I often wonder how people fail. Is it poor direction, lack of will or just life shooting them in the foot. I have failed many times. When I look back on my failures I see one common denominator. I turned away from being who I knew I was and where I know I needed to go. I acted quickly and against what I knew to be right...In other words I failed because I was NOT true to me. Often it was to please myself or to please others in a way that was cont...
Bill Phillips is the only one to blame for me being here. He is the reason I am outspoken and passionate about living. He can blame no one but himself. Yes I am an out of control Frankenstein monster.I see my customers only one time per year. Almost all of them have seen the body change that Bill helped create. They ask me how of course. And I tell them it's all Bill's fault. I give them an earful and all the information they need to get started....
Your'e here staring at the computer screen, looking for answers, seeking advice, looking for friends and reading my mindless dribble. You mind is on auto-pilot and you don't even see that truck is about to hit you. I am talking about the Idle Lazy Mind of yours...We all have it. The day where we just go through the motions and find ourselves reaching for a donut or letting the television influence us with a Whopper commercial. The mind says you c...
One thing I have found from the years of helping people with their spiritual life is that real and lasting change only comes when you hit the bottom. Reaching the end of your rope is never a bad thing. Painful yes. Bad? Not unless you stay there and mope.I remember Lisa...A Wife and Mother of 4 kids. Her Husband would not work, go to church or help with the kids. He was verbally abusive and even called me a few choice names behind my back when I ...
Well it's past noon here and they haven't removed my last blog,,,I still have a voice and no one has come to remove my spine...So I guess I will think of something non outrageous, non offensive and on topic...Any suggestions? I can't think of a thing....I guess I will have to scratch that plan and do my own thing...Nope I won't shut up until they pull me off. You cannot stifel a man who has come so close to death that he looked it in the ey...
My blog yesterday was taken down because someone complained that it offended them..It was about Dateline NBC and Chris Hansen, so I guess it offended someone who doesn't like the show about internet entrapment?I was told that I needed to stay on topic so I don't offend someone. Ok so I will just shut up, because I cannot find anything to say that won't offend someone....No one tell me I'm fat anymore or I will report you!!!Give me a break........
Well I went to see my Personal Trainer who I haven't seen in three weeks because of my injury. He knew about it so it wasn't a shock that I missed or anything. He was concerned and still is. Guess he doesn't want to lose a good client.We mapped out new strategies to get me going through this back problem. Kinda like a rehab lower body and a KILLER upper body workout. I don't see how he could push me any harder than he already has, but he just smi...
Well I worked out today with my bud from work. Hes the one who lost weight using aerobics and starvation. We had trained together last year an he was so strong, because he is young. I was so weak cause I'm an old fart. I expected him to still be strong and I expected myself to be off, because of a 2 week layoff because of my back.Well I kicked his beeehind! The young punk gave it a run, but he used half the weight I used in most cases and h...
Pain or no pain I am going bonkers without the gym. My back still hurts, but heck I have hurt before. I am headed to the gym on Monday evening to start training with the guy I beat in our personal challenge. I am going to show him the right way to train. No aerobics, no starving, no kidding.I will just do my split routine and I am hoping the upper body workout on Monday will losen up the back enough to do a lower body workout on Tuesday. I k...
Two weeks is over and I enjoyed the rest. Unfortunately my back is still smarting. My Doc...the wiz that he is...told me to not lift anything heavy. Does he know who he's talking to? I guess not...Gee I'm fat why don't you tell me to stop eating too?...Genius. A good waste of a co-pay.I will continue to walk and cuss everytime I get in and out of my car. (yes it does hurt) I don't really know what else to do but wait around for it to get better. ...
Well a lot of you know that I had a $100 bet with my buddy. It was based on our before and after photos. We had three judges to break any ties. All was fair. He used aerobics raquetball and starvation as his plan of attack and lost a respectable 35 pounds.I lost only about 6 pounds on the scale....a long way from 35. I went a different route on training though...I lifted heavy stuff.So who won?Need you even ask????Of course I did...with ease....
I won't be singing it with you anytime soon...It;s too hard to sing as I watch the Nation slide down the toilet...Socialism has failed everywhere it has been tried. Now people rejoice and don't even see the truck that is about to hit them....Sad day for freedom and the Constitution. OH well I will take a nap for 4 years help rebuild the ruins...And Mr. Moderator before you write me an ugly letter...It has NOTHING to do with race....Jindal/Pa...
I'm outta here for 2 whole weeks. I am not lifting anything heavy or walking anywhere real fast. If it's uphill I am taking the car. Yep I am going to rest and enjoy the time off from the gym and training. I will continue to eat clean so I don't lose any ground on my fat loss. The experts say to allow my body some rest now, and I agree. I am pooped. The 18 week journey has been real hard at times. Stepping into a serious weight traini...
I don't even really know what to say here. I still have not been able to wrap my mind around the encounter i had on Friday as I was coming back home. I had to stop at a Walmart in a small town. As I was walking down the isle I see a failrly young woman in one of those motorized shopping carts. She is trying to reach one a box of baking soda with her cane. I saw an accident about to happen so I interviened and got the product down for herShe...
After going through this back injury and returning to my workouts I came to realize a few things about life changes and getting strong. The weakness of the general population today its simply not having the will to work through the pain and realize that we are in control of ourselves. No one else has that control. It is alright to smack life in its face and have it smack you back. It’s OK to have opinions. Its OK to show a little agg...
Tommy Lee Jones played a small time sherriff who retired when he figured out the bad guys were just too tough now and the drug dealers were ruthless. I am almost to the point to agree about things being too tough for this old man.I have not been able to train at all because of my strained back and sicatic nerve. I feel like my age plus 10 years today. After feeling so good and so young last week and so bad and so old this week it really gets you ...
