Wow, that time is upon us. The infamous time of year when I post the titles of all the books I read over the past year. Last year I hyped up’this list to be legendary. But I didn’t come close to reading all the titles I wanted to read, much less get to many of the great books that many of you 180 faithful suggested I stick my nose in. I was tearing up the books through about March. Then I couldn’t be bothered with anything that wasn’t written by Ray Peat. He is still, despite obvious shortcomings in his ability to put all of the pieces?of his knowledge together into something effective and practical, the most interesting living?health and nutrition writer on the face of this earth that I have come across (although Sapolsky is up there, which I also stumbled upon for the first time in 2011 – but interesting perhaps only because Sapolsky’s ideas intersect with Peat’s).
And then we all know what happened next. I decided to step outside of the books and explore the weird, wacky world of RBTI – which, despite my recent silence about it on the site, was overall the most enlightening experience from the standpoint of practical application of dietary change I have ever encountered. I will revisit it soon don’t you?worry. It’s badassedness?never ceases to amaze me. Nor does the simplicity of some of its most basic tenets. It offered up something beyond what can be found in any book. So I certainly don’t have any regrets that what?I?found wasn’t written on a page to be documented in the following list! JT was right! I’did need to get out and get some real world experience.
And I’m of course flipping out over all of the things I hope to explore in 2012 – stretching out to explore the likes of Aubrey?de Grey while loosely?field-testing the health ideas of an anonymous?Native?American?Rapper . Should be interesting!
As always, I have highlighted the most influential books in RED for those who share the sickness with me. And scroll to the end if you would like to hear a few words about how I personally went from hating reading more than watching paint dry to ripping through 50 or more titles per year for 5 straight years. Hint:? It wasn’t through discipline, hard-work, goal-setting, or reward-chasing… and it required no motivation.
The Obesity Myth?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Paul Campos
The Anderson Method??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? William Anderson
The Homocysteine Revolution?????????????????????????????????????????????? Kilmer McCully
Intuitive Eating?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Evelyn Tribole
Nutrition For Women???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Ray Peat
Generative Energy????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Ray Peat
Progesterone in Orthomolecular Medicine???????????????????????????? Ray Peat
From PMS to Menopause?????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Ray Peat
Body By Design???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Kris Gethin
The Hungry Gene?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Ellen Ruppel Shell
PACE????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Al Sears
Fat?So!?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Marilyn Wann?
The Perfect 10 Diet???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Michael Aziz
Weight-Loss Salvation??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Stuart McRobert
The Craggy Hole in My Heart and the Cat Who Fixed It. ??? Geneen Roth
When You Eat at the Refrigerator Pull Up a Chair ?????????????? Geneen Roth
When Food is Love???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Geneen Roth
Riptide????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Barbara Hale-Seubert?
Losing It???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Laura Fraser
The Great Cholesterol Con?????????????????????????????????????????????????Malcolm Kendrick
Mind and Tissue???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Ray Peat?
Deep Nutrition??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Catherine Shanahan
The End of Overeating??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? David Kessler
Grow Young with HGH????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Ronald Klatz
The Solution to the Dangers of Modern Nutrition?????? B.J. Hardick and Kimberly Roberto
Play as if Your Life Depends on It????????????????????????????????????????? Frank Forencich
Exuberant Animal?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Frank Forencich
Change Your Body, Change the World?????????????????????????????????? Frank Forencich?
Psychodietetics??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Emmanuel Cheraskin
The Don’t Go Hungry Diet???????????????????????????????????????????????????? Amanda Sainsbury-Salis
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers???????????????????????????????????????????????? Robert Sapolsky
Choose Life or Death????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Carey Reams
?META Medicine????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Richard Flook
F**K It??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? John Parkin
Soil Fertility and Animal Health???????????????????????????????????????????? William Albrecht
The Health Theory????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Challen Waychoff
Health Guide to Survival ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Salem Kirban
Introduction to the RBTI???????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Challen Waychoff
The Secret is in the Diet????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Challen Waychoff
The Only Health Guide You Will Ever Need?????????????????????????? Challen Waychoff
Choose Life???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Challen Waychoff
RBTI Level I??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Challen Waychoff
RBTI Level II?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Challen Waychoff
RBTI Level III???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Challen Waychoff
CNS Workout????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Pete Sisco
Train Smart???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Pete Sisco
Punished By Rewards???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Alfie Kohn
The 10,000 Year Explosion???????????????????????????????????????????????????? Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending
Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder??????????????????? Samuel Wilson Fussell
Catching Fire????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Richard Wrangham
I was wondering if you were still implementing RBTI in your daily schedule. Are you loosely following it or are you still doing the whole shebang? Thanks for the list, I’ll definitely be checking out Sapolsky. Btw, have you ever checked out Square Foot Gardening (new and improved)? My whole goal this coming spring is to implement that method with high brix gardening using T&J products. This coming week I’ll be trying it out on some indoor wheatgrass.
