The *Problem* With Losing So Much Weight (Which Many of You Will End Up Having)

This post is about the *problem* with losing weight, which many of you will encounter. It is also about why you should be reading fitness posts, that you do not think apply to you. By the end of this post, I think you'll agree with me that they will still help you, maybe in ways you didn't suspect. This is such an important post about creating the proper mindset that guides your weight and fitness.

Yesterday, I made a chin-up post about how I was planning to do to make the elusive chin-up a reality. I laid out the plan and explained how I adapted a chin-up preparation exercise to work at my gym. As I estimated, I got less than half of the views and comments than the previous non-fitness post. I knew this would happen based upon many similar experiences.

And yet--I persevere with these fitness posts, despite the knowledge that many of *you* don't think they apply to you. <<And that is the issue I address in this post. Why is it that you think that chin-up post does not apply to you?! I'll tell you a little story about why it does apply to all of you.

B.'s Problem With Losing So Much Weight
(Which Many of You Will End Up Having)
I have a friend B., a big guy who weighs nearly 400 pounds, who recently lost about 60 pounds. He looks and feels significantly smaller. I've lost almost 60 pounds from my highest weight, so I know that a person can feel very awkward in their own body with a much lower weight. I certainly did. And if a person feels too awkward, that person will gain weight back to feel comfortable again. And I didn't want my friend B. to regain his weight, and I want him to continue to lose more weight too.

But to keep a lower weight, B. has to learn a new way to feel comfortable in his own body with much less poundage. He probably needs to feel "big" in a different way.  So I talked to B. about weightlifting. Weightlifting personally helped me feel "big" while getting much smaller in weight. So that was an easy solution, right?

No. Weightlifting can be all around B., but until B. feels like he belongs in weightlifting, it does not "apply" to him. (Just like the chin-up post did not feel like it "applied" to many of you.) In order for weightlifting to "apply" to B., he has to feel like he belongs with people who are weightlifters. If he feels like he belongs, he can believe that he can be a weightlifter.

So I borrowed B. my ultra favorite Joe Weider beginner weightlifting book. (And, yes, B. will get maimed if he damages it. But don't worry, I already forewarned him about that.) I told B., "I want you to look at the weightlifting pictures and think over and over about you belonging in a weightlifting group. You need to believe it." I also told him to read the book to learn technique about how to weight lift. But still, B. thinking of himself as a weightlifter is the most important thing here.

Getting Fit Takes Reprogramming of Your Mind
How does a non-exerciser, a newbie, or severely unmotivated exerciser get to the point of belonging with very fit people? Well, it takes a lot of reprogramming in your mind. Years of it, if you've had years of bad programming about fitness.

At first, your mind will be very resistant to others talking to you about being very fit. Part of your mind will say, "Don't listen. It doesn't apply." But you will have to override that faulty thought and listen or read fitness information that is beyond your current fitness state. Not only will you have to read some fitness information, but you have to read loads of it to out-weigh the faulty thoughts that got you in such poor fitness shape.

You Don't Have To Believe it, Just Keep Digesting Thoughts Of Fit People
At first, you really don't have to believe it. Just keep reading it. Every single day. Keep digesting thoughts of fit people with as open of mind as possible. Focus now on "input." The chin-up post is full of fit people thought. Even if you don't ever want to do a chin-up, the strategic, exploring, happy fitness aspects of that post would be good for any person to mentally digest. For this same reason, I really enjoy reading stories about blogger's marathons, although I never intend to run one.

Input of Fitness Thoughts Eventually Leads To Output Of *Your* Fitness
If you "input" enough quality fitness thoughts into your mind, eventually you will have quality fitness "output" that will greatly surprise you. At some later date, your mind reprogramming will tell you to be fit and all of that information you ingested will suddenly be ready in your brain to guide you.

It's hard to imagine, but at certain points of my life, 

weightlifting and yoga did not seem to "apply" to me. 

But, eventually, I knew they did!

They changed my life.

It Is Your Choice To Override Your Mind's Faulty Fitness Program...or Not
Whether or not you choose to read the chin-up post, or any other fitness post on this blog, or any other blog, is entirely up to you. I don't know if B. will carefully read and digest the Joe Weider weightlifting book I lent to him. He might not be mentally ready for it. He might not be able to conquer the "this does not apply to me" thought in his brain. I really truly hope he can. And I hope *you* can too.

Challenge: Read A Fitness Post That Seems To "Not Apply" To You
I'm making this challenge to you: Read a fitness post, here or on some other blog, that you initially think does not apply to you. Override that thought and read it anyway. See? It wasn't that bad, and you just got more receptive to being a very fit person. Yay you!

What do *you* think? Did I convince you to read more fitness posts? Why or why not? And, of course, anything else you want to say.

Have a challenging but great day!

:-) Marion