psychology

Ask Nicola; How do you deal with social pressure after you achieve fitness?

June 5, 2013 by Roberta Saum Leave a Comment

Once you achieve your fitness goals some people have negative reactions. You must decide what you want for yourself and fight to keep it.

How do you deal with social pressure after you achieve fitness?

We are social creatures. Although losing weight and getting fit are personal choices, it does impact us socially because it changes our appearance. The world will respond to our transformation in a variety of ways–some positive and some negative. When people around you are not being supportive or even critical of your transformation, you need to break free from their their negativity and own your own power.

We’ll discuss the reasons why people can have such varied and negative responses to your transformation and how to become immune to it.

Nicola

Dr. Nicola Bird

Nicola’s Online Program

Listen to John’s interview with Dr. Nicola Bird here, and please “like” it when you’re done:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Filed Under: psychology, transformation Tagged With: Anything Goes Diet, Dr. Nicola, Dr. Nicola Bird, john barban, stress eating, transformation, Venus Index, Venus index Transformation, Venus Index Workout, working out for shape

Weight Gain And Muscle Gain Escalators Part 2 – Sick vs Corrective Mentality

April 3, 2013 by Roberta Saum Leave a Comment

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

Today’s topic: Weight gain and muscle gain escalators part 2 – Sick vs Corrective Mentality

There is a different degree of effort required to ascend the escalators vs staying at the top of the escalators.

Last time we talked about the muscle gain and fat gain escalators. This is a new analogy and a better way of picturing what the process of muscle gain and fat loss is really like.

Today we will take the analogy further and talk about the process of getting to and staying at peak condition.

Specifically it’s the difference between viewing your body and the process from a ‘sick’ mentality vs a ‘corrective’ mentality.

There is a different degree of effort required to ascend the escalators vs staying at the top of the escalators.

Today we’ll talk about changing your mentality and what can and should be done to get to the top and stay there.

John

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Filed Under: change, Health, Muscle Growth, psychology Tagged With: Anything Goes Diet, brad pilon, Eat Stop Eat, goal setting, john barban, transformation, uncensored, uncensored podcast, uncensored podcasts, Venus Index, weight training, working out for shape

Poison Persuasion

March 22, 2013 by John Barban & Vaclav Gregor 6 Comments

Most of us are familiar with the kind of substances that are dangerous to ingest. As a mother I kept all those cleaning supplies locked in the cabinet away from little fingers. We wouldn’t dream of rubbing some cleaning chemicals on our face or pouring floor cleaner into our coffee.

No way! Why would we keep something in our bodies that could harm us or hold us back? This may sound ridiculous, yet when it comes to what we will put into our minds, or what we leave there unchallenged, we are all too comfortable with our poison.

Let me explain:

What do you really believe about what you can achieve? When you face a failure do you think that you are worthless? Do you think that you are different from others and that you just can’t lose fat? These are some examples of poison ideas that will hold you back. In my opinion these false beliefs are just as harmful as some cleaner in your morning coffee.

Don’t get your hopes up

I would like to share a poison belief that almost kept me from ever trying out Venus Index. When I first heard about the program from Brad Pilon’s blog, I felt it wasn’t for someone like me. I’d been overweight since I was 7 years old. I have struggled with extra weight for so many years and was desperate at the time to even lose 30 pounds. I didn’t think I had any hope of working toward a goal of ideal measurements.

I was almost 300 pounds at the time and felt hopeless. I had tried over and over with so many complicated diets to lose weight. I was starting to think I should just accept being the fat girl. Honestly, it was probably just easier for me to see the weight as unmovable than to realize that I had gotten myself into that mess. I needed to face the reality of my own responsibility to take care of my body.

In spite of the negative thinking I kept listening to the PhiLife and Venus podcasts with John Barban and Brad Pilon. I was so impressed with what they said and believed they knew their stuff. What did I have to lose, besides a lot of extra weight? I finally decided that I would never know unless I put it to the test. To begin with I bought The Anything Goes Diet and started following it.

Once I lost about 20 pounds I bought Venus Index. Then I nervously went into the community to lurk around. Once I saw how wonderful the women in the community were I jumped on in and found the support I needed. I kept on losing weight. The support of like- minded people is so important in keeping a positive mindset and clearing away false or negative ideas that can drain your motivation.

