Proven Mental Exercises To Help With Fat Loss (and life)
Welcome to the one day at a time podcast with your host and the future leader of The Republic Of Wales, Sveldfjer. Now this might be the only podcast in the world where you actually have to reduce the speed instead of increasing it. However, what I wanna get over to you is that the past is gone. The future doesn't exist. So if you wanna make the most of your life, you've gotta make the most of these moments every single day.
Speaker 1:And this podcast is gonna help you live a healthier, more fulfilled life, hopefully, giving you some wisdom to take away every single day. So I'm gonna shut up now so you can get on with listening to the next episode. Good morning, everyone. Back again as I am with another week of voice notes, but don't worry about the week. We worry about today only as always.
Speaker 1:Few things I'm go over today. Make sure we're gonna get you in the right mindset. So today is when the doors to our new five week strong challenge open, which starts two weeks today. So if you are looking to, you know, regain strength, learn how to program, learn how strength training muscle building is optimized and, you know, weight loss strategies. We're gonna be doing covering, expert q and a with a strength expert as well, strength and conditioning expert, plus, a weekly kind of seminar with a person who's lost over a hundred pounds, essentially using techniques of stoicism.
Speaker 1:She's kind of an expert in this field now, so she's gonna be doing a toxomer. Anyway, before we get into that stoicism, I've been reading a book that's a biography of a man called Anejarin Bairvan. He was the health secretary at the time of the creation of the NHS. He had come from a coal mine in town Trudiger, and he essentially was pitted against Churchill in many times. He was always like the working class powerhouse of an Eidren Bervan versus the kind of elites of the other side of parliament.
Speaker 1:Even some of the Labour MPs were the elites compared to when he rebelled. And he got us he got a big, he had a big personality and huge amount of, respect, credibility for how he literally dismantled people in in his in his talks in the in the comments cause he was for the people. But his upbringing is one is interesting to me. I'm not gonna bore you with all that stuff. When he was younger, he says in the the biography, he talks about a piece of advice he got that has stayed with him since he was younger and this was when his parents used to say 'have the courage my son to say no'.
Speaker 1:Well it takes a good deal of courage but we shall have to say no more and more because only by saying no more and more to many things can you say yes to the most valuable things. That's for us. We all need to have say no is more effective than saying yes. We need to reduce the things we we do, we commit to, we we know, and then we'll essentially have easier days as opposed to just saying yes. Yes.
Speaker 1:Yes. Yes. Yes. Everything. Who are you saying yes to?
Speaker 1:It's not to you. It's to other people. And if you read in the midnight library, you know all about that. You're saying yes to other people's dreams and lives, and you're not even looking at your own. So that's an important point.
Speaker 1:Say no more today and this week. See how it, how it deals you know, how it comes up for you. Another rule they had, which is interesting, it was was all the family must sit down together formally, and follow one rule, no gossip about the neighbors. So, obviously, back in the day, there's no Internet of forms. Right?
Speaker 1:You know, these are, like, nineteen tens, twenties. It's interesting that no gossip with neighbors was the only rule. And I think the reason for this is because we all can fall into traps of gossip in other people. We can turn all our mental energy into bitching about other people when in fact that's not helping anyone. And his wise, wise parents knew this.
Speaker 1:And I think we can take this rule today. We can take the rule today. No gossiping about other people. Alright? Someone comes to you by gossiping and say, not interested.
Speaker 1:Because it's easy to gossip, fall into a trap, gossip, but this and that. And before you know it, I will gone by. Before you know it, you're saying mean things. Before you know it, you're talking about things that you don't even know are true. Before you know it, you're not the person you wanna be, really.
Speaker 1:So saying no more and no to gossip today as and Adrian Bevan's parents pushed on him is essential. It built his character for sure. And another thing that stood out, he wasn't exactly the most intelligent person growing up. There wasn't no like, oh, he's a genius. Right?
Speaker 1:But he would read all day. When you go to library, get books, you'd read read read read read read, and he would read about everything. And once he read about Greek mythology and he chat a story says he was in the mines shouting, about Greek mythology. Had he said, had it that each tree was inhabited by a spirit called a believer Dreid, which died when the tree died. The pit is to the mining village what the tree is to the Druid.
Speaker 1:When the pit dies, the village dies too. When the pit is ill, the village groans. Each is interwoven with the life of the other. And you can imagine him saying these speeches, and the miners going, yeah, because he he didn't believe in individualism. He believed in community.
Speaker 1:Very important. Community suffers. Other people suffer. The community as a whole suffers. Family dynamics, everything.
Speaker 1:Right? So that's just another way of looking at things. Just another thing for you to think about today. When someone's down, we have to help that person because if that person's down, the community is going down. Same for the two of the community.
Speaker 1:People struggling back in a loop sessions. Let's get everyone back to the same level because if they're suffering, this the the the the turtle troop is suffering in in a way. And we don't want that to happen when everybody come up in the same level. That's enough for today for my night and Bev. And I'm sure I'm sure I will have more about them in the next few voice notes.
