If Video Blog #3 dealt with the absence of patience during ones weight loss journey, then this entry is will address having too much patience. The fourth most common thing that I have to overcome as a trainer is procrastination.

Procrastination comes in many forms. Excuses, deductive reasoning, self-deception. I am a list kind of guy so you know that I could literally go on forever, but the bottom line is that most of my clients who quit on me, do so because I will not tolerate procrastination. I believe at the heart of it, procrastination exists to avoid a greater issue. I am not a fan of un-truths.

Have you ever known someone who has tried to lose those exact same 10 pounds for what seems like the greater part of a decade? Why is that? I mean, is there a valid reason? …There very well may be.

Believe it or not, a select amount of people use their weight to hide and mask other imperfections they’re just not ready to deal with. Those who find their identity in their weight and more importantly talking about their struggle with it tend to be those people.

I think we all know someone who is currently on a “diet,” yet they never really seem to behave in a way that supports it. I have found that most of these people are scared. They are afraid that if they lose their weight, they will have nothing left to complain about. Even worse, if they lost their weight and people still didn’t like who they were, then it may have been their character in question all along. This was one of the hardest things I had to learn.

For years I used weight as a safety blanket. I used my girth as an “awkward diffuser”. However, once I lost the weight, I was left to handle social situations with a personality I had yet to develop. I believe the potential realities of weight loss terrify certain people. It terrifies them to the point that they would rather use their “diet” as a crutch for conversation starters or points of contention. Opting to blame circumstances on their weight rather than address reality.

I have to remind my clients almost everyday that while their weight may define a season, it doesn’t define their calendar life. Who they are defines who they are. Once they can appreciate that, then they can overcome anything.

Stay tuned; Tuesday will feature the third most common weight loss struggle in my fourth Vlog installment. Have a great weekend.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’ll let the Vlog speak for itself. A little background on some of the swag. Kurios is the music you hear during the Vlog. They are the band I played in before I went on musical hiatus to pursue the authorship. Jason Boyett‘s pocket guide was the first “Bible study type thing” that was able to hold my attention. I enjoyed it so much that I bought a case and have given them out to friends and family that I thought would enjoy it. So now that you all are apart of my extended family… I wanted to share them with you. So you want some free stuff? Watch and find out how.

The original working title for “Gospel” was actually “You Know You’re Fat When Your Coat Has Stretch Marks.”  The inspiration behind it came from a raincoat I purchased and held onto all the way through college.  It was picked up during a good swing of a yo-yo dieting and once the weight came back, I found myself unwilling to part with it.

As I continued to gain more weight back, the coat continued to stretch. I was completely unwilling to get rid of it, no matter how tight it became, because it I knew it symbolized yet another failed attempt at weight loss. One day, as I reached to put it on, I noticed there were streaked white lines contrasting the shimmery red cloth. Looking further, I noticed the white streaks were actually micro tears in the fiber of the coat. Much like the streaks on ones body, my coat had stretch marks.

Fast-forward a few years later; the initial concept for my book was quickly becoming an outline and the need for a working title became fairly apparent. The first thing that came to mind was how symbolic my old red coat was.  So, for about 3 years, my little book was known as “You Know Your Fat When You’re Coat Has Stretch Marks.”

…However. The deeper I got into the project, the more I realized how unfitting the title was. For one, it didn’t really address my emotional and psychological problems with food. Two, it was fairly insulting.  My book is designed to empower, not insult. So until I could find something more suiting, I changed the title to T.B.D.

Once I completed the first rough draft and had a moment to reflect on it, I thought about the context that the book took and what it actually meant to me. At its core, the book is my first hand account of my struggles in terms of weight loss, personal acceptance and my unhealthy love of food. More importantly, it’s an in depth look at how I overcame those struggles and found the ability to walk, not run, away from my problems once and for all.

The more I had people read my drafts, the more they kept telling me how it left them with a feeling of hope and inspiration that no other “weight themed/faith inspired” book had ever given them.  I sat back and thought about what could possibly pull all of those attributes together and make sense in the process.

I must pause that story to briefly tell you this one.  Around the same time I found myself craving apologetically themed truth. I wanted to know not just what scripture said, but also the context, time periods and social and economic backgrounds that were in place at the time the books were written. In researching the etymology of the gospels, I found the word gospel at its core to mean “a first had account in which glad tidings and good news is proclaimed.”

Pulling the knowledge from that story into the present one at hand, I looked at my book objectively, what I felt it said and what I hoped it will accomplish. It was as if the title fell right into place.  “The Gospel According to Jeremy.” No, I didn’t like that. This story isn’t just about me; it is about the struggle that two out of every three people in this country now faces.  The Gospel According to Chubby…yes, I think that fits quite well.

And so it is. I took that title and placed it upon all of the items that had been T.B.D. because I could no longer think of a more fitting title. What are your thoughts?