[Text] What cheesecake are you eating? GetMotivated

Exerpt from Tim Ferris' The 4 Hour Work Week

“Even before I tasted it, I knew something wasn’t quite right. After eight hours in the refrigerator, this cheesecake still hadn’t set at all. It swished in the gallon bowl like a viscous soup, chunks shifting and bobbing as I tilted it under close inspection. Somewhere a mistake had been made. It could have been any number of things:

Three 1 lb. sticks of Philly Cream Cheese

Eggs

Stevia

Unflavored gelatin

Vanilla

Sour cream

In this case, it was probably a combination of things and the lack of a few simple ingredients that generally make cheesecake a form of cake.

I was on a no-carbohydrate diet, and I had used this recipe before. It had been so delicious that my roommates wanted their fair share and insisted on an attempt at bulk production. Hence began the mathematical shenanigans and problems. Before Splenda and other miracles of sugar imitation came on the scene, the hard core used stevia, an herb 300 times sweeter than sugar. One drop was like 300 packets of sugar. It was a delicate tool and I wasn’t a delicate cook. I had once made a small handful of cookies using baking soda instead of baking powder, and that was bad enough to drive my roommates to puke on the lawn. This new masterpiece made the cookies look like fine dining: It tasted like liquid cream cheese mixed with cold water and about 600 packets of sugar.

I then did what any normal and rational person would do: I grabbed the largest soup ladle with a sigh and sat down in front of the TV to face my punishment. I had wasted an entire Sunday and a boatload of ingredients- it was time to reap what I had sown. One hour and 20 large spoonfuls later, I hadn’t made a dent in the enormous batch of soup, but I was down for the count. Not only could I not eat anything but soup for two days, I couldn’t bring myself to even look at cheesecake, previously my favorite dessert, for more than four years.

Stupid? Of course. It’s about as stupid as one can get. This is a ridiculous and micro example of what people do on a larger scale with jobs all the time: self-imposed suffering that can be avoided. Sure, I learned a lesson and paid for the mistake.

The real question is: for what? There are two types of mistakes: mistakes of ambition and mistakes of sloth.

The first is the result of a decision to act: to do something. This type of mistake is made with incomplete information, as it’s impossible to have all the facts beforehand. This is to be encouraged. Fortune favors the bold.

The second is the result of a decision of sloth: to not do something, wherein we refuse to change a bad situation out of fear despite having all the facts. This is how learning experiences become terminal punishments, bad relationships become bad marriages, and poor job choices become lifelong prison sentences.

“Yeah, but what if I’m in an industry where jumping around is looked down upon? I’ve been here barely a year, and prospective employers would think …”

Would they? Test assumptions before condemning yourself to more misery. I’ve seen one determinant of sex appeal to good employers: performance. If you are a rock star when it comes to results it doesn’t matter if you jump ship from a bad company after three weeks. On the other hand, if tolerating a punishing work environment for years at a time is a prerequisite for promotion in your field, could it be that you’re in a game not worth winning? The consequences of bad decisions do not get better with age.

What cheesecake are you eating?”

Submitted September 26, 2017 at 01:39AM by awesomedan24 http://ift.tt/2y2Y4Ab GetMotivated

[Article] How To Stay Motivated: A Detailed Guide To Cultivating Your Purpose GetMotivated

In this article you will learn:

-Why a strong purpose is the ultimate motivation. -How to distill your purpose into an emotionally charged anthem. -How to cultivate your purpose so that it acts as a constant source of motivational fuel.

 

The Power of Purpose

 

Authors of Peak Performance Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness write, “For a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers used fMRI scans to examine what happens inside the brain when people are presented with threatening messages. Individuals who were asked to reflect deeply on their core values prior to receiving a threatening message showed heightened neural activity in a part of the brain associated with “positive valuation.”

 

This positive valuation meant that people who reflected on their core values felt a desire to approach threatening situations as a challenge. In contrast, the participants who didn’t reflect on their core values felt threatened and avoidant of the same stimulus.

