Right in Front of You: Uncommon Sense in Poetry by Michael A. Price, Jr., is more than just rhyming words in a book. Each one of the poems in this collection contain a moral message as well as thought provoking commentaries on a myriad of subjects that affect us every day. Whether social, political or spiritual, the various themes conveyed in multiple rhyme schemes and poetic styles will definitely leave the socially conscious reader with plenty to think about. Since there are many topics covered, there’s something in these writings that literally everyone will be able to relate to.
Black Men In America.com Review
Michael A. Price, Jr., is an energetic young man with an unabashed confidence about his ability to write, recite and perform. He must have been a salesman in a former life. One of the reasons that Price is being featured on this site is because he "made it" happen. Michael Price, Jr., was given the direct telephone number to Black Men In America.com publisher Gary Johnson. (Phone number = Opportunity). Like most successful people, Mr. Price decided to make the most of his opportunity by calling Gary Johnson in an effort to get his book reviewed on the web site. Once he got in touch with Gary, Michael decided to go a step further and make a personal appointment to meet Gary instead of putting the book in the mail.
Michael was not pushy, but he would not take "No," for an answer. Think about it. Michael had nothing to lose and everything to gain. As a result, his book, Right in Front of You: Uncommon Sense in Poetry is the first book featured on our site for 2009.
Michael and Gary met at the Black Men In America.com office and once again, Michael saw another opportunity to make an impression. Rather than do a "meet and greet," Michael decided to do a "meet and perform." And perform he did.
Michael's book contains 33 entries or poems divided into three chapters (Life, America and Spirituality). Michael can recite every entry from memory and he allowed us to randomly select one entry from each chapter. Watching Michael A. Price, Jr., recite his work is akin to watching a live performance in a theater. The energy is there and you find yourself being "drawn in" as you listen and think about what he's saying. Michael is humble, well grounded and definitely passionate about his work.
Now about the book. Right in Front of You: Uncommon Sense in Poetry by Michael A. Price, Jr., is more than a book of poetry. As Price explained to Gary Johnson, "Common sense is dead. It does not exist in the world that we live in anymore. Those who have a measure of wisdom are in the minority, therefore "common sense" is now "uncommon." Each poem is preceded by a brief introduction; which helps put some context and background to the piece and explains what inspired Price to write it.
Right in Front of You: Uncommon Sense in Poetry by Michael A. Price, Jr., is a thought-provoking book of short entries in a poetic format. Michael A. Price, Jr., simply wants to do his part to make sure that "common sense" becomes "common" again. In the end, the reader discovers that the "a ha" moment, key to the puzzle or piece of wisdom that you've been looking for is right in front of you.
Click here to visit our showcase to order Michael's book. You can read a sample of Michael's work below.
Doing Something About It
Everybody has some words about the problems;
Going on and on and on of how to solve them.
But speaking in itself is no solution,
Unless it leads to positive conclusions.
If you are great at word articulation,
Your audience may show appreciation.
But even if the venue is really crowded,
It still boils down to what you’ll do about it.
Though it sounds good in human interaction,
Those words must all be followed up with action!
As verbal leaders come a dime a dozen,
Effective, is a trait they often wasn’t.
In talking yourself up to being a hero,
The impact may equate to almost zero.
Most people are inclined and tend to doubt it;
Unless you really do something about it.
For a message to be seen as being consistent,
Advice should also come with your assistance.
‘Cause that provides the people with some proof,
To know the words you’re speaking as the truth.
Just merely talking about a bad situation,
Is futile to the point of irritation.
It’s by your deeds that your word’s worth is counted;
Which is why you must do something about it.
We have so many issues to be tending.
The list of them is almost never ending.
So if you think you truly have the answer,
To one of the many social plagues and cancers,
Then roll your sleeves and work to make it happen!
To demonstrate that you can be the captain.
‘Cause only then will skeptics not be clouded,
In witnessing you’ve done something about it.
-Michael A. Price, Jr.
