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Introduction Text 2017: End of a Career, Start of Retirement, New Life in a New World. Tucson, AZ / Age 67/ Spark Experienced / Weight 220 What a great time to renew my commitment to my number one priority, me and my health and happiness. I have NO excuses for being less healthy than I am capable of. I will focus on being the best friend in the world to me. So I made an assessment of my current status and my available resources and assets to help me achieve my goals. 1. My potential for success is strong, timing is great, life is good. 2. I have a loving wife, her support and understanding. 3. I have Spark - it has always been there for me. 4. My environment in Tucson is ideal. Lots of exercise opportunity. 5. I have good health, no major medical challenges. 6. I have learned how to obtain and prepare healthy food. 7. I do not need to make major changes to my current lifestyle. 8. This is not a severely urgent matter, I have time to do it right. 9. I am prepared for bumps in the road, I will overcome them. 10. I know that the rewards of a healthy life last forever. I feel good about this, I am looking forward to the start of the rest of my life. PRIOR portions of writings and blogs that will help me with this journey: He who thinks he has no faults has one. My first year with Spark, 2006, was a major success - even made the Spark People Success Stories. I converted many people to SP due to my evident lack of a pot belly, trim shape and healthy appearance! I dropped 40 lbs and went from a 44" waist to a 36" waist - and was very comfortable in all of my (new) clothes! Goodwill Industries and Purple Heart were my best friends from all the "fat stuff" that I was donating from my closet ! That was 2006. Well, by 2008 I gained back a lot of weight, in fact 10 pounds more than 2006's loss, for many reasons, but mostly due to neglect and self indulgence. Less exercise and more calories reslut in weight gain and spriling challenges to good health. When I tried to re-develop a healthy lifesyle I let weight loss plateaus get me down and drive me off track. I stopped tracking my activities - or at least tracking them accurately. Good health can be fleeting and changing. It leaves you so slow and without any pain that you do not even realize what is happening. When you start to notice that your health is suffering you rationalize that this is just a bump in the road, just temporary, and that you will get back on track... next week...... for sure! Even when you have to buy new, bigger clothes, still you rationalize and procrastinate. The good news, I am still here! I never left. The bad news, I am in poor health! So, WAKE UP and take care of business! MY WAKE UP PLAN: I hope to learn from this small disaster in my path to permanent good health. I have learned that being healthy is the result of desire, fortitude and continued commitment. It is not necessarily a team thing, it is very personal and gut wrenching. The only true person you can count on is yourself. You are also your own worst enemy - so be wary when you look in the mirror and determine just who you are looking at! You control your own destiny, you are responsible for your actions and their profound effect upon your well being. If you have a sound plan and a method to track progress, you will win. SP has great building blocks to use to reconstruct my plan. It worked before with great success. I have learned from my fall and have grown strong, never to fall again. "Pick yourself up eight times when you fall seven" and you are a success - and that is just what I am doing now. My motivation is my reasons for wanting to change my life: 1. I want to go into a regular clothes store/dept. and find my size. 2. I do not want to "guess" if the L will fit - or if I should I buy the XL. 3. I want to button the top button of my dress shirts without crushing my larynx. 4. I want to have a closet full of clothes that ALL fit me. 5. I want to be able to jump on the scale, anytime, anywhere. 6. I want to be ablel to tuck my shirt in without worrying about it coming back out. 7. I want to find pleasure in drinking pure water. 8. I want my night stand drawer, next to my bed, empty of snacks. 9. I want to breathe normally after going up a flight of stairs. 10. I do not want to "Start" another diet, ever. 11. I do not want to feel shame over a failed weight loss plan ever again. 12. I want to pass up the "Sweet and Salty" snacks aisle. 13. I want to go into a health food store and not feel stupid or scared. 14. I never ever want to feel like a prisioner in my own body. 15. I want to celebrate my victories with lean, rather than mean foods. 16. I want to be a great example to my wife and kids. 17. I want my boss to know that he has a team member that is a great role model - in all ways. 18. I want to hear people say that I "look great!" 19. I want to crave healthy rather that "fast" foods. 20. I want to look forward to being in photographs. 21. Never again should I have to say "I want to", but rather "I am". I have made many mistakes. These will be LESSONS LEARNED: 1. A one mile walk does not equal a piece of pie. 2. I have to exercise more than I think... and I can find the time. 3. Eating more healthy food will not make me more healthy. 4. Empty calories are not empty - they are full of danger. 5. My mind and body will work against me. 6. My friends, family and environment will work against me. 7. My cure must be administered every day. 8. If you think you have this licked, pinch yourself and wake up! 9. Reward days, a break day, or a day off, will kill your program! 10. This is not a diet, it is a life long journey to good health. BEFORE YOU EAT SOMETHING THAT IS ENTICING, ASK YOURSELF, "HOW WILL EATING THIS HELP ME ACHIEVE MY GOAL?"

To get back on track to the healthy person I saw in the mirror not long ago.

MY PROGRAM: NUTRITION: Think about what I am going to eat the day before I eat it. Use nutritional strategy, substitutions, etc. - have a plan! Control wine, chocolate, baked goods, salty food, and portion size. Calories: between 1,700 to 1,900 per day EXERCISE: Have a plan. Review my plan at the end of each week and make adjustments if necessary. I have a disease. It does not require medications to control it..... just my mind. It can be controlled to the extent that I can live a healthy life, much longer than the alternative.

66 yr. old retired Professional Engineer, the Vice President of Business Development for a Construction Management firm in SE Michigan. Married, four boys, four grandsons, two grand daughters. I enjoy golf (13 hcp), good wine, photography, cooking, mother nature's beauty ... and good friends.

Favorite quote from my Dad: "It is not so bad walking through a dark desert infested with rattlesnakes... as long as you know where they are!" Boy, if he only knew that I would eventually wind up living in the desert!!

Add a Link "Most of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
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