Ok now I do understand what it means to grow old. I strained my back last week doing heavy deadlifts. I missed my first workout today in this challenge. Believe me if I could walk without this stabbing pain I would be on the hack squat machine right now. But like the Arnold said in the Terminator..."I'll be bock". Oh no a little back pain won't stop me as soon as I can straighten up!If I have learned anything through this 18 weeks is th...
I have been a Salesman for about 30 years. Full commission Salesman for about 25 years. If you are in a full commission position your paycheck depends upon your producrtion, nothing else really. You are forced to be a good salesaman or starve to death.When I Pastored Churches in East Texas all the sales skills I learned came into use for sure. A good Pastor will also be a good salesman too believe it or not.The key to good salesmanship is to REAL...
When I was a kid growing up on a farm there was an old dog that always came on our property. The grumpy old fart next door owned him and treated the poor dog terrible. He cussed him and kicked him and rarely fed him. He lived in the farmhouse next door and we feared him. He was a scary dude...His old dog came over to play with all of us kids when "grumpy" wasn't around and we of course fed him and gave him love. Yep he was kin...
I have a friend that i work with that weighs almost 400 pounds. He has heart problems and refuses to eat like a normal person. A nice guy. Totally on the road to destruction. The other day I looked at him and said. "You're 35 aren't you?" He said yes...I said " I have seen something you will NEVER see". He said yeah...what's that?I said 50...Did I make him mad??? YepDid I insult him? You bet. He did get upsetDid I wake hi...
Yep I have an airtight formula for success. Find easy things to do and do them. Make them so easy a child could do them...then go do them...Fun isn't it? No it's not! Face it, if you never fail you are setting your goals too low. I see the salespeople at work setting their goals for the next six months. I don't call them goals i call them being in your comfort zone. I ask them to tell me how goals set that low can even challenge you to excel. Liv...
It's been 16 weeks of hard training for me. I am not going to reach my goal of 10% Body fat on this challenge. I am happy with the progress I have made. I have worked through injuries, diabetic foot ulcers and a severe case of the give ups for a couple of days. But I have beaten Diabetes and I am off any use of insulin and I take no medications at all.I plan to finish the 18 weeks...snap an after picture and stay out of the gym for 2 weeks...If I...
I was in the gym the other day and one of the semi-pro football players, Toby, who plays for the local team was in doing his training. He is such a friendly guy and strong as an Ox. He benches over 500 pounds. I was joking with him about a true recent story of a 51 year old man who just made his college football team..I laughed and said..."Heck that gives old men like me hope...I think I will go out for the Stampede next year....
I received a traffic ticket that I thought was unjust and I asked for a jury trial. It had been over a year and I heard nothing from the Judge about when the trial would be. In the mean time i moved to Nevada and forgot all aout the trial. Big mistake....When I moved back to Texas I had to renew my drivers License. OOPS...They had scheduled the trial and I wasn't in Texas, so I didn't show up. I had to go see the Judge...Dum dum dum dum...I was i...
Our Church bought an old building in our Downtown area. It's not the nicest part of town anymore and the Gangs have taken over some of the aras. Graffiti was all over the walls of the building that had to be cleaned up as we remodeled the building to make it into a very nice Community Church. After cleaning off the outside of the building, the gangs got mad and came back and re-srpayed their crap on the walls again. It was push and shove for a wh...
I used to work at night at a gas station in Wichita Falls back when I was a teenager to earn extra money. I was the night manager of the station/convienience store. It was a time when the station attendant (me) went out and pumped the gas for the customers. You don't see that any more....Well a guy pulled up to the pumps on the side of the station and told me to "fill 'er up and check them tires". As a good attendant I snapped right to ...
This morning I woke up in my home away from home hotel room and even though this bed is uncomfortable, I felt better than i have felt in probably 20 years! I don't know why I felt so good today compared to yesterday, but I do believe the hard workouts and eating right are paying huge dividends now.I started losing some weight and walking about 5 years ago. Sometimes I ate good, but for the most part I just ate a little less food. In the last 14 w...
Failure is just a part of life. I have many failures, some small, some huge, some that haunt me. I am sure if you sat for a minute or two you could conjure up those haunting failures in your life too. Painful as it is, I believe it is a good idea to thnk about them. NOT TO BEAT YOURSELF WITH, but to learn from your failure.There is the story of the employee who made a mistake that cost his company a million dollars. He went in his bosses office t...
Stuck in a rut? Feeling bad about your progress? Past hurts got you down? You know my advice now don't you?If anyone understands sniveling it's me. I spent years in limbo because I used my past hurts and abuse to sit out life and all I wanted was for someone...anyone to feel sorry for me. I was mired in self-pity and laziness. Till one day I finally saw the sorry state of my life. I finally understood I was trying to make myself feel better ...
One of the biggest obstacles for most of us is the fear of failure. We don't dive into projects or do the things we know we need to do because we lack the confidence and the courage to tackle things head on. Somehow fear rears its ugly head and it short circuits us from blessing after blessing.I will give you an example of what I mean. When I was young my Mother was a hot headed abuser. I was...welll let's call it what it was...tortured almost ev...
The other day I received this message from the powers that be here on Transformation. At first I was shocked, then I got ticked off and then i went into my shell like a good formerly abused person should. Then I stood up and found mself again. I refuse to stay down when pushed....even if it's a small shove.Here's the letter....Thank you for being such an enthusiastic member of the Transformation site. We do encourage our users to share thei...
I have been in the Yellow Page sales game for a long time, I have consulted with thousands of business owners and managers. One thing I see over and over again is the difference between a successful business and a failing one. I can tell you that this tip will help you in your Transformation. A failing business has 3 distinct characteristics that hold true almost every time. The first is confusion. Failing businesses have no real plan in pla...
This is 'Faith…Scroll down for inspiring story and pictures...This dog was born on Christmas Eve in the year 2002. He was born with 3 legs - 2 healthy hind legs and 1 abnormal front leg which need to be amputated. He of course could not walk when he was born. Even his mother did not want him.His first owner also did not think that he can survive. Therefore, he was thinking of 'putting him to sleep'. By this time, his pres...
