Stress vs Weight Loss

It's often under-reported that in order to lose weight you have to reduce the stress in your life. This is part and parcel of the whole 'change your lifestyle ethos', and of course, eating better, and changing one's habits are also ways to reduce the burden on our bodies. But one of the most important areas to pay attention to is stress. In particular - stress at work. Most of our time is spent at work, and work has a huge influence in our well-being (including what we get up to when we are away from work).

Work habits also have a way of intruding into leisure time, and here discipline is important. Boundaries need to be set in terms of work vs leisure. In sport rest is as important as exercise. In life, exercise is as important as work. Sometimes there are deadlines, sure, but prioritise workouts too. Make sure you get up in the morning, because at the end of the day, that is probably the best thing you did that day (for your body, mind and spirit).

Exercise is also a good de-stressor as it asks the mind to shut down so that energy can be dedicated to moving the body. But exercise alone is not enough. Be conscious of the ways to reduce stress at work. Here are a few suggestions:
1) Find ways to minimise your commute
2) Work effectively
3) Have a list of prioritised tasks for a day, do them, then get out there and move your body around
4) When stressed at work, go for a walk, have a drink of water, take a deep breath. Remember you (your identity and your ego) are not your job, it's just part of who you are.
5) Think smart. If you're being stressed out by something or someone, doing do the fly against the wall thing. Think strategically. Either defeat the problem, or if you can't, move yourself into another environment. The third option is to try to develop a different psychology or attitude towards the problem. Accept it, and work with it rather thank kicking against it each day.

Finally, remember these words of wisdom:
"It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it". - Albert Einstein

Every time you go out of the world, not with money, but with open eyes, breathing it in, feeling the wind on your face, you begin the process of giving a gift to the world. That gift can be a better, stronger, healthier you. Please give it ;-)

MacDonald's SA's Biggest Loser

In the same way that a Divorced Woman's Group doesn't quite work for me, The Biggest Loser doesn't quite work for me either. It's all very melodrammatic, with bursts of applause and congratulations for the smallest achievement. The one group during the weigh in (with the goal to see how much weight they'd shaken off) even applauded a teammate who gained weight. Doh! I guess it is all relative, but as far as I'm concerned, it's this surplus of emotion, the undisciplined emotionalness of everything, the excessive personal sensitivity, that is the root of the problem.

I've been accused of being 'too sensitive', and the solution isn't to force oneself to be less sensitive. Being sensitive is a skill, not everyone has it. It's about extra sensory perception that may be above average. But what is crucial is where you focus that sensitivity. Do you focus on what you can't change, on the unsolvables, on negativity and criticism, on yourself all the time, or do you focus on being sensitive to what can be done to change, to induce change, on making a difference. Many people experieincing hurt and pain - I did the same - misunderstand that they have to try to 'not' be sensitive. You can't. Be sensitive, but in terms of the messages you're getting. Listen to them, and then be sensitive to all those things, all those actions you can take to affect change in your life. In this sense, sensitivity is an enabler, rather than a disabler.

To reiterate: Don't be sensitive to all the hurts and restrictions, focussing on what you can't do. Focus on the opposite: what you can do. Be sensitive to that.

Now, back to the topic at hand. I haven't eaten at MacDonald's for about 3 or 4 years now. I've stopped eating KFC too. I found it insane that MacDonald's advertised in the slots on a reality show about weight loss. The arrogance! The ad features palm trees that turns into cloves of lettuce, and rock far out to sea that becomes a bun. The ploy is to milk our obsession for food (and junk food - burgers in particcular). If you didn't see any harm in this ad being flighted where it was (MacDonald's aren't stupid, they are fighting our attempts to eat and live healthy) you're in trouble. Snap out of it.