To Get In Shape, Take 100% Responsibility

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"You have to take 100% responsibility for your life," teaches Jack Canfield, author of the Chicken Soup series. We understand this to be true for many areas of our lives, but many of us neglect this for our physical fitness.

If your finances are not where you want it to be, those who are financially successful know that you can only turn things around by first taking 100% responsibility. You can think (incorrectly) that everyone who is financially successful are trust fund babies or just plain lucky. But you will never become financially successful if you think that way. If you are a student and your grades are not where you want them to be, the academically successful students will tell you that you have to take 100% responsibility and figure out how to improve your study habits, time management, and brain power.

I think everyone who has the most basic common sense is with me so far. However, the same concept also applies to your physical state. Are you not as skinny as you like? Are you not as muscular as you like? Are you not as fast or agile as you like? If your physical fitness is not where you want it to be, you must begin with taking 100% responsibility for you physical state. You will never turn things around if you think - I'm overweight only because of my bad genes and there's nothing I can do to change that. You will never turn things around if you think - I am overweight because my husband/my wife/my sister/my brother/my mother/my father tempts me with all these unhealthy foods and snacks. Many people start with the belief (conscious or subconscious) that they are not in control. Therefore, they doom themselves to fail from the beginning.

At my side job at the college (where I spend part of my time working with students in English and Health linked classes ), one of my overweight colleagues there once said to me, "I am jealous of you. You could eat anything and not gain weight." Annie (not her real name of course) neglects to observe the difference in our eating habits. Although I've only known her for two years, I do notice differences such as my drinking of black coffee without adding any sugar, cream, or anything. She adds lots of sugar and cream to her coffee. I usually eat whole grain and high fiber snacks throughout the day. She eats more unhealthy foods. Annie chooses (probably subconsciously) to ignore these differences in habits, because it's easier to think that she is overweight only because of her genes, and I am slim because I am "lucky".

As Annie doesn't really know me at a personal level, she doesn't see me when I am at the gym two to four times per week. Although other colleagues know this, Annie chooses not to remember this about me. It's easier for her to think that I am in shape because I am "lucky".

Again, Annie only has only known me for two years. She didn't know me eight years ago when I was almost 20 pounds heavier and had approximately 10% more body fat than I do now. I also had less lean muscle because of a more sedentary lifestyle working comfortably at a research lab and living comfortably in suburban California where I drove everywhere, rarely having to take more than twenty steps. It doesn't help that the men in my family (such as my father) generally start to balloon up, or gain significant weight, in their thirties. That's the trend with the men in my family, but I started to "balloon up" in my mid-twenties probably because of the suburban lifestyle factor (until I consciously decided to turn things around).

Annie also didn't know me when I began to turn things around in 2002 by improving my eating habits and exercising habits. I was working out at the fitness center twice a week in addition to practicing San Shou (combination of kickboxing, wrestling, and Judo throws) twice a week. On top of that, I bought a bicycle and I began to bike everywhere I can, instead of driving. If Annie's thinking is right, I guess all these activities have nothing to do with me getting in shape. According to her, I am in shape because of "luck" and genes.

Annie also didn't know me in 2004 when I could not exercise for ten months because of having 5 surgeries spread out over almost a year. I couldn't exercise after each surgery. Before I would completely recover, I am back in the surgery room. Naturally, I got fatter. I guess I was "lucky" to be thrown off track during that year. If Annie's right, I was "lucky" to have to restart my fitness efforts all over again after that miserable year.

The advantages that Annie thinks I have are erroneous. However, I do have some advantages that Annie did not speak of. I have the advantage of being more knowledgeable than most in nutrition, fitness, and health. More importantly, I have the advantage of having a good understanding of the spirit, mind, and body connection. However, these advantages all result from conscious choices, right thinking, effort, learning, and gradual progress over time.

In order to obtain your desired physically fit state, the first step is to take 100% responsibility. Don't blame your genes. Don't blame your environment. Don't blame your mother. Don't blame your partner. Even if some of these factors may have contributed to the extra ten inches around your waist, thinking that way will only hinder you. Only when you stop blaming outwardly (looking out the window) and start to seek changes from within (looking in the mirror) will you have any chance of getting fit, slim, muscular, or whatever body type you want to be. This is true for fitness as well as other areas of your life.

Copyright: © 2009. This document is the sole property of Amadeo Constanzo. You may use this article for free on your web site, blog, or other publication if and only if you include this entire copyright notice including the following links and statement. Other free teachings from Amadeo Constanzo can be found at SpirFit.com and SpirFit.org

Shu Chan 陳樹中 Terence Chan LIU

Importance of Spirituality in Physical Fitness and Health

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More and more doctors and health scientists are realizing the importance of spirituality in optimizing your health and fitness. Are you someone who wants to be more fit and healthy but you have trouble sticking to your fitness goals? If so, chances are – you lack the level of spirituality (and/or mental strategies) to endure and stick to your fitness goals.

