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TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2007

Losing Weight Karate Kid Style

Do you remember in the Karate Kid when Mr. Miyagi asked Daniel to paint the fence, and wax on and wax off? After a week of doing Mr. Miyagi's chores Daniel was pretty frustrated. Mr. Miyagi quickly quelled his frustrations by proving that while he was performing these chores he was learning the fundamentals of karate.

People often ask me how I've lost my weight and kept it off. It was more of a change of lifestyle. I learned to put my clothes away at the end of the night, I learned to clean up while I cook instead of after, I learned to pay my bills on time, you get the idea. The better I got at managing the simple details of my life, the better I got at eating right. I made this connection yesterday to Dr. Gould in a meeting we were having. And then, in an act of serendipity this article appeared on CNN yesterday (http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/06/29/in.your.head/index.html) that detailed that people who achieved long term weight loss had a complete shift in lifestyle which included being more organized and detail oriented. Making those kinds of shifts actually alters your brain in a way that allows you to be more disciplined about eating right.

I would like you to take on the challenge of learning to lose weight in alternative ways. Try any one of the following things:

1. Organize all those loose photos you have in albums.
2. Keep your house clean.
3. Clear out the closets and the garage of things you don't use anymore.
4. Pay your bills on time.
5. Clean away any clutter.

Doing these things and doing them consistently will make it easier to lose weight. Give it a try.

POSTED BY !MICHELLE! | 10:25:54 AM

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11 COMMENTS

Jennifer said...

Wow - what a fantastic idea - anything that will make me have longterm success is so helpful!

Gale said...

So true, so true! I have known in my "head" that I was was eating to avoid doing whatever I needed to do but I rebelled. I didn't want to do it, and I wasn't going to do it, so I ate. I have always been so overwhelmed by how much needs to be done, organized, etc., but I have to approach it like eating an elephant, one bite at a time. As I sit reading this I think about the closets that are bulging, the basement that is bursting at the seams from stuff that I haven't thrown away and boxes and boxes of papers that I thought needed to be filed back from 2003 but really need to be thrown away. My clutter and disorganization have kept me trapped. Thanks for the timely reminder to let go. Letting go of the all the stuff that surrounds me, in my house and on my body.

Marcia said...

Brilliant! One of the reasons I overeat is because I don't WANT to do those organizational jobs. William James said "there's nothing so exhausting as an umcompleted task" I'm paraphrasing what's usually true is that the "task" would take only five minutes to complete. Every time I contemplate one of those "tasks," rather than spend the five minutes it would take to do it, I tend to spend fifteen or more minutes eating. I KNOW in some part of my brain with which I continually fail to communicate that even if I spent five minutes starting any one of those tasks, I'd feel better. Thanks for making me aware of something I apparently need to learn over and over again.

Babs said...

This really makes sense. And I found that I will procrastinate and go eat something so that I can put off doing those unpleasant tasks. If I would just do them - it would help. I remember reading somewhere that stress and anxiety can be caused by not doing what we should be doing. Thank you for this information.

Charlene said...

This is a great idea! I have a lot of guilt about all those projects and then I overeat! I get in difficulty with keeping up because I have a chronic health problem that sometimes keeps me from doing what needs to be done. I make all this worse by overeating. I'm so thankful for suggestions as to easy things to do to help me have a sense of control

Anne said...

I have found that having a clean, beautiful home makes me feel secure. It fills up that hole I keep trying to fill with food. Cleaning my blinds or scrubbing the tub makes me feel cared for and loved. But... I live alone now, so I don't have anybody else sabotaging my efforts. What I do stays done. Even though the chores need to be done periodically, it is not an endless labor of Hercules. I grew up rebelliously messy in my compulsively clean mother's house. When I got married and had my own little apartment, I never really nested, condemned myself as being a slob and NEVER had any company in. Upon reflection, I think it had more to do with the fact that my husband cared nothing for where he put anything, even though he expected me to pick up after him. I think the holes he slammed in the walls and doors probably discouraged me too. You know why divorce is so expensive? Because it's WORTH IT! Anyhow, at the age of 50 I slowly began to risk making my house a home, and now I am happy to welcome people and especially myself in any time.

des said...

dear michelle i fully agree with what you write and recently have been making a big effort along these lines kind regards des

April said...

You are absolutely right, not only are these 'chores' one less thing eating away at you but it also is keeping you busy, accomplishment feels soo much better than eating a whole pie and your not sick after ward. And there's no guilt!

missintuitive said...

I am so glad that you wrote about this today! Its so timely. Last night, while my husband was cleaning up the house, I laid in bed and beat up myself because I wasn't helping him. This made me feel bad and when I ate I made sure I was hungry first I didn't stop when I became full. This is a habit that I have been working on and had some sucess on previously this week at just about every meal a big deal for me. I then decided that I wasn't going to sit back and let the let the world pass me while I just lay in bed thinking about how incapable I am at work and home and watched tv while adult things had to be carried out in the home. Yes, I didn't get home from work until 8pm and yes I was tired but I spent 2 hours feeling bad about the fact that I didn't clean up instead of 30-45 minutes it probably would have taken to actually clean up! I have now made the connection! Thanks Michelle for the reinforcement!

camp1536 said...

This touched a chord with me. I've always thought that my home's condition is an extension of what my condition "inside" is. When everything is in disarray, that's an indication that my emotions are also needing attention. And vice versa... I like the suggestions about cleaning out the clutter. While tackling those mundane tasks, perhaps I can clean out my mind's clutter to make way for a new, shiny way of thinking and behaving.

Oaklandj said...

I think there is something to this. When my place is a sty, I'm more likely to feel out of control over my "own domain" and punish myself with food. I've found the best thing I can do is open up all the blinds, clean up a bit and savor a nice clean apartment. It makes me less likely to seek refuge in the kitchen!

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