As with friendships.......

Habits can bo both good and bad. You can make them or break them...you can benefit from them or be destroyed by them.

Several years ago---a friend kindly told me that I needed to break some bad habits and forge new healthy ones...or I would self destruct.
She told me I needed to start exercising.
I needed to start packing healthy lunches...I needed to start meditating and healing my body.
At that point I was not ready. I had a long list of excuses.

With a full time job, a family and a lot of responsibilities...I didn't
have time, I didn't have energy, I didn't know how.....
I told her and myself--"sure other people could turn their lives around, but I was a
failure in that department."

It took me nearly ten years to follow her advice but I finally did take it to heart.

Today I am forging new relationships with good habits. It's taken awhile to put them into practice. How did I do that? I started with tiny baby steps. Soon I was taking giant ones and before I knew it I had made good habits my friends. I visit them every day and they have become as comfortable as an old pair of shoes.

I never start the day without my exercises--nor do I go a day without planning meals and following thru on that plan. Is it hard work. It used to be. Now--it's become habit.

Make good habits your good friends. Soon there will be no room in your life for those bad habits. Send them packing.

Find a program that works and work that program.

(C)2005 michelle d. lee

Fighting to win....

Here is a mind exercise...

Imagine you, a loved one or a friend receives a diagnosis of a life
threatening illness.
The first reaction may be why me or why them.
Grief is often followed by anger and then action!
Most people would enlist the help of the best Doctors they could
find...They would find a way to follow the Doctor's orders and scrape up the
money needed to provide themselves or their loved ones with the best medicine
and treatment available.

What if it wasn't cancer, or MS, heart or lung disease?
What if that diagnosis was Obesity?

How many people do you think would work with their Doctor, research every thing possible and do what it takes to fight this life threatening disease to extend their lives and make every moment count?

Next time you go to the grocery store or the mall, look around you at the people.
There are a lot of people...Who are morbidly obese. Many more who now qualify as obese.
How many of them have been told they have a life threatening illness?
How many of them have been told they need to do everything in their power to fight their disease to survive?

This is just a thought I had driving home from work last night.
Now I have a favor to ask of you...
If you are battling the bulge I encourage you to take this fight seriously!
If you are a Doctor who treats patients...I beg you to talk with your patient and explain to them the seriousness of their obesity and its implications.
For years my Doctor who is a stickler for preventative medicine always asked me these questions.

Have you stopped smoking? (Yes I finally did.)
Do you wear your seat belt? (No question.)
Are you in a dangerous relationship? (No.)

Its funny though--even at my top weight he never said..."You know--that extra weight is killing you."

It's time Doctors start adding this statement to their arsenal.
It's also time we as patients start becoming partners in our own healthcare.
Ultimately we will win a healthier body...the Nation will win by controlling the health care crisis.
And I suspect places like Victoria's Secret will see an amazing increase in sales.

(c)2005 Michelle D. LEE

Exceeding your goals.

When I first began the Body for Life Program I had the opportunity to attend the first EAS Energy Camp in Golden, Colorado.

There were only 20 spots in the three day camp which offered education on healthy lifestyles the BFL way....and we had to go through a selection process which included a telephone call. I remember the call I received from the person who coordinated the camp, Shane Thomas.

He asked me what my goal was if I were selected to attend
the camp.
At that point all I couldn't conceive of dreaming big...all I could
imagine was the hope of more energy for my tired, old and fat
body.
Shane said the camp could help me with that...and a lot
more.
It turned out Shane was 100% right! I could do a lot more!

It's kinda funny...even when I didn't know it or didn't have the
strength to dream big...Shane knew my potential.

The bottom line---dream big, set big lofty goals...if you can't--- find someone who will help you state your goals and help you achieve them!

To suceed you have to learn to trust!

When it came to "dieting" I could not stick with the diet. I was always falling off the wagon, feeling guilty and then trying it again...only to fail.
Frankly I just couldn't trust myself enough to follow through on the latest program promising major weight loss. So instead--I went with the flow and got fatter.

When I discovered BFL I really was fearful of failure. I had had a lot of practice.
What made the difference?
I decided to trust in the BFL program and its experts.

After a couple of challenges, success was flowing my way. Each day brought me closer to my goals and I started believing in myself. Essentially I was taught by this program how to trust myself to do the things I need to be a happy, healthy adult.

What have I learned?
Sometimes you have to put your trust in something else--before you can
take it back for yourself.

Day two of my Ultimate Transformation challenge. Cardio and ab work was remarkible. My knees gave me the strength to actually run on the treadmill.
My meals for the rest of the day are in a cooler at my desk at work. I am drinking a cup of green tea. After that--water, water, water.

I'm feeling on top of the world!

Day 1 of Ultimate Transformation

Challenge1, Day 1
Jan 10, 2005

Today begins Michelle’s Perfect Transformation Challenge. Up early to the gym—UBWO—hit my tens. Deep breathing…meditation…stretching…offered up gratitude.
Meals measured, cooked and packed. EAS products being taken…water being consumed!
Re-read the books, rewound and watched the tapes again. Photos taken…weighed and measured.
Yep boys and girls---there’s electricity in the air!

I can’t tell you how excited I am to start this latest leg of the journey in
redefining myself. This challenge will focus on mental attitude and
muscle building.
The last several challenges focused mainly on fat loss.
The fat is mostly gone, replaced by sagging skin that needs to be supported
by new, powerful muscle…hence the focus on muscle
building.

As I have mentioned in earlier blogger entries—I want to find a healthy balance during these 84 days.
On one hand I want to recapture the perfection of my very first challenge for an ultimate transformation for this 52 year old body...
On the other hand I want to fit this program into my life… without allowing it take over my life.

Over the last year BFL has taught me how to establish a long list of healthy habits.
These habits, including exercise, nutrition, supplementation and goal setting are essential to creating the best body possible. But if one is not careful this who thing can become an obsession…with no time for anything else.
(You old timers—who have the guestbook marked as your favorite site and have the EAS number on speed dial may understand what I’m trying to explain here.)
I don’t believe that’s what Bill Phillips intended to happen. There is a healthy balance and when we can find that balance it all falls into place. We grow mentally, physically and spiritually. And as a result of our new found health—we attract others who seek what we have found.

In summary…I promise from this day forward I will spend just 45 minutes a day, six days a week on either cardio or lifting. 10 minutes packing lunches…10 minutes on the guest book and 10 minutes on the blogger.
On the seven day I will refrain from all things BFL—except for setting goals for the next BFL day.

While I will give this challenge my all…I will take the rest of my life off of hold---and be the best I can at work and home.

Signed,
Your bfl bud,