I often spoke in my seminars about my previous mentors or professors who were prominent researchers in nutrition science and exercise science. However, they are not particularly in shape. This observation was one of the contributors to my realization that knowledge in nutrition, exercise, and health is not enough. Although it is important to have reliable science-based information, we need more than this. One of the things that we need more of is building up our spirituality.

In HPE 12 (a health class required for all undergraduate students at the city college where I tutor and teach workshops), the spiritual component is included in the textbook. My point being - the importance of spirituality in obtaining optimal physical fitness and health is now “textbook knowledge”.

What is spirituality? I view spirituality as becoming more connected to God. I’ve heard some teachers of “universal spirituality” define spirituality as knowing yourself or getting in touch with that which is within you. This is only partially true. If you become more connected to God, you will become more connected with that which is within you (placed in you by God when He created humans). However, just "getting in touch with your inner self" without knowing God does not maximize your level of spirituality. Therefore, it is best to focus on connecting to God in order to become “spiritually fit”. This will in turn improve your physical health and fitness.

It also works the other way around. The more physically fit you are, the more easily you will be able to obtain your desired level of spirituality. More about this in future blogs.

More SpirFit lessons like this can be found at - http://spirfit.org/Academy/#fitness

Copyright: © 2009. This document is the sole property of Amadeo Constanzo. You may use this article for free on your web site, blog, or other publication if and only if you include this entire copyright notice including the following links and statement. Other free teachings from Amadeo Constanzo can be found at  SpirFit.org

Shu Chan 陳樹中 Terence Chan LIU

Forgive to Heal

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I think most of us understands the importance of forgiveness in healing - physical healing literally. We've learned this from experience and from many spiritual teachers.

Here's a lesson on "How Do I Forgive":

http://life.SpirFit.com/2010/03/how-do-i-forgive.html


Copyright: © 2010. This document is the sole property of Amadeo Constanzo. You may use this article for free on your web site, blog, or other publication if and only if you include this entire copyright notice including the following links and statement. Other free teachings from Amadeo Constanzo can be found at SpirFit.com and SpirFit.org

Shu Chan 陳樹中 Terence Chan LIU

Daylight Savings Time This Sunday

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Daylight savings time. Move your clocks forward 1 hour this Sunday morning, March 14th, 2010 (for those of you in eastern and western U.S.)

Copyright: © 2010. This document is the sole property of Amadeo Constanzo. You may use this article for free on your web site, blog, or other publication if and only if you include this entire copyright notice including the following links and statement. Other free teachings from Amadeo Constanzo can be found at SpirFit.com and SpirFit.org

Shu Chan 陳樹中 Terence Chan LIU

Uniting All Fitness-Minded Christians on Facebook

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I think one of the most understated or under-taught lessons from the Bible is that of maintaining the body (or temple) to be fit and healthy. It is sad and painful for everyone in a church when a pastor dies of a heart attack or a parishioner becomes paralyzed from a stroke. There is substantial scientific evidence that the chances for such diseases are much reduced with a fit and healthy life. (Another “side” benefit to a fit and healthy life is looking better and feeling better.)

I’ve been to many churches and usually can’t find more than two Christians in any one church who truly understands the importance of maintaining the fitness of one’s physical body (temple). Fortunately, we can unite all the fitness-oriented Christians from different churches since we live in the age of new social media and web 2.0 (which includes tools like Facebook). If God is willing, I hope we can spread this way of life in maintaining our bodies.

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” - 1 Corinthians 3:16 – 17

If you would like to take one step toward becoming a fitter you, I encourage you to join the Facebook group, Christians into Fitness, at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2373072738&gid=278144013879 We all know the effectiveness of joining in numbers, especially in the Lord. (Ecclesiastes 4:9)

“No branch can bear fruit by itself” John 15:4

This is also true for a Christian trying to lose weight or get fit. To bear fruit in this area of one's life, we need to unite all the fitness-minded Christians together (at least on Facebook first). Together, we can make a difference in all the different churches we belong to. If you understand, are encouraged, or are inspired by this, please join my group, Christians into Fitness at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2373072738&gid=278144013879

Copyright: © 2010. This document is the sole property of Amadeo Constanzo. You may use this article for free on your web site, blog, or other publication if and only if you include this entire copyright notice including the following links and statement. Other free teachings from Amadeo Constanzo can be found at SpirFit.com and SpirFit.org

Shu Chan 陳樹中 Terence Chan LIU

Are Brains of Boys Different From Girls

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According to a recent book Pink Brain, Blue Brain by Lise Eliot (a psychology professor), the differences in brains of boys and girls are slight. However, there undoubtedly is noticeable difference between boys and girls later on. Boys later on tend to be better in areas like math while girls tend to be better at other areas. This is probably due to the fact that we tend to repeatedly do things we are better at. This results in continual improvement in that area. Therefore, a bigger performance gap between the sexes in that particular area manifests.