 

This is an important discovery that gives scientific credence to the common-sense wisdom that purpose is a powerful motivator.

 

Nietzsche said it best, “If you know the why, you can bear almost any how.” Imagine you decided to run a marathon two months from now. Your motivation is to win a $2,000 cash prize. There’s nothing wrong with this motivation, but compare it to this hypothetical scenario: For whatever absurd reason, your family has been kidnapped, and if you finish the marathon, your family will be freed. if you fail, they will be killed.

 

Obviously, this example is extremely hyperbolic, but it illustrates an important principle. Anyone would run a marathon to save the lives of their family, and while many would attempt to do so to earn a cash prize, not everyone would succeed, that motivation doesn’t have the same visceral power.

 

In an interview with Julien Blanc, best-selling author Robert Green said that hustlers (he uses 50 Cent as an example) have so much motivation because their backs are against the wall. These people have little hope for a bright future, so they are willing to do whatever it takes to get rich enough to change their destiny.

 

When you come from a hopeless background, it’s natural to do whatever it takes to succeed. Many of us don’t have our backs against the wall. We are guaranteed a relatively comfortable life in which we don’t have to worry about becoming homeless or getting arrested. Although this is obviously an advantage, there is a downside: it’s easy to be lazy when you don’t have to work hard to avoid a terrible fate.

 

Because of this, purpose is especially important to cultivate in the modern first world. We live in relative comfort: we have access not only the necessities like food, clean water, and a safe environment, but we also have access to an infinite amount of distraction, varying from easily obtainable drugs to Netflix shows.

 

The human brain developed over millions of years of evolution. Your brain works essentially the same way as a caveman’s did a hundred thousand years ago; this means the supercomputer between your ears was designed to function in a very different environment from the one we live in today.

 

The environment our caveman ancestors lived in was incredibly dangerous. Death lurked at every corner. Food was scarce, disease was common, and predators abounded.

 

Because your brain evolved to survive in a dangerous environment, as far as your brain is concerned, if you are well fed, safe, and reproducing, you’re nailing it. Of course, in first world countries today, we have our survival needs taken care of, and our goals are no longer limited to meeting those basic needs. Yet, our brain isn’t designed to spend energy on pursuing self-improvement, it’s designed to conserve energy and to stay alive.

 

This means that by default, you are going to feel a lot of emotional resistance to pursuing substantial goals because your brain doesn’t think the exertion is necessary to your survival. Purpose is the counter to this resistance. With a strong enough purpose: a sense that your goal must be pursued at any cost, you can override your brain’s inherent bias to conserve energy. A powerful purpose will essentially tell your brain that your goal is as essential to your survival as food or safety are.

 

Cultivate It

 

In superhero origin stories, the purpose behind the actions of both heroes and villains is often driven by some traumatic event. Batman, for example, witnessed the death of his parents. This event motivated him to center his life around vigilante crime fighting.

 

Unfortunately, you’re not Batman. Most real people don’t have a traumatic origin story guiding us towards our goals. For us, our purpose must be developed and reinforced through a constant cultivation of the values that matter most us.

 

Our purpose is derived from the values we choose to live by. These values are infinitely variable and completely unique to each individual. To develop the strength of your purpose, the first step is to identify the values that you want to guide your life.

 

Here are some examples of powerful values:

-Community

-Honesty

-Courage

-Optimism

-Freedom

-Helping others

-Artistic expression

 

For more, there’s a good list of values on this page: http://ift.tt/2nCRpan (I am not associated with this site in any way)

 

Now, you’re not choosing these values so much as you’re identifying them. You’re selecting the values that matter most to you so you can bring clarity to your purpose.

 

The next step for cultivating your purpose is to write a purpose statement. The authors of Peak Performance describe it like this, “Your purpose statement should reflect your customized core values and should be anywhere from one to three sentences.

