Ever have trouble with late night cravings? You know, when you go through the refrigerator and pantry thinking that if you don't get that, "???????" you're just not going to make it till morning? I put the question marks there because we never really know what we are looking for but we keep looking all the same. I found out that it's really your body telling you that something is missing that it needs. It's not the chocolate or chips but the minerals or vitamins that it's looking for. Through our eating habits we have told our cells in our body and brain that the place to find those missing elements is in the pantry or refrigerator.
I have now found the perfect thing to help me never have those late night cravings again. I decided to start feeding my body what it really needs each night around 9:30 and BAM! Cravings gone. What is it? It's actually a complete meal that's low in calories and high in vitamins and minerals. It's called "Shakeology.
You really should check this out.
www.BeachBodyCoach.com/paulh
This really works and I'm living proof. It will work for you also.
Just my thoughts,
PH
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Simplicity is Sweet
Simplicity is Sweet: Finally satisfying that sweet tooth is a huge accomplishment. Once you realize that it's possible the effort to get there is worth the price. Some of us have a hard time with sweet things. We walk by and they seem to call out our name. Those little morsels of fried dough and sugar with all the colorful flavors hidden inside just waiting for our mouths to explore. Is your mouth watering yet? Relax and have another cup of coffee while we explore the idea of "Satisfying that sweet tooth". We have all heard this common saying and yet have any of us ever really thought that it was possible? To be able to look those sweet temptations right in the eye and be able to say, "today you no longer tempt me and I can with great ease chose to not pick you up".
At our church on any given Sunday morning you can come in and be welcomed by warm smiling faces and have a cup of coffee, a doughnut or two, and or some fruit. I noticed a few weeks ago that as I stood there in the welcome area that all those tasty blueberry doughnuts were staring at me. I knew from past experience that those little sirens of temptations were singing there songs to me. But this time there songs feel silent on my ears. There in that silence as people all around me were talking, laughing and sharing life together, I felt this great sense of freedom. I felt that my life had actually become less complicated and that was a eureka experience for me.
In my quest for a more healthy lifestyle and changing my eating habits I came to realize that I had actually made my eating habits more simple. It was and still is a learning process to figure out what is and is not healthy to eat. But as it becomes more natural and just more of my own DNA it actually becomes, well, "Simple". I'm not eating things I don't like just so I can loose weight and on the flip side I'm not depriving myself of things I want. Actually I just started to make decisions about my food intake based on what I want out of life not just what I wanted out of that doughnut. I found out that there are things I normally eat that are healthy and then there are things that I normally eat that are not as healthy. All I really did was decide to eat the healthy items 90% of the time. To actually make those healthy items my "Go To" food choices. I really did not have to "Find" foods that I could stomach just so I could loose weight. I'm not "Depriving" myself of things I enjoy. I'm actually eating as many times a day as I want and I'm eating what I want. I would call that a "Simple" diet.
In this complicated world we live in it's nice to find some simple things that will actually improve your life. For me simplicity is the sweetest treat of all. When I feed my body what it "Really" needs it's not screaming at me to eat the things I used to eat just so it, "my body" can try to find something in there that it can live off of. I asked my doctor one time, "why is it that sometimes I have this uncontrollable craving for chocolate?" His answer, "Magnesium, you body is trying to find it and chocolate has a lot of it in there". My body was not craving "chocolate" but the substances in it that it remembered, where to get it. I told it that it could find "Magnesium" in the foods I usually ate. Now, my body finds what it needs in different things.
My advice, keep it simple and there you will find your sweet spot and actually satisfy your sweet tooth. If you need some help getting started check out my website, www.BeachBodyCoach.com/paulh
Just my thoughts
PH
At our church on any given Sunday morning you can come in and be welcomed by warm smiling faces and have a cup of coffee, a doughnut or two, and or some fruit. I noticed a few weeks ago that as I stood there in the welcome area that all those tasty blueberry doughnuts were staring at me. I knew from past experience that those little sirens of temptations were singing there songs to me. But this time there songs feel silent on my ears. There in that silence as people all around me were talking, laughing and sharing life together, I felt this great sense of freedom. I felt that my life had actually become less complicated and that was a eureka experience for me.