Speaker 1:But let's go to this, the ways that Casey who will be doing a weekly, session with us on the next challenge, stoic exercises she used to help her with her fat loss. So she lost a 15 pounds. One thing she says right is that she doesn't like the motivational climb the rocky mountain and, you know, no pain, no gain. She goes, it's counter counterproductive to, weight loss in her opinion because she thinks it's catastrophizing the journey. And she says, you know, we suffer more in imagination than in reality, and that's what Seneca says.
Speaker 1:So she says from the bat, these BTs are telling you, it's really hard like a fucking SAS. It's really hard. It's not. That's catastrophizing. It doesn't have to be that way.
Speaker 1:Okay? It doesn't. And I think she's definitely bang on with that. So the first thing she does is stoic mental exercise, and you're gonna do these exercises today for the rest of the week. First one is insight.
Speaker 1:Rationalize the issue. She says, when she set out to lose weight, I needed to lose at least a hundred pounds. However, as hell bent as I was, once I was one o o, once I put one zero zero on my dry erase board, those three digits stared me down like a trio of hoodlums I owed money. I felt surrounded and the road ahead seemed to grow longer and longer. All I could think was that the hundred pounds is the combined average weight of two seven year olds.
Speaker 1:I was about to attempt to lose two full grown kids, not even toddlers. That was a whole lot of unnecessary catastrophizing on my part, and suddenly my excess weight felt all behavior. That's a wildly irrational viewpoint, and it's isn't any wonder that I doomed myself with that sort of thinking. Okay? It's not rational to think that.
Speaker 1:You gotta go away to lose fine. Okay? So you she removed the numbers, and she removed them. And she didn't want them to have powers. She don't want put numbers to have power over her.
Speaker 1:Even though we know, logically, there's a number we wanna lose in terms of weight loss, some people less more than others, we don't let that number become everything. We don't make the number become our life. You don't want it to rule your life. That was one thing she did. She didn't train harder.
Speaker 1:Okay? She didn't do more in terms of rigorous rigid dieting. She just decatastrophe this scenario to the start, and I think a lot of you are like, I got so much weight. Don't worry about it. Time will pass.
Speaker 1:You'll do it. It'll come off. Just don't focus on the end of the Focus on what can do today. Number two, self control. Understand how you got here.
Speaker 1:If you're like me, it was my cravings for junk food and, like, giving into them that led me to be overweight. Sure. I could have just said, okay, I'm just not gonna eat junk food without understanding why I crave these things and why it was so harmful. However, I would have just re zoomed my old diet after a while. Stoics believe that intense feelings are irrational and should be avoided.
Speaker 1:It's hard to believe sometimes that we can curb our cravings when they feel as intense as they do. However, if you understand the why, it tends to lessen that intensity. My dietary path was low carb and had been in previous attempts. This time though I researched the science behind why it worked and efforts to understand my cravings. In the simplest of terms, when I ate simple carbs like potatoes, my Camparius dumped insulin, my bloodstream, rain blood sugar really fast.
Speaker 1:This felt great in the moment, yet as those moments became more and more fleeting, I went back to satisfying those cravings again and again. This, of course, let me be overweight as well. So like my so like any high, I decided to view it as such a high, a cheap thrill. I would remind myself that it could ride out the craving for the high slowly, but surely. I would train my body and mind to stop looking for it.
Speaker 1:Had I not gone back into weight loss without understanding why, another bag of chips chips would have been another bag of chips, not a temporary jolt that may lead to long term change. No two people have the same why, however, so naturally this tip isn't for everyone. If you feel you may have an eating disorder, talk to your doctor or seek help, licensed mental health professional. Good point. And she's right.
Speaker 1:Like, the cravings we have, if we can give time to really understand what the craving is about, it's not really about the food sometimes. It's about being are you bored when you're watching TV? You just wanna nibble something. Are you stressed from something? You just want that relief for ten seconds.
Speaker 1:But if you zoom back, the view from above, look over it, look over the journey, go, do you know what? Do the the the three rule thing. Yeah. Three yeses or three nos. Like, is am I gonna regret this tomorrow?
Speaker 1:And if the answer is yes, do not do it. Go for a walk. Get your mind off it, and it will go. Okay? Because cravings are not the same as hunger.
Speaker 1:Remember that. Cravings are not the same as hunger. Yeah? I think it's an important distinction. The third point, the third mental exercise she did was duty.
Speaker 1:The right reason. While it's wonderful to feel confident in your appearance, just like the high looks to fade, virtue isn't derived from your appearance. It's born out of why we did the things we did because they were the right things to do. This is something you must do if nothing prevents you for yourself and others that need you in good health. Besides, no one is gonna do it for you.
Speaker 1:It is possible, and you're gonna go out and do it, all you want. It's as simple as that. First, say to yourself where you'd like to be, and then do what you have to do. Epictetus. Just do it for the right things.
Speaker 1:I spoke of this before. If your why is about losing 15 pounds for a holiday, it's not good enough. It's not strong enough. You're doing it for the wrong reasons. Your why should be a deep why, to be a role model for your family, to be healthy and strong.