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Editorial Review
Aboard the African Star
After working on the book for more than a decade, Haley was stuck -- and desperate
I just love to get out in the ocean. You are really out there, thinking in ways you haven't thought before. The best writing I ever possibly could do was after The Digest helped me go to Africa and Europe, and I was not known and I could just take my time and nobody was pressing me. God, I don't know how long it took me. I was working slowly, slowly. When I had done all the research, nine years, working in between doing articles for other magazines, I was ready to write. I didn't know where to go, didn't know what to do. I knew I had a monumental task. And I got on a cargo ship. I went from Long Beach, California, completely around South America and back to Long Beach. It was 91 days.
There's something about a ship. Usually I go out on freight ships, cargo ships. (I wouldn't get caught on a liner. How can you write with 800 people dancing?) But the freight ships carry a maximum of 12 people, and they tend to be very quiet people.
I work my principal hours from about 10:30 at night until daybreak. The world is yours at that point. Most all the passengers are asleep.
I had written from the birth of Kunta Kinte through his capture. And I had got into the habit of talking to the character. I knew Kunta. I knew everything about Kunta. I knew what he was going to do. What he had done. Everything. And so I would talk to him. And I had become so attached to him that I knew now I had to put him in the slave ship and bring him across the ocean. That was the next part of the book. And I just really couldn't quite bring myself to write that.
I was in San Francisco. I wrote about 40 pages and chunked it out. When you write well, it isn't a question so much of what you want to say, it's a question of feel. Does it feel like you want it to feel? The feel starts coming in somewhere around about the fourth rewrite.
I wrote, twice more, about 40 pages and threw it out. And I realized what my bother was: I couldn't bring myself to feel I was up to writing about Kunta Kinte in that slave ship and me in a high-rise apartment. I had to get closer to Kunta. I had run out of my money at The Digest, lying so many times about when I'd finish so I couldn't ask for any more. I don't know where I got the money from. I went to Africa. Put out the word I wanted to get a ship coming from Africa to Florida. I just wanted to simulate the crossing.
I went down to Liberia, and I got on a freight ship called appropriately enough the African Star. She was carrying a partial cargo of raw rubber in bales. And I got on as a passenger. I couldn't tell the captain or the mate what I wanted to do because they couldn't allow me to do it.
But I found one hold that was just about a third full of cargo and there was an entryway into it with a metal ladder down to the bottom of the hold. Down in there they had a long, wide, thick piece of rough sawed timber. They called it dunnage. It's used between cargo to keep it from shifting in rough seas.
After dinner the first night, I made my way down to this hold. I had a little pocket light. I took off my clothing to my underwear and lay down on my back on this piece of dunnage. I imagined I'm Kunta Kinte. I lay there and I got cold and colder. Nothing seemed to come except how ridiculous it was that I was doing this. By morning I had a terrible cold. I went back up. And the next night I'm there doing the same thing.
Well, the third night when I left the dinner table, I couldn't make myself go back down in that hold. I just felt so miserable. I don't think I ever felt quite so bad. And instead of going down in the hold, I went to the stern of the ship. And I'm standing up there with my hands on the rail and looking down where the propellers are beating up this white froth. And in the froth are little luminous green phosphorescences. At sea you see that a lot. And I'm standing there looking at it, and all of a sudden it looked like all my troubles just came on me. I owed everybody I knew. Everybody was on my case. Why don't you finish this foolish thing? You ought not be doing it in the first place, writing about black genealogy. That's crazy.
I was just utterly miserable. Didn't feel like I had a friend in the world. And then a thought came to me that was startling. It wasn't frightening. It was just startling. I thought to myself, Hey, there's a cure for all this. You don't have to go through all this mess. All I had to do was step through the rail and drop in the sea.
Once having thought it, I began to feel quite good about it. I guess I was half a second before dropping in the sea. Fine, that would take care of it. You won't owe anybody anything. To hell with the publishers and the editors.
And I began to hear voices. They were not strident. They were just conversational. And I somehow knew every one of them. And they were saying things like, No, don't do that. No, you're doing the best you can. You just keep going.
