What's My "Why?"

It wasn't until our foray into "Network Marketing" that I heard about the concept of your "Why." What's your "why?" What's the reason behind the effort? Why do you want to be successful?

In the case of weight loss, the question is "Why do you want to lose those pounds?"

It hasn't been until this year that my "Why" behind weight loss has been this strong. Before I reveal my strongest "why" let me go over the other top five whys over the years:

6. Circumstances

This isn't a why, which is why it's my lowest rated option. But when I spent two years in Venezuela (heat, walking, parasites, remember?) or played High School Football I naturally lost weight because of the circumstances. In 2006 I played a lot of basketball because I had a good group of guys to play with so I slimmed down a bit because of all the exercise. It didn't motivate me to lose weight, I just did.

5. Fear 

I have a family history of diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart problems. My dad died at 54 of a heart attack. Mom has Type II diabetes. I don't want to get diabetes and I don't want to die young.

4. Incentive

The first time I lost a significant amount of weight my brothers in law offered me one month of a health product for free if I lost a certain amount of pounds. I've lost weight as part of a weight loss challenge with family members. I lost weight when my company offered to pay for my Weight Watchers membership. Monetary incentives can certainly help.

3. Worthy Goals

Before I was married someone made a comment to me about how I needed to get into "Naked Shape." That was a very good goal to have right before the marriage and honeymoon! In 2007 I wanted to hike the Grand Canyon "Rim to Rim" and needed to get into better shape for that.

2. Spite

I hate to admit it, but the thing that prompted me to do HCG back in 2011 was a comment someone said to me. In anger over something completely unrelated to weight and health this person said, "Steve, get your fat a$$ out of my life!" That was the first time someone had called me fat since I was a kid in school and that motivated me. I didn't want to remove myself from this person's life, but I decided I'd get my "fat a$$" out of that person's life by not being fat. It worked.

1. Love

Love is my strongest why. For three reasons:

1c. I love my wife. She believes in me. She wants me to accomplish this goal and she's shown me a path to health and been super supportive. I love her so I will do my best to reach this goal.

1b. But loving Jenny isn't enough. I need to love me. I need to love the person I am, but more importantly love the person I can become. When I was dating Jenny, I chased after her. I did whatever I could to be with her and win her love in return. Now I need to chase that man (that sounds weird) but what I really mean is I need to chase with love the person I can be. I need to pursue him with the same intent I had when I was dating Jenny.

1a. I love the Lord, Jesus Christ. He is the one who can help me become what I can be. I have felt promptings over the years that encouraged me to cease to be idle, to work hard, to not spend my labor and my money for that which is of no worth. I feel like my extra pounds are a personal symbol of the extra sin I have. I love Him and I want him to help me purify my life, even in this temporal arena of weight loss.

And that's what makes a lifestyle change stick. Love. Love of self, of that special someone, of the Lord, and love of the journey.

Slim & Sassy Lifestyle Competition

This is my first year doing doTERRA's Slim & Sassy Lifestyle Competition and first time since 2011 that I've used January as the impetus to begin "lifestyle changes."

Here's one of my entry photos. Oh sweet hot body. Look at those voluptuous curves!! That's me at 205.

A few years ago I would have looked at this picture and thought, "Not bad! Better than you used to be." Fortunately I don't have any pictures of my bare chest at the peak of my fatness to lull me into a false sense of accomplishment. The bottom line is I can do better. I did do better.

Here's a shot of me after the last baby was born (190). I promise the belly fat was not as voluminous under that white shirt. You'll have to take my word for it when I say that right now, I can't comfortably button the collar on that shirt. :(

Fact is, my weight over the years shows a marked disparity between what I am and what the BMI calculator says I should be. Last year I celebrated the fact that I had successfully crested the hump and was on the downhill slope towards overweight from obese. 

Unfortunately, gravity couldn't keep me down and my little fat cells ballooned up into obesity. 

This little chart shows my ups and downs since I was in High School and how far I have yet to go.

That green line on the bottom represents 163 lbs. That's the top end of "normal." I don't believe in that number yet. I'm shooting for 170 because I do believe in that number. But the closest I've ever come is 190 lbs whilst I walked the streets of Venezuela, in the hot equatorial sun, with no car, and parasites lining my intestines. 

So the choices are work towards the elusive goal, or get some more parasites. 

Wellness: Chasing a Cold

CHASING A COLD

We haven't been to the doctors for an illness in 2 1/2 years. That number coincides with our oil use. We are fast approaching out 3 year anniversary and I love it.

When little sickness happens we simply look up the symptom in our Modern Essentials book, A-Z Usage Guide, or Everythingessential.me and off we run! I often find that if I oil the sick person, every hour, with On Guard and whatever else we need for the symptom, we can get nearly 100% better within 48 hours. It's awesome.

However, every so often, we will come into contact with a nasty virus that will run through the family and stick around for 7-10 days. Or first experience with it was November 2012. Everyone in Spokane called it "the Gunk." They were sick with it for 6 weeks. It lasted 5 LONG days in our family for the first person and 48 hours by the time person #6 got it. Why? Well as soon as we knew there was something infiltrating our immune systems, I got right on it and started oiling everybody several times a day. It helped.

Fast forward to today. First my 3-year-olds got it, within a couple of days my baby got it, and then I got it. BUT the other 3 kids and Daddy did not. Why? We oiled everybody! I know that letting all of us indulge in Christmas treats suppressed our immune systems, and neglecting to oil everybody while knowing they were consuming said treats was a problem too. Frankly, I'm human! I got tired of being ever vigilant. It's nice to see why it's important and recommit to it again.

The last 10 days I've been chasing a cold. As soon as the throat started to feel dry and sore, I oiled. Then sinus congestion and pressure hit, I oiled. The bug moved to my ears? I oiled (and switched up to a few different oils). Then to my eyes? I oiled. Back to my sinuses and mouth, I oiled! Yet, through all of that, I kept the virus captive from the neck up. My body felt great through the whole process, super healthy. My head? That was a different story. And that's the beauty of oils.

I believe that we are meant to see adversary during our life, so I can't claim that with oils I will never get sick again. But with oils, I can keep it captive in one location and keep loved ones around me healthy!