Twenty Two Years – One Step at a Time

September 21, 2016 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

In September 1993, the thing for men was silk long-sleeve shirts hiked to the elbow, and bold, brightly colored ties.

Radio stations played The River of Dreams by Billy Joel, Runaway Train by Soul Asylum, and Reason to Believe by Rod Stewart. True Romance, A Bronx Tale and The Joy Luck Club flickered on movie screens. Television’s offerings included Murphy Brown, Roseanne, and Seinfeld. The Internet – as we know it now – didn’t exist. Email was in its infancy (but I’m sure there was spam). Our president was Bill Clinton with Tom Foley as the Speaker of the House. Finally, news stories included PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shaking hands; and the continued legal fallout from the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco.

The biggest news story in my world was my 39th birthday on September 28 and that my life was careening out of control.

I suffered from severe back and chest pains; my finances were a mess; my marriage was hanging by a thread — and I topped the scales at 250 pounds. Taking self-inventory, I came to the shocking realization that what was in common among all these difficulties was me; I had become my own enemy.

From past experience, I knew that my canary in the coalmine was my eating.

When I got that under control, everything else fell in place. But if you added up all the weight I had lost (and then regained) over the course of my not-quite-forty-years, I’m sure it would have been in the thousands. I had even helped others lose weight. Yet, I always regained it, reverted to old habits over time.

Defeated, overwhelmed, and hopeless – but seeing no alternatives — I opted to try “one last time,” promising myself that by September 28, 1994, I’d be “fit, fun, and fiscally sound.”

It was that despair that led me to action. I went to a meeting; I reached out.

A small step, yes, but still it was movement. When I entered the room, I wanted to fall through a hole in the floor. It took every ounce of will I could muster to prevent from turning and running to the nearest bakery.

Yet I stayed; one more small step.

[Read more…]

Placing the Control Within

March 19, 2014 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

Some time ago, I postulated that the locus of control for our lives is internal.

That might sound high fallutin’ and all, but it’s pretty simple; my take was that as long as we put control over what happens to us “out there” rather than squarely within, nothing will ever change. We will remain where we are in our development.

I state that without judgment, just pointing out a fact.

For example, it may be true that Aunt Margaret is pushing the deep-dish lasagna she made “just for you” like a pasta addict enabler. Equally true is she gets offended when you turn it down, and saying “no” to her home cooking causes a family rift. It might also be accurate that your husband is unsupportive when he sits next to you munching obliviously away on your favorite flavor of potato chips, while you’re stuck in a funk with celery sticks and carrots. Yes, you’ve told him a thousand times that you’d like him to not do that, and yes, you’re right, he doesn’t seem to care.

However… (don’t you just hate that word sometimes?) the decision about whether or not to succumb to temptation or pressure – as difficult as it might be – still lies within; nowhere else. In effect, it lives within. As long as we say things like, “She made me…” or “I had no choice…” or “It was too hard…” we are committing to stay put.

I’ve seen Aunt Margaret when she’s ticked off and I don’t blame anyone for avoiding a Hatfield-McCoy blow out. But, whether we’re trying to lose weight, increase our income, or just plain be happier; as long as we allow others to determine our actions, they’re controlling us. It’s understandable that sometimes the “social price” we have to pay to follow our path doesn’t justify the return. Again, I’m not placing value; been there, done that; I’m just analyzing.

So what prompted this rehash of a previous topic?

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Pocket Motivation: The 5 Best Weight Loss Apps

March 18, 2014 by Featured Author Leave a Comment

Now that you’re addicted, ahem, acclimated to your smartphone, you’ve undoubtedly started downloading a multitude of apps. Glorious, glorious apps! And studies have shown that keeping track of your food intake is one of the easiest ways to achieve your weight loss goals, and what’s easier than using a device you already keep on you 24/7? But, as you’ve undoubtedly also heard, it’s just an important to stay active. Staying healthy or losing weight is hard work, so here are five of the best apps for exercise, healthy eating and weight management.

1. Lose it!

By inputting both your current weight and goal weight, the app calculates an estimated number of calories to eat per day and helps you stay committed to small healthy habits that lead to big results. Finding and logging said foods is also as easy as scanning bar codes to pull nutritional information from a massive food database. This nifty feature helps you stay accurate when grabbing snacks on the go. [Read more…]

What Are You Saying to YOU?

September 16, 2013 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

The words we use to describe ourselves make a difference in what we end up doing.

Think about the words you use to describe what you want.

There are four stages in the process.

I need… (acceptance)

I can… (realization)

I will… (commitment)

I am… (actualization)

For example, if we’re talking about weight loss, one’s self-talk progresses through the three stages like this:

“I need to lose weight.”

“I can lose weight.”

“I will lose weight.”

“I am losing weight.”

Acceptance is usually painful so most people try to avoid it. However, once accepted, the next step is to find support to reinforce that it can be done.

After realization comes commitment. [Read more…]

3 Habits Of Healthy People

February 26, 2013 by MikeTremba Leave a Comment

happy-smiling-sunshine

Has being healthy become synonymous with being unhappy?

Who knows.

What I do know is that there’s no reason working toward physical health should have the nasty side effect of emotional displeasure.

When I first started out on a path toward physical fitness, I made a lot of sacrifices. Some of my favorite things to eat—like fast food, fatty, sugary pastries and expensive, thousand-calorie coffee drinks—and favorite things to do—like sit on the couch all afternoon flipping channels, or sleeping until noon—became relics of my past.

I’ll admit, at first I was pretty miserable. Even after I started seeing results in my physical health and appearance, I couldn’t help but reminisce for the days when I could eat what I wanted, do what I pleased (or just do nothing, since I’m being honest) and sleep as late as I’d like.

But through it all, I somehow snapped out of it. I found ways to turn my healthy life into a happy one, and I want to share my top tips for being happy and healthy.

Before I do, though, it’s important to understand what “being happy” really means.

Happiness is a simple concept that’s difficult to achieve.