And I knew exactly who they were. They were Grandma, Chicken George, Kunta Kinte. They were my cousin, Georgia, who lived in Kansas City and had passed away. They were all these people whom I had been writing about. They were talking to me. It was like in a dream.
I remember fighting myself loose from that rail, turning around, and I went scuttling like a crab up over the hatch. And finally I made my way back to my little stateroom and pitched down, head first, face first, belly first on the bunk, and I cried dry. I cried more I guess than I've cried since I was four years old.
And it was about midnight when I kind of got myself together. Then I got up, and the feeling was you have been assessed and have been tried and you've been approved by all them who went before. So go ahead. And then I went back down in the hold. I had a terrible head cold, flu-ish like. I had with me a long yellow tablet and some pencils. This time I did not take my clothing off like I'd been doing. I kept them on because I was having such a bad cold. I lay down on the piece of timber.
Now Kunta Kinte was lying in this position on a shelf in the ship, the Lord Ligonier. She had left the Gambia River, July 5, 1767. She sailed two months, three weeks, two days. Destination Annapolis, Maryland. And he was lying there. And others were in there with him whom he knew. And what would he think?
What would be some of the things they would say? And when they would come to me in the dark, I would write. And that was how I did every night, only ten nights. From there to Florida. I remember rushing through the big, big Miami Airport. Flew back to San Francisco. Got with a doctor, and he kind of patched me up.
I sat down with those long yellow tablets and transcribed. And I began to write the chapter in Roots where Kunta Kinte crossed the ocean in a slave ship. That was probably the most emotional experience I had in the whole thing.
Come around about 1:30 in the morning, you've been working since 10:30 and decide you're going to take a little break. So you get up and you walk up on the deck. And you put your hand on the top rail, your foot on the bottom rail, and you look up. The first most striking thing is, man, you look up and there are heavenly objects as you never saw them before. You find yourself looking at planets at sea. And what you start to realize, you never saw clear air before. In some latitudes, down off West Africa, South America, on the night of a full moon, there are times you get into an illusion -- if you could just stretch a little further you feel like you could touch it. And you are out there amidst all Gods firmament and then you stand and you feel through the soul of your shoe a fine vibration and you realize that's man at work. That's a huge diesel turbine, 35 feet down under the water driving this ship like a small island through the water. Still standing there, now you start hearing a slight hissing sound. You realize that's of the ship cutting through the resistance of the ocean. With all that going on, feeling these man things and seeing the God things, that's about as close to holy as you are going to ever get.
Edited from a talk at Reader’s Digest, October 10, 1991, four months before Alex Haley’s death
Excerpted from the book Alex Haley: The Man Who Traced America’s Roots by Alex Haley. Copyright © 2007 The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. Published by The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.; April 2007; $17.95US; 978-0-7621-0885-5.
Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (1921-1992) was an African American writer who was best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Roots. A writer of distinction and a contributing editor for Reader’s Digest, Haley's first major work was The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965.
Growing up, Haley had heard stories about his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte, and became interested in tracing his family to its deepest roots. It was Lila Acheson Wallace, cofounder of The Digest, who commissioned Haley to do the research that would create a groundbreaking article in the magazine. When Reader's Digest published the first excerpts from Roots in our May and June 1974 issues, we said it was an epic work, "destined to become a classic of American literature." That has proved to be an understatement.
In just five months after the book hit stores in 1976, more than one million hardcover copies were purchased. Since then, Roots has taken its place among the greatest bestsellers of all time as the number of copies has grown to over six million worldwide. Its impact on television was also historic: Some 130 million Americans watched at least part of the 12-hour drama, making it the highest-rated miniseries ever.
Roots changed the way we think about race in this country and profoundly affected the lives of many people, especially African Americans.
For more information, please visit www.rd.com/returnToRoots.do.
