The BIG Continuation Of Gluttony

This isn't an official term for what I'm thinking of writing but it is a term that seems to make sense for what a family's generation after generation experience.

I have never been a history buff, I barely had to study History while I was in Home school. I honestly never cared for History, History is the past and why should we live in the past, right? Well perhaps this is just common sense but I never thought of the importance of knowing our history after I watched Gone With The Wind. Yeah I have been watching some old movies lately... I have to say though, the movies expose you to such a different time era. An era that seems so ancient to us but was only 100 or so years ago.

I talked about in my previous blog on how we all seem so preoccupied with something in our life and end up missing out on whats important. For some it's working all the time, for some it's simply not caring about life. What I never knew though, is just how much my ancestor's wanted to live a good life. They wanted to be free, they wanted to never go hungry, they wanted a big happy family. The only way they could obtain this is through blood and sweat. It's not like that now, now this is just automatically assumed to be one of an American's rights. We no longer have to pour our sweat and blood to have a family, to put food on the table, the two main staples of having a fulfilled like. We can live off the government, become obese, and collect unemployment for our disability! I wonder what our ancestor's from 100-130 years ago would think about this type of life? They would probably have their minds blown!

Our ancestor's wanted their children to have a better life than they did. Therefore they just about killed themselves on trying to obtain a better life. Generation after generation we don't know of this life someone had to live to get us where we are today! It's because of their work that we can now sit in our house (or government assist facility) 24/7 if we please. Their strive to live is what gave them LIFE! We no longer have to strive so what are we living for!?

Most Americans aren't living to make a better life for their children, they're just living to get to the next day. There's no long term thought in our choices, because we're comfortable knowing that whatever we do we'll still see another day. If we had the motivation to work because if not we would literally die, we could obtain just about anything we could dream of because this modern America offer's that possibility. What our ancestor's have set out to achieve has been met, and none of us even care or realize it. We take it for granted, something our ancestor's never would have seen coming.

I'm not saying to start taking on more hours at work or to only live to work, we don't have to do that to be wealthy. If we use our mind and are wise about our investments and are professional and brave to accept new challenges we will be successful and still be able to have a life of our own, not of a corporation's. If we choose to accept a minimum job and just get by paying end's meet then that's what our life will be. A life of continued debt, a job we hate and a family we'll never really get to know. Our lives will be worse than the lives our ancestor's that were a living hell. I think our ancestor's lived full quality lives even if they didn't realize it. The quality our most of our lives now is very questionable if you ask me. We all can "live like kings" if we accept a life long debt.

I think about this and I think of a glutton. A person whom just keeps eating and eating becoming so fat they can't even move. The poor thing doesn't even know what to do because they've never had to work for anything in their life. No one taught them that a fulfilling life isn't going to be one they love all the time.

I am very interested when it comes to technology but technology is another aspect of our lives that's killing us before our very own eyes. Imagine life 140 years ago. No way of instant communication. We had to write letters, send telegraphs or travel a distance to see anyone. Now we can talk to a person on the other side of the world in a matter of seconds. We could send them pictures, videos, letters, in a matter of minutes, using the Internet. We're information gluttons and it's not even something we choose to participate in. I think this makes us more prone to not speaking to people as much because we do not sincerely miss them, how could we when we can see and talk to them at anytime we choose?

I'm thinking about the reason on why I'm writing this and I'm wondering... I am more knowledgeable than the average person on technology. I'm not saying I'm a genius but if anyone has access to data/information or any other benefit of using the Internet, it would be me. I could hack my cell phone to share a hotspot connection with my router. I could then share that connection with all the computers and telephones for world wide calling in my home. I could use that connection to download movies currently at theaters, I could download and watch any TV show or movie ever created. I could download any game for any game console ever made. I can get programs worth thousands of dollars that professionals use in Hollywood movies. All with a 25 dollar a month cell phone that's not intended to do any more than talk to someone locally and maybe browse a webpage or send a text message. There's so many other things I could do but my point is, if anyone has to have a cheap way to communicate with the world, I'd know or could learn how to obtain it.
I'm saying this because technology is corrupting human contact and natural experiences that we're meant to have with other people. All this technology some times gets me excited but at the same time I toss it to the side and am beginning to not be impressed with any thing. Some people wait in lines for a week to get the new Apple device. I don't even know on what these people do with their 800 dollar Ipads. Do they sit in their recliner next to their computer and laptop viewing that same webpages they could view 2 feet from them? Do they go to public hotspots and transfer personal information over an unencrypted network and realize what they're doing? Technology will continue to advance but I don't see a need for the average consumer to keep up with new technology any more. We can't get information any faster than instantaneously.
Here I've said all this while anxiously waiting for Virgin Mobile to activate my new Android cell phone, lol. It's ok to enjoy the benefits of technology but with EVERYTHING in life, you have to do it in moderation. If and when I have kids they will not be spoiled with technology. There will be one computer in the house in the main living area and they'll be allowed a phone when they reach a certain age of when I deem it as necessary out of their own safety.

