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Do You Need A Swift Kick In The Butt?
Ever since I can remember, starting from when I was a young boy, I've struggled with my weight. I was stuck in a body that didn't represent my mind's view of myself, but did represent a weakness I had in relation to food. It always brought to mind the Andrew Carnegie quote, "People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents." I knew that this struggle was holding me back from total mastery and it frustrated me to no end.
Ever since I can remember, starting from when I was a young boy, I’ve struggled with my weight. I was stuck in a body that didn’t represent my mind’s view of myself, but did represent a weakness I had in relation to food. It always brought to mind the Andrew Carnegie quote, “People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.” I knew that this struggle was holding me back from total mastery and it frustrated me to no end.
Those of you who have seen my physical transformation in the last year know that I have finally found my motivation. And I’ll tell you this: not only have I succeeded in making my body healthier, my entire life is exploding with new passion and new ventures and I no longer have that stuck energy holding me back.
By no means am I finished. I have another sixty pounds to go. I’m over two thirds of the way there, however, having lost 140 pounds. It’s a significant step in the right direction.
What was my big, swift kick in the butt? Well, the doctors had sentenced me to death. They told me that I had become diabetic. In fact, I had almost died from a diabetic coma. They told me that I was going to be on insulin for the rest of my life and that was that. I was having to inject myself many times a day with insulin as well as taking prescription medicine orally in order to combat this. Now, 140 pounds later, I’m off the insulin, no more prescriptions, the doctor says I’m the poster child in their office for how to deal with this issue successfully.
I had several triggers. First: the doctor told me I would never get off of it and that made me mad. I told him that nobody sentences me to death. He said, ‘can’t’ and ‘die’ and that enraged me. Secondly: I wanted to see my children grow up, spend a long life with my wife, continue to do my work in the world. For a long time that hadn’t been enough to shock me out of my really destructive behavior, but with that first trigger-the anger-the second became an extraordinarily important factor. I realized my mortality and that I was putting myself into an early grave one French fry, one slice of pizza, one pint of ice cream, one candy bar at a time.
As with most things, I went about the challenge methodically and systematically. I got myself a coach. And my weight loss coach told me, ‘If I ate as many carbs as you do, I’d be on insulin and weigh over 400 pounds too. It’s simple science. We need to figure out the right amount of fuel for your body. If we don’t, you’ll die.’
I asked my coach, ‘What do I need to do in order to fix this?’ He told me, ‘First, eat protein. Being a vegetarian doesn’t mean you only eat cheese, bread and cake. No fast foods, no prepared foods. . .they’re full of sugar and fat. Vegetables and fiber. And if you’re not going to start eating chicken, turkey or fish, you’re going to have to become friends with tofu and tempeh.’ (I became friends with chicken and turkey instead.) I’m hoping that whatever your struggle is in life, you’ll find out your trigger to overcome it. I’m not done in my process, but I’m a heck of a lot closer than I have been in decades.
Is a desire and willingness to do something enough? Nope. An intense desire to live, and live without discomfort or disease, was important. But for me I needed to get angry.
Are you stuck in life? Where do you most need a push? What do you need to finally realize you have wings that will enable you to soar to greatness?
I would love to serve in the same capacity for my students and clients that my doctor and coach did for me. Let’s work together to clear out that stagnation.