Balancing out the joy to lose weight
I'm reading a book right now by Brooke Castillo called "If I Am So Smart, Why Can't I Lose Weight?: Tools to Get It Done!" This was published in 2006 and was the culmination of her successful career as a weight loss coach, before she 10xed it by turning her ability to teach people to lose weight into an ability to teach people to teach people to lose weight: she founded "The Life Coach School" and created a credential out of thin air, and now makes $30M a year running a "teach-the-teacher" business.
So her book is hard to find, it's locked down as a key tool used by her coaches. I had to pay $50 for my copy. I'm finding it generally to be exactly what she gives away for free in her 400 or so podcasts, but, of course, 400 or so podcasts is a pretty big commitment to go through to find the parts that resonate. I also listen to two of her acolytes, and they're saying the same stuff (obviously), so I've got most of it down pat. But once in a while there's something that resonates with me that I didn't already get.
Note: I'm down 30 pounds already, so this is not a sudden interest of mine: I've been working on "massive action" to lose this weight for several years now:just trying one thing after another after another until I get it figured out. So when I say her podcast helps, you also need to know that I've made changes in all of the following areas:
Anyway, the exercise I was given today is to check to see if I'm getting too much of my joy from eating. She points out that someone who gets 95% of the joy in their lives from eating is going to be someone who isn't willing to give up food as entertainment. That makes sense, but doesn't ring true for me. I eat to procrastinate, or to fuel my brain when I'm tired: mostly I need to find non-eating ways to procrastinate and just go to bed when I'm tired. But it's still an interesting exercise, because she also points out that someone who gets all their joy from their kids will be bereft when they grow up, or all their joy from a spouse will be bereft if they leave or die... I see the benefits of balancing your joy.
She suggests to check in on your levels of joy in various domains. I'm going to flesh this out in my own words:
So her book is hard to find, it's locked down as a key tool used by her coaches. I had to pay $50 for my copy. I'm finding it generally to be exactly what she gives away for free in her 400 or so podcasts, but, of course, 400 or so podcasts is a pretty big commitment to go through to find the parts that resonate. I also listen to two of her acolytes, and they're saying the same stuff (obviously), so I've got most of it down pat. But once in a while there's something that resonates with me that I didn't already get.
Note: I'm down 30 pounds already, so this is not a sudden interest of mine: I've been working on "massive action" to lose this weight for several years now:just trying one thing after another after another until I get it figured out. So when I say her podcast helps, you also need to know that I've made changes in all of the following areas:
- I'm working with a nutritionist who talks with me about my food choices and suggests alternatives
- I do regular meet-ups with my doctor monitoring this (and I know I'll be going in to see her soonish so I'm aware of the scale)
- I weigh myself and log it every Monday morning
- I take probiotics - theoretically it improves my metabolism, who knows.
- I Meditate - it builds mindfulness around emotional eating and fog eating
- I do yoga - it builds body awareness
- I get to bed at a decent hour.
- I practice intermittent fasting and stop eating at 8 PM and don't eat again until noon.
- I avoid flour and sugar of any sort and concentrate on eating organic meats and fishes, healthy fats and lots of fruits and vegetables with occasional cheese, eating as much "food made of food" as possible (by which I mean I can look at my plate and tell you the handful of ingredients in it. Rice, fish and salad, for example. This is a diet with very little pizza or pasta.)
- I log my food occasionally, but PARTICULARLY when I eat something that wasn't eaten to fuel my body, and try to figure out why I ate that.
Anyway, the exercise I was given today is to check to see if I'm getting too much of my joy from eating. She points out that someone who gets 95% of the joy in their lives from eating is going to be someone who isn't willing to give up food as entertainment. That makes sense, but doesn't ring true for me. I eat to procrastinate, or to fuel my brain when I'm tired: mostly I need to find non-eating ways to procrastinate and just go to bed when I'm tired. But it's still an interesting exercise, because she also points out that someone who gets all their joy from their kids will be bereft when they grow up, or all their joy from a spouse will be bereft if they leave or die... I see the benefits of balancing your joy.
She suggests to check in on your levels of joy in various domains. I'm going to flesh this out in my own words:
- Spiritual: what makes your consciousness soar
- Work: what gives you satisfaction and flow
- Love: who makes your heart sing to be with them
- Movement: what makes you smile as you do it
- Friendship: which activities with friends warm you?