I accepted a job for a particular agency not too long ago. I drove a few hours to get to the appointment. I hardly ever accept assignments but for some reason, felt inclined to say “yes” to this one.  I had been told that the appointment would take several hours and I was okay with that. The assignment was related to a patient needing a kidney transplant and the purpose of the appointment was to explain the procedure, where the donors come from, how the insurance works, etc., as well as having the option of being placed on a waiting list OR having your own donor which would expedite the waiting time.

At one point during the appointment, we were walked into a small room where we were to wait for the next member of the medical staff to come in and talk to the patient. We sat there, and having nothing better to do, the patient told me that the kidney failure in the patient’s case had been caused by type 2 diabetes. The patient had been told by the family doctor to “take care of yourself, lose weight, or you’ll end up with full onset type 2 diabetes, because it runs in your family.” The patient turned to me and said “look at me now, I need a kidney transplant, and my doctors are telling me that my diabetes is extremely advanced.” I said nothing… I couldn’t. This is one of those times when I would have loved to offer some words of comfort, say “everything is going to workout.” But, it was not “my job” to do that. All I could do was sit there and listen. To make matters worse, the patient was told by the doctor that due to being overweight, the patient’s job now is to lose weight… “you have 1 year to lose weight or you’ll be taken off the waiting list.” However, no guidance on how to lose that weight was offered. Before leaving, all I could tell the patient was “make sure you talk to your doctor and ask him to send you to a nutritionist or someone who can give you the tools you need to lose weight.” Just like that, my assignment was over and I headed back home with a heavy heart.

The patient’s story and mine were very similar. I too had been told by my doctor after having my daughter “you need to take care of yourself and not gain weight or you could end up with diabetes.” I think that the most common misconception about diabetes is that if “it’s type 2 you don’t need insulin and it’s not so bad.” I have been asked many times by people when talking about diabetes “is it the one that requires insulin, or the other one?” Both types may require insulin.. it’s not the “type” of diabetes, it’s how high your sugar levels are. There are a number of complications related to both types of diabetes:  kidney and liver failure, stroke, heart disease and even blindness. In the United States, diabetes (both type 1 and 2) is the leading cause of blindness. (Source: http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/diabetic/retinopathy.asp).

Many think that the cost of eating healthy and exercising is high, but I say that the cost to our health and well-being of not eating healthy and exercising is even higher, not only do our medical bills increase tremendously, but our lifespan is shortened and our families are affected. Yes, it takes time to get results… but it’s not about just losing weight, it’s about being healthy. That should be our priority, ALWAYS.

I rarely stop to think “that could have been me” but this particular assignment was a scary reminder.

I am eating close to 2000 calories and burning lots of calories per day. I eat 8 meals a day. my lunch consists of 2 cups of spinach with olive oil and apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup brown rice and 6 sometimes 8 ounces of chicken depending on how hungry I am. My foods are delicious, made at home and well prepared. I am eating better than I ever have and I’m seeing the results of my diet and my workouts.

I am thankful to Beachbody for starting me on this amazing journey. My birthday is coming up next week and I am in the best shape of my life. Had someone told me a year ago that I would be competing I would have laughed and thought they were nuts! I can only imagine where I would be healthwise had I waited any longer to get in shape. Yes looking good in a bikini is a huge benefit, but that’s not what this is about, this is my story, this is me transforming my health… I was borderline obese a year ago, I was borderline diabetic and on my way to be another statistic… one more number to be counted among the many that have diabetes. Diabetes may not sound serious, but trust me the problems caused by diabetes are many: it causes liver failure, it’s the leading cause of blindness, it causes kidney failure and the list goes on.

I transformed my health, I transformed my fitness, I did it and so can you and I can coach you and provide the support you need for FREE. Let’s end the trend of obesity and start a new trend to living healthier and fuller lives. Join me in this journey, send me a message if you’d like to find out more.

We had some amazing conversations with my mom last week. I don’t know what happened that I was ready to listen to her in a way that I have never been ready to… realizing her vision for me and my life as well as her faith in everything that I do was the ultimate fuel I needed to continue with my goals, my training and where I’m headed to.

