"Not right now."

Benjumanji · Post by **Benjumanji** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 1:15 pm

Has anyone seen the TV show "The Biggest Loser"? I watched it a couple of days ago. 50 obese people, one from each state, were brought to this beautiful ranch spa in California. Two athletic trainers each chose 7 people from the initial 50 to form their teams. I was really sad for the remaining 36...many of them probably suffered through a childhood of not being chosen for teams and here they were reliving this pain on national television.

Anyway, one of the women chosen was talking to the camera about her experience that first day. She said the trainer said "Come on! We're going to work out now!".

Her response was "Not right now!"

Her response hit me in the gut. How many times have I told myself "not right now" over the last 24 years? I've always had intentions of getting in shape, but I have put it off until tomorrow, or Monday, or after the busy times at work have levelled off, or when I get a new pair of shoes, or when school starts again, or when school lets out....

I'm 42 years old. If not now, when?

That's my new motto. If not now, when? I'm making that my signature.

ThomsonsPier · Post by **ThomsonsPier** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 1:25 pm

I haven't seen the show (I don't watch television), but I wholeheartedly agree with your new outlook.

I decided to follow something similar a few years ago, leading me to learn martial arts, appear in theatre productions, sing on stage and eat more healthily. I've also just booked my first guitar lesson.

My own version of your new favourite phrase is less catchy and a bit more English:

"Don't be so lazy. Get on with it <slap>."

Post by **reinhard** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 1:27 pm

It's an old problem with a distinguished literary legacy -- even more distinguished than "Biggest Loser."

St. Augustine recalled a prayer from his sinful youth in his Confessions (circa 397 A.D.):

"Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet"

Or for pretentious wannabe Latin scholars like myself:

"da mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo"

Put that on your fridge!

Reinhard

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:07 am

Well that's less than fourteen words but harder to pronounce!!!

Heh.. Yeah Richard talked me into getting off my lazy butt today and we had a very nice walk to buy our groceries..

So in the spirit of pretentious Latin stuff,
Carpe Diem!

Debs

pangelsue · Post by **pangelsue** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:53 pm

Wonderful concept and motivator. In the book that Operababe recommended "Life is Hard, Food is Easy", the author has a method where you set a goal and ask yourself what do I do next to accomplish that goal. Like for instance if you say:
I need exercise and I am too busy to get any. What do I do next?

You might decide on 15 (or 14) minutes a day you can spare, say go for a walk during lunch at work.

Most times that would end there but you ask yourself what do I do next?

Take your walking shoes to work. What do I do next?

Get up off the couch and put the shoes in a bag.

She says this works with most nebulous goals. Keep asking yourself "what do I do next until you get it down to a step that you can do right now. Then you start a momentum to accomplish the goal.

Or to continue the sin thread, someone once said "there are more sins of omission than commission".

JWL · Post by **JWL** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:46 pm

One of the beautiful things about No-S is that you can turn "not right now" into a positive: when you are hungry before mealtime and want to snack, say to yourself "not right now, I have a meal coming up in a few hours" or whatever.

mommashell · Post by **mommashell** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 3:27 pm

JWL wrote:One of the beautiful things about No-S is that you can turn "not right now" into a positive: when you are hungry before mealtime and want to snack, say to yourself "not right now, I have a meal coming up in a few hours" or whatever.

Hi everyone. I've watched that show before, and I think it's a total ncrock. They starve these people to death and make them cry and be humiliated in front of everyone, all for that important number on the damned scale. Now I'm saying this from my status as a daily weigher, sometimes twice a day if I'm feeling really out of control. Like, look who's talking about all important numbers on scales? But I really think that these people must have very low self-esteem to embarrass themselves on tv like that. Anyway, after that one time, I said never again will I watch that show. A diet should be a private thing, or perhaps shared within a group such as this or like weight watchers, which is made up of people much like yourself. This competition thing can't be a healthy way to lose weight. Anyway, that's just my opinion.
And I so identify with the not right now thing, on both aspects. I have made it into a positive statement and I have been negative with it. Exercise? NBot right now... my knee hurts. Snack? Not right now, I have breakfast coming up soon!
But I'm doing more exercise now.
Shell

Big Phil · Post by **Big Phil** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 1:58 am

One of the (many) reasons I hate that show (The Biggest Loser), is that it makes such a big deal out of exercising and losing weight. It isn't that intricate an activity, we don't need to over think it ! This is what pisses me off about the diet and exercise industry, they have convinced everyone you have to do something extra or different or unusual to be healthy. You don't, just look at little kids, they run around alot and stop eating when they have had enough. We have to forget all the stuff we have been told about diet and exercise by "experts" trying to sell us stuff.
To lose weight you must eat less than you need. To be fit you must move around a lot, maybe minimum 30 minutes walk a day - more is better. Don't worry about stretching, warm-up, cool down, carbo-loading, re-hydrating, appropriate exercise wear, footwear, sweat bands, cardio, resistance exercise, negative reps, muscle isolation - fuck it all off!
Exercise is fun, if you are having fun and moving around, you are getting healthier, if you are breathing hard that is even better.
Once you believe health is a big deal it becomes intimidating, then you will put it off.
It isn't necessarily easy, but it is not a big deal!

