Motivational Change -- a Book Review

[lhagemann]

At about the same time I made the decision that I had to get off my lazy butt and do _something_ to lose those extra 20 lbs (sitting-on-the-couch-drinking-beer diet just wasn't working for me) I also happened to pick up the book "Change, or Die" by Alan Deutschman. I _thought_ it was a business book, turned out to be much more. It was very inspiring, with some very powerful stories.

The timing of Deutschman's theories could not  have been better for me. There are many theories, and true stories and psychological discussions surrounding weight loss and healthly living. Pro-tip: Listen to the audio book while doing your workout.

The big take away is how we have to Change our thinking about Change in order to make real, fundamental changes. The "old way", the Three Fs: Facts, Fear, & Force just don't work for most people most of the time. At least not for long-lived, lasting change. We all know the facts about being overweight. Personally, my family has a history of heart disease. These facts didn't prevent me from allowing myself to become overweight and out of shape. Fear of dieing is simply too scary for our minds to handle thinking about rationally for any period of time. Our sub-conscious mind takes over in order to keep us sane. It's a defense mechanism over which we have very little control.

Replace the the Fs with the Three Rs: Relate, Reframe, Repeat. Finding a person, group or training regimine that really relates to/with you is the number one key. Just because you "have to" work out doesn't mean you have to do it with someone that doesn't relate to you. Reframe is again simply changing the way you think about things. Small victories. Set yourself up for quick wins to stay motivated. Repeat: changing habits doesn't happen over night, repeating things is the way they become habit, repeat the good habits, and there is no room for the bad ones.

Has anyone else read Change or Die? Did it speak to you?

[WendyB]

I have not read t but it sounds very interesting. Will go buy it on Amazon now as I like these kind of books:

Thanks!

[gerrymcd]

I've not read it, but it rings a familiar bell.  When I started back into working out regularly the most important thing I did was to schedule workouts.  I filled my calendar well in advance with 'realistic' workout times.  And committed to just 'turning up' --  it didn't matter if I was hungry, tired, not feeling like it, I forced myself to go to the gym as scheduled and do 'something' even if it was just 10 minutes of walking on the treadmill.  Of course the simple act of turning up was a victory in itself.  I was surprised at the number of times I went to the gym - grudgingly - with the intention of doing a minumal workout to fulfil my self imposed requirement and then ended up doing 60 to 90 minutes of hard work.  I guess my subconsious recognised the victory and  pushed me to work harder than I intended.  

Interesting sounding book.