You and I have heard it all before, good diet, right amount of exercise, will lead you to a healthy lifestyle! But wait, there’s more! If you buy today we will send you a free …blah-blah-blah, blah.  And more blah.

That’s how I felt about every health and diet commercial that I saw on TV or heard on the radio. They were all trying to convince me of something that I already knew – I had to exercise and change my diet to have a healthy life.  BOO-HOO!!!

I knew then at 285 pounds what I know now at 183. I knew what needed to be done, I just couldn’t do it.
My weight loss journey is something that you’ve probably already heard of before.  Fat guy stops eating fatty foods, starts exercising a little bit, changes his diet, next thing you know, BOOM!

But that’s not what I want to share with you today.  Everybody already knows that story line.  Instead, I want to open your eyes to my realization behind the transformation.  You see, as human beings, we are all naturally born with some sort of common sense.  We are not stupid.  In fact, our brains is what makes us different from animals.  We can receive information.  We can process information.  Sometimes, we can even build information.

So why is it that overweight people continue to eat fatty foods if it will make things worse?
I asked myself that question when my Dole family asked me to share my weight loss story.  At 285 pounds, why did I keep eating and doing what I was doing? I’d go home from work, eat dinner that was composed of 3 to 4 servings of rice, chicken, pork, beef, or whatever was in my fridge. Actually, I should really rephrase that – I devoured.  Back then, I ate until my tummy felt that it was full.  Really full.

So in looking back, my realization is simple – it wasn’t the lack of knowledge that kept me from eating what I ate and not exercising.  Knowledge in our heads doesn’t necessarily mean that we already know it, I believe we only know something when we are walking in it and not until then.  Head knowledge doesn’t do us one bit of good, it has to get down from our heads to our hearts.  It’s the 12 Inch Journey that I now joyfully refer to.  Not just with my health, but with my life.

I started working for Dole in April 2010.  I weighed roughly 264 pounds then.  I knew I needed a new lifestyle.  The knowledge was there, but it wasn’t until I walked into Dole’s cafeteria that was the moment that my head knowledge traveled slowly down to my heart.

Dole’s cafeteria didn’t serve red meat or white rice. Being half Filipino and my other half is also Asian, you know we love our rice.  WE LOVE IT! They only served healthy foods such as vegetables, fish, and salads (all sorts of it).  The food was convenient and didn’t require me to drive out to get food. As a result, I realized that I actually enjoy and like that type of food.

From there, I started purchasing Dole Packaged Foods products – especially the frozen blueberries and strawberries, and canned pineapple to eat at home.  Dole exposed me to the reality that I can eat healthy and enjoy it.  That I can choose to buy quality nutritious and delicious products and take that into my own home.  My lunch at Dole became my dinner as well because I started using Dole products.

Today, I weigh about 183 pounds.  However, let me re-assure you that it’s not just about the weight, really the weight loss is just a byproduct – a byproduct of the lifestyle that I knew of (head knowledge) but finally had a revelation that allowed me to transfer it to my heart (12 Inch Journey).  Because now, even if I tried to eat unhealthy foods or live an unhealthy lifestyle – I simply can’t.
12-inch-journey

I think that is my secret to good health and probably with life too.  If you want to lose weight or if you want to achieve a goal in your life, I suggest that you begin your journey by first understanding your heart. What would it take in order for you to transfer what you know from your brain into your heart?

The healthy eating essentially led me back to my passion and love of life.  I have always believed in God – I always believed that this life is a Gift from God.  And If I was truly thankful of The Gift, then I should really maximize its full potential. Thus, I started loving the idea that I needed to be the best version of me ALL the time.

So the lesson I learned is simple, you have to find that reason to kick start your Heart.  It doesn’t matter how much knowledge you have in your head, how educated you are or how well versed you are with all the diet plans out there.  You can try all of them as I have, but none of them will work if your head knowledge doesn’t make it to your Heart.

Find your “Why”.  Your Why has to be stronger than any other concepts you have in your heart.
My “why” was that I love the Gift of Life.  Whatever task, small or big I do it with a vengeance. When you find your  why, life naturally turns a different page for you – it becomes adorably incredible that things just start happening to you without you even asking for it (like me being asked to share my story…me, someone that you’ve never heard of but now has this tremendous platform to share his story).

Find your Why.  Ignite your heart.   And once it’s ignited and you feel that desire in you to the point where it is so strong that you can’t stop thinking about it – take the leap! Plunge in BOTH feet!  Change your schedule if you have to in order to accommodate a workout regimen.  Find a cardio activity that you actually would enjoy doing – be honest with yourself – find something that you enjoy doing over and over again.

Also take a hard good look at your inventory in your fridge.  Remove the garbage.  Change where you shop for food.  Be vicious about it.  Let the Why in your Heart dictate the actions of your body which will essentially nourish your soul and thereby allowing you to consistently overcome your day to day challenges.

Good luck, thank you for reading, and please by all means – feel free to ask any questions you may have. Happy journey 🙂