Resistance to Change in Eating Habits is Normal & Will Pass. Hang In There & Do Not Give Up. Be Persistent & Attain Your Goals. Change is Tough, But it CAN Be Done!

When he first came to me, he weighed 350 pounds. At only 5 feet, five inches in height, he was in real trouble. He was dying a slow death at the hands of obesity.

But, oh boy, he was very willing to go the distance. He taught me much about the human heart and serves as a reminder that, while changing eating habits and losing weight is tough, it CAN be done!

When a person has reached their absolute bottom… that place where NOT changing is simply NOT an option… that is the most beautiful place that there is. Even though the initial fasting helped him to lose in excess of 60 pounds, he still had to drop another 120 to get down to a healthy weight. Once the fasting phase was over, the real work began. All he craved was cheeseburgers, pizzas, fat, grease, sugar, dough… you name it.

Now he had to switch and get used to consuming lean meats, protein powder, as well as well as keep sugar and salt to a minimum. In addition, he was VERY resistant to exercise. I probably was cursed out more in one day of working out with him than in all of the years and the dozens of others I have coached. Tim was a heavy-duty case. He was a true food addict to the very max.

But he had willingness. THAT is what I want to emphasize to you in this post. Willingness is what makes the impossible, possible. As long as you remain only ‘somewhat’ willing to do what it takes, you will get nowhere. And, yes, I mean being willing to go through hunger pangs, mood swings and plenty of emotional/physical discomfort. That’s what it takes to get to the other side. It takes hard work, sweat and tears.

And it takes time. With Tim, dieting and exercising was like pulling teeth. He loved to drink the smoothy shakes, but hated pretty much everything else. He completed thirty days of fasting with some difficulty, but he made it. However, when food was brought back into the picture, all of his self-reliance came back. “Oh, that’s fine Robert… I got it.”

He told me that he did not need ‘that much’ help with his diet. I was like… WHAT! Are you kidding me? I understood. He was scared to let go of the only thing in his life that used to give him a sense of security – food. Food is an excellent slave, but it makes for a horrendous master.

And Tim was looking at the enemy face-to-face and wanting to make a deal. I shook him in both shoulders. “Tim, Tim… you need to be restored to sanity brother! You cannot make friends with the snake. Sooner or later it WILL bite you. You have to let go absolutely.” He kicked and screamed. He fought a deep sense of entitlement that: “I deserve to have my damn pizza this weekend."

I made it clear to him that, while at one point he DID have the dubious right of gorging on pizza, he had since abused that right and it was now revoked. Now it was time to adopt eating habits that support yourvision of being lean, healthy and living your life to its fullest. And that definitely means letting go of the junk food and adopting a clean diet.

And he could not deny how thrilled he was about having lost nearly 100 pounds at that point. His wife would tell us: “Wow, look… My Timmy is coming back; I can actually see his facial features coming out!" I worked with Tim for another three months. Some days we did great, other days he hated my guts and was ‘sick of my face.’ That’s alright Tim, I love you too. But, even though all of this, he DID NOT stray from the strict nutrition and fitness plan that we had put together for him.

He wrote on his journal daily; He kept a detailed food journal for me to go over. I knew that at certain moments he was about to snap. He was angry, sad, and impatient and just wanting to scream at the top of his lungs and run until he could run no more.

But he kept on going. I knew then that he had made that internal decision to 'do whatever it takes to reclaim his health.' It no longer mattered what discomfort he had to go through to achieve it. He was willing and prepared to follow through.

That is what it's all about when it comes to weight loss and health. You must make that internal decision. You must become convinced deep in your heart that continuing as you are is simply not an option. No matter how much comfort food may give you now, it is little in comparison to the pain and misery that it will give you later through obesity and sickness. And you don't even have to be obese.

The question is: Have I Made My Health & Well being A Priority? We can always improve. Very few of us exercise anything as 'perfection' when it comes to diets and eating. But we must become willing to strive for constant improvement.

The good news is that: Yes, changing eating habits is tough at first. But the resistance will eventually yield if you hang on and are persistent!

Robert Dave Johnston
Fitness Through Fasting-Editor/Webmaster
Publisher:The Anti Prevention Nation Ezine &
FastingOlogy 9-Month Membership Program.