THE LATE BLOOMER’S GUIDE TO 2016

The Christmas holiday is finally upon us (as evidenced by the K-Mart lay away commercials and this whole Donald Trump/Starbucks nonsense). It is a time for family, food, fun, Black-Friday human stampedes, and, of course, New Year’s resolutions.

I’ve had the exact same resolution list for the past 10 years. It was a short, simple list, and it was daunting as hell:

1. Write my first novel.
2. Lose weight.

After years of false starts and re-do’s and failures, I finally accomplished both as of this year. To say that I’m relieved would be the understatement of the millennium. I’m renewed, revitalized, and brimming with the belief that I can accomplish pretty much anything I set me mind to. Shaking two 800-pound gorillas off your back at once will do that!

With this mindset now fueling me, I’m preparing my 2016 resolution list with a lot more drive, optimism, and ambition. I’m also creating a list that is going to actually be fun to pursue for a change. These are things that I’ve LONG wanted to try but found every reason and excuse in the world not to.

But now, true to my Late-Bloomer status, I’m ready to make 2016 the year that I finally turn those long put-off dreams into reality. My goal is not to master them all. My goal is to look back one year from now and say I did every last one of them, and I had a hell of a good time doing it.

So, without further ado, here is my first VERY PUBLIC New Year’s resolution list. Putting this out there for the world to see will make it much less likely that I flake on any of them, as I have been so prone to do in the past. Hopefully a few of you will rake my ass over the fires if I flake this time! Trust me, I’ll welcome it!

1. Inspire at least 1000 people to change their lives for the better. I chose this number based on 1000 True Fans model created by Kevin Kelly (if you are a creative – or any type of entrepreneur – and haven’t read the piece, please do so).
2. Learn to swim. Yes I’m forty-two years old and I don’t know how to swim. Did I mention I was a late-bloomer people? The bad news is that I’m terrified of the water. The good news is that my wife is a former lifeguard, so at least I’ll be in good hands!
3. Learn to ski. As it is currently ski season in Colorado, this is one that I may have to tackle sooner rather than later. It’s kind of criminal that I have such easy access to the country’s best skiing and I’ve never once taken advantage of it. This will be the year that I finally make up the mountain (or the bunny hill).
4. Play the bass guitar. I’ve always been a closet metal-head, and Cliff Burton (the late Metallica bassist) has always been one of my musical heroes. This is one that I’ve dabbled in before. I’ve owned a bass guitar for about 17 years and managed to learn the basics (even composing a few tunes on my four-track). But like most other hobby from back then, it quickly fell by the wayside. This is the year I get back to it. I might not be stage-ready – but then again, I just may surprise myself.
5. Do 20 pull-ups. Right now I can do seven. That’s essentially adding one rep per month. Utterly doable!
6. Learn Spanish. This is another one of those parties that I am very late to. I took Spanish classes in high school and college, and emerged from those collective experiences with little more than a rudimentary grasp of the language. Practical applications aside, there are a ton of cognitive benefits to learning a complex skill such as a new language later in life, and I’m always down for tapping a few previously un-mined brain cells.

So there you have it, my personal guide to a new and much improved 2016. There may be one or two items to add to the list between now and December 31st, but as it stands now I have plenty to keep me occupied for the upcoming year (and hopefully far beyond). I plan to post regular updates on my progress (again with the accountability thing), so please stay tuned!

How do you plan to bloom in 2016? Will this be the year that you finally achieve the one goal that has long alluded you? Or are you stepping out and striving for something brand new? Whatever direction plan to take, make sure you attack it with every ounce of energy that you have. Let’s make this is the year we all succeed!

YOGI IN TRAINING

In keeping with my never-ending quest to become the best version of myself possible, I have decided to become a certified Yogi. We’re talking five-minute hand stands, feet-behind-the-head, twisting pretzel-like poses, the whole nine-yards! Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating my objectives a bit. But the truth is, I am a firm believer in the power of yoga, not just in strengthening the body, but in energizing the mind and revitalizing the spirit. I have some experience with it; courtesy of the ninety-minute P90x version (man was I a Downward Dog expert after that one). But that was part of a larger strength and muscle-building program. As I’m getting older I’m realizing the importance that mobility, healing, and recovery plays in the overall wellness picture, and yoga is the best thing I can do now to achieve those objectives.

Since I still consider myself something of a beginner, I will be starting out slowly. I currently have an at-home program that I will use a couple of times a week. Depending on my progress (which I will, for better or worse, document on these pages) I may eventually work my way into a class. This is something that I plan to incorporate as a lifelong habit, so I am in no rush to advance. Besides, that would defeat the whole purpose. Yoga is about slowing down, developing patience and reducing stress. The patience piece is especially important for me, so I’ve given myself plenty of time to learn, to grow, and to even stumble. And stumble I will. My balance sucks.

