My wife and I recently returned from a week in Orlando with more than 700 other Health Coaches from across the nation all there to learn how to be a better Health Coach.

It was our annual Take Shape For Life National Convention. It was well organized, informationally packed, a lot of fun and had a real good energy. With more than 40 different breakout sessions to choose from, everyone from the brand new health coach to a well seasoned coach could hear from leaders on pertinent and educational topics.

On Saturday afternoon we met as a general assembly to hear from a panel of healthcare professionals; among them a heart surgeon, a vascular surgeon and our own Medifast and Take Shape For Life Medical Director, Dr. Wayne Andersen. I feel very fortunate to have been part of that experience. They said Health Coaches are the new health professionals.

Our Take Shape For Life business model incorporates Medifast meals but also aspires a much loftier goal. We believe we can restore health to America. We believe our business model can neutralize and eventually reverse the obesity trends in America. Health Coaches are people like you and me helping other people get healthy and we are being endorsed by the medical community at large! These veterans of more than 30 years’ experience are joining Take Shape For Life because with our program they can proactively create health in their patients’ lives rather than merely “delay death and prescribe medications”. It was very poweful to hear. We are doing a lot of good in this world.

We are going to have a webinar this Tuesday evening that is open to anyone interested in hearing more about what we learned. I’ll be joined by some other Health Coaches who were also at the convention. I want it to be like the convention, meaning informative and fun. I’ll post the invite tomorrow. Hope to see you there.

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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.

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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.

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Yes, life is good.  Today I officially hit goal!  I am doing the Happy Dance.  I have been on plan for a long time and it really paid off.  Now I can start the next phase - transition.  I have decided to stay on the 5/1 for one more week.  I will start transition on July 7, 2008.  From now on, I will watch what I eat and how much I eat.  I am well on my way to being one of the 5% that keeps the weight off for good.

Truly Take Shape for Life and Medifast has changed my life.  50 years of being overweight, no, morbidly obese, is now gone forever.  I know that I could not have done it without this program.  Not only is it easy to follow, but the food actually tastes good.  In the grand scheme of things, it is also very cost effective.  I spend less using Medifast meal replacements than I did buying food from the grocery store, fast food places and convenience stops.  Who knew that you could eat healthy nutritionally balanced food, lose the weight (130.6 pounds to be exact) and save money all at the same time? 

I tell you, I am living proof that this program works and I would love to help others follow in my footsteps. I am a Certified Health Coach with Take Shape For Life and am still as excited about this program as the day I started.  If I can help you, contact me at  jensine_brown@ Yahoo.com  and I will help you design a weight loss and maintenance plan to fit you.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!  I know I will!