In my quest for a more healthy lifestyle and changing my eating habits I came to realize that I had actually made my eating habits more simple. It was and still is a learning process to figure out what is and is not healthy to eat. But as it becomes more natural and just more of my own DNA it actually becomes, well, "Simple". I'm not eating things I don't like just so I can loose weight and on the flip side I'm not depriving myself of things I want. Actually I just started to make decisions about my food intake based on what I want out of life not just what I wanted out of that doughnut. I found out that there are things I normally eat that are healthy and then there are things that I normally eat that are not as healthy. All I really did was decide to eat the healthy items 90% of the time. To actually make those healthy items my "Go To" food choices. I really did not have to "Find" foods that I could stomach just so I could loose weight. I'm not "Depriving" myself of things I enjoy. I'm actually eating as many times a day as I want and I'm eating what I want. I would call that a "Simple" diet.
In this complicated world we live in it's nice to find some simple things that will actually improve your life. For me simplicity is the sweetest treat of all. When I feed my body what it "Really" needs it's not screaming at me to eat the things I used to eat just so it, "my body" can try to find something in there that it can live off of. I asked my doctor one time, "why is it that sometimes I have this uncontrollable craving for chocolate?" His answer, "Magnesium, you body is trying to find it and chocolate has a lot of it in there". My body was not craving "chocolate" but the substances in it that it remembered, where to get it. I told it that it could find "Magnesium" in the foods I usually ate. Now, my body finds what it needs in different things.
My advice, keep it simple and there you will find your sweet spot and actually satisfy your sweet tooth. If you need some help getting started check out my website, www.BeachBodyCoach.com/paulh
Just my thoughts
PH
Friday, March 12, 2010
Staying Focused
Ever have trouble staying focused on your goals? How about your health goals? Sometimes life can through you a curve ball you never expected. Those curve balls can be anything from a job change to sickness or injuries or, well, just life in general. Not sure if you have even read my last post on here or not but you can see that it's been months since my last post. The Reason?
Well last November I came down with Mono. Let me tell you that at age 53 that was not fun and I was about 60 days into my P90 workouts. Then I had 2 relapses with it during the months of December and the first of January. Let me tell you that was a really big curve ball for me. I tried twice to ease back into my workouts only to get knocked to the ground each time. My Doctor told me "Activity as tolerated". My response, "That's what you told me last time and I'm back in here".
So, I thought about my goal of getting healthy and how this was effecting me. I remembered that I wanted to change the lifestyle that lead to my being over weight. That change would then in turn change my weight. So, over the next 6 weeks I focused on my diet and making plans to go back to my workouts the middle of March. During that time I started loosing weight again with the help of "Shakeology", which is a protein drink from BeachBody. Then in March I started working out 3 days a week without doing any weight training. Last week I started working out 6 days a week and still trying to stay away from any weight training. Yes I'm now gun-shy about having another relapse. Next week I'm planning on going back with the full P90X program.
So here is the update on my progress. Since I started working again on my diet with the Shakeology and very slow workouts I have now lost another 12 lbs, which brings me to a total weight loss of 27 lbs since I started this transformation. I just returned home from shopping because I don't have any more clothes that fit. To top off all of this, my wife has decided to join me by starting P90 next week. Life is about to become better than it has ever been.
Let me close this by saying that I was able to keep from becoming discouraged because of having the right goals to start with. We all get sick, injured or whatever. It's those curve balls life throws at us. The way to deal with those curve balls is to remember there are more pitches to come and also more innings in the game than just the one we are in today. Keep swinging and remember why you decided to even walk up to the plate. Mine was to get out of the dugout and into the game. So, today I took another swing and I actually hit one out of the park. Now my wife is coming up to bat. I plan on being her biggest fan.
Just my thoughts,
PH
Well last November I came down with Mono. Let me tell you that at age 53 that was not fun and I was about 60 days into my P90 workouts. Then I had 2 relapses with it during the months of December and the first of January. Let me tell you that was a really big curve ball for me. I tried twice to ease back into my workouts only to get knocked to the ground each time. My Doctor told me "Activity as tolerated". My response, "That's what you told me last time and I'm back in here".
So, I thought about my goal of getting healthy and how this was effecting me. I remembered that I wanted to change the lifestyle that lead to my being over weight. That change would then in turn change my weight. So, over the next 6 weeks I focused on my diet and making plans to go back to my workouts the middle of March. During that time I started loosing weight again with the help of "Shakeology", which is a protein drink from BeachBody. Then in March I started working out 3 days a week without doing any weight training. Last week I started working out 6 days a week and still trying to stay away from any weight training. Yes I'm now gun-shy about having another relapse. Next week I'm planning on going back with the full P90X program.
