The Journey to a Fitter You

Your Latter While Be Greater

2013-07-03T12:00:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago today I boarded a flight to Las Vegas, Nevada. It was my first ever trip to Sin City and I was headed there for Team Beachbody's annual Coaches Summit. As so often is the case with my life, my thoughts fill my mind and find there way to paper. On this day, my mind was running with all the hopes and dreams of the business at hand, the business of being a Beachbody Coach.

My heart was full as I boarded my connecting flight from Dallas to Las Vegas and took a minute to spill out those emotions. The overwhelming vision and dream for my business is that I wanted to offer HOPE to people. Hope defined is the expectation of a good outcome. It is the belief that something good comes at the end of something. It is the belief that the impossible is possible! That is what I want to offer people...HOPE. Here is what my journal says: "Beachbody is not the answer in and of itself. It is just the vehicle to offer hope!"

I want my encounter with customers to be less about a business transaction and more a life altering experience. I see it as an opportunity to deliver hope that they can lose weight, hope that they can get fit, hope that the impossible is possible! It is also the vision to offer hope to people who are financially struggling. It is the dream to see hope of families and marriage forever made better. My vision, my dream, my hope is to offer hope!

As pen scribbled out these thoughts my mind quickly raced to a familiar bible story. If you do not know my background, I was a youth pastor for many years. So very often my brain will trace back to biblical stories as parallels to my thoughts. There is a little moment tucked into a book in the Old Testament of Haggai. The children of Israel had returned home after years of captivity and it was time to rebuild the temple. At one point in history, Israel was the most powerful nation and it's power all was reflected in the Temple of Solomon. It rivaled every other spectacle every seen (including the bright lights of Vegas). That temple had been destroyed and the people were disheartened.

Where this story connects is in the words of the prophet Haggai: ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ Translation: that is what is ahead of you by far is better than what is behind you. That my friends is HOPE!

Hope that there are better days ahead. Hope that who you are now is not who you are destined to be. Hope that you can change...

Welcome to #TEAMHOPEDELIVERED

Focus T25 Review - Alpha Phase

2013-06-27T21:40:00.000-04:00

2 weeks of progress

I am a self proclaimed Insaniac. I got hooked into Beachbody with the high interval training program by Shaun T, Insanity. Shaun T and the good folks at Beachbody have gone back to the studio with the crazy idea that 25 minutes a day, 5 days a week is all you need to get in the best shape of your life. Honestly, the skeptic in me came out. Just 25 minutes a day!!! No way! But anything that allows me to a few more minutes of sleep in the morning is worth trying.

After just 4 short days, I can tell this is another world class program from Beachbody! The key, as Shaun T will reiterate over and over is to focus. Each move asks you to focus on a specific area of the body. As you "focus" you maximize the effectiveness you get from each exercise. And water breaks...forget a water breaks. This a non-stop 25 minute sweatfest!

The first 5 weeks is Alpha. This is the base for what will come in the second 5 weeks, Beta. There is a third phase which you can add as an upgrade called Gamma which includes some added weight work. The base kit is just the Alpha and Beta phase, along with a resistance band that is to be used during the Beta phase of the program. The program is a true 25 minutes with an additional 2-3 minute cool down after the workout!

I look at this as a working man's workout. One of the most common excuses for not exercising is not having enough time. This program eliminates that excuse. In a very short and quick 25 minutes you can get in the workout you need and want! I am really excited to see my results and will post before and after pics once completed!

After just one week I broke through a plateau and tipped the scales under 170 pounds for the first time since my junior year of high school. I am stunned at the quick results. I plan on measuring to find inches lost after week 2. Are you looking for results? This will get it done!

To Shaun T: Thanks for an extra 15 minutes of sleep in the morning!

Rowboats and Ocean Liners

2013-06-14T22:10:00.004-04:00

I have always been okay with just enough. Whether that was in a relationship, in business, in faith, in my fitness, in my health, in my finances and in general, life. I have felt like most of my life has been spent in a tiny one man rowboat where I have done nothing but tried to fix the holes to keep it floating. Moments of peace have come in between times of constant repair of the tiny boat. I have often been envious and even jealous of those on the ocean liners of life.

Today was a watershed moment in my life. Today, I decided I was done trying to fix the rowboat of my life. No, I haven't quit, but I have decided to take on a new project. I have parked the boat along the shore and decided to leave that boat behind. I am going to build an ocean liner, the S.S. Hope is what it will be called!

My little rowboat was my personal dingy that on occasion was capable of taking along a passenger or two. The rowboat kept me from achieving bigger things in the life. The S.S. Hope will have the capacity for hundreds if not thousands of people to go on the journey with me. What I have realized is that life is done better with others.

