Hey.  I just want to say, I'm the sister-in-law that got No.1 started with the whole fitness thing.  I hope it has helped some of you!  I have been following No. 1's advice and I have joined Weight Watchers here in my town.  Between the two, I now have a lot of support to do one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.  The putting it on was easy, but it's a lot harder to take off.  But the thing to remember, is that we didn't put it on overnight and it's not coming off overnight!  The healthy way to lose is 1 to 2 lbs. per week.  I wish I could lose it as fast as the Biggest Losser!  LOL.  But that's not possible in the real world.  But I am happy to say that I have lost 21.6 lbs. in 14 weeks!  Yea me!!!  I am moving more now, I have a lot more energy than before, and I have gone down 2 pants sizes!!!  The greatest thing, is the more energy.  Use to, after work, I would come home and cook dinner and then spend the rest of the night on the couch until it was time to go to bed.  Now, I walk on my treadmill 30 mins or longer and my husband and I will walk around our property (1.7 acres) or go to Swan Lake and walk around it for a change of scenery.  I just want to thank No.1 for all of his support.  Support is the best thing you can have for weight loss.  I get it through No.1, family, my husband and children, Weight Watchers, and even people I work with.  My friend who is also my co-worker, and I started Weight Watchers together.  This is actually her second time joining.  She lost 85lbs the first time she went.  She gained 24 of those pounds back after having her second child, so she is now going with me again.  The biggest thing to remember is, you're not dieting, you're changing your way of living.  That's the biggest thing Weight Watchers has taught us!  They don't like the word DIET!!  It's true.  You have to change your whole way of living.  If you go on a diet, the weight may come off, but when you start eating the same way again, the weight will come right back.  So you have to change your life style, not think of it just as a diet.  I still have a long way to go, but I'm taking it 5 lbs at a time.  And the weeks I don't lose, I'm not fretting over it!  I can tell in my clothes and by the compliments I have been getting from my husband, family, and other people.  Even customers where I work have noticed.  That really makes you feel good!  Anyway, I hope this helps some of you out there that has been going through the same thing I am.  It's a hard road, but we're worth it!!!!  And if I can do, anyone can!  Good Luck to you all!!!!  Thanks No.1  for always being there for me and everyone else who reads your forum!

I also wanted to add, if you're having trouble giving up on junk food, buy the 100 calorie packs so you don't go overboard.  A little is better than a whole bag of chips or cookies, or whatever you may have trouble giving up.  They even have chocolate covered pretzels, so there's something for everyone.  They're already premeasured so that's a big help.  And if you're having trouble drinking enough water, buy the Crystal Light and add it to your water, or I buy the Walmart brand.  I actually like it better than Crystal Light. I hope this helps some of you. 

no1dunn:

To walk two miles a day at a snails pace will not do much for you. Not saying that is how you walk just saying for it to burn calories it has to be fast paced and heart racing cardio walking style.

 Ah, Chris and others.....incorrect info. ANY movement will burn calories. Fast paced and heart racing cardio walking is good for your heart, but snails pace WILL burn calories...just fewer of them. If all you can do is crawl slowly to the mailbox, then crawl slowly to the mailbox everyday. There has to be a beginning before you can build up to more. Very few can start out running two miles a day. The more you have to lose, the more energy it takes to move.

Don't be upset if you can only lose 1 or 2 pounds a week. Anything more is really NOT good for your body in the long run.

Wow....I've been kinda busy for a few days.......and this post is really really taking off!!!   And, it's great!!!!    I do have to agree with CSP above.....ANY movement will burn calories.   No, I'm not proof of it, but my sister (who I've mentioned before in this thread is).   As of today.........she's lost   130 pounds!!!!     My sister was well over 300  when I saw her in August of last year.   She used to walk with a cane.....So, I know she wasn't setting any records on her walking.....but she was walking none the less.   My point here is.........do your 10,000 steps every day......fast or slow......Of course fast will burn it off faster, but slow will burn too.   Chris, please dont take this wrong.......but I needed to put  afew cents in here about that pace too.    She has now sent me a pedometer to record my 10,000 steps (or more if you can) a day.    And as to diet/special foods.......she eats TONS of veggies.    No junk.  She just eats normal things....not Nutrisystem or WeightWatchers food.    Trust me if I tell you if she can do it we all can too!!!!  (INCLUDING ME)   Her favorite phrase is "eat slowly and mindfully".   the reason for that is because we all eat soooo quickly and on the run.   She also told me to set up a place setting at a table and enjoy your food.....not in front of a TV or computer........take the time for your food.   