 

Here are a few examples:

-Help people discover how they can get the most out of themselves in a healthy and sustainable way, and prevent the next case of burnout, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness.

-Be ready for someone when they need me—because I’ve had so much help and love from other people when I needed them!

-Give the children in my school a clean building.

-Study and understand nature, then give this knowledge to others.

-Be more engaged with my partner.

-Be the best athlete that I can be so that others are inspired to push their own limits.

-Make beautiful art that makes people smile, cry, connect to one another, and connect to the earth.”

 

Your purpose statement is something you can expect to reiterate upon over time, what’s important is that you put something down now that you can work with and improve.

 

Simply having a purpose statement written down isn’t enough for it to have a consistent impact on your life. Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness made a few useful suggestions for how to remind yourself of your purpose to cultivate it over time.

 

First, they suggest that you write your purpose on paper and put it in places you will regularly see. This could be on your laptop, on your bathroom mirror, your refrigerator, etc.

 

Second, they suggest turning your purpose into a mantra, a phrase that you repeat to yourself silently. This habit will help reinforce the importance of your purpose statement over time.

 

Third, they suggest reflecting on your purpose every night through journaling. Simply write down your purpose statement and reflect on how well you lived up to your purpose each day. The authors also suggest rating yourself on a scale of 1-10 so that you get a sense of progress and competition with yourself throughout this process of journaling.

 

Using these strategies will help you become increasingly aware of your purpose, this awareness in itself will be motivating. As you routinely remind yourself why you’re pursuing your path, you will develop an emotional charge that will magnetically pull you towards your goal.

Submitted August 19, 2017 at 07:44AM by Socialinception http://ift.tt/2vQKCM2 GetMotivated

[text] No more excuses. GetMotivated

It's time. I've been fat for too long and today is the day that it changes. 19 years of being fucking pathetic. I can't even remember being at a normal weight. 320+ pounds. THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FUCKING POUNDS. That number is infuriating. I weigh as much as a god damn refrigerator.

I feel like shit.

I'm not disciplined.

I'm ungrateful.

I'm depressed.

I am pathetic.

All I care about is reddit, video games, and movies.

I spend an insane amount of time doing this shit to distract myself from the fact that I'm a sad, miserable guy.

If I don't do something soon I'll die young. The one life, one body that I was gifted will be gone forever and what did I do with it? Ate junk food, played Xbox and looked at a fucking computer monitor? Are you fucking kidding me?

Today is the day I turn shit around. I promise every single one of you that I will be a healthy weight or I will die trying.

It's time to get to work.

Submitted May 04, 2016 at 12:54PM by FunkyJazzPanda http://ift.tt/1rTu0jB GetMotivated

[Article] Learn Blogging from Refrigerator GetMotivated

http://ift.tt/1LXTzaD

Submitted July 29, 2015 at 07:18PM by dhavalthakur http://ift.tt/1I1tAe0 GetMotivated

[Text]Getting Rid OF All Your Insecurities GetMotivated

The Original Formatted Article CLICK HERE

Everyone is insecure about something.

That statement alone should be enough to get rid off all your insecurities, but it probably won't.

Insecurities are doing much more damage to you than you think, it is stifling you, it is crippling the awesome dude within and seriously fucking with your self-esteem.

Getting rid of all your insecurities is equivalent to being insanely confident, confidence goes hand in hand with the absence of insecurities.

So, dedicating some time to fix your insecurities or talk yourself out of them is seriously important for your growth as a Supreme Man.

Let us begin,

Hot to Get Rid Of All Your Insecurities?

A guide for getting rid of all your insecurities can never ever be summarized in an article or even a whole book, it is much more complicated than that.

I will go on some mind tweaks to help you see the way out of your perfectly fucked up world of insecurities, to help you get out of the illusion of how good you have to be to get this or that.

Future articles to come on every known insecurity a guy faces and how to fix/get in peace with them completely.