Speaking the truth

It is possible that you don’t think you have any poison beliefs floating around in your thoughts. It is tough to spot them since we are so comfortable with what has become so familiar. Have you ever thought that you just can’t do what someone else has done? Maybe you think you are too busy to work on a fitness goal, have a messed up metabolism, have bad genetics, or just don’t have the willpower. Take a closer look. Sometimes our behavior says much more about what we truly believe than what we say.

If you really believe something is true it will show up in your actions. Sometimes those negative thoughts spill out when we view ourselves in a full length mirror, when we are uncomfortable receiving a compliment, or in what we say to ourselves when we mess up.

If I have a day when my thoughts tell me that I can’t change or that I can never look like that sexy girl at the gym, then it’s time for me to talk back. I can ask if that is really true. It’s not.

It’s not easy to think of myself in new ways. That is a big reason I have loved the Venus podcasts. The Adonis and the Venus podcasts helped me to turn my defeated thoughts into determination and fight for my weight loss goals. Now they help me to keep my mindset positive and powerful so I can keep going strong as I continue on the journey. I had so many old diet rules and mainstream fitness ideas that had gotten me nowhere.

I like to use the podcasts, and the other Venus resources to keep my thinking clear of all those distractions. If the old familiar diet myths didn’t work for all those years I certainly don’t want to fall back on them. I have found some books to be very helpful but I am very selective. I make sure that what I read won’t pull me away from what I know works for me. I have gone back to read The Anything Goes Diet more than once. It’s been the guidebook for turning my years of weight loss mistakes into steady steps forward to my goal. I like to joke that I am AGD for life.

Remember the victories

When I run into setbacks or make big mistakes I’m tempted to fall into old thinking and habits. I might wonder why I bother or do I have what it takes to succeed. I may be tempted to go and try some crazy restrictive diet with all kinds of fancy rules. It’s what I would have turned to in years past; a strict program with lots of food rules, excessive cardio workouts, or some special trick that will finally help me lose those stubborn pounds.

I know better than to go back to what was so punishing and useless. This is the time I most need to remember my victories and the tried and true methods that I can count on. I choose to take courage from the goals I’ve set and have achieved; the times my hard work paid off in progress. Each little victory along the way has made me stronger.

Victories feel wonderful, but to tell the truth failure has often been an more valuable teacher. Failures can be a perfect opportunity to learn more about myself and what might help me to succeed in the future. They show me my weak spots and are a great map for avoiding pitfalls.

If used wisely those setbacks and mistakes will help me to succeed in the long run. It’s a waste of energy to beat myself up for what I could or should have done. I can choose to use that energy to focus on what have learned and what I want to do next.

You are not alone

No matter what the situation or challenge I find so much strength in support from others the same challenges. It makes me feel stronger when I know that others have conquered the same challenge, felt similar emotions, or made some of the same mistakes I have.

The stories of other women who are transforming their bodies and learning new habits inspire me to keep working. Their stories reassure me that I can indeed reach my own goal. If someone else has walked the path before me it makes me even more determined that I can walk it too.

I can’t tell you how many times during my weight loss journey I have turned to the ladies at the Venus Index community and found just what I needed to push me forward. It’s a wonderful thing when someone says just the right thing to encourage you, or gives you a dose of reality when needed. I am stronger as part of this community… a part of team Venus.

We are in the journey together and it makes the process much more fun. Yes, the challenge of losing weight becomes fun with a little help from some friends. Even if you aren’t part of the Venus community I challenge you to find the support you need wherever you can. It’s priceless.

Going, going, but not gone

I’ve lost more than 100 pounds from my highest weight of 320, but I still find myself thinking like the woman I used to be. I am still learning to master my mindset. I want to learn to think in ways that charge up my motivation and push me to overcome obstacles. I am making progress. I will use the tools I just wrote about. Where there are lies I will talk back with the truth. When there are failures I will remember the victories.

If I feel alone in a challenge I’ll seek out a little help from some friends. I have come so far from the woman who almost would not try Venus Index because she didn’t want to get her hopes up only to fail again. I am so glad I took that chance on the program, but ultimately on myself. What did I have to lose? What do you have to lose?

Filed Under: change, fat loss, Phi Life, Podcast, psychology, Uncategorized Tagged With: Adonis Index, Anything Goes Diet, becoming a venus, brad pilon, john barban, transformation, Venus Index, Venus Index Workout

Married to Adonis

February 22, 2013 by John Barban & Vaclav Gregor 3 Comments

Adonis, in Greek mythology, is the god of beauty and desire. Venus is the Roman goddess of love, beauty, fertility, prosperity and victory. A match made in heaven. Mostly that is.