I’m all about T and J. I think you could grow some amazing stuff with Giannou’s starter kits. As far as RBTI, I’m reluctant to stray too far away from what has worked so well for me. I will not be eating pork, and will generally be avoiding chocolate, nuts, shellfish, tea, and the other minor avoidance foods etc. – but not anally. I have a water distiller and will probably take Min-Col as well. Will occasionally check in with my full set of numbers and will check on my refractometer reading whenever I suspect it’s on the border of being too low.
Hi Matt… Is it any kind of tea?
Haha. I get it. I think. How are you Skye by the way? I wonder if I killed you mistakenly on a daily basis!!!
BEAST. I wish I could read that many books. I always try to then school steps in the way and ruins everything. GOtta find time this year. So far I’m doin well.
“Be more you”
Yes!! Love it. And the vid :)
“JT was right! ”
*gasp* :-O
Hee hee. JT is only right when he hasn’t been around for a while. Then when he returns he is instantly wrong about EVERYTHING!!!
JT is right in getting me to concisely write out my principles and put my blog together !
Thanks for all of the info on the site, you have gotten me out of a 10 year nightmare worrying about food searching for the perfect diet, so thanks for saving me. I have read through the past posts and love chiefs writing and info too so wondered if there was any news on his blog and where to find it.
Happy New Year Matt! Great list. Don’t skip the Don’t Go Hungry Diet. I think you’ll dig it…
Agreed…that was the last book I read (after the Obesity Myth). I thought it aligned well with Matt’s take on re-feeding, etc.
Nice list Matt…you recommened the Obesity Myth to me a month or so ago and I just read it…one of the better books I have read for sure! Glad to see PACE on there…I don’t agree with the diet aspect of that book (low carb, low GI, overeat protein), but the overall theme of the interval-based workouts is good. However, like you pointed out in your MAXercise blog, the intervals are often too long…I now do ~30 second all-out efforts on the bike…definitely can feel it more.
The books I find most influential aren’t necessarily the best. And it doesn’t mean I agree with everything they say. But that something in them really struck a nerve and significantly impacted how I feel about things. Or showed me something about the bigger picture that I hadn’t recognized before. The best book is Malcolm Kendrick’s Great Cholesterol Con. That guy had me laughing hysterically, and he is wise to point out the idiocy behind the status quo on what causes heart disease – while serving up really compelling thoughts on what might actually cause it.
Nice…I’ll add that to my Kinde queue. :)
KINDLE queue I meant
Yes,I read it last year as well. It only took me a few days. Total fun, great humour and good points. Good stuff. :-)
At around 8 minutes, that comment describes ME pretty much exactly :) Novels, movies, can’t remember a thing. Nutrition, exercise physiology, sociology even, it’s like my mind takes a perfect picture that I can recall at will at any time… Was great to hear it described that way too!
Makes for awkward social situations often, since the typical conversation/small talk will revolve around the latest TV reality show, hockey statistics or Apple technology… Ah well!
Happy New Year’s on that note Mattie Boy!!!
Thank you, the video is a FANTASTIC New Year’s gift to your readers. I love that you care that others are living their passions.
I just started The Obesity Myth on your earlier recommendation, thank you!
If you’re looking for new titles, I’m loving Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, all about external cues that tend to dictate how much we eat. One example: a person will eat more M&Ms if there are more colors of the candy in the bowl, even though all the M&Ms taste the same. Odd!
Keep in mind how much you eat at one particular sitting can affect the next.
the body adjust for this sort of thing other wise one extra bite per day would have everybody supersized after a year.
Just because you eat 7 extra skittles today does not mean your body won’t cut back on the extra oreo cookie tomorrow.
Well, mine won’t cut out the Oreo. I’m kinda perverse like that.
His message is that you really won’t notice 200 calories more or less than what you need to maintain your weight, but over a year 200 less might help you lose 10 lbs of fat, which some of us would like. So if you’re aware of food cues that can cause a sort of automatic eating, you can avoid those extra calories, without drastic measures, or cutting out favorite foods, etc.
