Bigger Mentally, Faster Physically & Stronger As A Whole

Health and fitness scare a majority of the world. Why? Because its something you actually have to put work into in order to get the results you want. Its a job, but its a job that pays off for you in a positive way many times over. Its a gift to be able to realize the importance of taking care of yourself & treating your body the way you want it to treat you back. Developing yourself mentally and physically to become healthy and reach your OWN fitness level means you will take many different roads. They will twist, turn, stop, rewind and steer you off course. Your goal is to find your path and stay on it. Becoming better at anything requires you to sometimes take many steps back or completely stop and really look at what you're doing and where you're going if you continue the path you're on. Its YOUR decisions that determine where you will go & who you will become. Your attitude, the people you associate with and your own mental set all play a role in who you are. 

Everyone starts somewhere. We have to. No one is born with everything they need to know or all the equipment necessary to become healthy and fit. If it were that easy you wouldn't see me sitting behind a computer everyday. I would be traveling the world, meeting new people & spending as much time as I can with the people I love. It doesn't work that way however and we DO have to work for what we want to become. Its starts inside. What you put into your body helps develop what your outer physical physique will look like. The muscles that encompass our bodies are the true shape we are meant to have. All the extra fat around our waist lines, butts, legs, arms, back & everywhere imaginable have been added on by our eating habits and our CHOICE to be lazy. A majority of America alone is obese & its become accepted by far too many people. The sad thing is, our children have picked up on this comfortable habit and are now becoming obese at an age exceedingly too young these days. I remember a conversation with my Grandma who told me she wouldn't change the era she was raised in for the life of her because she was so active it helped get her to 90 years of age being capable of many things all the way up to her last breath. Sedentary is the problem. When I was growing up I was always told "Go play outside." I had NO problem with that what so ever. My best friend and I ALWAYS had something to do. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't the skinniest of kids, but I wasn't caring about what I was eating at the time because it wasn't an issue to me & I had no clue what being overweight could do to someone no matter what age they are. I ate more than I needed when it was time to eat & had to learn that I didn't NEED so much food. But my mom & dad DID CARE & made sure I was eating home made breakfast, lunches & dinners, and helped teach me I don't need so much to eat. Take out wasn't ever on the menu because when you have a mom who knows what to do in the kitchen & enjoys making her family home made meals, thats the food you get. Its a blessing & I'm grateful.

One of the biggest problems I come across is people are constantly comparing themselves to other people. Whether its their looks or knowledge, there is too much focus on comparison as opposed to what YOU are capable of. Stop wishing you could be like other people. You have your own level of fitness & mental strength and it could very well be stronger than that of the person you "idolize" & wish to be like. You underestimate your ability to do what you consider impossible by dwelling on what someone else has done or looks like. Set your own goals, keep the end in mind & remember to keep it fresh daily. The end is what you are aiming for so once you reach it you can set a new goal. The end doesn't mean its over. Done. Stops completely & have nothing else to achieve. The end means you've accomplished one thing & its time to move onto something else. There is an unlimited number of opportunities & windows open for you to reach your goals. Paradise awaits us in many different forms. Its not just a distant island. Paradise can be created with your body and mind. Don't be afraid to create it. 

I want to help many people as long as I'm living. My paradise doesn't just include me. My paradise includes helping as many people as I can, using my passion for what I do to drive me physically and mentally, become better at things I currently struggle with and pass my knowledge from personal experience onto other people who need and want it. I am the type of girl who has been told over and over "YOU CAN'T DO IT!" I laugh in the face of ignorance because I AM doing it. Don't let anyone tell you what you are capable of doing. Usually the ones telling you these things are the ones who are too afraid to try anything at all. Be above the negativity, find your own path & STICK WITH IT. When you experience things for yourself and make it a point to learn and work your body, you become BIGGER MENTALLY, FASTER PHYSICALLY and STRONGER AS A WHOLE. Once you realize you are capable of more than you thought, you become role models for people who are in your previous set of shoes. You CAN do this! Believe in yourself & know you deserve the best from your body physically and mentally.

Temporary Fix

"I get it from my parents. Its in our genes so I'm stuck with it." Absolutely one of the most excuses used when it comes to people and what they look like. You've heard the saying "She got it from her momma!" In all cases, of course she did. Because genes are passed down to offspring from parents. However, when it comes to changing your body, people are always looking for an excuse to NOT do it because there's hard work involved or because its just easier not to have to deal with it. You aren't STUCK with what you've got. You can control what your physical appearance looks like. Being miserable throughout life because of poor choices made by what we consume or what we do to temporarily "fix" a problem with our bodies, whether its inside or out, is not worth the value of any dollar amount.

From botox, to tylenol, to baggy clothes, to white out on a typo, people everywhere are looking at the WRONG solutions to SOLVE the issue at hand. Sorry, but......ITS STILL THERE! Its like candy coating on M&M's or too much make up on a woman. These temporary fixes give you a false impression that whatever the problem you have, whether on the inside or out, is fixed.................NOT! These cover ups are a temporary fix, or what I call PURE LAZY. Instead of going to the CORE of the problem and solving it, you are creating an artificial cover up that wastes time and money. Especially when it comes to health and fitness.

I've been there. I've been the one in baggy clothes, too much make up and lots of over the counter drugs to cure what ailed me for "the time being." Worth it? Not at all. I look back at everything I put myself through before I decided to really take control of my life and put in the hard work to get myself in shape physically inside and out. The road I've taken to get myself to where I am today was not easy, it was long and I'm still on it. I plan to stay on this road as long as I live, taking with me as many people as I can so they in turn can change their lives and stop these temporary cover ups! Why sugar or candy coat something when you know its not going to last? Why go out of your way to spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on synthetic diet pills, botox, spandex body shapers to thin you out for a day, cheap butt boosters, padded bras and more?? From Pepto Bismol to Botox, its all a COVER UP to avoid actually going to the core of the problem and fixing it. Not one of these things is a permanent solution. If you get botox, you have to keep it up because eventually the wrinkles start to show up again, when you have indigestion you buy crap to drink, that will, for the time being, stop the irritation but you'll eventually have to ingest more when it happens again or invest countless amounts of dollars into weight loss pills thinking all you have to do is swallow them everyday, not workout because it requires too much effort on your behalf, and you'll lose weight. All of these things are crap used to cover up the problem instead of solve it. 

