The Lie The Church Told Me (A Response)

I wanted to take a few minutes and respond to the response.  First it has been quite unexpected.  I am glad I am not the only one who sees and feels the way I do.

To those in the midst of the struggle, I write this.  Have HOPE!  Despair keeps us where we are.  The belief that it can never get any better is a lie.  Don't believe it.  Change is not only possible it is within your reach.  It is completely possible to become a healthier version of you.  I was that guy once upon a time.

To those who might not understand, I ask you to be GRACEFUL.  We are not trying to become "sexy" we just want to be healthy.  We want to be healthy for our spouses, for our children, for our families, for ourselves.  We are just trying to reach a point where we look in the mirror and am proud and happy with the person we see looking back at us.  Have grace.  Just because you don't understand doesn't make you right and us wrong.

To those wanting to start, I say START.  Do something.  Start walking, running, a class or even a at home program (I recommend a few, haha).  Trade your COKE for water.  Trade a Pizza slice for apple slices.  Just begin.  Surround yourself by people who will encourage your new journey.  Find an exercise that you will enjoy.  And do it for you!  Do it because you deserve it.

To Pastors and Leaders, this is a real issue.  ADDRESS IT.  First address it in you.  Pastors pay one of the highest insurance premiums due to the stress of they jobs and the overall unhealthy nature of how they live.  Address in your congregations.  Encourage people to live healthy.  Encourage your sheep to be more active.  Encourage your body of believers to become healthier.

To the guy writing this blog, KEEP GOING.  You have battled to become healthy, some days winning, some days losing.  KEEP inspiring and sharing.  There are those inside and outside of the kingdom who need  your help.  KEEP believing that HOPE is not something to be lost like car keys and that everyone needs a little more of it.  KEEP working on being authentic.  People don't expect perfection, they just want you to be you.  So on emotional greasy cheeseburger, double stuff Oreo days, don't be afraid to ask for help and share in your struggle.

To everyone, we win best when we FIGHT together instead of against one another.  So let's keep FIGHTING.

* (the asterisk)

In the annals of sports history are *s.

They wanted to put one next to Roger Maris' 61 homeruns.

I would like to put one next to Barry Bonds 762 (for obvious reasons).

The asterisk is used to indicate that the record is somehow tainted by circumstance.  That something about that record is invalid or corrupt. (Hence my disdain for Barry Bonds 762 home runs).

I think in our journeys we place an asterisk by a lot of things.

"Well that one pound was just water weight." *
"It's easy to lose weight the first week."*
"It is only a few pounds." *

I think we are the biggest asteriskers of ourselves.  Instead of celebrating our successes, we find ways to discredit them.  Instead of recognizing ourselves for staying disciplined with our nutrition and fitness, we somehow consider our results tainted.

If you have lost 1 pound this week or 5 pounds this week and have done it the right way (fitness + nutrition), then celebrate that.  Don't hang an * on it with some lame excuse.  Feel good about the work you put in.  Raise your hands victorious like an Olympic champion (who tested negative for Perfomance Enhancing Drugs).

Don't * you results in the record of your success.  Whatever level of success you achieved you deserve it!

A Beachbody, A Struggle & The Heart of Father

As is my usual Saturday morning practice, I sit in the stillness of my bedroom while everyone else is a sleep pounding the keys of this computer and sipping my morning coffee.  Last weekend was a struggle...no coffee.  My intimate relationship of 8 years with my coffee pot was broken off last Friday.  Leaving me with just the computer and a less than warm bed.

The struggle spilled far beyond my caffeinated beverage that was missing into something more that needed to take place.  Like many Americans, we fight for every dollar we make.  The coffee pot was the icing on the financial cake of demanding weekend.  There was flag football to register for, there was a band trip to sign up for and there is a little girl who steals my heart and I want to give her everything.  Factor in the utility bill that tips in somewhere around the weight of NFL defensive lineman and we were face to face with a Dave Ramsey More Month than Money type situation.  And it was just not feasible to make all of them happen.