I had an old 1962 Chevy Belaire back when I was in high school. It was a piece of crap, but I could fix it, you can’t do that with cars today. My Dad taught me the importance of Duct Tape. The car was held together with the stuff. It saved me lots of repair money as well as keeping the springs in the front seat from ripping my backside off.Duct tape was always a quick fix and always supposed to only be temporary. But I can remember fixing a...
I went to buy some new clothes this weekend at the Mall. Some effeminate guy about my age waited on me. I had a pretty big order and the guy kept wanting to show me clothes he thought would look good on me. I kept telling him I had my own tastes, I wear this kind of golf shirt, I wear a lot of bright colors and didn’t like the dress shirts he wanted to sell me. Finally he sighed and said…”yes I know it’s hard to break old...
Over 25 years ago I attended a Methodist Church in Wichita Falls. I have not been back until this weekend. I have only been in Wichita Falls a few times since the late Seventies and early Eighties...I went in and sat in the pew and watched as old friends walked in. No one recognized me, I guess because I am 100 pounds lighter. I can tell you I may be crude and mean here, but I feel so good about the way I look now! Holy crap those old ...
Over the years of being conditioned to thinking people were out to get me, my brain still has a disconnect when it comes to receiving praise. I was abused physically and verbally when I was growing up and I was taught that I would NEVER amount to anything better than a big pile of poop. Yep Mom did a number on my brain.I have overcome almost all of that self-defeating, self-loathing junk by being close to God and leaning on what HE says abo...
My countdown clock will go past 30 days left until my Transformation 18 weeks comes to an end. With a month to go I can honestly say that it has been eye oprning. Yes i have struggled with injury, a case of the QUITS and extreme pain and soreness from hard workouts. I never though in advance how hard it was going to be. At the end of 18 weeks I will still not be where I want to be, that is 10% body fat. I will be close especially ...
The other day I was cleaning out some boxes that I has stored. I am not a pack rat at all, there are some thngs though that I have put value on like old baseballs from the first time I went to the Astrodome. (The ball is over 45 years old) I also ran across my collection of old casino matches. I have matchbooks from most every casino in the US, France and other countries.The memories came flooding back of my freewheeling gambling days. Big w...
I get a kick out of the media when I see interviews of people who have seen UFOs. Come on if there were UFOs they wouldn't just show up at Bubba's farm in rural Oklahoma or at Delbert;s Chicken Farm in deep woods Arkansas. One or two would show up in New York or LA. Heck they have more wierdos there, One of those morons would have seen one land on Rodeo Drive by now.Well about 35 years ago I saw one. I owned a bakery back then and we were ma...
Being on the road and cooking my own food with my Foreman Grill and using a microwave to heat my packaged meals I have made several observations on how we eat.I dont carry forks and knives that need to be washed, I use throw away plastic wear because it is so much easier to toss it than wash it. Well it started me thinking on the things we eat with our hands or the things we eat with utensils. What do you eat with you hands? Of course raw ve...
OK I have been arguing somewhat about the show the BIGGEST LOSER. You can look in the forum and see some of my rants LOL. I see good and bad in the show...mostly not good as far as I am concerned. I thought I would bring my last rant into my blog. Feel free to defend the show or tear it up. My blog is a free for all as most of you know. WOO HOOO!!!!!Here.s the last post in the forum.... At 265 pounds and 17% body fat I have 45 pounds of fat ...
I posted this before a couple of months ago. Since Bill introduced assignment #12b I have been looking at my words rumbling around in my head and realize that as Bill says, to go forward, I must unload some of the few words that are still in my mind that are holdimg me back. I have to unload my negatives that I am dragging around...When I was a Pastor I had a sermon called ' Unload your Rocks. I told of how we all had a sack of rocks (c...
Yesterday I had a new customer I had to go see. He wanted an ad in our Yellow Pages. When I saw him, he reminded me of the old me. Fat, out of any kind of shape but round and a glutton. He weighed at least 350 pounds if not MORE!!! I met him at a reataurant while he was eating. It looked like the slopping of the pigs, well just one big ole HOG. It was a sight to see him sop up gravy with a biscuit, lick his fingers and burp in my face...Now here ...
Let’s face it successful people think differently than unsuccessful people. Positive thoughts instead of negative ones can start you out on a path that will only spiral upward. Is it possible to reach new heights in your training by just changing your mind about the way you look at your workouts? Is it possible to rewire your neurological circuits to attain success where you never succeeded before? Here’s just a small bite ...
Does anyone find strength in saying no? Sometimes its just easy to say yes. Go along with the crowd and just put your plan, your life and your beliefs on hold to acommodate others and just get along. You negotiate your life down to nothing that could be seen as an inspiration to other people.I find the more I compromise my life and m beliefs the harder it is to be what I know I can be, that is a motivating example to others so they can see a new ...
The last couple of weeks have been hectic to say the least. Being on the road, living out of the hotel doing paperwork at night all add up to making life tougher. It also gets BORING and LONELY. Be warned. Boredom is a very hard place to live and still stay on plan.I know I have just been on auto-pilot. Nothing changes except the customers faces. I guess that's the way it's supposed to be. Eat what you are supposed to do and exercise when yo...
Over the years I have abused my body with overeating and then severe dieting. Yo Yo dieting and binge eating plays havoc on your metabolism. The body has an internal preservation tool when it comes to storing its fat. It wants to keep the fat as many of you already know. When we binge we push the body to store fat. The body thinks you want to keep this fat because lean times must be coming. Our bodies were designed to store fat in the...
I had an interesting Private Message from a member here. They felt like they had nothing to add in the forums and in their blog, they had some self-esteem problems and I could tell that someone had control of what they thought and what they said by some harmful words they had heard in the past. We all have dealt with past put downs in some way or another. Very few people haven't been stung by unnecessary debilitating junk. I have been...