We have one of the laziest nations in the world. We refuse to cook meals at home because its time consuming, therefore we will go out of our way to fill our bodies with junk from a drive thru or make a phone call to a pizza company in town & have garbage delivered right to our doorstep. We spend more and more money each year on doctors because of the poor choices we have made to make life "easier" on ourselves, but in the long run, we're killing us. We are creating a nation where AVERAGE means LAZY. I mean let's get right down to it. There is no cover up here. I'm just addressing what's really going on & what people don't want to acknowledge because its always been easier to blame it on the genes, not enough time or too much work. We have gone out of control letting fast food and the synthetic diet market replace the true value of what it requires to dedicate yourself to become healthy and fit by working out and eating right to solve the problem from the inside. Blaming it on your mom or dad because they passed the genes down to you is downright lazy and another lame excuse to escape having to put any effort in at all to better yourself. 

If you want any benefits of being healthy, becoming physically fit from the INSIDE is where it starts. It begins when you decide to take control of your life and becoming cautious about what you consume on a daily basis. What it is you do to FIX the problem instead of temporarily cover it up. There is no respectable value behind the temporary fix. All it says about someone is they're lazy. Who wants to be known for that? I'm sure it doesn't bother a lot of people, but for those out there complaining that "nothing works" & "I've tried everything," I have a little insight for you: YOU HAVEN'T TRIED HARD ENOUGH AND YOU CERTAINLY HAVEN'T TRIED EVERYTHING. You don't try, YOU DO IT. Let go of the excuses everyone uses. Its not the DNA because there isn't one of us who has the same strand, it isn't because you don't have enough time, its because you haven't created the time. Its all a personal decision to take time out FOR YOU and you alone to become healthier & start to get rid of all these problems you've been covering up for years on end. Its time to remove the candy coated excuses and get right down to old fashioned, ass kicking hard work. No, its not easy, yes it takes dedication, but with the combination of drive, support, willingness to do it and motivation from the right people including yourself, you can achieve anything. You've gotta REALLY want it. I have lost all my weight on my own. I didn't expect someone else to do it for me & I learned for myself I was wasting my time and money on things I would never see TRUE results from. Figure out what works for you and start somewhere. Everyone has the same amount of one thing in a day, time. Its up to YOU to finally realize you're worth it and how to use it.

Complete Burnout

Being completely rational about any fitness routine you desire to begin should require one to completely understand why working out for a limited amount of time is imperative. A simple approach would be personal research starting with reading articles, talking with professionals including doctors and personal trainers, or even someone who has been working out for years and has experimented almost everything to do with working out. The issue I'm here to address is what I call "the beginners ignorance of research." Ultimately I can address a number of things that I refer to as that, but this one however is extremely important to those who haven't the slightest clue about what too much cardio can do to the human body.

Chronic Cardio, as Mark Sisson, Author of The Primal Blueprint, calls it, is a former triathlete who for years put wear and tear on his body, to, in his mental set, "become better." He was used to running & training for hours on end daily, but when it was over, he was tired & had created within himself a "catabolic burn out." There was no energy left to give for anything else and as he says "When I looked like a picture of health, I was really one of overstress and inflammation. I was the fittest guy my friends knew, yet I suffered from recurring bouts of fatigue, osteoarthritis in both my feet, severe tendinitis in my hip joints, stress-related gastrointestinal maladies, and six or more upper respiratory tract infections each year."

A catabolic burn out is simply this, when you workout for an extended or long period of time, your body starts to use up its preferred sources of energy which are glycogen and glucose, 2 things necessary to ensure you a great workout with enough energy to walk afterwards. When you "burn out" it starts breaking down the muscle tissue in order to burn the PROTEIN found in the muscle and not the FAT you want to burn in your body.The same thing happens when you let your body go into starvation mode by not feeding it every 3 hours. The stress hormone CORTISOL is released and causes your body to believe you are starving so it begins to eat your muscles. 

Consider this, when we eat meat, we aren't eating fat, we're consuming muscle because that meat contains the protein our bodies desire to be properly nourished. Hence the infamous "Protein Shakes" people drink. Chronic Cardio or Over Exertion is the cause of the overlooked catabolic breakdown. In believing you need to run for miles upon miles everyday or complete a crazy workout like INSANITY then move onto something else after that, you are burning yourself out and you ARE WORKING AGAINST YOUR BODY.       

 If you fall into this category of people, you are most likely seeing NO RESULTS after about 6 weeks, hurting inside but refuse to address it or have it checked out, hungrier and consume more carbohydrates as they are the energy source for one's body to be productive throughout the day, losing strength so putting you in charge of a dumbbell or weight machine is out of the question. Chronic cardio causes increased production of cortisol. You are significantly stressing your body out inside if this is the training you are immersed in. Your CNS (Central Nervous System) is in retardation mode and not functioning at the capacity is was created to do. From fatigue, immune suppression (i.e. creates inability to fight off sickness) loss of bone density (which is critical to have if you're a fan of keeping your bones intact) and fat metabolism changes. Everything is working against you & there will be no further changes for the betterment of your body if you continue to stay where you are. You have more of a chance becoming sick or breaking bones than those of us who make sure all areas of fitness are incorporated in our daily routines. A 20 minute High Intensity Interval Training (better known as HIIT Training) can be done in place of chronic cardio & burn 9 times MORE fat throughout your day than your normal routine of cardio routine after cardio routine after cardio routine. 

You need a delicate balance in your routine. Combining every area of fitness is what will enable you to reach your goals. You will create a stronger body by avoiding over exertion with too much cardio. Your insides are not visible to you, but just because you can't see whats going on, doesn't mean something couldn't be wrong. You may not feel it now, you may never feel it or you could feel it but be trying to avoid it because of your mentality & disregard for slowing down, but you have to take into consideration that its proven science, not a myth, and slowing down should be mandatory starting now. Your egotistical mentality needs to be swept under the carpet, stop thinking about what everyone else will think about you. Just because you slow down doesn't make you any less of a person, it means you have taken the time to actually CARE about whats going on with your body and you've made the decision to do what you now KNOW is right for it. I hope this message reaches you beyond your mental set, I hope you pass this along to anyone and everyone you know and I know you will begin to feel better inside and out knowing you don't have to obliterate yourself during a workout session. 

Women and Weights

"I want muscle, but I don't want to bulk up, so I don't lift weights." WHAT???? Do you honestly think her physique came from cardio alone???

If that's the case someone has clearly misguided you. Lifting weights WILL NOT bulk you up if you are doing it the right way. Most women have the misconception that weight lifting is for men and bodybuilders. It is far from true. That myth needs a stop put to it & I'm here to help you understand that lifting weights, the proper way will not bulk you up.