I am a husband and father first and foremost.  As was handed down to me from generations of husbands and fathers from the earliest of my ancestors who hunted and foraged the land for food, you have the responsibility to provide for your family.  You wear that pride as you would a bear skin coat that you killed and skinned with your own two hands.  You want to provide for their needs and give them their wants because they are great kids and deserve that.  You want to give them moments and memories and at times that costs money. So when as a dad you can't, it is like having your bear skin coat stripped from you!

I am by default an incredible dreamer.  On the filp side of the coin, I am terribly lousy and making dreams reality.  So after a conversation with a good friend, who also has a background in ministry, I realized you just don't walk into a $80,000 job anymore.  And if we are being honest, that number just begins to touch what it takes to raise 3 kids, pay for 3 college degrees and I hate to think about it, 3 weddings.  Last weekends big revelation through a broken coffee pot was that whatever it is I do for a "job" will always leave us short of the dreams we want.  Momma always asked if money grew on trees, there's no forest nearby if it does.

If you are reading this post by now you know I am a Team Beachbody coach, in short, I help people with their health and fitness.  No I don't have a six pack, in part due to the cup in my hand that is filled with creamer in my coffee.  I did not join to get ripped, just to improve me.  I joined to get healthy and that I am.  I also joined with the hope of helping others.  

Here is another truth that I know, my Beachbody business is not another "job".  While my day work has an income ceiling, my business doesn't.  While my 40 hour struggle could never mathematically take my family to Disney, my Beachbody business can.  While money may not grow on trees, I have the opportunity to invest in a garden that if tended properly will produce great fruit.  While the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel has always been there, I have often been reluctant to run towards it.  (There is a whole nother blog post to deal with that).  As a dad of 3 amazing kids, what I hold in my hands is opportunity.  Opportunity to not put limitations on our dreams.  Opportunity to provide for their everyday needs and some moments they will never forget.

What I have is an opportunity to end the struggle!

Seriously?

Seriously?

Every just start your day feeling that way.  I have a Saturday morning routine.  Get up, grab a banana, make some coffee, drink said coffee.  Today, my 7 year old coffee pot decided it had enough.  Routine ruined, morning ruined.

This got me thinking, how often do we let one set back, one poor food choice, one missed workout ruin our progress.  I am amazed how quickly I can spiral back to poor choices due to one small thing.  It's that thinking "oh, well, I didn't workout anyways.  Might as well eat a dozen cookies."  I hope you are not like me, because that is totally ME!  

Life is full of speed bumps that slow us down, but are not intended to bring us to a stop.  We just roll right over them and move on to the next point.  My hope is that you have kept moving forward past the speed bumps.  Rolled right past and on to bigger things.  

Yet, I also know that the speed bump, in our eyes, become insurmountable.  I heard a great illustration about momentum.  When a train engine is at a complete stop, it only takes a 2 inch peice of wood to that train at bay.  The difference of momentum is that when that train is rolling at even minimum speeds, that wood is no match for the train.  

The coffee pot is just a Saturday morning speed bump.  Don't let a little thing keep you from your goals!

Good Saturday Morning (even without coffee)

6 Reasons to Stay Home

We know the terms like gym rat or gym junkie.

We know the people – bulking up guy grunt, princess pink on a slow walk on the treadmill, weird creepy guy just walking around talking to everyone. 

We know what gyms have to offer.  There are some great fitness centers and gyms here in Lexington and I am sure in the city where you live.  And gyms and fitness centers do a great job at helping people get results.  Yet, we also know or have been that person who buys a gym membership, pays monthly and never goes.  The alternative to hitting the gym is pushing play at home.

 So here is the question I want to pose, why workout at home?  Here are 6 reasons: 