So here is the update on my progress. Since I started working again on my diet with the Shakeology and very slow workouts I have now lost another 12 lbs, which brings me to a total weight loss of 27 lbs since I started this transformation. I just returned home from shopping because I don't have any more clothes that fit. To top off all of this, my wife has decided to join me by starting P90 next week. Life is about to become better than it has ever been.
Let me close this by saying that I was able to keep from becoming discouraged because of having the right goals to start with. We all get sick, injured or whatever. It's those curve balls life throws at us. The way to deal with those curve balls is to remember there are more pitches to come and also more innings in the game than just the one we are in today. Keep swinging and remember why you decided to even walk up to the plate. Mine was to get out of the dugout and into the game. So, today I took another swing and I actually hit one out of the park. Now my wife is coming up to bat. I plan on being her biggest fan.
Just my thoughts,
PH
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Doing the Right Thing With Right Motives
Have you ever been so focused on a goal that everything else starts to blur? As I logged on here I was shocked to see that it had been over a month since I last posted. Part of the reason is that I became really ill for about 10 days. Another reason is that I have been really focused on getting in shape by working out with a program called P90 by BeachBody. However, I missed 10 days of working out due to an illness.
Now this is where I started to think and wonder if I was going to get off track or get discouraged. I started to think about why I started working out in the first place and what my real goals were. Then I tried to work out again only to find out that my body and health were not back to 100%. I actually had to go back to the workouts I started with 2 months ago. This did not discourage me and in fact I was more encouraged by the fact that I got back in there and did my best. I'm not sure how long it will take me to get back to where I was just 2 weeks ago. Actually it doesn't really matter how long it will take. This bring me to "Doing the right thing with the right motives".
I believe that many people try to do the right thing with the wrong motives only to find themselves very frustrated. Take for instance, loosing weight. People will do almost anything to loose weight. The weight loss industry is a multi-billion business in the United States. People are doing everything from surgery, to ointments, diet pills, fade diets and even diet foods shipped right to your house every month for the rest of your life. For most of these people the main goal is to loose weight. Now loosing weight is a good thing and there are many health benefits with a proper healthy weight. But stop and think about this for a second. Should weight loss be our goal? Isn't this the very reason 90% of the people that loose weight will gain it right back with a little more each time? People loose weight for weddings, class reunions, and every other reason under the sun. Personally I think this is the wrong approach all together.
Let me use an example to prove my point. If you smoke and develop lung cancer, would it make any sense at all to fight the cancer by only taking Chemo Therapy and not stopping the smoking? If you knew that the smoking was causing the illness why would you continue to smoke and only treat the illness with drugs or surgery? It would seem to me that the intelligent thing to do would be to change the things that caused the illness. If you relate this to being over weight it really is the same thing. The obesity problem in the United States is only the symptom or illness but it is not the problem. It is in fact the result of the problem. Our lifestyle is causing an obesity epidemic in our society. Our dietary lifestyle consists of too much fast food, fried foods, sugar, empty calories and not enough exercise. We even will drive around for 5 minuets to wait and get a closer parking space so we won't have to walk an extra 100 feet.
So, now you're asking, "What's your point"? My point is that instead of trying to loose weight we should try to change our lifestyle which caused the weight gain. It's actually much less stressful than constantly denying yourself that piece of pie or Birthday cake. When I started my transformation my goal was to change my lifestyle. I wanted and still want to eat more healthy and more intelligently. I want to exercise in a way that will make me more healthy and lean at the same time. I know that if I do these two things that the weight will take care of itself. If my goal is to loose 20 lbs, what will I do or shoot for once I reach my goal? I have reached that goal many times and I simply went back to the same lifestyle I was denying myself of and guess what. Yes, I gained the weight back.
So if I do the right thing, which is to eat healthy and exercise I can actually relax and allow my weight to become what ever it will become. My motivation is health and lifestyle not weight. Now that information is worth what I call, "Real Money". You can transfer this information to any aspect of your life and I guarantee that you will be more successful. This is true in your business, education, relationships, hobbies, or any goal you have in life. Think about what you really want and why you want it. Boil it down to what are real goals and what are really benefits. If you make a benefit a goal I promise you will experience frustration.
