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eliasocaya · 6 months

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“Lose Weight With Less Effort”

Hi Reader!

Let’s cut to the chase, you have probably watched a ton of videos and read a couple of blogs about tips and tricks on how to lose weight, which are probably long and full of biases, I have been there and it’s an irritating and defeating process, no matter how eager I wanted to lose weight, I can’t seem to commit to the practices that I have stumbled upon fully, and this unending cycle of “waking up tired, lethargic all day, and not inspired to burn a decent amount of calories for whatever reason, binge on to any food then sleep” has led me to write an article that will help those who are experiencing this first hand like me, and right now you’re probably thinking “Why on earth should I listen to some guy that has written an article about this particular issue?” and the answer is this article published by a random writer on the internet might probably be your last chance on reducing your probability of meeting your ancestors due to weight problems, second, if you’re sick and tired of all the BS in the internet about this particular issue then lucky for you for I’ll spoon-feed all the things that you must know and must do in order to get the life that you want, and by the way if you’re reading this while laying on your couch or your bed, I just want you to know that you will belong to the 80% of the people who won’t succeed on finishing this article and chances are, you hit plateau and give up few months from now and won’t succeed on your weight cut journey, so sit up straight, focus, and let’s begin.

“Your everyday habits are the reason”

Habits are like a double-edged sword, they can affect others and you too, and these everyday habits are the primary indicators of your current situation, think of it this way, imagine that a single burger won’t hurt right? maybe another burger for tomorrow won’t hurt too right? Now multiply it by 365 days which is equivalent to a year and that my friend now has a significant impact not only on your weight but also on your health, and it doesn’t have to be a burger, it can vary from any food that exceeds the calories that our bodies need, but what if we changed those burgers or snacks to something healthier like water, multiply it by 365 days and your skin and weight will look better than an average, and in simpler terms “Small habits may seem not so important at the moment accumulates into something greater within time” and if you think that your current weight is the accumulation of all the years of your eating habits, you’re right indeed.

“Reinforcement and Elimination”

The only way to turn your life into something promising is by a process called “Reinforcement and Elimination”, it is reinforcing the good habits that will shape you into someone that you’ve dreamed of for a long time and eliminating the bad habits that led you to become someone who has an undesirable shape in the first place. I have fallen short in my journey because I have the wrong process of this reinforcement and elimination method, and I even regressed because of my wrong approach to the method, I noticed it when I was not getting inspired nor not having the drive to do even the simplest tasks, like drinking water. Now, think of it this way, when we wake up it’s doubtful that we have the energy or the willpower to get up and go to the kitchen and drink a glass of water, or maybe go to the bathroom for a cold shower right? And that is because of the thing called “Environmental Cues”, which is the most important part of this method simply because, if there is less friction towards you of the habit the more likely you’ll repeat that habit from day to day basis, and that includes both good and bad habits, majority of the people will have their phones beside them when they wake up, then scroll and binge into unnecessary information like videos or whatsoever for over 2 hours or more. Notice how the cues in our environment have a significant role in this journey and this implies not only in phones for I know some that store food near their bed and they have been doing it for years. But what if the majority had water bottles beside them, a journal, a treadmill, a pair of dumbells, or maybe something that they needed to do to succeed in the career they chose? As for me, it was weight lifting and writing, and I am living the life right now because “I have chosen to design my environment to give me cues that will be beneficial for my well-being, and how we shaped and designed our environment is an indicator whether we’ll stick to the method until we get the result we wanted”

“Fool-proof Habits”

Starting a good habit or sticking to a good habit doesn’t require you to perform the habit at full capacity or 100% efficiency, imagine someone who wants to become a boxer, a beginner must know and practice beginner things to stick to it for a long time, imagine the beginner at boxing fought against a professional boxer for an entire 12 rounds? it’s unlikely that the beginner will finish the 12 rounds and survive the aftermath, imagine someone who wants to become a well-known author, it’s also unlikely that he or she will finish an entire book in one sitting, and this is the approach of the majority who fails at sticking to the right habits, they start a good habit and then perform the habit as if they are someone who’s performing the habits for a very long time, No one in the right rationality will do that, if the goal is to lose weight and have a desirable shape, why on earth jog for nearly 1 kilometer for one day like a mad man until you’re nauseous and in the brink of passing out? The habits that I have written below are the habits that led me to become someone I’m confident of, but do consider the fact that it’s a neverending of trial and error especially when you’re just someone starting, it’s not one size fits all, find out what works for you.

