5 F’s to Transform Your Life
Backstory
August 13th, 2021 is a day that many things changed for me. It was the day I decided to transform my life and take control of things that were important to me.
Throughout this article I have 5 F’s detailed that encompass the things that I relied on to help me lose 85 pounds and change my lifestyle forever.
Transformation pictures linked at bottom
- Faith
Growing up I was raised in a faith-centric home thanks to my parents, but as many college age men do, I struggled a lot in being consistent and devoted to my faith. This struggle ultimately manifested itself after the loss of my best friend in 2019. For two years I battled with God and asked, “Why me?” Instead of asking what I could do to shine light on his glory.
One verse changed my life when I read it in August of 2021.
Isaiah 41:10 says, “So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
I thought to myself why am I consistently living in fear of making changes when God tells me he is giving me strength and upholding me with his hands?
From that day I have been able to rely on my faith again to pull me through any struggles I may have and lean on God for strength when life gets difficult.
2. Fitness
As overused of an analogy as it is, fitness is 100% comparable to building a home. Brick by Brick & Day after Day focusing on being 1% better. That slow progression is what had stopped me in the past but digging my heels in and relying on my faith for strength day after day allowed me to lose all 85 pounds that I wanted to lose and allowed me to build a love for fitness that will stay with me.
Personally, I have relied on strength training and running to increase my overall fitness levels. Running allows me the opportunity to have quiet time and develop my faith while strength training has allowed me to set goals and attain them over and over (with many failures in between).
Another important tip on the aspect of fitness is that it encompasses many different worlds of exercise, and you can do anything you want to be active. It does not have to be running miles and lifting weights…. It can be something as simple as walking everyday but committing to a routine overtime will 100% produce desirable results.
3. Family/Friends
When undertaking any hard task, I am a firm believer that a strong support system is necessary. That support system for me was and is my family and friends day in and day out.
Along with support, I relied on my family for daily inspiration. In particular my grandpa. A little over a year ago he had a massive stroke that left him fairly immobile to how he was previously. While that has taken a toll on his spirits a bit, we recently watched him walk up a flight of stairs at 86 years old. I sat back and thought at 22 why would I not use that as my inspiration and admit to myself there is no good excuse for me to not do my 5-mile run today?
I am blessed beyond belief with the people who surround me, and I realize not everyone has that, but I am convinced that everyone has some network of individuals to rely on for support and help when they need it.
4. Food
The most important part of losing weight and building fitness is food, 100% no questions asked. I’ll preface this discussion by also admitting that it is the most difficult to stay consistent with over long periods of time. While fad diets can work in the short term, I am a believer that cutting out a macronutrient from a diet forever is a bad way to lose weight sustainably.
For me, I focused on whole foods and lean proteins and ate in a slight caloric deficit overtime to continually progress. My diet consisted of a few staples that are easy for anyone to prepare and use:
- Lean Chicken/Fish/Ground Beef
- Rice, Oats, Potatoes, & Pasta
- Eggs and Greek Yogurt
- Berries, Peaches, Vegetable Medleys
For me, food discipline was not a major issue as living a busy life in college is very conducive to simple meal preps to make things easy. The best diet in the world is the one that you can stick to long term which is why you will still see me eating cookies often.
5. Focus
What I have learned is that life is a constant cycle of distractions and commitments that derail. Plans are made to change, and it is completely okay if they do but focusing on the ultimate goal and prioritizing life around those goals is key to long-term successes. I don’t ever advertise missing out on fun times and events with loved ones because time is one thing that you can never get back, but I do recommend being cognizant of the choices that you make because focusing on that unlocks a world of change.
The minute that I became more in tune and focused on my decisions is the day that I was able to make a multitude of transformative changes.
I hope that implementing these F’s into your life can help you make whatever change you want. Failure followed by betterment overtime leads to success and relying on and using these principles is something that I believe has helped me succeed over the last year.
Blake Slinkard