Beyond that, it is on you to go out and get enough positive references to resolve your issues.

You have to take action, convincing your mind requires you to move your lazy ass and go prove to yourself what you are capable of doing.

But for This Post, let us discuss the commonalities between insecurities:

This is what you got in this life, Deal with it.

Not really motivating, but it is what it is.

Everyone, EVERYONE wishes that they got this or that different, no one is perfect.

No amount of depression and self-pity is going to fix or change your situation right now, why would you even bother?

Why would you live in depression?

You are searching for some pathetic excuses to see the world in the eyes of a victim, looking hardly into the depth of reality perceiving the negatives of life as the all-it-is.

Why the fuck do people argue about whether or not being short matters?

What are you trying to prove?

If I told you right now that if you are shorter than 5'0'' then you will never have a girlfriend and you will be poor for the rest of your life, what would you do then?

Is that what are you looking for?

Really?!

Do you want me to say "oh, sorry man, but you got the worst hand in life and you're totally screwed, sorry! there is no hope for you."

Now what?

What is your next step?

You have just proved to yourself that you are out of hope.

So, Now what?

...

Cut this shit off man, you either get in peace with your insecurities or you change them.

There is no way around it.

Love what you got in this life, try to improve it, but never let it stand in your way.

You are fat and think that girls do not like you because you are fat?

Then get it through your head that you are fat, start working on fixing the issue - join a gym and workout - and do not use it as an excuse to not meet women, fucking go out, approach and talk to girls.

This is life, this is reality, you are running out of time, use what you got in the most optimal way and strive to improve it.

It is fucking obvious, FUCK INSECURITIES, FUCK THE BULLSHIT STORIES YOU KEEP TELLING YOURSELF.

It is not going to get better on its own and probably it will get worst.

Time will fix everything... Fuck no, time makes you forget and that's about it.

You need actions to make time works in your favor, you need to lay out a plan to dedicate where you are going in this life.

Without a plan, without a direction in life... you will probably go down, things will just get worse by itself.

Obviously, time will make you older, and older means less healthy, that is a sure one.

Other than that, life is known to through the weird unexpected shit in your way from time to time, so ya.

It is not getting better on its own, it is getting worse.

If you are not improving in life, you won't stay in the same place, YOU WILL DIMINISH.

Get going.

You Are Going To Die.

Not the feel-good post you were looking for?

I say it as it is.

Do you want to go through life obliviously happy, or actually happy?

Understanding that you, like everyone else, will die is a great thing.

It takes your fuck ups out of the equation.

You fucked up?

Doesn't matter, soon you and everyone who knows about it will die!

why would you care?

Why are you so obsessed with what people think or even LIKE!?

It is none of your business and it does not matter.

let them call you the short creepy balding guy.... Fuck it!

You should smile after getting this fact through your head, it is just amazing.

Life is kinda* Guilt-Free ride, nothing forever.

In the end, Everyone is going to die.

You Compare Yourself To An Illusion.

That cool guy on Facebook, he is not like that.

That cool celebrity you see on the screens, he is not like that.

It is all an illusion, people are not always cool or always good-looking or always confident... etc.

It is just momentum success that creates an illusion of continuity, the picture tells you a part of the story, the video is professionally cut to remove that awkward creepy shots that would definitely screw up the perfect image of that human being.

The bar is not as high as you expect, to be considered cool, good-looking, smart, Successful... it is just about what you show to people to create that illusion.

That is why celebrities do not get in contact with fans that much, it is because if they do, they will appear more human, as they actually are, and that would screw up the image of perfection they have to keep, that would break the illusion.

And even normal people, like the cool guy in your school or whatever, he is just like you, he has his own insecurities and doubts but he, either intentionally or unintentionally, show up the good and hide the bad, and that is the greater trick, creating the illusion, -more on that in a future article.

Do not compare yourself to people without an actual scale, meaning, do not compare yourself outside of a competing environment, like bodybuilding, because in competition you have to tell the whole story, you can't fake it.

