This blog post is not about low-fat diets, low-carb diets, insanity, cross-fit, work-out routines, or strength & conditioning training. That’s for a later date. This blog post is about consistency and basically making your mind up that you’re going to do something. Beginning in 2003; I gained 10 pounds a year for 7 years reaching my heaviest weight of 265/270 lbs. It wasn’t because my wife was cooking good for me (though she was), it wasn’t because I was lazy – it was because I was chasing other goals.
2003 was a year of new beginnings. I started growing dreadlocks, I was featured in a play, I was working on a movie script, I had just started writing for the Metro Times, I was traveling around the country participating in spoken work shows & slams, and my photography business was starting to climb out of its infant stages. My mind state could be summed up in one word: “create.” For the next 7 years that’s I wanted to do – “create, create, create.” Thus; most of my goals came to fruition (except for that damn movie script-lol)
The one thing I neglected was my health. I could have cared less about eating right or working-out because I was too damn busy “creating.” By early 2010 my focus left from “creating” to “how to make more money of my creations!” Half-way through the year I knew something had to change. My waist size was 42 inches; I snored loudly, had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and was just flat out fat. I tired working out for a few months, loss ten pounds, stopped working out, and gained 15 pounds back in return.
2011 was the year it all changed. I consulted my good friend (who is a personal trainer) Julian Palm for guidance. I didn’t need him to actually train me; I just needed him to point me in the right direction and he did. I then decided it was time to go back to “creating.” Except this time, I would be creating a new me. Now let me say that never in any period of my life have I had what would be considered an admirable physique. I went form skinny, to flabby, to fat-lol. I’m not some high-school or college athlete that just tapped into my genetic God given body-lol. I’ve also lived several lives. I’ve been a vegetarian, a smoker, a drinker, and a chili fries & cheese sticks every night person.
Slowly but surely, day after day, I read, I hit the gym and I ate right. When I would plateau – I would refine my workout routine, read more, and refine my diet. I never, ever, ever, missed a workout. Not when the family went to Florida for vacation, not when the wife and I went to Mexico, never, ever, ever. Doesn’t matter if I had/have to get up at 4 am – I never miss workouts. I was determined to build myself the same way I had built my photography business.
I wanted to create.
The goal went from losing weight to trying to create an ascetically pleasing physique. If my goal would have stayed just “losing weight” – I could slowed down months ago. But that’s how goals work right? At first you just want to write a story and get it published, and they you want to turn the story into a novel and you want a big book deal! You may start off just going back to school to get a B.A., but soon realize that you won’t be satisfied until you get a P.H.D.
In order to see progress, you know only have to stick to your goals, but you have to change them. Also, in order to progress you have to establish balance. I know plenty of work-a-holic entrepreneurs who live off of caffeine and fast-food. Tunnel vision can work for you or against you.
Like I said, I love creating. And it’s never too late to create a new you.