Many of you are like me and you find yourself in the sinking ship and busted boat. You find yourself fighting just to stay afloat. You have come to the intersection of despair and overwhelmed. You have hit walls that you can't break through. The end of your rope does reach the end of the dock. Your ship is sinking!

You are in the sinking ship of a broken and unhealthy life. You may be in the sinking ship of broken financial situation. You may be in the sinking ship of a broken marriage. You may be in the sinking ship of unsatisfied career choice. You find yourself in a sinking ship of your life!

What I realize is that an ocean liner takes time, even years to build. It is not an overnight project, but a lifetime endeavor. Building an ocean liner is not something that one man can build alone, heck even Moses had the help of his sons. Building an ocean liner takes a team of people to dedicate their time and energies and life to make it happen.

My hope is that you will become a part of the S.S. Hope. My hope is that you will join as a passenger in finding hope through changing your own life, through a physical, emotional, and mental transformation. My hope is that you will find this ocean liner to be a place of refuge, a place of inspiration and place of motivation. A boat of hope! If that is you, the S.S. Hope is now boarding.

Some of you will choose to be join the crew of the boat of hope. You will sign up to be a coach and share hope and help to those in need. You will join because you know that all of us can do more than one of us. You will join because you recognize people need hope. You will join because you have been a passenger on the boat and found your own hope. You will join this crew because you believe in the mission of offering hope to people! You will join because you know that one single row boat does not have the capacity to bring the change that needs to happen! If that's you, then we want you on board as part of our crew!

The S.S. Hope is now in production. The S.S. Hope will soon be boarding. The S.S. Hope is a place for you!

When you need to exercise

2013-03-07T12:14:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of moments when you look into the mirror and say "I need to exercise". Here is my list of times:

1) When you are frustrated.
2) When you are angry.
3) When you are happy.
4) When you are sad.
5) When you are healthy.
6) When you are trying to improve your health.
7) In the morning.
8) In the afternoon.
9) In the evening.
10) With friends.
11) When you are alone.

These are just few...I would love it if you would add yours in the comment section.

6 words of my life

2013-02-24T11:42:00.001-05:00

I was taught six words that would forever change my life. These words are not of great scientific insight. They are not even proverbial in and of themselves. Actually, they are quite simple.

They come from a biblical passage where Jesus says "freely you have received, freely give." If you are a regular reader of this blog you are wondering where the nutrition and exercise content is. Being healthy is more than having a body that is healthy. Being healthy is about all if you.

Here is my thought: we all have something to give away. I am not just talking money or even time. But we all have been given something. Personally as a follower of Jesus, I believe I have been given a lot. I have been given freedom, grace, love, truth, and honestly more than I ever deserved.

Here is why these 6 words make so much sense in ours lives (follower of God or not) by giving away we create space for more. The Dead Sea is dead because water has no place to flow out. It just gathers and stays stagnant, because of that no life can exist in it. I am working in my life to give away more. Honestly, of substance there is little margin to give, but of non tangible yet life-giving things I have an abundance.

2013 is a year I am going to try to give more. Yes, I hope to pass along the wisdom I am gaining on getting healthy, on nutrition, on exercise. But I am not limiting it to that. I hope to give more love, more grace, more kindness, more joy. I hope and plan on giving more of me to others. And as God blesses, I hope to give more away even financially.

Everything I have received, especially in the non-tangibles, I received freely. It cost me nothing to give it away. But limits me greatly to not give it away. If I hold back on giving I become like the Dead Sea a place nothing healthy can stay and live. If you and I give away what we have freely received we open up our lives to gain more to give away. "Freely you have received, freely give." Six life changing words. So what do you have to give?

From the inside out

2013-02-07T20:09:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine once told me that fixing the outside if the inside is broken tends to only accentuate the brokenness.

My disclaimer is that I am not a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist or even a psychic, so anything posted on this blog is intended as an unofficial helping hand.

Self image and self perception are huge issues in relation to your health and fitness. There are some who no matter what the result never see themselves any different. Their body might be healthy, but the inside still isn't. Your heart health is just as important as your physical health.

Your heart is more than just the thing that pumps blood to the rest of your body. The heart in a lot of cultures was consider the center or the seat of your being. It is widely considered that the source of life both physically and spiritually/emotionally was the heart! All this being said your health goes far beyond a flat tummy, bulging biceps and skinny waist. Health is an emotional issue. Health is a spiritual issue. Health is a wholistic issue. All of you needs to be healthy.