Just my thoughts,
RiceBurnerMonk
Now this is where I started to think and wonder if I was going to get off track or get discouraged. I started to think about why I started working out in the first place and what my real goals were. Then I tried to work out again only to find out that my body and health were not back to 100%. I actually had to go back to the workouts I started with 2 months ago. This did not discourage me and in fact I was more encouraged by the fact that I got back in there and did my best. I'm not sure how long it will take me to get back to where I was just 2 weeks ago. Actually it doesn't really matter how long it will take. This bring me to "Doing the right thing with the right motives".
I believe that many people try to do the right thing with the wrong motives only to find themselves very frustrated. Take for instance, loosing weight. People will do almost anything to loose weight. The weight loss industry is a multi-billion business in the United States. People are doing everything from surgery, to ointments, diet pills, fade diets and even diet foods shipped right to your house every month for the rest of your life. For most of these people the main goal is to loose weight. Now loosing weight is a good thing and there are many health benefits with a proper healthy weight. But stop and think about this for a second. Should weight loss be our goal? Isn't this the very reason 90% of the people that loose weight will gain it right back with a little more each time? People loose weight for weddings, class reunions, and every other reason under the sun. Personally I think this is the wrong approach all together.
Let me use an example to prove my point. If you smoke and develop lung cancer, would it make any sense at all to fight the cancer by only taking Chemo Therapy and not stopping the smoking? If you knew that the smoking was causing the illness why would you continue to smoke and only treat the illness with drugs or surgery? It would seem to me that the intelligent thing to do would be to change the things that caused the illness. If you relate this to being over weight it really is the same thing. The obesity problem in the United States is only the symptom or illness but it is not the problem. It is in fact the result of the problem. Our lifestyle is causing an obesity epidemic in our society. Our dietary lifestyle consists of too much fast food, fried foods, sugar, empty calories and not enough exercise. We even will drive around for 5 minuets to wait and get a closer parking space so we won't have to walk an extra 100 feet.
So, now you're asking, "What's your point"? My point is that instead of trying to loose weight we should try to change our lifestyle which caused the weight gain. It's actually much less stressful than constantly denying yourself that piece of pie or Birthday cake. When I started my transformation my goal was to change my lifestyle. I wanted and still want to eat more healthy and more intelligently. I want to exercise in a way that will make me more healthy and lean at the same time. I know that if I do these two things that the weight will take care of itself. If my goal is to loose 20 lbs, what will I do or shoot for once I reach my goal? I have reached that goal many times and I simply went back to the same lifestyle I was denying myself of and guess what. Yes, I gained the weight back.
So if I do the right thing, which is to eat healthy and exercise I can actually relax and allow my weight to become what ever it will become. My motivation is health and lifestyle not weight. Now that information is worth what I call, "Real Money". You can transfer this information to any aspect of your life and I guarantee that you will be more successful. This is true in your business, education, relationships, hobbies, or any goal you have in life. Think about what you really want and why you want it. Boil it down to what are real goals and what are really benefits. If you make a benefit a goal I promise you will experience frustration.
Just my thoughts,
RiceBurnerMonk
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
I was abducted by Aliens
I was abducted by Aliens. I'm sure that this could be the only explanation for the events I'm about to share with you. When I decided to start working out with p90 and p90x from BeachBody I knew that what my real goal was not just to loose weight. What I wanted and still want is a serious lifestyle change. However, the events lately lead me to believe that things may have gone a little too far. Now, I feel that my weight, health and progress with my workouts are fine. I have actually lost 9 pounds in 30 days and my clothes are loose and my strength, agility and stamina are all getting better every day.
However, I live just outside of Dallas, Texas and the weather today was supposed to be sunshine, partly cloudy and a high of 72. I left the house after my morning workout to take care of some things with my wife's car. I only took my sunglasses because of the great weather I was about to enjoy. I Swear, and I'm not kidding, I think that I and my family were abducted by aliens and transported to Seattle. At least that is what the weather feels like. It's not 72 with the sun shinning, it's actually 58, cloudy and we are under flash flood warnings, (Again). We are on track to be the wettest fall on record. So I must be in Seattle, except the scenery is nothing like Seattle. So, I must be on another Planet or something, because this could not be North Central Texas.
To add to this, when I got back from running into town, I found my Daughter and Mother out in the yard with their cameras. They were taking pictures of two Peacocks in my yard. Yes, I said Peacocks and let me answer your question now and get this out of the way, "I Don't Know".
