My Body Tutor : No More Excuses

Many of you tell me that you always feel hungry.

Let’s explore shall we?

First off, let’s ask ourselves this question while we’re thinking rationally: Is it possible to be hungry all the time?

Rationally, we know that it’s not possible to be hungry all the time. So what gives?

Well, most of the time it’s emotional hunger.

Real/physical hunger comes on gradually. Emotional hunger comes on suddenly. Real hunger can be satisfied with any food. Yes, that’s right – if an apple doesn’t satisfy our hunger, we’re not truly physically hungry.

Emotional hunger comes with a craving for a specific food. And, unfortunately, it’s usually not for apples. Ever have those times when you eat snack after snack and nothing seems to be hitting the spot? Well, that’s because we’re not physically hungry. We’re emotionally hungry. We’re hungry for something else.

When we get “hungry” it’s worth asking ourselves a few questions:

1. How long has it been since I’ve eaten?

2. What am I really hungry for?

3. Is anything bothering me?

4. If I had an ‘EASY’ button to magically help me with what I’m dealing with, right now, what would I use it for?

Perhaps, what we’re really hungry for is affection, assistance, rest, excitement, peace of mind…

Is it possible to have the need met by someone? How about by yourself?

Here’s the challenge: Many times we feel like our needs can’t or won’t get met – so food becomes our escape.

When we’re “hungry” that is a need we feel like we can actually control.

Sometimes, it can be very helpful to explore what it feels like to have the need go unmet by simply writing about it. Many clients have reported that this eases the discomfort tremendously.

This is also how we can find out what we might really want for ourselves because typically we’d shovel food into our mouth so we don’t have to experience or face the feelings.

Because when we’re not suppressing feelings, they’ll come to the surface, and we’ll be able to see what it is we really want.

Food is ONLY love when it is used to feed our true physical hunger and we actually enjoy and relish and savor the experience. Otherwise, we’re using food to cover up feelings.

Feelings that are preventing us from becoming the person we really want to be.

How do you like them apples?

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Starting a diet is easy. Sticking with it is very hard.

When was the last time you stuck with a diet?

MBT helps you actually stick with your diet and/or exercise plans by providing daily and personal accountability like no other service in the world. This is why we get the results we do. Learn more now by clicking here.

Ya know, it’s interesting.

Once in a while when I talk with a person who doesn’t appear to be healthy and fit, they’ll say: “You know, I only live once. And we’re all going to die anyway so what’s the point of my weight loss efforts?”

There is a reason they are saying this, and it’s not as obvious as you might think. I’ll go into that next week.

Instead, let’s tackle head on the point of us only living once so what’s the point of our weight loss efforts.

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I talk and write a lot about our short term/irrational mind versus our long term/rational mind. Our long term/rational mind is where our true dreams and desires are. Our short term/irrational mind doesn’t care about the future. It wants pleasure…and it wants it NOW!

Our short term mind is constantly sabotaging us in the form of thoughts like, “You deserve this cookie, go for it. You only live once!” “Why bother exercising?” “Don’t you want to be happy now?” “You work so hard!”

Here’s the challenge we all wrestle with: Balancing living for tomorrow with living for today.

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The reason why I’ve been able to stick with MBT since February of 2007 is because I truly believe in what we’re doing, and I know what I offer works. I believe in what we do 1000% and my belief only gets stronger each and every day…

Persistence isn’t about doing the same things over and over. It’s about wanting the same thing over and over. (I believe our short term/irrational mind is constantly trying to chip away at what we really want because it’s easier to maintain the status quo.)

And something I’ve wanted for as long as I can remember – and something I’ll always want – is to live the happiest life I can, and to help others do the same.

One fact remains constant and it’s what drives me:  When I eat healthfully and exercise, I feel better. In other words, happier, than when I don’t.

BELIEVE ME! I love cookies. I love ice cream. I love hamburgers. I really do. It’s a constant battle. And I indulge. But, I try to only indulge for the right reasons.

Even when I do indulge, I still don’t feel as good as when I eat healthfully.

Which brings me to the question we always ask our selves, “Why am I not enjoying NOW?”

“We’re all gonna die anyway!” some people say. YOLO! (You Only Live Once!)