“FIX YOUR SLEEP” — Your sleeping habits have a tremendous effect on your eating habits. If your circadian cycle (body clock) is far from normal or desirable then it is probably one of the indicators of why you’re eating habits are making you gain weight, if you’re someone who wakes up late then you’re someone who eats later in the day, and to fix your sleeping habits can vary from not exposing your eyes to screen time 3 hours before your sleep time to not consuming meals or snacks 3 hours before your sleep time, remember environmental cues right? Make sure to eliminate any activity or things that may and can disrupt your sleep, put your phone in another room, and maximize the friction between you and a bad habit, I can provide you the reasons for this certain topic but I cannot explain all the details about this topic due to off-topic reasons (https://medium.com/@elias.ocaya/sleep-deprivation-changed-me-3ab66b772f0b)

“FIX YOUR HYDRATION”— I cannot stress this enough but I don’t who is fit and effective and does not drink water, to hydrate the right way don’t drink 2 liters of water in one go, even plants drow, and when it comes to humans drinking 2 litters in one go is idiotic, cause we’ll end up peeing electrolytes that our bodies need, what you must rather do is put sea salt (Himalayan salt) on your water but not too much, a good starting point is to use 1/4 teaspoon of salt per liter of water, and make sure to get rid of the snacks or sweetened carbonated drinks near your bed and replace it with this salt-infused water, why? Remember the term “Environmental Cues” right? If it’s the water you’re next to after you wake up and not your phone or snacks, then hydration won’t feel like a chore but rather an automatic activity that is beneficial for your progress in this journey. (https://medium.com/@elias.ocaya/Im-putting-salt-in-my-drinking-water-and-here-s-why-f0d7951d8f00)

“FIX YOUR MEALS”— Make sure what you eat are real foods, not processed and not junk, and eliminate processed carb salties, and carbonated sweetened drinks. I don’t what you’ve been eating that led you to that position in the first place but I can bet that it is something that isn’t healthy, and to fully commit to the practice of eliminating the garbage that you’ve been consuming make sure not to store snacks in your room, once we are aware of the effects of “Environmental Cues”, avoiding such impulsive snacking can be effortless. There is also this thing called “Fasting”, I know that you already have heard of it more than once in your life, and to give you a brief explanation of what is fasting is basically it is voluntarily abstaining from food or drink for a certain period of time due to its overall health benefits, I’m not going to explain the detailed explanation of “Fasting” but I can give you the source and some of its benefits such as “reduced aging rate and cells regeneration” (https://medium.com/@elias.ocaya/age-slower-with-this-method-dd9ffc53fc5b)

“FIX YOUR ACTIVITIES”— Now there’s a misconception about losing weight when it comes to exercising that the majority of people have been following for a long time and that is “Move more to burn more” which is very idiotic from a physiological perspective, for there are some who follows this despite of the drawbacks of too much physical stress, think of it this way “If your someone who’s trying to burn a decent amount of fat by walking, then walking for 30 minutes is good, and if walking for 30 minutes is good then walking for 40 minutes is better, and if walking for 40 minutes is better, then walking for 1 hour is way better, and if walking for 1 hour is way better, then walking for 2 hours is even better”. Now this kind of thinking and approach only exhibits the lack of knowledge and understanding about the physiological capacity of the human body. “Training Less” does work if done correctly in a disciplined manner, but “Training Less” doesn't mean that you do a certain activity “half-assed”, training less in a disciplined manner simply means training intensely for a short period of time in order to maximize its benefits and effectivity, here’s the source about this idea if you want to delve into its scientific explanations properly. (https://medium.com/@elias.ocaya/train-less-if-you-want-a-great-physique-and-to-avoid-a-plateau-cd83ede0ab1b)

For you,

You are one of the few who have made it this far and be happy about that, a small win is still a win. The majority of the people who come across certain information that can aid their current problem will just be another piece of information that’ll be forgotten, and take note that I am not getting anything for this, I’m just another random human being sharing the knowledge that he knows to another human being, and I want you to consider this before I end my article here, “It’s entirely up to you whether you’ll utilize and follow this information that I have gathered for years, only you can pull yourself to the pit that you dug, only you can make it possible, and I want you to know that I have been there which makes me envious of the fact that you’re getting this for free, till next time friend, may you also succeed in your journey.”

