A Genetic Disposition, or a Personal Responsibility?

Before I write this, let me precursor this by saying how much I love my mom and dad, along with the rest of my family. This is going to be true, honest, and raw – but necessary.   

My whole life I feel I have been fighting the genetic disaster known as obesity.  My dad is about 150 lbs. over weight, my mom not nearly as much, but has fought the battle just as long as me.  If we follow my dad’s family line – my uncle was 500 lbs. when he had quite a bit of his stomach removed along with his hunger gland.  He’s now about the same weight as my dad.  Their family members have died from obesity.  So my whole life, I have known our family is overweight.  I have had this nagging buzz in my head my entire life telling me I can never be thin; I can never have that lifestyle.   My brother and I constantly talk about how we want nothing more than to be back to our healthy weight (both of us have been there at one time).

I bring all this up because for as long as I can remember, weight has always been a joke in my house.  No one really has wanted to face it head on.  No one has ever wanted to take the bull by the horns and do everything by the horns. We laugh that we continue to eat cinnamon rolls, pancakes, and sugary desserts - while others eat much more nutrient-focused foods. My dad now has diabetes, and he often laughs about it as he consumes another glass of fruit juice, or has that next sweet snack.  I know that laughter and joking is his defense mechanism, and as he says, he doesn't want to live his life in limitations.  He has sleep apnea, diabetes, and has little to no energy - all things that could be drastically reduced by losing the weight and living a healthier life.  I wish I could have a heart-to-heart with him (don’t get me wrong, I've tried), and explain to him how much clean eating can really change his energy levels.  He just won’t give up carb-laden foods that give him that instant gratification.   Now let’s back track about 30-35 years – my dad used to be 3% body fat and was on his way to being an Olympic swimmer.  So, that whole thing about genetics, it can’t be true, right?  Every time I leave my parent’s house I’m sad.  Of course I’m sad because I enjoy all the time I can spend with them, but more importantly because I worry about their health and would do anything to get them the nutrition and exercise support they truly need.  It’s just so hard to be a part of that from afar.  It’s even harder to help someone change their life that doesn't want to change.

While at my parent’s house this weekend, I began diving into the book The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy.  When I first started this journey, John told me to check out this book, and it would really help me in this reflective process.  He also told me he really wanted me to do each of the activities involved in the reflective process.  Okay, John – I’m not going to lie, I have been doing the reflective activities, but I haven’t put them on paper.  However, I got through chapter 4 and realized just how important it is for me to actually mentally, verbally, and physically go through this process.  So this week, I am actually back tracking on this whole book, and I’m moving forward.  

While reading this book, I have realized just how much I really do sabotage myself, and I have been using excuses for the last 5 years.  So I got hurt, it wasn't the end of the world – our life isn't about the things that happen to us, it is about how we react.  It is one of the things I tell my students every single day.  When everything hits the fan, it’s how you recover that defines your character.  I haven’t done too well on taking care of my physical self – I let myself go because it was easier to do that than it was to pick myself up off the ground (literally), and put in the work.  I have to begin taking responsibility for my life, every part of my life. I must take responsibility.

So for the next few days, I’ll be sharing my activities, love it if others want to join along – I recommend this book to anyone looking to improve any aspect of their life! This quote has been ringing in my head all weekend, and I am so glad I can use it moving forward.  “If I always took 100 percent responsibility for everything I experienced – completely owning all of my choices and all the ways I responded to whatever happened to me – I held the power.  Everything was up to me.  I was responsible for everything I did, didn't do, or how I responded to what was done to me.”  Ponder that for a bit… it hits hard when working on transforming myself.  Is it really genetics playing its part, or is it my lack of personal responsibility holding me back?  From this point forward, I have to believe it's responsibility.

So, thank you, John Heringer of Fast Action Training.  I really appreciate you urging to me read this book.  It’s definitely already changing my outlook.