If you have been following my blog you know I had described a fight I had with God on my Journey to health. It was a knock down drag out all out battle of the ages (well it was for me) Since then I have had a lot of people tell me I helped them with my description of my fight with God. I think I need to expand on it some. I don’t want to have anything misunderstood here. In the Bible it says Jacob wrestled with God. He would NOT ...
Ok why is it always me that has to say it? Why do I have to be the bad guy? Because I care about you dummies. Listen up fools (as Mr. T would say) There are people here that act like they care for you and they don’t. They are here for selfish and dark reasons. They are here to fill their needs. They are known as internet TROLLS. A troll is someone who pretends to be something they aren’t to get whatever they need. They com...
After posting my 3 part series on my journey to health, I realized I needed to add how I have done in the first 12 weeks. If you have not read it here is the link...http://www.transformation.com/Dustyluv/blog/Uncategorized/Journey-to-health-Part-1/6630 I can say first it has been a struggle. At 53 years old your body does not respond to hard physical training very well. I have had extreme soreness and just plain old mental fog fr...
If you missed Part 1 and Part 2 click below...Part 1 http://www.transformation.com/Dustyluv/blog/Uncategorized/Journey-to-health-Part-1/6630Part 2 http://www.transformation.com/Dustyluv/blog/Uncategorized/Journey-to-health-Part-2/6653 The last time we left our hero (me) ... He was about to wrestle the most powerful force known to man...He was going to tackle God and put Him in a headlock...Yep I was going to kick God's backside. ...
If you missed part 1 here is the link...Read it first or Part 2 will not make much sense.... As an adult I found comfort in food. If something bugs ya Dusty...Go eat a Chicken fried Steak. Even alcohol couldn't hold a candle to food and I drank like a thirsty fish. I would go home every night hammered out of my mind, wake up with a hangover and say to myself I would never drink again. It was true until about 6 PM the next night. It wa...
I am posting my life story by highlighting my struggle with losing the fat that has encompassed my body since birth in hopes of inspiring just one person to seek a healthy life. Those that have read my blogs know some of it. These couple of posts will go a little deeper and grab some of the insights I have learned and allow you to see them in the hopes of making your journey easier and wiser. I was born 53 years ago. I weigh...
Warning! Warning! Warning! OK you have been warned.....This might not be the place to say it. But you know me I always air my laundry out for everyone to see. You can agree, disagree, you can post responses good or bad. I welcome it....Now I have to say it...After watching the Republican Convention speech by Sarah Palin all I have to say is she sends shivers down my spine. No woman has EVER made me feel so good. I am out of town in a hotel a...
Well week one on the road wasn't too bad. The bed at the hotel was hard and the food tempter salesmen were there to call me names and try to unmotivate me. It didn't work...The town is small, Plainview Texas is a farming town with a lot of nice people and some great customers to deal with. It almost makes traveling a pleasure.I stay on my food plan by getting my boiled eggs from the morning "buffet" as I watched the other guys eat the d...
The last 2 days I shared stories of my grandfather. He was a man steeped in Faith. But as the Lord would have it my Grandmother was the real catalyst of bringing real change to our family dynamics. Here's some of her incredible life.My Grandmother was the kindest and unbelievably soft spoken woman I ever met. My Grandfather would tell of how when she was 14 years old and saw her he became obsessed with her. Not in a good way either. He lust...
Yesterdays Blog brought to mind my Grandfather and his faith in Christ. Where our family's faith all began. It is not pretty. Sometimes God uses horror to drive us to SalvationMy grandfather enlisted in the Army at the age of 17. He was trained and sent to France to face the Germans. WW 1 was almost all trench warfare, bombardment and bloody hand to hand combat. Casualties in WW 1 were over 65 million as well as anyone can tell wi...
Main Entry: te·nac·i·ty Pronunciation: \tə-ˈna-sə-tē\ Function: noun Main Entry: te·nac·i·ty Pronunciation: \tə-ˈna-sə-tē\ Function: noun Date: 15th century : the quality or state of being TENACIOUS ...
I have a little mini Italian Greyhound. She is such a joy. Full of energy and life and such a cuddler. She is a wonderful companion.The following happened about 2 years ago with another mini Italian pup. They are very frail dogs. The story is about this little dogs struggle. IT IS INSPIRING AND MOVING....I dare you to read it without a shed tear,,,Be sure and read her blog after you read her story...Heres the link.. http://www.abouttimeigs....
I am a true believer that God corrects us when we get too full of ourselves or when we travel down a dirt road when we know we are supposed to be on the paved road. He allows a trial or allows evil to shake us to the core. Yea He can get your attention to make you look at your lfe and where you are going. Not becase God is mean. It's because He loves you enough to correct you. He wants more than anything to grow you in the image He desires you to...
I started this challenge with a Personal trainer to help me. Now that I am out of town I will only have access to him on the weekends, so I am on my own.Yesterday I did a LBWO like my PT showed me but the results were different. I woke up this morning SORE. I have not been sore since week 4. I guess I went overboard. Now I gotta get my PT in shape and tell him to quit slacking off on me! I want to be sore, then I know I am getting my moneys worth...
Ok you can stop now...Send me that PM, I read it and I cry. I'm turnin into a softie! GRRRRRRRRRR Yall are killin me! You know I have a reputation as a jerk and a butt kicker. Here lately I have been reduced to a babbling baby. Yea I know God is knocking off the rough edges...But I like the rough edges! How can I kick some booty here if I can't lift my leg because I'm too busy crying.I love you guys. I have made so many friends here. My life has ...
One common thing I see with the people who are struggling seems to be that they are not doing the assignments or they are taking them too lightly. They seen to be wanting to just be here to make friends and not transform the Nation. The people who are successful seem to be embracing the assignments and posting blogs and reading and posting in the forums. They help and encourage and see the BIGGER picture.I know some are here for social chat...
