Summit Steps Multisport Coaching
Triathlon Coaching
Hello everyone our first open water swim is scheduled to take place Friday morning May 30th @ 5:40 AM in the water.
Be sure to arrive 10-15 mins early and head down to the beach to get ready in time.
Please visit our open water swim page to get more information and sign the electronic waiver at the bottom of the page.
If for some reason we must cancel I will normally post something on Summit Steps Facebook page Thursday night after 6:00 pm.
See you Friday morning.
A question often asked. In a lot of cases, as we get older, the reply becomes, “Not much. Same old same old. Just another day. Oh, I don’t know. Nothing.”
Wow! As I write those words I’m sad to say often one of the above answers comes from my mouth.
If I look back at my youth, my response to that question could have overwhelmed the person who asked. I would have answered back with all sorts of options and dreams that lay ahead of me.
Is it just me, or do others find the answer to this question so often to just be “Not much.”? Please share your thoughts.
What I have come to find out is the people and environment I surround myself with have a big impact. When I was younger almost all of us entering adulthood had dreams and desires to become something more. I was immersed in an environment of people who had dreams and desires and were taking action to fulfill them. In our youthful exuberance, we encouraged others around us to dream and act on the bright future set in front of them. Goals to strive for, we cheered one another on.
At some point in my life, I found myself surrounded with victims. Now yes at some point in our lives we are all victims of things. However, we have a choice to then make. We can choose to stay victim, or we can decide to let go of it, look forward, and move on. That conscious choice moves us from victim to victor.
As I watch some of the Boston Marathon survivor’s stories, I’m amazed at how they have done just this. Were they victims? Yes! They were innocent victims of an indescribable act. What amazes me is their determination to move forward. They have decided to continue on, to work with what they have, and turn something bad into something good.
The stories are inspiring and uplifting.
My theory is most of the people who watched or run a marathon already possess the spirit of victor. They took on challenges and had a great group of like-minded people who look to achieve more in life. This probably played a key role in their ability to move forward. They also had even more people surround them with love and encouragement. They sought God for prayer. People all over the world gathered and prayed for them.
If you have a dream you feel is God-give, whether you are young or old, you can move towards it.
I have a dream. That dream is to use the work God has done in my life to overcome obesity and addiction and put it to good use. My dream is to help others out of the prison cell that these strongholds can keep us in. My dream is to be an encourager, not a dream crusher.
So, over the years, I have had to let go of the people and places that held me back. I started to look around me for those willing to reach out their hand to help me and encourage me. I sought those willing to pray for and with me. Along the way I tried to encourage those around me to come along. If unwilling and more comfortable staying right where they were, then I pray for them. But I must move onward and keep them in my prayers.
Some might say, “You left them.” In reality, they are not alone and never were. They have the same wonderful God I have. The same wonderful God that waits for them to raise up their hand and look to Him to pull them up. You too have this same God.
I can still remember the day when I was a victim of this world and finally heard God say, “Sam look to me…reach out your hand and take mine. Let me bring you to a new field a field that allows you to grow.”
It is in this new field all has changed and my dreams are becoming more fulfilled each day. And new dreams get attached to the already great dreams He has given me. I’m now a victor.
Thank you to all of you who have entered my life and encouraged, lifted me up, and prayed for and with me. Thank you.
Hebrews 13:5-6 (NIV)
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.
So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”
As you move forward, remember your dreams are in front of not behind you.
God bless.
From a young age, I made food choices that were not always good. As life got busier and I got older, my choices became worse and worse. Many small choices, day after day, led to gradual weight gain. Along with the bad food choices, I became less and less active. The two coupled together were a recipe for disaster.
When I reached my heaviest point of 350 lbs, I could no longer deny I had a weight problem. It was time to start looking at my food choices.
A typical breakfast back then looked like:
As mentioned in last week’s post Lose weight – Get healthy – Feel Good – Live longer – …. What is your desire when it comes to health?, my plan was simple and short: a 4 point, one day plan.
This is my plan:
For today let’s look at the second item in the plan.
Educate myself and make better food choice today than the previous day.
Now with that in mind, let’s look at the breakfast above and see how we can put this part of the plan into action.
The above breakfast is about 1,150 calories and roughly 50-55% of the calories are from fat. This is about half of the total calorie intake I should be eating in a day, all consumed in my first meal.
On my new plan let’s look at how this meal would look making some small changes.
