"Nothing worth having was ever acheived without effort" -I don't rembmer who that is from.
But it's true.  For everyone.

I remember reading an excerpt from one of the books about Michael Jordan and his journey to multiple championships.  It was him talking about a chat he had with Phil Jackson about what MJ wanted to acheive.  He was still younger.  Not deep into his career.  But not a rookie, either.  His desire?  He wanted to be great.  He wanted to be a lengend.  I can't quote exactly what I read, but it can be compared to this:  "I expected to be great because I was already great.  But the level I wanted, I wasn't there yet.  I expected it for so long because we'd already had such great successes. But when I talked to Phil, I realized that I wasn't where I wanted to be, simply because I was taking short-cuts. Less time in the weight room.  Less effort during sprints.  Etc... If I want to achieve and be part of that next level, I know that short-cuts will not get me where I want to be."  Again, don't quote me. But this has been in my brain, shuffled around, for the last 15+ years.  But I remember reading it.

We all know that we can't judge an athlete's greatness as to what kind of person they are.  They could be not loyal to their spouses, alcoholics, sex addicts, aquitted rapists, etc... The list goes on.  We don't know what they battle in their lives.  But as someone who is trying to change things in my life, regarding healthy food choices and exercise, I find this awesome.  Matter of fact, the quote that I've opened up with, is stenciled on the wall of the fitness room, here at work.  You know the place.  I've spoken of it before.  The one with the dinosaur of a treadmill?  Yeah, no place to hold your water, or your mp3/phone/electronic device.  Also, the one that acts like a vehicle with a cruise"sometimes"control.  Speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down. 

Just heard from one of my younger brothers that still lives in Montucky, that he has spent some time with our aunt and uncle.  They stepped in quite a bit, along with some others on my mother's side of the family, one both of our parents were deceased.  But, both of them are obese. He says they look great!  That is huge.  A lot of people in my family are stubborn.  :)  If you will... a family trend. Not always a good thing. But it is what it is.  We all love each other, and I love my aunt and uncle. 

Turns out they went and saw a specialist about thier weight.  As a married couple.  Believe me, I know how stress effects your eating, skipping meals, not caring, not thinking, etc... Money effects all of that as well.  Heck, I know that my siblings and I probalby caused a bunch of that stress and things were not all honky-dory all of the time.  But the fact that they went in, seeked answers/help and realized they wanted different, that is awesome!  Checked out their body fat percentage.  Sounds like they set goals as well.  My brother says he noticed a difference in them.  I'll take it.  I hope they are feeling better.  I hope they are proud of themselves.  I'm proud of them.

So, put it all together, if you want change, take action. It doesn't matter who you are.  Whether you're Michael Jordan, Ryan Cowboy Ehmann the Coach, Nick, or an average couple from Montana, go get what you want.

Also this week, after a long week of cravings, hard workouts, doubt and health issues, I'm looking forward to change this next week.  A big week at that.  A minor surgery for our 10 month old little girl, which required us to move some things around on our schedule for work, as well, put into perspective what we're going to do about supporting each other to keep doing the strength conditioning daily and workouts at least 3x per week.  Plan ahead for food.  A big week!  Prepared some chicken to be able to take and go.

But I have to say it is stressful for groceries right now.  It feels like we're buying the same stuff over and over.  Plus, we're scraping the bottom of the barrell for our food.  Using stuff that we've had for a few months, which is good.  But I'm excited to get to a point to try some of the foods that Coach emailed me.  I'd love to see how 30 days would go, doing this.  But I'll take what I can get.  If I can see a differnce in foods that we eat every day... that is a phenominal improvement, for anyone.  Sugar is a huge thing.  It'll sneak up on you.  So, I can tell all of you that I have not had a regular soda since the beginning of this journey.  I can tell you that I have not skipped a meal since the beginning of this journey, but I have skipped a snack or two.  I can tell you that I've done my strength conditioning nearly every day, since I did not understand in the beginning. 

My wife also said something very important to me last night.  I had a treat.  I am not even a sweets guy. I am a sweet guy, yes, but not a sweets guy.  Cookies, sugary sweets, etc... not my bag.  I have stuff I like, but would prefer savory.  But, realizing that you should not rewards yourself wholely, with food.  How many people do that?  If you decide to have a snack, or something sweet, keep portions in mind.  You may like Doritos, for instance.  Yeah, have a few to curb your cravings and keep them few and far between.  Now, having a whole back once every couple of weeks, thinking, "It's not every other day, so every 2 weeks must be acceptable...", probably not a good idea.

This is just for me to put it out there, as if I'm talking to myself.  But, welcome to my mindset right now.  Sometimes I feel like it's a web browser wtih 46 tabs open. 

Great Job to my aunt and uncle!  Here's to moving forward onto a new week.  Piecing it all together.