I think many women will admit that when they see a man in Adonis shape they get a physical and visceral reaction. A frisson of energy and interest. I have heard it is the same for men when they see a woman at her Venus metrics.

There is a lovely symmetry when you can say that your soulmate is intellectually equal, emotional connected and physically matched. However, there are a number of gender differences that can make this journey of togetherness a little challenging.

The truth about calories hurts

As an average height woman in Venus shape at just a shade under 5’4”, I am married to a 6’2” Adonis at his golden ratio. At maintenance I get to eat about 1,400 calories per day……Adonis gets about 2,400 calories per day.

This really is a big challenge for me. Portion sizes are made for big men. Even a snack like a chocolate bar, a fru fru ‘grande’ sized coffee or a muffin can be 30% to 50% of my daily calorific intake. Not for my Adonis.

We have all been trained over a lifetime to eat these portions. For many women it is not just a matter of having a muffin less frequently. It is a matter of both frequency and half sized portions.

I will give you a case in point. My Adonis holds his maintenance at about 9-11% body fat (by DEXA). When he decides to drop a little flab he stops his ice cream and chocolate intake and just start shedding pounds.

I hold my maintenance at about 15-17% body fat (by DEXA). When I want to shed a little, I have to cut meals, portions, weigh everything and have no treats. Then maybe the scale will move a little.

In general women just have to watch calories and portions more and cut a higher percentage of their daily calories to lose weight.

The truth is you cannot eat like a man and be Venus.

Muscle magic

Why is it that men just seem to look at a dumbbell in the gym and visibly start growing muscle.

I weigh about 60% of what my Adonis weighs. Pound for pound I out-lift him on almost every move. Yet my results pale into comparison with what he can achieve. It is gender genetics and hormones but I find it really frustrating.

In addition a man in Adonis shape will have a body fat that is probably 8-10% less than a woman in Venus shape. It is genetic, women just have a higher essential fat percentage. In a man essential body fat is recognized as 2-5%, for women it is 10-13%.

This is important because on a like for like basis men will just be more ripped. You will be able to see the muscles, striations, and more vascularity.

As a Venus you need to lift like a man but never expect the same results.

That crazy testosterone

That magic hormone that not only gives amazing muscle growth but also is responsible for that male courage and machismo to go and do crazy things. Or to just be bigger and stronger.

I go to the gym with my Adonis but we also do all our adventures and sports together. For us this includes skiing, mountain biking, hiking and sailing. We typically do difficult and expert levels of these sports.

I know when I am standing on top of an extreme double black ski run that often times I am scared. I worry about my physical strength and endurance. I overcome this, but my Adonis just jumps in and off he goes. When I look around it is quite rare to see another woman. It is mainly men skiing together on this stuff. Or some man trying to talk down his terrified wife.

Am I the only woman that feels like she is the weakest link in these physical pursuits?

Where are “U”?

Brad Howard’s “Attention U” explains how when we are at the top of our physical game we get attention and reactions from others.

It is true. But I do think there is a gender bias. When you are in Venus shape and maintaining more or less in fitness model shape, you will likely find you are an exception. When you go to the gym you will likely be the only one with the mix of feminine shape, leanness and muscle.

For a man it is different. At most big gyms across the world you will see 5 or 10 men in Adonis shape. It is uncommon but not exceptional.

There is also a difference in the type of reactions an Adonis gets versus what a Venus gets.

I have spent the past 12 months working with my Adonis. He is tall, in amazing shape and obviously strong and fit. He just gets respect and instant leadership credibility. People listen and believe him.

I too get a reaction but is more a recognizable spark of attraction. I get my respect and leadership credibility, but I have to work it the old fashioned way.

Even at the gym, my Adonis gets asked about his program and results. I on the other hand am much more likely to be told I look great. No questions about how I got there.

An Adonis gets respect, a Venus gets attention.

Filed Under: Bodyfat, calories, Diet, Exercise, Muscle Growth, psychology, Shape Tagged With: Adonis, attractiveness U, Gender differences, Venus

Your Fitness Goals in the New Year, How Bad Do You Want It?

January 4, 2013 by Roberta Saum Leave a Comment

What Is Your Motivation?

As we move into the New Year you might be starting to work on new resolutions or goals. Will you be one who completes your goals this year? How bad do you want it? There is pain and sacrifice to achieve it, but there could be pain if you don’t achieve it. Recently someone in the Venus Index Community posted this article “What is your Motivation?” and I was intrigued by the author’s use of pain motivation and his figurative “Alpo” as the pain.