I had been a bit concerned about her stay with us, because I’m in the toughest phase of my training and nutrition. I was worried that I’d be tempted to have too many cheats on my meals or eat something that I shouldn’t at this point in my training, however, that wasn’t the case. We made sure we shopped for foods that she liked to eat and I just continued on with my competition diet and my training. I should also mention that my mom reversed her diabetes type 2 with good nutrition and exercise (yes it is possible), keep in mind that I’m not saying that a particular exercise will do this, but a good sensible diet, losing weight and exercise will help reverse your diabetes if you have recently been diagnosed. My mom worksout with Body Gospel and I will probably buy another program for her soon.

As we took her to the airport on Sunday, there was more of a sense of peace within me. I am thankful to see someone who is capable of having that unshakable faith. It has nothing to do with religion, but with knowing that when you have a vision you can stand in a place trusting that when you are in action in regards to that vision, everything will work itself out.

You rock mom!

So now what?

Well, I came back home missing my family tremendously. I have the most amazing little girl and the most committed man in the world as a husband. Have I shared how great he is? He has done everything to see me succeed, from nutrition to workouts to business. He’s my partner in fitness and my partner in living an exceptional life because truly, that’s what my life is about… it’s about having an exceptional life.

I have to be honest, I was sort of getting back into the routine of going crazy with my schedule again… but something happened, my body did not like it. I started to get a bit sick. Today while in the bus (I have WiFi in the bus J ) I sent my husband a message saying “I’m feeling sick again” it’s Wednesday and this is the third day I had felt this way. He replied “FOCUS” Ha! That’s one of the many things that the Beachbody meeting last week was about… FOCUS!  It’s so easy to lose that focus. As soon as he said that, I closed my eyes and focused and I felt better instantly.

I have 4 more weeks of training… FOUR! Exactly 30 days before July 23^rd. Reality is setting in and this is not the time to be mediocre in any of the areas that are important to me. My little girl needs me more than ever, my husband needs me  and I am clear that this is the time to roll up my sleeves and go out, meet people in the community and do something that gets people moving and on track with their fitness.  As far as the competition, yes, I’m still doing that but now with a renewed focus.

I have new goals and a really big WHY I’m doing this. It is no longer about me. It’s about ensuring that families have a better chance to live healthy lives. My big why moves me to tears… I want every single child in my community to have a healthy, fit life and I want to partner with every single parent in my community to be healthy for the sake of every child in my town. That’s WHY I’m doing this. I don’t ever want to see another child with type 2 diabetes or on heart medication due to weight issues and you bet I’m going to do something about it one family at a time. If you’re interested in partnering with me, send me an email to ha***********@***il.com.

I found out through my cousin about her passing. I casually told him when he contacted me after my daughter was born “send my love to your mom.” He replied “she died in May, but she had a good life.” I was shocked, sad and angry at my family for not telling me. It was obvious that they had not planned the secret too well. No one had thought that I may actually be in communication with one of my cousins and find out that way. When I gained weight after giving birth, my biggest fear was that I’d get diabetes too. I was at a higher risk because I had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Had I continued on the path I was going, I am 100% certain I’d have diabetes today.

 “Nothing fits, I’m fat… I hate this” I’d repeat those phrases constantly to my husband, everyday for a whole year. He was so tired of hearing me complain about the same thing over and over again, that one day he told me “stop complaining and DO something about it.” So with that, I decided it was time to get off my lazy butt. By then, something had shifted in me, I was grateful that I was still healthy and in time to reverse whatever damage I had caused in my body.

I remember how at this particular time, my husband and I had been able to move to a nicer property when a friend talked about P90X. I contacted him asking if it “really” worked and after I purchased P90X, he became my coach. The best thing about it, was that he never charged me a dime for coaching because his services were free to me through Beachbody… boy was I thankful that I now had a “free” coach who would support me because I needed ALL the support possible and trust me… I called him more than several times during the first 30 days. “This P90X thing isn’t working!” he’d say, “be patient and stop using the scale every day.” When my first 30 days rolled around, I had lost 8 inches around my waist. That’s when I knew… “This stuff really works!”