9 weeks to go. And the tough part begins. Why?I am on the road starting Monday. I will be 200 miles away from my house for the last 9 weeks of the Challenge. No running home for a shake, no familiar gym. My company provides free retaurant food and I will be surrounded by salespeople who could care less about eating right or exercise. Oh yea...they will poke the bear to see him growl and tempt him with donuts and call him "Awnowld from Callyf...
Bill,I re-read your forward in your book Body for Life. You promised i would build the best body of my life in 12 weeks. I have been through 9 weeks and I have already achieved that. I guess I could stop but now it's a habit so I guess I will keep going the rest of my life.You promised to be my success coach and help discover my true potential.. Well you did that too, even adding more with the transformation site. You undersold yourself again man...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Zt8mn14hY&feature=related...
Everyone who knows me understands how I feel about Political Correctness. We don't want to hurt anyones feelings so we candy coat our words so we don't offend someone.A Trash man becomes a Sanitation Engineer, a Housewife becomes a Domestic engineer, a sex change becomes gender reassignment. I once lived in a Trailer Park...Now it's a Mobile home community. Now Illegal Aliens are Undocumented Immigrants. The list goes on and on. Oh boo hoo someon...
Since I have been on Transformation and taken the Be the Change Challenge I have been very vocal and very brash. Some would call it overbearing, I like to call it TRAPPED...I have intentionally painted myself in a corner with motivational blogs, pictures of myself, funny stories, but most of all I have gained accountibility partners by encouraging otheres to excell. You see if I don't finish this, if I don't win or at least end up with a respecta...
Ok...It's time for a kick in the pants if you are one who needs it. This is not a pretty feel good post...I hear whiney baby cant do this blah blah blah I'm so needy crud all day long. Wake up people! Why are you here? This is Transformation, this is Be the Change. This is NOT about you, it's not about winning 10K and a trip to Hawaii, it's not about building a touchy feely enabling life for people to live...it's about changing the Nation! S...
As a former Minister (Ok stop laughing, I really was a minister) I saw the power of guilt and shame ruin peoples lives. The wrong they had done that hurt other people and the burdens they carried along with that and the shame was unbearable for a lot of people. It caused them to shut down to relationships and abandon families. Hidden shame is devastating.I have worked with several new people on this site on how to proceed with their transformatio...
Earlier this year my wife and I traveled to St. Thomas Virgin Island. The beach was covered with muscular and not so muscular men, and I probably could have taken off my shirt and be promptly been rolled back into the water by someone mistaking me for a beached whale.I wanted some real sun on my big ole belly, but I am no dummy. I didn't want to hear someone yell out "Free Willy!!!" Even though I had lost 100 pounds I knew I would embar...
I have been pushing myself awfully hard the last 8 weeks. Little aches and pain keep popping up and some days the ole body wants to rebel. I am in tune with my body and i know that I haven't pushed to the point where I am overtraining.It is important to make each workout just a wee bit harder than the last and my PT makes sure that happens. When we get to the 50-60 minute mark he starts to take a hard look at me and he seems to know exactly how m...
This is my 8th week comparison photos to week 1...I will have weight and body fat percentages comparisons later on today. If anyone is considering your weight on the scale still please consider this. I weigh the same as i did when I started 8 weeks ago or within one or 2 pounds of my start weight. I have ate clean and not skipped any workouts. I follow a plan that consists of 50% protien 30% carbs and 20% fats (mostly omega 3 fats). I weigh and t...
Some of you know my buddy and I have a 100.00 bet on who will look better in our after pictures. It was supposed to be a 12 week contest. He has alreay lost 35 pounds by starving himself and playing raquetball. No weight training at all. I on the other hand have lost NO weight at all, but I am weight training and adding a ton of new muscle. He already sees that in 4 more weeks when our challenge ends, he is in serious trouble. heheheWell he came ...
I am starting to get real excited for myself. The last 5 days I have NOT had to use any insulin to control my blood sugars. I am so excited, I have come such a long way. Here's my journey to this day.About 5 years ago I weighed over 350 pounds. The highest weight I ever saw on the scale was 374 pounds. I could have even been up to 400 pounds. I was on an insulin pump, designed so you don't have to inject yourself 4-5 times a day and it helps keep...
I am sure a lot of you started out your Transformation for reasons belonging to only you. They were private, personal and probaly were for health and just to maybe look good nekid. I know I found this site just in time. I was going to attempt the BFL challenge when good ole Bill put up a site that I REALLY needed. I am almost sure the BFL challenge would have failed me...well I would have failed it, because even though I was once a Pastor, I need...
One of the questions we need to start thinking about now is this..."What will you do to carry the Be the Change message forward?"OK answer the question...My first reaction would be to dive right in and open a studio for the obese. My Church has a huge basement that is empty. I could certainly find people who want to Transform their bodies and spiritual life. The greater good to change the Nation would be something much bigger. I find my...
Ok enough PMs and comments telling me to stop calling myself fat. I so understand where you are coming from. You care for me and you care for people. Those who have commented, I know without a doubt that your heart is in the right place and your intentions are as pure as the driven snow. Yes I know I am loved!Teddy BearFluffyLoveableBigThese are a few of the suggestions I have received to now call myself. No offense. Thanks but no thanks, I will ...
I have a great new friend who owns the gym where I train. She is such an inspitation and so encouraging to me. Yea she sees I'm still a fatass, but cares about me and cares about my progess and health.Bonny has competed in the Pro level Ms Olympia. The pinnacle of bodybuilding and at her highest finished 4th. She will be competeing next year and I will be rooting for her to finally win it all. She and her husbamd have such a heart for people. Who...
About 15 years ago my mother had an aneurysm. She came home from the hospital after about a month. Her new husband had split and she was all alone. I lived 400 miles away and my brother who is as useless as tits on a bore hog "tried" to help. Well she got herself one of those life alert necklaces (made famous by the saying "help I've fallen and I can't get up) that allowed her to press a button and summon help.Well the first m...
