MOTIVATION

Hello!

Sorry for my unexcused absence over the past couple days I’ve been a little distracted as of late

We have a few special events coming up in the family that I’ve been trying to help out with and I just recently got a new job with an online consultation company. If you know where I work you know that’s a tad bit of an exaggerated title but hey if you make it sound good than it is good right? Right.

Well anyways I’m proud to say that I have been working out in my absence. I went for another run with the pup the other night and I’ve been doing sit ups and push ups in my room.

Here’s the sit up and push up plan!

I do 20 sit ups a night. If I can do more, I do. I pretty much just do them until I can’t do anymore, which isn’t very much I admit.

With the push ups I’m doing two a night right now.

Next week I’ll be doing 3 a night and the next week I’ll do 4. I’m going to keep on upping it every week until I get to 100 a night. Like I’ve said dieting isn’t a race it’s a marathon which is unfortunate because fat people hate marathons! But if you just stick with it and keep chipping away you’ll eventually get to your goal.

Back to business!

For today’s article I’m going to be talking about motivation.

How to get motivated.

How to stay motivated.

And what to do if you unfortunately lost that motivation. Which we all know leads to quitting the program.

For me getting motivated isn’t so hard. I very much so want to lose weight, get the ladies and be able to live past 40. That’s enough motivation for me to want to start. But my problem comes a week into a program where I think it’ll just be easier to stay single and call it quits at 40.

So here’s a few tips for getting and staying motivated.

Motivational tip #1

Prove ‘em wrong!

My biggest one is the old “Prove ‘em wrong!” motivator.

If you’re anything like me you’ve stated and stopped a kajillion programs. Now when I tell people I’m going on a diet they kinda look at me, roll their eyes and have this “oh really you’re going on ANOTHER diet?” look on their face. So now whenever I think of cheating or skipping a night of exercise I say to myself, “ Everyone thinks you’re going to quit Jarod. Everyone thinks you’re nothing but a quitter. Well lets get down on the ground do these pushups and prove those suckers wrong!”

It helps me and maybe it can help you too!

Motivational tip #2

PUMP, PUMP THE JAM!

Another great booster I use is music. It can be as cliché as the Rocky theme “eye of the tiger” by Survivor or it can be your own personal theme. YOUR rocky theme. Mine is “I’ll believe in anything” by wolf parade. It gets me motivated to better myself. It doesn’t have to be a fast paced workout song it just has to be something that reminds you that you can be better tomorrow than you are today.

Motivational tip #3!

Projecting

First let me explain what projecting is.

Projecting is when you look into the future at how much better things are going to be when you finally achieve whatever goal you’re working on at the time.

Projecting can be healthy if, like anything else, is done sparingly. Let me explain why and it can also be your biggest enemy (and has been my whole life.) When you start to think about how awesome it’s going to be to have this new body, how many chicks are gonna be lined up at the door and how much better your clothes are going to fit you get excited but when you come back to reality and realize how far you have to go, you get discouraged.

BUT!

Thnking about all these great things while you’re running or working out is a great tool to keep you going. The key is to not dwell on the future.

As they say, “If you have one foot in the past and foot in the future, all you can do is pee on today,”

Those are only a few of the motivational tips I have but unfortunately as I mentioned earlier in this post I’m very busy this weekend so I’m going to have to get off of here.

But before I go here is what I want you to do. I did this and it’s helping me out a lot!

Take 10 minutes and write out everything that helps you stay motivated and all the goals you’re going to achieve when you get to your goal weight. (not that you’ll be done when you get to your goal weight but it’s something to look forward to.) Write those out and read them 3 times a day. I read mine while I eat breakfast, while I eat lunch and right before bed. Reading these goals at breakfast and lunch really help you stay on track.

REMEMBER: YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS ALONE!

LIVING A HEALTHY LIFE IS BETTER THAN THE ALTERNATIVE!

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE HARD, A FEW SMALL STEPS ADD UP TO MAKE BIG STRIDES!

As always MUCH LOVE! PEACE!

JJ

P.S. In my experience losing motivation leads to quitting. The worst part about quitting a plan is that you’re breaking a promise to yourself. And that hurts you more than you realize. If there’s anyone you can trust in this world it should be yourself. So treat yourself with the respect YOU DESERVE and keep your word. YOU ARE WORTH IT. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL (we’re all just working to be extra beautiful/handsome. The world won't be able to handle us then!)

Appology

Sorry there was no post today i'm experiencing a little bit of writer's block.