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anonymous-nicholas · 1 year

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Lessons From The Gym

At the age of 22 I was severely in loan debt, living with my mom, and working in the service industry. I tried going to college but couldn’t finish. I was what the US government refers to as “exceptionally poor.” After Pell Grant, loans, working part-time, and qualifying for various scholarships I still wasn’t able to finish. I got kicked out for being a “financial liability,” and was told I could go back to finish my last few semesters once some of my loans were paid off. Needless to say, I was devastated. I spent every day feeling like trash, ashamed of being broke and living on my mom's couch. I knew I had to turn my life around but I had no idea how. So I started thinking, “Is there someone I know who overcomes every obstacle?” I didn’t have any adult role models in my life like that so I needed to look to someone fictional. Goku.

Now, keep in mind I’m 22 and desperate, so a lot of what I’m going to say won’t track. Any reasonable person will hear what I’m about to say and recognize this thought process as silly. Regardless, I thought that if I wanted to be successful then I needed to be like Goku because he is able to overcome ever obstacle in his way. How does he do it? I had no idea. But I thought that if I started doing the things he does then maybe the rest will figure itself out. So I decided that I needed to start working out, and then somehow everything else would just fall into place. And it did.

I am now happily married, debt free, working my dream job, and very proud of the man I’ve become. Not because I went to the gym, but because of the things I learned by going to the gym. Most people know what it takes to be successful, but some of us need to learn these things. I was the latter and the gym taught me what necessary skills I was lacking and how I could improve them. The first determining factor in whether or not you can be successful lies in a solid foundation of basic skills that we need to continually improve on. Here is what I learned.

Dedication trumps motivation

When I first started going to the gym I purchased an entire year's membership up front. It was only $100 but that was a butt ton of money for me at the time. To give you perspective, that was half of my weekly paycheck. It hurt to pay, but that was the point. I figured that sacrifice would be enough to motivate me to go to the gym everyday. It worked for a while, but soon I didn’t care enough about the money I lost. I then started to contemplate on how I could stay motivated and this is a trap everyone falls into. There, unfortunately, is no such thing as “staying motivated.” Motivation is a fleeting pipedream, and exists in a temporary space at the front of all your new ventures. Motivation will never follow you past the honeymoon phase of a new journey except for sporadic, unplanned occasions. If you want to be successful you need to, instead, stay dedicated. Eventually your motivation will disappear and you will no longer have a natural feeling of desire to move forward. Dedication is the ability to do all things we know we must do regardless of whether we want to or not. Dedication can be as simple as brushing your teeth daily, consistently showing up to work on time, or just paying your bills. These are things you need to do or else your teeth will fall out, you’ll lose you job, and you will eventually be evicted. We don’t have a desire or an excitement to do these things, but we do them anyway because we know we have to. But I didn’t really HAVE to go to the gym. It wasn’t necessary for survival or keeping my teeth. So in order to stay dedicated I needed to first remind myself of why I was going in the first place. I was going as a way to learn and practice the necessary skills required to be successful. Then it was understanding that I can’t have what I wanted while also doing the opposite of acquiring that desire. You can’t keep your teeth and refuse to brush them, you can’t keep your job and refuse to show up on time, you can’t keep your home and refuse to pay the rent or mortgage, and you can’t become a better version of yourself by living the same life you’ve always lived. Going to the gym will help increase the strength of your muscles, but forcing myself to go to the gym daily strengthened my ability to stay dedicated, and I am now able to apply that strength to anything else in my life. I can now dedicate myself to things in which I know will improve my quality of life despite them not feeling urgent or necessary for survival.

