This picture was taken in Rocky Mountain National Park on Father’s Day 2007. I was 42 years old. Clients who have known me via telephone-only and then subsequently seen this picture say I look young for my age and, although I don’t say it, I modestly agree. I do look young for my age in that picture. But it hasn’t always been that way. Imagine that face on a body 40 pounds heavier. It doesn’t matter what your age is or how much you need to lose, when people lose weight it really shows. It is manifested not just physically but also in how you feel. It feels good to be fit and healthy. The challenge of course is how to get there and how to stay there. It is unprecedented in human history to have the amount of affordable, delicious and calorically dense foods so conveniently accessible as we do today. It is everywhere! And what,… we have to eat to live, right?

What I plan to do is keep my 40 pounds off for life. I’ve been doing it for about 5 years now so I have a pretty good handle on how to keep things going. The lifestyle changes I’ve made to maintain my healthy weight are actually quite simple. I exercise pretty regularly, eat smaller meals throughout the day, moderate my indulgences and try to drink more water. But most importantly I have made the decision to live my life at a healthy weight. The way I look at it is we all have only so much energy. I am choosing to spend my energy no more on lugging around extra pounds but rather on all those other physical activities that require a healthy body. Like playing with my kids and climbing mountains and riding bikes and mowing the lawn and hiking and snowboarding and on and on.

It’s what I call livin’ it.

Eric Blanchard, aka, eb.
Health Coach
Take Shape For Life