Beholding & Becoming: Turning Off the Fat Programs by the Renewing of Our Mind

It’s not ceasing to amaze me how consistently worked-out I’m feeling with just four minutes a day on the ROM. Now that June’s here, I’m taking stock of my progress thus far – celebrating how far I’ve come, and reflecting on where I want to go. In addition to exercise and how I eat, I’m recognizing the importance of how I think regarding my bodyfat & appearance. I’ve discovered two able guides in dealing with this often-overlooked, but crucial factor of fat loss: Matt Sison and Jon Gabriel. Both of these men advocate an approach to the mental/emotional (and I’d say, spiritual) side of shedding fat and becoming healthier. They encourage folks wanting to lose fat and gain muscle to ask questions like:

• Do I think of myself as a ‘fat’ person?
• Do I want to be fat? Is this fat an emotional layer of protection?
• Do I fetishize food, and thus tell my body that food is scarce & must be stored at all costs?

These questions must be addressed – and not only on a conscious level. Both Sison & Gabriel encourage us to re-program our internal software on a sub-conscious level by giving ourselves the positive messages and reinforcement that our bodies crave. Jon Gabriel in particular encourages you to spend about a minute each day in what he calls S.M.A.R.T. mode visualizing in detail what you’d like your body to look like. It might sound hokey, but a few months back I ran into an old friend who’d lost like 40 pounds simply by doing just that each day.

So I had Jasmin help me sort through dozens of photographs of buff men to pick out the ones that I could most see myself growing into. I’m a pretty big guy, so I don’t want the atrophied emo look – but I don’t want the meathead look either. I’ve now been doing the suggestion/visualization thing for about a week, and it’s been great – sleep is more restful, and I’m feeling leaner.

When I started this whole-health journey, I knew that I didn’t want to do any fad or crash dieting – the brief moments I’ve tried this before in the past decade failed miserably. Instead, I’m only adding things to my life that I can see myself doing forever – ROMming, eating fresh, seasonal food, centering prayer, proactive visualization. As always, I’ll keep you posted! Only 4+ months ’till 30!