Jim's Place

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm in Texas visiting my family but I managed to get a moment to post. Hope you all have a great Christmas. This has been one heck of a year for me. Certainly, there have been some difficult and trying times, but you can't complain when you drop over 100 lbs!!! I'm quite anxious to get started on my next Body-for-Life challenge Jan.2. Finally, I'll get the rest of the weight off! I want to express my gratitude for all the support from my family, friends and BFL buddies! It has meant the world to me!  Here's to a great 2006!!! OK, the turkey and dressing is staring me in the face - time to eat!

Might as well face the truth...

While riding the Lifecycle today I had somewhat of a moment of clarity and profound truth... In a nutshell, if I don't make my fitness and health a top priority, I won't be happy or feel good about my life or myself. It's that simple...

There are a million ways that I could justify making exercise and taking care of my body a low priority...and they seem like pretty sound logic. But logic doesn't always equate to truth. I'm sure you recognize these common reasons people give to explain why they don't work out or watch what they eat...

"I just don't have the time. My family is too important to put myself first."   

"It's just too hard to follow this program."   

"There is just too much stress in my life right now for me to take on something like this."   

"I just want to take it easy and enjoy life right now."   

"With my job and family responsibilities I just don't have the time."   

There's more...but you get the idea. And for each one of these you'll find far more people who will agree with you than those who will challenge you on it.

But I've decided that I will not let such distractive logic get in the way of pursuing the life I want. The greatest excuse in the world doesn't offset the tremendous regret and disappointment you feel when you aren't living up to your standards. Yes, I will have setbacks and disappointments along the way but I still keep coming back to the simple and profound truth...I can't accept doing anything less than my best.

I say ditch the debate and just get to the gym... Don't let setbacks and difficulties twist you into thinking that exercise and fitness aren't important. Just face the truth that your health means the world to you and that you'll never be content with just letting your body go...

Next time you have doubts about your BFL program don't even ask yourself whether or not you can or will do this...don't even let that decision be negotiable. Instead, remind yourself that one way or another you will succeed with your BFL program and the only question to consider is "What's the best thing I can do right now?"

Nuff said? I think so...   

Fighting back...

As many of you know, I've been having a rough time over the last several weeks with illness. As a result. I haven't worked out very much or stayed on top of my food plan. It has been extremely frustrating to get up every day, mentally ready to roll, but being hindered by constant illness. And when I am sick and exhausted I tend to eat what doesn't take much energy to prepare (can you say fast food?!). As you can imagine, instead of seeing pounds come off, I've seen about 10-15 come back since the end of my 3rd challenge in September. Some of that was due to 'celebrating' the success of my first 3 challenges, but without the illness I would have been back on track and making good progress by now.... I have been very tempted to just say "Screw it!" until my illness issues get under control... For me, if I'm not working out regularly, I tend to slide on the food believing (falsely!) that it won't help much to follow the food program until I'm exercising again. And when you're sick, it's tempting to 'take it easy' and not be diligent about what you eat... But today, I got just a little bit angry about the situation...

Caught in a tailspin?

I’m just starting to get back on track after having my BFL program sidetracked for several weeks. Some of my tailspin could probably have been offset with better planning but most of it was due to being sick. After 10 years of chronic illness, I’m getting pretty good at pulling out of a tailspin… I thought I’d share some of what I’ve learned and what I do to recover from such setbacks in not only my BFL program, but life in general. My guess is that quite a few of my BFL buddies are also facing a similar challenge of trying to get back on track.

Take inventory of what you’re feeling and thinking.

I truly believe that most people spend day after day of their lives feeling uncomfortable with what's going on in their minds and hearts. They know something's not quite right, but they're not sure what it is. Their heart, mind, body and soul are sending messages to them that something needs a little tender-loving-care… But the approach I see most people take is to just to try to stay distracted with diversions or anything they can to ignore all the churning going on inside. Such an approach commonly leads to overindulgence, drinking and other disempowering and limiting behaviors. That's why I've learned, that it is very important to set time aside for yourself - to do your own “homework“ about what's going on inside. I guarantee if you take even just a few minutes a day to work through those issues, staying on track with a program like Body-for-Life will be far easier than it would be otherwise...

Manage your mood or your mood will manage you…

The natural tendency for most people is to live in a reactive state. As a result, they become puppets of their environment and circumstances. But to stay the course through thick and thin, requires that a person be pro-active. In a nutshell, if you don't manage your mood and emotional state, it will manage you… Among other things, your mood is driven by what you focus on and the questions you ask yourself. I'm not going to go into detail here, but hopefully you get the idea …

If your beliefs are disempowering you, no pep talk can overcome that…

We all benefit from having support and encouragement from others, but if your underlying beliefs are holding you back, then even the best support system can't guarantee that you will be successful. Often, when we have suffered a setback our beliefs have taken a hit as well. Instead of believing that we are going to achieve our goals, our beliefs often have shifted towards having a great deal of doubt. In my experience, just being aware of what those disempowering beliefs are will make it clear how absurd they are and lead you to make the proper adjustment...