The Beginning
An Overview
A summary of my views and opinions surrounding weight loss and the mental strength required to overcome plateaus and other struggles along the journey. Including, the necessity of discovering what works for you using personalised experiments.
One of my favourite advertisements starts with a group of women in a large closet filled with shoes. They were all screaming in excitement over these shoes, something I cannot relate to. Then, some men in a room nearby started out-screaming them. The men were in a room filled with Heineken beers. Again, I cannot relate to this excitement over beer but “to each his own,” as the saying goes.
We Are Unique!
We each have different things that we go crazy over, and we all have a right to do so. No one wants another to say that it’s stupid for them to go crazy over what they’re excited about. We may be created with the same physical parts, but we are all uniquely created. This is quite natural but may lead to several issues and/or conflicts if not acknowledged.
As a result of this uniqueness, it may take different approaches to every single thing in our lives to achieve the same result. It is virtually impossible to say why this is a reality. However, we should not unrealistically expect others to be like us, and vice versa, in all cases. Some people may only need to run or walk a mile each day to keep in shape, while others require up to six miles. There are cases where individuals may require reducing or eliminating carbohydrates to lose weight. Then, there are others who others may need to eat carbohydrates at odd hours of the night to gain and maintain a healthy weight.
A Unique Approach
My wife grew up studying in painstakingly quiet environments where she can maximise her focus. I grew up listening to background music to achieve the same. When I go for my long runs, sometimes lasting over four hours, I find it uncomfortable to listen to music. Some people would be bored on such long runs without a companion or some form of entertainment. In the former case, the music puts my mind in a receptive mode to study – God knows why. In the latter case, I feel uncomfortable with attachments that I am likely to feel moving while I am running. When I run, I enjoy meditating on the things I want to achieve and connecting with my spiritual side of life.
Finding out what works, and why, is key.
Finding out what works for us – and why – is vital and may take personalised experiments. Experiments show that there are many ways to lose weight. However, because we are all different, one shoe does not fit all. From scientific evidence, we may be able to predict what may work for an individual. However, the human body and the environment we each live in is very complex. Consequently, we must continuously study and do experiments to find out what is best for each. Identical twins may live in the same house, with the same lifestyle and diet, but one is skinny while the other is overweight.
Collaboration
Getting the best out of our health, and, subsequently, our weight loss, is likely to come from a combination of different methods because of our uniqueness. Many fail to achieve the best because they are being told that “experiments show that a specific method works,” which is factual. However, we are not told that the same experiments also fail for others. They probably fail for more people than they are successful for. This is the reality of the world we live in; each auto-company talks about its strengths for the sole purpose of sale. BMW will talk about the driving experience of its car, the ultimate driving machine, and mention nothing about reliability and rapid depreciation. Similarly, Toyota will brag about its reliability and the high resale price.
Experiments & Research
During one of my early morning runs, I fell and broke three of my front teeth. One of the broken teeth needed a crown because the filling kept on falling off. A “crown” is a more permanent fix where you are required to see the dentist for a specialised examination to create a mould unique to your mouth and teeth. We cannot use someone else’s mould to get a crown. Maybe one in a billion will fit, so it is far easier to pay the price of having it custom moulded.
We are uniquely created. We also live under unique conditions and eat foods that are similar but different in nutrient content. Thus, we cannot just simply fit our health into one experiment or set of experiments. We will have to do our own experiments with what may closely fit our situation and make adjustments to see what works best. Working with our doctor does help, but we are the ones who feel the result of what is prescribed. We must communicate with our health professionals to make the unique adjustments required to get the optimum results.
Harvesting Positivity
Our thoughts are embedded into our subconsciousness and eventually become what we are, whether positive or negative. Not because others are struggling with their health and unable to break the chain of being overweight means that we also will. We need to have a positive mindset that looks out for the possibilities and acts on them. Otherwise, our minds will see all that is negative and act on negativity to keep us down. We can have all that we need to get to a healthy life but be unable to do so because of a negative mindset.
Positive motivation is essential. We need it daily to keep us going, just as how we need to eat each day to stay alive. Often, too much focus is placed on the physical, what we see, and not on the mental and spiritual, that are unseen. The fact is that a healthy life is first and foremost based on spirituality and the physical follows.
Escape Your Ghetto Mentality
After leaving high school, I invited my track coach, The Hon. Herbert Henry “Herb” McKenley, to speak at a Church event entitled “Men of Honour.” Coach, who won Olympic gold and three silver medals in Track & Field, was looked upon as an idol in Jamaica. He unselfishly injected a lot into the sport for Jamaica, not only for our Alma Mater but also for our rival high schools. While a group of us waited behind stage, he started speaking highly of me. I had no idea that Coach viewed me at such a high level because I never medalled at the annual inter-school track and field events. He, however, admired my commitment to training along with my academic progress, which lifted me out of the ghetto he knew I lived in.
Coach went on to speak about growing up in a wealthy household where his father was a doctor. His dad was chauffeur-driven because of his wealth back in those days. Coach had a friend he grew up with and, when he was about to leave for university, he told him. The friend was all excited and said, “You go ahead, Herb! When you get back, I will be your chauffeur.” Coach said, “No, I want you to make something better of yourself by the time I get back.” When Coach got back, his friend was an assistant man to a driver on a truck. He was unable to break the barrier, as I did, and got trapped in the ghetto mentality. This is what we do not want to happen to us where healthy living is concerned.
Don't Get Trapped!
We grow up in a society where people do not know how to live healthily. I find it hard to understand why my doctor said she has never seen anyone before with such good levels of healthy cholesterol. It leaves me to wonder if most people are unhealthy because they are trapped in the only world they know. The blog entitled How Do We Lose Weight? helps to clarify the likely cause of this.
Life is like a set of boundaries with many worlds. The more boundaries we break down, the bigger our world becomes. If an unborn chicken does not break out of its shell, it eventually dies in that small world. If we are not willing to take the risk to grow beyond what we know and have experienced, we remain stagnant in a limited world. Growth takes faith and effort and has an unlimited number of open gates.
Spirituality
Faith is being certain of what we hope for and sure of what we do not see. We access this faith through positive thoughts, which are reflected in the results of our action. I cannot explain my rise from the slum, but I knew what I wanted and kept feeding on the positives.
Some may say that life is not fair because the wicked prosper and the good suffer. However, God works for us all according to our faith. Talk to any champion athlete. They will tell you that they suffer a lot in training to make it to and remain at the top. So, what may appear to be suffering may just be what we need to make us successful. Sometimes, we just do not see the suffering of others but only the success.
Sleep
All vehicles require what is called “periodic general service.” This should be done after driving a certain number of miles. There are different levels of services. The engine oil along with filters (oil, air) should be changed. The spark plugs may need adjusting or changing, along with the brake shoe. The rotation or replacement of tires and balancing of wheels, among other things, could also be required. All these and other changes keep the car running efficiently by burning less petrol and preserving the engine life and other car parts. We may feel like we are saving money by skipping a service period. However, in the long run, it decreases the vehicle life and costs us more money to fix preventable issues, plus requiring more fuel to drive the same distance.
Our body needs "periodic general service."
Our body repairs cells, from brains to muscles, when we sleep. We are wrecking our bodies when we do not get enough sleep, which eventually leads to all kinds of illnesses. Lack of sleep may also aid in weight gain or, in other words, may not promote weight loss. As I said before, however, discovering what works for you may take many experiments.
To continue reading, I suggest visiting the blog. You may read the articles on what happens when we sleep and the spiritual perspective on sleep.