I started working out 4 1/2 years ago. I began by becoming a cardio junkie & becoming accustomed to the rush of adrenaline I got from a nice 45-60 minute, workout that had me breathing hard and my heart rate high enough where I could feel the blood flowing through my body. Were weights a part of my routine? Nope. Was I wondering why I wasn't seeing muscle develop in my body? Yep. Better believe it. I wasn't satisfied. I was burning myself out daily believing that all I needed to incorporate into my workout routine was proper nutrition & cardio. Boy was I wrong, but so very elated that I took time to research what I was doing wrong in order to get what I wanted. 

Turbo Jam was great for me. When I found it, I began to not only keep cardio as a part of my routine, but also get strength training in as well. Chalene Johnson, the celebrity trainer who got me to enjoy my workouts, finally helped me realize what I was missing from my workouts for so very long. By tuning in and listening to her advice, I was finally on the track I wanted to be on instead of constantly burning myself out & wondering why I wasn't getting the results I wanted. 

For years I have heard from so many women "if you lift weights, you'll bulk up & look like a man." Goodness if I could kick the old me in the ass for not realizing the truth when I should have! No joke. However, I won't say I'd take it back. It was a learning process for me. Not only did I discover for myself that I wouldn't bulk up lifting weights, but I was finally able to slow way down & build the lean muscle mass I wanted.

In 2009 Beachbody released a program called ChaLEAN Extreme, the creator of course being Chalene Johnson, whom I looked to as a hero and still do. I of course was all over this program, considering Chalene had taught me that is it necessary to strength train if I was going to develop the arms, legs, glutes & back I wanted to get. I started using the program the day it arrived at my door on March 27, 2009. I had close to 40 pounds to lose & was not going to let anything stand in my way. Not only did I start a new exercise routine but I also began a new chapter in my life learning about nutrition and what kind of foods I needed to be eating to get me through the weight routines. No longer was a drive thru going to cut it. This was simple steps to cut out ALL the crap I had occasionally been eating & really focus on what was going to build my muscles.

I did it. After the first round of ChaLEAN Extreme (or as some call CLX) including 3 months of the Lean For Life phase where I put together workouts that would alternate with each other to get me into the best shape of my life, I lost 38 pounds and gained lean muscle mass. I was NOT bulky. In fact, by listening to Chalene, I learned and realized that FAT is bulky, not muscle. If you are building it the right way, you will develop LEAN muscle definition in your body and you will NOT look like a man. 

I have continued to lift weights. I will never stop lifting weights. If you are lifting heavy, slow & doing the right amount of reps, you will not bulk up. What a lot of women fail to realize is its MUSCLE that burns fat & you CANNOT properly gain muscle by doing cardio alone. You HAVE TO incorporate weights into your routine. From ChaLEAN Extreme to P90X, I have learned many different ways to build my muscle. I have more definition in my body than ever before. The clean, lean foods I consume help me make it through the tough workouts I do on a daily basis. My routine consists of weights, cardio, stretch, yoga, ab routines and rest. By incorporating all the components of fitness together, you will develop the body you have always wanted to develop. You will still get your adrenaline rush by lifting weights and you will also escalate your strength to help maintain a strong core which is what everyone needs to help prevent back injuries. Our core is what holds us together. Without the strength of it, you are weak & susceptible to injury. Learn to add weights into your workout regimen. You will be glad you did and finally realize that its ok to slow down with the cardio, stop working against your body by too much of it and enjoy the process of creating a strong and beautiful physique!

Knowledge Is Power When Applied

You're a beginner. You come into this world knowing nothing, but have the *necessary tool* to learn what you will need for life. Power; comes from the ability to learn, know & apply it to your life. When you begin something new, you have to be willing to apply everything it takes for you to focus and learn about whatever it may be. When you decide to do it, you will be equipped with the knowledge of how to do it and in turn create the results you are looking for.

We all desire to learn new things whether its sitting in a classroom, reading a book, watching a documentary, hearing a true story.......whatever it may be, the knowledge we gain from these things gives us the ability to apply what we need to accomplish whatever goals we have. When we use the knowledge, that is when the power comes into play. It works either for or against us depending on how we decide to use what we have gained. Learning only part of something creates chaos and inevitably ruins what you set out to do. Be careful in researching everything before you decide to apply something to your life.

My profession is to help people become healthy & fit using the knowledge I have gained over the years from having first hand experience with losses & gains and working with credible people. I have faltered and reached goals many many times because I didn't take the initiative to learn everything as a whole to begin with, and instead had to take losses on what I was trying to accomplish before I came to the realization that there was and ALWAYS IS more to be learned so I may benefit from what I am doing. Taking the fundamentals of exercise, nutrition, hydration, supplementation, rest, injuries, stretching & more are just SOME of the ingredients to becoming as healthy & fit as I possibly can. Not only for myself but if I am to help others, I need to inform them as well on what it is that needs to be done.

Every one's body composition is different. We need different foods, different supplements, certain amounts of water, rest, etc. Not one person has the same DNA or "Make Up" as another, even if you have a twin. Some people can strength train more than others & some can't. For some it causes more bulkiness & for others it helps lean them out and get the muscle definition they need. When it comes to cardio, not everyone loves it, some do. Cardio is important to any one person's workout regimen no matter how bad we may dread it. Everything fits as puzzle pieces in order to aid in our physical & mental growth. Nutrition is different for everyone because some people need thousands of calories due to being intense athletes & others not so much because of sedentary lifestyle choices. 

What we consume depicts what we will look like on the outside as well as inside. The very very first thing I tell people is "FITNESS BEGINS ON THE INSIDE." Period. No questions asked. If you do not fuel your body the correct way, & you are hitting drive thru after drive thru, it will reflect not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. Which in turn gives your doctor information about how you are really treating your body. If you want to be fit, inside and out, paying attention to the foods you eat and the liquids you drink play a crucial role everyday. Take the initiative to learn the difference between clean & dirty foods. Notice what the nutrition labels are telling you when you purchase something. The front of the item can be made to catch your eye & make you think what you are getting is great. Turn it around, read & learn.  

The point of this blog is to give you insight about why knowledge is power when its applied. You can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you don't apply it, what good does it do for you or anyone else? Whatever it takes, learn everything you can & keep learning. Its the only way we can grow both mentally & physically.