While focusing in on your fitness improves you body, focusing in on your relationships will improve you heart condition. While locking in on what goes in your mouth, lock in on what you put into your mind. Surround yourself with positive and encouraging people. Read books, blogs, posts that will fill your heart and mind with peace, joy and love.

Take aim at making all of you healthy! Here some tips:

1) Read personal development type books. Books that better you!

2) Find a faith community - church, synagogue, Bible study.

3) Find friends that build and support you in your dreams and in your health goals.

4) Continue to exercise. Endorphin make you happy!

5) If necessary find someone or place to help you deal with the emotional stuff - a counselor or psychologist. There is no shame in asking for help. We all need some help!

Your heart and your spirit are just as important as your body. Get all of you healthy!

Counting calories counts

2013-02-05T20:21:00.000-05:00

Darren Hardy in his book The Compound Effect talks about the challenge of paying attention to the small details. He poses the question how much more likely are you to reach your goal weight if you counted every bite, crumb, scrap of food you put in your mouth. That bite of cereal, the "dad tax" bite off your kids plate, the little "taste" of this unbelievable dessert.

Oftentimes, those are the calories we forget. No, I am not trying exaggerate here and saw that your little nibble is what is keeping from your goals. But enough nibbles during a day will add up. The challenge is to track every calorie that we take in, in order to create a calorie deficit for that day. The complex idea of weight loss has a simple formula, burn more calories than you take in. Now there are many other factors, but a great starting point to achieving weight loss is to do the math -- count calories!

There are some great tools that make this even more convenient:

MyfitnessPal

SparkPeople

LiveStrong -- save the Lance jokes. It is still a useful tool.

plus many more in the App Store or Google Play for your smartphone. Which leads me to this point, all these calorie counters you can take with you. No EXCUSES for not keeping track! So do it! I want you to have a beach ready BEACHBODY! Do the work, eat right, and keep track!!

Another Reason WHY

2013-02-03T15:44:00.000-05:00

This weekend our family took a short getaway to Caribbean Cove Hotel and Waterpark in Indianapolis. The waterpark was your typical indoor facility with kiddie area, activity area, lazy river and 3 water slides.

My youngest child is my little diva. She is 5 years old and working on 15 most days. It took me a little convincing, a couple dollars cash to get her down that first waterslide, but once she did...it was I could do to keep up.

Here is a little perspective, the waterslides stand 40 feet up in the air, 4 stories high, 4 stories of steps...multiplied by the enthusiasm of a 5 year old girl who kept saying "daddy, one more time." Every one more time meant picking up our bright yellow intertubes, lugging it up those 4 stories of steps, to sit her down on that tube and give her smiling face a push down that slide.

It was just 7 seconds of bouncing and bumping down that yellow tube on that air inflated tube to get to the bottom of the pool only to find her their soaked by water but having the time of her life. And then those words "one more time" was reason enough to pick up that tube and travel up those 4 flights of stairs one more time.

There is a difference between being a dad and being an "active" dad. Being an active dad means not sitting on the sideline and watching them slide, but traveling along side them down the slides of the journey. It has been a journey for me to lose the weight, get healthy and get fit. But days like yesterday make it worth it. Worth every step, worth every slide down, worth every water soaked smile on her face. Just one more reason why I am stay healthy!

I ate my feelings and...

2013-01-31T20:10:00.000-05:00

In our continued stream of thinking along nutrition and my continually belief that confession is good for the soul...I am an emotional eater.

When it rains, it pours highly carbohydrated snack foods in a Noah's Ark style flood. In order for me to achieve the success of my goal weight and maintain that healthy, the one thing I have to find control over is my emotional eating. I tend to eat when the stresses of life become overwhelming.

So here are 3 alternatives to eating my weight in snack foods:

1) Workout - pop in a DVD and sweat it out. Pushing my physical fitness and releasing endorphin keeps me from binging.

2) Run - while similar to working out, running allows me to put my body on cruise control and engage my mind in some thinking and processing. It gives a chance to escape to another place (both physically and mentally) and avoid the snacks.

3) Laugh - The proverb says that laughter is good medicine. Being able to find humor in laugh is healthy. While whatever the situation was may not have be funny at all, there is plenty in life to find laughter in. So laugh, smile, and take your hands away from the sweets and salty.

I have not perfected being an overcomer of emotional eater. I am working on it. I try to use these alternatives to stuffing my face. In an honest reflection, I really don't feel any better by eating. While I satisfy my taste buds, I upset my belly and worse really don't emotionally feel any better. (SAD FACE)

A Recovering Fat Kid

2013-01-30T21:25:00.000-05:00

If you have ever worn anything with Husky in the title...you might be a fat kid.

