So many of us are concerned about weight loss, and as one of the “fattest” countries in the world, we should be – but there’s more to it than just incorporating exercise or “going” on a new diet.
In week five of six weeks to your best year ever, we round the corner to implement changes incorporated over the last few weeks. STRENGTHEN is this week’s theme, and I offer four schools of thought, all with a similar philosophy: Strength is creating inner fortitude necessary to continue on the new path you’ve created.
The other day, Rachel Ray had reality star Bethenny Frankel on her show where they discussed the “myth” of creating balance. I argue that the “myth” is more about our approach than the concept itself, as balance is more successful when treated like a pie rather than a set of scales to be tipped. With this “pie,” some days one slice is larger, another day it may just be a sliver, but the entire thing is what keeps us whole.
This too is the underpinning of “strength,” — balancing the pie of body, mind, spirit; nutrition, exercise, commitment; personal, business, self… that keeps us whole. So today “self” may get a sliver, but if tomorrow, I can dole out a hefty portion. Maybe I slacked with nutrition on my birthday, but exercise and commitment keep me on track so unhealthful eating doesn’t become a habit. This, I believe, is the key to weight loss.
I’m not alone in this belief. Not one for “diet” books, I actually was impressed with bestselling author and exercise physiologist Bob Greene’s latest,”The Life You Want: Get Motivated, Lose Weight, and be Happy” (Simon and Schuster, 2011). In it, Greene looks at why weight loss plans fail and how individuals can identify unique barriers to losing weight: “When you knock down the emotional and psychological barriers (and learn to cope with the physiological ones) that prevented you from being successful in the first place, you’re going to have a much greater shot at keeping the pounds from returning.”
A similar premise is espoused by Jeff Ford, owner of Ultimate F.I.T. Gym in Lone Tree, “The nutritional, the physical and the mental change — that’s the trifecta,” he emphasized.
Ford has almost three decades devoted to fitness, training and education. With a total of six world titles in Muay Thai and Mixed Martial Arts, he’s trained celebrities, professional athletes, law enforcement and the armed forces, including Special Operations Units.
“A workout to me is something a woman does when she wants to fit in her dress or a guy does when he wants to wear that tank top to play ball, opposed to a lifestyle change where you learn what it takes to get healthy,” said Ford. “The whole thing is we get so caught up living our lives—working, kids, significant other—that we tend to put ourselves within this shell, we limit what we can do.” Ford advises that we can achieve great things by managing our lives around our goals instead of trying to fit our fitness goals into hectic lives.
That tricky balance is what led avid runner Ashley Phoenix to replace her love of a runner’s adrenaline high with the oxymoronic serene endorphin rush offered in yoga practice. She gave up a high stress life as an Emergency Room nurse and opened Yoga on 6th more than a decade ago. “Yoga fortifies people in that it actually creates the space for them to be with themselves and with their thoughts. I don’t think we do that, ever. In the rat race of life, multitasking, when you come to yoga you do have to put that aside,” she shared.
Emphasizing that a regular yoga practice has multiple physiological, emotional, physical and spiritual benefits, she offered that many find the weight loss they seek, without actually focusing on losing weight. Phoenix reminds that yoga is more than a physical practice, rather about creating calm in the midst life’s storms and along the way comes this well-trained body and strong mind.
“[We have] pressure to be a certain way, look a certain way, act a certain way, with yoga you can learn to let go of all of that and surrender. Surrender in our society is such a negative connotation but it’s such a beautiful thing. The physical part, you’re gonna get the benefits [anyway].”
Games With Heart inventor Mike Valentine also imparts the benefit of incorporating bodily systems to creating lasting change. After 21 years studying and practicing both Eastern and Western disciplines, his games create results by integrating physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual practices.
“When you’re talking about the body, you’re talking about life, there’s no part of life that doesn’t have a body,” said Valentine. “Games with Heart exists to inspire purposeful living. The way we do that is to work through belief systems to discover our heartfelt aspirations including our view of life, our relationship to ourself [sic], and our purpose within life – premise being that those three things impact everything we do.”
In Valentine’s The Fitness Game, participants take a two-day seminar to view those three concepts along with these: Relationship to nutrition, exercise, the body, healthy living, time and money. He then uses performance psychology and emotional intelligence to create “the performance mindset.” Over the following twelve weeks, participants score points for healthful living and integrating new behaviors with Valentine providing coaching and support along the way. “In the end, you have a charter for your life,” he states, offering that about a thousand participants have benefited from the game.
So whether your goal is to lose ten pounds as a New Year resolution, or create substantial weight loss to achieve health goals, these experts agree – the road to true change is lined with the strength of not just body, but an integrated approach of all body systems. In our final week, we’ll take a closer look at spirituality and the FAITH necessary to sustain your best year ever.
Doni Luckutt is a lifestyle expert who believes by enhancing interpersonal connection, we can stop simply living, and become Simply Alive! If you have a suggestion on what brings you to life, connect with her on Twitter @SimplyAlive, via email Doni@SimplyAliveWorld.com or on her blog: www.SimplyAliveWorld.com/Blog.