But hey, Yogis aren’t made overnight, right?

Are there any current yoga masters out there? Any fledgling tree-posers like me? Please drop a line of advice or support. I get the feeling I’m gonna need it! 🙂

BECOMING BULLETPROOF

TASTES JUST AS GOOD AS IT LOOKS

I first heard of Bulletproof Coffee a few years ago. I was thumbing through a Men’s Health magazine (desperately trying to find some motivation to get my tired arse in shape), when I came across an article touting the next big diet craze. I didn’t know nearly as much about nutrition then as I know now, so when I read all of the glowing testimonials about the supposed benefits of adding coconut oil and butter to your daily coffee, my one and only thought was this is a freakin’ coronary explosion waiting to happen! 

Fast forward to now. I’ve undergone a major physical change, with all the requisite nutritional research and knowledge necessary to maintain it. I’ve experimented with high carb diets, high protein diets, no-carb diets, and just about everything in between. I’m currently following a ketogenic (high protein, high fat, low carb) approach, and it’s worked wonders. So when I stumbled upon the Bulletproof coffee idea a second time, I wasn’t completely adverse to it. Even though I was seeing success incorporating healthy fats into my diet, the idea of scooping out a tablespoon or two of butter per day was still a little worrisome (research into the benefits of grass-fed butter has since eased my mind), so when I decided to try the recipe out for myself, it was with a healthy dose of skepticism. At the first sign of anything the least bit out of whack with my body I was immediately prepared to toss the stuff out. I had made too many positive health gains to throw it all away on some fad, gadget diet that wasn’t going to do anything but clog up my arteries.

So I bought myself a tub of Kerrygold unsalted butter and a bottle of MCT Oil (a coconut oil extract that I hadn’t previously heard of but now can’t live without), fired up the Kuerig (Starbucks House blend was the coffee of choice) and proceeded to make my first cup. After about thirty seconds in the blender, I was certainly left with the best looking cup of coffee I’d ever seen, but looks, as we all know, can be deceiving. After taking one sip, any doubts I had almost immediately disappeared.

I had recently trained my taste buds to handle black coffee and had been drinking it that way daily, so the smooth, creamy texture of the new blend was a pleasant change. I was sold based on the taste alone. But what ultimately sealed the deal was how I felt afterward. My energy level was through the roof, but I wasn’t the least bit jittery or on edge. Most noticeable though was the mental clarity I felt. There is ample research suggesting a positive link between healthy fat consumption and brain health, but I had never experienced as immediate an impact as I had after that first cup. Best of all, the effects lasted for a good part of the day, with no crash whatsoever.

I am certainly no expert in the science behind all of this, and will never claim to be. The only thing I can provide is my own anecdotal experience. But I can say (at least based on the two months that I’ve been drinking it) that everything positive you’ve heard about Bulletproof coffee is true. Of course I would encourage everyone to do their own thorough research before running out and blending up a cup. You definitely have to take your own health history into account. I didn’t have any pre-existing metabolic issues. But if you are dealing with any type of cardiovascular condition, I would be very hesitant to try this without consulting your doctor. I would also suggest tailoring the recipe itself to your particular preference. If you go to the Bulletproof Diet website [bulletproofexec.com] , the official recipe calls for one cup of coffee, one to two tablespoons of butter, and one to two tablespoons of MCT Oil (the creator of the diet touts his own products to use but I stick with my store-bought brands). You don’t have to jump in full-bore the first time around. I certainly didn’t. You can start out on the low end of butter and MCT amounts and see how your body reacts to it. If after a week or so you are feeling good with one teaspoon of butter and one teaspoon of MCT, you can slowly adjust the amounts to the recommended levels. Just ease your way in.

The necessary precautions aside, I cannot recommend this stuff enough! As my wife will attest, that one cup of coffee (and you truly do only need one) is definitely the highlight of my day. I have more energy, more brain power, and it has helped me lose a few pounds (as part of an overall healthy eating plan of course).

As you can tell from this rather lengthy post, I can write about Bulletproof coffee all day. But don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself. Give it a few days and see how it makes you feel. I’m confident that you’ll never look at your morning cup of Joe quite the same way again.

In a world where hyperbole rules, very few things actually live up to the hype. In my humble opinion, this stuff does.

 

 

I’VE FINALLY REACHED MY GOAL!! NOW WHAT?

