Benjamin Franklin on patience

by Jim on January 25, 2010

He that can have Patience can have what he will
- Benjamin Franklin

You can immediately reduce the stress you feel about dieting if you decide to be patient about the weight loss process. I’ll bet that you are thinking in terms of one week goals, or perhaps two weeks, a month, six weeks tops.

I don’t blame you – we live in a quick fix culture. Come May we’ll be seeing magazine covers saying “get a beach-ready body in six weeks!”

But if you are prepared to think in terms of a one year plan, then your mind will instantly be at much greater peace. Suddenly all of your goals are viable. Even if you only lost 5 lbs a month, that would still be a loss of 60 lbs over the course of a year.

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Endurance must be your motto

by Jim on January 23, 2010

“By endurance we conquer.”
- Sir Ernest Shackleton

The difference between success and failure at dieting can be boiled down to one, essential point: how you view the process.

Most people fail at dieting. It can be reasonably assumed, then, that they see dieting as a hard, painful task. Or to put it more precisely, they have an entirely negative view of the experience.

Unfortunately, if you feel this way about dieting, then you are almost certainly doomed to fail. The key to success is to view the experience optimistically, regardless of the symptoms.

Look at the US Navy SEALs. They have an infamous selection process known as ‘Hell Week’ – a week in which prospective SEALs must do countless thousands of calisthenics, undergo surf torture, and be pushed to their mental and physical limit practically non-stop. They get barely any sleep during this process, they are always cold, and get meagre rations.

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Confessions of a chocoholic…

by Jim on January 8, 2010

I love chocolate. I do. I seem to be one of those rare men that would prefer a big bar of milk chocolate to a rump steak. I pop a block in my mouth, and I melt along with it.

It is no exaggeration to say that chocolate has been a ‘gamechanger’ in my battles with weight loss over the years. Learning how to control my chocolate cravings has been my Everest – and one of my proudest achievements as far as self-control goes.

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Vince Lombardi on commitment

by Jim on January 7, 2010

“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”

- Vince Lombardi

Think about where you are in life, how you feel. Then reflect on Lombardi’s wisdom.

You’ll never be happy if you aren’t proud of your own actions.

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It’s 2010, and plenty of you will have made a new year resolution to finally shed that excess lard that has been plaguing you for years.

And yet, it never ceases to amaze me how people abuse the principle of new year’s resolutions. The term has become associated with failure, the inherently-weak willpower of the many. Something that should be galvanizing has become a faint prayer.

But this is only because people don’t approach their resolutions correctly.

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