• No drive time.  When I was going to the gym I would get up early, drive 15 minutes across town just to get to the place that I was going to run on a stationary treadmill for 30 minutes.  Then drive 15 minutes back home.  So it adds up that I spent an hour to get in a 30 minute workout.  Bad math!
•  Your own shower.  This mostly applies to those of us that get our workout done first thing in the morning before we go to the office.  While the shower smells like that funky fresh cleaning stuff,  I am not sure how clean it is.  Factor in shaving for us guys and hair drying, curling, crimping and product necessary for the ladies, this is just done better from the comforts of our own vanities.
• The equipment battle.  This is the 10 minutes you spend on that “one” machine  working a muscle group that you are not sure exists because the exercise machine or the equipment you want to use someone else is on.  So you kind of put in effort all the while ready to sprint to that machine once that person gets off.
•  Any time.  Here is what I love about my home based workout programs, it is always open!  I have a world-class fitness expert available on my schedule.  I pop in a DVD and press play and I get step by step instruction on an amazing workout.  No need to schedule a time with a personal trainer.  I have several on standby.
• Gymtimidation.  One of the fitness companies coined this term about the all the grunt, mirror posing meathead and dolled up princesses at the gym that emotionally detract us from wanting to enter the doors.  At home, you get to come as you are.  And fall dead on the floor of your own house after you get your rear handed to you in a great workout.  There is no Barbie in corner or Arnold in the front of the mirror flexing. Just you focused on you.
•  Something for everyone.  What I love particularly about Beachbody and the array of programs is that there is something for all fitness levels.  If you want dance off the pounds, we got that.  If you want to punch and kick your way to fit, we got that.  If you want to get INSANE results, we got that too.  If you have not worked out since your senior year gym class in the 70’s, we got something for that too.  Beachbody has put together an amazing collection of fitness programs that deliver results and help you reach your goals.

I still hit the gym from time to time.  I will still pop into a fitness class.  But for me the time saved, the schedule flexibility, the options I have and level of training I get, I will keep pushing play at home!

The Measure of Success

We have all stood there.  We put in a great week of work.  We watched and tracked what we ate.  And then the scale reads....no change!!!!  This is when we start with the explicatives...

Don't get discouraged.  Let's take a look at what we are truthfully measuring as success.  While most of us have a number we want to see on the scale, our goal should be more about living a healthy and fit life.  Still, you want to see the numbers move.  But when they don't, lets look at the what else we can measure to see if we are being successful.

- Body Measurements
We have all seen the picture of 1 pound of fat versus 1 pound of muscle.   So I won't re-post that viral image.  But measuring your body let's you know where the change is happening.  So when the scale doesn't move, take a look at where you are losing.

Measure these areas: chest, waist, arms, legs, hips and neck.  Compare those numbers and look to see where change is happening.  I recommend measuring every two weeks.

- Clothing Test
This is simple enough, how are those clothes fitting?  Are you noticing a difference?  In honestly, we all have those "skinny" pants hanging in the closest.  Check and see how those are fitting.

-Before and Afters
We look in the mirror everyday.  We see ourselves everyday.  There is an incredible visual evidence in comparing side by side pictures of yourself.  These are best done either every 2 weeks or every month.  Take front poses, profile poses, back poses, and one where you flex those guns!

-The "DANG" wat cho been doin' effect
 Sometimes other people take notice when we don't.  So take the compliment and share what you have done to reach those amazing results!

So when the scale is not going the right way, measure these other areas to find success!

Where do I begin?

Here is what I don't doubt, the fact that you want to change.  

Here is probably the question you may find yourself asking: "Where do I begin?" 

Begin by asking a different set of questions.  Let's start by defining the change into smaller portions.

- What do I want to accomplish in the next 6 months?

Now smaller.

- What do I want to accomplish in the next month?

Now smaller.

- What do I want to accomplish this week?  

The daunting part of changes is that it seems so big.  And truthfully, we tackle the biggest elephant in the safari thinking we can eat the whole thing in one big bite.  But the adage is still true, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. (Although, I have never eaten elephant and don't plan on it, but you get me.)

My heart is bent toward helping people move closer to their potential - it comes in the form of their personal, spiritual and health and fitness.  But this reverse thinking applies in every situation.  

If you want to graduate college, it starts with taking a class.  Then by getting this weeks homework done.  

If it's weight loss, well let's start by setting fitness goals for this week and planning meals for the week. 

If it's to become an accomplished public speaker.  Then start small, speaking to church groups, non-profits, business groups.  

You only start at the end to work backwards to find a clear starting point.  

But get started!  If it's your dream, goal or ambition don't let it pass!  Start!

Hustlers

I wish I had some huge success story about my Team Beachbody business taking off and making me a millionaire.  I don't, at least not yet.