A Comprehensive Health Plan

Rome wasn't built in a day. That's what just resounded in the background of my home. Its one of the truest statements that cannot be argued. The same goes for our bodies. We were not created in a day. It took 9 months if not longer for some. Why? Because its a solution as a whole. We have to have every part of ourselves properly developed in order to be able to fully function when we come into this world. Just as Rome had to be completed in order to be considered a functioning city. So what does this have to do with health & fitness you might be asking? Good question. Its what I'm here to address. So here we go.

Your body. Structured to keep you functioning on a day to day basis. Composed of a skeletal structure & muscle to support us. Covered in skin to protect our insides. Functioning in all areas for multiple purposes from the eyes to movement. We need every part to fully function as we were intended to. Well exercise & nutrition balance each other the same way. Its a complete system of combined elements that work in sync to get us to where we want to be. Nutrition, Hydration, Exercise & Supplementation. 4 of the compounds that make us lean, help us stay healthy, build muscle, helps with our cardiovascular health, keep us energized naturally & hydrated so we don't dehydrate. We need every last bit of the equation for it to work for us. 

So why can't I eat what I want & do crunches or run everyday & get the results I want? First of all, if you aren't applying the correct elements of becoming healthy from the inside out, your body just won't respond. Sure for 30 days you might do most of the same thing 80-90% of the time & lose a couple pounds, but then it stops. Why? Because your body has become immune to what you are doing on a daily basis. It knows you aren't gonna change your routine or eating, hydration & supplement habits so its no longer challenged. There's no muscle confusion like Tony Horton has taught so many people. Even still I have people on these fabulous workout programs who won't see results because they refuse or are just uneducated about how to incorporate all the ingredients of becoming healthy & fit, even if its staring them in the face. 

All of us who get involved in health & fitness start from scratch. We come into this like babies beginning to walk not knowing everything we need to know immediately because its too much. So how do we do it? What steps do we take to learn how to become healthy & fit? We research. We go through trial & error by experimenting for ourselves. Sometimes we don't listen to what is being said to us by professionals, even if we know deep down they are telling us these things for our own good. There is a cycle if you notice & it consists mostly of trial & error for ourselves. 

Whether we see it or not, at the time we become upset, some give up, become depressed & figure its not worth it. What we don't realize is during that process of finding what does & doesn't work, we're learning very important aspects of health & fitness. We are learning it as a whole & realizing that we need every single aspect of it to become successful & get the results we want. That should be the driving force for us not to give up because one thing didn't work. It should build us up to become stronger so we can teach other people about what works for or against the body. Everyone is different. But one thing is for certain, what you put into your body, from food to hydration to the supplementation, it MATTERS. Our bodies cannot & were not created to process all this manufactured junk that's been created. None of this stuff was around hundreds of years earlier. Everything was natural, from the earth & better absorbed by the body because none of the food was butchered with High Fructose Corn Syrups, sugars, fats & more. It was grown & consumed straight from the earth. Our fertilizers & the chemicals in soil these days are killing even our fruits & vegetables. We now have to be careful when we buy those & be sure to wash them thoroughly to avoid any contamination. Which is one of the very reasons I incorporate Shakeology in my daily eating regimine. Its truly amazing and completely pure & natural. What I can't get from other foods, I can get from Shakeology.

The point of this is, you can't just do a quarter or half of the equation & expect the results you want. It all comes together the way gas makes your car run. Without it, you'll find us on the side of the road. If a tire blows out, it has to be replaced & the car is no good until it is. Well, if we blow out, because we choose to eat crap & drink sodas and high calorie sugar infested coffee & energy drinks, we have to replenish ourselves with water, clean food, vitamins & minerals to replace the nutrients we've lost to keep from dying out. We have to exercise our heart with cardio to keep it strong & healthy, we need to build muscle to support our bodies structure & maintain strong postures & we need stretch and Yoga to make gains in our strength. If you think that you can miss a few of these key elements to health & fitness, you're gonna miss out on what your body can really become, be disappointed & feel like you've wasted your time with any of it. 

Its one step at a time. Its one day at a time. Its one pound at a time. You'll get there if you are consistent, pay attention to what you consume, practice all elements of exercise, pick up books to read & ask questions. Don't be afraid to not know something about health & fitness. If you are new, ask people who know. Don't go through what most of us do when we begin & try to figure this out on your own. There is tons of support from people everywhere. Find your soul mate fitness program, create a healthy diet & make a choice to live the lifestyle as a whole. You will reap all the benefits & more if you take the time to apply all elements that make the equation work.

Function Ability Through Healthy Fats

Fat. Aside from what I consider to be the other 2 most feared words in the English language, "Pool Party," its probably one of the scariest words someone hears. People quickly run from this term before coming to an understanding that there are different types of fats, good and bad. I'm here to discuss good fats. Known as Omega's or Healthy Fats. Derived form natures most natural sources, it is by far one of the most important nutrients you can put into your body. I'm going to take you on a short learning expedition for your own personal understanding of why we need these fats on a daily basis. 

There are all kinds of healthy fats in all different physical forms. Avocados, nuts, seeds, coconut, olives, fish and many more. The way we consume these fats play a major role in our central nervous system, heart and brain function, and digestion of the nutrients we intake from the foods we eat. MCT's (Medium Chain Triglycerides) are the best healthy fats you can consume since they don't contain chylomicrons. Coconut is a MCT. I was just informed by a family member that Italian farmers were known to have a few "shots" of olive oil every morning before work, and this family member also does the same. 

Good fats also aid with a very well known hormone in our body called Cortisol. It is a stress hormone in the human body that is released when we go into starvation mode, lack sleep or are just stressed out about something. Its a hormone that actually enables your body to cling to fat when you consume foods. If you don't consume good fats, instead of the nutrition from the foods you eat being transported to the muscle tissues where the nutrition needs to go, it is quickly transported to the fatty areas of your body and stored as fat when it should be burned off as fuel. Consuming good fats with most of your meals helps slow down and properly transport the nutrients being consumed. Without these fats, the transportation process is much quicker and nutrients are stored in those fatty areas I mentioned above. Here is a short excerpt from an article I posted yesterday about good fats and CNS (Central Nervous System) 

"Low levels of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids are linked to hair loss, low blood platelets, impaired vision, altered mental states, learning problems, and growth retardation in children." 


There's a reason these two fats are known as essential. If we have a deficit, multiple bodily processes, including those required for the brain, central nervous system and cell membrane functions, will be slowed down, or halted" The human central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord. These lie in the midline of the body and are protected by the skull and vertebrae respectively. This collection of billions of neurons is arguably the most complex object known.