About 15 years ago I looked in the mirror and noticed something that sickened me. The shocking truth was starting to hit me in the head, yes I had manboobs I call em MOOBS! It launched me into a tizzy and a starvation diet. I was motrified that a once young but fat body was growing older and fatter and gravity was taking over my life. No dieting has made them smaller. They were there for all to see when I wore a golf shirt. I finally resolve...
Some of my close friends know that when I was younger that I was abused by my parents. My father just neglected me and later we reconciled our relationship before he died. My mother on the other hand was a rageaholic abuser who is still the same way to this day. I had a very miserable childhood with little joy.I moved out of the house when i was 15 and never looked back. I supported myself and barely finished High school. I made it though. To mak...
Everyone had had their share of trials. The world seems to be spinning out of control and everything you touch turns to poop. It happens, you cannot escape life without them. It's what you do with trials that define you. There is nothing on the planet that will challenge your mind, body and soul like a difficult time.God allows you to be challenged, trials are no accident. Sometimes you help bring them on and sometimes they just happen. Read abou...
I am having a personal 12 week challenge with my buddy at work. Hes a great guy and a good friend, but has his own way of thinking about how to lose fat. We have both taken before pics and have a 100.00 bet on the improvement in the after pics. Not a weight loss challenge a real challenge because the camera does not lie. BTW hes going down...Well today he told me that he was thankful for the challenge and it did not matter if he won or lost, that...
One little tip I use to play on my brain to motivate me spiritually was to make myself aware that God is always watching me. Not to zap me with a lightening bolt or anything, although there were times I think he could have justified doing so, but to always remember that I have a connection to God and He is always there to help me. It helps me to do right things instead of wrong things (well sometimes). Thinking of a loving and caring Go...
I want to thank all my friends here for setting me straight. I got so fed up with all the people wanting me to stop posting in the forums and on my blog that I stopped posting. I had several others tell me that under no circumstance I should stop. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM what to do. I can dissapoint some and tick off others. Its a toss up!Well I'm kinda like Santy Claus I hate to let people down even if I have to squeeze my fat butt down a chimney. An...
The other day I was faced with a real jerk of a guy. I could have been politicaly correct and allow him to ramble with ignorant lies. I had to set him straight. So with a mighty elbow from my darling wife I started to counter his BS with the non politicaly correct correction. No PCBS for me. I am not one to listen to garbage then try to counter a stupid position by parsing my words.If you haven't figured it out by now, I am not the kinda guy that...
My 10 year old grandaughter started her training today. YEA!I got her a month of training with a personal trainer who is a certified youth trainer. It was so good to see her sweat and have a smile on her face. The trainer made it fun. So fun in fact she wants to go back tomorrow...Well Papa cant afford every day training LOLShe goes back tomorrow just to ride the stationary bike. I am so proud of her for taking the initiative to get healthy. They...
Well last week it was a diabetic ulcer that kept me from HIIT. It's healed and I found when I got back on after a week layoff, I couldn't train quite as hard. I was breathing so heavily I thought my heart was going to jump outta my chest this morning.Now I have been hit by a flare up of gout. Fluid is building around my ankles and it kinda hurt doing HIIT this morning. Oh well. I wish I hadn't waited this long to get into shape...W...
Being an emotional and lazy eater over the years has helped me identify most of my overeating triggers and a few things I can do to stop a binge eating session. The last "hiccup" was on my cheat day and I was still paying for it as of last night with severe bloating and water weight gain covered in a layer of misery. Even after a very hard workut Monday I felt like a pile of dog poo. No more cheat days. I made a decision to eat cl...
OK.....Do you want to be healthier or do you want to look good to impress others.Maybe some of both?I find myself struggling with an ego sometimes. I want to look better. I also want to be healthy.Does anyone else struggle with theses thoughts or is it only me???????????Video to make you think.....http://youtube.com/watch?v=PIs7JkwVc6k...
Motivating people is something we all try to do here on this site. There are some who motivate by videos or by inspirational quotes. Others have elaborate glitter pics and scripture. Still others have not come to the point where they think they can motivate anyone.I dont care who you are or where you are in your transformation. You can motivate people here. You stay here long enough and share your stories on the forums or blogs, someome wil...
When I started this challenge I have a friend at work who wanted to "try" a 12 week challenge with me (he balked at 18 weeks). He of course is an idiot and wanted to do it his way and not anywhere near the BFL/Transformation way. We took before pictures and bet 100.00 on the visual results. I have tried to get hin to raise the bet but he wont... I think he already knows that I am going to kick his butt!After one month he "appe...
I don't know what kind of training and intensity you demand from your body during workouts but I can tell you I train with intensity. I see others in the gym who do the three sets of 10 full body workouts that barely allow them to break a sweat. I applaude them for at least getting to the gym and giving an effort, but is this going to REALLY help in the long run...not to the degree anyone on Transformation would want.I believe extreme intensity i...
Ole Grandad is rubbing off on the grandaughter. She wants to start going to the gym. Golds has a kids area which has machines designed for a kids body. I am talking to Diane about how to proceed with helping her. Shes a little chubby and wants to get healthy. She already rides her bike and jumps on a mini trampoline while she watches TV. I am so glad she wants to weight train, even though I know we will be using no weights or very very light weig...
A lot of us have failed in our attempts to transform in the past. One of the reasons we fail is because we start a program with only an internal desire to change the external. While that is good, it goes a little deeper than that. Why? Because just wanting to change the external is....well kinda shallow.The good news is that if you have done that before, with just a few tweeks to your thought process you can be sucessful.It does all sta...
Sweating to the Oldies... Admit it you bought it. You sent money to Richard and made him famous. I'm glad that you confessed. I'm glad I don't have to! Hehehe I didn't buy anything he produced, but I watched him on TV in the eighties like a bad train wreck... I couldn't turn away.The problem...other than his almost worthless aerobic program is that Richard Simmons is an enabler. I don't know how many times I saw him take and put his arms aro...