That was me, the chunky, husky kid (with a brother that wore jeans with slim in the title). I was that slightly overweight athletic kid. While always good at sports, I was even better at a buffet. I loved food and food loved me back. For whatever reason I could not out run the calories I was taking in. I was active, energetic and played outside. I was part of the pre-video game society. We played hide and seek, kick the can, and ghosts in the graveyard. And I was still the chubby kid.

Here is the intriguing piece of this puzzle, most of us grow up to still wrestle with that fat kid. I am Jeff Pitts and I am a recovering fat kid. This is because over time our metabolism slows down and so do we. The one lesson that we continue live out is how we still eat like a kid...pick at our green veggies and sliding them off to the dog. We must muster through some mustard greens in order to fill a bowl full of ice cream.

As a recovering fat kid I have had to swear off sweet tea, end my love affair with Chex Mix and close the bag on my deep seeded desires for Peanut M&M's. I have had to mature into a passionate consumer of broccoli, a master chef of veggie medley and daring daredevil of things that fall in the vegetable category.

There are not meetings for people like me, but there is help. I have found support in the caring arms of the Beachbody community. Beachbody is more then the company behind the eye catching informercials for the world's leading fitness programs. It is a group of fitness minded, exercise lovin', nutrition learning recovering fat kids like me.

Maybe you found yourself in some Huskies in your youth...then I invite you to join me and thousands of others who are recovering fat kids!

Day #22 The Hardest Workout

2013-01-28T21:13:00.001-05:00

No it is not P90X or Insanity Pure Cardio...it is the workout that you don't want to do. Tonight was one of those nights. I was fighting a headache, so every time I jumped my head throbbed. I watched the seconds tick slowly as my only thought "oh Lord, when is this going to be done!"

Sometimes the hardest things are the things that you feel least like doing. On the flip side of that coin is that those workouts are oftentimes the most rewarding. I may not have burned as many calories as a workout that I felt fresh and ready to go, but the emotional reward of pushing through a difficult workout is as much a gain as workout you attacked.

These are the moments that are a test of grit, a test of determination, a test of discipline. Tonight I had all three....

EXERCISE:
LES MILLS COMBAT Extreme Cardio 60

21 days in the rearview

2013-01-27T19:00:00.002-05:00

January 7th I put a ground and said NO MORE! I weighed in at 184.7 pounds, by far the most I had been in several months. Let's be honest, it was a steady diet of monkey bread and Christmas cookies for about 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year's. While tasty on the tongue, it was killing my around the gut!

So I kicked of 2013 with Les Mills Combat, Shakeology, and focusing on what I eat and as of today, I weigh 180.1. Not the weight loss I hoped for but seeing some great results in the change in my shape. While I do have a weight loss goal that I want to reach my focus is really beginning to shift. I could press and workout extra, trim additional calories and get completely stringent to get to that goal. And that would be fine. But what I know about myself is that if I sprint to that goal, I will eventually run out of gas and while I might hit that number on the scale I know that my weight will yo-yo back up.

As with most things in life, the "tortoise" wins - slow and steady wins the race!! My goal is to become actively healthy, not just a specific weight.

RESULTS HAPPEN HERE!

I would love to hear your comments!

Are you a cheater?

2013-01-26T09:10:00.000-05:00

Friday nights at Casa Pitts are blocked off as a family night (at least as best as our schedules allow). After a long week, prepping a sit down meal at close to 7 PM (after finishing our other Friday responsibilities) is just not feasible. So our Friday night is our "cheat night". It is the one night a week that nutritionally we let our guard down a little bit and make frozen pizza or sandwich bar or something easy and pop in a movie and just chillax as a family.

So I wanted to pass on some tidbits of wisdom from a cheater like me.

1. Take caution in what you cheat with -

Just because you allow yourself a cheat meal does not mean that meal has to lack complete nutritional value. If you get a pizza make sure has some veggies on it. If you are going to eat sandwiches use a lighter cheese, skip the mayo and use mustard or even avocado as a replacement. You want chips with that sandwich, even here you make a better choice about the chips you eat. Cheat with wisdom, if you eat out you can still enjoy a yummy meal, but do it responsibly. Just because you are eating a cheat meal don't make a wasted meal full of empty calories because...

