I feel like I've gotten to know at least a few of you well enough that I can do a post like this periodically and have your support in doing so. To those of you I don't know yet (notice I said yet!) begin commenting! I try to reply to everything!

That said: a lot of you know that I am a Beachbody coach. Looking back a year ago when I started P90X, I never thought I'd get to a point where I was passionate about health and fitness, because let's face it, I've always been the lazy guy. I was the guy who could see his friends struggling to carry out 200 pounds of stereo equipment, and sit back on the couch and observe (true story, by the way). But P90X, ChaLEAN Extreme, and Insanity (and a ton of other Beachbody programs) showed me another way: that I can be fit, active, and healthy, and make money doing it!

Yes, I have a passion for people! In fact, I work in a job now in which I work with children birth-3 and their families. So the passion for people is there! It is not, however, as strong in the field I'm in now as it is for fitness & nutrition.

I want each of you to be the healthiest, strongest, fittest you that you can possibly be! And I want to help you do that! I want to help you--yes YOU (don't look over your shoulder, I'm talking to YOU)--achieve your goals. I want to lend support to you.

Below is a short video that Beachbody CEO Carl Diakeler presented about the Beachbody Coaching Business opportunity. Take a look at it, think about it, and if it sounds like something that's up your alley, comment, email, or go to my website (click here) and think about signing up to be a coach? Who wouldn't want to be paid for being healthy and active? You're already talking about it with people anyway!

FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO HERE AFTER WATCHING THE VIDEO.

Kids, we've all been there: jumping on and off the scale, hoping that what was there yesterday (or in some cases only a few minutes ago) had changed in your favor. Then there's the instantaneous denial: well maybe the batteries are going bad or the scale has always been off or you're wearing too many clothes.

Here is the ugly truth about weight loss and why it's my philosophy to avoid the scale: it's actually quite possibly to get slimmer, but lose no weight. This generally happens when you are gaining muscle. In fact, you may even see an increase. You should, instead, focus on overall FAT loss and muscle gain!

Here are a few things to remember when you decide to step on a scale:

1. A scale only shows numbers. It does not take into account muscle gain, and my friends, muscle weighs much more than fat.

2. That number is watered down--meaning a scale is measuring water weight, the food you just ate, the weight of your bones and organs, in addition to the fat and muscle.

3. Throughout a day, your weight can fluctuate as much as ten pounds just based on what you've eaten and drank.

4. A scale doesn't reflect your health! Again, it can't tell the difference between muscle and fat in your body! In fact a person can be technically overweight for their height, but completely healthy if there is more muscle in the body than fat.

So what can you do to break this vicious cycle?

1. Go by how your clothes fit. If clothes that were once tight are now fitting more loosely, you ARE losing inches.

2. Measure your body--your waist, arms, thighs, and other areas. If things are a-shrinking, then you're on the right path.

3. Stay away from the scale. It's never a positive motivator for most folks.

Above all, don't let the scale tell you that you're not achieving your goals. Keep staying active, do your best, and forget the rest!

About six weeks ago, I started my parent's on Kathy Smith's: Project YOU! for people with type two diabetes. I'll talk more about that awesome program at a later time (suffice it to say that my parents are no longer on diabetes medication because exercise and nutrition has become their new "medication"), but about 3 weeks into the program, my mother said, after getting on the scale:

"Screw it! I'm p*ssed off! How can he (my dad) drop that much weight and I'm just hovering?! I GIVE UP!!!"

After talking her off that ledge, it dawned on me: there is no quick fix or no instantaneous result from working out and eating healthily. THe weight you're trying to lose didn't magically pack on you overnight--it came with a series of less than stellar choices, and only an equally intense series of more than stellar choices will reverse it!

Whether you're working out to lose vanity pounds or just to be a healthier you, you cannot give up! If you're looking to BEGIN working out and eating correctly, you can procrastinate tomorrow--START TODAY!!! You only have one life and one body, and what you do with it is ENTIRELY up to you!

Whether you're hovering like my mom was (who, by the way, is looking quite slim these days), struggling to get those last 10 or so pounds off, or just looking to get started, try these helpful hints:

If you're looking to begin getting active....

1. Begin by parking further out when you go to stores, and walk briskly to the doors. (If you can do the same at home, do it!)
2. Stay on your feet as much as you can throughout the day. And as you walk, walk quickly. You'll born more calories and you're doing some extremely mild cardio at the same time.
3. When you can take the stairs, do so and forego the elevator.
4. Eat breakfast! Get SOMETHING in your body in the morning within the hour that you awaken.
5. Take a walk around your neighborhood for 30 minutes daily or talk to a workout aficionado who can help you decide what home workout program would be best for your lifestyle.

If you're looking to lose those last stubborn pounds...

1. Add an extra cardio day to your workout weekly and try to stay within 85% of your maximum heart rate throughout the workout.
2. Drink at least 80 ounces of water daily. If you workout intensely and sweat a lot, remember to replinish your body with the water you lose in sweat.
3. Say no-no to the alcohol. Alcohol is LOADED with empty (read: good for nothing) calories.
4. Decrease your sodium intake to 1,000 mg. daily or less. That means actively monitoring what you put in your body.
5. Decrease or cut out processed foods altogether (e.g., frozen dinners, white bread).

The good news is that you're not wasting your time. The better news is that it works. The bad news is that's a lot of azz-kicking, ol' fashioned, make you wanna slap ya mama, hard work. That's not altogether bad though, at least not in the classical sense of the word bad. I've gone through a round of P90X and a round of P90X Plus (for P90X graduates only).