Excerpt
The following is an excerpt from the book Untapped
by John Ghazvinian
Published by Harcourt, Inc.; April 2007;$25.00US; 978-0-15-101138-4
Copyright © 2007 John GhazvinianSince 1990 alone, the petroleum industry has invested more than $20 billion in exploration and production activity in Africa. A further $50 billion will be spent between now and the end of the decade, the largest investment in the continent's history -- and around one-third of it will come from the United States. Three of the world's largest oil companies -- the British-Dutch consortium Shell, France's Total, and America's Chevron -- are spending 15 percent, 30 percent, and 35 percent respectively of their global exploration and production budgets in Africa. Chevron alone is in the process of rolling out $20 billion in African projects over a five-year period.
The overwhelming majority of this new drilling activity has taken place in the so-called "deep water" and the "ultradeep" of the Gulf of Guinea, the roughly 90-degree bend along the west coast of Africa that can best be visualized as the continent's "armpit." Its littoral zone passes through the territorial waters of a dozen countries, from Ivory Coast in the northwest down to Angola in the south, and a good deal of its geology shares the characteristics that have made Nigeria a prolific producer for decades. Indeed, a number of unexpectedly productive fields have been discovered in the Gulf over the past decade. But although the Gulf of Guinea has lately been sub-Saharan Africa's most exciting region for the oil industry, it is hardly the only "prospective" part of the continent (to borrow the industry term). The parched semideserts of southern Chad and southern Sudan have recently added hundreds of thousands of barrels a day to global markets, and a growing chorus of voices is now touting the East African margin as the industry's "next big thing."
But be it east or west, jungle or desert, it is a safe bet that where the drillers go, the politicians, strategists, and lobbyists are not far behind. Washington in particular has taken a keen interest in Africa's growing significance as an oil-producing region since the headline discoveries of the late 1990s. In December 2000 the National Intelligence Council, an internal CIA think tank, published a report in which it declared unambiguously that sub-Saharan Africa "will play an increasing role in global energy markets," and predicted that the region would provide 25 percent of North American oil imports by 2015, up from the 15 percent or so at the time. (This would put Africa well ahead of Saudi Arabia as a source of oil for the United States.) In May 2001 a controversial and fairly secretive energy task force put together by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney declared in its report: "West Africa is expected to be one of the fastest-growing sources of oil and gas for the American market."
In the following months, a group of congressmen, lobbyists, and defense strategists came together under the umbrella of the African Oil Policy Initiative Group, and began preaching the message that the Gulf of Guinea was the new Persian Gulf, and that it should become a strategic priority for the United States, even to the point of requiring an expanded military presence. A series of well-placed articles in the American media followed, some breathlessly announcing the inauguration of a new Middle East off the shores of Africa. Before long, the influential Center for Strategic and International Studies had chimed in with a couple of reports, its most recent, in July 2005, claiming that "an exceptional mix of U.S. interests is at play in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea."
During these years, a number of prominent lawmakers in Washington began getting excited about the possibility of shifting some of America's oil dependence from the Middle East to Africa. One former senior official charged with African affairs recalls Kansas Senator Sam Brownback rushing up to him one afternoon in October 2002, positively glowing with excitement. "What do you think about bases in Africa?" Brownback asked. "Wouldn't that be great?"
But does Africa measure up to the hype? After all, the entire continent is believed to contain, at best, 10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves, making it a minnow swimming in an ocean of seasoned sharks. Africa is unlikely ever to "replace" the Middle East or any other major oil-producing region. So why the song and dance? Why all the goose bumps? Why do so many influential people in Washington let themselves get so carried away when they talk about African oil?
The answer has very little to do with geology. Africa's significance as an oil "play," to borrow the industry lingo, lies beyond the number of barrels that may or may not be buried under its cretaceous rock. Instead, what makes the African oil boom interesting to energy security strategists in both Washington and Europe (and, increasingly, Beijing) is a series of serendipitous and unrelated factors that, together, tell a story of unfolding opportunity.
To begin with, one of the more attractive attributes of Africa's oil boom is the quality of the oil itself. The variety of crude found in the Gulf of Guinea is known in industry parlance as "light" and "sweet," meaning it is viscous and low in sulfur, and therefore easier and cheaper to refine than, say, Middle Eastern crude, which tends to be lacking in lower hydrocarbons and is therefore very "sticky." This is particularly appealing to American and European refineries, which have to contend with strict environmental regulations that make it difficult to refine heavier and sourer varieties of crude without running up costs that make the entire proposition worthless.
