Why Building a Healthy Lifestyle Should be The Goal, and Not Just Lose Weight.

Coming from someone who once was 177kg and now has 90, you should take this fitness advice.

Before you proceed, allow me to ask you a direct question:

Are you willing to adopt the daily routine and habits of a healthy person while taking care of your body and mind?

Or are you still looking for a quick fix while swimming in unhealthy habits, eating daily junk food, excessive drinking throughout the weeks and promising to start exercising next Monday,

all while hoping for some magical changes?

Because well…It’s all up to you, friend…

It’s all up to how you choose to spend those sacred seconds of your daily life.

Trigger

When I decided to change and focus on my health, I was in a pretty busy moment of my life,

attending law school (which I later dropped out realizing law does not exist in this world, only money),

working in a job that didn’t fulfill me and didn’t want to do it for longer,

and obviously not satisfied with how I looked with the massive weight of 177kg.

Even with my busy schedule, and the big number on the scale, always when I could, I would go for my favorite exercise ever, boxing, to try lose some of those kilos,

but since I always had hundreds of unhealthy habits, like frequenting bars every night in the pauses between uni classes, to drink one beer which always turned into 10 with the boys, eating whatever I could during the day because had no time neither discipline to prepare anything, while neglecting taking real care of myself,

it never worked as it should,

One day pushed me up, the other down.

Always in constant battle.

Society nowadays,bombards us with unrealistic images of perfection,

our minds are poisoned and flooded, especially on social media platforms where everyone seems to live perfect lives,

Every girl over there looks like a divine angel, and all the boys drive Porches and have 6-pack abs,

pretty hard to compete.

And as someone who struggled with weight issues most of my life, I understand the pressure to make up for societal standards,

and honestly, They are pretty insane.

However, most importantly, I’ve come to realize that chasing what others would consider perfection, will always lead to frustration.

Get in shape.

When we talk about weight management, I can say I tried most of the diets out there,

From carnivorous 100% protein ones, which gave me gastric issues, or Ketos that actually are amazing and works pretty good for some people, but since I love bread above all, it never worked for a long time,

Intermittent dieting, Or even better balanced diets,

I even stood vegetarian for 2 years, which sounds crazy coming from the mouth of a guy who would go to brazilian steak houses 3 times per month, but it made me realize how bad most of us actually eat.

I can say I’ve tried most of the diets,

even starving myself to death. I mean, war prisoners do lose weight, don’t they?

After experimenting all these diets, and with none providing lasting results.

I realized I had to be doing something wrong.

Well, in the purpose of seeing a lower number when stepping on the scale, I could say that most of them always worked, Always managed to lose some weight with them,

But as some can relate, the problem was when I lost control.

When any external factor like academic stress or personal issues would happen and affect my mind and emotional side,

all my progress would get shaken, causing me to revert to unhealthy habits and regain the lost weight.

The famous accordion effect, right? You know what I’m talking about.

Shifting Minds

After a while, I’ve come to realize that the biggest mistake I made, and most people make about their health is focusing on weight loss.

When weight loss becomes the goal, it becomes a temporary fix rather than a long-term lifestyle change.

Most weight loss processes come from external motivations like seeing a lower number on scale, fitting into a dress or even impressing others,

And honestly, I believe they are very weak pillars and insufficient to sustain healthy habits.

Nowadays, when I say to people who ask me what did I do and tell them that the actually “weight loss” is the least important part of it, they get cynic.

They always go to something like “dude gtfo of here, you say this because now you’ve done it you want to pretend it doesn’t matter”.

Well, I wish it was.

I mean, yes of course for me as a person who’s been fat most of my life struggling with weight, image, and managing to drop more than 80 kilos and get in shape,

It’s excellent.

(Even though I’m not with the body I want, just closer)

The fact I managed to drop so much weight from my body and mind, it’s amazing, f*ck yeah, it’s fun and all,

Yes,

I can see my d*ck now without having to bend forward, I can enter any clothing shop and something will fit me, And don’t have to worry anymore about the feet of those sh*tty plastic chairs slipping away and breaking when I sit around a bar table with friends,

(even though I still do).

Lots of things sure have changed, and It’s also so satisfying for my ego, (after all I still human), when people who knew me from before see the new version of me and go:

“OMG, you look amazing, was it surgery? No? Damm! Then please tell me the secret, I also want this magic formula”

My gosh, I love it, I love it when I say it was without surgery,

The light on their eyes, it’s like I become a god. I can see how their consideration for me goes up 10 levels.

But this “leveling up” in their vision taught me one very important thing,

This 5 minute admiration only happens because most people have a completely wrong mindset about losing weight and getting in shape,

most see it in a very wrong way.

And yeah, well, I get it, I assume, even me in the past also had the idea of:

“I am fat, I need to lose weight and get a lower number on the scale”

Maybe because the media tells us all the time how we should look, maybe because our friends and parents joke about us being fat, or even because we’re not satisfied with ourselves,

Whatever may be the reason, You want, only to lose weight, and that’s it.

I get it, I was there once.

But now that I’ve passed through this process, I’ve come to realize one very important thing:

“The biggest mistake you can make, related to your health and body, Is wanting only to lose weight”

Who the hell wants to lose?

When you want only to lose weight, that becomes your end goal, that becomes the big elephant in the room for you to kill,

and most people don’t even have their personal reason for wanting to kill that elephant.

