What are Your Obstacles to Succeeding in your Challenge?

We ALL have obstacles, challenges AND successes. Yours are not better or worse than mine and mine are not better or worse than yours. Obstacles just ARE. Don’t make them any bigger than that.

Whenever I think about how rough I have it, I think of a friend of ours. Lori found out her husband had cancer, she had a baby, her father died, then her husband died – all in one 12-Week period. She sunk into hazardous behaviors like drinking, smoking, etc.

She was self-destructing.

Then she decided she was better than what she was letting her life become. She had two little girls she had to look at and look after every day. They needed their mom. Their mom needed to change.

Cold turkey, she stopped smoking, quit drinking, followed a well-balanced meal plan – all for 12 weeks. She made one of the most amazing, inspiring transformations – in and out!

When you hear her story, is yours really so bad?

Yes?
Well then, try reading Body-for-LIFE 2000 Inspirational Champion
Jared Horonoma’s story, here:

Compared to so many of the stories we’ve read of Body-for-LIFE challengers, Gino and I realize that too many of our obstacles are really pretty silly. But they are still our obstacles. And they are still very real.

For us, the workouts and the meal plan were not difficult to follow. What we found most difficult was finding the right sized plastic containers for our food, and the right sized coolers to keep them in! Really.

I work in an office, so I have the luxury of a refrigerator at work to put my meals into every day. But I live about 30 minutes from work and have unpredictable hours. Some days I work 7 hours, other days I’m stuck for 11, even 12 or more. So it is imperative to my success to expect the unexpected and prepare to be gone the entire day. When I leave at 7 am, most days I’d be fine if I packed for 3 meals. But some days I’m gone all the way until 9 pm. So I always have enough authorized meals to last through bedtime.

No excuses!

As a police officer, Gino works in his car. And in Colorado, on some summer days it snows and some winter days it’s 80 degrees. With this kind of unpredictability, a cooler is a NECESSITY! His schedule is fairly predictable so he usually knows just how many meals he needs each day.

IF something huge happens and he is stuck at work, his backup plan is to call me and I’ll bring him the necessary meals. If I’m not around, his sister Marianne (who did the Body-for-LIFE Challenge before us and was so successful, she inspired us to start the Challenge) is always on-call.

Our kitchen is well-stocked with baggies and those single-serving, disposable plastic containers. Out of the dishwasher and into our lunch bags, these tools rarely land in the cupboard!

Just like we did, you are dramatically changing your habits – the way you live! This does not happen overnight, and it does not happen without at least a little bit of frustration. This is a game! And it’s not only a game you will win, you can have some fun along the way.

When you’re planning your meals, take a few minutes to think about YOUR lifestyle.

NEXT WEEK
How to get through the “Bad Days” (yes, you will have them!)

And strategies to “Plant” for Success.