So, to help me deal with my massive confusion and bewilderment from the events of the day I'm thinking about going back into my workout room and pushing play one more time. For those of you outside of the BeachBody program that means working out to the DVD.
This is a strange land I woke up in this morning. I hope there is some decent trout fishing here because Texas just doesn't offer much. On top of that it's so big you have drive forever to find any decent trout waters. I know there's water here because it's everywhere I look. No Really, there is MOSS growing in my YARD! I'm ready to go back home now.
Just my thoughts.
RiceBurnerMonk
However, I live just outside of Dallas, Texas and the weather today was supposed to be sunshine, partly cloudy and a high of 72. I left the house after my morning workout to take care of some things with my wife's car. I only took my sunglasses because of the great weather I was about to enjoy. I Swear, and I'm not kidding, I think that I and my family were abducted by aliens and transported to Seattle. At least that is what the weather feels like. It's not 72 with the sun shinning, it's actually 58, cloudy and we are under flash flood warnings, (Again). We are on track to be the wettest fall on record. So I must be in Seattle, except the scenery is nothing like Seattle. So, I must be on another Planet or something, because this could not be North Central Texas.
To add to this, when I got back from running into town, I found my Daughter and Mother out in the yard with their cameras. They were taking pictures of two Peacocks in my yard. Yes, I said Peacocks and let me answer your question now and get this out of the way, "I Don't Know".
So, to help me deal with my massive confusion and bewilderment from the events of the day I'm thinking about going back into my workout room and pushing play one more time. For those of you outside of the BeachBody program that means working out to the DVD.
This is a strange land I woke up in this morning. I hope there is some decent trout fishing here because Texas just doesn't offer much. On top of that it's so big you have drive forever to find any decent trout waters. I know there's water here because it's everywhere I look. No Really, there is MOSS growing in my YARD! I'm ready to go back home now.
Just my thoughts.
RiceBurnerMonk
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Sore Muscles
Sore Muscles and what it means. I'm 27 days into my workouts using P90 from BeachBody. Today my left arm is really sore which does not surprise me because I'm right handed. The other day I had to do my "Fit Test" which I actually should have done 27 days ago. I'm still getting all the tools I need for my workout room and so the only dumbbells I have are 10 lbs. I got to arm curls and I was supposed to do them until failure. Well, I stopped at 75 because I kept pausing and pushing it but the 10 lb DB's just were not heavy enough to cause failure. I had a feeling I was going to pay for this later but that day I seemed to be fine. On the next day, Friday I was scheduled to do more Weight training and once again I pushed it a little harder because the 10 lb weight. I was able to do more reps than they were doing on the training DVD and I decided to just go until the next set started.
Last night my left arm started to really bother me due to the soreness from the 2 days of workouts. Today I'm still very sore but only with my left arm. Being right handed this actually makes sense. With weight training what happens is that the muscles are pushed to the point of breaking down and tarring and the soreness comes from the healing process. Those that train hard know all to well the common quote "No pain, No gain". This comes from the pain of the healing process of torn or broken down muscles.
So what does all this mean? Well first it means that my exercise is doing some good by pushing my limits. I'm actually able to do more in the workouts today than I was when I first started. That's a good thing and it is very encouraging. So if I keep pushing Play and keep pushing my intensity level that I should keep getting stronger and better. Secondly it means that my body is responding to the workouts and my muscles are healing. Soreness is different than strained or damaged and hurt muscles. If you can move your muscles and work out the soreness to some degree you know that you are not hurt just sore. Also, the pain is different when you are sore than when you are hurt. Soreness is more like a dull pain and it tends to lessen as you move around and stretch. When your hurt the pain is very sharp and tens to get worse if you start moving around and stretching.
So, pain is not a bad thing you just need to learn to read it and listen to your body. The same is true with most things in life. Life is a struggle and every pain is telling us something. Sometimes you have to back off and let things heal before you start pushing it again. That's whey your actually hurt. Sometimes you just have to get in there and start moving again even though you know that when you do it's going to hurt a little. That's when you know you are growing and moving past your comfort zones.
I guess I can say that even though I'm sore today, it's still a good thing. Now, if my left arm will just not fall off when I put my shirt on I'll be in good shape.
Just my thoughts.