Most put in their minds a million reasons why, to get inside a dress, to look amazing for the pictures in a wedding or trip, because someone told them look fat, They want to get more sex,

in some more serious cases, even health issues.

Yeah, cool, I get all that, and some of those things might actually happen.

But there is just one problem,

all those things are external.

Those are all weak pillars to sustain something so important like your own health, most of them are not even your own idea.

Plus, who the heck wants to lose?

“I Want to Lose”

Look at this sentence, hear it, repeat it to yourself, does it sound good?

This is a freaking loser’s weak mentality, it will never take you anywhere.

You don’t want to lose weight, that’s not your goal, not even close to it,

at most, this is the path you need to go through to achieve your goal.

Let’s be honest here, what is even the point of losing weight?

Living in this accordion effect forever and your mortal enemy called Scale coming back to haunt you when you get a different number of what you want to see on its screen?

Get real bro, there are ultra healthy people with 120 kilos, and there are ultra healthy people with 60 kilos,

believe it or not, achieving the body you want, getting in shape, and even losing weight, has nothing to do with what number you see on a scale,

That number is the worst indicator ever.

In my past job, I’ve met models working for big brands, that smoked 2 packs of cigs a day, while surviving on food delivery and junk food,

in the pictures you would want to marry them, off the shoot, you don’t even want to talk, since their breath smells like an ashtray,

Yeah, they do look like angels, are them healthy?… well, that’s for another talk.

What you need to get here, is that It’s all about the mindset.

Triggering, I want to build.

When you start to change your mind and your reasons, from “I want to lose weight” to “I want to build a healthier lifestyle” it will have a profound impact on your behavior.

Instead of exercising, dieting and not eating that piece of chocolate out of desperation to shed pounds, you’ll approach every decision you make in your day, as steps towards creating a lifestyle you’re proud of.

In my Newsletter “Morning Run”, where I talk about habits, tips and mindsets for improving in sports, health, and life in general, we deal a lot with this, not quick fixes, but long lasting results.

My old friend, Muay Thai and Boxing master once told me :

“The body of a fighter starts to change from the inside, the lines and muscles, are the last thing you will see, the top cherry, all the important changes, they happen in the inside first, if you’re hard as a diamond inside, the outside shines in every direction”

Unfortunately, I’ve come to understand this way later than I should,

But, your mind needs to change before everything else does,

Otherwise, nothing will ever work.

When you start to train your mind to think like that,

You won’t be going to the gym because someone called you fat, or you need and want to lose weight, anymore. You’ll be going to the gym, because you want to build a body and lifestyle which will make you proud of having done that,

a body which will fit in those clothes, and you’ll love to look in the mirror, not only for the picture you took in the day,

You won’t go anymore for a walk or a run because you need to lose weight,

You’ll be going for it because you want to build the habit of running, to build stronger legs, or to increase your cardiovascular performance,

It doesn’t matter what you want to build, but trust me, you don’t want to lose, no one does.

When you start with this small little change in your mind,

I assure you, a lot will change.

I once was in the same place where you probably are right now, maybe even worse, It wasn’t 20 or 30 kilos I dropped, it was 85 eliminated in total, all by daily mental war and struggles, and the will to build something better, didn’t want to lose,

I still want more, my goal for this year is to bring the lines out, draw my body and reach 5.0 for 21k in running pace,

and I know I need to get lighter and stronger, but I won’t lose anything.

I know for me to achieve that I need to build day after day by habits and decisions which take me closer to what I want, simple as that,

All my daily habits and single second decisions will either get me closer to my goal or further away from it,

I have the conscience nowadays to assume and deal with the fact that if I stay on the couch lying in comfort and eat my lovely chocolate bar every day, It won’t make me gain or lose anything,

It will just take me further away from what I want to achieve.

Can you see the difference between that and:

“I won’t eat this chocolate I love so much, because I need to lose weight” ?

The sentence above looks like what a 5-year-old kid said while trying to make her mom not hide the chocolate on the top shelf,

Which 5-year-old has self-control?

Not for weight.

I focused here about weight, because for me the body weight was the trigger which allowed me to reach this kind of mindset and improve various areas of my life,

But as you can understand by now, this mindset change applies to anything,

It’s never about what you want to gain or lose,

It’s about building the habits and daily routine which will allow you to reach the goal you want, whatever may be this goal.

The thing is, most of us already know what we need to do to reach our objectives, but we procrastinate and keep finding excuses while lying to ourselves to stay in comfort.

If you want to achieve your health and life objectives, the first thing you need to change in yourself is your mindset.

I can’t do it for you, your loved ones can’t do it for you, not even god can make it for you,

only yourself.

Stop with the idea of losing and start with the idea of building, you’ll see how much will change.

The key to achieving lasting health and fitness goals lies in shifting your mindset from “losing” to “building”.

It’s about cultivating habits and creating routines that align with your long-term objectives, instead of chasing temporary fixes.

One very important thing before I go:

The only difference between who you are right now and who you want to be, Is how you choose to spend each precious second of your day, nothing else.

Those decisions, can either be taking you close to your objectives, or further away from it,

but they are your own choice.

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Thanks for reading until here, hope you appreciated and take something good from it.

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Have an amazing day and build it!

-DGaspar.

Poof! Disappear in magic smoke…