Now, with all that said........I have to share some WONDERFUL news with you all......we are only a year and 2 months apart and have always been as close as a set of twins.  Anyway...her 50th Bday is on May 6 and her boss (she works in London) called me yesterday and said if my schedule can allow it, he wants to surprise her with my visit (cause she talks non stop about me too).......so, I will have to put a few things on hold and go see her.   He has been a strong support to her there with all of us living in the USA.   Isn't that wonderful........and I'm sure she'll be having me walking all over London with her......and I guess that'll be my good way to jump start (or re-start) my walking and needing to get in shape.   Just had to share that good news with y'all........as she is my motivation.........130 pounds in less than a year!!!!!    (Yes, she's the one who over came *** cancer too!!)........

Well, gotta run.........be back later.........LET'S   GET   IN   SHAPE   IN   2008!!!!

Love and peace.........Anne Marie

Good for your sister! Now, go get packing! Enjoy your visit!

Uhhhh Rosemary.....

                                WILL YOU MARRY ME!!!

                                                                            I THINK I FOUND A WOMAN WITH AS MUCH UMPH AS MY WIFE!!

THAT WAS WONDERFUL.... I AM SPENT WITH EXCITEMENT.... I AM IN A STATE OF EUPHORIA..... I AM ON A NATURAL HIGH.....

I AM SO HAPPY YOU HAVE SAVE ME FROM TYPING ALL THAT! YOU HIT EVERY HIGH POINT AND TALKED ABOUT A LOT OF NEEDED THINGS!

I LIKE WHERE THIS IS GOING AND I DON'T WANT IT TO END!

WHO IS NEXT?  WHO WILL PICK UP THE TORCH AND CARRY IT TO THE NEXT CORNER STONE? IF YOU WILL RUN.... I WILL RUN WITH YOU.... PLEASE.... CAN YOU.... COME OUT AND PLAY.... WITH US!

SOMEBODY START PLAYING THE THEME FROM THE FIRST ROCKY FILM

FLYING HIGH NOW.......

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!

Thank you for asking Anneel, I have been getting some good rest the past couple of days. Yesterday the computer was an hour ahead somehow and I signed off and got in bed. I slept so early I woke a half hour before the alarmclock and got up and showered and found out as I was getting dressed that I had gone to sleep an hour EARLIER then I thought I had! It was great!!

I really love how EVERYONE is starting to talk here. I am going to start stepping back from answering EVERYONE's posts and just answer the post that need it the most and dropping in a poem and new advice or experience now and then. I know I know... everyone loves me and wants to here what I have to say.... well look at what knowledge and help Rosemary provided. You all have experienced highs in your lives.... times when you were doing well. Yea, something happened and it all went downhill again (probably because you didn't have AS.commers behind you!) but you can share your high times (no drug stories please ((because I can out tell you all!))) ) and we can all learn from everyones experiences and knowledge and guesses and therios and heck even lies... it all gives us something to read and someting to talk about!

I am so very proud of all of you! Everytime I end a post I want to tell you that I love you all... but everytime I do I picture Richard Simmons "You gotta love your self first" But, I do love you all for all you have done for us and ALL YOU ARE NOW DOING FOR YOURSELVES. Please don't loose the desire and drive. Life will get busy and it will get in the way and it will make you forget... that is why you have to keep coming here and getting rejuvinated. IF we ever get boring then talk about it and see if we can't come up with new stuff. Remember we can only help as much as you (each and everyone of you) will let us help. We are only as strong as our weakest link... OK I am going off the deep end here so TTFN!!!

Yes, I know.... but who has been to a gym... who has had a trainner.... who has watched the health videos....??? Have you ever heard any of them say; "Hey, no problem... go as slow as you want.... No no take it easy don't push your self?" You see we are trained in PUSHING people... If I came here and I said crawl before you walk (which I promote a NO PRESSURE just do a little more each day way of doing it) then you wouldn't crawl... you would sit on the couch a little longer... or if I would have said; "Hey, take it easy and walk slowly for a while until you can pick it up"... you would have gotten off the couch and started crawling and one day some day you would have started walking. I am not there with you to push you. I am not there to physiclly see your speed and know how much I can push you. SO... my physcological comment to you was to walk and walk fast in hopes you wouldn't crawl but would start out walking and push your self for me,

OK, so now you know my big secret.... I tried to trick you into getting off the couch... does it mean I love you less.... As I have said all along... what ever it takes to get you moving just move.... what ever you find to work for you... then WORK it! This is no big thing and I am not bothered by any one pointing it out. ANYTHING YOU DO IS BETTER THEN DOING NOTHING AT ALL. So, let's keep moving forward taking one day at a time and one pound a week... we have the rest of our lives to make all the difference we can!

