MondoSamu - Now With 15% less fat!

So, it is with a tremendously lightened heart (figuratively AND literally) and a gladdened mind, that I am writing this article.

Yesterday, after 3.5 months of mindfulness every day, I reached a MAJOR milestone in my weight loss / lifestyle change journey.

I woke up in the morning, stepped up to the scale and weighed in.

I'm officially FIFTY POUNDS lighter than I was on July 3rd, 2010!  I've lost half the weight I have set out to lose!

I can't even begin to truly express how happy this makes me feel.  Sure all the things you would expect have happened.  My size 52 pants are all literally dropping to the ground if I undo my belt.  That belt, which I bought just before my trip to Canada in July and which I started out on the LAST possible notch, is now on the smallest possible notch and loose at that.  My 4XL t-shirts are noticeably too large for me…I haven't tried, but I suspect I could wear 2XL again, certainly 3XL.  My shoes even fit better.   When I sit down in those crappy little plastic arm chairs that are the bane of existence for fat people in every restaurant and public establishment in America, I slide right in without any struggle, and they don't tremble under my weight.  Airplanes are only annoying now, not physically painful and embarrassing.  Life under 300 pounds is a WHOLE lot better, to be sure.

But here's what I DIDN'T expect.  I no longer despise heat and sweat.  I no longer HATE being outside, I crave it.  I no longer complain and gripe ever moment I'm having to walk around.  I look forward to exercise.  I'm SO happy.

But here's the biggest surprise of all.  I haven't had to struggle very hard with this whole weight loss deal.  Not at all actually.  For the first time in my life, I have lost weight, stopped eating sweets, stopped guzzling sugary drinks, stopped eating plateload after plateload of food, stopped all of that over-indulgence…and best of all…haven't craved or missed it AT ALL.  Not at ALL!

If you are a normal, healthy person then none of that may have much of an impact on you.  If you are overweight, or a food addict, or have a killer sweet tooth, or any of the stuff that probably makes you read this blog in the first place then you are probably keenly aware of how amazing that truly is.

I have given this a LOT of thought.  I don't know if Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Living is a miracle book that finally showed me the light, or if I just got the right message at the right moment, or if it's all me just finally putting all the pieces together and finding the power I had all along inside myself (This last one is probably what Thich Nhat Hanh would tell me is the case!).  All I do know is that it's WORKING.  I'm WAY more happy about the lack of cravings, and the will power aspect of all this than I am about the weight loss.  And I am DARN happy about the weight loss!

What I THINK is that we all know that we should watch our calories, we all know a food journal is supposed to help, we all know that we shouldn't drink the sodas, we all know we aren't supposed to eat all kinds of crap, plate after plate.  What we don't do, or speaking for myself - what I didn't do, is live mindfully.  We just DON'T.

Before I read Savor, I ate breakfast watching the tv, I ate lunch talking or reading, I ate dinner in the living room watching tv while surfing the web on my iPhone.  I NEVER exercised AT ALL.

With the simple suggestion by Thich Nhat Hanh to breath three times, in and out while focusing on what you are about to do, before eating or any time needed, my life was changed.  Sound ridiculous?  Yeah, it does a little to me too.  BUT, it worked.  Sure, there's more to it, but that core thing has made me come "back to myself" long enough to recognize all the terrible decision making I was doing…or more accurately, all the LACK of decision making I was doing (and as Rush taught me - "if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice"), and I was able to instantly, and easily, cut out those problems and cravings.

The result?  I'm halfway to my 100 pound initial goal.  I'm shooting for 249 pounds by July 3rd, 2011.

I'm a long way from where I want to be, and I'm not CERTAIN that I have this whole thing licked for good.  I DO know that I am confident that I'm on the right path, and I am going to follow that path all the way home to myself!

Thank you for all the support!

Enjoy your weekend!
Geo