Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

While walking around Daybreak, I found this in the Rio Tinto parking lot.

It says:

Park Here To Walk Farther and Be Healthier

It was on the outskirts of their employee parking lot and I thought it was genius. This is one of the MANY tips that are thrown out to help you lose weight that never worked for me. It wasn’t that I needed more exercise. It wasn’t that I was eating too many calories. Both of those things needed to change before I could lose weight, but they weren’t the problem.

The problem wasn’t the food. The problem was WHY I wanted to eat the food.

The problem wasn’t the lack of exercise. The problem was WHY I couldn’t get off the couch.

I had been to therapy to take care of my mind. I had been to Weight Watchers and the gym to take care of my body, but I was missing ONE important piece of the puzzle.

My spirit.

It’s mind, body AND spirit that makes a whole person. As Overeater’s Anonymous says it, Emotional, Physical and Spiritual. I needed meditation. I need spiritual experiences. I needed a daily dose of monoamine neurotransmitters to combat the desire to eat more food and lie on the couch like a slug. It wasn’t until that spiritual aspect of my program was added that I started to make progress.

When I meditate, eating healthy is easier. When I meditate, getting out to take the dog for a walk is easier. When I meditate, the thought of parking at the far end of the parking lot no longer sounds like a punishment.

I appreciate the sentiment on the Rio Tinto parking lot, but spray-painted admonishments never helped me. What helped me was sitting STILL and getting my brain to release those feel good chemicals for fifteen minutes every day. How ironic is that?

Overeater’s Anonymous does not endorse anything on this entry or blog. I speak only of my personal experience and not for OA as a whole.