2. Your body knows what it wants -

Here is the reason you need to make sure even when you cheat, you cheat right. Your body is smarter than you are. It's true. When your body has a need for protein you will crave meat or eggs. When you body has a need for calcium, you might want cheese or milk. Your body knows what it needs and signals your brain "hey get us that." One of the dangers of a cheat meal is not fulfilling the need of your body. When that happens your body tells your brain "hey we need something else and more of it." If that something else is not what your body needs it will keep sending that signal to your brain. Your brain sends the signal to the rest of you and you find yourself with your hand back in the bag of chips even though you are not hungry. Which leads to...

3. Overeating

A cheat meal does not mean 5 trips to the all you can eat buffet. While you will more than likely blow your typical calorie count for a meal out of the water (my meals range from 350-425 a meal), this is not an excuse to eat like you are in the 4th of July Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest. You need to still have some portion management. So you may go back for a bite of seconds, but thirds, really, fourths. At the bottom of the bag of whatever you are eating is regret. So take caution! Manage the amount of what you are going to eat. Just because it is a cheat meal does not mean that you throw out the discipline you have the rest of the week. Consider this a controlled indulgence.

You don't bust your backside to not enjoy life. We fight for our health through diet and exercise in hopes a living a happier and healthier life. Give yourself some grace on occasion to cheat. Just cheat with caution. It is still cheating and cheating can always lead us down a slippery slope and leave us caught elbow deep in a tub of ice cream. So enjoy your pizza, your occasional scoop of Rocky Road, even juicy steak, but make this the exception to your life and not the rule. If you let poor habits rule what you eat you will be right back to the point you were before your journey toward a fitter you!

Day #18 Emergency Plan

2013-01-24T20:31:00.001-05:00

So I live in a place where if it snows the world seems to stop. Stock up on bread and water from the local grocery, because you are not going anywhere. The emergency plan here in the Bluegrass is to just stop doing whatever you had planned. This seems quite familiar with most people's health and fitness plan.

Most people don't just decide to stop exercising or just stop going to the gym. What typically happens is that some sort of storm in our life happens and we don't have an emergency plan for our fitness. We get in a time crunch so we skip a workout, we have something come up, so exercise gets pushed aside. What is needed is an emergency plan.

My go to in a crunch, got little time to get the burn in is Insanity Fast & Furious. It is 22 minutes of heart racing, calorie burning intensity. It fits neatly into a tight schedule!

Here is why I keep this workout handy, while we all work hard to stick to our programs it can quickly unravel with a missed workout or two. What we know about habits is that it is harder to build a good habit than it is to tear one apart. I know that while one missed workout won't necessarily keep me from getting the results I want, I do know that it can start to unravel the disciplines I have put into place.

No matter what it is have an emergency workout plan. Life is going to happen. There are going to be days that working out is not going to coincide with life. Have a plan for those moments!

Day #17 3 Things Winners Don't Do

2013-01-23T21:01:00.001-05:00

In a follow up to the post about what winners do, here are three things winners don't do.

1) Quit - Winners never, ever give up. They break, the crumble and at times are crushed. But they never, ever quit. Pain and struggle are temporary speed bumps on the road to succeeding. These should not be walls that keep us from our goal, but simply serve as obstacles we fight hard to overcome. DON'T QUIT!

2) Blame Others - The affirmative of this is that winners take personal responsibility. Their situation is never someone else's fault. Their weight struggle is not blamed on DNA or genes. The inability to lose weight has nothing to do with what everyone else in their life is doing. Your life situation is not the fault of someone else! A winner takes responsibility for themselves!

3) Half A$$ IT - A winner gives everything, every time. A winner puts their foot to the pedal and steps on it. 50% is not going to get you the results you want. 75% is not going to get you to your goals. You have got to give 100% and then give something more. DIG DEEPER ala Shaun T! DO YOUR BEST AND FORGET THE REST ala Tony Horton! Give your all, all the time!

You have the ability to win!!!! Now GO WIN!!

Day #16 3 Things Winners Do

2013-01-22T19:54:00.000-05:00

There two fears that run perpendicular in our lives that hamper us from reaching our goals. At times I feel like I deal with both. One we have already addressed and that is the fear of failing. The second is on the flip side is the fear of success. It is not that I don't want to be successful and not that I don't know how to become successful, it is not knowing what to do once I get there. So the fear of becoming a success keeps you at mediocrity. So what I thought on today are the 3 traits of winners.

1. Be Consistent - Winners are those that do it over the long haul. They are the Peyton Mannings and Tom Bradys of the world. They are the individuals that year in and year out WIN. Success is often measured in being able to do it over the long haul rather than just in the moment. Your health and fitness is not about a quick fix, weight loss solution, but making a life change to where you win over the course of your life. Consistency is the key to success!

