Sunday, May 1, 2011

The Paradigm Shift to Weight Management

In our culture (American), it has occurred to me that people want to lose weight for the following "reasons:"
1. Anger, resentment, frustration at one's self.
2. A feeling of being out of control
3. For someone else (spouse, friend, job)
4. Because the person "has to" or will die
And using these reasons, the typical American person will find one or more of these so-called solutions to achieve smallness:
1. Punish one's self through starvation, over-restriction, stressing the body, over-exhaustion, or by taking something unnatural or dangerous.
2. By leaving it up to someone else to do it for that person
3. By coming up with a quick fix, leaving the conscious awareness of weight loss out of the equation.

As a personal trainer and weight management coach, I have seen all of this and until recently, I have taken personal responsibility for people that have suffered through all of the above reasons and have tried all of the solutions. The thing of it is that I have taken the responsibility for all of those who have failed. Gosh, I would say to my conscious self, I have tried everything with this person, and they are not succeeding! I've used all of my knowledge from all of my trainings and readings. And I can't fix this person!
Therein lies MY problem. It is not my job to FIX anyone. I will never enter a person's mind or spiritual world and make the leap of faith for them. I will never be able to physically connect that person's mind, body, and spirit. That part I can share with others, I can suggest to others, and I can counsel with others, but I can not do it for anyone else.

Here is the real solution.
The mind, body, and spirit are necessarily connected through a personal relationship with one's self and with God (or another name for the Creator of the person). The person must see that he or she is a miracle of God and is a precious commodity unto this earth. Only through self love, self worth, and self respect can one make the conscious, rational decision to make the extra weight go away. Then, the person is ready to do the work involved. Then, the person becomes conscious of what it takes in and what it expends out. Then, he or she is ready to ask a coach, a mentor, a peer to help without the ego getting in the way. Then, he or she can do the work without the excess of stress, anxiety, and anger.

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