Cathy Sassin (Panther), from the original American Gladiators
Please allow me to introduce you to my personal fitness coach, Cathy Sassin.
Cathy is a world renown adventure racer, and as you can see, was one of the original American Gladiators. In the fitness world she is also a published author and expert in the area of nutrition.
I hired Cathy because I witnessed a friend transform from a paunchy middle aged women, to Mrs. Oregon or some such thing. The transformation was incredible.
Cathy's job, in her transformation, was primarily the nutrition piece.
If you look into my family tree, you will find nearly 100% of them to be 100 pounds overweight and nearly all diabetic.
At 50 years of age, I was on the fast track to the same destination. However, that is a destination I have no desire to even visit, let alone live in.
I am telling you all this because my greatest challenge, in this whole process, is changing my belief system. Just the other day, in my conference call with Cathy, she was challenging my obstinate belief in using the scale as a measurement of my success.
You see, I have been given to a certain amount of whining, of late, because the scale isn't producing the results I expect. Certainly some of that is due to the rare scoops of Gelato that mysteriously find their way into my enraptured hands. But mostly, my agitation is the result of 51 years of bad dietary habits, and a completely wrong conception on the wondrous workings of this body, in which I live.
Please continue on...
Here is the deal.
Cathy has given me a prescribed weekly fitness routine, and a completely re-engineered way of eating (four smaller meals each day, with a prescribed amount of calories, properly balanced proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, along with precision as to when we eat, to keep our blood sugars relatively balanced).
I keep a daily log of my compliance to the program, send it to her each week, and then every three weeks or so, we have a phone conference to discuss my progress.
For the phone calls, I measure my weight, and with calipers I also measure the fat on my sub-scapula, my triceps, biceps, iliac-crest and finally my abdomen.
Without fail, I look to the scale to tell me of my progress, and almost without fail, it brings disappointment.
Cathy, with no little amount of vexation, continues to dissuade me of this faulty belief. "You see, she says, "yours is a body which, genetically, is prone to substantial muscle accumulation". That's right, I think to myself, flexing my muscles in my mind. Her words quickly turn me into a 10 year old boy flexing his muscles in front of the mirror. Raaaaah...I am the mighty....
Anyway..back to my story. Sheez!
"Look at it this way", she says. "Let's imagine two, 220 pound men. One has 190 pounds of muscle and water, and 30 pounds of fat. The other has 165 pounds of muscle and water, and 55 pounds of fat. Yet both of these men weigh 220 pounds. You, David, because of your genetic make-up are the earlier version. Furthermore, because muscle weighs significantly more than muscle, you are going to weigh more, with a reasonable amount of fat, then most men in America. That is just your genetics."
Ok! I get it. But you know what? Every single time, of late, that I go to record my measurements, I first jump on the scales and the number on the scales sets my attitude. She is right, she has proven to me that I have put on over 20 pounds of muscle. She has also proven to me that I have gone from 32% body fat, to 19% body fat.
My belief system is wrong! The scales are not my measurement of success! Even though I have not lost the weight I think I should have, I have made incredible progress. And...I am significantly more healthy!
Here is the whole point of this tawdry tale:
As human beings, it is entirely possible for us to hold something as true, and be completely and unabashedly wrong!
So..the real question becomes:
Are you absolutely, without any hesitation whatsoever, certain, and I mean completely fearless in your resolve that you understand your eternal destination?
Let's ask the question this way, What happens when you die? Are you sure? Or is it possible that your belief system is wrong on this?
It is best not to be wrong on this one!
Jesus, from Luke 13:24-30:
"Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.' But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!' In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out."
Christ is very clear here. Many people will find, when it is too late, that their belief system was wrong!
In all your doing, get your name in the Lamb's Book of Life!