention since I live and breath this stuff. I would choose to talk about fitness or nutrition with someone any day of the week over the normal small talk experienced at picnics. For me, it is not just because I have a passion for this stuff. That is not why I choose to talk about these things over the small talk. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot more to life! However, for me, when I truly connect with someone while discussing health and nutrition, I love seeing those switches flip and knowing that there is a chance that by simply talking and adding a little inspiration, I may have added a few years to this persons life. I may have improved the quality of their life. I may have made changes that affect them on all levels of life have it be confidence, success, motivation, etc. That to me, is what makes all this worth it.
During these situations is when I learned that acting out what we know already about our health is not as simple as "choosing to do so." There is a lot more at play here then just a simple choice. We can be intimately aware that we should make lifestyle changes in order to improve our lives or secure a long and healthy time here on this planet. We can even know exactly what needs to be done. Yet, many of us, even with this knowledge, never take action. Or, we try for such a short time and see little to no change in our bodies; so we give up on it... we lose hope. It took us years to get fat and out of shape, please don’t expect the opposite to happen overnight.
I belong to many groups in life and on the web that are centered on health. It is amazing how many individuals come to me and the first questions they ask are, "what exercise can I do to tone by butt," or "what kind of supplements should I consume to maximize my results." These kinds of questions are completely bogus!
There are a few "backbone" components to leading this lifestyle that MUST be present in order to succeed. Primarily these components are mental capacity, education and nutrition. Training comes second. Training is the easy part. The problem is, most people think getting into the gym is the “be all end all” to their problems. They lack the backbone components I previously mentioned and all these individuals do is walkthrough a vicious cycle of killing themselves in the gym and giving up, over and over again due to lack of results.
In this day of age where, especially in the great United States of America where instant gratification is the key to happiness, our media and huge corporations that bleed green thrive on us like a hawk chasing small prey. I don’t know about you, but I am not O.K. with people treating me like this. I am also not O.K. with having others play mind games with me, or misleading me. These market makers are so keenly aware of our desire for instant gratification and how easily we let it consume our minds. Through this, they created an atmosphere where they easily make us believe that changing our bodies and shaping up is as simple as a bottle of pills for $12.99, or some crazy piece of equipment that makes you lose fat, tone up, build muscle, and rid cellulite all at the same time that cost .93 cents to make and sells for three easy payments of $45.99. We may not believe in these exact far-out products, but we deep down believe that hard work in the gym should yield results in a short period of time. This is why people come to me asking first about certain exercises and supplements. They are looking for the secret that I may know and they don’t. Guess what, there are no secrets! This is also why people give up so easily when they don’t get the instant gratification of losing weight or building muscle.
If you knew what I know, you would understand that what you need to focus on, especially in the beginning is establishing a mindset that is geared towards improving. You can consciously desire to change, but if you don't dig to subconscious levels and make changes there, you are never going to succeed. If we let our subconscious minds run wild our entire lives, there is a good chance that most of us associate pain to eating healthy and exercising. We may not exactly think it is going to hurt physically. It might be the pain of giving up the pleasures such as junk food or television that keeps us from moving forward. Pain and pleasure is what drives all of our actions and thoughts. If we associate more pain to exercising then not exercising, trying to change your lifestyle without correcting this deeper problem is never going to work in the long run. Ultimately you are going to give in to temptations or give up. I can’t get into a long discussion about changing and improving mindset today, or this would be a book and the last thing I want to do is scare people off from reading this post. However, the key to all of this is to change our mental associations to work for us. We must change our mindsets so that we associate more pain to not leading this lifestyle opposed to going about with your old ways. Also, we must associate pure pleasure to leading a healthy lifestyle. It can’t simply be, “Well, I want to lose weight so that should be enough to drive me.” We don’t work like that; this will not alter our minds.
You see, I do understand why people have such a hard time with this stuff. I grew up in a family of athletes, and this thankfully made my subconscious consistently move towards health. Many of us are not this fortunate. Our minds are not "groomed" from day one to take advantage of building a better body. It is not until it is too late and our bodies are out of control that we decide that something needs to be done and by then, it is even more difficult to change. But do keep in mind it is VERY POSSIBLE!
As mentioned before, nutrition is another key “backbone” component that must be engrained in your mind before success is inevitable. Nutrition is tied to the mental aspects too, because changing habits that we have had our entire lives is not simple. It takes a lot of effort and “mind play.” Aside from this though, nutrition is a much large component of changing your body then exercise. I am not telling you to throw out the treadmill or shred the gym membership…. that stuff is very important too. However, without the core nutritional strategies that we discuss in this group, you are not going to succeed in the gym.
This is where education comes into play. I usually tell people that the time to act is now. Don’t plan what you are going to do, because nine out of ten times, you will end up never taking action. Rather, plan as you go. Don’t be lazy or haphazard about it. While I urge you to go out there and get a gym membership today, I urge you to go to the grocery store right now and restock your pantries, I also urge you to do your own due diligence. Educate yourself. Become active in groups such as these. Learn how to motivate yourself. Open new doors. Always strive to improve not just in body but mind too. I always say that each of us are metabolically, physiologically, psychologically unique. Therefore, there is no “one right way” to do things. Finding what works for you and leading this lifestyle is an experiment. Aside from the core fundamentals, you really need to test variables on yourself to see how your body responds and you can’t do this effectively and safely, you must be educated. I am not saying you need a degree in dietetics or physiology, but you can’t be completely ignorant.
The goal of this post is to make you think about what you think about. Don’t let your mind run wild. Just as organization and control normally lead to success in other areas of life, the same lies true with our minds. It is easy to just live life going through the motions and letting your mind control your actions and accomplishments. It is GREAT to take control of your mind, and therefore your life. If you do this, it will lead to personal greatness in all areas of your life, not just your physique and health. Be proactive!
I can’t make you take the necessary steps, especially while sitting here masked by a computer over the web. I urge you to keep this stuff in the forefront of your mind however. If you don’t, I guarantee that it will become buried in the day to day, unproductive nuances of everyday living.
I look forward to hearing from all of you.
Take care,
Steve
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