Time management

Once I became dedicated I learned that I wasn’t very cognisant of my time. There were many occasions in which I would have to make time late at night or early in the morning to hit the gym, because I didn’t know how to properly manage the time I had. For example, I knew I had to be at work by a certain hour in the afternoon. I would sleep in a little, go about my morning routine, get some food, change into my gym clothes, and get to the gym. Unfortunately, I would get to the gym and then realize I didn’t have enough time to do my cardio and weights. I knew this because the treadmill told me how long it took me to run a mile or a 5K. When factoring that time into the time I had before work I knew I was running late. So I instead had to change into my work clothes and put the gym off until about 10 or 11 pm, and in the process I would be sacrificing sleep. But I had to go, because I was dedicated. At first I thought “there just isn’t enough time,” and I was unnecessarily punishing myself by working out super late or super early when I was in fact the problem. Eventually I began to notice how long it took me to do things like brush my teeth, shower, cook and eat breakfast, and drive from point A to point B. I was then able to begin taking these times into consideration and could better plan my gym schedule in advance. I now knew that if I did simple things like waking up a little early, eating on the way, or brushing my teeth while I shower I could get to the gym in time for my workout instead of having to “make time” later in the day.

Admitting I was wrong

When I first started going to the gym I thought I knew what I had to do. Run really fast for long periods of time, lift really heavy until my muscles hurt. I had spent my whole life listening to fitness influencers, TV shows, and movies mold my expectations for what my gym routine should look like. Sayings like “no pain no gain,” and “train insane or stay the same.” So I was constantly pushing myself, spending hours at the gym. Luckily I was dedicated, so no matter how much I hated it I continued going. But after so many months I wasn’t making any progress. This whole time I thought going to the gym would be as simple as showing up and completely exhausting myself. It was a very humbling experience to admit that I didn’t know as much as I thought I did. It sounds silly, but everyone you know, even you, has adopted a perception molded by the influences of media consumed either actively or in passing. So, if I wanted to see any progress I had to face facts. I was nowhere near as smart or as knowledgeable as I thought I was, and I had to take steps to correct this. So I began researching and talking to people who knew more than me. This was hard for me to do because I always saw myself as intelligent, and I equated intelligence to having immediate answers and solutions without the need for consultation from others. That is a horrible definition of intelligence, and ironically it was that very definition that stopped me from reaching my intellectual potential. By interpreting intelligence as an innate ability to already know things I was missing every opportunity to acquire the knowledge I needed. I thought that seeking solutions from others was the same as being “dumb” or “ignorant,” becasue I thought that by admitting someone knew better than me that must mean I’m not as intelligent as I thought I was. I have found that it is in fact the inverse. A real lack of intelligence is digging in your heels and refusing to compromise on what you originally thought to be true.

As it turns out, all that fitness influencer motivational talk is just ego stroking bullshit. Growing your muscles or losing weight didn’t have to be grueling torture for hours at a time. In fact, you don’t even have to do it every single day. The “rise and grind” perception I had based on movies, TV, and motivational YouTube speeches was just plain wrong.

So it turns out you don’t have to run until you feel your heart beating in your teeth every day, and you don’t have to work your muscles until they become so sore it hurts to move. In fact, working out to such an extent can have you moving in a direction opposite of your goals.

Having the ability to admit my expectations were wrong made my gym routine a lot easier and a lot more manageable. But more importantly I was able to apply this lesson to my professional and personal life. I wasn’t able to truly grow until I began to approach myself with skepticism in my own knowledge and abilities. Admitting to myself that I am not as knowledgeable as I previously thought has led to me learning many more things much more quickly.

Understanding your limits and working within them leads to maximum growth

When everyone goes to the gym for the first time they always try to lift as much weight as possible. For some people, like myself, it was about appearances. I was nowhere near the largest guy at my gym and I wanted to look like I belonged there. This led me into another trap that many first time gym goers fall into, and that was thinking that I should lift something just because I could. If I can curl a 30lb weight one time that must mean I can do it 11 more times for a full set, and then I’ll complete that set 2 or 3 more times for a full exercise. AND THEN I’ll do 3 more exercises just like that, with the same mentality.

Very often we either bite off more than we can chew, or we set these expectations for ourselves we can barely meet. Working at or past your limits is great, but what you are able to accomplish isn’t the same as your limits. Just because I can meet a very tight deadline in the office doesn’t mean I should set that same expectation for every project. Much like lifting too heavy just because your body can will lead to a poor workout and poor results; treating other aspects of your life with that same expectations will lead to poor quality. Forcing myself to bust ass on every project rather than having a better understanding of how much time I should be allocating is the difference between work that can continually increase in quality over long periods of time, or work that never lives up to it’s potential. Setting these super tight deadlines for every single project results in sacrificing a quality that requires more time than what I’m agreeing to allocate to it.