Outside of competition you will always lose and you will always win, because there are no criteria to compare against, you just compare to what you see, and someone will always show you something you can not do 'Yet'.

If I told I have slept with 150+ women in my life so far, I would be considered a sex-god, you would think to yourself "how the fuck can I compete with that!".

It sounds amazing until you know that I have approached 500+ women in my life.

Do not fall for illusions, do not compare to a non-existing image of perfection.

Stop wasting time on Facebook or on movies, get in touch with reality.

He snapped a picture, and in the flash of the camera I realized there was no overarching moral to life, just sad people doing sad shit.

Everything is fixable, you are just lazy and lack ambition.

Everything, every single insecurity, every single fault in you can somehow be fixed, I will write in-depth articles on the most common insecurities and what you can do to actually and physically fix them.

You are fat, you see yourself in the mirror and get depressed.

I am fat, I see myself in the mirror and then go bust my fucking ass in the gym.

That is the difference.

No matter what, no matter how difficult it appears, I will strive to make it work.

Depressions and 'fuck it I will just play video games' aren't in my vocabulary.

Get this, if there is something that is holding you back, if there is something that is really bothering you and you can not get in peace with it. change it. PERIOD.

No matter how impossible it is.

You were born without testicles? and it is really bothering you? and there are no way to get in peace with it?

Then do not let it hold you back, go on with what you want to do in life, BUT change it.

Get a Ph.d in advanced Biology and Embryology and invent a way to fix it... you will get a noble prize and a pair of testicles.

That is the degree of obsession you have to reach.

I am obviously going to extremes here to prove a point, all your current insecurities are somehow easily fixed.

But still, be that obsessed.

Nothing can stop you, but some things can slow you down.

Kicking ass in life is surely reachable within your current means.

You can be who you want, but maybe, MAYBE due to some bullshit you're going through in your life, you would need a little longer to reach it, but still, you will reach it.

Nothing can stop you, being poor is not going to stop you from reaching your first billion, it will just slow you down.

and this applies to everything.

Stop Wasting Time.

You are better than you think.

This one needs a small dose of narcissism to actually connect with your reality.

And this one is closely tied to the fact that you compare yourself to illusions.

You, since you are here, are one in a 10 million, it is somehow rare for people to actually spend time improving themselves, that is why self-help blogs never make it to be wildly popular while stupid celebrity gossip blogs do.

People would rather hypnotize themselves in a simulated reality and believe that this is it than to actually do something and improve, we always seek comfort and improving is not in any way comfortable.

Good job man!

You, if you kept pushing through life and striving to achieve your dreams, are one in a 100 million.

People usually are excited for a while and then they just give up at the first road block, people these days do not seem to understand what "it is going to be difficult" really means, our understanding of the word 'difficult' had diminished due to some reason, probably the refrigerator.

You, if you kept going until you reach it, are in the 1% of the world.

Welcome to the top.

Everything 'negative' in you will reduce you fuck-up threshold but not how much you can achieve.

When you are short, ugly and fat, you must have a top-notch game to pull a model, one single fuck up and you will be out.

While Brad Pitt gets to fuck up a little here and there.

Both of you could get the same result, but you should pull it off better than him, and you are not allowed to fuck up at all.

That is one hard reality of life, if you do not have any god given gifts, you are not allowed to do any mistakes until you create your own Awesomeness.

It all goes back to stereotypes, people who got it bad in life are known to be awkward and insecure, Thus when you exhibit any sign of weakness, neediness... etc. you will be matched with the typical stereotype of people like you.

And if the stereotype is bad, you will be perceived in a bad way.

Learn how to present yourself better, more on that later.

You can't talk yourself out of deep insecurities, you got to indulge with them.

Do not fight your insecurity, do not pretend that it is not there.

Address it, let it be exposed completely, see it for what it really is.