God bless you all!

Wow Anne Marie, that is great about your sister!!  Congratulations to her and to you for going for a visit.  I'm sure it will do you both good.  It's hard to be away from family.

I just wanted to add that at Weight Watchers, we don't eat WW foods.  We eat normal foods also.  They just teach you portion control by using the points system and they recommend that we eat at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies daily.  The veggies thing is a great thing.  It helps give you the nutrition your body needs and most veggies are low cal and low or no fat.  I like WW because it is a great support system and it helps you learn how to eat right.  I don't buy prepackaged meals either.  They are there for the ones that want to buy them at the grocery store, but at the meetings all they sell are some WW bars for people that want to buy them.  They don't tell you to buy them.  Like I said, when I want something I'm not really suppose to have, I buy the 100 calorie packs.  They have some good snacks and I can control how much I eat.  But veggies and fruits are definitely better for you.  Again, congratulations to your sister.  She is a real inspiration!!!

no1dunn:

OK, so now you know my big secret.... I tried to trick you into getting off the couch... does it mean I love you less....

Ah, I see how you are! Unfortunately, if I thought the only way I could do myself any good was to run 2 miles, I would NEVER start. (For that matter, if I thought I had to run 10 feet, I would never start! LOL!) I say do what you can, 1 pound at a time, 5 pound goals, and don't let plateaus stop you! I've got to go saunter my behind off now!

PS-we love you back!

Go Sis go... two great posts from my Sister-in-law on what she has learned and things that you can take from it. You see this is exactly what I meant. We all have sooooo much to offer if we would just start putting it down in a post.

Thank you all who have taken the time to share your thoughts... please continue to do so. Even when you think that what you have to say isn't going to matter to anyone IT may be the perfect message to SOMEBODY! It doesn't matter if a post dosn't get replies to it... I have learned with the poetry here.... even though people weren't actively making posts about it... I got a lot of emails where they showed there appreciation but said they didn't want to clutter the thread.... Well Marty is the one who dicides what is clutter and what isn't so not to worry. Share your thoughts, talk about your needs, ask your questions. As you can well see there are a ton of people here that want to help.... did I say ton.... sorry I didn't mean..... errr.... uhhhh..... oh well you know what I mean.

LOTS OF LOVE FOR ALL OF US GOING AROUND HERE!!!

Hi everyone,

I've been a bit busy lately, with work and just plain living.  I caught that about your sister Anne Marie.  She's extraordinary & I hope you'll give her a big hug from me when you see her in London.  I would tell you to enjoy your time with her, but I think that's a given.

It's strange how this turned from poems and stuff to exercising.  Beginning the end of March I started exercising again.  I love to dance, so 3 or 4 days a week I put on my favorite music and dance for 45 minutes.  Right now I still get all red in the face and am quite drenched in sweat, but I've noticed I don't get out of breath as much now as I did when I started.  For soemone with asthma, that's a GREAT thing.  I didn't gain this extra person hanging off my butt overnight, so I know I won't lose it overnight either.  But since I truly love to dance, I enjoy it.  I can do it in the privacy of my home, pick the music I love, and dance away.  My right knee complains quite a bit and I'm not quite sure how to get it to shut up, but I'm thinking about buying one of those fabric braces to wear when I dance.  I guess I'm worried about tearing a ligament and know that tearing one of those is not good, especially in the knee.  I'm already dealing with tendonitis in my left elbow so that's more than enough for me at this time.

Talk to you all later.  This is great that we have our own "Personal Trainer".  I've always wanted to get one, but could never afford it.  WOW.  Who would have ever thought that by sending love to soldiers, I'd get a personal trainer for FREE?  This is a GREAT site!!!

God bless, love & hugs to all,

Good job Irish, keep DANCING!!

OK, everyone... I wrote this last night and of course I went off the deepend trying to get it all out. Another problem I have is proofreading something I have just written... I didn't even want to do that today when I finished it off. Good luck with sifting through this. I tried to keep it interesting!!

YOUR BODY IS A FURNACE…

Well not really, but it is the greatest creation in the world today. Not even the biggest and best computer can match our machine... because we are not tied to an outlet for one. But, we do need to feed the machine for our source of energy. The better you feed it the better it will work for you. The better you feed it and the more you work out with it correctly the better it will work for you and the more it will be able to do. The better you feed it and the more you work out with it correctly as well as giving it the proper amount of rest… well you could just have a super machine on your hands!

