Fitness: Importance of Mentality

   I know I promised the timeline but that will have to take a backseat for now. As Eric and Cassandra pointed out (And I thank you two for the support thus far), I used to be gloomy, moody and downright negative years ago. Of course when I tell this to everyone who knows me recently, they don't believe me. But I digress.

   It actually took me half a year to adopt a new mentality, and even now, it is still evolving. By careful selection of what I believe would make me better, I mould a new self-image. So what does this have to do with Fitness? Everything! Just bear with me and the answers will be crystal clear.

   I used to be very shy, in secondary school I hardly talk to any females unless it's about homework or projects. I kept to myself and stuck with 3 male friends of mine. I was fat and kept on getting bullied in secondary 1 and 2. In a nutshell I had very low self esteem, confidence and a huge lack of backbone. It continued through poly, and my self esteem and confidence went an all time low after my first relationship dissolved horribly. So what's the point of all this boring talk? Like what Yan says, "If Yan can cook, so can you!" If I can change my mentality to be more positive, so can you. But of course it will take a lot effort on your part.

   Self Concept (Self Image)
   Let's begin. Anyone can tell you to be positive, anyone can tell you to take it easy but what they forget to mention is that when you do that (self affirming, etc), you are only conversing with your concious level. It is actually the subconcious layer that determines how we react and what we do.

   I was introduced to this whole idea by friends I grew up with but no one went indepth until I met Michael. Just try this little exercise which he made me do before he explained. Take out a piece of paper and write down sentences on how you feel about yourself beginning with "I am".

   More often than not, you'll see most of those sentences are negative, just like how it was for me. Michael just chuckled and told me, "Expected". He began explaining to me the power of the subconcious thought. Think of it as a computer. You key in an input and it produces an output instantaneously.

   It is true that how we were brought up largely affects our subconcious which in turn outlines our behaviours and attitudes. Growing up as a child, our minds are very impressionable and everything is recorded into our subconcious, even if it is bad. This is because the mind then could not differentiate what is right and what is wrong, so it gets recorded as "acceptable behaviour". When we go into our teenage years, the subconcious shuts off any more inputs and that's where the behaviours and attitudes solidify. You'll just accept what you are more inclined to and push away everything else. Human nature.

   Does that mean you can't change? You actually can. Michael showed me that by conditioning my whole mentality, I am able to reprogram my subconcious. Again using the computer comparison, everyone who has access to your computer gets what is stored within it. They cannot install or do any modifications to you unless you as the administrator, installs the new modifications.

   Michael then showed me an article written by a successful plastic surgeon. He mentioned that he stumbled upon this discovery of self image with his patients. Even though he had corrected defects and deformaties with surgery, his patients retained their old self image and continued to say they look ugly, scarred or deformed even though they appeared to be by society's standard of gorgeous. As a result, they still continued to live life the way they have always been living.

   To sum up the article, the surgeon mentioned, "I can make my patients look like Cindy Crawford or Brad Pitt, yet still they would always point out something that does not seem right by their standards. I believe we can change our outer layer with surgery but if the inner layer does not change, we will be what we think we are."

   Think about it, how often do we see a hot chick or hunky guy with (by our standards) ugly half and they look so happy together? How often do we see fat people who are still successful and have wonderful lives? How often do we see the rich getting so many surgeries and still not be happy (Michael Jackson anyone?)?. How often do we hear supermodels thinking they are fat, supermodels! It's all tied in to our perception of self image. Our subconcious.

   For the christians reading this, isn't it true that Jesus thought it is folly and silly to put new wine into old bottles or a new patch of material on an old garment? If you were to look at why, doesn't it sound like what Maxwell was trying to imply in his closing statement?

   This links to every single aspect in our lives, fitness as well. You can train as hard as you want, lose as much weight as you can and still not be happy. After Michael laid this out to me, I began to understand the power of self image. The more I learnt from him, the more I change. So how do we change our subconcious? Read on!

   Create Your New Self Image
   There is a difference between creating a new self image and forcing a new self image. The latter will backfire in your face because of? You guessed it...the subconcious! So how do we create a lasting self image? You visualize the new you then reinforce it with the other points. You can't wipe away the old self image, but you can layer it with actions until it covers up. Think of the new you as dynamic and as vivid as you can! Make it wild and outrageous! The mind retains and remembers pictures better than facts, the more colorful and dynamic, the more it retains.

