Transforming what we think we know Into what we know
We live in the age of mass misinformation. Especially in the area of health, nutrition and fat loss. It is what it is. It’s the age of the internet, where absurd opinions can be spun as fact for gain or just for the fun of it. By anyone so motivated.
Not a thing to be done for that. Other than to individually take the giant leap from biased opinion to educated understanding. We can do this by examining the facts about a thing or a situation from multiple points of perspective. Then, use those perspectives and facts to arrive at a conclusion that sets our personal view of the object or circumstance in closest alignment to those facts. That was a mouthful. In short we must check to see if what we think we know is in cahoots with the facts.
If we are considering a heath journey, the facts, and our perception of those facts, can make or break your journey.
Realities in misalignment: The road to hell is paved with subjectivity
There is a really fine line between subjective reality critically reasoned and individual fantasy. Self must be examined from multiple angles to ensure that ones subjectivity is in alignment with the objective facts.
Warning! Philosophy ahead. Don’t get scared. There’s pictures and a swell story.
When considering our approach to our own transformational health journey we must come to terms with both objective and subjective reality and what they mean for us.
Objective reality is defined by the facts about a person, place, thing, or circumstance. For example: That man is wearing a black suit and black tie; That place was a murder scene; that rock is 26 inches wide and weighs 39.8 pounds; etc.
Subjective reality is defined up in our heads based upon our understanding, or lack thereof, of the objective facts plus whatever our head fills into the blanks. For example: That guy is an FBI agent, that place is probably haunted, that rock is big and heavy; etc.
We live in an objective universe that we interpret and respond to subjectively. These two things work together to create our personal reality. That personal realty can be total bullshit. Whether it is or not depends on how closely our subjectivity aligns with the objective facts about the universe.
Thinking objectively about Weight loss
On a journey to greater health, weight loss likely enough will be one of multiple outcomes. Don't treat weight loss as a primary goal. Treat gradual body composition change, losing fat mass while gaining muscle mass, as the mile-markers on a longer highway. If I could help you in any way. It would be to help you grasp and hold that one thing. Unbalanced body composition can be temporary. Health maintenance is lifelong.
First. Stop thinking about weight loss. Start thinking about health gain and body composition change. Weight loss isn’t necessarily healthy.
You can lose a lot of weight on a March , April, May keto crash. You can also gain it all back by Labor Day. When you do this, your are not doing your health a solid. The opposite in fact. You established a set of patterns, albeit bad ones, that acclimated your internal workings to certain behaviors. Then you blew the doors off of those patterns and went full no-pattern with hamburgers, hot dogs, potatoes processed fifty ways, cake and aunt Mary’s ambrosia. Outcome of your subjective reality meeting objective reality? What once was bad is now worse. This can become a cyclical pattern over decades in a descending spiral of self destruction. I have been in that place and paid heavily for being there.
Outcome of Weight Cycling
That loss-gain-loss-gain circle brings collateral damage: depression, feelings of failure, self loathing and all the negative self-talk that comes with. This gives a toxic ego a chance to take over and own you.
I’m not here to bullshit you or sell you a program. You may have bought too many of them by now. And did other people’s answers work for you?
If they did? Yay. Often what works for one person may not work for you. You have your own thing. Regardless of any diet program the surest way to sustainable health practices is found in learning to listen to your own self. Learning to align your perceptions to the facts about your situation. Discovering why you want to take better control of your health and understanding what methods are available to you and what obstacles may stand in your way.
Having done it I can tell you its doable. Here is a quick story to make the point.
A story about misaligned realities
Meet Bob. I love spinning hypotheticals. Especially ones with basis in someone’s reality. Trust me. I have a few of my own stories of reality misalignment ending badly. Bob was a star football player in high school and a mediocre one in college. Now he’s a trophy-winning football coach up in his head, though his screamed instructions are utterly ignored by the players on the screen.
A warm Sunday finds Bob over at Frank’s with Marty, Ted and Bill. All veterans of the small Texas town’s AAA team. They get together on Sundays to grill, drink, then watch football on Frank’s outdoor giant screen on the covered patio. Unlike Bob. Frank never stopped playing football. Or mountain biking, hiking, white-water kayaking or weight training. And Frank went on after college to be a Navy SEAL, not an engineer with a desk six feet from the snack machine. At 48 Frank still looked like a football player from the neck down, if you ignore the scars from Afghanistan. Whereas, Bob had more resemblance to a football than a player. Something Frank noted frequently and with delicious malice.
It was from the kitchen window as Frank was grabbing another round of beers that he saw Marty holding two beers and Bob bending over the weight pile where Frank worked out. Frank put down the beer bottles and pulled out his phone to call 911. He hoped his old pal wasn’t the suing sort.
