Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

He had a dream…

But so do you. So do all of us!

Here’s one of my favorite quotes:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”

Ohh, this hits me. It hits me real hard!

I’ll tell ya, it’s easier to sit on the couch and watch life on TV as opposed to actually living life. It’s much easier to remain the way we are and hope and wish. At least, if we hope and wish, we don’t have to face any rejection or failure.

We can just hope and wish!

Sure, that’s fun.

But it gets old rather quickly. The problem is, after a while, even the most non self-reflective person, will see through their own bull secretion. And that hurts.

Because when there is a disconnect between our desires and our actions, unhappiness ensues.

Deep down we all have a story. We all have desires. We all have wants.

We all have dreams.

And that’s my question to you: What is your dream?

Sit with it for a few moments. Sit with it for a few hours if need be.

I’ll ask you again though.

What is your dream?

And, if we’re brutally honest with ourselves, we’re either working towards our dreams, or maybe, we’re burying our dreams…

Actually, here’s the question I really want you to ask yourself: What do I get to avoid in my life by carrying this extra weight?

Talk to me.

The following poem is written by a teenager with cancer. She wants to see how many people will get her poem.

“Slow Dance”

Have you ever watched kids on a merry go-round,

Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight,

Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down.

Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day on the fly,

When you ask how are you, do you hear the reply?

When the day is done do you lie in your bed,

With the next hundred chores running through your head?

You better slow down, don’t dance so fast.

Time is short, the music won’t last.

Ever told your child, we’ll do it tomorrow,

And in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die,

Cause you never had time to call and say, “Hi”?

You better slow down, don’t dance so fast.

Time is short, the music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere,

you miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,

it’s like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life is not a race, do take it slower,

hear the music, before the song is over.

###

I decided to do a little research after this poem was forwarded to me for the 237th time because I wanted to find out who this teenager with cancer actually is. It turns out this poem wasn’t written by a teenager with cancer.

However, I still really like it.

It reminds us to slow down. And that’s the name of the game when it comes to eating less.

Let’s try to make our next meal last as long as possible. Let’s do it for just our next meal and see how we feel.

Tips for us to follow:

1. Take a sip of water between every bite.

2. Put our fork and knife down between each bite.

3. If we’re eating a sandwich, put it down between each bite.

4. Use chop sticks.

5. Use our other hand <— this can lead to lots of laughs!

6. If we’re feeding a family, don’t put the bowls/plates of food on the
table. Keep them in the kitchen, so it’s not as easy to take more.

*Bonus*

The following is a poem written by a Body Tutor with a mission. He wants to see how many people he can help via his simple philosophy – consistency.

You better slow down; don’t eat so fast,
amazing how your food will last!

And if you do, you’ll eat much less,
your MBT will be impressed!

So please slow down; be in pursuit,
of wearing that hot bathing suit!

One of my favorite activities is bike riding. And there’s a lesson in it for all of us, I think.

Most of us, when we ‘bike ride’ look forward to the downhills because we can coast along without much effort.

The entire ride (if it’s a challenging one) consists of barely surviving the
uphills so we can enjoy the easier and fast parts —> the downhills.

Let’s face it: The uphills are very difficult.

The problem with downhills is that although they are easier, it’s crazy. If we’re on a challenging route – the uphills are insane but the downhills are just nuts.

What would happen if we looked forward to the uphills?

That’s where the work is. The fun is. The improvement is. The progress is.

On the uphills, we have a reasonable shot at improvement over last time.

The problem with downhills is that we can’t go much faster than we did last time due to the laws of physics and safety.

Most people spend their days looking forward to those extremely rare moments when everything goes right.

When there are no temptations, the gym isn’t too crowded, it’s not too cold outside, they got 8.1 hours of sleep the night before, their shelves are fully stocked with healthy and nutritious foods, their kids are behaving, their boss is being nice…

But imagine how much of an advantage we’d have if we spent our time maximizing those moments when it doesn’t?

In other words, this week, let’s embrace the uphills. Not the downhills.

Are we crazy?! Seriously. Are we out of our #$#%^#* minds?!?!

Of course, we’re not.

I’m extremely close with my sister. Her and I have been through a lot together including our parents getting divorced when I was 4 years old and she was 9.

Somebody please cue the violins!

No. I don’t want the violins to start playing. All I’m saying is because of that we’re very close.

We still fought a lot.

All sorts of typical things like who’d get to sit in the front seat of the car. And then to remedy the problem we created a word and whoever said it first – only once it was established that we were leaving – would be the victor.

The word was ‘light bulb.’

But then we’d fight over what it meant to be leaving. Did you have to see the car? Did my mom have to have the keys in her hand? The fights we’d get into about when it was the right time to actually yell, “LIGHT BULB!” were heated!

I think even my sister would agree that I did give her the front seat many times even though I said it first. I can see how sitting in the back seat as a teenager while your younger bro is loungin’ in the front seat is worth fighting for.

And then one day, a wise person sat us down, and said something to the both of us, I never forgot.

“Life is crazy out there. It’s hard enough. Be good to each other. Take care of each other. Love one another.”

(There’s a chance I didn’t quote that exactly.)

I took that to heart, though. There’s enough bullcrap we all deal with. Why make our home life any harder than it has to be.

And believe me, I know some of us might have a very challenging home life. But I do believe that trying to take care of the relationships that mean something to us is a good move. Whether it’s with our family or friends or even clients.

Life is hard enough!

“This is beautiful Adam. Really. Just wonderful. But what the heck does this have to do with weight loss?!?!”

First off, losing weight isn’t a one dimensional thing. That’s why I want to give myself tiny little paper cuts all over my body and take a bath in vinegar when I read health tips like, “Eat more vegetables. Exercise regularly. Cut out the sugar!”

Um, yea. We all know this.

Everything in our life affects our diet and exercise. The crazier life gets, the more unhealthy we eat. That’s why I write and research and talk about all sorts of different topics.

Anyway…

Back to us being crazy. As I sat down to write this, I immediately thought of what I shared above: making our home lives as easy as possible because this world is freakin’ nuts.

But what I’m really getting at is this: Why in the world would we have ANY temptations in our home?

Losing weight and changing our behaviors is hard enough. Why make it any harder than it has to be?

My definition of a temptation is this. Anything that causes us to think with our irrational and short term mind.

Clearly we know, say, cookies aren’t healthy for us. When we’re all pumped up, we rationally promise to ourselves, “No cookies!” We’re committing to ourselves with our long term mind.

But when we get home after a long day, and there’s a package (<---99% of packaged cookies aren't worth it, in my opinion) of cookies or chips or whatever tempts us sitting out, we might start to think irrationally. We might start to negotiate with ourselves.

Remember: We can't feel deprived if we're not tempted.

That's why whenever someone gives me anything that's tempting food wise, I give it away like it's a ticking time bomb.

I will say it again: Losing weight and changing our behaviors is hard enough. Why make it any harder than it has to be?

Why not at least try to control our own environment?

I'll tell you why.

Hint: It's the same reason why people who lose weight keep their bigger clothes.

Email me back. Would love to hear your thoughts.

In the meantime, “LIGHT BULB!”