On owning your habits & doing just a little more ...

Met Bill Phillips a little over a year ago.  

A little more than a year ago I met Bill Phillips and had him autograph my copy of Body for Life and Eating for Life. Until then I had sea-sawed up and down on the scale trying one diet after another. I pretty much lived on that sea-saw ... Occasionally reaching a performance plateau but then slipping backward and/or falling back into unhealthy habits.

I believe it was Vince Lombardi who suggested that we "Own your habits." I didn't really have an appreciation for that quote until I read/studied the BFL program and later met Bill Phillips. There was new information in his book. And I began to think back when I was my fittest. In high school and college -- i.e., when my mother was in charge of the menu and then when I was a cadet eating foods prepared in the cadet mess (and monitored by a nutritionist) -- I was active and fit. Then I moved about the Army. Started a family. Got lazy. I was suffering from being owned by my habits versus the other way around.

Today I'm ten pounds lighter. I don't have the double chin. I'm definitely leaner, stronger, faster, and have more energy. I can honestly say that I own most of my habits. (As an aside, there are a few bad habits that I'm working to break. But I believe I've at least identified these and their days are numbered.)

I'm hoping to hold steady at my new weight for awhile. Call this a short period of 'active rest.' I'd like to enjoy the new view from this healthful plateau. And then I'll work to drop even more fat in the next challenge. Yes, I'm committed for the long term to reach my old fighting weight.

I've been discussing with a few friends of mine why it is we finally commit to change. For some it's being 'sick and tired of being sick and tired.' For others it's a traumatic event -- an illness, the loss of a job, or hitting rock bottom for whatever reason. For still others it's the cumulative effect of many, many small disappointments or shortcomings.

I don't know what was that 'last straw' for me. I honestly don't know. I could have been being asked to play Santa Claus a few Christmas seasons ago. It might have been seeing my wife re-bound -- thank God -- from her latest surgery, cancer scare, and post-operative complications. It might have been attending the Health Fair at the local church. I honestly don't know.

But I'm certain of this. Resolving to keep ones daily self-promises and helping others along the way sure makes me feel one hell-a-va lot better than not doing so. When you 'walk the talk' you somehow walk a little taller than you did before.

So I intend to stand tall ... LiveSTRONG ... And never slip backwards again ... Don't know if it's a purpose-driven life or the example of champions that have made the difference. Or maybe it's just that I've realized that the difference between those who are champions and those who aren't isn't a very large difference after all. Champions stay the course and do just 'that much more' to pay for their habits and thus own them.