Yesterday I left a couple bites on my plate, which I don’t usually do, to see if I can break that eating pattern, that the plate should determine how much I eat. (I remember this exercise in Geneen Roth’s Breaking Free from Compulsive Eating, too.). Not that I’ll do this every time, but I think it might be useful to do it sometimes, just to wake myself up a little better to how full or hungry I am.
Hi steph, I can assure you your body is made of primarily the same stuff as everyone else. It works in the same way as everyone else or I would not have the success I have in training and consulting people with weight issues. I definitely would not be eating at a buffet during weight loss if I thought it worked another way.
The plate dictating the amount does play a small role (especially with multiple meals per day ) but it is completely different than grazing on candy and cookies and ” accidentally ” eating 100 calories too many. If your body wants to maintain a fat mass it will eat the 100 calories one way or another. Temporarily dodging it will create hunger at another time. When it is not defending this fat mass , a drop in demands for calories occurs and peole sometimes think that whatever they consciously did worked in reality the fat loss would have happened on it’s own. If your body can’t avoid the extra Oreo it is defending this fat mass. Much of this type of research focuses on the “mechanisms ” ( insulin, eating behavior etc)which end up being a correlation and not a cause but somehow get pawned off as causes.
Chief, but if I’m eating out of anxiety, from an old childhood fear that if I don’t grab that Oreo it will be gone (I had many many siblings), that’s different from a natural fat loss defense, no? I accept that we all start out as natural eaters, and eating more one day, less another evens things out over time, of course.
Hi steph,
Did you ever think maybe the anxiety or fear of an uncertain future in the case of oreo availability IS the fat loss defence. It is simply “understood ” by your conscious mind as directly relating to the
lack of oreos, perhaps having alot of siblings made you perceive an uncertain future with all things in your life including the capacity for your parents to provide the abundance you naturally desire as a sign of a prosperous future that you need not worry about, certainly don’t need to worry enough for excess fat for survival. this includes clothing, shelter, food, love and attention. I have many many siblings too ;) I can relate. In this case, coming to terms with your perception of stressors and the future is the key to making this “calorie meter” work not consciously forcing the meter where you think it should be. Being aware that the last few bites may or may not be truly wanted is a good Idea as long as you are letting the subconscious have the last word. the idea is to not “force feed” or restrict in any way let it fall where it truly wants to. Working on non food related issues is where most of the breakthroughs that are meaningful will happen. Every once in a while I leave some things behind on my plate and quite often I finish 4 of them in a row and have a small snack 40 mins later … like .. hmm the sandwich in my non typing hand that I’m eating at the moment. lol:) It really is like breathing or urinating sweating you are in control only in your own mind eventually you will pee your pants sweat like a pig and gasp for air.
Chief, thank you for this thoughtful reply. You’ve given me some new ideas to chew on. (Much like this pecan toffee in my non-typing hand, only less likely to pull a filling.)
:)
lol your welcome, steph
trying to put all this stuff in my head out there to help people.
glad you didn’t take it as over argumentative.
Another great comment Chiefy. Preaching to the choir here of course. A lot of it just depends on context. Going to a buffet you see some of the most obese people on the planet. Me and Corena went to Ryan’s when I passed through Georgia. Good lawd! Yet we both have noticed a leaning effect from buffet eating, which has been shown to increase calorie consumption – but that was pretty much our meal of the day. The increased calories just allows one to go even longer without food afterward. I envision the obese people at the buffet eating another huge dinner and snacking all night until midnight. And waking up hungry and eating more at 3am. This is how I did on Peat’s program, which involves eating less food more frequently. I think it may have something to do with you training yourself not to be able to store and release glycogen properly between meals, or burn fatty acids for fuel. Whereas going long periods without food conditions the body to do the opposite, and has an appetite suppressing effect allowing one to go who knows how long without feeling uncomfortably hungry.
It’s “good gawd!” not “good lawd!” :)
Matt, I think buffets get a bad rap ( no pun intended) much in the same way i see the fat issue : you are in fat mode so you eat alot. typically people think, you eat alot so you end up fat. I think buffets attract already fat people and it’s not the concept of eating buffet style thats causing people to get fat. The human brain is amazingly capable of finding what it needs the easiest (cheapest) way possible.
I saw alot large n in charge peeps at buffets before, I bet georgia was scary.