   Some people only visualize what they think they can get, not what they truly want. It actually scares them to step out of their comfort zone to embrace a new change so this is where most fail. Myself? I visualize having the body of WWE Wrestlers like Goldberg and John Cena. Again this is your subconcious. If you think you cannot achieve it, you won't. But as Michael put it across to me, if you aim really high and you fall short, you have actually went further compared to aiming a realistic target.

   Write it down
   Once you have the picture in your mind, write it out. The act of writing actually transforms from the ethereal, untouchable state of thought (imagination and dreams) to a concrete and tangible form. Again this is to stimulate your subconcious and your mind to remember.

   When you do write out a description, remember to address it as "I" as this will trigger the subconcious to zero in like a computer waiting an input. Keep it positive, but don't confuse terms like "I don't want to be fat" as positive, in turn use the statement "I am lean". But why would writing help?

   When you write, you're already committing your mind to focus, and as you write it, it remembers more effectively than if you were to just read. Experiment, from your list, divie it into 2 sections. One section you just read it, the other you keep rewriting it every morning. You'll be amazed at what you can retain!

   Be The Goal and Brainwashing Yourself
   You can visualize what you want and you have written it down, but all this will be wasted if you don't act it out. This will feel awkward and your old self-image will attempt to fight back. I'm sure we have all felt this in some way or another. Something new will scare you and you reel back from it.

   Lie to yourself, say how good you feel or how great you're looking. You need to be consistent, tell yourself every hour of every day. Remember what I mentioned about layering the new image over the old one? You need to be consistent. Consistency and repetition builds a routine, once the routine is solidly engraved in your mind, it will be taken in by your subconcious as a new input. Which subversively produces the output in attitude and behaviour.

   Some of my friends have asked me, "Arn't you just lying to yourself? How would that make you feel good when you don't look it?" Let us look upon this proverb spoken by Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid 2, "Lies become truth when everyone believes it." Even if you don't look like it, by constantly telling yourself you look and feel great, your mind begins to believe it and soon it will erase the old self image and replace it with the new one.

   However, take note that you say this only to yourself, saying it to others will make you appear to be obnoxious heh.

   Most importantly, do not listen to those who think your new diet or you going to gym is ridiculous. Pay not heed to negative people because if you do, it will affect you more. Get in with a group who are positive. But as I have reiterated many times, your own subconcious is controllable only by you. What's important is you always need to give yourself positive reinforcement. And when someone else gives you positive reinforcement, you smile and say thank you. Never ever reply in modesty because your subconcious will take it as you don't need others. Although to jump start your mentality changes you need to get the ball rolling on your own, you will require positive reinforcements from others whenever you feel your old self image haunting you.

   There you have it, but before I leave you, I shall disseminate some quotes I have gathered, stored, burnt into my subconcious and the essence of my drive. And yes, some of these were directed to me.

   "If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." - Unknown Popular Saying

   "Control your subconcious and not the other way round. If you let it control you, you'll only have misery." - Michael

   "Life is simple, people make it complicated." - Michael

   "If you fail, bear in mind your mistakes and try again. The only true failure is not adjusting and not wanting to try." - Michael

   "It doesn't matter what others think of you, as long as you think highly of yourself and be happy, fuck the rest." - Spider

   "If you think you're fat. You WILL be fat! The subconcious is a powerful tool, you are what you think." - Spider

   "You're not fat because it's genetics, you're fat because you're too damn lazy to do anything about it! And quit giving me excuses on why you can't do it." - Spider

   "Think of losing weight like launching a rocket into space. Initially it will take an enourmous amount of time planning, building the rocket and preparing the personnel for take off. Once the rocket launches, there will always be obstacles along the way. If you veer off course, the rocket comes back down to earth and explodes. But if you stick with the plan, there is only one way to go and that is accomplishing the mission." - Spider

   "Losing weight is easy, losing body fat is hard. If I wanted to lose 5kg, I just drink water sparingly, run like crazy with a jacket and don't eat for a day." - Spider

   "There is no failure, only results. If you didn't put on weight or lose it, that is still a result. It means you're maintaining it. That's good isn't it? The only failure is you giving up on a no result." - Mister Rahmad

   "The key to losing weight is not losing weight, and don't even bother about the scales. It's losing body fat, if you cut your eating habits by half, you can lose weight in accordance to the scale. But in actual fact, you're only losing water and protein because your body is eating away your muscle, not fat." - Mister Rahmad

   "Success is determined by you. I can give you all the tips and tricks in the world but if you don't carry it out, you won't accomplish anything." - Mister Rahmad