You know of what I said I know for some people this will not apply, especially with my generation. in two more generations from now though technology will be necessary to live even more than it is now. I wonder if people will even have relationships or real world experiences very often without technology assisting them. I think for the poor this will even be more so true. If people can't work they'll be at home all their lives with no motivation to even go outside. Their food will continue coming from the government, access to the Internet will be completely free by then for any devices. Their life and stimulations will be sustained by the Internet. I find it scary because I predict that in a future generation it will come true. Imagine people only living until they're 40, well we'll probably have technology to replace organs at that time too. We'll literally be living on technology... I'm glad I'm living when I'm living, I hope this blog will remind people of what their life shouldn't be!

Work til Death...

I was thinking... Ever since our ancestors migrated to America, we have had the mentality that working hard will bring us success. America is the land of opportunity and you will become successful with hard work, but I have to wonder, how much work is it worth to try becoming successful?

Is it worth being a selfish person only looking out for yourself?
Is it worth spending no time with your family?
Is it worth waking up day after day and dreading what's to come for the day?
Is it worth working yourself so hard you think that perhaps dying will be you're one and only time of peace?

There needs to be a balance of work and time for life. I know some people from the Philippines and they don't have a lot of worldy possessions but they do have a lot of friends and family. They value the natural things in life, laughing, loving, family, friends, natural no trill foods, they seem to live below their means. Now this isn't only Philippine people that live this way, there's many cultures and ethnicities that value the more "natural", "free" things of life and not so concentrated at being rich with money. I remember reading that the Japanese have a psychology of everyone working together as a team rather than against each other. They help one another, even if their strangers they still respect everyone and willing to help. Their mentality is actually why car makers like Toyota and Honda have such great reputations over there and here. Their employees value their work like it was their own company. I feel that Americans are more likely to stab someone in the back to get a promotion if required. Of course this doesn't apply to everyone but I think anyone who is too obsessed with being successful may become corrupted in it.

What made me think of this is watching the movie, Cool Hand Luke. I normally don't mind a depressing movie if it had a good story, but this movie was only about someone unwilling to conform to the way of working and living to work trying to become successful. Now I commend him for thinking this way, thinking of expecting something more from his life other than working for all of it. What I also got from it was a glimpse into someone else's way of thinking. They said it was one of their favorite movies and this is why I was writing this blog. I was wondering on why someone would consider this their favorite movie. Perhaps they related to this movie which is why they liked it so much. I mean think of your favorite movie, surely there is something you can relate to it about. I think this old "American Dream" is a sickness we've gotten in our minds, it's something that had repercussions we weren't aware of. If we don't learn from our mistakes and get some sort of balance in our life, we're going to live a life we regret. The only part of our life we're going to enjoy is our death. That's a horrible way to spend your time here on earth and not how our time on earth was supposed to be spent.

Close To The Core

So in my recent blog, "A New Angle" I mention about finding the motivation to start working out. What I mention in that blog is what  I believe finally got me to start. What's enabling me to continue is my long time obsession with wanting to look in shape. It's never good to be obsessed with anything but in my case the obsession is helping me to continue working harder toward my goals. There's actually a term for an obsession with the male physique and it's named, "The Adonis Complex". I believe people become obsessed for different reasons and in my situation I think it's because I've never known what it's like to be in shape and have missed a lot from being overweight. Maybe not really missed out, but lacked the confidence to live a typical/average life.