Its hard to write about such a long term goal on a daily basis. The fact of the matter is there's just not that much to share about a diet or whatever. I could post what workout i did and what i ate everyday which would be helpful to me but who wants to read that?

The article I'm writing right now is about corruption in the weight loss industry.

Which if you've read my previous post you know that this is something i feel very strongly about.

It should be a good one.

The article after that one is going to be about how most people diet essentially because they're unhappy with themselves when the key to successful weight loss is learning to love yourself.

See you guys tomorrow.

as always, MUCH LOVE!

PEACE!

JJ

Can the 12 Steps of NA be used to achieve successful weight loss?

I may be revealing too much about myself here but I do unfortunately and thankfully have experience with the 12 steps. I’m in recovery from an opiate addiction and I have successfully kicked my habit using these 12 steps.

This got me thinking, If I was able to kick an addiction to drugs using the 12 steps how about an addiction to unhealthy overeating?

So I decided to write this article going through the 12 steps, step by step relating it to weight loss. I also stumbled upon the 12 steps of weight loss that as far as I can tell have absolutely no relation to the 12 steps of AA/NA.

HERE WE GO!

THE 12 STEPS OF AA/NA In relation to WEIGHT LOSS.

1. We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction – that our lives had become unmanageable.

Seeing that we’re online looking for weight loss tips I’m willing to guess that we’ve already admitted to ourselves that we have a problem with our eating.

The multiple failed attempts at successful weight loss is proof enough for me that my life has become unmanageable. I obviously have no control over my eating if I did I don’t think I’d be the author of a blog entitled 22 and FAT

Conclusion: The first step can easily be related to weight loss but at the same time the first step can be related to just about anything.

2. Came to believe in a power greater than ourselves that could restore us to sanity.

A lot of people get hung up on this step. They think that if they don’t believe in God and Jesus they can’t get past this step or the next. But what needs to be understood is that your “Higher Power” only has to have the following qualifications.

1. It Can’t be what you’re trying to kick in our case overeating

2. It can’t be you.

3. It must be greater than you and food

4. It must contribute to sanity and sobriety

If that’s God for you, then great! If not that’s ok too. Whether you’re a religious person or not it’s not a bad idea to have some kind of support greater than yourself that you know you can go to when you have a problem you can’t handle on your own,

There are tons of support groups local and on line for weight loss.

These can be a great help in your efforts to lose weight.

3. We made a decision to turn our lives over to God as we understood him

This step has always frustrated me. It seems like it could be included with step two but I guess the 11 steps of AA doesn’t sound as good. It’s about taking that higher power you came to believe in and giving it power or learning to utilize it to your advantage.

If you have a source of spiritual support or other wise TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!

THIS IS NOT SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO DO ON YOUR OWN.

So don’t.

4. Take a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

This one is one of the hardest steps you’ll ever do. But honestly IMHO it’s the most helpful. If you’re really willing to dig deep you’ll figure out why you do almost EVERYTHING you do. The basic guidelines for doing step 4 are as follows.

You want to make a list of your:

1. Resentments

The resentments are very painful. You probably have resentment for everyone you know. It’s just human nature.

There’s a very effective method for listing your resentments and it is as follows.

First list everyone you have resentment against.

Example: I have resentment towards an elementary school bully named Brandon.

Second list what that person did to cause your resentment.

Example: Brandon beat me up and called me fat on a semi-daily basis.

Third list how that person affected you emotionally

Example: His bullying made me feel insecure about myself

Once you have your first person done make at least 4 more columns underneath that and fill it up

Some of you might have trouble filling it up others might need 20 more columns. We all have our resentments some more than others. But really taking the time to properly fill this out will make a huge difference in the success of your journey.

2.Faults

Your faults can be included in your resentment chart. But sometimes you wont have a fault associated with a resentment. There’s also faults that are hard to admit. For example If you broke your dads bowling trophy and he gave you a black eye, even though him giving you a black eye is not a justifiable reaction to your fault it’s still a fault. What these are meant to do is give you perspective on why these people hurt you the way they did, It helps you forgive them. Once you see the situation in full you can see where these people had emotional issues themselves. Once we realize that everyone has issues it helps us forgive and deal with ours. It’s hard to come to terms with but believe you me in the end it’s definitely worth it.

3.Harms

A quote from a 12 step site defines this section as “conduct in which we have been selfish, dishonest, inconsiderate or hurtful; or where we have unjustifiably aroused jealousy, suspicion or bitterness. This list will look very much like the resentment table, except that here they could resent us:”

I call it the “reversed resentment” list

Once you have your personal inventory you have a pretty good picture of yourself.