After my divorce 5 years ago I was angry at God for allowing such a thing to happen. I was in the Ministry. I was doing all the right things. I was giving my time money and effort to helping the world to be a better place and then BAM! I'm divorced.I was bitter and mad at God for about a year. When me and Him spoke it was one sided. I talk Lord and you listen..waaa waaaaa waaaaaaaaa "it isn't fair!" Yea I gave God the business. But you ...
You think your life is tough? Maybe it is and at times all of us go through severe adversity. You cannot go through life without it and how you face it will tell everyone what kind of person you really are. Life is tough, the people who TRANSFORM are people who meet adverity head on and kick it's ass!Here is Donald Brasswell. Eleven years ago he lost his voice in a freak car accident. His first time back on stage he faced a hostile crowd who want...
This is Dave Draper. Former Mr. Universe, Mr. World and Mr. America. Dave was once an overweight kid that set the bodybuilding world on it's ear in the 60s. He was one of the first transformers, back when bodybuilding was considered an odd sport.Dave is 66 years old now. This photo proves you can be fit, healthy and look good at any age. I hope when I am 66 I look as good as the Blonde Bomber...You can do this! Lift heavy eat right and transform ...
I was once a HUGE sneak eater. It became ingrained in me when I was very young. My parents used a tactic to get me to lose weight...They didnt feed me! I mean they cut out my food completely except maybe enough to keep a parakeet alive. I was hungry, but knew I would get the buckle end of a belt if I was caught eating when I was not supposed to...So I became the world's best sneak eater.I dont know how many times I would tell people I was on a di...
Starting week 5 this week. I am still pumped and ready to train. Yes I am tired, sore and unfortunately still a fatass. I also have been nursing a small diabetic foot ulcer, so the HIIT workouts will just have to wait. I don't want to lose a toe. I'm not in for that kind of weight loss LOL The good part is that I am seeing changes in the mirror. When you are fat you aren't a big fan of mirrors and I have always tended to avoid them. Didn't ...
Well this was supposed to go in my Blog and I put it in the Forum first...So it's a duplicate. Sometimes my brain doesn't work LOL... Duhhhhhhhhhh I didn't even realize I was in the Forum...Ok stop laughing now...A lot of you know me, probably most of you don't. And some just avoid me like the plauge. I am a little confrontational...well OK a lot. It is with good reason though. A little about me and why I set out to motivate the unmotivatabl...
One month in my Transformation and I am starting to get some accolades from friends, co-workers and even my wife! Holy crap! Believe me, that is way out of charachter for her. But really, people have been so kind lately. I am very open and opinionated (yea I know some of you can't believe that) I am very loud and sometimes obnoxious about eating right and exercising. I'm kinda like an ex-smoker, I have become a rabid dog in a lot of ways. Yea i h...
Confused? I know a lot of people are. Seems like every day a new diet book comes out or a new eating fad starts. Good nutrition and eating the right things to lose fat isn't that hard, unless you follow the fads and listen to the "nutritionist" that tell you to eat the food pyramid.The ADA and AHA both have it wrong on how to eat healthy in my humble opinion, because of the low fat mentality that has invaded our country. We are killing ...
The other day my Grandaughter age 10 was riding her bike and the chain came off. She came and got me to put it back on, which I did. After she rode about 20 yards it slipped off again. She promptly hopped off the bike threw it down and screamed at me.."Stupid! Don't you know how to fix a bicycle?"Well I have never had kids, but I knew that wasn't gonna fly with me. She is my grandaughter by marriage, And her parents have ...
I've had so many people PM me or call me telling me to lighten up a little on people. They like me and even some love me. They read my blogs and tell me how much they respect what I say. But they want me to be a kinder, gentler cumbaya kinda man. They want me to keep my heated opinions to myself or temper them with chocolate fudge or something, because someone might get thier feelings hurt here. PLEASE give me a break!This is what I call th...
Make no mistake, this is a Spiritual Transformation we are going through. I also know that we need to remember some of the fine points of what to do with our bodies and what really works to build muscle and burn fat.Heres a few things:1. Muscle is not built in the gym. It is torn and shredded with weightlifting. The repair process that builds muscle takes place when you rest. A muscle needs at least 48 hours of rest from heavy...
I can't help but wonder if those size 54 pants I gave to charity about 4 years ago were ever given to anyone to wear. He would really have to be a fat guy. I mean size 54. He is huge! Wow in todays society it could be a WOMAN wearing those pants!!!I just dropped another pair of pants into my pile for the charity bin today. It makes me feel good in some ways and really really bad also because I know that someone is going to fit into those one day....
Yesterday was leg day. The dreaded leg day. I had been encouraging myself all week long geting ready for it because it taxes my central nervous system to the core. Leg days are brutal for me as well as most people.I had a really stressful day already dealing with idiotic clients and demanding bosses, you kow...One more sale!!!! Give me a break. By the time I walked in the gym, I just wanted to pack up and go home. But I didn't and I am glad I had...
Has the whole world gone mad? These isles of the 100 calorie packs of junk food are driving me crazy. It's junk food! Empty carbs. Fully prcessed crap that will do nothing but make you hungrier when you eat them!I understand how some people need portion controls. But this is the worst choice you could ever make for a clean food way of eating. There isn't one single redeeming thing about sugary or enriched processed food, even if it is a limited c...
I've had more than one person email me lately to tell me I am a little too tough on people. That my advice needs to be tempered with kindness. While I always like to hear from my friends and fellow transformers, the advice they offer me just falls on deaf ears.You see I spent most of my life listening to people tell me things like this:"For a big guy you don't eat much, it must be your metabolism"" You don't look bad, you carry you...