I write this blog (and all of my blogs) for other people that may be going through the same thing as I. For the person whom may have no one else to talk to about it and wonders if they're "normal". I know a guy that has been through this very same situation and it's messed with his mind. I'm not going into specifics here but if you're not careful obsession can lead to corruption. If you wanna talk about being obsessed with anything feel free to get in contact with me! Knowing you're "normal" and others might think the same way as you can be the first step into handling your problems. Anywho...

This might seem strange but I'll sometimes project my thoughts and self into a different person I'll see who might be in the shape I'd like to be in. I'll try to imagine living their life and think of the things I'd have the confidence to do. When I "remove" myself from them, I notice on how they don't realize their own capability. Perhaps they have created insecurities that prevents them living a fulfilled life, just like myself! I was looking at old pictures of myself from about 6 years ago and realize on how much better and actually attractive I looked. Yet at the time, all I was thinking was how fat, ugly, stupid and how much better everyone else was around me. I wouldn't let myself live. To be honest, I'm probably doing the same thing right now. I may be attractive to some people but I cannot let myself become close to anyone because I still feel insecure about my body. When I reach my goal weight though, and reread this blog, I'm going to remember... No matter what I think of myself, I LOOK GREAT! Stop obsessing and accept the fact that the goal has been met and I am no long morbidly obese!

I think if everyone thought this way about themselves we would all have so much more confidence and accomplish so much more in our lives! I already think you're perfect so why should you be worried on how other people may perceive you? In my most recent blog I mention on how I feel like I had an "epiphany" over the weekend. I think this feeling comes from finally realizing that we are all truly human. We all have most of the same thoughts, we all want the same things in life and some of us cannot always control or stop the extreme obsessive ways our mind may think. Realizing that your MTP (Mental Thought Process) is slightly out of whack, is the first step in defeating it. I'm almost 26 and it took me this long to figure it out. You might wonder if something happened to finally make me realize and yeah something did happen. I met someone I'd normally feel super insecure around and by realizing and applying what I just wrote about, made me feel at ease. Might sound easy to those who know nothing about being morbidly over weight or socially anxious but to those who do, you know the excruciating feeling and can imagine having it disappear.

Quick check in...

Howdy! The weight loss progress is going great! I'm down to 310, lost 18 pounds in a month! I'm excited! I really want to write a long post but this is going to stay short since it's already late and i need to make some lunches for tomorrow and other things...

The past posts about mentality and there only being NOW is so true! I've been really motivated to lose weight but it feels like within the past week I've had some sort of epiphany.. I just feel like I'm on top and anything is within my reach if I only control the NOW. Stop worrying about the future or the past, stop listening to negative people around you, stop telling your self you're no good! Just do these things and you too will notice a difference!

I am excited to get to my goal weight of 200 pounds, if I can lose 3-4 pounds a week I should be there by the end of this year! I am always working on getting out of some of this lousy debt and it too feels great! Being a slave to debt is almost worse than being over weight, almost.

Excited and looking forward to traveling after losing this weight! It's been a long time desire of mine to just leave everything behind and travel around America, working job to job just to get by and see the next place! Might sound crazy yes, but it's something I need to do for myself!

5 Reasons to Work Out!

From: http://www.active.com/women/Articles/5-reasons-to-workout.htm?cmp=17-1-324

Healthy heart. Stronger bones. Leaner muscle mass. Faster metabolism. The benefits of exercise are far-reaching, and most of us are familiar with the advantages of working up a sweat. We know that exercise helps trim the waistline, tone the biceps and build cardiovascular fitness.

There are other benefits to exercise that may surprise you. According to recent research studies, exercise has been linked to increased mental capacity, better moods and even decreased likelihood for developing cancer. Jazzercise Founder and CEO Judi Sheppard Missett shares these five benefits of regular exercise.

Exercise Boosts Brainpower

Climb stairs to increase your IQ? Believe it or not, exercise can actually make you smarter. At the University of Washington School of Medicine, research study participants, who engaged in aerobic exercise for 45 to 60 minutes, four days per week, showed greater gains in mental skills than the non-exercisers. Meanwhile, researchers at the UCLA School of Medicine report that obese adults have about eight percent less brain volume than adults at normal weights.

Exercise Improves Your Mood

The next time you’re feeling down in the dumps, go for a walk or hop on your beach cruiser. The American Journal of Preventative Medicine reports that women who walk at least 7,500 steps per day are 50 percent less likely to suffer from depression than women who remain sedentary.