Today I am just going to talk about feeding the machine not just for energy but to LOOSE weight. I read a nice explanation about a horse and a cow. The cow feeds itself until all four of her stomachs are full and then stands around day after day after day. The horse grazes all day long, stopping now and then to get a mouth full or two. Which would you rather be a cow or a horse? We have been trained from a long time ago that you have to eat three good and balanced meals a day. Well, back before electricity made staying up late possible. People use to get up at daybreak and eat breakfast…. Then they went to work and worked half a day and stopped for lunch…. Then they worked the rest of the day till night fall and went home and had dinner. That ideology has stuck with us since then. Of course before electricity there wasn’t much in the way of junk food, and money wasn’t wasted as much on what there was. The people were a hard working, good eating group of people who were a healthy bunch. If it hadn’t have been for the fact that medicine was so new and medical care so limited they would have lived a very long time.

Well we have learned a lot over the last twenty years towards working out and eating right. A big thing we have learned is…. Eating six times a day spaced evenly throughout the day and in the right portions size is better then three times a day. So, first let’s tackle the portion size. Look at an average stomach of a healthy person. How many of your fists do you think you can fit in there? Well it should only be three. Three fistfuls of food and a drink to wash it down with, is enough for a feeding period. Let’s look at a dinner for ease of explanation. A piece of chicken (fist sized), a potato (fist sized) a helping of mixed vegetables (yup, you guessed it… fist sized) and a glass of good old sweet tea. That is a great meal in the right portion size…. But wait we didn’t count any calories we just ate a meal. This is a good meal of good choices and a not too bad of a drink. No need to count calories if you eat like this six times a day.

What I want to do is take you from how you are eating right now and show you an easy way to start and how to progress. If you are used to eating three meals a day I want you to think of it like this; You take those three meals and you cut them in half (not left and right but each item that makes up each meal) and now you have your food for the day and it is six times of eating. Let’s take it one step further with a lunch meal as an example. For lunch tomorrow you plan on having a six inch sub from Subway with a bag of BAKED chips and a glass of tea. When you get there you tell them you want a BMT all the way and you notice that after they make it they slice it in half. Wow, that was nice they just helped you out. You ask for the baked Lays potato chips and a large tea. The worker says they are out of large cups but will give you a medium at the small price for the inconvenience (this is your lucky day). You pay for the meal and go sit down. With your new way of eating you realize that the only work you have to do with this meal is wrap up one half of  that sandwich and STOP eating (the hard part) from the bag of chips when it is half empty. Since you only got a medium tea... no problem there. So, you do just that and now you have something to eat in two to three hours. All in the proper portion size and not a bad meal to boot!

So a day looks like this. You wake up and you fix breakfast either at the right portions or cutting everything in half for later consumption (a fancy way of saying “stuffing face”). In two to three hours you eat the second half of that meal and keep getting it till lunch. You do the Subway thing because it was so easy and inexpensive and there is your lunch and food for working till dinner a couple hours later. You get home just in time for dinner and you have this down pat now. So you cut your steak in half, eat just half the potato and half the salad. You down a glass of milk and you even have a small slice of cake. Two to three hours later you are thinking that you really aren’t that hungry and you don’t want to eat cold steak or potato even if you were to warm it up. So instead you reach for that new protein bar you bought from GNC to give it a try. Turns out that it is not bad and it is good for you. You wash it down with a glass of water…. Hmmm water….. water is your friend.

Do you know that water fills your stomach and takes up space and adds no calories? And, the less space you have in your stomach the less you can put into it. You should drink water as often as you can. And as close to every meal you have you should down a glass to help you eat less when you do eat.  So, now you have finished a day and you ate six times. The more you do this the easier it will be. It will become a natural part of your life and you will loose weight. WHY? How does eating less more times a day work? It works because your body is like a furnace. Feed the furnace and feel the burn.