Then there is the geographic accident of Africa's being almost entirely surrounded by water, which significantly cuts transport-related costs and risks. The Gulf of Guinea, in particular, is well positioned to allow speedy transport to the major trading ports of Europe and North America. Existing sea-lanes can be used for quick, cheap delivery, so there is no need to worry about the Suez Canal, for instance, or to build expensive pipelines through unpredictable countries. This may seem a minor point, until you look at Central Asia, where the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, stretching from Azerbaijan through Georgia and into Turkey, and intended to deliver Caspian crude into the Mediterranean, had to navigate a minefield of Middle East politics, antiglobalization protests, and red tape before it could be opened. African oil faces none of those issues. It is simply loaded onto a tanker at the point of production and begins its smooth, unmolested journey on the high seas, arriving just days later in Shreveport, Southampton, or Le Havre.
A third advantage, from the perspective of the oil companies, is that Africa offers a tremendously favorable contractual environment. Unlike in, say, Saudi Arabia, where the state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco has a monopoly on the exploration, production, and distribution of the country's crude oil, most sub-Saharan African countries operate on the basis of so-called production-sharing agreements, or PSAs. In these arrangements, a foreign oil company is awarded a license to look for petroleum on the condition that it assume the up-front costs of exploration and production. If oil is discovered in that block, the oil company will share the revenues with the host government, but only after its initial costs have been recouped. PSAs are generally offered to impoverished countries that would never be able to amass either the technical expertise or the billions in capital investment required to drill for oil themselves. For the oil company, a relatively small up-front investment can quickly turn into untold billions in profits.
Yet another strategic benefit, particularly from the perspective of American politicians, is that, until recently, with the exception of Nigeria, none of the oil-producing countries of sub-Saharan Africa had belonged to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Thus they have not been subject to the strict limits on output OPEC imposes on its members in an attempt to keep the price of oil artificially high. The more non-OPEC oil that comes onto the global market, the more difficult it becomes for OPEC countries to sell their crude at high prices, and the lower the overall price of oil. Put more simply, if new reserves are discovered in Venezuela, they have very little effect on the price of oil because Venezuela's OPEC commitments will not allow it to increase its output very much. But if new reserves are discovered in Gabon, it means more cheap oil for everybody.
But probably the most attractive of all the attributes of Africa's oil boom, for Western governments and oil companies alike, is that virtually all the big discoveries of recent years have been made offshore, in deepwater reserves that are often many miles from populated land. This means that even if a civil war or violent insurrection breaks out onshore (always a concern in Africa), the oil companies can continue to pump out oil with little likelihood of sabotage, banditry, or nationalist fervor getting in the way. Given the hundreds of thousands of barrels of Nigerian crude that are lost every year as a result of fighting, community protests, and organized crime, this is something the industry gets rather excited about.
Finally, there is the sheer speed of growth in African oil production, and the fact that Africa is one of the world's last underexplored regions. In a world used to hearing that there are no more big oil discoveries out there, and few truly untapped reserves to look forward to, the ferocious pace and scale of Africa's oil boom has proved a bracing tonic. One-third of the world's new oil discoveries since the year 2000 have taken place in Africa. Of the 8 billion barrels of new oil reserves discovered in 2001, 7 billion were found there. In the years between 2005 and 2010, 20 percent of the world's new production capacity is expected to come from Africa. And there is now an almost contagious feeling in the oil industry that no one really knows just how much oil might be there, since no one's ever really bothered to check.
