‘Tis the season for panic because the bathing suits will be soon coming out… hopefully, if the weather gets better… which means all of our past nights that included extra snacks and skipping work outs will now start to haunt us. That extra jiggle we see in the mirror is rarely a source of joy: “My stomach looks so happy when it shakes like a bowl fully of jelly!” Fortunately, it can be helpful for motivating us to get in better shape for the summer. Pears and pumpkins are shape descriptions, but rarely the kind we want to have on the beach: “You look like a juicy pear; I just want to take a bite out of you.”
This past fall I helped start a group that followed a therapeutic approach to losing weight. It was about conquering our minds in order to change our bodies. One of the things that was very apparent in teaching the program is how your personality and mindset can have serious affects on your ability to lose weight and keep it off. For instance, grade yourself on the following scales:
Emotional Logical
1 5 10
Passive Personality Aggressive Personality
1 5 10
Socially Driven Task Driven
1 5 10
Complacent Desire to Push Yourself
1 5 10
Focus on Others Focus on Yourself
1 5 10
How you answered the above section will have a dramatic affect on how easy and challenging losing weight will be for you. For instance, someone who is emotional may have a harder time not eating for comfort. Meanwhile, someone who is passive won’t have the drive of someone who is aggressive, but someone who is aggressive may go too hard and burn out thereby giving up their diet. For this program I was teamed up with a life coach who scored very high on this chart, especially in the categories of aggressive, desire to push yourself and her ability to focus on herself since she didn’t let family or friends distract her from her goals. She was a tank. When I asked if she had a six pack she laughed and said that was for wussies because she had more than that. When she wore a tank top I wore a sweater. There’s something very de-masculating to a man when there’s a woman with bigger arms and shoulders. When I was leading the group in a discussion on temptation I asked everyone, “What does temptation look like for you?” Answers varied from ‘my spouse,’ to ‘golden arches,’ to ‘a monster with a body made of cake, Kit Kat feet, Mr Big arms and a chocolate chip cookie face.’ This life coach’s answer was “I don’t know what temptation is.” She wasn’t being sarcastic or arrogant; she was just such an aggressive and driven person that she was unaffected by this kind of thinking. When she put her mind to something she just did it. She would be the definition of an anomaly because most of us face regular temptations for desserts and slacking off, but not her. Fortunately, for the rest of us, the more you say no to temptation, the easier it becomes and the less often you’ll have to face it. The hardest part about losing weight is breaking our original routines and habits whether a late night snack, having two cookies when you could have one or finding ways to walk more like parking at the back of the mall parking lot… my girlfriend still yells at me for this.
Knowing what you know from the chart, the next step is to consider what strengths you can focus on in order to help fight your temptations and weaknesses. For instance, if you always ‘put others first’ you’ll need to start putting your health first; after all, if you die younger from an unhealthy life you end up hurting the ones you had originally wanted to help in the first place. This also means, if you are a social person you’ll want to find a way to be social and exercise in order to make it more appealing. If you struggle with being complacent and not wanting to push yourself, you will want to find someone or something to help motivate you. Have reminders everywhere you go so you are constantly reminded why you need to push yourself whether it be to live longer, feel better or look better.
This week may you better understand how your personality and thinking affects your ability to be physically healthy in order to be able to find ways to be even healthier.
Rev Chad David, ChadDavid.ca, Learning to love dumb people