The central nervous system along with the peripheral nervous system comprise a primary division of controls that command all physical activities of a human. Neurons of the central nervous system affect consciousness and mental activity while spinal extensions of central nervous system neuron pathways affect skeletal muscles and organs in the body."



As you can see in the above article, from the brain to eye sight to blood platelets, there is a serious need for good fats to be consumed other than just transportation of the nutrients we consume. However, too many people aren't getting enough healthy fats in their diets because they believe that these fats will make them fat. Its a completely overlooked aspect of a healthy diet & needs to be addressed more than it is. As I have been researching over these past couple years I learn more and more about nutrition than I ever considered and have seen a drastic change in my health by utilizing the information I absorb and applying it to my life every single day. It is important and vital to one's health to incorporate all aspects of being healthy into daily routines. Do not think good fats make you fat. They actually enable your body to burn fat.

I prefer a MCT healthy fat with whatever I am eating, my recovery meal (post workout) usually consists of low glycemic nutrition such as a sweet potato with sautéed veggies or a Shakeology, to aid in muscle repair, my dinner includes Extra Virgin Olive Oil and my last meal of the day, which is a Papa Steves No Junk Raw vegan protein bar, which has coconut in it because the coconut has the essential fats my body needs to slow and transport the protein to my muscles where it belongs. It enables me to become leaner by burning the fuel and take care of my Central Nervous System at the same time. Enabling my ability to function at my very best and having the energy to make it through a workout or my day, means I need to have those good fats incorporated with my meals.

I have so many people come to me and ask why it is they lack energy or functionality throughout their day, including before, during & after a workout? One of my first concerns of course is what they consume on a daily basis as far as food goes and if they are getting enough sleep for recovery of the body. Its a science. Your body & the function ability of it is dependent on what you are consuming, your sleeping patterns and daily activity. From enzymes, vitamins to food, what you do on a day to day basis will depict what your energy levels will be, how much weight you want to gain or lose, proper function of the central nervous system and more. Good fats are a KEY component to be consumed if you aren't already making sure you eat them everyday. Start getting those good fats into your routine. You will literally feel a change in your energy levels and feel able to function properly by consuming a variety of good fats.

A Cheat Meal? Really?

 

YES! I said it. A cheat meal. Since I began my fitness journey I have been on many different eating routines from eating enough calories a day to build muscle to lowering my calorie intake & how much of each nutrient I feed my body in order to lean out. One of the scariest things a person who is changing their eating habits can hear is the phrase "cheat meal." There is a  misconception all over the world that as one diets, there should not be any kind of meal that includes junk at all because it will push you further away from your goals and you will gain weight, reversing what you intend to do, which is either lose weight or build muscle.

Here's the scoop, & this is one big heaping scoop of Italian Gelato if I may, Cheat Meals are good. Yep, I said it. They are. Now, don't get me wrong, taking a day to eat anything you want filling your body with thousands upon thousands of calories that day is not the correct way to go about a cheat meal. There are absolutely different methods of cheat meals where on certain diets (lifestyle is better than the word diet) where through the week you are paleo, which means very very little carbs and the cheat idea behind it is to eat what you want in a 6 hour window to re-boost the insulin levels for the week. However, the normal cheat meal and preferred by me is one cheat meal a week. If you have a lot of carbs through the week, and you use a day to have a cheat meal, it should be 1 meal (i.e. dinner & a reasonable dessert) because you're getting the insulin spike through the week. 

So for instance, lets say you want a pasta dish or a steak with a potato & some bread. Fine. Then afterward you have some ice cream, a slice of cheesecake or something to satisfy the sweet tooth. That is considered a legitimate cheat meal. If you abuse that day you choose to cheat by eating everything you can get your hands on, yes you will more than likely ruin your long term goals. You don't want to do that. If you really need to have out of the ordinary meals from your diet all day, a refeed would be the best way to go about it. 

Refeeds include the intake of carbohydrates which are the body's main source of fuel instead of just consuming a ton of junk. Some people prefer this method due to the fact that if they have a junk filled dinner & dessert, their mentality starts to give them a guilty feeling that what they are doing is wrong & will go to the extent of purging what they had just consumed, which is not good at all. Others feel the cheat meal will lead to more than what they set out to eat & therefore avoid doing it all together.

Here is the 101 on the cheat meals. As a person diets, the LEPTIN levels in your body, (which is the mother of ALL fat burners) drops, and you aren't burning fat at an optimal rate. Your body needs the cheat meal or refeed once a week in order to maintain the burning of fat at an optimal speed. Its like a fire. Once its lit, it goes strong for a good period of time, but as that time passes on, the fire slowly dies down & you have to add more fuel or wood to get it going again. Its the same thing with your body. You need that boost so you will continually burn fat. Don't be afraid to have a cheat meal once a week. Not once a month, once a week.                                                   

I am great friends and work with many professionals, some of who get on stage to show their figures in competition & include this method as well, and have extremely low bodyfat due to the fact that they have a lean diet where they incorporate a cheat meal once a week to keep burning fat the way the body needs to. This not only aids in burning fat, but it can also help to keep someone from going on an all out binge & destroying everything they worked so hard to get. Its not easy to eat clean foods all the time, but we do it for our health and when we have a goal we want to reach. Take into consideration that its not going to kill or destroy what you have going for yourself as long as you can control it. If you can't control it, then a refeed is more for you & will help your mentality from freaking you out and screwing everything up. 

Your body composition will determine how much of a cheat meal you should have. If you are pretty lean, you can generally have a little more on your cheat day/meal. If you are heavier, you should take into consideration that right now isn't the time to have such a big cheat meal & just do something small once a week like a piece of chocolate or 1 scoop of ice cream. Don't begin to think I'm telling you that everyone can have the same amount in a cheat meal or that it won't effect us in different ways. Generally the leaner you get, the more your body needs to boost the lepitin & you can add a little extra to that cheat meal.

We're all human, we all crave certain things & our bodies let us know what we are craving. The whole goal is not to let what our bodies are craving self destruct our long term goals. Go into a cheat meal with the knowledge of what its going to do for your body. Knowing that it doesn't need to be out of control like drinking sugary alcoholic drinks all night or hitting every dessert bar you encounter. Just keep track of the food you consume, make it legitimate and if you are concerned, talk to someone who knows about the science of the body a little more than you so it can be put into perspective and you take away not only a good feeling that once a week is fine, but the understanding of how the body works & why people incorporate the cheat meal.