Yeah, I freaking love stuff like that. I will check it out soon.
We read “Mindless Eating” as part of a book club at my co-op. I personally hated it and the general overall opinion was low. The guy is stuck in his own little field of research. He is completely unaware of the broader picture and suffers from some pretty bad paradigm blindness.
I don’t mind other people’s paradigm blindness. I am pretty immune to stuff like that now and try to see past it for the portion of it that is valuable. And I assume there are some pretty interesting factoids and tidbits in that badboy. Some that I have encountered and thought about before. Some that I haven’t.
Would love to hear your comments on Perfect Health Diet by Jaminet.
OMG Chief your blog is awesome. I mean come on, a KRS-One reference within the first twenty seconds of scrolling. Also, you and Matt are clearly twins beneath the skin at choosing stupid blog art. Can’t wait to see the meat and potatoes of your principals up there.
Thanks Jenny, I was trying to make it awesomer…
you wanna know how much of a twin? .. last name Stone … last name Rock
in his guest post on zentofitness
http://zentofitness.com/scienceitis/ look at the link for fukitol … out of all the fukitols in cyberspace he chose the one from my blog …that I made from scratch in photoshop ( i thought the other ones were corny looking )
Just like Devito and Schwarzenegger!
lol I wish i could lift a car …
I want more of this!
Have you ever considered writing more (either on this blog or a new one) about the whole “do what you love / lifestyle design / internet entrepreneur / blogger / writer” topic?
Yes, it’s true that there are already many popular blogs out there on the subject. But here’s the thing: most of the people who make a living as a blogger run blogs about making a living as a blogger. The most profitable blogs are about creating a profitable blog.
Which is probably because the most profitable information is information people believe they can profit from.
But the fact that you have a niche blog/business in a non-tech/blog/writing/GTD topic does give you a unique perspective.
I’d like to know more about lessons you’ve learned in the process of getting to where you are today with this blog.
In fact, it might be a turn-off for your some of readers / clients, but I’d like to know all sorts of things that are none of my goddamn business: like how much money you make from 180DH, what your expenses are, what your most successful products / services are, if this is your main source of income or if you have other jobs / sources of income, and anything you’ve learned about balancing the money / passion aspect of what you do.
Anyway, just a thought …
I’m just phasing into helping some personal friends to get some things going. I think if I can help these people to succeed I will definitely be confident enough and ready to create a roadmap for others. I think what it takes more than anything else is just having someone like myself who has gone through it. From my vantage point, it’s so easy to do. In fact, I went about doing it in just about the dumbest and least efficient way possible – making all kinds of mistakes that I will be able to keep others from making. I hope. One thing I can say, is that if you do it to make money, you probably won’t make money.
“…if you do it to make money, you probably won’t make money.”
I cannot agree more. Also, it tends to turn something you love into “nothing special” or even worse a “job” (gasp!) and you stop waking up excited to start each day.
I’d recommend Phil Campbell’s book “Ready, Set, Go!” as good companion book to “PACE” by Al Sears.
I would love to read that one. Campbell’s training is much better than Sears, even though Sears has a great grasp of the fundamentals.
Hey Matt,
Off Topic but I just listened to Talk of the Nation on NPR and they were talking about how difficult it is for people that lose weight to keep it off. How the body backlashes and there’s all these hormonal changes so that 300 reduced to 200 burns fewer calories and requires more exercise than naturally 200. Of course they chalked this up to evolutionary adaptation and how our environment provides more food. Nothing about how dieting is promoting a famine response. Just the usual fallacies and blatantly incorrect information. Reminds me of why I’m here.
And reminds me of why NPR is something I consider to be what people who think they are smart, but really aren’t, listen to when they wake up in the morning! It seems like everyone who listens to NPR thinks that they are getting the “real news.”
One of the things that made me stop paying attention to news in the past was seeing what they reported on when it came to health and nutrition. This was the only area that I was really well-versed in enough to see what bullshit it was. That which I wasn’t educated about seemed believable. To me that was scary – that I could believe, buy into, and take interest in the things which I didn’t know much about – and be totally appalled at what I was educated about.
Hey Matt, as long as we’re not on the subject (continuing with the off-topic topic above), have you noticed that weight loss on RBTI feels different? Like the weight is not going to come back? It feels that way to me. It feels like each day is a mini diet cycle in itself. The evening meal feels a little “diety”, and you go to bed just a tiny bit hungry. You wake up the next morning and fill yourself up with some nice warm carbs and your body starts to feel secure again. Then
at lunchtime ?your body says, “I’m going to eat whatever I want and as much as I can hold!” Your body is one happy puppy! Then, that evening, the cycle begins again.