So I enrolled myself in a little adventure with writer, blogger and fashionably smart Jon Acuff for a 30 day hustle marathon.  Clustered together are over 3000 individuals who are taking aim at a specific goal. Jon Acuff, New York Times Best Selling author and encourager of people wisely leaving behind their jobs for their passions, serves as the Skipper of a ship full of Gilligans.  Or at least this Gilligan.  My hope was simply to gain something that would help my business grow.

Admittedly, I have probably taken too much time to read through the posts rather than focus on my own hustle, what I have seen is that there is an abundance of people "hustling" to lose weight, get in shape and change their health.

While numbers are reported of the rising trend of obesity, that reality becomes a little more real when you start putting names and faces with it.  Attached to those names are personal, heartfelt and emotional stories of struggle.  Of weight lost and regained.  Of deep disappointment, coupled with new found hope that this time it will be different.

Each story tugs digs a little deeper as I realize that I am not in a business about  business.  I am in a business about people.  The greater value is not the sale of one more P90X or Insanity
program, but helping someone author the new chapter in their story.  A chapter entitled "Losing It For Good".  I have been rocked again and again by the Zig Ziglar famous words that "if you help enough people get where they are going, they will help you get where you are going."

I logged into this escapade with the hopes of gaining something about how to run a business, set goals and move from the dreaded day job to a dream job.  What I am sure that knowledge will be gained, what I am unexpectedly acquiring is a deeper sense that people just need someone to walk beside them and say "you can do this."  My hope is that I have the opportunity to be the voice in their life saying just that!

Everyday we're hustlin'!

New Years 2014!

Happy New Year!

As you awake this morning, it is a morning like any other, but then again it's not.  Today is New Years Day.  A day of fresh starts, clean slates and declaring what you will accomplish in the next 365 days.  So here are my 3 resolutions for 2014:

1) Be an encourager of others dreams.  
- Zig Ziglar says if you help enough people get where they are going, they will help you get where you're going.

2) Become a goal getter, not just a goal setter.  
- I am setting goals, dates, and putting together plans.

3) Become healthy on the inside, not just the outside.
- What is inside of us will spill out to the outside.  No amount of diet and exercise will heal hurts and help souls.

These are my resolutions for the New Year, what are yours?

Here's to a amazing and blessed 2014!

Reminder Pants - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

In my closet are lots of pairs of pants, but more specifically two specific pairs of pants.  I call them my "reminder pants".  

The Good - 
These are a pair of black suit pants.  They are a size 38.  To be honest, my chubby buns and dunlap belly I am sure stretched it past the 38 inch waist line.  There were Sundays when I would pour myself into those pants and uncomfortably suffer through the service. 

Now I am a true 34 inch waist!  Woot!

Those pants serve as a reminder of where I have come and how much progress I have made.  These are just a simple reminder of the good!  They remind me of the wins in my health and fitness.  The wins in my weight loss journey!

It's amazing reminder!

The Bad -
The skinny pants that I wear to work.  Like all of you I have moments of slipping back into poor habits.  There are days I skip workouts and feed my face fattening foods.  As I slide into those pants and pull that waist line across my belly I am reminded that I need to get back on track.  

Just the feel of those pants snuggling up under that little pooch belly that rares it's head when I make excuses for my health and fitness.  It reminds me "Jeff you need to refocus".

The Ugly -
Simply get rid of these.  Just a reminder that sometimes you make terrible clothing choices.

Enough said!

A Moving WHY

As many of you already know if you have read any of my previous blogs, my main reason I started on this journey of health and fitness (other than running out of clothes that fit) was my three kids.  While that reason remains true, what I have found is that my WHY has become somewhat fluid.

My weight loss journey started as a runner and about a year and half ago progressed into being a Team Beachbody Coach.   Since then I have tackled programs like P90X, Insanity, Les Mills Combat, Focus T25 and two very uncoordinated weeks of Turbofire!  I became a coach for two reasons. One to help me stay accountable to my own health and fitness.  Two, in order to create some secondary income for my family.  While neither of those reasons have changed, I had my eyes opened wide this week.

My beautiful 6 year old daughter has tumbled into loving gymnastics and she's good!  In just 8 weeks she has progress from Division 1 to Division 3, which is an amazing accomplishment!  I have already done the math, we are on track for the 2024 Olympic Summer Games!

