Hamenopi

What a year! If you said last January I'd be cartwheeling and performing pull ups, I'd of looked at you crazy. Why would anyone even do that? At the beginning of 2015, I couldn't scale 3 flights of stairs without stopping for breath. I couldn't perform 5 consecutive push ups without dropping to my knees. Sure, I was down to 250 but obesity wasn't the only thing 35 years of laziness caused. I was out of shape and fitness wasn't even on my radar. Backstory It started with 2015. I was juggling excuses like a circus clown. I was so fixated in trying to control everything, I payed no mind to the talents I possessed. What's more, I wasn't even in control. My first step on the path toward success was becoming aware of where I was. So like how a gamer builds a hero from a peasant in a RPG, I began auditing where I was so I could get to where I wanted to go. I was the level 1 unlikely hero. Now in D&D, you audit abilities and rank skills to measure suc...

Once again, the year is new and resolutions are on the rise. Many sick of the old stand tall and declare change in the air. With defiance against old habits, they swear this year will be different. This year will be new! The bad part is, most resolutions are given up before they come to fruition. The goals die before given a chance to live. But how do we see our goal to the finish? The biggest way I lost 100 pounds and quit smoking was through accountability. I kept a journal and confided in people who wanted to see me succeed. Along the way, through trial and error, I learned tricks to help me succeed better. It has been an amazing journey. But the journey isn't over. As I ascend to my next peak, I realize mastery over the basics is crucial. That said, I'm looking to take in a few people for a wellness mastermind group. This is a group where your chances of success will multiply exponentially. Together we will share successes, failures, and will motivate each other along the ...

In the beginning of this year , I quoted Bilbo Baggins from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring. “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” Since then, I have come to find there is always too much bread. Bread is something you can't control. There's always another interest, another issue, another emergency demanding your immediate attention. What's more, none of us has enough butter or attention to consider the amount of bread piled on our plates. It grows by the minute. Good News. We can control is where we scrape our butter. We control where we pay our attention. Ask yourself, where do you pay yours? 2015 In 2015, I scraped my butter over everything I could get a hold of. With work and family, I was ran a Dungeon & Dragon's Adventure League for the Greater Houston Area. That was 3 full time jobs itself and I didn't even know what I was doing. I also dedicated a lot of my butter to video games and to a struct...

The last few months, I've been ranging around 210-215 lbs. in weight. As you may know, my original goal was under 200 lbs. by the end of the year. The thing is, I'm happy about current weight. I look great and I feel great! So now I am wondering why should I even lose more weight? What's more, instead of going for my original goal, how about I work on another goal (which I have been doing). My new goals are strength based and skill based, like pistol squats and pull ups. Revelation Well yesterday, I had a revelation. It is a lot easier to lift 200 pounds than it is to lift 215 pounds. 15 pounds is significant! I realize remaining where I'm comfortable will prolong my journey toward my next goal. It would behoove me to get under 200 pounds. Not like I can't gain the weigh back once done, right? Anyway, I get more into it in this video. I hope you like it. Share If you know anyone trying to lose weight, send them my way. Maybe I can help them out. Thanks for s...

Last night, I went to bed with a plan to wake up and seize the day. This morning, I woke up with another. It was to hit snooze as many times as I could. Guess which one won? Yup.. Why did the new plan win? Last night, I was confident I'd be up by 5:30. I'd drink 2 glasses of water, stretch and meditate, and read for 30 minutes. Fast forward to morning... What a horrible idea! Who would ever decide such a dumb idea when you can snooze 30 minutes more?! Sound familiar? It's a daily routine. Now, some days my nightly strategy prevails but lately, the morning strategy takes the day. I know the better choice yet I pick the more convenient. I need to start stacking the conditions in my favor again. More specifically, I need to move my alarm away from my bed so I have to get out of bed to turn it off. Then, while standing and out of bed, I have to decide whether to return to bed or to continue to stay awake. I have found when I'm already up, I tend to stay up and I...

