Mental strength is the second foundational requirement needed to prepare yourself to shed the dad bod. Once you start your spiritual journey, you will start developing skills that will help you work on your mental strength. This is going to look different for everyone, so you will have to determine what is an acceptable mental state to help you accomplish your goals.
Sometimes it is necessary to see a therapist or counselor to help you overcome your mental hurdles. Some people carry baggage from their childhood. Other people are stuck in a rut and don’t know how to get out. Regardless of the mental issues weighing you down, you will need to find a way to overcome the setbacks and hurt in your life so that way you can maximize your full potential in reasonable amount of time with minimal hurdles.
Take control of your mind!
Mental strength is developed by choosing to advance your spiritual walk over choosing food. Some people use food as a coping mechanism. Often times food is used as a way for the person to relax or detach from their issues. Food can also be associated with temporary happiness. Happiness is a short-term feeling that is often met by making short term choices to quickly get a desired result. Joy is a mindset that is consistent and will not give you the highs and lows like happiness will.
When you take control of your mental strength, you set yourself up for success. Bad habits can be instantly shot down and temptations can be avoided. When you take charge of your mind, it will control your actions. When you see food that is off plan, your mind will tell you to keep the focus on the main thing. Any deviation from your plan will be a setback. Small deviations will be minor setbacks, and large deviations will become big issues.
I am not saying that you cannot enjoy food outside of your focused diet as in a cheat meal. What I am saying is that you should plan that food out so that you are in control of the situation and can make adjustments to your diet before, during and after. When you are in control mentally, you can dial your program right back in line and not feel guilty for having something that you enjoy eating outside of your nomal plan.
Shedding the dad bod is a total mental and spiritual game. The mental toughness comes from knowing that you are not alone in this journey. When you feel alone, fall back to the spiritual connection and find peace and comfort knowing that your creator has your back. Often times weight loss is a lonely journey. One spouse may participate in overhauling their lifestyle while the other may choose to sit on the sidelines. I too am guilty of doing this.
Work on your two foundations first.
About seven years ago my wife embarked on a journey to change her life and improve her overall health. She invited me to join, in fact begged me to join, but I was not locked into the two foundations of spiritual strength and mental strength at the time. Lacking these two foundations kept me from having the desire to actively take back control of my life. I found comfort in the foods that I ate and honestly became complacent with being lazy in this aspect of my life.
When you find comfort in laziness, it is extremely hard to get back on track and take control of your life. Though I had mental strength in other areas of my life, I was a weakling when it came to the food that I consumed. The motivation was not there to fully take control of the situation. I tried dozens of times with the intent of joining my wife, only to fall flat on my face a few weeks later. My failure was backed up with countless excuses and the road to personal destruction continued.
Find your motivation objective otherwise known as your why.
Fast forward to now. My son has taken it upon himself to lose over 60 pounds on his own through hard work and a self-imposed strict diet. He is a big fan of Sam Sulek and has found his motivation through watching Sam’s training and online content. I am really proud of my son for taking control of his life and paving his path forward.
A while back I reflected on many things in my life. My kids being one of them. The example that I lead as a dad with poor food choices has been a detriment to their health. As the dad it is my job to lead my family, not my son’s job to motivate me. After seeing his progress week to week, I finally conquered my mental strength and said no more. I am done with the dad bod. This is why I am creating dad bod done.
I want to show you my life overhaul and the process and tools that I use to make it happen. There is plenty of content on every social media platform of how to do this and how to do that. I have tried most of those things over the course of my life. Somethings work great and some just plain suck. There is a lot of intimidating things out there and that is one thing that scares a lot of people away from starting this journey.
I want to do something different. I want to help give you the tools that I use to get rid of the dad bod. Not everyone who embarks on this journey wants to be a gym rat. Not everyone’s body is going to respond the same way to food and exercise. Knowing that is why I laid the two foundations of this journey. Spiritual and mental. If you lock in these two concepts, they will keep you grounded on everything else.