So just because you can curl 30lbs doesn’t mean you should. It wasn’t until I dropped back down to the 15lb weight that I finally started to see the circumference of my arms grow. It felt weird to drop my weights just like it felt weird to set longer, more manageable deadlines. I didn’t want the buff gym bros to think I was weak, and I don’t want coworkers in my office to think I’m slacking off or bad at my job. But if I didn’t have the humility necessary to understand what my limits were and how to properly work within them, then I would never see real progress. My arms would never get bigger and neither would my quality of work.

Putting responsibility before pleasure, and understanding that the sooner you start something the quicker it’ll be over

As much as I love going to the gym there are days that I would rather day-drink and play videogames, and thats okay. Theres nothing wrong with doing the thing you want to do, unless you put off the things you have to do. Going to the gym this past decade has turned me into someone who can’t truly enjoy himself unless all of my responsibilities are taken care of. I can play videogames and start day-drinking at anytime, but I know I won’t truly enjoy it if there are dishes in the sink, the trash needs taken out, or some other responsibility I should have taken care of first.

As I’ve become older my life has become more complex and busy. Even with my razor sharp time management skills I can’t always make time for everything, which is why I make it a point to get things done as soon as possible. I know that I won't be able to enjoy my day off if I skip the gym, but I also want to maximize the amount of time I have to goof off and be lazy. So every night I go to bed at 10pm, and every morning I wake up at 6am to hit the gym and get back to my gaming chair before 8. If the trash needs taken out I grab it on my way out the door. If there dishes from dinner I wash, dry, and put them away before bed so they aren’t around when gaming time starts. I do things in this way to handle all of my responsibilities as quickly as possible so that I can maximize the amount of free time I have. Even this YouTube video. I woke up at 6am to hit the gym and immediately hopped on my computer to begin editing once I showered. I know that if I hustle I can have this done before lunch, and I can spend the rest of the day playing Triangle Strategy, reading One Piece, and rewatching Daria. By putting my responsibilities first and getting to them as soon as possible I can both maximize the amount of time I have and the enjoyment I get from being unproductive.

Everyone tells me I’m crazy for hitting the gym at 6am everyday, but thats why I do it. The sooner you start the sooner it’ll be over. I apply that philosophy to all of my responsibilities and obligations.

Forgiving yourself for things you can’t control

When you start going to the gym you will eventually form a habit that is very much like smoking. It’s uncanny. I know this because I used to smoke a pack a day when I was younger. Once you’ve consistently gone to the gym enough you’ll start to crave it, like a cigarette, and whenever you don’t go to the gym or miss the opportunity to you’ll get cranky and feel crap, just like nicotine withdrawal. The big difference is that nicotine withdraw makes you feel like crap because of what you’re missing from the cigarette, and missing the gym makes you feel like crap because now it feels like you’re letting yourself down. Unfortunately, as you get older this will happen. No matter how much precaution you take to insure a desired outcome, life will sometimes just get in the way. For the longest time I would put this blame on myself or I would just feel horrible because I missed out on the progress I could have been making towards my goal. Even now I will beat myself up regardless of whether or not it’s my fault that I missed a deadline or didn’t meet a goal that I set. It is unfortunate that we can plan for every possible contingency imaginable and still come up short. The important thing to remember is that it’s not your fault.

I can plan to get the gym at 6am, but maybe the road is blocked due to a huge car crash. Not a problem because I can just go during my lunch hour. But then an emergency come up and I need work while eating my lunch. That’s fine because I can just go after work. Only now my wife is working late and I need to pick up dinner. Okay, I will grab dinner, get home, prepare the meal, eat with my wife when she gets home, AND THEN I will have just enough to hit the gym and get back before bed. Except that once we finish dinner some unmitigated disaster happens like another car wreck blocking the road, some kind of responsibility or obligation I forgot about, or maybe the gym just burns down. Regardless of what keeps me from getting to the gym, or meeting any other goal in my life, I need to understand that these things aren’t my fault. It’s okay to be annoyed when this happens, but as long as I did everything I could then I shouldn’t beat myself up. The blame is not on me.