Get some reference about it, see how the world will respond to it, but do not pretend that it is not there.

This is a very broad topic, I will revisit it in a future article.

The more fucked up you are, the easier for you to be free.

When life hits you so fucking hard, when it shoots you to the depth and nails you to it, you can be free.

When you have so many that is wrong with you, and it is very fucking rare, you can unplug from the matrix.

You can live in your own world with your own rules and invite people to it, instead of sharing this world.

This is a huge, misunderstood and dark topic, I will explore it more in a future article.

But understand that you should not always live by the rules and norms of your society, you can unplug and be free.

You can see the world with your eyes and shape it as you want.

That was an introduction for many upcoming articles addressing insecurities and how to fix them, I just went over some flying thoughts you could use to build a stable and confident ground for you to conquer the world.

Stop being ruled by insecurities, by fear of judgment, by people's thought.

Everyone is busy thinking what everyone is thinking of him, exploit that.

Be Free.

Share the wisdom Gentlemen,

Submitted March 18, 2015 at 11:04PM by reddittor22 http://ift.tt/1Lv4qsM GetMotivated

[Text] 336lbs/153kgs to 196lbs/89kgs. GetMotivated

First of all, if anyone has clicked this, thanks. I don't really post much on here and kind of awkward with a matter so close to me, but seeing a post by mattygo93 has given me the courage to be open with people about this (You can see his post at http://ift.tt/1BYnnhK)

So anyway, my name's Thomas, and for the majority of my life, I've been morbidly obese. I can't exactly pinpoint when it all truly began, but I can remember dreading P.E. in what we call Year 2, so that's around 6 years old. Anyway, at first the weight gain was pretty slow, gradual stuff, but as my weight increased, it went up rapidly. By the time I'd left primary school at the age of 12, I was by far the heaviest in my class, and that fact includes the teacher and her assistant. And as you can imagine, that lead to being bullied. I buried my head in books, and tried to stay out of kid's way as much as I could (a task easier said than done when you're that big).

Anyway, September 2006, I start Secondary school, a fresh start. Little did I know how bad it would become then. I thought that as kids got older, they'd be more accepting, but alas it was just crueler. I think what really got me then, was that teacher's weren't afraid to make the snide, asinine remark. I distinctly recall a Maths teacher, who said that if he threw me out of the window, I'd make a bigger splat than anyone else in the school. I like to think he said it purely to have a joke with the class, but these things still sting. Once again then, I looked to my keyword; survive. If I could survive another day, then I could get home, where my family wouldn't judge me. I'm blessed to come from an amazing family; with an absolute machine of a dad constantly trying to provide for us, matched by a mother who tirelessly and selflessly caters to me, my 2 older brothers and anyone else who crosses her path. But I digress.

At home, I guess that's where I felt protected, though in retrospect, it was where I was most vulnerable. Being bullied, it makes you aware of things. I couldn't enjoy being at school, or being with friends. But one thing I could still enjoy was food. The experience made me so aware of food, and the great comfort it brings. Pastas, Meat, Ice-Cream, Dessert, be still my beating heart! And that's perhaps why it was bad for me at home, with mere feet between me and a constantly stocked refrigerator. I've never intended to make excuses, I know why I gained weight, and who's fault it was, but as I reflect back, I sometimes wonder what would have been different if the amount or type of food we kept stocked was different. Guess its all irrelevant now.

Anyway, I carry on, surviving for 5 years of Secondary school. I'd been beaten up, black-eyed and bullied more times than I care to count, but I'd made it to the end. And now, I was given some options. To carry on and do 'sixth form' so that I could go to University, to go to a college to get the necessary qualifications for University or to go get a job. I'm a big believer in the power of education and enlightenment, so University has always been on my mind. So naturally I went to college right? Unfortunately, no. My two older brothers who I mentioned earlier, they had both done sixth form, and it was what I knew. The clincher was when they said how each student would be shown respect. I was dumb, and foolish, and made one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made.