It doesn’t matter how you get the 7,500 steps. Participating in an aerobics-style exercise class will add-up to 7,500 steps in a jiffy. But, don’t be dismayed if you can’t make it to class every day. Walk the stairs at lunchtime for 10 minutes, take a couple laps around your office building for an afternoon break, then take a stroll around the neighborhood later in the evening.

Exercise Battles Cancer

Over the past decade, dozens of scientists have recommended exercise as a means to ward-off cancer. More recently, researchers are also suggesting that cancer survivors should engage in regular exercise to ease fatigue, minimize the risk of recurrence, and improve quality of life. Just last month, the American College of Sports Medicine published guidelines that advise cancer survivors to shoot for two and a half hours of exercise per week.

Exercise Banishes Cravings

If you’ve ever logged an extra two hours on the stair-stepper to compensate for that giant slice of banana cream pie, you’re not alone. And while exercise certainly burns calories from gluttonous eating sprees, new research delivers even better news. It looks like regular workouts can actually help us ward-off cravings before we dive into the cookie jar.

According to research published in the American Journal of Physiology, individuals who participated in cardiovascular or strength-training exercises reported significantly fewer hunger pangs and cravings than their sedentary counterparts. That’s because exercise causes blood flow to divert from the stomach to your muscles that are hard at work, thus lessening hunger.

Exercise Helps You Make a Good Impression

Headed to a job interview? Meeting your future mother-in-law? Use exercise to help you make a good first impression. In a study at the University of Alberta in Canada, 450 participants responded more positively towards individuals who exercise versus folks who avoid fitness. The study participants described the exercisers as happier, healthier, and more energetic than non-exercisers

Gaming Piracy, Killing The Experience...

I was reading a couple of threads over at the GBATemp 3DS boards and saw how everyone was worried that pirating the 3DS would lead to killing the machine over time. Perhaps developers would stop developing games or maybe the quality wouldn't be as great as it could be. This may be true, but for me, piracy does more than damage sales for Nintendo. I've realized that piracy damages the whole gaming experience.

I grew up with the Sega Genesis, I can still remember my mom purchasing the system and the included Sonic 1 (and mail in certificate for Sonic 2) that came with the system. I can also remember wanting so many of the new games for the Genesis like, Sonic 3/Knuckles, Aladdin, Jurassic Park, Rocket Knight Adventures, etc... In order to get these though I had to mow lawns or do chores around the house and save my money for them! The other option was to wait throughout the year for my birthday or Christmas. Anyway what I'm getting to is, I appreciated these games because I had to work for them. To this day my favorite game is still Sonic 1. In this age of the Internet we expect things instantly, and most of us here can usually succeed at obtaining this. As a child I could only dream of having every game for every system. I guess the thought of all the work and money I would have to put in to obtain every game just seemed unimaginable. Now that we have the internet, the whole EUR, USA & JAP collections for many recent generation systems can be had in a matter of hours (or minutes). You can no longer admire that game case, artwork and physical media sitting on your shelf that you worked so hard for. Our games sit on a memory card waiting to be played, which most of the time doesn't happen because the care to play just isn't there like it is when you review a game, anticipate a game, rent the game and buy the game.

So don't be so worried about the system dying, be more concerned with the experience you lose when downloading a game. Anyone out there agree with me?

A New Angle - Reflection of Emotion

I've been meaning to post a blog for quite a while now! I have been busy with work and also hitting the gym pretty hard! I don't really know where this motivated came from, but it's here, and here to stay! Actually I kinda have a clue and yeah I'll tell it to you...

I had a dream (what's new right, I'm sure I sound like MLK by now!) that my grandmother (Rita) came over my place to visit. Well when she came walking in she says, Mark every time I see you you're gaining more weight! Why don't you start eating healthier and get serious about exercising!? I said, well Nanny it's so expensive to eat healthy and buy organically! She exclaimed, "Mark, this is your health we're talking about, the expense should not be a hindrance!"

So ever since that dream I've been hitting the gym and decided to get serious about losing weight. I truly believe our dreams should not be taken lightly, there's always a purpose behind them it seems. Anywho... I've got a personal trainer as someone to be accountable to, and of course to show me how to properly workout and what I should be doing. For me the psycho-logic factor of knowing he's going to see what I eat and my true progress motivates me to strive for doing better.