Because of this, if I ever decide to give up on “RBTI ?Lite”, which seems highly unlikely at this point, I have a feeling there will not any backlash or weight gain when I stop. I don’t have that inner voice speaking to me that I normally hear with any type of weight-loss, constantly saying to me, “You owe me, “BIG TIME!” For the first time ever, thanks to you, I seem to have found a way of eating that makes both my mind and body perfectly content while enabling me to lose weight slowly but steadily!
On RBTI you seem to get less and less hungry and more and more in the flow of the eating schedule. And metabolism doesn’t seem to slide if you really do go apeshit at lunch time. I don’t feel like any weight is coming back. I did manage to put a few on over the holidays as I ate literally 200 cookies I think in one week, and was eating way off the RBTI schedule. But it is already pretty much gone after less than a week of my normal routine.
And reminds me of why NPR is something I consider to be what people who think they are smart, but really aren’t, listen to when they wake up in the morning! It seems like everyone who listens to NPR thinks that they are getting the ?real news.
Best comment ever.
I try.
NPR lost me at “driveway moments.”
Happy New Year–and yes to “be more you!” I think that probably underpins the whole diet-as-way-of-life and balance issue. “Being more me” may be writing a book on how to eat as little as possible and still thrive, for all we know!
Great list of books. I blogged “Catching Fire” almost to death a couple years ago–glad you tok it in. And seeing your list was like a recap of the year’s posts for me too. Definitely some I’d like to go back on and squeeze in. I can read nutrition books way faster than novels or literature…
On that NPR thing, and there was something in the NYT recently too, I think it’s fascinating how you’ve been talking about this for ages, and suddenly it’s like this huge discovery…
What a nice surprise to get the Google alert telling me you put my book at the (near) top of your reading list! Thank you, Matt Stone. Next to losing 140 pounds and solving my 25-year obesity problem for good, I think writing that book is my best work.
Bill Anderson, LMHC,
Author of ‘The Anderson Method’
Thanks Bill. A dietician in Sarasota had me read your book. I live on Beach Rd. at Siesta Key. I doubt I will see you at any of the buffets I frequent! Haha!
Siesta Key, eh? Small world.
You are so right, you’ll never see me at a buffet. Even after 27 years of maintining my healthy behavior and weight, I am still very reliant upon my behavioral strategies. I still don’t do well at buffets — do and feel much better by avoiding them.
Oh, PS–seriously you’re reading Aubrey deGray? I.e. you’re looking into Calorie Restriction for longevity? I thought you didn’t think that was a good way to go…
Hi Matt,
I just finished reading the Edge Effect by Eric Braverman. Have you read it? He is an MD, and studied in the brain center at Harvard, and also studied natural medicine a good bit. The book is his attempt to correlate all 3 of his passions into a comprehensive program to facilitate healing (through food/supplements/meds) with the main focus being to restore neurotransmitter levels. There are two ‘tests’ (T/F) included in the book. The first indicates your ‘nature’, or your unique ratio of neurotransmitter levels. There is a lot about memory, sexuality, desire for adventure, etc. The second test determines which neurotransmitters you’re deficient in. According to Braverman, they each have a unique ‘signature’ in how the mind/body/hormone levels respond to a deficiency. His premise is that you can fix the deficiencies with foods/supplements, and restore health.
Very fascinating!
Hopefully I’ll check it out sometime. Always love to hear what other people found interesting. I don’t want to have any blindspots, and much of that sounds new to me.
I forgot to add…the reason that I think you’d really like this book is because avoiding certain foods is blocking your body from the raw materials that create the neurotransmitters…I’d expect that fad dieting is going to cause mental and physical issues that align with the deficiencies that he discusses.
So before I buy your book I wanted to ask if I can do your program and still eat a low fat diet (not a low calorie one) I am a former weston pricer who was saved from malnutrition by a really low fat high carb diet , your blog really made me able to try something new “so thanks” but right now I just can not go back to “drinking oil” so is your program safe for someone like me?
Yeah. You will see that I don’t advocate consuming much oil. And carbohydrates should be the emphasis, as long as you don’t get too carried away. I recommend staying away from most WAPFy things like excess butter, cream, meat, coconut oil, nuts and seeds, etc. Carbs rule!