Ok, so some people would view this and think that is not healthy for you. Your fat content is still at 50%, and your calorie count is still a little high. Guess what? You’re right. However, we need to look at did we improve upon the initial meal? Did we follow the second step of the plan?
Educate myself and make a better food choice today than the previous day.
Yes
Remember, this was a one day plan. Just like the last line of directions on the shampoo bottles state, we need to “Repeat”. This is what I did the next day.
Let’s take a look at the improvements to this meal the next time we eat it.
Notice the meal portion above when looking at the amount of food, it remained about the same as the original meal. However, now this meal is starting to take shape toward a person who eats healthy. Hey that could be you!
In this example, we got to a much healthier meal by making small changes over the course of 2 times eating it. Make the changes at your pace. Each day keep making small adjustments. If you do, eventually you will be eating like a healthy person. And because you’re eating healthy, you will become more healthy. The more you become healthy, the more you will desire to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Image credit: anticiclo / 123RF Stock Photo
This morning as I was reading The Daniel Plan by Rick Warren, I was amazed at the familiarity of his concept of living a healthy life. For a brief moment I thought, “Was Rick Warren reading my journal when I lost over 150 lbs? Did he steal my plan and write a book about it?”
No – Rick Warren did not steal my plan. However, my belief is both of us had the same life coach.
That Life Coach would be none other than the Holy Spirit.
The Daniel Plan is a good book with a simple plan. If you want to learn more about The Daniel Plan, I suggest getting the book. From what I have read so far, I would recommend it. (I wonder how much his book sales just went up because of this plug. lol.)
The plan I was led to follow generated major transformation in my life.
You need to keep in mind before a plan can work you need to come to agreement that even simple plans require awareness.
As mentioned I was over-weight at the beginning of my journey. The stats were as follows:
As you can see, my health was really bad. However, all of the above health problems have been reversed except for one. I can’t seem to get a handle on the first one. Each year I continue to get older no matter what I try.
6 were all fully reversed within 6 months. It took 15 months to lose 150 lbs.
My plan was simple and short: a 4 point, one day plan.
This is the plan:
The secret to the plan was like the last line of directions on the shampoo bottles, which state “Repeat”.
And that is exactly what I did each day. After following the plan, it became part of my life. It was just natural for me to continually live it.
Notice the word DIET was not mentioned once. If you want the quick fix to lose 10 lbs in 7 days, this is not it. The funny thing is, the diet that CLAIMS you can lose 10 lbs in 7 days is not either.
In today’s post my goal is that your weight loss expectations change by proving that claims to lose 10 lbs in 7 day DIETS are false and not healthy. I hope after you read this you can feel better about your weight loss numbers each week.
For my example I will use a 220 lb man who, in the course of a day, burns 2,500 calories just to maintain his weight. With 7 days in the week his calorie intake to maintain his weight would be 17,500 per week.
Fact: 3,500 calories = 1 lb
Scenario #1 – The Healthy Way: 1.25 lbs per week
Scenario #2 – The tabloid Miracle 7 Day Weight loss Doctor approved lose 10 lbs in a week DIET.
With the above you can see that a DIET plan that claims you can lose 10 lbs in a week is deceptive. You would have to starve yourself for 7 days and running 105 miles in one week. This is the only way you could actually lose 10 lbs in a week if you weighed 220 lbs.
So all of us know someone or maybe even ourselves that has experienced losing 10 lbs in a week. So are we lying? No we were just deceived.
DIETS that claim extreme weight loss in a week do a few things that allow the scale to show a 10 lb weight lose. In reality, it is not true. When we go on these DIETS we lose water weight, food inventory, and some weight that week. But the majority of the weight loss shown on the scale is water weight and food inventory. When you return to eating normal, your water and food inventory come back up to normal and then that is when the true weight lose is recognized.
So have your expectations on how much weight you can lose per week changed? Do you feel better about those past efforts when you lost around a pound per week? Are you now ready to change your expectations?
It’s the big claims like these that discourage people. It is these big claims that breed the lies we tell ourselves like:
The truth is you can lose weight. Everyone can. Don’t believe the lies.
Don’t go it alone. Find someone who can support you with your health goals. With good community, a support group, or a life coach losing weight is much easier. With all the temptation we are faced with each day, it’s hard to resit. Support and accountability are the key to real realizing your weight loss goal.
Image credit: kbuntu / 123RF Stock Photo
Image credit: pixelbrat / 123RF Stock Photo