There should be better results by now!

Do you look in the mirror and say, “There should be better results by now?”

Have you ever said this?

I have. I have been losing weight and healing myself for about 9 years with the last 4.5 years of serious research and training. But from time to time I look at myself in the mirror and wonder if I have made any gains at all.

“Boo hoo.” I say, making fun of me.

I was really fat. So fat that I once smashed a toilet into millions of shards of porcelain glass. That was my last indication that I needed to take care of this problem.

But all fat jokes aside, you don’t ever think about how much internal fat you have built up in the first place.

As a thin lad of 15, (at this age I lost 150 lbs from 8th grade to 9th and started my high school with a 34 waist-but my bone density from carrying all that weight over the years made me still 150-160 lbs), I was able to lose weight quickly due to my age and increased metabolism from daily exercise. I could recover quickly.

As an adult weighing 428 lbs, the road back would take as long as the road was to get there. It took 10 years of power-lifting, over-eating, bad eating, sedentary living and drinking to fuck up this bad. How long have you been at it?

Now take that number and multiply it by 125% because the road back is full of fun roadblocks which I will share over time on my own or by request.

I have a 44-46 waist at the moment, down from the 60 I had 9 years ago. I have a couple more years to my goals and then a lifetime to keep up what I am doing.

I see myself as doing really great but still fat, and in truth I am, even though my blood pressure is perfect, my sleep patterns are great 7-8 hrs per night, my exercise is balanced to confuse my body but to heal it as well, and I am more randy than ever.

TMI?

Well, I think a lot of you would like to know that any problems in that department go away when you get into better shape.

So even though I still appear fat, how is it that I am stronger, clearer thinking, and can heal myself from most common ailments quickly and not feel weak?

I am in great shape within.

Fat that was around my organs, plaque in my bloodstream, crap in my lungs and any dysfunctions in digestion, prostate, and urinary end to end are gone or practically so.

How?

I didn’t find out how until I ran into roadblock after roadblock.  I finally realized it all had to do with the food I ate, the type and quantity of liquids I took in, and the kind of exercise that heals and strengthens.

You can go on the biggest loser diet, following online, and lose a considerable amount of weight-but for the first month you are losing a ton of water weight that your body has been holding on to. You are also losing muscle weight. Yes-you large human being, you have muscles that are necessary to carry all that weight around. During all that activity your muscles are shrinking faster than your fat if you are not eating enough to maintain the weight you are now, minus 10-15%.

According to Everyday Health , to maintain the weight I am, knowing I work out 7 days per week (internal exercises allow this without over-training), I must eat 3,229 calories per day. To lose one pound a week (any more is a fluke, muscle, water-or all three), I need to reduce that intake to 2,929. This food must be high quality; real, not processed, with no chemicals or fillers.

Now, you may have been on 2,000 and 2,500 calorie standard diets and found out that you hit a plateau and then began to gain weight-perhaps gaining more than you were before.
Do you know why?

Your body thinks it’s starving. It’s a built in condition in your body that you cannot change. And guess what? When your body thinks it is starving, it begins to hold in your belly and ass every ounce of fat and accumulate even more.

Why do gyms have diets contrary to this?

Because they want you to see instant results. And those instant results are more harmful to you than you can ever imagine. It can take a while to get a really fat body convinced it isn't starving because you don’t believe it.

The only times our ancestors, pre-1800s and as far back as ‘yore’, got fat is when they were rich or when they had no food. That way, like a camel, you started saving up stores.
Okay so you get the point but are you willing to believe it?

That’s up to you. I still have problems with what foods are doing what and finally realize that wheat and pasta’s are screwing me up. So no more.

This is trial and error. It’s a journey you have to undertake in order to be truly healthy.

So we are back to what we see in the mirror. It may not be there yet or you may have not even begun.
For me, I have come a long way. I am in constant success mode because at this point I make subtle changes in routines and eating that appear over time, but I am not there yet.

My practice in the Tao has begun its 25th week as of this posting. I practice using the learning materials from Dr. Stephen Chang who holds medical degrees in Western and Eastern medical boards. I also have read and listened to the religious aspects of the Tao from Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching. Taoism as a religion for me came after the training. It helped reinforce my Christian values. So you could say I am a Taoist Christian. If you knew you would understand. To understand you need to read and practice.

Anyone just starting internal exercises should realize you must crawl before you walk. There are tons of amazing videos of people using their energies for show and demonstration on YouTube. Be careful, though, you can truly screw up your body and your mind trying out these routines without knowing the origin of all internal exercises; the Tao.

Most westerners do not have the patience for this kind of practice, or believe it will work, so if you don’t think you can perform 30-60 minutes of easy routines every morning, then don’t read further. It’s pressure points and rubbing all over your body to wake up your circulation in every internal organ. The importance of each routine becomes known in practice. Sometimes you are able to go through it all quickly and then other times you hit the right groove and you breathe and meditate for long periods of time. There is great healing and love in the emptiness.

Did I say emptiness?

Yes, but think of it as having an empty brain; empty of all confusion, tasks, worries, concerns, anxiety, etc.

My practice in just 25 short weeks has given me the ability to empty my brain of what Taoist call the 10,000 things. This one ability alone is worth it’s weight in gold.

You know the saying that every day is new-free of all worries and problems. Yeah, except what you drag into it by just thinking about the day before.

All that crap you bring with you are the 10,000 things that you cannot control.

You can learn, with practice, to let go of the 10,000 things and empty your mind.

For me, I have reduced symptoms of colds and sore throats to a minimum with my knowledge of herbs, energy and healing foods, and my routines as well as emptying my mind.

I also work out every afternoon. Sometimes it is a simple set of postures to erase the cobwebs of the day. Before Taoism, I needed to cardio 20-30 minutes, 5 days a week to do this. Some of my sessions in the afternoon are Taoist, chi gong or pa-kua routines. Again, I will explain more in detail over time-or please ask me questions on a topic so I write about it sooner.

I do not know a lot of the answers, but you will, once you learn how to empty your brain and ask the questions you want or need of yourself.

Do I do any external or strenuous exercise?

Well chi gong and pa-kua can make you sweat and really make your internal organs and muscles strong, I think you mean like weight lifting and cardiovascular.
Yes, two days per week I do Peak 8 performance. this is something I picked up on www.mercola.com . This is my source of muscle confusion and is really great for my heart. I also lift dumbbells twice a week for my chest, shoulders and back. My legs are so worked out by my other routines that I don’t need to do anything else for them.
I will sometimes stop the hard exercises when I can feel my body not recovering properly and wait a few extra days to recover.
When you are older, over-training is so easy to do.

Bill, you are fat-how can you over train?

It doesn’t seem possible but when you are over 40, inactive, and want to really start training, your body rebels and wants to keep the status quo. Oh sure, you can push through it, but how many guys do you see in the gym in great shape complaining of rotator cuff, knee, or back injuries with the same stupid motto, “no pain, no gain.”
Wrong idea.

Your body can accept hard training but you need to crawl again. The Taoists accept that you want to train hard, but you should never do external exercise without the internal so you can recover faster and not strain your organs. That 225 lbs against your chest may feel good but you are impacting an area where your spleen, pancreas, and liver touch. If they are not strong and you start training hard, you are going to be sick or sore for a long time.

Wow have I really gone on for this long?

I hope this has been helpful and I would love to hear your ideas in your comments, and be sure to link to your sites as well. Spam will be deleted, help is always welcome.

Namaste!