It’s not always easy to look at but you can’t fix what you don’t acknowledge.

5. We admitted to God, Ourselves and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

This is therapeutic for sure but there’s no exact relation to weight loss here that hasn’t already been covered so lets move on to the next step.

6. We are entirely ready to have god remove all defects of character.

&

7. We humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings.

Let me tell you, this is a fun one if you let it be. In tradition step 5 is the last step you have to complete to leave rehab. so few people make it to this step because the success rate of sobriety is around 8% or something like that if not less. But once you’ve taken that painful moral inventory you get to hand it over to God and relieve yourself of the pain you’ve been feeling for so many years. It truly is an awesome feeling. This doesn’t happen all at once and it really shouldn’t, The beauty of step 6 is that when you’re driving home from work and a thought pops in your head about how you’ve been hurt or hurt someone In the past you can just hand it over to your higher power. Say “God I can’t deal with this I’m not strong enough. Can you please hold on to this until I’ve reached a point where I can deal with it in a healthy happy serene way?”

It’s very helpful.

8.Made a list of all the persons we had harmed and made amends.

&

9. Made direct amends to the people we had harmed whenever possible except when to do so would injure them or ourselves

This step is very helpful in recovery from alcohol and drugs but when it comes to weight loss apologizing to your ex wife for cheating on her might be a little extreme and like step 9 says don’t do it if it’s going to hurt someone including you. Another form of making amends is repenting. Or so I was told. If it would truly hurt you or someone else to make amends for a wrongful act you did meditate on it and never do it again.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it

This is a very humble way of life, my favorite kind. If you want to live your life by the 12 steps you’ll continue to keep yourself in check. FOREVER. And I think that’s why it could be effective for weight loss. Because diets don’t work it’s a lifestyle change.

It’s funny that saying “it’s a lifestyle change” has almost become cliché’ but it still seems like no one gets it. Including myself.

but we can admit when we screw up even if its something as small as flippin someone the bird. We recognize its wrong and we STOP IT.

11. Sought to improve our conscious contact with God, Praying only to find out his will for us.

A constant line of communication with your Higher Power is a good way to keep yourself in line. It’s hard to go astray when you’re really truthfully trying to do what your higher power would think best for you. I find when I’m praying on a regular basis about everything I do I’m far less likely to go on a 2am binge session a waffle house.

Not that I’ve ever done that…;)

FINALLY

Step 12 Having had a spiritual awakening we tried to carry the message to other addicts.

I guess step 12 is kind of what I’m doing right now. When you get to this point which by the way should probably take you at least 12 weeks. These steps aren’t to be done in an hour. You go and share the message.

Think of it this way. Say we did follow the 12 steps with weight loss in mind. If it actually worked we’d be able to help SO many people. And that would be the most beautiful thing yet.

HERE’S MY PROMISE

Being a recovering addict I’ve been through the 12 steps.

I’m going to restart.

I’m going to admit that I have a problem with drug addiction and overeating.

Again.

I’ll dedicate one week to each step if not more and report everything here on 22 and FAT.

I’m excited to see what happens.

And also I wanted to share this website with you

the 12 steps of weight loss

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art3487.asp

10 easy to follow weight loss tips!

10 Easy to follow tips for weight loss and developing self worth

I took some time out of my day to type up a few weight loss tips that I’ve been using in my own personal efforts. I hope these help you guys, it’s helped me in so many ways and I can’t wait to share it with you all.

Weight loss tips that can be easily incorporated into any schedule.

NO EXCUSES

#1 NUTRITIONAL

So you’ve tried diet after diet and never stuck with it. Well that’s most likely because the restrictions you put on yourself sucked the fun out of your life. Try substituting one unhealthy side for a healthy one.

For example: you ordered chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and corn well substitute the mashed potatoes for green beans. It’s a tiny sacrifice that’s easy to convince yourself to do. Little steps help you move forward too.

#2 OLD FITNESS TIP!

Another tiny thing we can all do to help us lose weight is parking at the back of the parking lot. It’s an old tip I think this tip might be older than me! I just started doing it as of late and I actually break a sweat in some of the bigger parking lots. Haha! It’s easy and definitely worth it!

#3 MOTIVATIONAL

With social networking how it is today people are taking pictures of themselves more than ever. Trust me I know if you have a negative body image you probably avoid cameras like I do. That being said, documenting your weight loss with photos is a great way to actually see your results and stay motivated.

