CHAPTER 1

Health Management & Weight Loss Management is a Life Change

If the truth be told, we are living in an out of control world. People are so busy nowadays that they hardly have time to think, let alone breathe, before they’re off to the next appointment, the next pick up or the next thing on their to do list. As a result, many people accept what happens to them as inevitable, as something over which they have little control or as pure chance. They pile on weight, fail to stick to an exercise program or ditch their clean eating plan when the pressure comes on, like waves that are being tossed about in an ocean of ill disciplined self-indulgence and mediocrity.

The truth is very different. Every person, me and you included, has the power to take control of their destiny. We are not controlled by circumstance, unless we choose to be. This is especially so when it comes to the most personal and precious thing we possess, our health. A balanced life, one in which we are giving proper attention to maintaining our physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological health, is within the grasp of each one of us. All we need is the courage to reach out and grasp hold of it.

Sudden weight gain, or sudden weight loss for that matter, is a sign that our life is out of balance. When that happens, we are giving too much emphasis to one area at the expense of others. Too often, the area that gets the sharp shift is our physical health and yet, our physical health is at the core of our very being. We may be doing amazing things in the business world, accumulating lots of possessions and building a legacy for ourselves, but what is it for if we are making ourselves unhealthy in the process?

The cycle of weight gain and illness has psychological roots. Often those roots are embedded in our own negative self talk. We are talking to ourselves all day long - you’re probably doing it as you read these words. In fact, on an average day you think some 60,000 thoughts. Most of those thoughts are repetitive thoughts from the day before and the one before that. Now for the startling part, for most people, the vast majority of those thoughts are negative. For many of us, those negative thoughts manifest themselves as statements of failure such as “I will always be overweight and tired” or “It’ll never work because I love food too much.” Learning to re-program our minds to eliminate negativity is key to taking control of our weight and ill-health.

There are many subconscious personal blocks that you may not even be aware of. Through life we can displace emotion by supplementing with food.

Another key factor in the weight gain or ill-health roller coaster has to do with something that the father of sexual psychology, Sigmund Freud, identified over a hundred years ago. He called it the ‘pleasure principle.’ Freud identified the search for pleasure as a driving force within humans. Our sense of wellness, joy and aliveness is directly related to the pleasure that we are able to derive from our daily experiences. Now, here’s the rub for those with weight issues - if we’re not finding pleasure in other areas of our lives, we’ll seek substitute pleasures that may provide instant gratification but long term negative consequences. People may choose alcohol, drugs or gambling as their substitute but the most common substitute is food.

From the above, it is clear that gaining and keeping control of your weight and wellness is about a whole lot more than counting calories and doing laps in the pool. Weight loss management has to be part of a total life change that incorporates achieving life balance, psychological health and a positive self image. Within these pages you will discover that the real key to fat loss has nothing to do with calories, cardio or carbohydrates. The only real way to develop wellness is to develop a mindset for health. Take the time to do that and everything else, the physical things like exercising and eating, will be so deeply ingrained in your psyche that you will be programmed for success. A healthy clean body and mind will soon follow.

Answer the following questions. Thinking and writing them down will give you more clarity.

Where is your life balance? Let’s check it out.

Self Reflection

How’s your life balance?

Can you effectively juggle your work, family and personal time? Take this quiz to find out. Respond to each question with a number between 1 and 5, where 5 is always and 1 is never.

How did you go? If your total is 20 or less then you’ve got a great balance between work, home and your personal life. 21 – 30 means that you’re doing pretty well but are in need of some tweaking to get the balance better. 31 –40 and you need to take a serious look at your priorities. 41- 50 means that you’re already in free-fall - turn the page and start reclaiming your life!

It’s time!!!! Yippeee…lets go!