Being grateful about our circumstances really helps shift things and even transform them. This is not magical thinking, seriously.  The way I see it is that when we value or treasure something, we take care of it, right? We take care of our homes, our children because they are our treasure… if we were thankful about our health, wouldn’t we do the same? I know I am and I know I do. To be honest with you, this journey has made me a better person, more compassionate towards people who are on the same journey that I am because I KNOW how hard it is and I KNOW how much our mind wants to get in the way of our fitness. That’s why I chose to be a coach, because I’ve been there and I know how it is and to date, I STILL have that mental struggle.

As I end this blog entry, I leave you with the following thought: The secret to success is not a lack of failure, the secret to success is simply the act of not quitting regardless of how many times we fail. Instead of being hard on yourself for every time you fail… be thankful for those failures, because each failure will teach you something new if you let it; and each failure brings you closer to success.

If you like what you are reading and need a coach, contact me. My coaching is free with the purchase of any Beachbody product featured on this website. If you need more information, send me a message.

As you may know by now, I have set up some goals for this year… my upcoming competition/show/photo shoot. Those right now seem to be my big picture, right? But they are actually not. My big picture involves my family and helping members of my community, friends and anyone else reading this blog reach their health and fitness goals. My big picture is teaching moms that you CAN be fit, healthy and be there for your kids for as long as possible. My big picture involves people who are at risk for diabetes to teach them that they don’t have to be another statistic and that they can beat the obesity trend that has hit this country.

Yesterday I lost my focus. I started to focus too much on what I wasn’t doing instead of focusing on what I was doing and WHY I was doing it and I slipped… specifically with my nutrition. The nutrition for competing is very different than the regular foods I have been eating to get fit. I will not go into details about what my foods are like right now, because it’s not necessary but, I can tell you that it can be viewed as a sacrifice… however it will only take me 3 months of this year to reach my goals using this nutrition plan and exercise plan. Ninety days… 9 – 0… 90 DAYS that’s it. Doing this is not for the rest of my life. I only need it this one time to reach my competition goal (unless I decide to compete again next year). I can do it! It’s not a big deal for me to be disciplined. I have all my foods for the week packed and yet, I fell straight on my face yesterday SPLAT! Yep, I did.  I suppose I could lie and say “I’m perfect” but the truth is that I am not even close to being perfect… I wish it was always easy  but we all have our challenging days and all I can do is take responsibility for what happened “yes, regardless of the reasons (because  there were none, really) I did not stick to my nutrition plan yesterday… I ate stuff that was not part of my plan.” That’s all that happened. I don’t have to focus on why I did it because that would only give me more of the same excuses to fall all over again. I have to focus on my goal… the big picture.

The good thing is that I have an accountability group, so all I had to do was come clean “well, it was a bad day for me… because I ate…” That was all I needed to do, and so I did. On my way to work this morning, I realized what had been missing for me, it wasn’t the foods I was eating, it was this whole story I made up about being too limited and making it harder than it has to be. The truth is that it’s going to take me out of my comfort zone to get to my competition goal, even though I am an expert at getting out of my comfort zone, trust me. What was different yesterday was that my focus was too much on ME… me, me, me, me, ME and it sounded more like “poor me, poor me, poor me, poor me.” So I am changing that to “strong, fit, healthy, competition/photo shoot/show ready ME”  and that is a much more empowering place to be in, I could change my goals but it’s a lot more powerful to change my views on my circumstances right now and that’s all there is for me to do.

If you are thinking about getting back in shape and you’re concerned that you may fail at it.. don’t be. Get started today, everyone fails and as you can tell from this post, even I fail at times… so what?  Spend less time commiserating, feeling sorry for yourself and kicking yourself and more time empowering yourself, finding ways to succeed, getting up and continuing on the journey. The secret to success is allowing those moments of failure to pass, getting up, dusting off and continuing. It’s no secret that Edison tried hundreds of times to make a light bulb, why did he succeed? Because he didn’t stop at the first “oops”. He kept trying and learning from his failures. That’s what life is about.

I have people who inspire me to continue forward, mentors, friends, awesome women who are on the same path as I am so I can continue to feel inspired and unstoppable. Do you need a coach? I’m here for you. I will try my best to coach you, inspire you and help you on your journey to better health and fitness… but you have to take the first step. So you don’t know where to start? Ask me.

