Is being overweight and being a Jedi a good thing?

A strong, healthy spirit will take care of its body. There are medical reasons for some people to be obese, fair enough, but when you know that youre engaging in behavior that is bad for you (when you acknowledge that the behavior isnt worht the consequences) and you continue to do it because you cant stop, thats not a sign of a robust spiritual health and strength.

When our psyches are healthy, we take fairly decent care of ourselves and make appropriate changes when we realize we are slipping into unhealthy habits.

I've never heard of a "healthy lifestyle" being put so boringly.

I just had greek yogurt and oats for breakfast, and I'm on my way to the gym, but I want you to know, just because you make it so sound so goddamn dull, I'm going to have a cigarette after, and I'm going to suck that sweet toxic fume into my lungs, blow out a thick cloud of life-destroying fog, and think "fuck Obi"


(Is Spite a spiritual position?)

JamesSand wrote:

A strong, healthy spirit will take care of its body. There are medical reasons for some people to be obese, fair enough, but when you know that youre engaging in behavior that is bad for you (when you acknowledge that the behavior isnt worht the consequences) and you continue to do it because you cant stop, thats not a sign of a robust spiritual health and strength.

When our psyches are healthy, we take fairly decent care of ourselves and make appropriate changes when we realize we are slipping into unhealthy habits.

I've never heard of a "healthy lifestyle" being put so boringly....

...(Is Spite a spiritual position?)

Lol I think, but probably not a healthy one..

I heard someone say this about balance. (Balance in The Force as well)

True Balance isn't an equal amount of good and evil. You wouldn't consider your life balanced if you had as much bad happen as good. Only when things are running smoothly. Equal highs and lows are different from level ground.. or to that point essentially..

"Let's be all about the build up and not about the tear down!"
-Carlos.Martinez3

Just saying lol

Sven One wrote: "Let's be all about the build up and not about the tear down!"
-Carlos.Martinez3

Just saying lol

In response to what and who ?

Thank you Sven for your original comments and for sharing your progress with us My own thoughts on the matter are that a Jedi, (from what I've gathered) doesn't come in any particular shape, size, color, etc. We all have such varying definitions of what is important in our lives and what is not. I'm in agreement with the person that said we are here to serve others (I believe it was Arisaig), however we may be able to do that. Certainly, there is much to be said about living a healthy lifestyle, and having some measure of fitness, but for the myriad reasons people have supplied here it isn't the only measure that makes one a good Jedi. My physical fitness took a hit after an illness but I still looked for other ways to serve. My military days are over, so needing a body to be used in physical defense or a martial manner is kinda low on my list of priorities. That being said, I don't just sit around and do nothing either. I like to walk, so that is what I end up doing for most of my fitness activity.

To me, helping others has become my priority, however I can. I want my legacy to my children and those who know me to be that I spent my time in the service of others, not that I spent all of my time at the gym. That's just my two cents, lol. This is what is important to me, and I imagine you focus on the things that are important to you If a lot of fitness and being at a certain weight is important to you, you'll focus on that, if other things are more important, you'll focus on those. Don't let some arbitrary notion of fitness dictate your self image. You're so much more than that

Weight loss is primarily an issue of calories. The easiest way to think of it is like this: a calorie (is word that) represents a unit of energy- energy that we get from the food we eat, and that our bodies need in order to function.


Because we evolved in the wild where we might have to go days or weeks without eating, our bodies learned how to save these units of energy (calories) and hold onto them for as long as possible. We do this by turning them into fat. When we consume calories, we cant use them all immediately so we turn them into fat for later use. As we reduce the calories that we consume, our bodies have to burn more of the calories we have been saving, meaning that we reduce our body-fat percentages.

Exercise?

So, when you want to lose weight the single most important question to ask yourself is this: how many calories do i consume in a day, in a week, and in a month?

There is a mantra that goes like this: "a calorie is a calorie is a calorie". From a pure numbers stand point this is true: if your body needs 4000 calories every day to maintain its current weight, and you make sure to eat only 3000 calories every day, youll eventually start losing weight. As long as you maintain the reduced calorie intake, youll keep losing weight until your body has gotten down to a size where it only needs 3000 calories a day to maintain itself. If you continue to follow that basic process of reducing caloric intake, you will continue to lose weight right up until you become a skeleton.