A. Scott Henderson, an Education professor who reviewed Eliot’s book for Science, generally agrees with Eliot.


References

Henderson, A. S. Unsexing the Brain. Science. 327:414 (January 21, 2010)

Eliot, Lise. Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps, and What We Can Do About It. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, 2009)


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Copyright: © 2010. This document is the sole property of Amadeo Constanzo. You may use this article for free on your web site, blog, or other publication if and only if you include this entire copyright notice including the following links and statement. Other free teachings from Amadeo Constanzo can be found at SpirFit.com and SpirFit.org

Shu Chan 陳樹中

Decisions for Medical Treatment - Risks vs. Benefits

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In any decisions for medical treatments, unconventional treatments (such as “alternative” medicine), and even for choosing an exercise program, the two words you must keep in mind are “risks” and “benefits”. For such decisions, one should weigh the potential risks (or damages) against the potential benefits. Another way of look at it is weighing the risk of going with a treatment against the risk of not going with that treatment. Such decisions mean the difference between life and death in some situations.

Although your doctor knows this principle of weighing the potential risks with potential benefits when considering any medical intervention, or treatment, you should not rely on him to make the decision. Instead, you should ask him about the risks and benefits.

Examples of Questions to Ask:

• What are the risks of this surgery? What are the side effects?
• How will this treatment benefit me? What are the chances of this treatment in ridding the condition?

You should ask him such questions so that you can make an informed decision. You should not rely on the doctor to make the decision for you. Although your doctor is more knowledgeable in medicine, he probably does not have the exact same values as you and probably does not have the exact same risk tolerance as you. He may be more conservative than you and less willing to take risks in the quest to get rid of your illness. Or it may be the other way around where you are more conservative and your doctor is more tolerant of risks.

Although you have to keep in mind that you and your doctor most likely have differing risk tolerance levels, you must also humbly recognize that he has the medical knowledge, training, and expertise that you don’t have. The smart and wise patient is not one who acts like a know-it-all with his printouts of medical information (often from unreliable web sites. For a reliable medical information search, simply go to http://spirfit.blogspot.com/2009/07/reliable-health-and-medicine-customized.html). However, the wise patient is also not one who gullibly goes along with whatever the doctor recommends without understanding the risks vs. benefits himself, and weighing in his own risk tolerance and values. You must find the correct balance when making such decisions.

A thirty five year old man was informed by his doctor that he has a hyperactive pituitary gland from an abnormal growth pressing on it. This is probably why this man is a big man. Although the growth is benign, any further growth may consequently result in premature mortality. However, the proposed treatment by the doctor is opening the man’s head to surgically remove the abnormal growth. The risk to this surgery includes brain damage, blindness, and paralysis.

The doctor highly recommended this man to go through with the surgery, without asking the man’s history (such as the history of this man being oversized.) This man has been bigger than his peers since childhood. Therefore, chances are that he had this benign tumor pressing on his pituitary gland since he was a child. However, the doctor neglected to ask about this.

The man went to a few other endocrinologists and neurologists. One of the endocrinologists was actually a long time friend. This endocrinologist told him that he would not have his head opened up for this. Weighing the potential risk of paralysis and other severe disabilities (if he goes through with the surgery) vs. the risk of eventual premature death (which is actually lower considering that he probably had always had this growth since childhood), the man decided against surgery. He is alive and healthier than most people today.

It really depends on your value and how much risks you are willing to accept. If it was me, I would probably come to the same decision as this man (especially when I am more willing to accept the risk of death than the risk of disability.) However, you may not have the same value system as me and my doctors may not have the same risk values as me.

Summarizing simply, learn to weigh the risks and benefits after humbly being informed by doctors and by reliable medical research sources such as http://spirfit.blogspot.com/2009/07/reliable-health-and-medicine-customized.html in order to make the right decisions according to your values and risk tolerance.

Disclaimer: Please consult your doctor before taking any advice from this blog.

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Copyright: © 2009. This document is the sole property of Amadeo Constanzo. You may use this article for free on your web site, blog, or other publication if and only if you include this entire copyright notice including the following links and statement. Other free teachings from Amadeo Constanzo can be found at SpirFit.com and SpirFit.org

Shu Chan 陳樹中 Terence Chan LIU