We’ve got another book club episode today! On a recent road trip I listened to Ryan Holiday’s new book Ego is the Enemy and there were so many powerful lessons! I just need to share them with you! Many of these are game changers!
There were 6 primary lessons that I believe powerfully apply to fat loss, health & happiness that I gleaned from Ryan Holiday’s Ego Is The Enemy. In today’s episode, I share those lessons and how you can apply them to your health.
Ego is the enemy of what you have and what you want.
Ego can keep us from true success by hiding the truth about our choices and our abilities.
Ego crosses out what matters and replaces it with what doesn’t.
Ego tells us what we want to hear when we want to hear it but gives us a short-term fix with long-term consequences
Humility and reality are the cure for ego
Be humble in your aspirations
Be gracious in your success
Be resilient in your failures
Unfortunately, I think the more common approach in dieting is:
Unrealistic in our aspirations
Critical of our success
Defeated in our failures
Make it a mantra: every next choice is a new chance.
Engage in activities that move you forward. Eliminate activities that do not.
Are the things you’re doing moving you towards your goals?
Talk depletes us.
Talking & doing compete for the same resources.
The relationship between work and chatter is that one kills the other
Be more objective (and less emotional)
Is your passion an asset or a liability?
Purpose: passion with boundaries
Realism: detachment with perspective
Be committed to the daily work without being attached to the daily results.
It’s about what you do with what you have
Materiam superabat opus: the workmanship was better than the material
It’s what you do with what you have that matters far more than what you have.
There is way too much drama about food and weight loss. In fairness, I think there’s too much drama surrounding pretty much everything, but I see it every day related to food and weight loss.
How many of you have worked yourself into unpleasant emotion with thoughts like:
I’m totally out of control! I can’t get back on track!
I binged all weekend! What is wrong with me? Why do I keep doing that?
I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to lose the weight! I just can’t stay motivated. It’s too hard for me!
Are those thoughts helpful? Are they productive?
No.
They are a choice. They are a decision to manufacture drama and negative feelings.
Here’s what they do: they make you feel like crap.
When you feel like crap, you make crappy choices.
When you feel amazing, you make amazing choices.
Why are you repeatedly choosing to focus on things that make you feel like crap?
It.is.holding.you.back.
I’m not saying you need to deny fear and doubt. I’m not saying you have to turn off frustration.
But, your fixation on it has got to change.
“He who indulges empty fears earns himself real fears” ~ Seneca
For as long as you find yourself perseverating on what you’re worried about or where you’ve dropped the ball, you will stay there.
In a perfect world, I want you to practice winning in your own mind. You know, I want you to see yourself waking up and feeling fit, strong & vibrant. I want you to see yourself joyfully choosing a fat loss friendly meal over the bagels and donuts.
But at a bare minimum, please don’t practice losing in your own mind!
That’s what you’re doing with these dramatic thoughts.
It’s a dress rehearsal for losing and you’re rehearsing over and over and over.
YOU get to choose your response to frustrations. YOU get to choose your response to where you are and where you’re going.
Sure, you can continue to choose frustration, fear, drama, complaining and doubt.
Or, you can ask: does this response help me?
Does it move me forward?
How does responding this way make me feel?
Instead of thinking about things, is there something I could be doing?
Is there one small thing I can do right now to move me in the direction of my goals?
In today’s episode I’m sharing the CliffNotes & takeaway of a white paper written by Dr. Philip Maffetone about the three stages of carbohydrate intolerance. To download the free whitepaper for yourself, click here.
Carbohydrate intolerance not only encourages weight gain, it impairs fat loss, damages the metabolism and triggers the development of illness and disease.
Most importantly, after we assess the three stages of carbohydrate intolerance, we’ll talk about what you can do about it.
Carbohydrate intolerance not only impairs fat loss and reduces energy – it also predisposes you to illness and chronic disease.
Dr. Philip Maffetone outlines how carbohydrate intolerance develops in the below model and then goes on to describe three stages of carbohydrate intolerance.
Dr. Philip Maffetone’s Model of Carbohydrate Intolerance
The three stages of carbohydrate intolerance can initiate in utero, in infancy, childhood, adolescence or adulthood and get worse until we choose to make dietary and lifestyle changes to improve carbohydrate tolerance.
Stages 1, 2 and 3 are detailed in the podcast so listen to the full episode to get all the details & the recommendations for making positive changes!