I started this journey as a goal to beat the threat of diabetes and I have accomplished that. I am happy to say that when I went to get my annual physical which I had postponed for very long, I discovered that all of my tests came back completely normal. My blood sugar levels were normal, my triclyceride levels were normal. My doctor also wanted to make sure that my thyroid was normal because he was concerned that one of the reasons I had gained so much weight was that my thyroid wasn’t working properly, but that too is normal. I am 100% certain that if I had continued on the same path of irresponsible eating and not moving, the results would have been very different. I love it that I am healthy. I am thankful that I can look at myself in the mirror and recognize the person looking back at me. I love it, that I can look at my daughter and know that I have done my part to stay healthy and share the gift of healthy eating and an active lifestyle with her as well.

So now that I’m healthy, why continue? Heck, because I want to stay healthy and because I want to look great. Yes, it’s true… I want to be that 40 something mom that can teach other moms how to get fit and stay healthy. I want to be the person who can teach other women how to cook healthy for their families and how exercise and how preparing good, nutritional, delicious food is not difficult and can actually be beneficial not only to them but to their whole family. That’s my commitment. That’s what I am aiming for… and then of course there is another thing I have under wraps but I will not be disclosing that until the time approaches, but this is something completely out of the box for me and I’m excited and so looking forward to this fun thing I’m doing, well I’m not doing it alone, I have 22 other beautiful women that I have gotten to know in very few days who are doing it with me.

And with that, I must say I love my life, I love my husband who supports me in everything I do, no matter how out of the box it is. So this post is dedicated to him: Thank you honey, my life is amazing because of you.

Here’s what’s scary about it: Type 2 diabetes is the most preventable type of diabetes (in most cases). Today children as young as 5 are being diagnosed with diabetes type 2, which until a few years ago was only diagnosed in adults. Diabetes type 2 can be prevented through exercise and a nutritious diet. Yet I still hear hesitation from people “I don’t like to exercise” someone said to me a few weeks ago “I prefer to diet” said someone who is extremely heavy. Did you know that 30 minutes of walking daily can lower your risk of contracting diabetes according to the American Diabetes Association? Unfortunately, many of us think that exercise means doing something we don’t enjoy and is not fun because we “have to do it” and many of us believe that diet means doing something crazy like the “cabbage soup” diet for a week or a month and then go back to eating the same junk food we’ve been eating as long as we do the diet over and over again. We deprive ourselves from good food and eat junk food instead and we consider this “good health.” It baffles me that people would choose eating junk food for a sense of temporary comfort or “feeling good” over feeling great about ourselves.

I used to think that diabetes wasn’t serious until I got pregnant with my daughter and was diagnosed with insulin intolerance. In other words, my sugar levels were high, but not high enough to be considered gestational diabetes and just because I’m the type of person who researches things, I started to research diabetes and here is what I found out:

1- Type 2 diabetes is the most preventable condition.

2- Type 1 diabetes should be separated in its own category because it’s the most serious type of diabetes. Type one requires insulin, type 2 can be controlled by diet and exercise (in most cases). Exercise is beneficial for both types of diabetes.

3- Eating lots of sugar will not cause diabetes although it is not recommended that you eat a lot of sugar, what causes diabetes is poor diet and lack of exercise.

4- Both types of diabetes ARE serious.

Did you know that type 2 diabetes is the major cause of blindness in adults and that it’s a lot more serious than we give it credit? I should know, my aunt died after falling into a comma related to type 2 diabetes, she literally ate herself to death.

The American Diabetes Association states that these are the complications from diabetes:

Complications

Heart disease and stroke

• In 2004, heart disease was noted on 68% of diabetes-related death certificates among people aged 65 years or older.
• In 2004, stroke was noted on 16% of diabetes-related death certificates among people aged 65 years or older.
• Adults with diabetes have heart disease death rates about 2 to 4 times higher than adults without diabetes.
• The risk for stroke is 2 to 4 times higher among people with diabetes.

High blood pressure

• In 2003–2004, 75% of adults with self-reported diabetes had blood pressure greater than or equal to 130/80 mmHg, or used prescription medications for hypertension.