Phil.

srbliss · Post by **srbliss** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:31 am

Big Phil wrote: To be fit you must move around a lot, maybe minimum 30 minutes walk a day - more is better. Don't worry about stretching, warm-up, cool down, carbo-loading, re-hydrating, appropriate exercise wear, footwear, sweat bands, cardio, resistance exercise, negative reps, muscle isolation - fuck it all off!
Exercise is fun, if you are having fun and moving around, you are getting healthier, if you are breathing hard that is even better.
Once you believe health is a big deal it becomes intimidating, then you will put it off.
It isn't necessarily easy, but it is not a big deal!

Phil.

On my way home from the grocery store this evening (pushing my baby stroller of course) I walked up to this silly woman walking in place while taking her pulse (I think) she looked very, very serious in her matching outfit and I couldn't help but say "just walk around and enjoy the nice evening" - she leered at me as I walked by.

I had a nice chuckle for a few paces.
Steve

Big Phil · Post by **Big Phil** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 6:20 am

Right on!

Fight the Power, Brother!

Phil.

Post by **reinhard** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 1:48 pm

I've never watched the show (sounds dreadfully boring), but amen to those sentiments, Phil. Step one for any expert is to convince you that your problem is sufficiently complicated to require expertise.

Obnoxious (but relevant) self-quote:

From http://nosdiet.com/#me

I am neither a doctor, a nurse, a dietician, a nutritionist, a personal trainer, nor any other kind of health professional. I AM NOT AN EXPERT. This is a tremendous advantage.

Diet is not a problem that requires specialized expertise. It is a general problem with an obvious solution. If I were encumbered by any form of expertise, this obviousnessness wouldn't be nearly as striking. A doctor cannot convincingly say "DUH."

doulachic · Post by **doulachic** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:06 pm

what i hate about that show is that they take these extremly overweight, out of shape people and immediately start them on an intense exercise program that is probably only suitable for a trained athlete! and then they browbeat them when they can't do it or start to fail. i keep expecting these people to keel over with a heart attack! no one should ever start out that intense if they haven't exercised for a long time. kind of makes me wonder if they go home hating exercise and will eventually end up worse than they started...

planner lady · Post by **planner lady** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:34 pm

Big Phil, thanks for your comments about the simplicity of health. I have been trying hard to lose weight through diet and exercise and am not making any visible progress. So I've been reading every diet and exercise book I can get my hands on (some purchased, some borrowed from the library) to see if there's something I'm missing or some magic formula that might get things going. In the process, my head is spinning! There's so much information out there and it all contradicts itself. Your post reminded me that it's not that complicated. I think I'll put the books away and concentrate on what I know is right. Surely I'll eventually see results if I keep at it.

I've been playing around with NOS for some time now. My gut feeling is that it's the way to go but I keep drifting back to the Weight Watchers way of counting points because it's how I lost weight originally. It's familiar and I know it will work. But I don't want to do it anymore. I'm scared that if I do NOS, I will eat too much and not lose weight. But I'm going to just bite the bullet and do it -- starting now. I have nothing to lose but those pesky pounds that have been resisting all my efforts.

Patty

Benjumanji · Post by **Benjumanji** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:44 pm

reinhard wrote:It's an old problem with a distinguished literary legacy -- even more distinguished than "Biggest Loser."

You have to wonder how many people watch the show in anticipation of a major cardiac event on (inter)national television.

It is a rather inane show. What can I say? It amuses me.

MerryKat · Post by **MerryKat** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 2:15 pm

Big Phil wrote:Once you believe health is a big deal it becomes intimidating, then you will put it off.
Phil.

Thank you so much for this post and particularly this line. This is my problem to a tee. Everything is made such a big issue with food and exercise that I feel totally overwhelmed and just want to run away screaming. (at least that would be exercise - LOL)

results_not_typical · Post by **results_not_typical** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 4:18 pm

As a person who for years has enjoyed a really strick and punishing diet (no more) I think that the Biggest Loser is more self hatred. I mean all those people crying over their weight makes me want to puke. The cycle of overly restrictive dieting is part of a cycle of self hate and low self esteem. If you hold yourself in high esteem you would never subject yourself to starvation and misery. But, if you feel that you need to be punished for years of pigged-ly-ness then the Biggest Loser is perfect. You can leave your family to make the sacrifice as great as possible. Starve on a low carb diet. You can be talked to like a pig and idiot by thin people (who are better than you, naturally), you can wear under wear on national/international television and weigh in. The value that you become to the group (the society at the ranch) is your weight. HHMMM....pretty interesting how that reflects the feelings of many people in society at large. Did that make any sense at all?