Gaining Weight Might Not Be So Bad If It Weren't for Gravity!

It's true. If it weren't for gravity, you might not notice so much when you gain weight. During the past couple of months I noticed that I had gained about ten pounds this year. And ten pounds the year before! My waist size didn't increase in my pants--I just started wearing my pants a little lower. I'd been noticing more aches and pains, and more stiffness in the morning when I woke up. Some might say it was because I was getting old. Yes, I do get older every day, but that isn't why I had aches and pains. Intuitively I knew it was time to act. I needed to listen to that Voice within and take action to care for my body.

No goal--no disciplineOver the past few years I have allowed myself to eat whatever I want whenever I want. I worked out, but I worked out less than before. I had no goal for my physical health, and no discipline. If you don't know what you want, it is difficult to have any discipline. I decided recently that I want to feel good physically. I want to feel light and fit and vibrant. I want to be awake and aware. That's my goal. How do I get there? I began with reinstating my stretching and breathing exercises every morning. That took care of the aches and pains. I also received a professional massage. That helped, too. I started drinking more water. It's only 10 days later and I don't wake up with aches and pains any more. I feel good.

It's logical.
Getting fit and feeling good is not that complicated once you are clear that you want it. Basically it is three things:
1. Less input. (Less food and drink)
2. More output. (More exercise and movement.)
3. Higher quality fuel. (Eating better.)

The next stepI knew it was time. I needed to make a choice between short term feeling good (the instant pleasure I get from eating sweets and high quantities of food I like) and long term feeling good (the great feeling of vitality and lightness of being I get from being lighter and fit). I could have put it off. I could have continued awhile longer. But, that's what I have been doing--procrastinating. I could wait until I have a health crisis and then change. I didn't want to wait. I want to feel healthy more than I want to get instant pleasures from food. After a weekend of eating big and tasty meals and lots of delicious treats, I stopped. I decided to take good care of myself.

I stopped eating sweets. I started pushing away from the table sooner. I stopped eating snacks, especially before bed. I started eating more raw foods--fruits and salads, less fat foods--meat with gravy. The first day I felt depressed. That was my withdrawal symptom. On the second day I started feeling better. I am six days into it and I feel a lot better. I still enjoy eating. The other night my wife and I went to PF Changs. I ordered a coconut curry tofu vegetable dish. It tasted fantastic. I ate about half of it. Normally I would have cleaned the plate. There are numerous times at gatherings and around the house when I would have grabbed a cookie or four, and didn't. I was at a restaurant the other day where there were numerous desserts arrayed before me. I actually didn't want them. Wow! Could that really be me?

This isn't a religion.I'm not counting calories. I'm not becoming a vegetarian, for now anyway. I have no elaborate list of what I will or will not eat. I'm not denying myself sweets for the rest of my life. I will have them occasionally as a treat. For now, I need to stay away from them. Some people have suggested stevia, a noncaloric herb that is very popular now. I'm not looking for a sugar substitute at this time. I already eat fruit; I don't need sweets. Over the past few years, sweets have been in charge of me, rather than me in charge of when I do or don't eat sweets. Diet and nutrition is not a religion for me. I just want to feel good--long term. This is what I do: I look at food and ask: Is this good for me right now or not? I get an answer. A feeling, an urge, a knowing. Call it what you will, I usually know if I should be eating something or not.

No quick fixesThere are a lot of programs out there that claim to help you lose weight or feel better. Some of them are helpful. I stopped drinking diet pop with caffeine altogether. I was starting to get side effects such as an increase in snoring when I drank it at night. Many people have told me that the one thing that helped them to lose weight was not drinking diet pop. For many, it tends to increase food cravings. I know I will lose weight, but that is not the focus of what I am doing. The focus is my goal--to feel vital and healthy. Losing pounds is only a part of that. So I am not looking for the magic herb that will take pounds off or make me feel not hungry.

Feeling hungryI feel hungry most of time, and I like it. There are two kinds of hunger I feel. The first is when my body truly needs food--energy. The second is the urge to forage, to put things in my mouth, fill the pouch in my body. I leave each meal feeling a little bit hungry. I really don't enjoy feeling full. A friend of mine who has already lost over 30 pounds with his lifestyle change, told me this: "You have to make friends with your hunger." I'm doing that. If I feel a little bit hungry, I know I am doing well. That feels good! My hunger is a constant reminder that I am doing well. My little bit of hunger feeling says: "Good job, Bill!"

Taking responsibilityI am responsible for this body. When it feels uncomfortable, aching, painful, heavy, --that affects everything. The mind affects the body, but the body also affects the mind. Pain and discomfort is distracting. However many years I have left, this body is the vehicle in which I will spend those years. My decision last week was a quality of life decision. Physicians and health care providers are not responsible for my body. They can only provide advice and treatments. As we are taking responsibility for our bodies, we increase the quality of our lives. I can spend five minutes eating sweets and suffer the long term consequences, or I can pass on them. Ten minutes later I don't miss those cookies or that sweet chocolate. I do have the good feeling that I honored my commitment to good health. Integrity (doing what you say you'll do) always feels good. Breaking promises to yourself feels bad.

You are responsible for your body. You may not need to take the same path I did. I do hope that you are taking responsibility for your body and doing what you need to do to be happy and healthy. While we are in these physical bodies we all have to deal with gravity. The pull of gravity doesn't have to increase as we age. We have a choice. You have a choice. Make it a conscious choice!