Here where my eyes were opened!  In a conversation, with another parent of an older gymnast, I found just what the price tag is on competitive team gymnastics.  Let's just say I could drive a very nice car for what the monthly fee is. I mean VERY NICE!

Nothing is more a driving force toward success than the needs and desires of your children.  While I wanted to be successful in my business for multiple reasons, that WHY expanded greatly knowing what lies ahead of our family if our little tumbler stays on beam toward becoming a world class gymnast.

Author George Barna wrote, "Realize the future is not something that just happens; it is a reality that is created by those strong enough to exert control over their environment."  That is the challenge that lies ahead.  Taking control of my environment to create a future where Avery has every opportunity to succeed.  This goes beyond her gymnastic future and spills into every opportunity for all three of my kids.  As a parent, your heart always bends toward wanting to give them everything.  While I may never be able to give them everything, the provision for the future will not just happen.  It requires a vision and a plan driven by one really BIG WHY that I want it to accomplish.  And today that why is the dreams of this little girl...

I was made for this!

Some people call it revelation.  Some call it an epiphany.  Some call it the light bulb coming on.  Whatever you call it, there is a moment when it happens.  A moment when the stars all align, the tide is just right and the man in the moon is talking in his sleep.  It is the moment you say "I was made for this."

I believe we all have a "calling" and a "purpose" in life.  There is a specific thing that we are gifted to do that if it goes undone it won't get done, at least not in the way it meant for you to accomplish.  There is no prescription on how to discover this.  Most of it comes via trial and error, and at that mostly error.

Thomas Edison attempted to create the incandescent light bulb over 10,000 times.  When asked about it, Edison said "I have not failed.  I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work."  Your life is no different.  It is not a waste to try something and fail.  You have just found something that was not your purpose.  The failure comes when we quit searching and trying.

Once peculiar piece to this mystery of discovery is that some things come full circle.  What is incredible is that something that looks like a failed experiment at self discovery often comes back to be a piece to the puzzle of your purpose.  Experience is the grand teacher.  It teaches us often what we are not, it also teaches us what are meant to be.  Experience also bookmarks moments in life that we build on.  These moments of seeming failed trials and grand errors can lead us down the path of purpose.  That moment when you say "I was made for this."

#livewithhope

Chachachanges...3 questions to ask

Let's face it NO ONE likes change.

At best we tolerate it as a part of life, just like paying taxes, traffic and another Law and Order spinoff.  But change does happens.

As a matter of fact change happens all around us.  If you are a parent you watch it take place daily in your house.  That infant you held snuggly in your arms becomes a pre-pubescent boy with a smart mouth (experience talking).  Change is all around you - the light changes (at least we hope), seasons change, styles change.  Thank God!  I could only wear a mullet for so long!

So at some level we need to quit fighting change and embrace it.  Is it scary?  Yeah, like Nightmare on Elm Street scary, the first one.  Is it hard? Of course.  Is it worth it?  That is the million dollar question.  Most likely if we never see value in making a change, we will never change unless forced to.  We will never quit smoking, start eating healthier, exercise, or move out of your momma's basement without facing change.

Here are a couple questions to ask yourself if the change is worth it:

    1) Is it going to make my life better in the long term?

Is the change that I intend on making going to better my life in the long term?  Weight loss can extend your life, quitting smoking can keep you from cancer and improve the smell of your wardrobe, eliminating negative influences can help you create an atmosphere for long term success - "attitude determine altitude."  What we have to negotiate is whether the short term sacrifice or discomfort of the change is worth the long term result that comes from changing!

    2) Will my choice of change positively or negatively affect my relationship with others?

The answer: likely both.  What you will find is that there are those who are going to celebrate and support your choice.  You will also likely find that there are those that will question your reasoning, criticize your attempts and even try to pull you back into a poor habit.

Yet, what you are more likely to find is that making a positive change will help you create connections with like minded people.  People set on achieving similar life goals.  Your choice to change may actually open up the potential for new relationships.  Who knows Mister or Miss Right might be right at the corner of Choice and Change!

    3) Am I worth it?