But, for sustainable healthy eating in the long term, we have to have more than a pure "calorie in vs calorie out" view. We have to factor in overall nutritional needs and glycemic index. And if we want to come up with meals plans that we can actually adhere to, we should also consider food satiation.

Macros and fiber

TL:DR or What do i have to actually DO?

Start reading the nutrition info before you buy, eat, or drink anything.

Use an online calorie calculator to get an idea of how many calories you need to eat every day to stay at your current weight.
These calculators are rough estimations, not astro-physic equations. Dont expect precision to the nth degree. The idea here is that the numbers give you a clear frame of reference to begin with. Once youve learned your caloric requirements, start tracking your daily consumption. Dont eat or drink anything if you cant find out how many calories are in it (sometimes you may not have the package but you can still look it up online if you know the brand). Write down how many calories the food contains into a journal and add together all your meal calorie amounts for the day. Do this for about a week.

Once youve gotten an idea of how much youre eating vs how much you need to maintain body weight....

***Make sure that the number of calories that you eat is 300-500 lower than the number of calories that you need to eat for the day to maintain your current weight.***

Calories are one of the first things they tell you on the back of the package but keep in mind that they usually indicate "calories per serving" and theres usually more than one serving in the package. The best way to manage your cals is to learn the foods you like and plan your meals ahead of time. It takes time and work but you can do it and its worth it.

I used this one when i went on my weight cut
http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

Heres another
https://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Cut "white" carbs (white bread, white pasta, white rice) and all sugary junk out of your diet. Get rid of sodas and "snack foods". Look for the words "100% whole wheat" or "whole grain" and eat those. Look for the words "enriched" or "bleached" and DONT eat those.

Reduce or eliminate saturated fat and tran fat, and never eat anything with the word "hydrogenated".

Learn to enjoy water (water is what our bodies really want when we are thirsty and theres really not any other drink thats more satisfying... except for whiskey).
Dont try to lose weight by sweating: thats water weight and youll just gain it back as soon as you drink some fluids. Besides, you need that water in your body so that your cells can do what they need to do.

Eat a lot of vegetables, especially raw ones, and try taking a daily fiber supplement. I found that a fiber supplement really helped me to eat less when i was cutting weight.

I put this last on purpose: get started on a workout program or basic exercise plan or take up some kind of hobby that gets you moving around. Look at spending at least 30-45 minutes a day, 3-4 days a week of moderate effort to begin with. Push yourself to be able increase your effort every two or three workouts. Honestly, my opinion is every jedi who COULD BECOME physically able should be on a plan aimed at developing at least basic athletic aptitude. Im not talking olympic gold here. Theres many different kinds of athletics, and if you look, you can probably find something that you like and something you could be good at.... if youre lucky theyll be the same thing lol but obviously that is your choice to make, not mine.

Man, this took a long time to write, and now that im about to post it i feel i am missing something important... but im also tired lol. I did my best. Im sure i will be editing for the next hour anyway lol. I hope it helps someone.

Sources and suggested readings pt1 (damn you, link restrictions!)

Sources/reading pt2

If after reading all that, and running a food diary, you find you still have trouble maintaining healthiness (I couldn't really care less about mass, but I get it is legitimately part of it)

Then your problem isn't education - it is attitude.

If you ever hear a voice in your head saying "I shouldn't eat this" - listen to it.
Same as if you ever hear a voice saying "I shouldn't have eaten that" - remember, and use the knowledge of history to alter the future


If you ever hear "I should do X activity", listen to it.
If you ever get to the end of the week and hear "my back is sore, my middle bit is squishy, and getting up the stairs is an effort" - use that knowledge to a plan a future where those things don't happen.

Or just be happy with how you are (depending on your country, this might be a morally defensible position, or you might become a burden on your welfare system, meaning the onus is on you to do everything you can to be as healthy as reasonable expectations allow)

(I am fully aware that various injuries and conditions might mean you're not much of a candidate for the olympic high jump team or something, but whatever the state of your meatsack, there is probably *something* you can do to help maintain it in as best condition possible)

Thank you Obi that was a wealth of information my goodness you didn't have to go to all that trouble thank you though and James thank you those are very helpful and "food" to consider in itself.