Blindness

• Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults aged 20–74 years.
• Diabetic retinopathy causes 12,000 to 24,000 new cases of blindness each year.

Kidney disease

• Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, accounting for 44% of new cases in 2005.
• In 2005, 46,739 people with diabetes began treatment for end-stage kidney disease in the United States and Puerto Rico.
• In 2005, a total of 178,689 people with end-stage kidney disease due to diabetes were living on chronic dialysis or with a kidney transplant in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Nervous system disease (Neuropathy)

• About 60% to 70% of people with diabetes have mild to severe forms of nervous system damage.

Amputation

• More than 60% of nontraumatic lower-limb amputations occur in people with diabetes.
• In 2004, about 71,000 nontraumatic lower-limb amputations were performed in people with diabetes.
If these statistics don’t scare you enough to make you commit to changing your lifestyle, getting fit and in shape, maybe this will: The cost of having diabetes is way higher than the cost of one of the Beachbody programs. A person with diabetes is estimated to spend 2.3 times more in medical expenses than what a person without diabetes spends. Can you really afford diabetes?

Forget the cost to your pocket, think of the cost to your life. “Obesity can lead to an earlier death” according to a new report from George Town University. According to this report, someone with a body bass index of 30 or higher is considered obese.

There is proof all over the internet, books, medical journals, etc. about the costs of lack of exercise and good nutrition on our health and pockets. What are you going to do about it? In May of this year my body mas index was 47%, thanks to the Beachbody programs and a yummy nutritious diet, it is now 18%. I am 42 years old and on my way to being in the best shape of my life. If I could do it, so can you!

Sources:
American Diabetes Association:

Report from Georgetown University:

This morning while I turned the news on, NBC had a report on stress… how perfect! They said that people are stressing about the economy, money and work. People who are overweight were the ones that were stressed out the most. What takes care of stress? The reporter stated “exercise” and went on to say “it’s a vicious cycle for people who are over weight, they stress, don’t work out, eat more, gain more weight. The combination of stress and being over weight causes health complications such as diabetes and high blood pressure.” But we know this already, right? So why then do we choose to avoid exercise?

It takes commitment. It takes not listening to the little voice in our head that tells us that we can’t, or that we’re too tired, or that we don’t want to, or don’t feel like it. You know which little voice I’m talking about because we all have it. It’s the same one I choose to ignore every morning when I stumble out of bed at 4:30 am.

It also takes something else, it takes stepping out of your comfort zone, of what feels familiar. It feels familiar to have a weight problem, I know it did for me and it was comfortable when I wasn’t thinking about it too much… or at least I thought it was. My coach felt much more cozier than moving around so does my cozy bed in the morning. It felt comfortable to reach out for the “comfort food” instead of preparing something healthy and good for me, it’s much easier to choose the “quick fix, make me feel good NOW food” because that is exactly how we operate, we live in a GIVE IT TO ME NOW world.

Through this process of getting in shape I have been able to learn to separate what my tricky mind wants from what my body really needs. Our mind is not our best friend, have you noticed? We are so freaking hard on ourselves… if we have an accountability partner and we fall off the horse, we stress out that our accountability partner is going to get on our case. We fear failing someone else, but truth be told, the ONLY person you are not keeping your word to is yourself. You are the only person who will benefit from working out, no one else. If I don’t work out, the only person I have failed is me, I won’t lose my job, my family will still love me, I will still have a roof over my head. The only thing I have at stake is my health. This is a good thing, right? Yes, it is. One of my favorite books, “The Slight Edge” by Jeff Olson says that it’s not that it’s difficult to workout or eat well, but the problem is that it’s easy not to. It’s easy to avoid that big piece of chocolate cake, but it’s also easy to eat it.