I read this right around the US Thanksgiving holiday. I was actually a bit frustrated on the holiday due to several weeks of social eating events and my jeans no longer fit comfortably. Rather than have a meltdown I took a deep breath and decided I would not ruin the holiday with my precious husband Randy. I would come up with a plan to fix the problem the next day. The following day I decided to take a picture of the several pair of jeans that didn’t fit and place them on the refrigerator and pantry doors. I also included a smiley face and the words “pain motivation”. The picture reminded me of how awful I felt when the pants didn’t fit.

Be Kind to Yourself Right Where You Are, Right Now

As I was pondering this I had a thought about struggles and victories; cycles continue, struggle, victory, struggle, and victory. Self-worth issues don’t magically go away when you reach your fitness ideal. The best time to treat your body as the temple of beautiful treasures is right now, while continuing the lifelong seasons of reaching new goals.

Randy kind of frowned at me when I put up the picture in the kitchen because it was negative. Not only that but he thought I looked perfect the way I was. I was probably still somewhere around 12% body fat. Since I tend to be hard on myself I have to be careful with the concept of pain motivation. Many of my girlfriends tell me they must be careful with this concept as well because of a history of eating disorders that stem from issues of self-worth. I’ve never had eating disorders or emotional eating issues but like many women I struggle with body image issues. I have to remember that the images of fitness models in fitness magazines are Photoshopped.

I had to remind myself that even though I wanted to achieve a mini goal of fat loss that I was also okay right where I was. I was healthy, I looked fit, no one saw the little extra bit of fat except me. It was up to me to make the choice how far I wanted to take it. Randy, knowing my personal history, warned me with his frown that he’d better not see me beating myself up over this mini goal.

Be Flexible, It’s Okay to Switch It Up

It only took a few weeks to achieve the goal of fitting into the jeans so I switched my motivator to a more positive pleasure motivator (the photo below with the quote “Nothing tastes as good as FIT feels”). I still remember how I felt the day of this photo shoot and how ecstatic I was when I saw how the pictures turned out. I decided to make my own (first ever) motivational poster and use it for myself to continue on with my mini goal. So far it’s working for me.

I switched to a positive pleasure motivator.

How Bad Do You Want It

The author talks about moving from a state of “Coulda Shoulda Woulda” to a state of “Must” and that reminded me of when I reached my peak of weight gain in 2009. My weight topped out at over 170lbs. Something had to change. I couldn’t possibly do more fitness so I had to change something else. I had to change my mental mindset and I decided to simply eat less and cut my portion sizes in half. As I made progress losing weight I constantly used a symbol in my mind of door #1 and door #2. Door #1 represented achieving the fitness level I had always wanted. Door #2 represented everything else, every excuse, and simply staying where I was or worse.

The vision of what was behind door #2 was so painful to me that I felt I had no choice. I must take door #1 which meant continuing to eat at a calorie deficit. It didn’t mean I had to deprive myself of food; I simply had to eat the right amount to achieve my goal. This is the beauty of the Anything Goes Diet, Eat Stop Eat, and the Venus Index principles. Every day when I wanted to eat more than I needed I simply told myself I could have more tomorrow (door #1).

I realized that I used the pain and pleasure motivators all along; door #1 was painful to go through at times but pleasure was on the other side, and door #2 was more pleasurable to go through but pain was on the other side. Which did I want? I chose door #1 just about every day for two years.

This dress was my motivator and my reward for achieving my goal.

I had posted up a catalog picture in the kitchen of a swim dress from an athletic clothing company because I wanted to purchase and wear the dress someday. The picture was a symbol of my door #1 and I kept it posted in the kitchen for about a year. I achieved that goal and purchased the dress and wore it to the Caribbean last Christmas. It was my motivator and my reward.

Positive Motivators Worked for Shannon As Well

My friend Shannon who is a busy working mom and wife struggled all her life with weight fluctuations up and down. She said the tools that finally helped her nail down her success were the Reverse Taper Diet, the Anything Goes Diet, and the Venus Index Workout metric goals using the “Golden Ratio“.

For motivation Shannon said this:

       My past experiences taught me about several components to successful weight loss: estimating my daily calories so I can be sure I am in a deficit, following an exercise program that I enjoy, taking measurements to track my progress, and working towards a set of daily goals.

     The process isn’t all that exciting, but the outcome is! I have been using a planner and stickers to track several daily goals since before my baby was born, including a sleep goal, a calorie deficit goal, a step goal, and a workout goal. I get a sticker for hitting each of these daily goals, and I find that the number of goals I hit in a week is strongly correlated with weight loss (or maintenance) success.