Which circles us back to the…

NOW versus later debate.

“Screw Adam, screw MBT, screw the Daily Feedback! I want to enjoy life now!”

That’s the devil on our shoulder talking to the Body Tutor. That’s our irrational, short term mind yelling at our rational, long term mind.

So try this thought on for size:

Why not enjoy life now, even if it means more health problems later?

Really.

Go for that cookie! Go for that burger! Go for that ice cream!

BUT! It seems to me, unless you are already doing heroin then you aren’t being true to your own philosophy. Why not enjoy a good high now? Who cares what happens later!?

Interestingly, all of us have always thought about later on, and not now.

Think about the first 20 or so years of our life. Everything we did in school was to set ourselves up for a better future.

The one downside of planning ahead is that we may enjoy today a tad less. The upside is that our future might be a bit better! Maybe, A LOT better!

I’m not saying my thinking here is the best, but I think you get my point.

I don’t think it’s fair to call the “you only live once aka YOLO” approach any kind of philosophy unless you’re also quitting your job, doing heroin, living at your favorite restaurant, and only doing what feels the best every minute of your life.

Junkies have a philosophy. We have rationalizations.

Now there’s always a twist:

1. It turns out, we actually enjoy today MORE when we eat and exercise for the future. We’ve all had days when do nothing but eat and watch TV – at least I have. I always feel better when I’m eating right and exercising. Always! I know you do too.

2. I’ve never done drugs. Had/have no desire. I’m not saying you should. It was just to make a point. Actually, as a public service announcement I’ll write it: don’t do drugs!

3. It turns out that when we live and plan for the future it’ll also make us happier TODAY!

Why not make it a happier week?

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P.S. I’ve thought and written a lot about the subject of happiness because I think that’s our end goal. You can read all of my posts on happiness on my other blog here.

HA HA! I gotta laugh using Mike Tyson for blog post fodder…

But as crazy as he is, he’s also a pretty deep guy.

Below is a story of his which I really like:

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His then trainer Cus D’Amato, says to him, “Listen you have the chance to change your life, your family’s life, you can be very special. Don’t you want to be champion? You can be champion of the world”.

I didn’t pay no attention.

He said, “Really, you could be champion of the world. You could devastate the world. No man can take what you did, you got to believe it”.

I looked at this guy and then I started thinking, I said, this guy is really crazy, that’s what I said, this guy is really crazy. [Funny how Mike Tyson thought someone else was crazy!]

“You do what I tell you to do, and if it doesn’t work then, then you can leave”.

So I said OK.

I did everything he told me to do and I won, I won every championship. From the amateur championship, all the championships, so I won every championship because he told me what to do. And I started believing in this old man.

I stopped being a little thief. I use to go back to New York and rob people and come back upstate and hide out.

The day I stopped doing all that I changed my whole life. I said I’m gonna stick to this boxing sh*t.

I turned my whole life over to boxing. I turned into a complete animal, I turned into a disciplinarian.”

**

My words now…

I love how he says the day I stopped… Because, ultimately change happens in an instant. We decide (that’s the hardest part) and then we fight like heck for the rest of our life to back our decision – unless, of course, it’s not a worthwhile one.

But we all know pursuing our health and fitness goals certainly is. Or to borrow from Mike Tyson — we all know sticking to this health and fitness sh*t is worthwhile. (Pardon my French!)

That day Mike Tyson decided he was going to be the best in the world. That he’d do whatever it took to be the best. That’s he’d employ an army of people to support him. That he’d be the baddest man on the planet.

What would happen if you decided right now that you’re not going to eat any junk food for the rest of this week? Or the rest of the day?

What would happen if you decided right now that you’re going to exercise every day for the rest of this week, no matter what it is?

What would happen to your psyche if you decided on something right now that would benefit you?

And the best part? The best part is that when we do things that benefit us, we feel a lot better too.

We feel like the…

Champion of the World!!!

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Starting a diet is easy. Sticking with it is very hard.

When was the last time you stuck with a diet?

MBT helps you actually stick with your diet and/or exercise plans by providing daily support like no other service in the world. This is why we get the results we do. Learn more now by clicking here.

