Rich Wood 9

Food is Fuel

A Journey Through Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Diabetes and Lifestyle Change

ARE YOU READY?

I am very grateful and humbled at the opportunity to have a forum in this blog.  Because the blogs have been about my journey through weight loss, I don't want you to lose sight of the fact that these blogs are not about “look at me.”  My goal with these blogs is to have you start making the changes in your life to get healthier.  If your goal is to lose weight, get into better shape than you're in right now, or if your goal is to pursue a new activity – do not have any fear.  The only way these blogs make a difference is if they help your life.  

That’s all great Rich, but how do I get started? 

The answer is not in frozen diet meals.  Those processed foods are not the answer.  A healthy diet of lean meat and vegetables is the simple answer.  This has to be fine tuned based on what your goals are.   A person who would like to lose 10 lbs vs. a person who has to lose 100lbs would have a very different meal plan.  There is no person who doesn't need physical activity.  Your body craves it – it wants it – give it what it needs.  There are professionals who will help you with the correct diet plan…because up to this point maybe you haven't been able to handle it on your own.  I had that problem.  It’s okay to seek help. 

I don't want you to wait and put off what you know is the right thing to do.  I know the feeling of being overweight and telling yourself “tomorrow is the day I'm going to start.”  Then when you wake up, and fall back into the same habits because it’s easier that way.  For people who have never been overweight, it’s hard to understand the chemical reaction your body has to wanting food – be it either sweets or unhealthy foods.  I understand that feeling, and you can change that feeling.  You're mind and body are begging you for it.  Stop making excuses and start to think about what you need to do to change.   

With the Christmas season coming up – will you ask for the latest greatest phone, or purse, or shoes knowing that you won't know where they are three months later – but will not spend the time or money on your own health?  

You have to start thinking if you don't have your health, nothing else matters.  There is no enjoying your children or your grandchildren if you're not able to be there for them.  Start setting a healthy example for the young people in your life that are watching you.  Once you start to change, your healthy patterns will start to trickle down.  Please stop and look around at what you will waste your money on, and redirect that money into getting yourself healthy.  I know how you feel after you've eaten something that you know is not good for you – the guilt, the feeling of regret, how you feel the next day – the sluggishness you feel.  Do you really want to feel bad?  Of course not.  You have to start believing that it is okay to take time and do something for yourself.  By doing this it will make you a better person for your entire family and everyone around you.  These unhealthy habits you have towards food – stop and think if you’d want these same things for your children.  

I have spent a lot of my life trying to break the circle of bad patterns that were examples for me - for some people that was drugs and alcohol, for me it was food.  I have learned how to break that pattern, and I can help you break it too.  Just by reading this, you are making the first step toward change.  

I can and want to help you start a new chapter in your life where health and fitness become a priority.  

Do not hesitate to contact me if you feel you need help.  It is never too late to start.  Your mind and body will respond.  Defy your age.  Don't let others bring you down and tell you that you can’t…because you can.  Spend whatever time you have here on earth making the most of it.  Whatever journey you are on, let your body run at the most optimum health level possible.  Become the person that you want to be.  It does make a difference.  I hope my words generate any kind of feeling in you – be it guilt, motivation, a sense of urgency, whatever it’s going to take to get you to start doing what you know is right for your health.  Stop worrying about time and money and do what you know is right for yourself and your family.

“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.”

Push-Persevere-Progress

-Rich Wood