Speaker 1:And only when we're healthy and strong, do we make the decisions that are good for us. Only make good only make big decisions when you're feeling healthy and strong, ideally, because that's when you feel in control and you feel yourself. When you're down in the dumps and you make a decision, it's usually not from the place you want to. It's from it's from fear. It's from insecurity.
Speaker 1:It's from feeling low. So remember that you make better decisions when you're healthy and strong and fit. That is a very that's very much so better why than I wanna look fifteen pounds lighter for a photo on Instagram for a whole day. Right? I'm not saying you guys doing it, but, you know, these these are these are traps we fall into.
Speaker 1:And that's why we go into extreme yoga diets, try and lose weight fast for this certain event. But remember the why, and it should overpower that. I go, look. The event will come, I'll look I'll look the best I can for it, but I'm not gonna go extreme just to lose the few more pounds. It's not gonna be worth it for my mental health.
Speaker 1:Okay? You don't have to be overwhelmed. When you're over you know, when you're overweight, you don't have to be overwhelmed. Okay? It is, you know, the journey ahead.
Speaker 1:All of us have got different journeys ahead. Many journeys. Some people have got a weight loss journey and a career change. Some of us got a family on, family coming, new kids, new dog, weight to lose. All of us got different journeys, and they all of them can feel very overwhelming if you think about the end all the time.
Speaker 1:I gotta do this and that and that and that. Oh my god. That's not gonna help you. That is catastrophizing. It is you're creating the fear.
Speaker 1:We suffer more imagination than reality to remember this. And I think if you can you can break it down into day by day silos, we can make it far more manageable. So what do you have to do today to be the person you wanna be? That's the question. Okay?
Speaker 1:Trust the journey. Trust the process. Enjoy it. Put a smile on your face, man. It doesn't have to be that serious.
Speaker 1:It is serious. Our health is serious. But I want you to be curious like an Aiden Bevan with his books. Look at food labels. Be curious.
Speaker 1:Oh, I wonder I wonder what's let me look look at the calories in this. Let me look at the macros. Why do we think, oh, gotta look at that. Be curious about it, like reading a new book. You discover things.
Speaker 1:You're discovering things about all the foods you've been eating for years, and you just haven't checked the nutritionals. And you go, wow. I can't believe that. See, it's a game. Have a fun with it.
Speaker 1:I mean, wow. I can't believe that. That's so that's crazy. The amount of times I've had those realizations looking at food labels is mental, guys. I just even looking at, like, Tesco Tesco, like, chocolate twist or whatever it was, like, 470 calories.
Speaker 1:I was like, oh my god. Pret. One of the Pret sandwiches, like, 700 calories. You gotta laugh at it. That's mental.
Speaker 1:It's like, what? That sandwich is 700 calories. Well, that's not worth it for me. Never fills me up. It's not not that nice, but I've been led to believe it's it's healthy.
Speaker 1:And we wanna be curious about these things. Curious about the journey, patient with the journey, trusting the process, breaking it down one day at a time. So what do you have to do today to get closer to your goal? What have you been delaying? Track your macros, getting your steps in, work out.
Speaker 1:You know, focus on one of these as the main priority then do the do the secondary ones. If it's macros, get tracking now. Put in what you're eating for breakfast. If it's working out, you've missed a few last week, just get write down the time and the work that you're gonna do today. And if it's steps, go for a walk right now.
Speaker 1:Five, ten minute walks throughout the day guys, that's what it takes. You think, oh, what's my steps gonna be five, ten minutes? It can be a lot. Ten minute walk, four of them four of them a day. You need it at your step count over 6,000 steps.
Speaker 1:That's all it takes when you break it down like that. You don't have to walk for one continuous hour or hour and a half. Move about. Get it done. Today's the day, guys.
Speaker 1:You got two weeks to prepare for the stronger challenge to start. I want you all feeling your best going into that challenge so you can make the most of that challenge and not going into that challenge on a down. We're gonna go into this challenge on an up, and we're gonna fly to the stratosphere. We're gonna get super strong. We're gonna feel amazing going into Christmas.
Speaker 1:We're gonna be filling our bodies. We're gonna be feeling strong and sexy. We're gonna be feeling great, guys. So that's the plan, but it starts today. It starts right now after this voice note ends.
Speaker 1:Take action, or you're banned from listening to these anymore. But, guys, I'm back tomorrow. Go and take action right now, and I'll speak to you in a bit. And that is it for today's episode. So hopefully, you took something away from it.
Speaker 1:If you didn't, here's what you need to take away. Stop wasting time on social media. Stop wasting time gossiping. You've only got a day to live. Today's the only day you ever have.
Speaker 1:So if there's anything to take away from this podcast, even if you can't understand the word I say, even if you didn't resonate with the wisdom I try to deliver, this is a reminder of you daily to live one day at a time. Give your moments meaning today and don't be fooled by thinking you've got unlimited amount of days but if you can make the most of today I'm telling you you'll have a fulfilled life so enjoy your day and hopefully I'll see you back tomorrow. Do daily to live one day at a time. Give your moments meaning today and don't be fooled by thinking you've got unlimited amount of days But if you can make the most of today, I'm telling you, you'll have a fulfilled life. So enjoy your day and hopefully I'll see you back tomorrow.
