Keeping it real, sharing my journey with you as I endeavor to reclaim control of my weight, my health, and my life. So, here it is. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

I started a health plan that has a weight loss component included. In fact, most people start this plan for that reason, to lose weight. I started out doing pretty good. I dropped twenty-four pounds. Nowhere near the total amount I needed to drop, but a darned good start, if I say so myself. The bad and ugly truth is that for a few days recently, I fell off the wagon. I made excuses.

My back was hurting, so I didn’t exercise, even though the truth was I could still have done some exercise, some sort of modified routine until I felt good enough to resume my normal regimen. But I gave myself permission not to exercise. I believe the term to describe this decision is “laziness”.

I am a stress eater. When I get overwhelmed, I get stressed. I made the mistake of turning on the news for a few days in a row. No surprise there – the world is still a five-alarm dumpster fire. Add to that a couple of circumstances in my life that are out of my control, and I fell back into my old bad habits. The more I thought about the things I can’t control, and the more I watched the news, the more discouraged I became. The more discouraged I became, the more I ate, the more I thought about what I can’t control, and the more I watched the news, and the more I ate and …. Round and round it went.

I cheated on the eating plan. I ate too often. I ate too much. Then, I started eating junk food again. All the things I previously did throughout the years that had me tipping the scales well over three hundred pounds.

I was discouraged. I had gotten down to 281 and had momentum working in my favor. Now, I was gaining it back again. I got back up to 286, completely out of control. I was avoiding my coach, ashamed to admit to her what I had done. That I had no self-discipline. I mean, I had achieved the rank of second-degree black belt at the age of 53. I had been a DC9 and Boeing 767 captain for many years. You don’t get there without self-discipline. What had I done to myself? What had I become? And now, as I’m about to turn 70, am I kidding myself by thinking I can turn it around?

Ok, now for the good. My coach reached out, texted me to ask how I was doing. So, I called her, told her the truth.

This, folks, is where the real value of our program is revealed. Yes, there are dozens of diet plans out there, and yes, you will lose weight if you stick to them. But the problem is, you have to have self-discipline. AND you need support!  

The Indianapolis 500 will be coming up soon, and I think there is no better analogy than this:

Our plan, the program we follow, is like the car. It is the vehicle that will take us to where we want to go. It is finely tuned, and if driven the way it is designed, it will take us to victory.

Our coaches are like the pit crew, the spotters, the ones who support us throughout the race. In my case, things weren’t going well, so I pitted – I called my coach. She helped me come up with a couple of modifications to the way I’m approaching this contest with myself, like a pit crew would rotate tires, adjust the alignment, and refuel the car. In the past, I had no support, and when things didn’t go as planned, I would just give up. Try again next week, next month, next January. Now I have the support to get back on track.

We, our community, all of us, get together on the weekly calls, on social media, etc. like the fans, cheering one another on.

As we pursue a better, healthier, happier life, we are like the drivers. It may not feel like it, but the truth is we are the ones in control, and it is up to us to grab the steering wheel, use the plan, the books, the community of support, and take ourselves to the checkered flag.

I prefer to think of it as a contest. Not against one another, but against ourselves. So, we must challenge ourselves to develop, exercise, and maintain the self-discipline every day.

I’m pulling out of the pits, back onto the track, properly aligned. I’m back on plan, with a couple modifications my coach suggested. I accept that there are always going to be things in life that are beyond my control. What I can control is myself and how I react.

I remain committed to keeping myself accountable as I share my journey with you.