But, I learn from my mistakes. I stayed for a year, but ultimately knew, this wasn't for me. I couldn't take it anymore, the snide remarks had gotten worse, and now I was a 17 year old, which allegedly made me mature enough according to the school to just accept it and 'get over it'. Funny how that works. I wonder what the age barrier is exactly, for people (specifically men) to not be allowed to be in touch with their emotions. Anyway, I left after a year, and took a really dark turn in my life. But nothing's permanent in life, and in the end, I looked to the future. I still wanted to go to University, so college was my new plan. I enrolled at my local college and began in September 2012, hoping that I'd finally have a fresh start I needed.

And sure enough, it was. After a month at college, I'd made more friends than the 6 years at secondary school. Whilst I had done well academically at school, it was nothing compared to how I performed at college. After the first term at college, my former life at school was a mere memory, it still haunted (and even now sometimes haunts) me, but I've learned to cope with it. But my weight hadn't changed much, it was still going up, I guess old habits are hard to break.

But in January 2013, that all changed. I can remember it distinctly. I had sneaked a sandwich (a big one I might add) upstairs and devoured it, a frightening norm for me at the time, and I wasn't done. Sneaking down to get something else, I couldn't help but overhear my mum and dad, who rarely argue, had raised voices to say the least. I didn't really follow what they said, till my dad said something that if I live to be 100, I won't forget.

"Jayne, if he carries on like this, he won't see 40".

Just like that, my world shattered. My dad was right y'see, that was the worst part. He was telling the truth. Simply put, if I was to continue like that, 40 was out of the question, hell, 35 was in serious doubt. Imagine that for a second, being 17 years old, and having essentially a mid-life crisis. I'd made the biggest leap of faith by switching to college, but with what my dad said, I knew the truth. Nothing at college meant a damn if I wasn't going to make the same effort with my weight. So I sat down, had a bit of a weep (yes secondary school, men can cry too) and laid out the plan. A plan that would simply change my life.

After talking with my family, fueled by a fire, an intent I had never displayed before, we made a plan. A bit of research led us to a service on the National Health Service called Weigh Ahead. Ten weekly sessions with a medical professional, who would give me encouragement and guidance (as well as an objective perspective) about how to improve my weight and lifestyle. Looking back, I should've been apprehensions, even terrified at the time, but back then, I had this drive to succeed. After so long, I was doing something, not saying something, or making excuses, but doing something. Within the first ten weeks with Weigh Ahead, I lost 28lbs/12.7kg. After another ten weeks, I had lost 70lbs/32kgs. I would've died a happy man, if I was to go at that time, but now that I was 70lbs lighter, the talks of me not making it to 40 were becoming less and less realistic.

Not to say it was easy, far from it in fact. But that's the thing about life. Life isn't easy. I had to develop immense will-power and naturally I had days when I slipped. A bad day, a rotten week could knock me back, but we can't the hard times in life keep us down. The further we're knocked down, the more room we have to rise. In October 2013, I hit my target of 196lbs/89kgs, and still couldn't fathom it. I had done what a year ago would've been impossible. Not only had I beaten my secondary school, but I had beaten morbid obesity. I now get to wake up, knowing that I have so much more of life to live, and despite what I said earlier about life being scary, I wouldn't trade that feeling for anything in the world. And even now, I still have my treats, though are able to enjoy them more in moderation (Ice-Cream is a particular weakness of mine).

And if you've made it here reader, props, wrote way more than I thought, but I'm like this when I get going. Since I finished losing the weight, I finished college, top of my class, and even appeared on TV to talk about my weight loss (they gave me a makeover!) I went to University, though moving away from home wasn't for me, so I withdrew, and just been accepted for studying Journalism at my local University. I write all this simply to let people know, that there's nothing a strong will can overcome. No matter how hard life seems, it doesn't mean that life won't get better. Don't expect things to get better though, be the change you want.