Don't Push It

We've all been there. That little drive inside of us that screams "You can do more!" or the image of a person you admire that pushes you to press on no matter how tired or weak you may feel. There are so many people who believe that if they train for hours on end, no matter how exhausted & weak they become, they will achieve their physical goals faster as opposed to taking it easy and working out with a carefully crafted scheduled plan. The mindset of it all is less time, faster results, happier self image. WRONG!

By continually training yourself to exhaustion, you won't achieve the desired look or results you are aiming to reach. You are actually working against yourself forcing your body to reject the response you are looking for from your workouts. Cardio, Strength Training, Yoga, Ab training, HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), Pilates & more should always be done on alternating days. The point isn't to plateau when you workout, which is why these routines are to be done on different days. Mixing up your routines will actually increase your body's ability to positively respond to each workout you do everyday. Giving your body a chance to actually recognize where its being worked out will build the muscle you want, increase the cardiovascular system as needed, and give you the flexibility & strength you are working so hard for. 

I always remember the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day." It was a process. Just as many things aren't created in a day, our bodies surely fall into the category of a process. When we were being developed in our mother's womb, it took 9 months to devolop everything we needed in order to be ready for birth. If our lungs weren't fully devoloped, we would be on oxygen until they were or we wouldn't survive. If our fingers & toes weren't developed we wouldn't be able to grab things or walk without help. Each body part plays a role in something. There are an obvious amount of reasons it takes time to develop, so understanding that building muscle, losing weight, increasing cardiovascular health & more all take a process of doing routines on alternating days.

Injuries are by far one of the most annoying scenarios to people who love fitness as I & a lot of you do. It hinders us & makes us feel soft, out of the loop, off our routine & aggravated  because we can't do anything about it. Stress comes into play, we get angry & we hate everyday we are impaired. We constantly look for ways around the injury trying desperately to find a workout we can do until we heal. I'll admit, if its an injury I can work around & avoid hurting myself further where I'm hurt, I'll find a workout suitable for me to do. However, if I know that I will be pressing my luck by trying to workout with an injury that can't tolerate anything strenuous, no matter what, I will NOT workout. I will let myself heal as I need to & when the time is right and I am 100% again, thats when I will get back into my routine. Trying to push yourself through a workout with a serious injury will only disable you for longer, as opposed to helping you heal so you can get back into your normal routine faster. 

Don't Push It!!! There is a reason people talk about this all the time. We want to be able to heal so when we get back to our everyday routine we are stronger and ready to "Bring It" in the gym or at home. Nothing is more important than paying attention to your form when you workout. It prevents you from hurting yourself. Don't get egotistical or try to impress that guy or girl with how much weight you can push around or how long you can do a cardio routine. Make it a point to have a set plan that you can follow so you will achieve the results you want for you. Being safe about your routine is better than being sorry. 

http://www.beachbodycoach.com/tjash2009 

The BodyBugg vs The Heart Rate Monitor Let Me School You

For the longest time I have sat back & watched as many many people have used the "Heart Rate Monitor" for a calorie counting tool. It sparked an interest in me the day I began my weight loss journey. I thought to myself "What a good idea. Why not know how many calories I burn in a day so I can lose weight & control my calorie intake?" Fabulous idea! So I go out to the nearest Sporting Goods store and purchase a well known name brand Heart Rate Monitor. I spend $60 & walk away with what I THOUGHT was the essential tool to have for CALORIE TRACKING. I started using my Heart rate Monitor that day. I worked out to Turbo Jam for 55 minutes & by the end the Heart Rate Monitor had read I burned 1205 calories......in 55 minutes of Turbo Jam. Mind you Turbo Jam is nothing like INSANITY and since INSANITY was in the making, I couldn't compare burns with both programs. What I did however was take what I had burned & used that in my daily regimen to control my calorie intake. I followed that for about 6 months. Here are a few questions I had to answer for myself after having NO success using the "Heart Rate Monitor" for something it WAS NOT created to do, Count Calories.

Q. Was I losing weight?

A. No. Not the way I could have been had I used a tool that was SPECIFICALLY MADE for counting calories. 

Q. Did I know how many calories I burned ALL DAY?

A. No. This little gadget told me what I burned during a workout & IF I decided to keep it going all day my calorie burn would have read something like 10,000. HUH??? Thats losing over 2 pounds a day! Puh-Lease!

Q. What can I do to solve this problem?

A. RESEARCH!!

Without answering these questions for myself, I would never know. 

I jumped on my computer. I quickly logged onto Chalene Johnson's website turbokick.com because I had seen her sporting this gadget they call the BodyBugg. I was interested since she had been my inspiration to take control of my life & become super healthy & fit. As most of you know, Chalene Johnson is a TOP World Renowned Trainer & we are blessed enough to have her as one of our very own in Beachbody outside of her company Powder Blue Productions (a.k.a. PBP) She had been blogging about this contraption for a while now & knowing Chalene, she DOES NOT promote something that DOESN'T WORK. In fact, she had one of the Biggest Loser contestants live with her for a month, having to wear the BodyBugg and it took the entire month of the contestant wearing it to convince Chalene that it was totally worth it. I finally decided to take the next step in researching the BodyBugg for myself on its website. I read everything about this tool before I purchased it. I found out Jillian Michaels makes her contestants on the Biggest Loser wear them and I also discovered 24 Hour Fitness was behind supporting Body Media, who created the SMARTEST Calorie Counting Tool available. I took the next step in purchasing one. $250 for the arm band and the digital display and Chalene Johnson was kind enough to share her 24 Hour Fitness code (bbgcj24) for an extra $15 off. 

2 Business days was all it took for me to receive my BodyBugg. Excited?? Oh goodness, you have no idea!!! I was so extremely excited about this tool. I had that feeling inside of me that told me "THIS IS IT. This tool WILL get the job done." Is that true? ABSOLUTELY, 100% without a doubt in my mind, did this tool WORK. For the first time ever, I learned how many calories I was burning minute to minute, whether sitting still, walking, cooking, working out or even sleeping! Yeah, you burn calories 24 hours a day. Your body doesn't stop burning calories after you workout. Its a continual burn. It just depends on how much muscle or fat you have in your body that depicts how many you burn. Another contributing factor is your body height. 100% true. Shorter people burn LESS than taller people. Chalene will gladly back this statement up. How many calories you burn in a day also depends on how active you are. In a ratio of 1:6 (fat burning 1 calorie a minute & muscle burning 6) I was hooked on lifting weights to build my muscles so I would burn more fat. ChaLEAN Extreme was my workout of choice. With the help of the BodyBugg I lost 38 pounds & gained more muscle than I ever imagined I could build. I was eating the proper portions of calories per day BECAUSE I KNEW for a fact how many calories I was burning. I was NOT being under or overfed. 