RiceBurnerMonk
Last night my left arm started to really bother me due to the soreness from the 2 days of workouts. Today I'm still very sore but only with my left arm. Being right handed this actually makes sense. With weight training what happens is that the muscles are pushed to the point of breaking down and tarring and the soreness comes from the healing process. Those that train hard know all to well the common quote "No pain, No gain". This comes from the pain of the healing process of torn or broken down muscles.
So what does all this mean? Well first it means that my exercise is doing some good by pushing my limits. I'm actually able to do more in the workouts today than I was when I first started. That's a good thing and it is very encouraging. So if I keep pushing Play and keep pushing my intensity level that I should keep getting stronger and better. Secondly it means that my body is responding to the workouts and my muscles are healing. Soreness is different than strained or damaged and hurt muscles. If you can move your muscles and work out the soreness to some degree you know that you are not hurt just sore. Also, the pain is different when you are sore than when you are hurt. Soreness is more like a dull pain and it tends to lessen as you move around and stretch. When your hurt the pain is very sharp and tens to get worse if you start moving around and stretching.
So, pain is not a bad thing you just need to learn to read it and listen to your body. The same is true with most things in life. Life is a struggle and every pain is telling us something. Sometimes you have to back off and let things heal before you start pushing it again. That's whey your actually hurt. Sometimes you just have to get in there and start moving again even though you know that when you do it's going to hurt a little. That's when you know you are growing and moving past your comfort zones.
I guess I can say that even though I'm sore today, it's still a good thing. Now, if my left arm will just not fall off when I put my shirt on I'll be in good shape.
Just my thoughts.
RiceBurnerMonk
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
A New Transformation
Real Transformation will impact every aspect of your life. I started on a journey 3 weeks ago that is changing my life every day. As a matter of fact I'm seeing the impact and implications of this journey that I believe will improve my lifestyle and life. I know, you're saying by now, "get on with it and get it out already". I don't blame you, I'm the same way. I made a new commitment to get healthy and started a program called "P90" from BeachBody.com.
Now I have started workout routines many times in my adult years. For the last 30 or so years of my life I have been a member of many gyms, bought and rode bikes, stayed fairly active with some sports but in the last 6 years or so I have seen my weight and health start to go south. I must admit that I have tried and started this same program 2 times before. I failed both times. Now you ask, "so what makes this time so different"?
#1. I will say personal determination. I know that at 53 years of age that if I do not make it happen now I might not ever make it happen. I want to finish strong not go out with a whimper. So it's now or never.
#2. A willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed. I got to the point where I did not care who thought I had lost my mind or anything. I refused to let anything keep me from my goal. Years ago I read a book on debt by David Ramsey and he said that to get out of debt you have to have the attitude of a gazelle. You have to run like your life depended on it and be willing to expend all of your energy to survive. I have made up my mind to have the same attitude about my health and weight.
#3. Accountability. This time I asked a few people to hold me accountable. I do not mean "Encouragement" but real accountability. I told them that if all I needed was encouragement I would have already done it or at least been in better shape than I am. So, they have my permission to even get in my face and make me mad if that's what it takes to keep me going.
#4. Support. I have also jumped into getting support from others that are also doing this some program on the BeachBody website using their Message Boards. I have to admit that this was a stretch for me. To jump into a conversation with people that I don't know to talk about stuff that I'm still trying to figure out and knowing all along that they are ahead of the curve. Well that took a few days to get up the courage for. But I have started talking to some people and asking for their help and advice.
#5. Results. After only 23 days working out, not counting a few rest days, I have lost 5 pounds, a little over an inch in my gut and my energy level is up and my abilities to do the workouts are 100 % better. I'm only in level one and can not wait to get to the top.
Now, some of the other benefits are that it is forcing me to be more regimented with my days. It's helping me to be more organized. At least I'm seeing a start with my diet and exercise and I expect to see it spill over to other areas. I already feel better about myself and feel like I'm actually accomplishing something beneficial. That in and of itself impacts my relationships with my family, the people around me and my faith. I know the verses that say, "If God is for us who can be against us", but I feel the greatest enemy we have is ourselves. The person that scares me the most, well, it's me. How many times have we let ourselves down? How many times have we not followed through with a promise to others or God? To make a keep a promise to yourself, well, that's huge! You actually start to believe that you can do it. Whatever that might be. You actually start to believe that you can make a promise and keep it. Doubt and self hate is our greatest enemy.