All these factors add up to a convincing value proposition: African oil is cheaper, safer, and more accessible than its competitors, and there seems to be more of it every day. And, though Africa may not be able to compete with the Persian Gulf at the level of proven reserves, it has just enough up its sleeve to make it a potential "swing" region -- an oil province that can kick in just enough production to keep markets calm when supplies elsewhere in the world are unpredictable. Diversification of the oil supply has been a goal -- even an obsession -- in the United States since the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s. Successive U.S. administrations have understood that if the world is overly reliant on two or three hot spots for its energy security, there is a greater risk of supply disruptions and price volatility. And for obvious reasons, the effort to distribute America's energy-security portfolio across multiple nodes has taken on a new urgency since September 11, 2001. In his State of the Union address in January 2006, President Bush said he wanted to reduce America's dependence on Middle East crude by 75 percent by 2025.
Copyright © 2007 John Ghazvinian
John Ghazvinian has a doctorate in history from Oxford. He has written for Newsweek, The Nation, Time Out New York, and other publications. Born in Iran and raised in London and Los Angeles, he currently lives in Philadelphia, where he is a visiting fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
To learn more about John Ghazvinian click here to visit his web site.
Thanks to Anna Suknov, FSB Associates (www.fsbassociates.com)
Spiritual Shackles rides the energy of an extraordinary foster-home family. This episodic story moves through the lives of five children as they grow from infancy into adults, children who by coincidence or destiny are brought together in the home of reclusive, yet beautifully mysterious woman that cherishes African spiritual beliefs. With these beliefs imparted, these "divine children" move on to become avant-garde players during turbulent times, challenging established attitudes and the status quo, questioning everything, including bedrock religious beliefs. This journey through conflicting ideas intertwines smoothly with a suspenseful love affair that is richly anchored in ancient African lore.
If you're ready, take a journey that will mesmerize your senses, challenge your intellect while at the same time have you rolling on the floor in gut busting laughter. Enter the world of Spiritual Shackles, hang on to the excitement and enjoy the journey.About the Author
Author Jumal currently resides in Southern California with his wife, Phyllis. He enjoys jazz, officiating track and field, both teaching and playing chess, storytelling and traveling where he’s most recently returned from trips to Bahia, Brazil and Belize. To learn more visit his official web site at: http://www.spiritualshackles.com/index.php.
Author Jumal has authorized a discount for Black Men In America.com site visitors. For a limited time you can buy “Spiritual Shackles” for $7.00 off the retail price. Click here to place your order directly to author Jumal.
- Regular Price: $28.95
- Hardcover: 518 pages
- Publisher: Griot (September 1, 2005)
- ISBN: 0964498502
- Black Men In America.com Special Price $21.95
LL Cool J's Platinum Workout
By LL Cool J and Dave Honig with Jeff O'Connell
Published by Rodale
December 2006; $27.95US/$34.95CAN; 9781594866081While it may seem impossible to imagine, LL Cool J didn't always have a diesel body -- he chiseled it the old-fashioned way, with hard work and discipline. Together with his longtime trainer, Dave "Scooter" Honig, LL developed a revolutionary workout system that not only burns away body fat for good but also built the amazing muscle and flawless physique you see in every one of his latest music videos.
In LL Cool J's Platinum Workout, LL lets you in on the secrets of his transformation with his uniquely creative, yet no-nonsense regimen -- enlivened with humor and sheer force of personality -- he will inspire you to enjoy working out as never before, while building a body you never thought possible. LL Cool J and Scooter Honig blend standard free-weight lifts, plyometrics, fighters' moves, calisthenics, endurance training, and much more to create what they call their "combination platter" -- a highly effective, dynamic, and diversified total-body workout. Whether you are just starting a program or looking to get to the next level, you can choose from four levels of fitness, from Bronze to Platinum, including:
- The Bronze Body: A 4-week beginners' program that will take inches off your waist and boost your energy.
- The Silver Body: A 5-week program for intermediates that increases strength while also maintaining muscular and cardiovascular endurance.
- The Gold Body: An advanced 9-week program that turns the body into a muscle-building and fat-burning machine -- complete with six-pack abs and as much energy as LL Cool J.
- The Platinum Body: A hard-core 3-week fat-torching program LL used for the "Control Myself" video -- a new level in ripped-to-the-bone fitness and sex appeal.