Matt, could you edit the post and highlight which books you think we’re total garbage and maybe a blurb why, or which books were overpriced for the material.
thanks!
Most were garbage. If you have any questions about one in particular let me know and I’ll give it the yay or nay in the comments. I should really go around trolling Amazon writing book reviews for the 300 books I’ve read.
nah, then you’d be like Jimmy Moore, who supposedly from the looks of his amazon profile has read a ton of books but can’t get over the low carb phase yet.
you’d have to be one oof the first people to review a book to have enough exposure to make it worth your time
Well crush all my hopes and dreams why don’t you Danimal! And what IF I wanna be like Jimmy Moore! That’s my choice!
Anderson is exited to be at the top, didn’t read the post and notice he was NOT in red lol
Anderson eats 900 calories per day. I was going to egg him on making him of him and seeing how long it would take him to figure out he was being ridiculed. But didn’t have the heart. The guy is already punishing himself enough as it is.
I’ll have to send him a link to my buffet adventure blog seriers
is there a reason why i haven’t seen The Great Cholesterol Con by Colpo on your lists but his other works?
I have it on my computer but I haven’t read it. I hate reading ebooks lol!
nooks and kindles replace so many heavy books,
plus the touch version takes highlights and notes very easily!
colpo’s magnum opus is only $10 online now for anyone who hasn’t read it yet!
Anybody interested in purchasing Challen Waychoff teaching materials? I have his Level II and III DVD Study courses and his Level IV “The Rules”. He sells the 3 for $335.00 on his website; I will sell for $190.00.
I read quite a few of these over the last 12 months (others I have on the book shelf waiting to be read), and I personally found ‘Perfect 10 Diet’ to be a great reference book in terms of the info on hormones …. its fantastic to have on hand.
Hey Matt,
I thought this video was awesome.It really made me stop and think about myself. For years I’ve wanted very much to get back to being fit etc. and just never could seem to swing it. In fact I was JUST thinking this over in detail last night, and figured out that all my successes at doing really hard things, were because someone (like a coach or teacher) really believed and expected me to be able to do it and do it well. And it worked!
However, that was when I was a teenager, and I find now that the things that excited me then, really aren’t the same as now. I may still dabble in some of the things I used to do, like play musical instruments, but overall everything has changed. I have been married for about 11 years and have 4 daughters to care for, so my life is devoted to that mostly. Concerning exercise, I know that deep down I do really like playing sports (on the volleyball team and track team all thru highschool) but I dislike doing exercise just to do it, which is about the only option for me. I enjoy the feeling of being strong and fit, so I guess that’s the same.
What I’m saying is, the exercise got moved to the very bottom of priorities, or rather, off the list entirely, but I want it to be more a part of me again. I just have to figure out how to get more interested and excited about it. How do you get a previous passion back into your life again? Or do you at all?
I’ll be thinking deeply about this….thanks for the idea!
Taking care of 4 daughers instead of working out? You should be ashamed of yourself!!!
I would write 2 lists…
1st list – What you have most abundantly in your life
So for you that might be Parenting, Religion, Family (something like that)
2nd list – What is most lacking in your life…
That might be physical activity, romance, relationship, travel (something like that)
Then you look at those two lists and decide if items high up on list 1 are something you would trade for bumping up something on list 2 in its place.
At the very least you come away from the exercise feeling like you are totally cool with your life the way it is. And you see that you have what’s most important to you and you wouldn’t be willing to trade that for time spent at a gym, or even playing volleyball.
Or you really decide then and there to make a consious choice to change your heirarchy of priorities.
The most important thing is that you either love the life you live or live the life you love. And this exercise helps with that tremendously.
Great call on Punished By Rewards, Matt. I’m half-finished with it and am blown away.
Sweet. It does give you a new way of looking at the world. My thinking is forever influenced by having read it. It was the kind of stuff that lasts and makes you really look at different stimuli and their likely outcomes from a psychological/motivation standpoint.
Thanks for all this new info. I have just discovered your site and signed up. I put in the password and it did not work. Did you change it? I would love to get the start up kit. I want to learn more about increasing my metabolism. I have low thyroid and have been eating low-carb. I would like your recommendation of the first book I should read.
wow. great video at the end there. smart guy!
Having read this I believed it was extremely informative.
I appreciate you spending some time and energy
to put this article together. I once again find myself spending way too much time both reading and leaving
comments. But so what, it was still worth it!