Ok, now for the juicy deep thought stuff that I've been anxiously wanting to write about! lol, I'm crazy, I know!

Over just the past two weeks I have come to realize the real value of eating right. I've been putting good healthy natural food into my body and it's already making a huge difference! I sleep better for starters. I've only lost 12 pounds within the past 2 weeks but yes, I already notice a huge difference. I would normally jump up during sleep because I had the sensation of feeling my heart beat, and sometimes thinking it stopped. I thought about this more but I think what I had going on was sleep apnea. I stopped breathing during my sleep which would make me jump up once I realized I wasn't getting air. I am usually very private about my health but I am writing this for my future self so I remember what it was like being 328 pounds. I would dread going to sleep because I always thought of the horrible feeling of jumping up. It's so terrible but this the real life stuff that comes with being overweight. I realize I should have had a doctor look into this but heart issues completely fear me. Perhaps my Dad telling me of the clogged arteries my Grandfather had and the open heart surgery procedure to install stints and how I would follow in those footsteps if I'm heavy, has something to do with it? Yet did they teach me how to eat healthy, (besides buying a fresh can of green beans) to go with the red meat, potatoes and bread for dinner. I'm not blaming my parents for my weight gain but if you never give a child crap for food they will never crave it. That's just common sense, anywayz where was I...

Ah yes, there are two areas to be worked on when losing weight! I know this because I've been through it (knowledge+ experience = wisdom, remember that) Those two areas are, (obviously) your physical body and your mentality. My trainer said 70% of losing weight depends on what you eat. This may be true but I say 100% of being successful is your mentality! If it wasn't for me deciding ok, let's get serious about losing this weight how would I ever be successful? If I tell myself I can't do it, guess what, I won't do it! You are what you tell yourself. One of my blogs comes to mind about Humans having the ability to summon an emotion or a shot of adrenaline whenever you choose. During my first week of working about I thought to myself, ah I worked really hard last night, I am so tired I just wanna go home to rest and I'll work out really good tomorrow. Well I got no rest and tomorrow comes and guess what, I'm way to tired to work out! My thoughts held me back all the time. So what do I do? I don't think about it! I tell myself I'm going to the gym and that's all there is to it now. Working out a eating healthy is going to be a part of my life. Some nights I feel like I just wanna go home and veg on my sofa. Physically I'm tired, but I push those thoughts to the side and my mind empowers my body to keep moving on. I believe all of us have this ability, it's just a matter of utilizing it. Perhaps this sounds like "will power" but for me it's something more. When I see a warm cinnabon coming from the oven with a thick sweet glaze covering it, holding myself back from eating it is "will power". Not allowing my mind to give into my human way of thinking is more than just will power. I'm honestly not sure what you would call it but it's something we all can do if we want to.

I've been dealing with depression and partially because of my weight but the other part because I just think all wrongly about myself. I look at other people and see how much more in shape they are than me and along with that feeling comes, they're smarter than me, which intimidates me. Imagine living a life where you feel everyone is better than you. You don't even know the person but because they might be skinner you feel completely worthless to them. I feel like I can't even speak to them because they might catch on to how stupid I feel or maybe they'll be looking at the fat on my body in disgust. I have lived so many of my years feeling this insecurity and I just want it to go away. Problem is, losing weight doesn't mean you change you're way of thinking... (remember I've been there from losing weight once). Your mental health plays such a huge role into losing weight and keeping it off! How does one "exercise" or "eat right" for our mentality?

Have you ever heard the expression, 'Garbage in equal garbage out"? That's how our minds work. If we fill it full of garbage well then how do you expect something good to come out of it? If we're addicted to alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, etc. eventually our minds will be corrupted and losing weight ultimately won't be lasting. We have to put fresh, pure things into out mind and think of our life a whole new positive way. If we don't do this our negativity will overtake our lives and effect all parts of our life including weather we lose weight and keep it off. If we can do this, losing weight will only be something we work at because we realize how silly we've been thinking all our lives.

So in conclusion, my opinion of what matters most in losing weight is not what you eat, is not if you exercise, it's how we think about ourselves and what we're allowing to come into our minds. If we have a corrupted mindset, losing weight will just be so much more excruciating to the point of not even caring if your life gets any better. I believe our mentality is the stem to all of our personal troubles and problems.