My Weightloss Jouney
I lost a hundred pounds and have kept it off after a year of losing it.
Here’s my dieting secret...
😏
Instead my usual 4 cheeseburgers off the Dollar menu, I started eating 2.
Hahahaha, that’s it!
It was that AND I started to replace everything in my life.
I replaced my…
Environment
Food
Social Influences
Work
Habits - :D
Let’s take a break for a few seconds. Here’s what I like for us to do.
We need to take out the Bullshit Box and open it up.
Anything that seems like BS go ahead and chuck that piece of information in there.
It may not be time to utilize the information and that’s perfectly okay.
All that I’m about to share may help you; however, I want to foster an open mindset.
I lost 100 lbs because I made a choice to listen.
I started to listen to my body and to those around me who have been down this road.
End break.
I muted my ears to all the diet fads out there and I ignored the sage old advice of “don’t bite off more than you can chew.”
I bit if off and I chewed my way to a new mentality.
My body was yelling at me with a megaphone saying, “YOU’RE KILLING ME!!!”
It was time for action, or else it would of been a miserable horrifying decay of my body.
Look, I didn’t plan losing as much as I did.
I didn’t say to myself, “Self, we are going to lose 100lbs no matter the cost.”
It started with a few pounds rolling into a huge an avalanche of better health.
Honestly, I really explicative hated heart burn. It started to disrupt my life
Tums and I became close friends. However, we broke it off due his enabling nature.
Lo, with constant onslaught of acid upchucking frequently, it was time to make some changes.
How did it all began?
Well, there’s one question I frequently ask the most to others:
What’s the one book that has made the most impact?
A good friend shared with me “The Power of Habit” by Charles DuHigg
Tap, tap, CLICK!
He shared how he transformed his lifestyle by applying the principles of the book.
I was sold and, as a man of application, I ordered the book soon after our conversation and behold my life started to change.
I devoured the book because it was so easy to digest.
After some mastication of it, it made sense to me.
This new information of application became my essential sustinents to my being.
Let’s talk about the loops of habits.
You may be wondering, what is a habit loop? Great question, great question. Let’s break it down together.
A Habit Loop:
Cue -> Routine -> Reward
Illustration of my loops.
Old Habit Loop:
Cue: Alarm goes off, I get ready and commute to work.
Routine: Take a pit stop to grab a large regular coffee with cream and sugar AND two plain bagels toasted with cream cheese.
Reward: Delightfully enjoying the rest of commute with coffee and carb overload.
New Habit Loop:
Cue: Alarm goes off, I get ready and commute to work.
Routine: Take a pit stop to grab a green machine smoothie without the sugar.
Reward: A hell of a lot more energy because lesser amount of sugar to process.
______
Progression of my Loop Replacement:
I replaced fast food at lunch for salad at Whole Foods.
I replaced soda with carbonated flavor water.
I replaced my gym membership for a walk in the park or a bike ride.
I threw out the idea of mile markers or a certain number to get to. (I personally hate having a single minded goal to arbitrary number.)
It matters more to me more my mind is maintaining a nurturing state over neglecting state.
After I got laid off from my start up company in 2016, I decided to move to CT.
I replaced my whole environment in 2016. After getting back from Japan in 2017, I settled down in New Haven and that environment allowed me to walk around a lot.
I never did intensive work out until I lost 85lbs. After that, I lost the rest of the weight by running.
After running with a friend August of 2017, I had my Forest Gump moment.
Tell you what, y’all. I just kept runnin’ and runnin’ and runnin’.
Eventually running a half marathon in the dead winter with a pair of Sperry boat shoes.
Yes, boat shoes. Read a book called, “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall.
If you want to make a change for the better, first become open.
Open to the idea you are able to do what you think is impossible.
Limiting belief is a murderer of so many possibilities. Ascertain it and throw it on the execution chair and turn the voltage nob to a 10.
Did you do it? Okay, good.
Now, first objective, focus on recognizing one loop and make a plan to replace it.
We are goal oriented biological entities. Whether we realize it or not, we do function well with goals.
My goal is to feel better and understand why processed food and sugar harms my body and harms my mind.
The avalanche of losing a few pounds allowed me to become uber sensitive to what I put in my body.
As bizarre as this might seem, I started to having a two-way conversation with my body.
Instead of a neglecting mindset, I started to evolving into nurturing mindset.
Here’s what I’m planning on doing. I’m going to share a series of post breaking down the mindset.
My goal is teach you the tools of how I have been able to achieve this feat and many others.
I was raised to take ownership of my life. I grew up in an environment that view excuses as insignificant and microscopic.
I could have blamed my medicine or condition to keep my bound to being unhealthy, yet, I chose to not let that happen.
My Encouragement:
You are capable and you may turn the knob down of the negative thoughts.
Mute them and cultivate the farm of your mind to reap a harvest of new desires.
Plow, till, wait, and reap. Let me my testimony be an encouragement to you.