I have beeen a member of Gold's Gym for about 2 years when I decided I needed a personal trainer to help push me on down the road to fitness. I looked at the young trainers at Gold's and what they were doing with their clients and really was not inspired...So I went to the local "musclehead gym".It's funny how we get it in our heads a preconcieved notion of how things are. I was under the impression that this gym was for competiti...
My week 2 results would scare the crap outta most people. But I know how much hard work I have done and my diet was spot on.Heavy training with my personal NAZI trainer. I am still alive, so that which does not kill you makes you stronger. Sore as heck, but I feel stronger and look a little better in the mirrorHeres the scary part...Gained 5 pounds! But I lost a full inch in my waistline....That means MUSCLE!I have worked hard the last 5 months, ...
I have a friend...Not really so close anymore that lives a life of pitiful luxury. He is 50 years old and lives with his parents in a super nice home somewhere in Texas. He mopes around about how tough his life is, while having his 70 year old mother cook his meals, make his bed, pays his bills and wash his clothes. He's what I like to affectionatley call a BUM.He was at one time a very successful salesman. Had a big house, nice cars and a b...
I am sitting here in the middle of the night posting this blog because I cannot sleep. I hurt so bad (I mean hurt so good) from my last LBWO I am miserable. My NAZI trainer! Growth never felt so good.I have taxed my central nervous system to the max and I understand that recovery is where you get muscle growth. Rest is what allows your body to repair the muscle damage caused by insane workouts. My thoughts tonight come from pain... When does it e...
Take it from a guy who knows how to eat, everyway you can eat. Low cal, high cal, low fat, no fat, high carb, low carb, protein sparing fast, complete fast, high cal low cal cycling, USDA food pyramid, the new pyramid, American Heart Association plan, American Diabetes plan, Weight Watchers, Glycemic Index plan, Carribbean Diet, Zone diet and about a hundred others I don't care to mention.I love food. If you can be a glutton in Heaven, I'm there....
Eating correctly has never been my strong suit ubntil lately. Most of my weight has come off by working my rear off in the gym and cutting down on sugar. I will admit readily that I love food, always have and always will. But now things are changing.I remember back several years ago when I was my heaviest, 374 pounds. I had a doctors scale at my house that went to 400 pounds and I remember thinking to myself, 26 more pounds and you are going to h...
I have been giving my new "lifestyle" a lot of thought here lately. I have been motivated, so to speak, many times in my life. I have lost weight, worked out at the gym, ate right before...always to return to the sedentary, fat packing life of the every day American guy. Well I don't want to be that guy! But I know me. I know how I get fired up for 6 months and then one day I wake up lazy and brain dead. Then I stay in that state s...
No missed workouts no skipped meals or cheating. I am about to break my arm from patting myself on the back!1 down and a lifetime to go. ...
Is it self control? Is is laziness or stress? Is it just not being educated in Nutrition? I don't think it's any of these things. I believe the real culprit is the food industry.I will give you an example. My grandfather lived to be 98 never had a weight problem and he preached a sermon at a church on the day he died. His diet consisted of bacon, eggs, real butter and foods fried in lard. Lots of fresh fruits and veggies also. but a diet if used ...
I want to kill my personal trainer (well not for real)... and only because he tried to kill me first,Hack squats 10 sets x 10Seated 1/2 squats 8 sets x 10Glutes 4 sets with 4 sets leg extensions x 20 each... no restCalf raises 4 sets x 20I would kick his butt, however I cant raise my leg....
When I was a Pastor I had a sermon called unload your rocks. I told of how we had a sack of rocks (called sin in this sermon) and how Christ came to take the burden off of us. All we had to do was accept Him as Savior and the burden of rocks was gone... Sack is now empty.The problem...and I see it here so much... is that we all (me included) want to go back with our sack and fill it back up. Pick up the stupid rock (problem, habit,...
Last night I went to the dirt track races. A very small track with not very many people attending. I got there early and thought I would try an unofficial test. As people came through the gate, I put them in one of four categories. Underweight, normal weight (well less than 25 pounds overweight) , overweight (more than 25 pounds) and Extrwmely overweight (over 100 pounds)I just did it for a while and didnt include anyone that looked less than 18 ...
All I can say is yuck. I had my body fat % done yesterday and took the obligitory photos. I will do as Bill says and put my true feelings and emotions on the page...If I had done it last night I might would have had to start over several times because I would have wadded up the paper and cried for a few hours.If I had took pictures when I was 370 I probably would have checked myself into a Betty Ford type clinic for the morbidly obese...
Genesis 2:7Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.As we start our own Transformations we need to be aware there are others around us that need our help. No, they won't usually ask for it. They will just say "I'm OK" when you ask the obligitory question "how are you?". If we are to be Christlike in our walk we...
I see a lot of people struggling with negative self talk. There is a simple remedy!John 10:10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.When you hear that negative voice, just ask yourself, who is saying this to me? It is NOT God!!!! It will be only one or two things...Satan (also called the Devil and great deceiver) or yourself. If it's the Devil why the heck do you want to li...
I saw this a few years ago when I was at Promise Keepers. Today at Church our Pastor played it for the Fathers on Father's Day.Here's the link...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTUSB6eBoFsSingle women... look for a man like this. Don't settle for less.Married Women... Encourage (do not nag) and love your Husband into being this kind of man.Single Men... Have the integrity and fortitude to be this kind of man.Married men... Carry your family like t...
Yes we all need to find humor in eating right and exercise because it helps us stay on course.Here's a little fun from a good comedian on You Tube. Enjoy!http://youtube.com/watch?v=WLdNTMa1xZA&feature=related...
Today as we reflect on the life of a child taken home to be with her Heavenly Father, everything in this life seems to pale in comparison when we really look into the marvelous transformation that has taken place. The body left here on Earth is just an empty shell now. The Spirit has gone to be with the Lord, leaving us with only memories and a clearer vision of the Ultimate Transformation we all will face one day.We can push, pull and tug on wei...