A few weeks ago, right smack in the middle of the day, the opportunity to ride a Segway was presented to me. I had no idea it would teach me a valuable lesson in how to get over cravings.

I had never ridden one before but I knew I really wanted to do it. Unfortunately, my schedule was pretty packed that afternoon and evening…

DAMN! What to do?

Well, I began adjusting my schedule so I could make it happen. However, I’d be squeezing it in between two things I couldn’t miss.

Until…

My friend suggested I do it the next day!

“TOMORROW?!?!”

I was so caught up in the moment, that didn’t even occur to me. I was so pumped up! I HAD to ride the Segway THAT day. NOT the following day. I wanted to ride it RIGHT THEN AND THERE!

Once I realized that I’d be cutting it very close with my schedule, I decided the following morning would have to suffice.

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I’m a big believer in scheduling events or creating things to look forward to. Anticipation is a HUGE key to happiness. When it comes to happiness there are four stages: Anticipation, savoring the actual event or moment as we experience it, expressing our pleasure to ourselves or those with us, and reflecting on the fun and happy memory.

I think my favorite stage of happiness is…wait for it….hold on….give me a second…anticipation. (See what I just did there?)

Anticipation can make our lives better. And sometimes, I enjoy the anticipation of an event MORE so than the actual event I’m anticipating! (And I’m okay with that!)

Whether it’s planning trips or figuring out fun plans for the week or weekend, setting things up for ourselves to look forward to will absolutely make us happier.

I try to create anticipation in my life as often as possible. (In fact, I’ve been looking forward to writing this VERY piece for a few weeks now. But I purposely waited.)

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Question: If you had the chance to go to your favorite vacation spot this weekend or in four weeks, what would you choose?

I’d choose going away in four weeks. Want to know why? This way, I get to look forward to the vacation for FOUR WHOLE weeks! It’s like a four week vacation PLUS the vacation itself.

Question: If you had the chance to go to your favorite restaurant today or in two weeks from now, what would you choose?

I’d choose going in two weeks from now. Why? Because I get to look forward to my favorite meal for two whole weeks!

Question: If you had the chance to indulge in your favorite junk food today or this weekend, what would you choose?

I’d choose this weekend. Why? Because I can anticipate how tasty that junk food will be all week long!

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I’m an idea guy. I have binders full of ideas. And before I started MyBodyTutor back in February of 2007 (crazy, it’s been 6+ years!), I was constantly thinking about ideas I wanted to pursue. But only one kept popping up again and again and again. Only one actually caused me to not be able to sleep because I was SO excited by it. The others? If it wasn’t for my binder, they’d be long gone out of my memory.

The point? Sometimes, ideas don’t seem all that compelling after we noodle on them for a while. And it’s a wise idea to noodle on them – otherwise, we’ll do things without really thinking it through.

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When I finally went on the Segway that following day – I was thrilled. I had an absolute blast. And the best part was that I got to look forward to it the whole day before.

Sometimes, we gotta delay instant gratification for future happiness!

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Feel like eating your favorite unhealthy food because it’s been a long day/week?

What if you decide that you’ll strategically allow yourself (I say strategically because this is a conscious choice, not an impulsive one) to indulge in a few days time?

In fact, planning ahead when you’re going to eat your favorite junk is a very strategic move. It allows us to anticipate eating it AND it also allows us to PAUSE before we give in. Plus, knowing that we’ll be indulging soon makes the temporary discomfort more tolerable.

The coolest part is that by then we’ll have so much momentum on our side, that we usually don’t even want to indulge. And what if we still really want to? At least it was a mindful choice that gave us an extra boost of happiness (having something to look forward to) and it gave us a compelling reason to not give in right away.

So next time you want to indulge why not “Segway It,” until later on. (ALERT! Yes, that is the new term to help us get over cravings.)

I anticipate reading your emails already. I really wanted cookies but I decided to “Segway It” until this weekend and if I still really want them, I’ll allow myself to have a few, guilt free.

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Starting a diet is easy. Sticking with it is very hard.

When was the last time you stuck with a diet?

MBT helps you actually stick with your diet and/or exercise plans by providing daily and personal accountability like no other service in the world. This is why we get the results we do. Learn more now by clicking here.