#4 NUTRITIONAL

When you’re grocery shopping take the extra 3 seconds to read the nutrition labels. I had heard this one before but paid no attention to it. But strangely enough when I started reading the labels it drastically effected what I bought!

If you’re stuck going to a fast food joint, no worries! Every fast food place I’ve been to as of late have started displaying their nutrition facts right on the packaging. I’m a strong believer in not putting anything in your body if you don’t know exactly what it is and what it’s going to do to your health.

#5MOTIVATIONAL

Tell your friends and family you’re trying to get healthy. Being overweight is a leading cause of depression and depression can be a cause of over eating. Being in that state of mind makes it easy for us to forget that our family and friends really do love us. Their support is something that helps us stay motivated. In addition to their support letting a group of people close to you know that you’re trying to lose weight helps you stay accountable!

#6 FITNESS

Make exercise fun! I personally make exercise easy because I absolutely hate it. I always have. I didn’t even like running around when I was a kid. So I found that if I don’t really take the time to figure out what I like to do I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of sticking with a program. So find out what makes you smile while you’re doing it. Maybe it’s swimming, roller blading or bike riding give a few different activities a shot until you find one that fits you!

#7. NUTRITION

CHEAT! Eat what you want every once in a while. A friend of mine that had great success in weight loss once told me…

“I didn’t deprive myself of the foods I love. I would carry a little piece of paper in my wallet and every time I got a craving for something terribly unhealthy I would write it down on that piece of paper then on the following Saturday I would take that piece of paper out, pick one of the unhealthy cravings I had during the week and indulge myself.”

I’ve always thought that was a great tip.

#8 EDUCATE YOURSELF

There is so much great literature available online for people in the boat we’re in. There are 1,000s of weight loss sites that provide great information on nutrition and fitness. There are two things I ask myself when looking for good, solid information on nutrition and fitness. The first question is “Is this website promising me unrealistic results in a unrealistic amount of time?” if so I move on because that site isn’t going to benefit me in the slightest. The second question I ask myself is “Is this source preying on my insecurities?” If I feel that the website is trying to take advantage of my desire to lose weight I move on. I’m looking for good solid information about weight loss and fitness not empty promises.

(REMEMBER TO SIGN UP FOR THE EMAIL LIST (TO THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF YOUR SCREEN) TO GET UPDATES FROM 22 and FAT)

#9 MOTIVATIONAL

Going off course is almost inevitable. With holidays and other special occasions sticking to a perfect nutritional plan is just unrealistic. But when we put such strict limits on ourselves we get more and more disappointed in ourselves every time we stray. There’s this almost instinctual reaction to just throw it all down the drain when we mess up once. DON’T! just pick up where you left off like it never happened. Even if you mess up once every week you still got it right 6 out of 7 days. And if you are exercising and eating right 6 out of 7 days of the week every week you’ll get almost equal results as if you stayed true to your plan 7 out of 7 days of the week. Stick to it. You are worth it.

#10 MOTIVATIONAL

Remember you’re weight doesn’t make you less of a person. You are a unique being. There’s no one JUST like you anywhere on this planet. When I meditate on that it helps me to gain pride and respect for myself. When I’m proud of myself I treat myself, eat and feel better!

.

Remember! a lot of little steps add up to giant strides

Take it slow there’s no rush.

Even if it takes you 10 years to lose 100 lbs that’s 10 years straight you didn’t gain a single pound. Even skinny people can’t say that.

I'd rather take a year to lose my weight than waste another year gaining weight!

(The picture with this article is me swimming for the first time in 3 years + I haven’t lost a lot of weight yet. But Im finally feeling good enough about myself to take my shirt off outside. This new quest is amazing I feel amazing hopefully you do too! YOU ARE AMAZING!)

MUCH LOVE! GOOD LUCK!

JJ

We Can do it!.......TOGETHER!

Have you ever tried to lose weight and failed? well... ME TOO!

If you've read the previous post you know that already.

I'm not looking to do this alone. I need you guys.

we all need each other.

The diet industry and media preys on our insecurities.

It's time for us to take a stand against that crap.

We can lose weight and be happy without stupid machines, dangerous surgeries and empty promises.

I'm just starting on this journey of weight loss. I've failed a million times BUT I'M NOT GIVING UP.

You shouldn't either! We can do it!