     It’s a simple system, and I can easily see the little wins as they pile up.   I like to think about these daily goals as little gifts I am giving to myself every day that have both short term and long term positive effects.

Shannon’s results motivated her husband to start the Adonis Index program. I would say positive motivation worked very well for her indeed:

Positive motivators worked for Shannon

Experiment and Find What Works for YOU

Motivation is different for each person. You must first define what you want and set your goal. Then find what motivates you. Be flexible and if something isn’t working try something else. Make sure it’s fun and really does motivate you. Be kind to yourself at all times. You can change and adjust your plan any time you want. That is the beauty of experimentation. You don’t have to stay stuck in a plan that is not working, causes you anxiety, or ends up being destructive to your self-worth or self-image. We all make mistakes sometimes and learn from them.

Set goals
Experiment
Find what motivates you
Make it fun
Be kind to yourself
Make it a daily routine
Track progress
Get support
Give yourself rewards
Be flexible

It is the Yew Year, 2013. What are your goals? How bad do you want it? Make it happen.

Filed Under: Bodyfat, calories, Diet, Exercise, fat loss, Food, Health, Metabolism, psychology, Shape, Uncategorized, weight loss, Weight training Tagged With: Anything Goes Diet, Bobbie Carper, bobbiesfitness, Eat Stop Eat, fit @ 50, Fit at 50, Reverse Taper Diet, The Adonis Index, The Venus Index

How Clear Is Your Purpose?

October 26, 2012 by Roberta Saum 6 Comments

“A person with a clear purpose will make progress on even the roughest road. A person with no purpose will make no progress even on the smoothest road.” –Thomas Carlyle

Be Ambitious

Part of goal setting is deciding what you want and then having enough ambition to take steps to fulfill your purpose. People who avoid failure are more focused on protecting themselves from failure or the embarrassment of not completing the steps. On the other end of the spectrum is over ambition, setting unattainable or highly improbable goals, or trying to take risky short cuts to achieve over aggressive goals. In the middle are achievers who have a strong desire to accomplish things important or gain success from difficult tasks. Where do you fall in this spectrum?

In my last article I wrote about moving forward after mistakes. It’s hard right after making mistakes to keep going. Sometimes it requires a short period to reflect and regroup. Being fearful can cause you to procrastinate, give less effort, or even self-sabotage (FYI John Barban talks about self-sabotage in the Anything Goes Diet).

Have you ever found yourself in a diet yo-yo? If so, you probably have a sabotage point somewhere near the bottom of the yo-yo and this is important to recognize so you can move forward or as John says “instead of backing up go full steam ahead so that you never see that number again”. I like that. Full steam ahead!

Sometimes It Takes Longer

Just like anything else in life sometimes things take longer than you’d like. About 15 years ago I’d gone through the police academy with my husband and applied for a job with the Sheriff’s department the same time he did. The process to get hired in law enforcement is especially strict in California and only 1 out of 50 pass the full battery of tests.

During the evaluation process at the very end (after five months of testing and extensive background tests) right at the point before they hand you the acceptance letter I learned that I did not pass. This failure was devastating to me. I had to regroup and be happy for my husband who did pass and give him my full support for the career he was starting. I had to accept that the time was not right for me.

Life is not always fair.

As I motored on with my life and retired from my software engineering job I’d realized how far I’d come in dealing with some personal issues. I had a feeling I’d finally faced enough of the issues that I might pass the law enforcement hiring processes if I tried again.

But my academy certificates had expired and I had to start the police academy again from the very beginning. This was daunting because the academy is like a mini boot camp chalk full of tests. If you fail any one test you get one chance for remediation and then if you don’t pass you are kicked out. This happens even if it’s the last test on the last day of class; all is lost. Looming overhead after the academy graduation were another six months of hiring tests and still the one testing at the end that could be my sabotage point.

I moved forward, full steam ahead, and graduated from the academy with higher honors compared to the first time through. I faced the interview at the end with the very same doctor that failed me the first time. It was actually a fun interview and I had a feeling I would pass but I had to wait two weeks until I received the answer.

I passed!

It was a huge victory for me. It meant I had dealt with some serious issues in my life and won. I defeated the failure I’d carried around for ten years. I got the acceptance letter and the honor of wearing the badge and serving my community. To this day I’m extremely proud when I put on that uniform and strap on all that gear because I know how much I had to overcome to get to that point.

