So, I started a new "program" for lack of a better term. Simply put, it's a program of affirmations. Similar to Oprah's latest book pimp, The Secret (I know about this from DAPGF, not because I watch Oprah), the premise behind it is that the future isn't strictly set, but can change based on our perception of what the future will be. Power of positive thinking, whatever you'd like, the idea is that you pick a fairly specific goal (but not one so specific that it doesn't allow flexibility in approaching the goal), and once a day write the goal down 15 times. My source (and I might divulge it later, but as funny as it may be, it is NOT Stuart Smalley from old school Saturday Night Live) cited several fairly specific goals that he set (one at a time, not all at once), and that they all came to be after following the daily process for several months. He did say that there was no consistent, "do this for 90 days" timeframe for it, but that his experiences ranged from several weeks to 6 months for realization of the goal. He also stated that it's ok if you are skeptical, just so long as you consistently write the goal down. It is his argument that the daily affirming of his goal helped him achieve his goal by allowing the future to perceive a path from his present to the successful goal. I don't have the book in front of me (here at work, planning my stealth post by mail), but I'll try to clarify some of the details in a later post.
I started back on Friday the 13th, with my goal (naturally) being to lose weight. Specifically:
"I, iamhoff (use your real name), will get my weight below 240 lbs this year."
Now the interesting thing is that this doesn't set daily progression targets, or spell out a specific method or activity I must undertake to achieve it. Given that I started the day after my 36th birthday, "this year" could mean either Calendar Year 2007 or my 36th year, with the deadline being April 12, 2008. Those details aren't really the concern. What I seem to be noticing is the positive reinforcement from constantly writing my goal down. I've got a big wire-bound notebook that I keep in my laptop bag, and I write a few lines at a time. Constantly having to look at my own words stating that I intend to drop some serious poundage (just shy of 50 lbs), seems to help keep me mentally in the game and helps me avoid the urge to constantly stuff my face. Again, I'm not setting goals of only consuming 1200 calories per day, or getting a solid hour of cardio work in each day. Rather, I'm just constantly reminding myself that I'm trying to lose weight and hoping that being constantly aware of that will help me fight the urges to eat everything within reach. It hasn't been completely perfect, but I have noticed a small downward trend in my weight over the weekend. And since I didn't make it to the gym at all this weekend, it has to be because my reinforcement helped me to control my eating urges.
If I continue to make positive strides, I'll go a little more into what I read, what the background is, etc, etc. For the meanwhile, I'm hanging tough and trying to fill my need to munch with gum and lots of water. As a side bonus, drinking as much water as I seem to be should help clear out any toxins or other impurities in my body, thus helping to make me even healthier! Wish me luck…
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