I just finished reading "The Best Life Diet" by Bob Greene. I have heard of this book many years ago (when I watched an episode of Oprah), but it was just last year when I finally got myself a copy. I got to read it then, but I didn't finish it... thankfully I was able to finish it now. Anyway, there are parts of the book that I want to stress first before I talk about my goals.
In the book, there were questions that I would like to answer, because I think knowing who I am will help me setting and reaching my goals.
1. Why are you overweight?
I could say I am overweight because I am lazy and afraid. Actually, I was afraid first...when I was a kid I started having leg wounds (that looked like scabies) every summer that caused me to be bullied by the neighborhood kids. Of course, why would they want to play street games with a child whose legs looked horrible, right? I got afraid, to the point that I was always hiding inside the house. The result, I never really became active. I was afraid to be ridiculed that I never tried to learn any sport. I was stagnant...and yes lazy.
As for food, I could say that deprivation was part of my binging. Growing up in a not-so-rich family, my parents didn't give us (brother and I) enough allowance to buy snacks every recess and pay for project contributions. My mom's reasoning, we could just eat something at home, go to school, then come home to eat - no need to buy any snacks at school. Well, our house was just walking distance, but as a growing up kid, I am sure you know how fast our metabolism is, and a whole day of thinking, writing, communicating, and everything in school can really wear our strength and make us hungry. Everyday, when I got home from school, I would just dump cold rice on my plate and eat. Like I say, times were hard on us that time, and I learned how to make me full with little viand and lots of rice (parents work at a Government company and they have a sack each of rice every month). Eating became my way of venting out, and it has been a good friend of mine when people around me were trying to avoid me because of how I look.
These three factors I carried as I aged. I got afraid, I got lazy, I fell in love with eating. Before I knew it, I am already in a deep hole, and my weight couldn't help me get out of it.
2. Why do you want to lose weight?
Let's go for the superficial answers first: a) I want to buy clothes off the rack that aren't under "Plus Size" section. b) I want to wear swimsuit in public (because some resorts don't allow people to get in the pool if they're not wearing swimsuits). c) I hope someone to carry me (like my future husband) d) I want to pose for pictures without hesitations, and d) I don't want to be the subject of many ridicules anymore.
Digging deep, the main reason why I want to lose weight is because I am just sick and tired of living my life the way I am living it. I am so fed up with my complaints, my secret hopes and wishes, and that I am very tired of failing as well as starting something that I don't finish. For once, I want to set a fitness goal and work on it until I reach it. Of course, part of that reason is because I want to control my own life, and not my weight dictate what I can or can not do.
Part of the willingness to lose weight is also because of health reasons. I love fatty and salty food, I have been overweight / obese since I am 9 years old (I think), and I have the diabetic and hypertensive blood in my veins. My family's health history is not stellar, and I was told that obesity is best friends with many health issues, and if I don't act on it, I might have the dreaded family disease by the time I reach 40. I love living life, and I want to live longer. If losing weight meant staying away from many diseases, I see no reason why I shouldn't do it.
3. Why have you been unable to maintain the weight loss in the past?
I will go back to the reason why I am overweight: I am lazy. Whenever I see good results, I tend to drown myself in that triumph that I lose all enthusiasm the next day. I guess knowing I can do it clouds my vision that I let myself slip off the track and go back to my bad habits.
"The Best Life Diet" is available online and in many different bookstores. I personally was able to find a copy at Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street, but if that branch is far from your place and you want to have a copy of this book, you can call different bookstores and ask them if they have one on stock.
Anyway, you might get a little distracted by the word "Diet" on the book's title. It's not "diet" per se (like Atkins or South Beach), it's about changing your life through healthy lifestyle. The Best Life Diet has three phases:
- Phase 1 - Focuses in moving the body and changing eating patterns.
- Phase 2 - Focuses in aggressively losing weight.
- Phase 3 - Focuses in transitioning you (or us) into a healthy, high-quality diet to maintain the loss we have acquired.
Phase 1 and Phase 2 runs for a month each (but there's a tendency that one had to stay in one phase longer before going to the next phase), while Phase 3 is forever.
I may have finished reading the book, but this book is something meant to be read and understood over and over again. I am happy I was able to read this book.
ps - if you're wondering why I posted a Google image and not my own photograph, it's because I own the e-book.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We are grateful to have you here.