You Can View It as a Challenge

You might have a similar daunting road ahead of you with weight loss or a situation in your life that you want to change. You can view it as a challenge or a threat that leads to embarrassment of failure. You can associate effort on the demanding tasks with dedication, commitment, and involvement or view it as overloading and stressful. The choice for your mindset is yours.

What will you do?

On the other hand you can become over ambitious and set too high a goal or an unrealistic goal. You might then try to take short cuts to get there. Some of us do that with eating too low to try and make weight loss happen faster and it ends up backfiring. Sometimes all you really need to do is practice for a while until you have enough skill to know how to set an appropriate goal for yourself.

You Can Adjust Your Goals

You can always change your goals as you move along. I changed my goals several times after joining the Venus Index community. When I started my weight loss journey my only goal was to get down to a size 8 because that was the smallest I’d ever been as an adult. Then I changed my goals to match the Venus Index “Golden Ratio” metrics.

As I continued to lose weight I got down to a size 2-4 and got frustrated because I could not seem to get my waist down to the golden ideal.

It took me a long time to realize that I really don’t need to worry about it. I became fit and lean and I have a thick torso because of my years of heavy lifting. I needed to know that my waist wasn’t fat and the DEXA scan gave me that. The data showed that the bulk of my 11% body fat is in my arms and upper legs and that my abdominal area was 0% body fat. So I finally learned to accept the fact that this is how I am, this is the shape of my body, and it is okay. So I have learned to maintain my shape by looking in the mirror and how my clothes fit. It’s freedom to not have to rely on the scale or other metrics anymore.

Pick Realistic Goals

I would like to have a thinner waist but it would mean giving up heavy lifting and abdominal work which I love. For now I choose to maintain right where I am. At any time in the future I can change my goals again if I want to. First I would research to find out if it is a realistic goal and then I would take whatever steps are necessary to achieve it.

How Clear Is Your Purpose?

Tips for Goal Setting:

Decide what you want
Start small but keep going
Believe in yourself
Write down your goals
Set small goals and accomplish them
Do everything you can to stop procrastinating
Dream big
Set up your environment for success
Set long term goals and short term goals (with realistic time frames)
Don’t make a big deal out of each mistake
Research to find out if your goal is attainable
Adjust goals as needed
Get the right tools
Enjoy the journey
Plan ahead
Ask advice from people you respect (even if you don’t like them)
Give yourself rewards for achievements (not food)

Clarify your goals

It’s important to know where you operate in the ambition spectrum so you can make necessary changes. If you are over ambitious what steps do you need to take?

If you procrastinate or self-sabotage what steps do you need to take? Is your goal realistic? These are things you can think about as you move forward in your journey. You can adjust your goals as you move along.

Once you set your goals, determine the steps you need to take, have fun and enjoy the journey.

It is never too late to follow your dreams!

-Ro

Filed Under: Bodyfat, cardio, change, Diet, Exercise, fat loss, psychology, Shape, stress, Uncategorized, weight loss Tagged With: Anything Goes Diet, Bobbie Carper, bobbies fitness, goal setting, self sabatoge, Venus Index Workout

Eat for “Flavor” & The 6 Step Recovery Method from Orthorexia

September 19, 2012 by Vaclav Gregor 2 Comments

Here’s the second part of this month’s UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2 on Orthorexia.

Check out the first part here: The Side Effect of Modern Society and Even Scientists Can’t Escape

What we covered in the first part:

We’ve talked about how certain foods can completely mess up your personality and social identity
You learned why people in the fitness industry feel superiority over you because of their diet choices
You discovered why you should bother tracking and testing things related to nutrition and not just training
You learned about the connection between people suffering from orthorexia and drug addicts
You also discovered what’s really in the root of the search for healthy eating and if that goal is really achievable
You learned that orthorexia is a marketing driven eating disorder and that the food and fitness industry are making billions just from people getting fatter every year

Let Go of the Good Food/Bad Food Belief

You need to learn to let go of the good food, bad food belief and dump all the bad food lists. And instead start focusing on the foods that taste good, are filling and make you feel great.

It’s a mind shit and a whole different perception, especially if you have been exposed to the mainstream fitness media for the last couple of decades.

Ask yourself this question: ” What do I like to eat?” And eat exactly that!

A lot of people will be thinking that this statement means you can eat burgers and ice cream all day long. Well, that’s not true. Nobody can do go on a diet like that and that’s a pretty boring lifestyle to have.

