You cannot even begin to imagine all the e-mails, Facebook, and Twitter messages I receive from people who are suffering silently in agony because they are frustrated and disappointed with where they are in their life right now. Most of the time, these dear people have tried and tried to lose weight, get their chronic disease under control, and workout in the gym for hours on end trying to be fitter and happier–with little to no results to show for it. They’re dejected and you can sense it in every word typed that this is something they feel nobody else can understand. In fact, all I can hear these people saying when they write to me is HELP! HELP ME! GET ME OUT OF THIS! Is there any hope left?
The good news is that the answer to that question is a clear and resounding YES! If there’s one universal message that I could send out to people who feel this way, it’s this–you are not alone, this is not the end of the world, and you will overcome. Believe me, the 410-pound Jimmy Moore prior to 2004 felt almost exactly the same way. Although I’ve always been about as happy-go-lucky as anyone you’ll ever meet, it was difficult beating back the inner demons who are constantly chattering in your head seeking to bring you down, making you feel like you are worthless, and keeping you spiraling out of control that you think the world is coming crashing down on top of you. Unless you’ve been in that situation yourself, you have no idea just how deep, dark, and despondent it can be.
But there is something to encourage you if that’s the way you feel about where you are in life right now. Lives are being changed for the better by the RIGHT choices in your diet and exercise routine. Some people are already livin’ la vida low-carb and implementing a sound strategy for adding in the proper kind of exercise that works for them. However, like the e-mail I received from a brand new reader recently shows, not everyone can break the conventional wisdom paradigm that it’s about eating less and exercising more. That’s one of the biggest travesties that we’ve ever been served in this personal pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. I don’t think I’ve quite seen such a dejected reader than this one that absolutely broke my heart for the pain she’s going through.
Here’s what she wrote to me in a cry for help like none I’d ever seen:
Hi Jimmy,
I visited your blog and saw that you are into dieting/fitness. I think I’ve reached the lowest point in my life, so I really need your advice. I’ve been struggling to lose weight ever since I graduated from college. I’ve tried diets, exercising, and fasting. My problem is that I have literally no motivation and discipline. I’m 35 years old, and both of my younger sisters already got married. I feel like such a loser for being undesirable to men, and for gaining so much weight since college. Some days, I just ask myself what’s the point of it all? Even if I lost all this weight, I’ll still look ugly and flabby.
Do you have any advice you can give me on motivating myself to eat less and exercise more? It’s such a vicious cycle. I’ve always tried going on diets only to be discouraged and end up eating junk food to comfort myself. I hope you can be of some help–I really need it at this point. God Bless!
I’ve seen thousands of e-mails from people over the years of blogging, but never quite like this one. It’s difficult to know just what to say to someone who has such emotional baggage like this incredibly brave reader who was willing to pour out her heart to me. But I feel a sense of duty to respond to these kind of e-mails in a way that hopefully lifts them up, encourages them and gives them even a small taste of hope that everything is gonna be okay. It’s why I wake up in the morning and commit myself to doing this even on those days when I struggle too. There will always be forces that seek to bring you down–but you shouldn’t let yourself be one of them
Here’s the message I sent back in response to her:
THANK YOU for writing to me today and for sharing so openly and honestly about your struggles. As a former 400-pound man who felt virtually the same as you, I feel for you. It’s a helpless, hopeless situation that can seem like your trapped in a deep, dark prison with no expectation of ever getting out. People who haven’t been in this situation cannot even begin to imagine how painful this place is and they actually add to the pain when they mock us and tell us we’re just big, fat, stupid, worthless, and lazy. But we’re not, are we.
We ARE strong. We ARE worth something more than people give us credit for. We have value to contribute to society because we are human beings created by God for a purpose. While trying to figure out what that is, we should certainly do everything we can to pursue becoming the best person we can possibly be.
Motivation and discipline are overrated though. This isn’t about those things. It’s about making up your mind RIGHT NOW that you will resolve in your mind that NOTHING (and I mean NOTHING!) will stand in the way of your success that you DESERVE to have. You gotta believe that this is something worth fighting for and that you are worth it!
And when I say success, it’s not really all about weight loss either. How you feel, what your health is like, how men look at you, and all the intangibles that you haven’t really even thought about yet come into play. These are the things that will get your motor running to do this. Far too many people look at the scale and just the scale as their singular measurement of whether they are a success or failure when they attempt to do something about their weight and health.
But checking your blood sugar, cholesterol, measurements, and other such tests are EQUALLY important. I’ve written about this stuff for nearly seven years and interviewed some of the top researchers and authors in the world at my podcast. Virtually all of them are in agreement that getting healthy is the priority and that weight loss will follow if you are pursuing those things that promote health.
And lemme tell you a dirty little secret that you may not hear anywhere else: IT AIN’T ABOUT EATING LESS AND EXERCISING MORE! Read a book called Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It by Gary Taubes if you want to find out more about why that kind of thinking regarding weight loss is so dead wrong–and that there’s a better way for people like you and me. YOU CAN DO THIS!!!
I’m happy to help in any way that I can, so don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have about healthy low-carb living. DEFINITELY start educating yourself and you’ll be well on your way. Here’s a page that will help you get started the RIGHT way: http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/getstarted
NEVER GIVE UP!
Is there anything else you’d like to share with this reader? I don’t know if she’ll see it or not or if anything I shared with her “clicked” (I didn’t hear back from her after I sent her my response). But perhaps there are others like her who will read this, see themselves, and be encouraged by this post and your comments. Please feel free to share below. These cries for help cannot be ignored and it helps that we have proven answers that can help them climb out of the abyss.