This is a question of self value.  So often we stay in poor habits due to our belief that we are undeserving of anything better.  That is just not true!  YOU ARE WORTH IT!  YOU ARE VALUABLE!  Quite possibly the greatest change that has to be made is how you see the image of the person staring back at you in the mirror.  Oftentimes the choice to change is one of belief in yourself.  That is where it has to start!

The greatest change you can make is one of going from unbelief to belief!  You are worth it!

Change is hard, yet so often change is exactly what your life needs!  What changes do you need to embrace?

4 Tips to Picking the Right Workout

So you are ready to start...but where do you start.  Here are 4 tips to think about when picking the right exercise and fitness program for you.

1) Pick something you LIKE to do.

If you like cardio, do cardio.  If you like to hike, hike! Running your thing, go run Forrest! It is important to find a program, a schedule or workout that you enjoy.  If you enjoy your exercise regime, there is a greater likelihood of you dragging your rear end out of bed to do it.  Pick something you like to do.  Pick something that you look forward to doing.

2) Pick a program that MATCHES your goals.

If you are trying to lose weight, then the program you are doing needs to match that goal.  You want to add mass, than you need to workout in a way that adds muscle mass.  Your goals and your program need to match.  This will prevent discouragement because you will actually get the results you are looking for.

3) Pick a program that fits your ability.

The worst thing you can do is take on more than you can handle.  This often results in either injury or be overwhelmed and quitting.  Make sure that what you choose to do matches what you are capable of doing.  Now this is not permission to not push yourself to your fullest potential.  Yet, understand that you need a program that is aligned with your capabilities at the current moment.

4) Pick a program that fits your lifestyle.

If you don't have 2 hours a day to go to the gym, than a fitness program that requires 2 hours a day will never work for you.  This is not a excuse for you not to workout or leverage the "I don't have time" excuse.  Yet, you need to have an understanding of what fits into your schedule.  There are plenty of great programs that are 25 or 30 minutes and get results.  Or if you have an hour, find a program that goes a whole hour!  Just make sure what you chose will continue to fit into your lifestyle.

The greatest tip I can give is just to pick something.  Get moving, get started, and start seeing results!

Do you need a coach?

“Mama wanted me to be a preacher. I told her coachin’ and preachin’ were a lot alike.” ~ Bear Bryant, Famed University of Alabama football coach

To answer the first question we have to answer another question, what is it to coach?  A coach is part inspiration, part motivation, part good cop, part bad cop.  A coach is friend and at times seems like an enemy.  A coach is someone who betters you in specific area and pushes you past the limits you have set for yourself.  

So the second question is "do you need a coach?"  Yes!  

If you "sport" of choice is public speaking, then you need a coach to help you with diction, word choice, pronunciation and delivery.

If you choose business, then motivational leaders like John Maxwell, Seth Godin and Ken Blanchard may coach you from the sideline of your life through books and articles or podcasts.


If you are a culinary artist, then you will find yourself under the tutelage of a master chef who will coach you in the finer ways slicing and sauteeing and saucing.  

Health and fitness or weight loss are no different.  You need a coach to instruct you, encourage you, inspire you, motivate you and keep you focused on the goals you have set.  A coach is someone who has a heart for fitness and a heart to see you succeed.  A coach is someone with a personal story of struggle, success and overcoming.  A coach is someone just like you.  

You need a coach because there will be question you need answers to.  You need a coach because you will hit a plateau and need to know how to break through.  You need a coach because let's face it, getting healthy, weight loss, getting fit is HARD to do on your own.  You need a coach because you have no idea what the heck quinoa!  

I want to be your health and fitness coach.  Whether it is ten pounds or 100 pounds, I want to be here for you.  Whether it's get skinny or getting big, I want to help you through.  Whether it is beating diabetes or just beating down your waistline, I am the guys who wants to help you succeed.  Do you need a coach?  Absolutely!  And I'm want to be that guy!

Work to Play

The overriding question to ask is WHY?

   Why be healthy?
   Why to active?
   Why improve your fitness?

What I realize is that everyone has a different specific reason as to start and pushing through their personal health and fitness journey.  Yet, I  believe that each of us could agree that there is one common reason for all of us.  We put in the work in order to play.