On January 27, 2015, after years of neglecting my health and watching my waist-line expand to Big and Tall proportions (a section of the store you never want to be in – the selection sucks), I finally decided that I was going to lose weight. At the time, I weighed 243 pounds, with a 40-inch waist and XXL shirt size. At 5’9 and a half, those are not ideal proportions. I knew I was at risk for just about every metabolic disease possible, and I was afraid to go to the doctor because I was convinced that he would tell me that I had suffered from one or all of them. I already knew that sleep apnea was becoming an issue. My snoring was so bad that my poor wife had to resort to wearing ear plugs at night. When that wasn’t enough I was forced to get one of those plastic mouth guards (mine was called the Z-Quiet), and even that didn’t work most nights. I limped out of bed every morning because my tendons and joints were over-taxed by the extra weight I was carrying. And most important of all, my son had just turned five and I knew he would require more out of me than I had been willing or able to give. He loved getting piggy-back rides up the stairs at bedtime, but I couldn’t do it because I was a huffing, puffing blob of walking exhaustion by the time I made it to his room. There were times that I worried I wouldn’t be around to see his sixth birthday. Something had to change, and it had to change quickly!

So I finally slayed the psychological and emotional dragons that kept me from doing the work, I slowly but surely kicked my sugar addiction (an addiction that is as real and potent as any narcotic), I found an exercise program that worked for me (T-25 by Shaun-T), and I went about the business of changing my life. For months I pulled myself out of bed at 3:30 A.M. (the only real free-time I had), and I worked out. It was the middle of winter, the house was cold, the weather was dreary, and nothing seemed better than staying curled up in my warm comforter. But I was finally committed so I pressed on. Before I knew it, results started coming. They were gradual, barely noticeable even to those closest to me, but they were real. My energy was up, my strength was up, my depressed mental state was improving, and my no’s were becoming yes’. Eventually, the XXL’s became XL’s, then L’s, then M’s. By the time spring rolled around, I’d ditched all the size 40 pants. By the time summer hit, I needed a new wardrobe altogether.

My ‘Before and After’ from earlier this summer

Same shirt, different fit

Motivated by the incredible progress I was seeing, the complements I was receiving, and the inspiration others told me I had become, I pushed on – creating goals for myself that I previously didn’t think would be possible. My initial goal was to lose 50 pounds. I achieved that in the first six months. So I went for more. I knew the ideal weight for someone my size was around 175 pounds, so I set my sights on that. That meant the work would have to continue, and the discipline would have to increase. Every day that I resolved to reach this new-found goal, the work became easier, and at a certain point, it was no longer work; no longer a diet. It was part of my lifestyle, part of who I was. At that point, it wasn’t so much about the pounds anymore. It was about living every day as the best version of myself that I could be, then waking up the next day and becoming an even better version of that.

I’ve weighed myself every morning since this journey began, not because I’m weirdly obsessed with what the numbers say, but because it had become part of my routine, and I believe that maintaining a routine is a vital aspect of making any lasting change. It was also a tangible way of staying in touch with my goals. I knew that if I went on a sugar bender over the weekend, I would have to deal with the consequences of seeing the extra pounds on the scale come Monday morning. I still went on my benders, but because of my weigh-in routine they never got out of control.

Every week the scale went down. Some weeks saw rapid loss, some weeks were agonizingly slow. But I kept plugging as I had grown accustomed to doing.

Then this morning, it finally happened. The number I had dreamed about seeing (but never really thought I would) was staring at me with bright red vibrancy. 175. I did it. I actually did it! After giving the requisite fist pump, I took a moment to reflect on the nine-plus months of work that it took to get here. Aside from getting married, having my son, and publishing my first novel, it is the most significant milestone of my life, and I have never been more proud of myself.

The ‘Me’ I’ve always wanted to be

But after the well-deserved back-patting was done, I was struck with a thought: What do I do now? I’ve had this goal in mind for so long. It’s driven and pushed me in ways I’ve never been driven and pushed before. Where do I find the motivation to continue? How do I follow-up the feat of reaching a mountain peak that I previously thought was unreachable?

The answer is that I use the confidence gained from reaching this goal to reach for even loftier ones. I’ve lost nearly 70 pounds, completely turned around my health and well-being, and am a better person than I ever thought I could be. I have more energy for my family, more joy for the people around me, and an unshakable belief that anything in life is possible as long as I am committed and willing to put in the work.

I have learned that the attainment of a goal, no matter how big or small, is not an end unto itself. It is an opportunity to build, to expand your vision even further. You may have already scaled your own mountain, but understand that there are many more mountains to climb. Some may appear steeper than you can ever hope to handle. But if you’ve already done what you once thought was impossible, the rest is easy. You simply have to believe.

175 pounds may have been my ultimate weight loss goal, but it isn’t the end of the journey. It is the beginning of a whole new one.

I couldn’t be more excited to see where it takes me.