Waging the war within

"Are you running away from something you don't want? Or running away from something you're afraid to want?"

War I: The lack of real food

The question would be easier to answer if one knows the root of the problem.  From there you could begin a journey on how to fix it.  If you don't travel to those depths first you wouldn't need a compass because you wouldn't know you are lost.  Which one are you?  Running away or towards something better.  Trust-- this kind of depth applies all throughout our lives.  The way we live is what people notice the most.  Its the realest truth we have on display. Its in our patterns, our habits and our routines.  The real you is always on display. In this country it seems that our greatest battle lies in our pattern of eating. We, Americans, statistically are killing ourselves through the foods we eat, how much of it, when and why we are eating it.  We're eating it because it "tastes good", "It feels good", "It was on my plate", "I always feel like I'm starving". All of these are indications of an impulsive eater. Yes, like everything else in life you might want to think about it before you do it. Part of the problem is that alot of the foods DON'T have the nutrients your body needs because its not real food. Its synthetic, Genetically modified, chemically saturated products that are being passed off as foods on the shelves of your grocery stores that are not on the oustide "U" of shopping aisles.  They are the foods that are laced in corn products, High fructose corn syrup (HFCS), corn starches, soy based chemicals that all screw with your hormones to keep you...well...fat.

The Solution: Start cooking your own foods and if you don't have time to cook grab a bag of apples, grapefruit, bags of lettuce or mixed bagged salads and start munching on those. Your body wants and recognizes real food. It metabolizes these foods from the Earth faster. It craves it and it is the key to your dieting success. EAT REAL FOOD. I repeat EAT REAL FOOD...fruits and veggies.

War II: Your eating habits
There are 5 different kinds of eaters; completion eaters, bingers, emotional eaters, restrictive eater or necessity eater. Everyone's got a diagnosis for your habits for eating.  But whats in the label anyway?  Why are you any one of these eaters to begin with and how did you develop that relationship with food?

When stressed or upset I turn to food. I honestly do think sometimes that a cookie or a slice of pecan pie will solve the issues in my world and if not, my world tastes better!! Then the next day comes when I've noticed my hard work at the gym did not reap any results.  If results are dependent on a lifestyle of 70% diet and 30% gym it is more valuable to spend one's time on dieting long-term than at the gym for hours in a day trying to burn off the unnecessary calories.

If you are one to think that you can just burn it off at the gym, congratulations, you are a contender to maintaining the same physique forever.  In order to see changes, you must do something different consistently. That means if you are trying to lose weight you must be at a deficit consistently, if you are trying to gain lean mass you must add calories of healthy food (357cals) consistently daily supplemented with your time at the gym to see more muscle CONSISTENTLY.  Everyone must do something different than what they have been doing in order to see progress.

The war within you starts when you are having trouble winning your desired goal.  Trying the same thing over and over expecting a different result would qualify as "insanity" or so they say.  But doing a different thing consistently may qualify for success if you're doing the right thing right.  First, in order to put an end to the emotional, completion, binge or restrictive eating one must figure out what is going on inside.

I have this theory that is becoming more evident as I work with more clients and continue on my own journey that:: You can't solve a problem from the outside if the root of it is on the inside. Which means you might have better luck losing the weight if you get a therapist first and then come see me.  Because willpower is often a key component in being successful period one must be able to tap into it. You MUST figure out how to tap into your willpower and not just in fitness but for your survival. If you don't have willpower what have you got in rough times?

What I do lately to combat my emotional eating habits is I think of my goals, short term and long term goals, how I will feel after I eat pecan pie. What it will do to me and my body when I'm not consistent? The consequences never outweigh the effort in sticking with my plan. In those times, when I am tired of eating the same things I will have half of the desired snack and add it into my daily calories so it makes little difference than going crazy later.

Key solutions to your dieting blunders are to tap into your willpower by weighing the consequences. The second is to compromise. If you've been going hard on your diet you WILL need a cheat meal to eat something you consider "bad" to relieve your body of the stress of being on a diet. Be adaptable.  If you're out of oatmeal and/or really tired of it you are overdieting. Switch it up. Just like your body needs muscle confusion so does your palate need diet confusion! And if all else fails, seek out a therapist, life coach or mentor to help keep you accountable and free you of the bondage in your mind holding you back from reaching your goals.

One thing is for sure, you can't wage a war within if you haven't begun to battle. Giving up is not an option. The only thing that may separate any of us from "winning" is the desire to win a.k.a. willpower.