In a nutshell, P90X is the brainchild of one Mr. Tony Horton, a celebrity fitness trainer to the stars. He partnered with some nutritionists and dietians and 9 months (well I don't know if it was 9 months, but go with the baby metaphor) later he gave birth to P90X or Power 90 Extreme! (For those of you wondering, yea, there is a Power 90 series that'll get you into shape for P90X...that workout is no slouch either!)

This workout system comes complete with everything you'll need--what to eat, how often to eat, a fitness test to see if you're "X" ready, tape measure to measure your inches (GET YOUR MIND OUTTA THE GUTTER!), workout tracking worksheets so you can write down what you did during each workout, and of course the DVD's.

Okay, so I got all this at the recommendation of some friends, amped, rearing, and ready to go! Let's do this! Let's kill it! This is what I'm telling myself all day! So, I mosey along to the gym and take the fit test. When I tell you that I was winded and I barely passed the fit test, let me EMPHASIZE THAT. When he was asking for at least 5 reps of something, I could give 3.5 and said, "Eh! That's good enough!" So I "passed" the fit test and returned to the gym after my rehabilitation (hey, don't judge me, LOL! I wasn't used to working out and soreness was NOT my friend!) of 3 days, I returned again AMPED UP! Ready to show Tony Horton that his little program was no match for me.

HA! How wrong was I? Monday, September 22, 2008 began day one. Yea, I had an ulterior motive when I started--I wanted to NOT be on blood pressure medication from the age of 24 to the age of "when I am put in the cold ground" and more importantly at that time, I wanted to be able to PIG out on Thanksgiving. Ninety days from September 22 gave me just enough time to have some down time in between the workouts and Thanksgiving. I could almost taste the turkey and gravy sliding down my throat, opening a world of wonder that--okay, you get the picture! The one thing I maintained, though, is "Yea, Tony man, I'll do the workouts but I ain't changing what I eat! ::In the guards voice from 'The Wizard of Oz':: Not no way, not no how!"

So, I began day 1 - Chest and Back. Pushups and pullups. Pullups and pushups. And these ain't ya grade school "let's see how many pushups and pullups you can do", no; I didn't know THAT many varieties of pushups and pullups even EXISTED! Oh and I should mention, it's recommended that you take pictures of yourself every 30 days so you can visually track your progress. So that's why that picture is just randomly posted above this paragraph--or to the side of it--who knows? I'm actually typing this in Notepad right now. But back to the point: chest and back. I think I died a little inside during this workout. But what was dying in me was weakness. I didn't make it through the entire workout like everyone on the DVD. In fact, I had to sit out and regroup many times. But something told me to keep coming back.

So I pushed play for day two--Plyometrics. The mother of all X workouts. The monster. The beast. Amazing torture that "jumps out" in your face. (X'ers will get why I quoted "jumps out"). I died a little more inside on day two. It was all a big leg workout and wouldn't you know, the day after that workout, I had a training at work which required me to walk up and down rolling hills!!! I could barely walk the next morning, having to support myself with an umbrella in mid-summer, on a cloudless day. But I kept at it.

All in all, I finished the entire program and X'd it out. Somewhere along the way I fou--okay, so first you're wondering how I did at Thanksgiving. I know you are. Well, allow me to say this: somewhere around day 65, I realized, "Hey, I could probably be getting better, faster results if I just change what I eat!" Mind you, I'd gotten some AWESOME results so far, but not what I was seeing on the infomercials because I WASN'T EATING RIGHT! I made that change and the heavens opened unto me and God himself came and scooped the fat off my body...or something like that! So back to Thanksgiving: I'd like to say, "Man, I pigged out and ate everything in sight!" Don't get me wrong, I ATE, but my portions of everything were EXTREMELY scaled down and I couldn't even finish what I had as much as I tried! My mind and body had transformed concerning exercise and eating, and I loved the new me! I also realized that if I had eaten better from the start of the program, I could probably have those infomercial results! Well, had a I done that and lifted heavier weight. Hey, hindsight is 20/20.

So what about P90X?

You get workouts that target...

1. Chest and Back
2. Plyometrics (Jump training; cardio CITY!)
3. Shoulders and Arms
4. Yoga (It's more fun and challenging than you think! You really sweat!)
5. Legs & Back
6. Kenpo (think boxing meets karate)
7. Stretch
8. Core Synergistics (working that flabby midsection...and everything in between.)
9. Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps
10. Back and biceps
11. Cardio (for those who aren't Plyometric ready)
12. Ab Ripper

These workouts work on the basis of muscle confusion. I didn't know what muscle confusion was all about until day 31...see, someone can explain muscle confusion to you (and Tony will lay it out in your guidebook) but it only sounds like theory until you feel the effects on your body. THEN, you'll say, "So THAT'S muscle confusion, huh?!" The bare minimum is that you get your body used to doing one set of workouts for a month and your body gets into the groove, it knows what it's doing, then BAM!!! You switch it up and your body is like, "What the hell!?" Don't judge it! It accelerates results.

I wrote a lot--so what? DO IT! DO SOMETHING! JUST DO IT!! IT GETS EASIER! And yes...

It works.

Let me know if you have questions. And subscribe to this blog! I'll be giving fitness and nutrition updates at least twice a week that are useful to add to your repitoire!

Be blessed, guys.