It ends well for Bob
I admit. I have affection for my characters and wish them well, So its all good with Bob. He used all that pain from surgery and therapy as his trigger mechanism to begin a a system of developing behavior and health patterns that match who he authentically is and what he authentically needs. He found suitable replacements for the foods he loved with the vast spectrum of whole and natural foods available. As it turns out he isn’t football guy. That was just clinging to a biased memory of a prior self that was no longer serving him. Not true to his now-self.
Frank was of course, quite generous in his offers to help whip Bob into shape. Frank’s help involved things like. “OK, we’re gonna strap 250 pounds of crap to various parts of your body. Then we’re gonna run the ten clicks over that mountain, swim the frigid lake, then stop to build a fire and roast up a snake for lunch before running the eight clicks back through breakneck canyon. Cool?”
Bob knew better now. He knew that Frank’s thing and his thing were two different things. Bob had tuned his subjective understanding of his unique world into alignment with objective realities like his own biological limits and the laws of physics. Bob had found that yoga, resistance training and a nice walk around town lake to be just what he needed for optimal health within the context of his physical abilities and mental predisposition.
His improvements weren’t all physical. Aligning realities works across all the different dimensions of life. Prior too transformation, Bob was about work and football. Football on TV, fantasy football, football fandom, whatever. His family was a distant third. Now? With his newfound focus, confidence and energy* he started a business and now makes four times as much doing the same thing for a quarter of the time. He has time for lots of stuff. Family most of all.
Three cheers for Bob. The End.
*yes. A diet of whole food paired with a routine of exercise can do that for you after a diet consisting primarily of industrial processed, inflammatory food and couch life .
what the hell happened here?
The story is about outcomes. It considers the question: What happens when subjective perceptions get thrown into the fiery coals of objectivity, then slammed onto the anvil of truth and smacked by the hammer of life a few times?
The story is about outcomes. What happens when subjective perceptions get thrown into the fiery coals of objectivity, then slammed onto the anvil of truth and smacked by the hammer of life a few times? If a persons perception of reality is in alignment with the objective truths about reality, everything will likely be fine. If not. Well. A true thing about the hammer of life and the anvil of truth? They %@&^* hurt. Sometimes they are fatal.
This journey towards a greater degree of health is in large part one of self-discovery and pattern setting. Of learning to listen to yourself in a way that you develop patterns of eating, moving and sleeping that are natural and most authentic for your own well being. The goal here is to cater to your authentic self in wholeness. If you don’t really know that self, and you might be surprised at how few people do, there are exercises that can help you come to a better knowledge.
Realities in misalignment: The road to hell is paved with subjectivity
Ask the Right Questions
- What is the state of my health?
To objectively answer this question, this needs to be from a medical perspective. How does your doctor say your health is?
- What are the truths about health improvement in my case?
This will be closely tied to question 1 above. If you are in a poor state of health then a truth would be the need for your health journey to be guided by a professional. For example, if you are diabetic your eating should include the counsel of a nutritionist. If you have cardiac problems taking on an exercise program downloaded off the app store could be ill advised. See someone who does that as their vocation. They do that because they want to help you. Use them if you can.
- What are my physical possibilities?
Literally what can you do to move? Maybe you can walk a quarter of a mile. Maybe a half. What can you realistically do right now?
You are writing all this stuff down. Right?
- Who are my support partners?
Who can you count on to back you up. This can be anyone from your spouse to a health coach. Very few successful transformational journeys are solo affairs.
- What are my financial possibilities?
How much budget restructuring would you have to do to buy or grow organic food? Can you afford a health coach? Gym membership? Can you earn extra to invest in yourself? Money makes the world in general, and the America specifically work. Of course the real question with regards to a transformative health journey isn’t can you afford it, it’s can you afford not to? Strokes, Heart Attacks, Diabetes, are all expensive conditions with lasting consequence.
- Fill in the Blank Questions
Whatever questions apply meaningfully and specifically to you.
The road to success is paved in understanding the facts
The answers to these, and other questions relevant to you should give you a place to start your journey. Start from a place of knowledge rather than opinion or ignorance. Or to make adjustments to a journey already begun in the light of new knowledge. This type of adjusting is a process you’ll be doing for the rest of your life if you are doing that life right.
Remember this is more about outcomes and charting a path to those outcomes that works for you. Doesn’t mean you don’t have to work the path. It does mean you can work one most likely to deliver the sustainable outcomes you desire.
What. You haven’t started yet? Okay, ask yourself this question then. Why not?
Related Articles