One of the most irritating things I get messages about is how someone saw another person talking, writing, filming a video clip or posting pictures of their heart rate monitor saying how many calories they burned during a workout. They let me know they have been using a Heart Rate Monitor as well, but have not lost weight, have not built proper muscle, don't know if they are eating too much or too little and don't know how many calories they are burning all day long. They also notice me wearing the Bodybugg in my pictures and ask me "what are you wearing on your arm & why?" Being an EXPERIENCED participant in both tools, I am here to tell you the Heart rate Monitor is ONLY that and a watch/stopwatch. Period. This tool was not created like the BodyBugg. The Heart rate Monitor CANNOT tell you:

Your Skin temperature

Your activity level

Your rate of heat dissipating from your body

Galvanic Skin Response (which tells you water content of the skin, and the constriction or dilation of the vascular periphery)

Steps taken in a day

PROPER Calorie Burn, Minute to Minute 

The BodyBugg has ALL of this and more. It comes with a website subscription to input your food for the day & accurately tell you how many calories you've taken in. You can add foods/drinks that are not in the BodyBugg system by inputting the nutrition from the back of the label & it will tell you how many calories you consumed by how many grams/ounces/fluid ounces is in a serving & the nutrition. THIS TOOL IS A CALORIE COUNTING DEVICE & MORE. I will not advertise the Heart rate Monitor for being an ACCURATE Calorie Counter because it is NOT. People are being either over or underfed and not knowing everything listed above by following what their Heart rate Monitor is telling them. They aren't losing weight and its the most frustrating thing to have to go through especially when you "feel" like you're doing enough. Its not enough to just have one part of the solution. It needs to be a whole. Here below you can see how the website for the BodyBugg is set up:

I really hope this blog reaches people on a Learning Experience level. This is not something I came up with, its something I genuinely was a part of, researched and GOT RESULTS from. I used this until I was able to finally know how many calories I was burning on a day to day basis, keeping me from over eating, under eating, working out harder, lifting heavier or moving more. Your calorie burn is much lower during weight training than on days you do cardio. However, after weight training, you burn 2.5 - 4 calories more per minute for hours afterwards as opposed to burning 600 calories during a 45 minute cardio workout & immediately slowing down back to a resting calorie burn; if of course you aren't active after the cardio workout. There are so many things you can learn if you just research and not take someones word for it. We are ALL DIFFERENT & our bodies require different nutrition workouts and supplements to get us to reach our goals. Knowing your calories is a very important factor in losing weight. I'm not here to tell you to go buy a Bodybugg, I'm just letting you know what the difference is between the 2 devices as I was a participant in using both. Do not speak from inexperience. If you haven't actually tried the BodyBugg and you're so negative right now I could put you in a dark room and you would develop, you cannot say I am wrong because I have thousands of people who have my back in letting you know that the BodyBugg is a Calorie Counting Device & it does just that. 

http://www.bodybugg.com 

Your Ripple Effect

This world we live in is full of many different things. People, opinions, styles, creations, surroundings, influence, education, language, religion, flavor.........the list goes on. Its never ending and no matter how many years pass, we will encounter a lot of the same things. If we don't change our atmosphere from time to time, we don't learn too much, we are secluded from possibilities & we don't venture out of our comfort zones to find something excitingly new. A lot of people become accustomed to what they already know & stay there. I am not one of those people. I like adventure and spurt of the moment. Not knowing the outcome of something keeps me interested. If I were to know the outcome of everything I was about to do, it wouldn't be fun, my imagination wouldn't be creative & I would be a boring person. Who wants that? 

I'm the type of person who loves new things. I go places some people won't dare go & I try things people judge by hearsay or by the looks of it. I'm a risk taker. I never know what I personally feel about something unless I try it for myself. It creates inside of me a place no one can come in & destroy or take away from me. I also put myself in situations that I may be uncomfortable in to make myself stronger.  I learned how to step out of my comfort zone by letting go of relying on other people to follow. I never found adventure in following someone else's footsteps. I found adventure in doing my own thing. In taking control of what I want for me. I believe in myself enough to know that even if I am uncomfortable in a situation or a certain place, its not permanent & I do not have to do it or go there again. I am a dreamer, someone who believes anything I want to do in this life can be done as long as I believe in myself. 

I have been created by my surroundings. The thing's I've done, seen, been & the places I will go, all have a place in creating the person I am today & who I will become in the future. I am the new rings around the center of a ripple effect that continues to grow. I cannot stay in a constant state of stillness. I am constantly moving & learning so I may share what I have done & learned with others so in turn, they too can pass along something new to someone else. Its a continual drive inside of me to help myself become better so I may help others as well. 

One will never know how much they can become or do until they have stepped out of thier comfort zone & done something they never thought possible. To have the ability to see opportunity is to know when you are in the right place at the time you are there and just do it. No one ever learns standing still. When we were babies we didn't give up on learning to crawl, walk & talk. We didn't stop when we fell...we kept trying. It was an adventure & sometimes it was painful but we made sure we got there. Giving up was not in our nature when we were first learning. So what has stopped so many people from doing so? Negativity, loss of belief, friends, family.....our SURROUNDINGS. It has stopped us dead in our tracks from trying anything & personally, its annoying. 

Kick it to the curb. This life is short. We do not know what tomorrow holds for us & we need to try new things while we are here. What you deem impossible today, try tomorrow. Make a new chapter in your life that requires you to change your surroundings. Not until you discover new things can you truly feel exhilirated & know that leaping out of the boundaries you've set around yourself actually sets you free. I will do more for myself today if I take one step out of my comfort zone & do something brand new. Ignore "You Can't". Drown out "Impossible". Start to absorb "I Can" and "Possible." Do it for you, do it for adventure, do it because you can and do it because you believe.

Working With The Best

I have been on a very long journey to achieve my goals of becoming the fittest & healthiest I can ever be. After recovering from back surgery & ratifying to my doctor who told me "I'll never do anything actively fun again" to basically take those words & shove em, I have accomplished many many things people don't think are possible after a serious surgery simply because a "doctor" tells them its not possible. WRONG!! For starters, I began with a workout program called Turbo Jam, moved to ChaLEAN Extreme, Rev Abs, Accomplished the toughest workout ever to be put on DvD called INSANITY & now, P90X and ChaLEAN Extreme are a part of my weekly routines along with LISS, Yoga, Stretch & HIIT. These workouts played  and currently play a role in my new lifestyle to get me to reach my goal. I did it, but I didn't stop there because I believe you should always do something to make yourself better. That entails making new goals. Becoming healthy isn't just a 90 day plan. Its a lifetime change and its a decision you make for yourself and no one else.