I'm just pumped up right now and excited. I really think that if i can get a decent following on this blog we can really change the way people look at weight loss.

so if you are reading this PLEASE tell everyone you know that struggles with weight.

this is our community.

This is our home base.

Diets don't have to be a living hell.

But anyways i'm going to sleep on this tonight, get my thoughts organized and come back tomorrow with a plan. GET STOKED PEOPLE!

MUCH LOVE!

JJ

I ACTUALLY DID IT! (The best jogging buddy I ever had)

Today was the first day of my new life as a healthy person.

A lot of the time i'll get really down on myself around 2:30 am and decide it's time for a change.

so I'll get a notebook out and write down all my goals: weight loss, finances, romances.

I get motivated to finally make a change and i put together an elaborate plan to make it all happen

But then i pass out.

When i wake up I find that my motivation has diminished and that plan i wrote out at 2:30 in the morning sounds too hard to actually do.

But today for the first time, I actually followed through!

I didn't get fast food. I cooked at home; mashed potatoes and lasagna.

Unhealthy you say? Well hear me out. I'm a big believer that any home cooked meal is better than a trip through McDonald's. I set my portion sizes to about the size of my fist and luckily my cooking isn't so great so i wasn't able to even finish my dinner! haha!

And as for exercise...that's right! I actually did it. I went to a park with a friend and walked around for about 45 minutes. It wasn't anything strenuous but actually getting out and moving around is a brand new thing for me. When I got home I took my puppy zeus out for a run. I would walk for about 5 minutes and then jog for 2. I did that for about half an hour and got a good sweat going.

I know this light exercise isn't going to put me on the fast track to a "beach body" but that's not what this is about. I'm changing my life. I'm making a daily effort to be more healthy than i was yesterday. I truly believe if i maintain this mentality. Weight loss is going to be one of a thousand things that gets better for me.

MUCH LOVE!

JJ!

A MAN WITH A PLAN! (goals and such)

Ok most of the time I jump into a new program without thinking about it. Honestly i look for the one with the most dramatic results in the shortest amount of time. Don't we all? But this time i'm looking to actually put an end to the endless dieting i've been going through since like 4th grade.

So decided to set some goals and find a sensible program that will help me achieve them.

It really sounds so simple but I don't think I've ever actually done it.

So what are the goals?

well let's see, I want to start slow. In the past I've started every plan at full force and got burnt out by day 2. So I'm going to treat this thing like a freezing pool and get into it a little bit at a time.

GOAL #2 TURN THAT FLAB TO FAB!

I'm not sure how manly it sounds to refer to my body as "FABULOUS!" but It's better than flabulous.

I'm not looking to be a body builder.

I have neither the desire or the speedos for such a dream.

In all honestly i would really just like to be able to confirm that i actually DO have muscles.

Having been fat since i was 5 i'm not sure I've ever seen any kind of definition anywhere on my body. So I'm going to start a very light impact 9 week weight training program that is going to go perfectly with my cardio program that is also 9 weeks long. More specifics about this program will be posted in future post.

GOAL # 2 get off the couch and Run your buns off!

For my Cardio i'm going to be doing the ever so popular Couch to 5k program. It seems very achievable even to someone like me that hasn't ran in roughly 1,000 years give or take. my progress and will be posted in future posts! PROMISE!

GOAL # 3 PUT DOWN THE FORK!! pick up an apple!

The most dreaded part of the program. We all hate sacrifices and this is my biggest one. I love food i'm pretty sure that's how i got in this predicament in the first place... But any ways, I'm going to be making a conscious effort to choose healthier options wherever i eat. THAT'S IT!

I've tried strict eating plans before and it's just a pain in the ass. really. I've been on over 50 diets in my 22 years on this planet and i've read plenty of books, articles and blogs about what's healthy and what's not. I'm not fat because i don't know that a triple cheese burger is going to make me fat. I'm fat because i choose to eat the triple cheeseburger instead of a salad. (as i'm typing triple cheeseburger I'm looking at the clock and wondering if Wendy's has closed yet.)

My point being, I could buy diet books and exercise books til the cows come home. But it's not a matter of knowing what to do it's a matter of doing it. That's why I hate the diet industry. It's a bunch of pretty people that know people want to look like them so they publish these common sense programs promising results. IT'S BULL SH*T and they know it. It's despicable, deplorable and a cash cow.

AND THAT MY FRIENDS IS WHAT THIS BLOG IS ALLL ABOUT!

We don't need them to lose weight. We can do this together.

No charge.