The Purpose Driven Life

I know a lot of successful people who will say the secret to their success lies in setting goals and although I agree 250% I need to add one this to it.

PURPOSE and PROCESS

A goal without purpose is like an idea without a mind.

So whether your goal is to get back in shape, have a great family or have a kabillion dollars in the bank it's mearely an ambition until you apply purpose and process to it.

The whole concept of purpose is pretty extraordinary. I recommend watching the 2nd Matrix movie to get a better understanding of the importance of purpose (but this time watch it for the philosophy not for the action).

Why do you want your goal? Will your goal actually fulfill you or upset you?
Confused yet? Let me explain.

1. I set a goal to lose weight.

2. This means SACRIFICE. Losing weight predicates that I have to GIVE UP Doritos and all of the junk food I love. This makes me sad. Every time I don't eat Doritos I'm more sad. If I tell myself that I can never eat Doritos again I'll be in perpetual sadness and in sacrifice mode.

3. Therefore I want to be happy. I eat Doritos and lose miss my goal.

Why did this fail? Purpose and Process where missing.

I find often times it's a question of symantics to reaching your goals.
Instead of saying I want to lose weight I say "I want to live a healthy lifestyle". Notice this is much less specific.

1. Because I've been less specific about how I'm going to reach my goal I give up Doritos I'm HAPPY because I've CHOSEN it in order to meet my criteria. I can still eat Doritos tomorrow if I choose to then.
2. If I work out today I'm happy because I've chosen it. However, if I don't do it today then tomorrow will be fine.

My commitment is to the lifestyle, not to the goal. This is where PURPOSE comes in. The process is how I do it. I have many options to losing weight, eating better, less alcohol, more exercise. I don't ever have to limit myself to one area.

Now, weight loss is just an example here but in my experience this applies to all goals in life.

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.

Show 'n Tell (My first Before and After Pics)

Ok, I'm about to do something that is very hard for me!! I'm still very uncomfortable showing these pictures because I know I don't look good in them and it is very very very very hard to put them on display like this...me...at my worst.

I guess I'm hoping to inspire someone to maybe grab onto the reigns. Also, I'm FUCKING PROUD of myself for what I've accomplished so far. I'm on my way!! Just like everything in life, it's a work in progress.

But it's been a long journey and I realized that the only thing I really needed was a change in mindset.

This picture was taken in 2000 during our visit to Montreal. My shirt? Fresh out of a case of Molson Canadian. Obviously I was carrying my own keg too! No, I was not smuggling a keg under my shirt! Out of every picture of me ever taken I hate this one the most.


Next, was when I started walking during breaks at work and eating Subway for lunch (the Jared thing). Now, although not amazing I felt like a million bucks! This was the best I had looked in a long time and definitely a big improvement over the 2000.



This is the from the same vacation but is the most difficult one for me to show because you can see me in all of my glory. Again, a big improvement over the Montreal picture but still..hardly ideal and not at all flattering. I felt pretty bad about myself when I saw this.


Anyway, here is the first "after" picture you can see where I'm showing more than an arm.

I mentioned in a post on my other blog that Sebastian the "Phat Cat" hangs out with me when I work out. If there is anyone who doubted it:


He spends the whole workout with me.

Lastly, the coolest picture of me ever I think.


I can hardly believe I'm looking at a picture of myself!! I'm still pretty shocked every time I see it.

Wish me luck for the next round!

I got a bike - Hurray

Just got back from a day at work. Sweet news though, on the way home I stopped at Crappy Tire and bought a bike.

I pick it up on Saturday because it won't fit in the car and I didn't want to drive it home in my work clothes tonight.

Another notch on the belt

I had a great experience this past weekend. For the first time I have been able to pull all of my belts to the smallest notch.

What a great feeling that was. It's not every day that you get a thrill like that now is it?

I also realized that my friend B$ didn't understand that this is actually me!

Yes, to my friends it's quite shocking.

So, what is my current routine? (Please note I am not a fitness expert whatsoever so don't think that I know what I'm talking about. This is just what I do and may not actually be right for you.)

Well it depends on the day.

Every other day I do my Bowflex routine and every other day (mixed in) I do the treadmill until I burn at least 200 calories (that means time on this varies with my goal being shorter runs).

At first, 200 calories wasn't easy for me! Believe it or not it would take me upwards of 30 minutes to burn that off moving at about 2.5-3.5 mph.

Now, I can do it in about 15 minutes most of the time at about 5.5 mph so I'll stay on the treadmill for another 5 to 10 minutes to break past that point. If I'm doing treadmill on the weekend I'll usually dedicate a bit more time to it and go for about 45 minutes and do about 350 - 400 calories depending on intensity. It really is amazing how fast you improve at running. I was doing my regular huffing and puffing when I decided to increase the intensity of the jog. Then, I realized I wasn't huffing or puffing any harder that I was earlier! Now, the huffing and puffing have all but stopped.

I'm planning on getting a bicycle this summer to mix it up a bit.

Weight loss benefit #1

Oh, another benefit in all of this is sort of gross; but it's about sweat!

I don't know about you but I used to sweat like a PIG until I discovered Drysol.
Now, however, I don't use it anymore. How a while I thought I had overactive sweat glands.

Turns out I was just too fat.

That's not abs...that's flabs!!

Well I figured I'd finally bite the bullet and start a seperate blog dedicated to fitness and physical health.

So, if you're new to the "World According to Daemon Cain" blogiverse let me introduce myself.

Daemon Cain isn't my real name but it's my "pen" name. I live just outside of Toronto, Ontario Canada in a town called Ajax.

Although I was in good shape in high school mostly through lots of walking (no car) and lots of hours working on my feet that changed in college when I was introduced to beer and pre-packaged food and the wonders of pizza.

When my wife agreed to marry me I knew I had to do something about my weight (my wife certainly deserves to uncover the sheets and see me with a good body)so I decided to do something about it. This blog is the story of my return to physical wellbeing and my mental journey along the way.

To make a long story short, I was able to drop about 10 pounds pretty easily just through eating better. I did the Subway diet and I thought I looked pretty good in our wedding pictures.

After the wedding we bought a house followed shortly by a treadmill, followed shortly by an exercise machine (Schwinn Force...by the Bowflex people).

From here on in, I'll be documenting and relating how this process has been life changing for me!