What A Difference A Year Makes

August 11th 2018....my 58th birthday. This is where my journey. After getting off the scale that read, "236," I made a decision to finally do something different! This was the heaviest I had ever been and I was determined not to see a higher number. Even though I was exercising every day, my waistline had soared to 42-inches. When I would put on pants, I was very uncomfortable, I refused to move into a larger size so I lived with the tightness of my clothing. I couldn't wait to jump into baggy sweat pants or gym shorts and a XXL t-shirt to "take the pressure off." I wore these clothes as often as I could because they were comfortable, and didn't remind me that I was overweight.

As I stood in the bathroom I thought about the past 18 years that my weight had been up and down. Each time I tried to lose weight, I would put together the same "diet" & exercise program. Unlike people who know they need to make a change but just don't know how or where to start, I fully understood and knew how. At least I thought I did from all of my. But, like they say, "You don't know, what you don't know." So, on August 11, 2018, this was about to change! I needed a different approach to making a sustainable health change. I had finally admitted to myself that the same routine I had been doing for 18 years just wasn't working. The definition of Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome... and I was tired of going insane. First, before anything, I would begin by doing research on approaches that other people had taken to make successful physical transformations. After compiling all of the information, I would then begin to formulate a plan of action.

I reviewed research studies, websites, read a number of books all focused on physical transformations and health. There was a lot of information available both straight forward and "way out there." I was looking for a reasonable approach, one that I could follow and that I knew would have sustainability (for me). As I continued to dive deeper into the process, some very common practices began to consistently appear. I took notice of those that I felt were realistic and achievable to me. After about two months of digging through material, I had landed on what I now call my 6-principles of physical transformation. Believe me, there are many ideas that I came across and might also be applicable. However, the 6 that I decided to implement into practice were one's I knew I could & would commit to and had substantial evidence and data to validate their effectiveness.

Here are the 6-principles I began my journey with and still use today:

1. Change My Mindset & Identify My True Motivation:

2. Set S-M-A-R-T Goals to Guide My Journey

3. Have Accountability to Myself & Others

4. Rethink My Approach to Nutrition

5. Be Consistent With Fitness

6. Take Time to Include Recovery

These 6 principles are what I call, the "Foundation (principles 1-3) & Pillars (principles 4-6)" to my transformation. And I am fully confident that they are sustainable. Now some (or all) of you are probably thinking, these are no-brainers, of course these work. I totally agree with you. These are all common sense practices that when implemented and executed upon TOGETHER will work. The problem I had, was that my prior attempts were not completely sound because my approach was all about how I looked. My total focus the past 18+ years was on two of the pillars (nutrition & exercise). I didn't really take the time to build my foundation. And like any house not built on a solid foundation, the pillars will eventually come crumbling down (which they did, time and time again). Sure, I had success just dieting & exercising in the past. However it was usually short-lived. More importantly, the older I have gotten, the harder it's been. I joke with people telling them that I have lost over 360 pounds the past 18 years. The problem was, it was the same 20 pounds over and over again I'd lose 20, gain 20, lose 20, gain 20...

Take a moment and answer the following questions. As you have gotten older:

• has making positive changes to your health & wellness become harder for you to achieve?

• have you noticed nagging aches & pains that don't seem to go away like they did when you were younger?

• have you been diagnosed with a chronic medical condition such as Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, etc? More importantly, have you come to accept these conditions as just a fact of getting older, have given up, and just started taking medications?

• have you found that your flexibility & mobility has significantly deteriorated? Do you have trouble bending over at the waist & touching your toes, or squatting down (without lifting your heels off the floor) so far that your butt is almost touching the ground?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, I challenge you to revisit your practices. You see, many, if not all of the things above are preventable regardless of how old you are. More importantly many are reversible. At 59 years old, I am arguably in the best shape of my entire life and see no reason why you can't do it too. I am no different than any of you. Please do not let your age or current situations dictate how you live the rest of your life. Change is very possible at any age. Every journey starts with the very first step. You can take the first step and see if you are ready for change. I have included a questionnaire you can use to see if making a change at this time is right for you. Look for the "Considering a Change" template on the Resources Page of this website, or just click this link https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/cea088_0e4f4c5d0a1e4cf3b868f08dacb5a05d.pdf.

In the next several posts, I will be breaking down each of the 6 principles in detail so that you can see what I have done to make these work in my life. I'm not suggesting that you do exactly as I've done. Read through the posts and do your own research and begin to slowly make changes. It has taken me a full year to drop close to 50 pounds. In the past I would have wanted that immediately and would have most likely quit weeks into trying. However, with a foundation now firmly in place, I have learned that my journey is not a sprint to see how quickly I can change. In fact, I now realize that my journey will never end. And surprisingly (even for me...I am extremely skeptical of things), once I took the pressure off myself to "get it done quickly," I began (and continue) to notice the results on the outside of my body.

I look forward to sharing more about my journey and how I continue to learn & grow. In the meantime, you can leave comments at the bottom of this post, go to the Next Level Performance Facebook Group Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2313929212027567/, or drop me an email at nextlevelperformanceinstitute@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading...