How to deal with anxiety, depression, grief or any other undesirable emotion.
🧠 Plus: Creating a weight loss identity, sweating the small stuff, and breathing as medicine.
Hey — It’s Dean.
Welcome to the 126th consecutive edition of the PWL newsletter.
It is also day 1297 of my weight loss journey.
Here’s today’s menu for success…
3 things to (re)think
2 must-see visuals
1 valuable resource
Let’s do this.
🥇Behaviour that is not in alignment with who you think you are will not last.
If you think that losing weight is impossible for you, then no matter how many solutions you purchase, that identity will sabotage every new behaviour you attempt to adopt.
The solution starts with adopting a new identity.
If you want to quit smoking then start calling yourself a non-smoker.
If you want to get up earlier then start calling yourself an early riser.
If you want to start a business, start calling yourself an entrepreneur.
When you change how you identify, you instinctively adopt behaviours that are in alignment with that identity.
— Try this —
Create a new weight loss identity by completing this sentence.
I am a _____________________.🥈Eliminate foods that could eliminate you.
The older I get the more I realize how much of a miracle it is that we get to whatever age we get to.
A tremendous amount of luck must go our way for that to happen.
And when it comes to my health, I can skew the odds of luck in my favour by proactively eliminately foods that might eliminate me.
The 3 categories I focus on are…
Refined sugars and sweeteners.
Chemical additives.
Alcohol.
The first two are fuel for cancers, contagions and other fatal conditions that may prematurely end my time on the planet. The third impairs decision making where I might do, say or eat something that has dire consequences.
— Your takeaway —
Skew luck in your favour by becoming a proactive eater.
🥉The most effective way to deal with anxiety, stress or grief is to get out of you head and into your hands.
I struggle with my sleep. For instance, last night I woke up 5 times. That’s a normal night for me.
This started happening about 5 years ago and it got so bad I started suffering from anxiety. I was afraid to go to bed.
This went on for a few months and then I remembered a story I read in “How to stop worrying and start living” by Dale Carnegie.
He shared the story of a gentleman who had lost his 5 year old son to cancer.
After 10 months of grieving and living in a fog, the guy realized he had to do something to try and start living again.
His solution was to go around the house and make a list of everything that needed to be repaired.
His list included 237 things and he just started with the first item and began working through his list.
That act was life-changing for him.
The more I reflected on the story the more I realized that what he did to overcome his grief was to get out of his head and into his hands.
So that’s what I did to eliminate my sleep anxiety.
Every time I woke up, rather than focus on my anxiety (getting into my head,) I did something with my hands.
Here’s what I did last night…
I pre-made my salad for today.
I put in a load of laundry.
I got my coffee ready for the morning.
I chopped up veggies for future meals.
I organized/put stuff away.
I still wake up a lot during the night, but I don’t suffer from anxiety anymore.
— Your takeaway —
When you are suffering from anxiety, depression, loneliness, grief, or any other undesired emotion, try this…
Get out of your head and into your hands! 
🥇Here’s why I weigh myself every day.
To correct my weight gain issues as soon as possible.
After 1297 days, I have learned that my body weight sweet spot is between 150 and 153lbs.
I have stayed within the range for 55 days in a row. (Another streak I track.)
But you can see that over the past week my weight is trending upwards ever so slightly.
I’m still within my sweet spot, but that upward trend tells me something is off that I need to address now.
That’s why weighing myself every day is invaluable. I can identify and correct my problems in their infancy.
— Your takeaway —
Sweat the small stuff so you NEVER have to deal with the big stuff.
🥈Another simple but powerful tool to track weight loss success.
The scale is one tool I use to track my weight loss success. But it’s not the only tool I use.
Last week, I revealed that I use pant sizes as one.
But another is my “fat” belt.
I find my pants and belt to be a more tangible way to see and feel my weight loss that the number on the scale simply can’t capture.
— Your takeaway —
Find compelling ways to capture your success.
🥇Breath by James Nestor
I shared this in a previous newsletter, but I never got around to reading this book until last month.
And let me tell you — it’s been a game-changer.
So much so, that I have since added a nasal breathing practice as one of my 10 essential habits that I do every single day.
— Your takeaway —
Breathing is not something we think about on our journey to building incredible health, BUT it should be.
It is powerful medicine when we learn how to do it correctly.
That’s it for today.
If you enjoyed this breakdown, please consider sharing it with your friends. I work hard to create high-quality content, and every new subscriber helps.
See you next Sunday my friend.
And hey — keep being awesome.
Dean 🇨🇦
Tired of struggling with your weight? Here’s why I can help.
I do premium one-on-one coaching for those looking to lose at least 10% of unwanted body weight.
I have lost 23% of unwanted Dean and it has transformed my entire life.
Imagine how your life would change if you could lose 5%, 10% or more of unwanted you.
To learn more start here.
To book a time to chat click here. It’s free.
PS. I’m also the proof that my approach works. And I have done this at an age (57) when people think such transformation is not possible.