There are lots of food choices, if chicken with broccoli and chocolate with ice cream are the only meals you know you are limiting yourself and preventing yourself from tasting some amazing foods that are also rich in nutrients.

Get a variety in your diet and start experimenting with different cuisines. Just ask yourself, what exotic meal you haven’t tried yet?

Believe it or not, there are other foods and meals outside the “healthy” recommended by fitness media and “unhealthy junk food” like chocolate or burgers. There are a lot of other options and they can be very tasty.

Today John Barban and Brad Pilon will show you how to switch from good/bad thinking into “eating what I really like and what makes me feel good” and “what would be the best and most tasty option for me?“.

If you’ve heard the first podcast and you’ve read so far then you understand what’s the point of it, but you may still be unsure of the whole process, so before you listen to today’s episode where John and Brad discuss this in great detail, let’s look over the steps you can take to recover from Orthorexia and start eating for flavor:

Realize that any health message is a marketing message
Understand that you won’t cheat death, and especially not by choosing different foods
Create new food lists, but assign them different meanings (e.g. rank them by flavor)
Make a list of foods that makes you bloated or that you are allergic to
Evaluate every food on those lists based on how much you enjoy it, how many calories it contains etc.
[you will have to listen to the interview for this one :)]

There is a lot of choice outside the traditional healthy and unhealthy lists AKA good foods/bad foods. European and Asian cuisines are very rich in different flavors and tastes, just start experimenting. Today we are going to give you the permission to do that and explain you why it’s beneficial and how to go about it.

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Filed Under: Diet, fat loss, Food, Health, Podcast, psychology, Uncensored Podcasts S02 Tagged With: Adonis Index, orthorexia, uncensored podcasts

Have Venus, Will Travel

August 17, 2012 by John Barban & Vaclav Gregor 3 Comments

Summer is here.

In the Northern hemisphere at any rate.

I also think many of our friends down south are planning on a tropical adventure to get away from the cold. Either way it is time for parties, vacations, skimpy dresses and bikinis.

I am the self proclaimed Queen of travel.

My life revolves around adventures, work trips and catching up with friends and family. This year I will only spend about 6 months at home in Hong Kong. I will have about 4 months of adventures and 2 months of overseas based work.

Nice work if you can get it.

Right now I am writing to you from Port Douglas at the top end of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. I am back in Australia for a couple of weeks – work, family and adventure.

So what happens to the Venus body when travel and life gets in the way? Why, you take the the Venus Index plan with you.

Have Venus, Will Travel.

This is a snapshot of some of my fun adventures over the past year or so.

On each one of these I took my Venus Index plan with me, I found a gym or I packed resistance bands.

I Just Did It.

No excuses girls!

The funniest was when we were sailing around the South Pacific with my brother and Roly pulled the ab wheel out of his wheelie bag. Or maybe going to the gym in Egypt during the revolution last year.

1) Owning the Grand Canyon, USA. 2) Heli-skiing in Canada. 3) Camel riding through the Pyramids, Egypt. 4) Hiking the Silk Road, Central Asia. 5) Sailing the South Pacific, Bora Bora. 6) Mountain biking across Jordan, Middle East.

Enough of my holiday pics for now.

Here are some tips on how I keep my Every Day Venus look despite a hectic travel schedule.

Getting Ready

I think most of us want to look our best for vacation.

Especially if bikinis and summery clothes are involved. I don’t do anything too special other than I lower calories a little and cut starchy carbs for about 2-3 days before leaving.

Just gives a little more definition. I find there is no point doing full cut. It is too hard to maintain while travelling.

Holidays are for fun not watching every mouthful.

Working Out While Travelling

There are a couple of choices.

You can either time your holiday with a one week workout break, or just take Venus Index plan with you. I have pretty much always found a gym everywhere in the world.

…And when I did not I took resistance bands. It may not be as good as your gym at home but it is enough.

I find on longer holidays it is possible to lose upper body muscle (and lower if you do not move much). Roly lost inches from his shoulders while skiing this year by not keeping a little upper body exercise going.

I was ok.

It may be due to my higher muscle maturity, it seem easier to keep muscles you have had for years than new built muscle, but it’s just a theory.

I also walk a lot (or ski, ride or swim) on holidays. This burns calories. Just keep moving and it really does help balance out those bigger meals.

Travelling with a Diet

For me travelling and holidays always means food.

New things to taste, meals to socialise with friends and just relaxing the rules.

I use the Anything Goes Diet philosophy to the maximum and if I am not hungry I will miss a meal.