Again, on the first day after my ground shaking, earth breaking decision to change... again, I sleep in. Growling with grumbles, today is not a day I want to deal with. Before 8 AM and I'm already done. I'm exhausted! Irritable! Am I the only one who feels this way? I even went to bed at a decent time! Sure it was later than I wanted but earlier than normal. But even with more sleep I wake back more tired than before. I just want to give up. My legs are sore from Monday. My back, stiff from Tuesday. My mind is fluttering like an annoying gnat in a field of uncut grass in the summer. I'm quick to distract. I feel I've only had an hour of sleep. Tell me if you've had a day like this. This litany of lamentations! Confronted with the negativity of this world surrounding me in Scirocco Sandstorms.. But winds also bring change. Even in a maddening dust storm of doubt, I discover things I miss staring into the storm. Like I got up this morning. Even on the wrong side...

Having 3 kids, a wife with long work hours, long commutes, and many other 'things' coming at me proved problematic for living a healthy lifestyle. Or so I thought in January 2016. On the surface, there was no way I could fit an hour of 'gym time' at night. By the time Anne Marie got home, I was exhausted! But Looking back, i realized I was giving up before I even started. Why not? I believed I would fail if I tried. I had no hope! Of course, the person with no hope of succeeding isn't even going to try. But, the only sure way to fail is to not try. I was making excuses . I was content enough with being discontent, I didn't 'care enough' to fail. "Care enough to fail." - Seth Godin I believed my work would be of poor quality because I had no time. But isn't poor quality better than nothing? How long must we starve our goals in anticipation of the perfect solution? And what good is the perfect solution if it is never executed? For we ...

Most of us know drinking salt water is bad. ( And for those who don't, the salt dehydrates you more than the water hydrates. ) But in many aspects, we continue drinking from the dangerous wells of life and wonder why we aren't being satisfied. One aspect is weight loss. Dangerous Wells Junk food is a dangerous well. When you drink ( or in the case, eat ) from the dangerous well of junk food, you are selling your self short term. Stop forfeiting your future for fleeting fixations! You are trading what you want most for what you want now. The junk food looks good now, but the dangerous well of junk food will leave you with less then whence you arrived. It looks good now but it always looks better before than it feels afterward. You know this. Struggle I know it's tough. I struggle too. But the only way we get tough is by getting tough. Declaring no to dangerous wells toughens you so you can fixate your gaze on your goals. Stop compromising on your goals, stop selling yo...

Motivation won't get you far if you don't have direction. Imagine your foot planted, pedal to the medal, tachometer redlining, in the fast lane of a super highway ... but, your car is in park. How far do you go? And how long can your survive like that without blowing your motor? No amount of motivation will help you if you are not willing to take a step in a direction. Without direction, motivation is wasted. So, get out of park. Shift goals into gear and start moving toward them. It's scary. I know. I feel you. But what is more scary? Taking taking step, or remaining where you are? Terror You see, taking the step might seem terrifying, but it's the anticipation we really fear . That's why there's so much build up in scary movies. Alfred Hitchcock said "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it." Many of us are so scared to 'fail' we never try in the first place. We aren't machines. We aren't perfect. We ...

"You are a product of your environment. So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective. Analyze your life in terms of its environment. Are the things around you helping you toward success - or are they holding you back?" - W. Clement Stone Would you hold a weight loss meeting in a donut shop? How about an Alcoholic Anonymous Meeting at a bar? How about a smoking cessation class at a cigar lounge? Environment matters But environment isn't just location, it's also the people you surround yourself with. Are the people you surround yourself with helping you reach your goal or are they holding you back? Maybe it's a good time to take inventory .

(Excerpt of a larger post) One symbol gesture I use is a simple 3x5 note card with my goal on it. It says states my goal weight and my deadline. "I, Justin Hamilton, will weigh under 200 pounds by December 31st, 2016." It has my name denoting ownership, it has my goal weight and it has my deadline. Who, what, and when. If so inclined you could even add a why, where, and how. My why is to be healthy, my where is anywhere, and my how is anyhow. One interesting thing I find is with this card, I'm better able to overshoot my capabilities. From June 2015 to January 2016 I lost 30 pounds. Following the trend, I surmised I'd get to 210 by the new year so I challenged myself that extra 10 pounds. Well by April I hit 230 and I'm already in the high 220s. Sticking to my new trend, I should by under 200 by July which would be amazing. Using my note card definitely helped me do this. How? For the first 3 months, in the morning I'd look at it. When I was shopping g...