2. Work Harder Than Others - There are stories of Michael Jordan as high school coming back to the gym after everyone else has left. Winners tend to do more and work harder than everyone else. Success comes out of the hard work that is put in when no one else is willing to put the work in. A winner puts in the extra effort to become better at what they set out to become. Put in the extra!

3. Do Things The Right Way - There is never a short cut to success. True success never comes at the expense of others. Most often success is achieved through the efforts and supports of others. While cheating others and cheating yourself might bring a moment of success, it will most create a lasting success of your life. When it comes to exercise and nutrition, you can't keep eating pizza and fries and shake something on it and call it healthy. All the magic pills might make you skinny, but they will never make you healthy. Go about your physical transformation the right way.

While this list is not exhaustive it does give a glimpse into what it takes to be a WINNER!

Day #14 Full Swing

2013-01-20T21:14:00.000-05:00

Missed the blog yesterday, but no worries, I did not miss the workout. Here are some thoughts for your today!

Back full swing, sort of.

While I am a huge advocate of exercise that is organized and planned out, I am also a huge sports fan. Today was the start of baseball, well sort of. My sons play and today we started winter hitting practice. Remember as a kid when you just went and did. You played baseball, skipped rope, hide and go seek, and just ran to run.

I think we need to get back to that youthful mentality. As adults we become calorie counting, treadmill running, heart rate monitor wearing individuals in order to achieve a certain goal. There are times when we just need to go to go. Go golf, go swim, go for a walk, go be active. No calorie counting, no heart monitor wearing (unless doctor recommended), what is the point of being fit and healthy if you are not enjoying it.

Here is why I love being a fit and active dad. This Spring I will take hour long stretches of throwing pitch after pitch to a 9 and 11 year old. I will hit ground ball after ground ball. I will throw fly ball after throw ball. I will run after errand throws, demonstrate 500 times how to properly chase down a ball in the gap and how to round second base. I won't count calories burned, but count myself blessed. Blessed that I have the health and energy to do these things, which was not always the case.

I exercise and eat right so that I spring and summer can be spent giving my best at the ballpark, because they deserve my best....

What activities can you do or do better because you chose fitness? POST IN THE COMMENT SECTION

REST DAY

Day #12 Quitter

2013-01-18T21:55:00.000-05:00

For fans of Jon Acuff, blogger and speaker extrordanaire says that if a dreamis worth committing to it is worth doing at 5 am. Jon started his blog Stuff Christians Like by getting up daily at 5 am to blog. He later penned the book Quitter that is all about moving from your day job to your dream job without killing your family finances.

So what does this have to do with health and fitness?

We all have a dream of what we want our bodies to look like. The work toward the fulfillment of that dream might just have to take place at 5 am. Right now my workout time is in the evening. What I know is that we are on the cusp of baesball season, which means my nights are taken. Which leaves me with two options, quit on my dream body or move working on my dream at 5 am.

Rising before the sun is never my favorite option, but if it means stay on task toward moving the dial closer to what I want to be or being a quitter, I'll take the 5 a start time. One day I may quit my day job for my dream job, but 5 am will not keep me from my dream body.

EXERCISE:
Les Mills Combat HIIT Plyo

Day #11 A Plan

2013-01-17T21:05:00.000-05:00

Do you know you are going to eat tomorrow? Most of us do not know what our next meal is. Having a food plan keeps you on track and less likely to get your hand into something that you are going to regret. Part B of that whole concept is to stick to that plan.

I had my food planned out today for lunch. And then it happened. I thought what a great partner to my vegetable shop but some tortilla chips from Qdoba that were in our break room. Halfway through my lunch I punch my foods into MyFitnessPal app only to find out my expected amount of calories on my lunch had just doubled...that's right doubled. My serving of chips that I assumed were about 120 calories were 250. YIKES!

Now 130 extra calories is not the end of the world. Yet it was a failure to stick to my plan that cost me the extra. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me...What I and you need to make sure is that we don't get fooled into extra calories by not A. failing to plan out meals in advance and B. fail to stick to the food plan you set out.

Knowledge is POWER, but only when that knowledge dictates and determines your behavior. PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! Stick to that PLAN!

EXERCISE:
Insanity - Pure Cardio

Day #10 Halfway to a Habit

2013-01-16T21:09:00.001-05:00

It is said that it takes 21 days to create a habit, while just 4 days to end one. Well then, today marks my halfway point. In actual truth, I have exercise everyday of 2013 but one (we were traveling home from IL). But since January 7th I have been focused in on my fitness and my nutrition (with an occasional nibble of chex mix).

