I don’t know about you but after 18 formative years of scholastic experience it has been ingrained in me that each year actually begins in September! For so many years it was the starting of a new grade level that created great anticipation and hope for what might come. And in conjunction with this marked event I found it much easier to make my goals and develop positive habits to realize what I may achieve and become "this year". Well, other than not officially attending classes, not much has changed. Habitually I still sense that new beginning every September. So here we are again, another year ahead of us and another opportunity to make positive changes in our lives.

Are you at your healthy weight? If yes, then great! Let’s keep it that way with our BeSlim® lifestyle. If not, our Medifast program works! You should be losing 2-5 pounds per week with low hunger and good energy levels. As your personal Health Coach it is my responsibility to ensure that. I’ll work with your specific situation and lifestyle to help you create a personalized program geared toward success. Are you ready? Or, would you like to talk about it first? Either way, call or email me. I want to help.

Eric Blanchard
Health Coach
Take Shape For Life
888-271-7707
eric@gohealth.org

What a lovely Sunday afternoon!!

I am totally on the Medifast 5 and 1 plan, and cannot wait to see the results on my weigh in tomorrow!

I was thinking this morning as I made my Cappuccino for breakfast, that my life has done a complete turn around!!

In the COLD January winter of 2007, as I started this program, I had so many goals in mind.

I THOUGHT that the 1st and foremost was my weight… To look and feel better about myself…

But what I GOT was an even GREATER gift!!

For the past 10 years or so, I have had trouble with my ankles and knees… I fell and injured both, and had to walk with a cane.

In the summer I did OK without the cane, as long as I had time to sit and rest… But in the Wintertime, My cane was my constant companion.

So I started the program at almost 350 pounds, and walking with my cane… as Summer came, and I did better without the cane, I put it behind the door as usual “JUST IN CASE”

So by the Winter of 2007, about 9-10 Months into the program, as the Cold winds began to blow… I realized “I’M Waaaay into winter, and NO CANE!!”

To this day, my cane is STILL behind the door!!

I CAN DO THIS PLAN!! I can continue to get healthier, and I wonder…

What ELSE might happen as I tread on untouched ground??

I still have 70 pounds to go, But I weigh less now than I did when I married 21 years ago!!

Medifast is my Miracle, and I could NEVER have gotten this far without my Health Coach!

It is the Continental Divide that slices America into two sections. If you are west of it your rivers will eventually flow into the Pacific Ocean. If you are east then all your rivers eventually flow into the Atlantic or Arctic. My home state of Colorado sits on that big split and it definitely shows. There are more mountain peaks over 14,000 feet in Colorado than anywhere else in the contiguous 48 states. California has 13 peaks, Washington State has one, and Colorado has 58.

On Wednesday I climbed two of my favorite peaks: Gray’s and Torrey’s. These are not technical climbs but rather an excellent indicator of strength and endurance. The climb is 9 miles round trip with more than 3,000 feet of vertical ascent. Gray’s peak has the distinction of being the tallest peak on the continental divide. At 14,270 feet the summit is nearly three miles above sea level. The air is thin up there. Amazingly spectacular views and the occasional mountain goat combine with a lack of oxygen to make the experience surreal. I thoroughly enjoy it. It’s Rocky Mountain high. At the summit I stand elated and exhausted. I’m standing on the rooftop of America (stole that from Kerouac). But you know what? There is no way I could have done that climb five years ago. At that time, with 40 extra pounds, even a gentle climb at low elevations was too challenging to really enjoy. I find it very interesting to see how my interests have shifted in relation to my body weight.

As a Health Coach I teach my clients that having a physical activity that they can really enjoy on a regular basis is essential to living life at a healthy weight. Many of my clients are regular, brisk walkers. They have a path, or paths, that they will walk daily or very close to daily. It doesn’t much matter what form of exercise you choose as long as your muscles are working, the blood is flowing, you enjoy it and you do it regularly. Ideally you are also building a little bit of muscle because your muscles naturally atrophy as you age. Do something to neutralize that. It keeps your metabolism up.

 

Below is me atop Torrey’s peak, 14,267 feet. I was fortunate to be up there completely alone for about 10 minutes.

eb.

My brother Jared and his family visited over the holiday weekend and I got talking with him about blogs.  He’s had a personal blog for six years but never started posting until recently.  Now he’s a regular “blogger”.  We both agreed that the blogosphere is an excellent medium to inform, entertain, inspire,… the blog can be anything you want it to be.  As long as you blog, that is.  So I ask him, “as busy as you are with work and family and everything else in your life how is it you find the time to blog regularly?”.  And he said “you just do it.”  It was the intonation in his voice that got me.  A light flipped on in my head illuminating a previously dim section of grey matter where regular blog entries were hiding.  “ahhh, I get it now”  I said to him, “you just do it”.  He saw it in my eyes, “yes” he affirmed, “you just do it”.

I am a Health Coach with Take Shape For Life.  I lost weight with Medifast and now work full time helping others do the same.  I talk to a lot of people everyday who are on this program.  From incredible successes to daily struggles to everything in between I am involved in the lives of hundreds of people on a regular basis and have learned a lot about the Medifast program.  And what I have seen thus far is that those who “just do it” are those who are losing weight, getting off medications and just plain getting healthier.Â
To put it another way, I have yet to see anyone follow the protocols of this program correctly and not lose weight.  Maybe it’s in the intonation or maybe it’s just timing but when you really want something, “just do it” makes sense.

eb.