Take care, and get motivated.

-Thomas.

P.S. Here's some photos of mine, to see the transformation

http://ift.tt/1AbqkXu (Meeting Wrestling Legend Mick Foley. As a Wrestling fan, it should've been a great picture, though, y'know. February 2012)

http://ift.tt/1wlKW2W (With my eldest brother as the Olympic Torch passed through our village. Wasn't even at my heaviest at this point. July 2012)

http://ift.tt/1Abqi1R (After losing about 35lbs, and loving it. May 2013)

http://ift.tt/1wlKW2Y (100lbs down, and looking pretty suave if I say so myself. This was a new suit, that I had to get specifically for a cousin's wedding. First of many instances of buying new clothes. August 2013)

http://ift.tt/1Abqi1T (Chilling with Lara Croft at Sheffield Comic-Con. No longer do I worry about being photographed. August 2014)

http://ift.tt/1wlKW32 (Left, me in April 2012, not even at my heaviest. Right, me appearing on National TV, August 2014

http://ift.tt/1AbqkXB (After winning 'Most Improved Student of the Year' by the local paper. Pictured with the runner up, nice guy, gracious in defeat. September 2014)

Submitted March 10, 2015 at 01:36AM by tlowson1 http://ift.tt/196bYBk GetMotivated

How to beat obesity [Article] GetMotivated

Obesity. This is not just a word, it’s a plague upon this world. Obesity caused illnesses are the biggest contributing factor to deaths in the United States. I, myself have dealt with obesity my entire life. I finally figured out how to cure myself of this plague that has caused me nothing but pain and sorrow. I hate to sound like I want pity, because I don’t. I have nothing to blame but my own actions for being overweight. Though it has haunted me forever, I finally have solved the puzzle that my brain could never figure out. The puzzle being, why did I sneak down to the kitchen as a kid to raid the refrigerator while everyone was asleep? Why do I feel the pull to fast food joints as they stare me in the eyes as I drive by herds of them every few miles? Every obese person reading this can relate to this, I am sure. The secret to this puzzle is so simple but takes every ounce of willpower you can conjur. Just say no

Sounds easy, right? Its not. You have to exercise an immense amount of self control every moment as the constant whisper in your ear tells you that you want to eat. Note that I said that I said want to eat instead of I am hungry. People who are not overweight sometimes feel like they just want to eat even when they are not hungry, but obese people still want to eat even when they can’t swallow another bite. The reasons behind this sinister obsession with eating vary from many different origins that psychiatrists can’t even pinpoint in most cases, myself included. But the reason why you’ve been cursed with this plague doesn’t matter. No one in the world can change what happened in the past. All you can do is leave time behind as you pass it by without looking in the rearview mirror. Focus every thought that flows through your mind on future, because that you can change.

Next time you drive by a sea of drive thrus, listen to the whisper of Gluttony, and laugh in his face and say NO. Scream it if you have to. NOOO!!!! Tell that slob that the past doesn’t matter, and therefore he doesn’t matter. The reasons behind his power over you does not matter.What matters is your life that is being smothered to literal death by the fat of a cow, that would make you heave if you really knew what you were eating. The people you love and who love you, and most importantly the person that you always dreamed of being, is slowly being crushed by your own body until they inevitably die along with you without ever being let free. After that 10 seconds that feels like a lifetime, POOF, you pass through the gauntlet of grease and gluttony vanishes. You know he is going to be back soon as you pass another countless sign with that red and gold logo, but every sign you you pass from now on Gluttony’s whisper grows quieter and quieter.

NOTE: Saying no to fast food and binge eating is a great first step, but making smart healthy choices and exercising will get you to who you want to be even faster! :)

TL;DR My revelations on how to beat combat obesity, mainly how to resist the urges of fast food. If you are overweight take a few minutes to read this.

Submitted December 07, 2014 at 12:26AM by missomniac http://ift.tt/1tYGxMs GetMotivated