It doesn't matter what your play is.  It could be hiking, rafting, rock climbing.  That type of play requires you to push toward a peak physical condition to thrive in that type of hobby.  If you golf, play softball or just some YMCA basketball, being better physical condition means that at the end of those games you are less exhausted, less sore and recover faster.

Yet, maybe your play is shopping or singing KAROKE on a Friday night.  Does being in better health improve these?  Why not!  Isn't more exciting to shop for clothes that fit you better?  Isn't enjoyable to go the store and buy something a size smaller?  And what about KAROKE?  Well, sure.  Better cardiovascular will help you belt out those Celine Dion notes from the Titanic Soundtrack, you diva!

No matter what your play is, improving your physical conditioning and health can make that activity even more enjoyable.  Improving your health will prolong your life giving you more time to enjoy those hobbies and activities.  Improving your health will in the long term lower your medical expenses and give you more resources use toward enjoyable activities.

So why do you put in that work, why do you sweat, strain, push and dig deeper?  In order to play!  Go make the most of your work and enjoy your play time!

Jeff Pitts Fitness

New and Improved Greenberry Shakeology

Over a year ago when I started this journey with Beachbody, I was instantly in love with Chocolate Shakeology.  My wife, not such a fan.  She on the other hand loved the not so sweet taste of Greenberry.  Let's just say I disagreed, strongly...(yuck).

Several months ago, Beachbody went back to the lab and reformulated the Greenberry flavor.  I am a natural skeptic, so it a has taken me this long to try it again.  Here are my thoughts on the new, improved Greenberry Shakeology.

I mixed it with:

•  1/2 cup of soy milk
•  a frozen mixed berries - blueberry and raspberry
•  ice and water

The first thing I noticed was the flavor.  Where the previous flavor had (to me) a bitter after taste, that no longer existed.  The flavor was smooth and I actually...liked it!  I know this sounds silly, but the berries blended to a more lavender color.  For some reason, I struggle with drinking something green.  That was maybe more mental than anything else.  The new improved Greenberry had the same great results - energy, digestion, and all the great dense nutrition from all the other flavors.  

While not going to be my everyday flavor choice, I am more inclined to drink it on occasion.  Still love my original Chocolate and falling quickly for Vanilla!

Macy's, Taylor Swift & Me

Two Christmas ago I took a part time job at Macy's through the holiday.  When you have three kids, the Christmas season is never cheap.  We were a paycheck to paycheck family which makes spending an additional $500 on Christmas tough.

I got placed in Women's Fragrances.  I was that guy handing you a little card spritzed with perfume, trying to get you stop and spend your hard earned money on a luxury item of life.  As a matter of fact, I was asked to focus on Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck line.  So some Sunday afternoons I would be wearing a purple t-shirt with the words Taylor Swift Wonderstruck scripted across the front.  Not a glamorous life, but it was what was necessary to provide for my family.

I would pick up almost any shift.  I would be out of my house and away from my family 3 nights a week after spending 8 hours at my job.  I would give up Saturdays and Sundays missing valuable family time in order to help provide for my kids and my family.  All this to make an extra $500...

Why do I tell this story?  Because last week I through out the Macy's name tag with big block letters that read Jeffrey on it.  Why?  Well, glad you asked.  In the last 3 weeks I have made $500 doing something I love, helping others.  I am a Team Beachbody Coach which means I get the honor to help others reach their health and fitness goals and better yet, get paid to do so.

Here is the win for me.  I don't have to go spend 4 to 5 hours a night in a loud mall coming home smelling like a blend of 20 different women's fragrances.  I don't give up every weekend to make an extra $50.

What I do get in return is the reward of seeing others succeed.  What I do get in return is time for my kids - time to go to concerts, time to coach baseball, time to be present with them.  What I found for myself was a healthier way of life.  I found a renewed sense of self and belief in me as my own health and fitness have improved.  I have grown as a person and am finding a sense of fulfillment!  How many people can say they love their job.  I CAN!!!

While this is just a part time opportunity.  My vision is to make this so much more.  Something that provides long term in the big picture for my family.  My vision is to help hundreds and thousands of people make health changes and find hope.  Do you have a similar vision?

#TEAMHOPEDELIVERED

Rowboats and Ocean Liners

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

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.