- Plus, The Diamond Body: A special 4-week program for women who want to shape up fast for summer or a special event.
Jam-packed with photos of LL demonstrating the exercises and complete with meal plans and recipes that will fuel your workouts while promoting fat loss, LL Cool J's Platinum Workout will transform your body and the way you think about exercise -- for life.
Author
LL Cool J is a three-time Grammy-winning rapper, television and movie actor, and bestselling author. With 11 consecutive platinum albums, he is considered one of a select few artists who brought rap and hip-hop culture from the underground to the mainstream. He previously authored the best-selling I Make My Own Rules. He lives on Long Island, New York.Dave "Scooter" Honig is a noted expert in boxing conditioning and has worked with champion athletes and celebrities for many years. He lives in New York City.
Jeff O'Connell is an executive writer for Men's Health magazine and recently coauthored The PowerFood Nutrition Plan. He divides his time between New York City and Emmaus, Pennsylvania.
Excerpt
The following is an excerpt from the book LL Cool J's Platinum Workout
by LL Cool J And Dave Honig With Jeff O'Connell
Published by Rodale; December 2006; $27.95US/$34.95CAN; 9781594866081
Copyright © 2007 by James Todd Smith9 Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight
I’m used to pushing it to the outer limits when recording new joints, but losing body fat to shape up isn’t an exercise in extremes; it’s a matter of balance. Do too much or too little of one thing and you may not lose body fat as quickly as you expect. To achieve the best results, practice the discipline of moderation. If you’re not seeing the results you want, consider that the reason may be one of the following, and use my personal quick fix to correct the problem in short order.
1. You’re adding muscle mass faster than you’re losing body fat. This is a best-case scenario -- your program is working, but you just aren’t recognizing it. If the scales are giving you bad news, it could be because you’re increasing your muscle mass faster than you’re losing body fat. Muscle mass is heavier than body fat, and when your body starts to make this shift, it adds muscle mass more quickly than it sheds body fat. LL’s quick fix: All you need in this case is an attitude adjustment. Use your mirror, pay attention to how your clothes are fitting, and take the compliments you receive to heart. They’re all much better gauges of your success than a number on a scale. If everything seems to be pointing to success except the needle, ignore it.
2. You’re eating too much. If you’re committing this sin, you probably know it without my telling you more about it. If you’re going to lose body fat, you have to be in a calorie deficit. There’s a limit to how many calories you can burn by exercising each day, so you have to limit caloric intake to make sure you’re in a deficit. LL’s quick fix: One thing you may have noticed when you started this program is that your appetite increased. Channel that into opportunity: Emphasize healthy low-calorie foods such as vegetables and lean protein sources so that you can still consume a large volume of food without stuffing yourself full of unwanted calories. Satiety (that satisfied feeling from eating) can be achieved with fewer calories when you eat crunchy, low-calorie foods such as vegetables.
3. You’re not eating enough. “Enough” in this case may mean that you’re not eating enough calories; you’re not eating often enough, or both. If you habitually eat only a large meal or two a day, you may be under eating. Strangely, this can allow calories to be stored as body fat. When you eat a large quantity of food in a sitting and then neglect to eat for hours on end, your body tends to hoard the calories it doesn’t need from these infrequent meals as body fat. LL’s quick fix: To find success, eat fewer calories in a sitting, and eat more frequently. This may mean actually increasing the total number of calories you consume a day, but your body will be more inclined to burn them than to store them as body fat. Strive to take in up to six meals a day, distributing the number of calories you consume fairly equally from one meal to the next.
4. You’re not training enough. If you’re following the program as I’ve laid it out, you’re training enough. The only suggestion I can offer is to train with more intensity. If you’re not keeping up, but you’re doing what you can, then just keep going at your pace. Your results will come. On the other hand, if you’re skipping workouts because you’re busy or because you don’t feel like it, you’re just not going to achieve results that are as impressive as you want. LL’s quick fix: The first thing you have to realize is that you do have time to work out. Get in 15 minutes here and there each day. Make the commitment. That’s when you’ll see real results.
5. You’re training too much.
