Picasso was sitting in a Paris Cafe'......

Picasso was sitting in a Paris café when an admirer approached and asked if he would do a quick sketch on a paper napkin. Picasso politely agreed, swiftly executed the work, and handed back the napkin — but not before asking for a rather significant amount of money. The admirer was shocked: “How can you ask for so much? It took you a minute to draw this!” “You are mistaken, my Dear”, Picasso replied, “It took me 40 years.”

How often do we want the masterpiece NOW, and how often do we want it with no significant cost on our part?

I lost 130 pounds.  I am in the best shape of my life.  When people ask me how I did it, I tell them.  "Oh I could never do that" they say.

And I wonder, what, exactly, were they expecting?

And I always KNOW what they were expecting.  The quick fix.  The instant microwave zap-it-and-it's-done solution to health.  As if it came out of a vending machine and required zero work or time, and very little expense.

I will tell you what this journey has cost me.  This journey has cost me to give up everything that was making me sick.  And I was happy to give it up.  Was it easy?  No, it wasn't.  REPLACING habits of disease with habits of health is NOT easy.  But it IS simple.  And it IS possible.  I don't have any particular super-power that allowed me to do it where others have failed.  In fact, I "failed" many times in the process, just as Picasso I am sure crumpled up many drawing attempts and threw them into the corner of the room.  But I stuck with it.  I knew that if I continued with diligence to every day make the decision to orient myself towards health, that I could not HELP but succeed eventually.  Because the science is solid.  The results are solid, WHEN THE PLAN IS ADHERED TO.  THE  plan, not MY version of the plan.

Was it quick?  Well I've seen quicker.  Not because the program isn't rapid and effective, but because I was not perhaps as diligent as I could have been in executing the program.  But I committed to the journey.  And I began lining of those on-plan days and dealing with the underlying issues with Dr. A's Habits of Health book.

So now when people ask me how I did it, I tell them "I ate 6 times a day, I drank water, and at some point along the way I started moving my body a little bit more each day.  I sought out additional support and accountability, and read (and applied) the concepts outlined in the book Dr. A's Habits of Health."   I want to really emphasize that ANYBODY CAN DO THIS.  Anybody who knows WHY they want it.  They can do it if they can get past the concepts and the excuses that may be holding them back, one of those being that age old cry of "but it will take so looooong!"

To that I say the time will pass, you got someplace better to be?  You got something better to do?  Yes, the time will pass!  And when it does, you will wake up one day and be where you want to be too!  You will say "TODAY I reached my healthy weight."  If you don't start NOW, and treat every day of your journey with the utmost respect, then in one year you will still be saying "but it will take so loooooong!"

Rinse and Repeat!