After INSAINTY, I missed my weight training dearly. A lot of women are extremely scared of lifting weights, but I'm not & I know that its exactly what anyone's body needs to develop beautiful muscles. That and the proper meal/exercise & supplement program to follow. After a few weeks of discussion with my friend Carter Irvin, I was introduced to Stephaney Theobald, who owns a nutrition store with her husband Jason Theobald, called Natty Nutrition. Together, these 2 individuals have helped tons of people reach not only health & fitness goals, but also gain knowledge of how your body responds to the proper foods, hydration & proper supplementation to get you to your goals. These 2 have accomplished mile stones together from Bodybuilding to creating a clientel who supports their unselfish knowledge & advice they pour out daily.

Morning LISS (Light Intensity Steady State) Training has become a favorite of mine. Helping to maintain the lean muscle mass I am working so hard to deveolop and keep, the 30 minutes in the morning of LISS has escalated my workout regimine to a whole new level of fitness. I love being able to wake up in the morning & do something not strenuous, but productive enough to get my day off & running in a positive way. Slowing down when it comes to working out works for you, not against you. Those of you who think you need to obliterate yourselves with crazy workouts like I did with INSAINTY can actually stop that, get your body back to 100% without all the pain & have gains in your body instead of losses. Its important to know the science of the body before getting involved in something you "think" will help you with your goals. Research is important & I highly recommend digging deeper into what it is you want for your body & do the RIGHT routine to get there. Slow & Steady wins the race. As the popular saying goes, "Rome WASN'T built in a day!" Niether was your body so take the time to work it out & fuel it properly with nutrition, hydration & supplements

It has been over 3 months since I bought my program from Stephaney. I have seen amazing results from using the program she has put together for me & I am held accountable through a TEAM effort. Being in 2 completely different cities doesn't stall my ambition to become the fittest I've ever been and it certainly doesn't stop Stephaney from helping me achieve my goals. I cannot elaborate enough what a fabulous woman I am working with. Not only do I still get to workout with my fabulous Beachbody programs at home, but I am never hungry, I'm constantly hydrated, my energy levels are amazing, I am lighter, leaner & absolutely more honed in on what I was missing nutrition wise to burn the extra fat from my body. 

The supplements I am on are awesome & have no side effects except for increasing lean muscle, better recovery & intense workouts. I am forever grateful for Stephaney Theobald, Natty Nutrition & the support I have been given. I will continue to work with Stephaney as long as I possibly can & I assure you, if you want to reach your goals faster with the RIGHT nutrition, exercise & supplements, do not hesitate to get with Stephaney or Jason to aid you on your journey to success. I have turned many individuals to them as well & I have got nothing but Thank You's & exciting messages since they began to work with Stephaney & Jason as well. Your nutritional needs are met 100% & everything that is done is to get you to reach your goals. I couldn't be more greatful for Stephaney & I am excited to have met her. 

Everything takes time & effort. I can't promise you how fast you will get your results because you can't promise me how hard you will work to achieve them. However, if you have a goal and you are ambitious enough to achieve it, you will do it. Small steps lead to completed goals, and bigger & better things to accomplish. Thank You so much Stephaney for helping me with what I call the "Missing Links to Success." I am ever so grateful I was introduced to you & will continue to spread the word about you, Jason & Natty Nutrition!!

www.nattynutrition.com

www.beachbodycoach.com/tjash2009 

What I do or don't do today....

Its like an explosion. The things we do everyday that impact our tomorrows. Small things can turn into gigantic successes or losses. Gigantic things can demolish into nothing, like when someone steps on a child's dream. Its the decisions we create in our lives that depict where we will take ourselves, who we decide to be around on a daily basis and the mental set we live or step away from everyday. These are all factors that impact our day to day lives. 

Creating a life for yourself and for your family is a lifelong decision. It grows throughout the years as things change and people get older. It isn't just one decision that impacts how we live our lives, its constantly making the right ones to ensure we all live a long, fulfilling, healthy & happy life with the people we love. Some things seem nearly impossible at times, and at other times, we look back on those seemingly impossible endeavors and wonder why we made it to be that way. Approaching anything with a clear & sound mind will not only aid in making it easier on you, but less stressful to those around you as well. It can be anything. From "Who didn't pack the kids lunches?" to "Should we file for bankruptcy?" Each step leading up to these events slowly brought us to them. Realizing what steps we should have avoided or which ones we need to take all come down to how our attitudes were in taking or missing a step or 2. 

We create our own environments. We get the choice to decide what happens now. The popular saying "Its a 2 way street" applies to people on both sides at all times. When you 50/50 the 2 way street, there is a delicate or disruptive balance brought into any situation that can be handled in one or two ways. Some people will always want to make it more difficult & argue that their way is right without hearing the other side, and others will simply decide together, to take the appropriate actions, make the right choices and take the situation to a positive level. 

I choose to live my days as though my future is here right now. I'm a single, 28 year old independent, very fortunate woman with 2 dogs & a roof over our heads to care about & make sure our quality of life is taken care of appropriately. Sometimes things happen that make you sit back & re-evaluate your life and what needs to be done at that point. How can I make the quality of my life better? What can I do to help my family or friends? How can I help other people make the quality of their lives better? Do we really NEED this or do we just WANT it? What children can I be a role model for? How can I help someone who doesn't know me? I have so many questions, just like the rest of you, that run through my head on a daily basis just like these. What I choose to do about them is entirely up to me & my attitude approaching them. 

I choose to love, help, motivate, inspire, cooperate, listen, learn and genuinely give to those not so fortunate as some of us. The payback is always 10 fold. I don't have a thing in this world I regret because I LEARNED from the things I've done & I chose to change my situation when needed. My approach is not like your approach, but we can all decide to make life better by realizing that what we do or don't do today, impacts our tomorrows. Your life is what you have made it to be. Where you are or aren't right now is because of the decisions you made, good or bad. Change is ALWAYS an option. Don't be afraid to ask for help, learn to humble yourself and focus on what you need for your life and the people in it. Each path we take, will lead us to where we want to go. Choose your path, and choose it wisely.