There is no compromising on becoming a better person

This is probably one of the biggest lessons. I used to get into this argument all the time with an old coworker. We’ll call him Dan. Dan was only 19 and already looked like a baby gorilla that had escaped the zoo. Dude was huge, and he unfortunately would equate things like his physical health, knowledge, and work ethic to the size of his arms. He genuinely believed that just going to the gym would solve his problems. For example, Dan would drink - I shit you not - FIVE Monster energy drinks a day. I would constantly give him crap by explaining “Dan, you’re kidneys are gonna fail before your 30,” or “there’s no way this is good for your heart.” But Dan would always respond, with conviction in his eyes and a demeanor that seeked to educate me, “No no no Nicky. It’s totally okay because I drink so much water and sweat so much at the gym. It just gets flushed out of my system,” and he really believed it. He had a heart attack when he was 22 by the way. He lived, so it’s totally okay to clown him.

The point is, just because I run a mile every day doesn’t mean I’m cleared to smoke a pack of New Ports whenever I feel like it. You’re either healthy or you’re not, you’re either becoming a better person or you’re the same person you were yesterday. If I really wanted to avoid the negative repercussions of smoking or drinking copious amounts of caffeine then I should quit smoking and drinking FIVE Monster energy drinks a day. Doing cardio and staying hydrated are great things to do and will significantly improve your health, unless you’re doing them for the wrong reasons or see them as counterweight to an unhealthy lifestyle, a counterweight to being the person who knows they should be doing better. Or, all of these lessons I learned from the gym don’t mean jack shit if I refuse to practice them. For example, it’s great that I learned about dedication, but if I’m only applying that dedication to my gym routine then it doesn’t matter and going to the gym is a complete waste of time rather than a productive one. If I’m not applying that lesson of dedication to my career and responsibilities then I would have gotten the same results had I kept my money and stayed home to play videogames all day.

Doing cardio as a way to offset smoking and drinking lots of water to “flush” the caffeine out of your system shows that you have identified a problem, which is great. It’s the first step to becoming a better version of yourself. But if you're refusing to apply the philosophy of self betterment outside of your cardio and hydration then you might as well save yourself the trouble and just double down on the nicotine and energy drinks. It doesn’t matter how far you run or how hydrated you are, you're still doing damage to your body on a daily basis. More importantly, you aren’t actually solving the problem, you’re just masking or prolonging it.

Just like I had identified that I have trouble meeting deadlines and dedicating myself to large projects, Dan had identified that he had a caffeine problem. The difference is that going to the gym was meant to be my way of finding a solution, whereas Dan saw the gym as a means of avoiding the solution. I was able to take the lesson of dedication I learned from my experience with the gym and apply that quitting smoking. It was genuinely the hardest thing I ever did in my life, but I did it. Dan on the other hand only remained dedicated to the gym and refused to take home with him the lessons he learned and he had a heart attack.

Now I’m going to get a bit meta and break the fourth wall because there is a deeper point to this. You just watched this whole video and maybe nodded along to some of the things I said. But do YOU, dear viewer, actually practice any of the things I talked about in this video? If at any point you found yourself saying “yeah! That’s so true!” is that thing you find to be true a real part of your daily life and who you are? Are you actively taking steps to becoming a better version of yourself or are you Dan?

Additionally, there is something I want to reiterate in case you missed it. Going to the gym did NOT solve all of my problems. That was the mentality that Dan had, and when I first bought my gym membership that was my thought too. What really solved all my problems was first being humble enough to admit that I had them, then being able to identify what those problems were, and finally, taking active steps every day to make the positive changes necessary to improve upon myself and solve these issues.

Life isn't about how hard you can hit, it’s about how hard you get hit and keep going. The most painful swings we ever take are to our ego and self-image, and it hurts even more when the fist that hits you comes flying out of the mirror. But you will never - I will never - have the ability to solve real problems and move forward until it becomes possible to throw that very necessary punch and then eat it like lunch every single day.

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#gym #motivation #writing #wisdom #inspiration

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