So what is the secret to keeping your word about exercise? The secret is to learn to love yourself… not “pretend” that you love yourself, but truly love every single cell of your body and not pay attention to your mind. Your mind will only keep you from doing what you must do and the funny thing is that once you start to workout, feel better, get in shape, lose weight, start to fit into your favorite clothes, your mind… that tricky mind benefits too!! Give up your reasons because they’re all lies… yes LIES, why do I say this? Because if I could do it, anyone can. You have joint problems? Modify your exercises to avoid pain, back problem? No worries, there are exercises that can help with that too (and losing weight will benefit your back too, it’s true, ask any doctor and he will confirm what I’m saying.). Okay so you have a busy schedule? So do I. Oh wait, you’re stressed out… Oh yes, the stress! That’s even more of a reason to workout. Start step by step, little by little, your body will thank you for it. Oh let’s see… you don’t like to go to the gym… PERFECT! Neither do I, that’s why I workout with Beachbody products (check my link)… oh wait, you can’t do P90X because it scares you… well there’s a product for you too, Beachbody sells different programs for different tastes, just check it out.

More importantly, I can’t make you workout… as a matter of fact NO ONE can. That’s your job, staying motivated is your job too. If you have trouble staying motivated, well then think out of the box… hey this blog wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t thought out of the box, that’s what helped me every step of the way to stay motivated… why? Because I really like looking good and I knew that if I didn’t fulfill on my promise I would look REALLY bad (and it would be embarrassing).

Consider the benefits of working out: Besides all the benefits that we already know about: your stress will be gone, you will have more energy, your risk of getting diabetes will also be gone (or if you have diabetes, exercise will help you control it), you’ll look younger, your skin will start to look radiant (that happened to me too) and you’ll look great naked (it can’t get better than that). So the next time your mind tells you a lie about why you shouldn’t workout, tell it to shush and workout anyway.

Today however, it was extremely difficult for me in my professional life. I had to go interpret for a couple of patients, both of them with complications due to diabetes. One with dialysis, the other with end-stage liver disease, both had type 2 diabetes. The gentleman that I helped this morning was fighting teeth and nails to do what he wanted, the nurses and staff were so concerned about me not knowing how to interact with him that at the beginning of the session, I met with the head nurse for 40 minutes while she explained in detail. He wasn’t happy to see me, he was upset, frustrated and not wanting to follow orders. Then, I discovered something, he had NO idea why he needed dialysis. While I sat there and explained that his kidneys didn’t work and why they didn’t work, and what he needed to do and that I WAS on his side, his eyes got teary. As I bent down and looked into his eyes I recognized that look,  it was fear, he was terrified. With that, it took this session a whole two hours and at the end, he was all smiles, happy, thankful and there was something in him that I sensed had changed. It seemed to me like he was more willing to follow the doctor’s orders, but right there, something had altered and the big wall he had put up, was down probably for the first time since he’s been receiving treatment. Then this afternoon, I met with the other patient, a wonderful lady, her loving husband was there with her, patiently waiting for the results.

As I walked away from these patients today, my only thoughts were: “this could have been prevented.” Diabetes is one of the worst illnesses, it is amazing how much it affects the body. Some patients lose their liver function, some their kidney function, others their eyesight. Diabetes patients are told to go to the podiatrist because they need special care to clip their toenails to avoid infection (and amputation). What people don’t realize is that because it is the blood that is affected with the excess sugar EVERY SINGLE ORGAN in the body is at risk. It’s a scary condition and it’s completely preventable and the sad part is that most people don’t know how to prevent it. Most people are told “eat a balanced diet” and they don’t know what that means. Most people are told to “cook healthy” and don’t know how. Others are told “exercise” and they are “too tired” or “don’t feel like it” or (fill in the blank). Some believe that eating healthy means eating tasteless foods. Others resist change and by the time they want to do something about it many times it’s too late.

If you are at a place right now where you feel resigned about your health and weight loss, there is good news, Beachbody, the distributors of the P90X and Insanity workouts have all the tools you need to succeed, from exercise, to healthy recipes, to support, to your own no-cost personal coach and all the supplements you need to make your journey easier. I won’t lie, this journey has been challenging. There have been days when I don’t want to workout, there have been days when I’ve been ready to quit. What has kept me going is this blog, my coach and my Beachbody team; the thing is, it doesn’t have to be difficult. When I think about my 90 day journey and this lifestyle change with exercise and healthy eating, I think to myself: “what’s more difficult, doing this or living one of these patient’s lives?” I think you know the answer to that question, right?