I over eat.

…but not by an insane amount.

I eat enough to make me happy, just watching portions slightly and making some good choices.

I also avoid those big grazing buffets. Especially the hotel breakfast ones. I never come back from holiday more than 2lb up.

I also know the foods that bloat me. It is these I limit if I am going to wearing a bikini the next day.

That simple.

But Most of All

Have fun.

Don’t stress it, even if you eat a bit much and don’t workout.

You know what to do when you get home to fix it.

As a final thought this is me in Port Douglas today.

At the gym practicing what I preach. Also on the beach. This is after a week eating 2000+ calories per day, when my RMR is about 1250 calories. Still an Every Day Venus.

1) On the beach after overeating for a week. 2) About to deadlift 180lb at the gym in Port Douglas, Australia

What about you? Do you have some special techniques you use on your holidays to stay bikini ready?

Filed Under: Diet, Exercise, Food, psychology Tagged With: Fun, Travel, Venus, Venus Index

The Cascading Elements of Change – Indirect versus Direct Effects

April 25, 2012 by Brad Howard 1 Comment

I posted something interesting on my Facebook wall yesterday. It’s something I noticed… and kind of wondered if it would happen if I made a very special change in my life. It goes like this:

Sometimes, the best results you get from a change you make are very indirect… almost correlational. For instance, you’d think me quitting drinking would affect my body and shape (which it has), yet it’s hard to dismiss the fact that revenues have more than doubled since then.

MORAL: Your indirect benefits of change are likely MUCH more valuable to you than the direct ones. Give that some thought…

Most times, the indirect benefits of change outweigh the direct ones...

This is an example of an “indirect” effect of a change. Obviously, the “direct” effect was on my personal productivity coupled with an increase in self respect.

Listen, it’s no secret that I really enjoy reading, studying, and observing how people interact with each other.

I love the fact that you can “engineer” situations to get certain responses (as an aside, this goes into “controlling the environment that controls you”, which we’ll discuss at another time. Basically, if you can control another persons environment, you can basically “control” them).

And, it’s also no secret that I always gravitate back into diet and fitness related material when people ask me what they can do to make the most profound changes in their lives. The reason?

NOTHING ELSE contributes more direct and indirect changes to your life.

increases in core confidence
more attention (both good and bad, I’ll explain next week)
better “health”

These often are direct elements.

However, what most people forget are the indirect elements, and how these elements actually can CASCADE.

Let me give you an example from my story above.

I stop drinking.
I become more productive.
Everyone else becomes more productive because I’m generally the bottleneck.
We create and test different offers
One low offer on the Adonis side does really well
Daily transactions increase by a factor of at least 5
Which means we’re now helping out at LEAST 5 times as many people on a daily basis
Revenues double
We invest revenues into more infrastructure
This increases client experience
Clients now actively refer new people

… I’ll just stop here. It can go on for days.

Ultimately, the cascade looks like this.

I quit drinking ==> we help more people

(okay, let me explain something really quickly. I wasn’t an everyday, get hammered drinker. It was every so often, but maybe 1 out of 10-20 times it would get out of control… which cascades DOWN. I’m sure you can see the pattern, in reverse of what I’ve explained above).

When we discuss the “Attention U” in detail next Wednesday, one of the things we’ll discuss is how once you go beyond average, your mindset has to change. In essence, you’re doing it for yourself, yet it is the most UNSELFISH thing you can do.

Why? Because as you get in better shape, the cascading “indirect” effects begin to add up.

You begin to make a dent in the world. Sure you’ll have “haters”, but even “haters” are inspired to do SOMETHING about themselves, even if they buckle down and try to do the opposite of what you’re doing.

By pushing yourself to a level that hardly anyone goes to, or anyone is WILLING to do, you become a catalyst for change.

Again, it is actually VERY UNSELFISH to get in great shape.

If you’re a client of ours, I want you to read through the blogs of some of the women who’ve got in killer shape. If you’ll notice, most of the writing has to do with how others are inspired, or how they are helping others… and it’s not necessarily a one-on-one thing.

It’s COMPOUNDED.

Looking at it through this lens, you can see how I can make the argument that being in great shape is UNSELFISH, while being in horrible shape is actually SELFISH. Again, we’ll discuss this in detail next week. Just think about how much more VALUE you can bring to the world when you’re at your best until then.

I hope you can see how this all works. If you have questions about this, just let me know 🙂

Brad

Filed Under: change, psychology, sociology Tagged With: change, psychology, sociology