Optimize Your Health, Fitness & Vitality with Brien Shamp: What Are You Attached To?

I reflect on how the conversation of nutrition is much like politics, religion and recently vaccines…especially with specific diets like the “Blood Type Diet”, “Low Fat Protocols”, “Paleo Diet”, “Atkins Diet”, “The China Study” or “Zone Diet.” This is also true of conversations about the need for grains and dairy.

What I find so interesting is the “attachment” to these programs, foods or a certain lifestyle. Over the last 21 years, I have found the more attached one is to a food, lifestyle or even the same exercise program, it is likely to be the primary culprit of PAIN (weight gain, stress, hormone balance issues, cholesterol, blood pressure, etc.). For food, this is proven by elimination diets and food allergy/sensitivity lab work.

Oh, the stories I have….

• Many continue to meet with the same personal trainer, but receive little physical results and many times pain. Of course, they have a friend they pay each session, but little fat or weight loss.
• Many continue to meet with the same personal trainer, but receive little physical results and many times pain. Of course, they have a friend they pay each session, but little fat or weight loss.
• Many have taken the same spinning class with the same instructor for years and followed them from health club to health club and even gained weight. Yes, they improved their endurance and they have good aerobic capacity, but they started the program to lose their inches of fat.
• Many follow vegetarian lifestyles to avoid the suffering of animals only to suffer themselves with diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, sleep disruption, memory issues, attention deficit, allergies and joint pain. Yes, they digest better because animal proteins are harder to digest and the animals didn’t “suffer”; however, not all animals are treated inhumanely.
• Many follow a diet based upon their blood type or ph and have received some benefits, but they still have not reduced their cholesterol, weight or lost their fat.
• And then there are those that want to lose fat & weight, but are attached to doing exactly what they have been doing, which is nothing specific (The No Plan Diet).

I believe the inability to let go is a key problem. This is something I have really been working on in all areas of my life.  What Are You Attached To That Is Preventing Your Fat Loss?  Have you been following the Insanity Program (doing the same thing over and over without reaching your goals)?  Take a moment to write down things in your lifestyle that you feel you can’t give up.  This list will often include chocolate, dairy, grains, wine, late nights, high intensity training, working all hours of the night, texting, email, The Kardashians, Jersey Shore and those crazy Housewives.

My list has changed over the years. Many who have known me for some time have seen me workout multiple hours a day (not for a while). I was lean & muscular, but I had a distended belly with digestive complaints and extra fat. I thought gas was normal given I had it every 10 minutes. Who knew it was those free bars that Met-Rx gave me and the massive milk consumption I took in daily with the objective to get bigger and better?

I used to be attached to working all day and all night. Now, I shut down much earlier and rarely work past 10 pm. A few years ago, there were many times I would work until 3 am and get up at 6 am. Yes, I am still attached to my work and work more than I probably should, but I love what I do and changing lives. 

One more note, so I don’t get a ton of emails. I do not work all day and often have between 11 am-4 pm off for meditation, family time, etc.
I am now aware that my attachment to work can create lots of pain. When I overdo, I do not recover from workouts well (greater soreness and pain), I tend to get canker sores and I hold onto colds longer than I should. These are all symptoms of too much stress and a weakened immune system.

When over-working, I wake up tired and feel a lack of energy, which leads to poor workouts or no workouts.  I am also more reactive and it comes out mostly with my family and while driving (please do not cut me off on the road).

Lastly, when I work too much, I am unable to give my full energy to others- my Reiki and massage sessions are not as good, my group exercise sessions lack energy and I am not able to come up with the right questions I should be asking when working with people in my one on one sessions.

It is a never ending journey, but awareness of our attachments leads us towards the right direction–> Growth. If you are not growing, you are dying faster each day.  There will never be another day like today, yesterday and tomorrow. Make the most of each day.

What are you attached to? Think about it, write your attachments down and let’s create a plan to overcome them.

Brien Shamp brings you 22 years of experience as a Body Transformation Expert, Personal Trainer, Nutrition & Lifestyle Coach, Massage Therapist, Strength Coach for College & Pro Athletes and Reiki Practitioner. In 2011 he was nominated one of the top ten trainers in the country. Brien has a degree in Biomechanics from UC Davis and extensive graduate studies in Exercise Physiology from SF State. Brien won first place in the Met-Rx World’s Best Personal Trainer Contest in 1999 and was nominated Best in the Bay by KRON 4 for Weight Loss in 2009. He is an active author in Parenting on the Peninsula, Ms. Fitness Magazine and his FREE Blog with thousands of subscribers at www.BrienShamp.com