Organizational expert Peter Walsh has a new book called Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? Somebody should have intervened on that title. However, the man does have a point. I've seen hundreds of before and after pictures of 12 week Body for Life challengers. Call me nosy, crazy, or obsessive compulsive, but I'm always fascinated with what's behind the person in the photo. I've seen many sad, slouchy before photos where it looks like a bomb has gone off behind the person, clothes, toys, dishes, boxes, books, and random junk strewn everywhere. However, I've never seen a single lean, fit, radiant after photo with a train wreck in the background.
So what changes during that 12 week period? Maybe people just die of mortification, wise up, and photograph themselves against a blank wall for the after photos. Or perhaps as they become lean, fit, organized, and confident, those new feelings carry over into their life and their surroundings.
Peter Walsh says, "Consider for a moment that where you live, what you own, how you interact with others, what you eat, and how you spend your time are all intimately linked. You can't change one piece without affecting all the others. Declutter your mind, declutter your home, declutter your relationship to food."
What does this mean for you? Well if you're a neat freak with single digit body fat, a pristine home gym set-up, and a freezer full of healthy color-coded Tupperware meals, it means nothing. You get it already. But if you're a pack rat with a weight problem, you must ask yourself these questions: Are the dishes in the sink, the cluttered counter tops, the cupboards full of junk food, the clothes hanging on the treadmill, and the complete lack of floor space, helping or hurting your fitness efforts? Do your surroundings inspire you to make positive, healthy choices, to be your best self, or do they drag you back down? Can you create a new life in the same space that caused you to gain the weight?
Things that make you go, hmmmm...
To learn more about losing weight by getting organized (it's definitely not a "diet" book) check out, Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?
It's been my experience that when the house is a disaster (moving, kitchen remodeling, painting, closet cleaning, etc.) I want easy and I want OUT, and that tends to involve a trip to the nearest fast food restaurant. I'm not going to grill chicken or make a salad or do a workout when the house makes me shudder. Stacks of boxes and piles of junk put me in a to-hell-with-it kind of hopeless mood.
What about you? Have you seen a weight/clutter connection? Do you have more success following a fitness program when you're organized? Do you gain weight when everything around you is in disarray?
) but being social isn't our goal. The more factors you change that support your goal, the more likely you are to succeed.