What happens when you feed the furnace? When you put food into you body the furnace cuts on and starts to burn. It will start by burning what you put in your body. Digesting it and breaking it down for better use. But your furnace only stays on for a short time after eating. So, if you eat your NORMAL meal that you USED to eat. You put a whole bunch of food into your stomach and the furnace cuts on for say it’s allotted fifteen minutes and has time to burn about half of what you put in it. Well what happens to the rest of the food. It sits there and is slowly broken down by the acid that it is stewing in. Essentially, what doesn’t get burned has MORE of a chance to turn to fat. Yes, some more of it will get burned off at the next eating…. Some six hours later… twelve if you skip a meal. But, lets look at what happens when you reduce your intake. You put in the proper portion size and your furnace starts burning. You have put in just enough food to let the furnace burn it all and it is still on but there is nothing to burn in the stomach. So, your furnace turns to burning some fat. The more your furnace burns with the less you have for it in your stomach to burn the more of your fat that will get burned off. As you start burning off the fat and make progress with your body and loose more and more weight the more your body likes it.

This will make your metabolism (the furnace) rise which means more burning  which means more weight loss. So, no calorie counting… that’s easy. You can start off just worrying about portion size… one fist of this one fist of that and one more fist will do it. Don’t worry about exactly what you eat… as long as it is the right portion size. A snickers bar is about the size of a fist…. And you know what… it really isn’t THAT bad for you…. By itself. Three Snickers bars in one sitting or one day is not good. But if you choose to eat a Snickers bar for a snack in between lunch and dinner it is OK! Concentrate on the portion size for the first month. Try and do all you can no matter what it is physically every day MORE then you did the day before. As your adjust to eating six times a day you will notice that you start to get full sooner, you aren’t as hungry in between meals and you are starting to loose weight. It is that simply math again less in more out means weight loss. After the first month then start concentrating on eating better. Choose more fruit and vegetables. Choose wild and brown over white. Choose sugar substitute over sugar. Choose healthy drinks over sodas. Eat vegetable sticks instead of chips. Eat protein bars instead of candy bars. Choose supplement drinks instead of a meal now and then.

EVERYTHING has its pros and cons. There is an exception to every rule. For every thing that I say there are people who may (and probably will) point out flaws…. Trust me when I say that if you take it easy and change a little everyday this will work. Try eating six times a day THE PROPER PORTION SIZE for a month, then spend the next month doing it again but choosing healthier and healthier things to eat. Start doing anything you can physically and do more and more every day that you can. Remember to sleep well at night and to stop if you feel pain. Listen to your body and learn what is working and what is not. Try sweet potatoes instead of white. Try wild and brown rice and pasta. Flavor your food with herbs instead of sauces. Try broiled and baked instead of fried and Bar-B-Q as often as you want! Drink water as often as you can... even before you’re thirsty. Just remember to keep moving forward and change things up once in a while.

God bless you all with rebuilding your bodies!

WHILE I AM ON A ROLL and have an audience...

Do you know while I was in Guantanimo I was eating 4000 calories a day OR MORE trying to gain weight? I was running five miles a day... I was swimming daily... I was water skiing often and sailing some... I was also riding a bike and walking all over as well as working out in a gym and "SPINNING". So, even though I was eating big I was burning it off too quickly! I mean that if you take two steps backward RUN twenty steps forward. If pushing your self harder during a workout will allow you to have a bad meal once a week it is worth it. And, IF you can push your self harder during your workouts... you SHOULD push your self harder. BUT YOU HAVE TO KNOW YOUR BODY AND YOUR LIMITS... that is what makes a FORUM Trainner not the greatest thing around. I am not there to watch you for signs of trouble. SO YOU HAVE TO BE YOUR BEST FRIEND. Make sure to take care of yourself while you and your BEST FRIEND make progress with all you do!!

I hope you are keeping a journal of your workouts. If not please start. Write down what you do and for how long. When you have finished and are ready to move on to the next part of your day (showering for work or bed, going in and cooking dinner.... what ever) before you put your journal away, gauge how the overall workout was on a scale of 1 to 10. "Today I walked two miles  in 35 minutes and it was a 7" (that is how hard you had to workout to get done what you wanted to do). Nobody really pushes themselves in the beginning because it all feels hard anyway! You should do every workout trying for a ten. So, let’s say you were walking and that you walked faster everyday and watched your time. Let’s say in two weeks you notice that you are walking that same two miles in 25 minutes everyday now for four days with just a little difference in time. Now you are at a ten. You are walking as fast as you can in a set distance and getting approximately the same time. You feel like you could not walk it any faster. So, to make it harder you can do a couple of things. You can either add weight to your body (like a body vest, ankle weights are bad for you) or you can add distance to the walk. Changing to a harder walking terrain (like up hill or the percentage level on a tread mill) is another way. It will get harder but keep doing it and soon enough it will get easier. When you notice that it is easier (maybe a seven again) workout about two weeks or so and then add distance to your workout or add weights or what ever you need to do to make it hard again. It will be hard AGAIN but it WILL get easy sooner or later… then…. well…. You know what to do!