My goal this year is to reach a goal weight of 170 pounds by April 1st. What I know about achieving success, whether health and fitness or any other field, consistency is king. Good eating and exercise have to become as integrated in your life as brushing your teeth or showering (one time is not enough). While most of the Americans who stated in proclamation on New Year's Eve that this was the year they were going to get fit, lose weight or get healthy, most of those who made those resolutions have fallen off the wagon. As a matter of fact, they are once again riding high in the saddle of McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts.

In order for me to get to that goal will take staying on track, staying focused and having a plan. The stumbling block to most, including myself is not knowing what to do or what to do next. So here is my plan to get through the spring: complete Les Mills Combat (7 more weeks) and restarted (dramatic pause) Insanity.

So how are you doing on your goal of becoming fit, getting healthy, or losing weight? Are you on track to create your healthy habit?

EXERCISE:
Les Mills Kata 45

Day #9 What do you believe?

2013-01-15T19:51:00.000-05:00

I was challenged by a video I watched today on something that had already been stirring in me. If you are anything like me, you are gifted, skilled, talented and even capable. The one thing that keeps me from reaching my dreams more than anything else is a big fat ME. I am the stumbling block, I am the hindrance.

Here is the things I believe in when it comes to health and fitness: one exercise and diet are the keys. As a Beachbody coach, I honestly believe in Beachbody fitness programs and in Shakeology. They are not the problem. Where my struggles comes in is believing in me. I know I touched on this earlier, but this is such a truism. If you put the work in, the work works. Yet, somehow, when I quit believing in myself, when I quit caring enough about the person inside, I quit caring for the person on the outside. And then I quit putting the work in.

Health and Fitness are more than physical things. They are very much emotional. Let me put it into perspective...you never reach for a bag of carrots after a big breakup. No, of course not, it's a tub of ice cream. Our emotions are indicators and at times dictators of our physical well being. Our emotional well being is intertwined with our physical well being. The two are inter-locked.

My problem many days is that I let my emotions and the way I view and believe about myself dictate my physical well-being. I don't quit exercising because I believe it doesn't work. I don't shove greasy food in my mouth because I think it makes me healthy. No, I resort to laziness and bags of goo when I quit feeling worth the work.

So let me pass on the tips shared with me today. When negative thoughts fill your space and try to push out the positive you believe about yourself, do this. Write down the negative thought. Draw a line through it. Write the opposite, something positive.

My struggle has been with this (honest confession moment, prepare yourself): ~~No one cares about you or really likes you, so why should you care about yourself.~~

Truth is: People care greatly for me and I am worth caring about and worth caring for myself.

The question is what do you believe about you?

EXERCISE:
Les Mills Combat HIIT Power + plus some free weight work

Day #8 - My 5 Struggles

2013-01-14T17:44:00.000-05:00

Weigh in day! It is a day of hope that teeters on being a great celebration or a possible deflation. Today was somewhere in between. I was down to 181.2 and a BMI of 25.98, a total weight loss of 3.6 lbs. Pretty good for a weeks work, but honestly was hoping for better. I know, maybe that sounds like I was looking for a miracle. This got me thinking about the struggles we face. So here are the 5 struggles I face and how I do my best to overcome them.

1) FOOD -
Inside of me is an 11 year old chubby kids who still buys his jeans in the "HUSKY" section. That kids loves sweet tea, pizza, and especially Chex Mix. While the grown up healthier Jeff has grown to enjoy eggplant, cabbage, zucchini and other veggies. There is a part of me that still has the urge to tear open a bag of party mix and eat it 'til it is gone.

How I deal: For starters, try not to keep it in the house. Secondly, to make a better choice if I do get the urge. And at times, I do treat myself to some Bold Party Blend Chex Mix, but I pour an amount in a bowl and try, try, try to not go back to the bag.

2) TIME -
Probably the second biggest hiccup we have to our health and fitness is squeezing out the time to do it. I have a wife, three kids and a whole heap of responsibilities. I feel ya on this one...So I schedule my workouts in my to do list. I tell my family that this is when I am working out and try to manage other activities around it. Try to establish a set time to do it - early morning, after the kids go to bed, just after work. If it becomes part of the daily routine, then you and everyone else will work around it.

3) EXERCISE
Simply put, if you don't love it, you won't want to do it. Find a program that you really enjoy doing. Don't have one, then I would love to recommend a few. I tried to doing TurboFire, similar to TurboKick classes. I felt like a dancing bear and hated it. I found myself not wanting to do it. If you hate it, you won't do it. Find one you LOVE! It makes it easy to do.

