The 7 Parts of a Behavioural Slimming Festival

I hate the word ‘diet’ but, when you’re over forty and fat, something is needed. So here are my five slimming steps in all their glory:

1. Fast 16 hours every day (but drink tea)
2. Eat two meals, not three (nice ones)
3. Eat smaller portions you greedy bugger
4. No snacks between meals (except chips)
5. Break all these rules at least once a week

And for the truly devoted – which Chancer is – add two more:

6. Run 5km six days a week (don’t wreck your knees)
7. Pray 

(another name for meditation silly)

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I care how I look – my ego flourishes on it – and I’ve noticed that most people over 90 are pretty slim. And before you start jumping up and down accusing me of fat-shaming people – go online and read the research. Study after study comes to a similar conclusion – inappropriate body weight increases your chances of a shorter life span.

Even the Buddhists weigh in on this. 

There is a teaching – which I heard at Tibet House in Tokyo in 2005 but could never find the source text - which spells out nine reasons why our life is cut short. And of these nine, FIVE are around our habits of eating. Things like the kind of foods you eat, the times you eat, the amount you eat, how you eat, the days you eat, etc.

Well.

I want to live long. Very long.

In fact, I have a countdown to my 85th birthday going on. It’s already year 22, and my mission to bring Alexander’s discovery into Japanese mainstream is still looking wonky, even with the 21 years I have left.

And the key to be able to follow conscious decisions is, well, the ability to follow conscious decisions.

You do that by practising. 

And - – before you tackle an epic quest like restructuring your biological behaviour around food – you better start with the simpler things. Sitting, standing, walking and talking is one way to start.

With FM Alexander – during the first half of the 19th century – you started by getting in and out of a chair. Of course, in FM’s mind, it was this:

“It’s not getting in and out of chairs even under the best of conditions that is of any value: that is simply physical culture. 
It is what you have been doing in preparation that counts when it comes to making movements.”

***

Today at BodyChance you can still do that – and you can also sing, play your musical instrument, practice a job interview or find a better way to do your Radio Exercises every morning.

What is happening in your lessons?

Learning to use your conscious Self to manage your biological Self is the order of the day in modern Alexscovery lessons. It’s an adventure, developing a skill set to climb the mountains of change that are looming in human life.

It’s an adventure you can start today. My BodyThinking Online course is chock full of insights and tips for consciously managing your movement system.

For this month at least, it comes with a personal coaching session.

https://bodychance.mykajabi.com/store/oTZvjLye