I think we give up in many areas of our lives and it even starts to show in our health. We stop doing the things we want to do because we start to believe that we just can't or we are too old, or we tried that before. I started to hear people say things like, "when you got to be your age". I started to look around and decided that I could not stop time or change my age but I could change my attitude. I can't change my hairline but I could do something about my waistline.
In closing, last night I asked the men in our bible study, why can't we make the same decision to transform our approach to our spiritual formation? Why don't we pull out all the stops to make sure that we grow and become stronger spiritually? What are we willing to do to change the way we are for the way we know we should be? I do not pretend to know what or where you are in life but personally I do not want to stay the same. I'm not satisfied with the way I am and I plan on doing something about it even if it kills me. At least no one will be able to say that I did not try. At least my family will know that I loved them enough to give it my best. At least I can leave a legacy for them that can push them to a higher level. Think about this, most people remember how you finished this life. What will that look like for you? I'm on my way to change mine, want to join me?
Just my thoughts,
Paul
Now I have started workout routines many times in my adult years. For the last 30 or so years of my life I have been a member of many gyms, bought and rode bikes, stayed fairly active with some sports but in the last 6 years or so I have seen my weight and health start to go south. I must admit that I have tried and started this same program 2 times before. I failed both times. Now you ask, "so what makes this time so different"?
#1. I will say personal determination. I know that at 53 years of age that if I do not make it happen now I might not ever make it happen. I want to finish strong not go out with a whimper. So it's now or never.
#2. A willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed. I got to the point where I did not care who thought I had lost my mind or anything. I refused to let anything keep me from my goal. Years ago I read a book on debt by David Ramsey and he said that to get out of debt you have to have the attitude of a gazelle. You have to run like your life depended on it and be willing to expend all of your energy to survive. I have made up my mind to have the same attitude about my health and weight.
#3. Accountability. This time I asked a few people to hold me accountable. I do not mean "Encouragement" but real accountability. I told them that if all I needed was encouragement I would have already done it or at least been in better shape than I am. So, they have my permission to even get in my face and make me mad if that's what it takes to keep me going.
#4. Support. I have also jumped into getting support from others that are also doing this some program on the BeachBody website using their Message Boards. I have to admit that this was a stretch for me. To jump into a conversation with people that I don't know to talk about stuff that I'm still trying to figure out and knowing all along that they are ahead of the curve. Well that took a few days to get up the courage for. But I have started talking to some people and asking for their help and advice.
#5. Results. After only 23 days working out, not counting a few rest days, I have lost 5 pounds, a little over an inch in my gut and my energy level is up and my abilities to do the workouts are 100 % better. I'm only in level one and can not wait to get to the top.
Now, some of the other benefits are that it is forcing me to be more regimented with my days. It's helping me to be more organized. At least I'm seeing a start with my diet and exercise and I expect to see it spill over to other areas. I already feel better about myself and feel like I'm actually accomplishing something beneficial. That in and of itself impacts my relationships with my family, the people around me and my faith. I know the verses that say, "If God is for us who can be against us", but I feel the greatest enemy we have is ourselves. The person that scares me the most, well, it's me. How many times have we let ourselves down? How many times have we not followed through with a promise to others or God? To make a keep a promise to yourself, well, that's huge! You actually start to believe that you can do it. Whatever that might be. You actually start to believe that you can make a promise and keep it. Doubt and self hate is our greatest enemy.
I think we give up in many areas of our lives and it even starts to show in our health. We stop doing the things we want to do because we start to believe that we just can't or we are too old, or we tried that before. I started to hear people say things like, "when you got to be your age". I started to look around and decided that I could not stop time or change my age but I could change my attitude. I can't change my hairline but I could do something about my waistline.
In closing, last night I asked the men in our bible study, why can't we make the same decision to transform our approach to our spiritual formation? Why don't we pull out all the stops to make sure that we grow and become stronger spiritually? What are we willing to do to change the way we are for the way we know we should be? I do not pretend to know what or where you are in life but personally I do not want to stay the same. I'm not satisfied with the way I am and I plan on doing something about it even if it kills me. At least no one will be able to say that I did not try. At least my family will know that I loved them enough to give it my best. At least I can leave a legacy for them that can push them to a higher level. Think about this, most people remember how you finished this life. What will that look like for you? I'm on my way to change mine, want to join me?
Just my thoughts,
Paul
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