4) THE MIRROR
I may struggle the most with the man looking back at me. I have some convincing of myself to do that I deserve to look and feel better. Obesity is mentally and emotionally crippling disease. When you see change it fuels the fire. When you bust your can and don't see change, you start to question why you are doing it. You look in the mirror and say "why?" I have worked hard on my Jack Handy and telling myself that I deserve it.

5) WHY
Losing sight of your WHY is the quickest way to lose motivation. About 3 years ago, I checked in around 220 lbs, ate whatever I wanted and to use a country song reference treated my body like an old honky tonk - minus the booze, smokes and loose women. Our youngest was an infant, we had one in school and one about to start school and they needed and deserved a dad who could go play catch in the yard, chase after bicycles, and have the energy to be active with them. My wife deserved a husband who had energy at the end of the day. I deserved to be healthy and have a long life..see my kids become adults and live out their lives. They are my WHY.

MEALS: updated later

EXERCISE:
Les Mills Combat Kick Start 30 -- my eleven year old son was my workout partner

Day 7 - Finding Insanity

2013-01-13T20:47:00.000-05:00

To rest or not to rest was the question of the day. I chose not to rest. As a matter a fact did something on the far opposite end, Insanity. Now I believe that rest in your exercise routine is essential. It allows the fatigued muscles to rest, restore and rebuild. Don't short change yourself on rest.

Rest is an interesting idea. It is Biblical principle as foretold in the creation story. It is cultural principal based in our 5 day work week. Yet, it something we probably don't do enough of. We live in noisy, loud, busy, overwhelming worlds. We have demanding schedules for ourselves and for our children. The one thing we probably don't do enough of or do properly is rest.

Where I am now focusing my attention is improving my productivity. If you are productive in your working time then what you have freed up is time to rest. I am personally working through Chalene Johnson's 30 day push challenge. It is a 30 video based personal development on being organized and efficient...leaving time for rest.

If you life has been life mine typically when you go looking for rest all your find is insanity!

MEALS: (just the calories)
Breakfast: 383 (I did treat myself to French Vanilla creamer in my coffee)
Lunch: 370
Snack 1: 315 made my Shakeology with Silk Fruit and Protein. SO GOOD!!!
Dinner: 360
Snack 2: 360

EXERCISE:
Insanity Cardio Resistance and Power...sweaty is mess!

Day 6 quickie

2013-01-12T23:01:00.000-05:00

Real quick...

Did not track meals but eat okay with some extra snacking.

Exercise

Les Mills CombatLive 30 - feel like it is a little tougher than the Kick Start 30. Added in some Insanity Cardio Abs. Guess I was feeling a little spry today.

Making progress...

Day #5 Just Ask

2013-01-11T20:17:00.000-05:00

"I can do it myself..." at least that is what I always seem to try to convince myself. In reality it is not a confidence in my own abilities to act like that, but more my fear of asking for help. Maybe you are like me and would rather suffer through, struggle, and face defeat rather than suck it up and ask someone for help. It is not even that I don't want help or that I believe that I don't need it...the struggle comes in asking.

Sometimes fear sets in. What will they think if I ask? How will they respond? Will they see me as weak? These question flood us (or just me) and handicap me from getting the help I need, whether in weight loss or business or finances or just life. Our character traits spill over into every area of our life. So if you struggle with asking for help in general, what I know is that you are not going to go to someone and say "help me lose the weight." How do I know this? Because I am that guy, who struggled and struggle and refused to ask anyone for help. I wrote earlier this week about how support creates success. But you will never get the support you need if you don't ask. I finally asked. I went to a friend who had reached out to me about Beachbody and I said I need to help to get to the goals I have.

While I am less than perfect at asking, as matter of fact, still learning to ask for the things I want and need. I am getting better. Our first step to reaching the goals we set might be as simple as asking someone to help. If you have health and weight loss goals, here is an open hand extended. Just ask for help...

MEALS:
Breakfast: Egg with 2% pepperjack cheese on 10 grain Brownberry toast, medium Red Delicious apple - total cal - 275
Snack #1: Chocolate Shakeology, frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup skim milk w/ ice and water - 270
Lunch: 5oz of tuna with spicy brown mustard and sweet relish, baby carrots, banana, 10 grain Brownberry bread - 378
Snack #2: 6 sourdough pretzel nuggets, Brownberry toast with Wholly Guacamole, baby carrots - 290
Dinner: Lean Turkey sausage link, potato, onion and green pepper pan fried - 335
Total Calories: 1548

EXERCISE:
Les Mills Combat HIIT Plyo Shock - or in other words 30 minutes of pain and agony!!!