LOVE YOU ALL!!

THIS POST IS NOT FROM ME!!! One of the first people who sent our group something bacame a great penpal and friend to me. I invited her to the forujms and all though she enjoys the reading she said she has no desire to write... WELL... that was actually before I wrote that l o o o o o n n n n g g g g g one. And I asked her what she thought of it and told her that constructive critisizim was allowed (lol). This is what she wrote:

Instead, perhaps giving people options of different types of motivations will get them off the couch.  Instead of walking just to lose weight, let it also be a way to learn something new. If they are walking outside, have them take up bird watching or flower/plant identifying.  They may be surprised how much further they will walk while looking for the next bird or flower.  Also wearing a pedometer that counts steps helps.  Amazon carries one that is a little pricey ($29, but it has free shipping) but it comes with software so that they can monitor their progress on a computer by day, week, month or year. It lets them set up their own goals, counts regular steps, aerobic steps, calories burned and miles walked.  It's amazing how competitive you can get with yourself when you see the steps ticking away. You come up with excuses to take those few extra steps just to reach the next goal on the pedometer.  I put mine on when I get dressed and don't take it off till the end of the day.
 
Walking isn't the only form of exercise.  Some women have talked about water aerobics and dancing.  Both are great.  But how about exercise that isn't exercise?  Playing tag with the kids.  Chasing the dog and playing with it or just gardening.  They are all good ways to burn calories without even realizing it.  Find something that they can enjoy and will stick with. 
 
And so they don't get stuck in a rut, when you are comfortable with what they are doing and hitting that plateau, either weight wise or with boredom, add something new to jolt the body.  Throw in a short race walk or sprint, stop and do some jumping jacks or lunges, do a few pushups (if you aren't ready for the "drop and give me 20" style, how about leaning on a wall or desk and doing pushups against those, they can be effective and not as hard on the body), do some squats making sure you use the correct posture (knees over the heels, not extending out over the toes, bringing the bottom down like you are sitting down, you don't have to go very far down for these to be effective).  All these things will "surprise" the body and it won't settle into a routine since it won't know what to expect.

BOY! IT IS A GOOD THING that she DOESN'T WANT to write anything here... could you imagine how much she would write if she WANTED TOO?!!!! I am of course teasing her! I am VERY appreciative of any and all people who post here. I want us all to share our knowledge, experience, thoughts, questions and what ever is on your mind. BECAUSE THAT is how you GET and GIVE support!!!

May God bless you all for all you do!

OK,

ONE last thing before I hit the sack. Kim is the name of the woman who wrote the previous entry... she relented enough that I could print her FIRST name! She also made me realize that I have been over loading you with my personal entries and THEREBY posible pushing you too hard. Well, I am here in a precarious place. Yesterday I went out to the bunker on FIVE different occasions. They are getting really good about getting us "cleared" and those who work go back to work and those who should be asleep can TRY to go back to sleep. I have some knowledge and expeience and trainning that I want to share with you. Yes, I would love to take my time and spoon feed you all a little at a time. But I have a years worth of trainning AND if nothing happens while I am here I only have eight months to help you. Yes, I know when I am done OF COURSE I will keep writing... but I was basing it more on the what IF factor. Well what if I don't make it and I could have provided more. I want to be here to help you... but if I am not I want my work to live on... IN YOU! So, you have to pick up the "torch" you have to run with it.... you have to be an olmpic star! Don't get caught up in all of what I am saying. Pick the easiest stuff you want to do... from hers.... from mine... from his... from theirs.... from something you read or learn from somewhere else JUST DO IT! Get into shape and use any excuse you want and any tool you find. Take the RIGHT amount of supplement or appatite surpresents, buy any new fangled gadgit that will get you doing something or use two milk jugs full of sand. JUST DO IT. Take your time if you want... you have the rest of your life.... take it as easy or as hard as you want. JUST DO IT! Do it for you. Do it for your spouse. Do it for your children. Do it for your parents. Do it for your friends Do it for me. JUST DO IT!

OH yea... did I tell you? JUST DO IT!

I do love each and everyone of you and I want this to work for you! So don't give up on yourself and I won't give up on you! Remember... use what you can AS you can. AS you get better in shape shock your body by doing new and harder things AS YOU CAN. KNOW your Body... Listen to your Body... Fell your Body.... LOVE YOUR BODY!!! I DO!!!

May God Bless ALL OF YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!!

Chris