Timing is everything.

If you are reading this, you are probably looking for inspiration and maybe some advice...perhaps even just a little bit of encouragement. As someone who has struggled with being overweight for the better part of my adult life, I can tell you one thing for sure...the decision and dedication to building a healthier, more slender body comes from within. That is the first step. Whether it's seeing a friend's or co-worker's success, or being humiliated one time too many, finding out that you have eaten your way to a medical issue, or just being depressed about taking off your clothes...the time comes when you have to act. For you.

Now, as you read above, Shane and Scott appear to be on different ends of the same path...Shane crossing the finish line, and Scott is lacing up his shoes, and waiting for the starting gun. This is where I come in...My name is Tim, a former high school athlete, and 46 year old dad, and I'm in the middle of the race, and to be perfectly honest, so are they .

Now before I continue, let me just say, I am no expert...I am just like you. But I do know a few things about losing weight, and they fall squarely in the category of common knowledge. As a matter of fact, most people know how to lose weight...it's not rocket science. (Unless you have a medical issue, then yeah...it's rocket science.) But for your average person, with a normal functioning system, all the information you need is everywhere. It's all out there. It's already been blasted into your consciousness through just about every type of media, your doctor’s office, family, friends and the educational system. Me telling you the ins and outs of weight loss is not the reason I'm here, (although I will offer some suggestions and tell you what worked for me.)

When I say we are all in the middle of the race, my point is simply that once you make a decision to do something to change your body, you have to accept it as a way of life, not a diet, or a plan to lose weight.
A "diet" is a low calorie recipe for failure, long term. I know...because I am currently on my fourth try at staying slender....I have lost over 50lbs, 4 different times since I was 19. That's over 200 lbs, and am currently on the last 10lbs of my latest attempt to reach a goal weight. I have been as heavy as 245lbs in the last 15 years, and am now weighing in at 185lbs. Most of that loss has been over the last year...slow and steady. And the key to it for me, was to take each day as it comes, and not gain weight. Really...NOT GAIN. That was my goal at first. Eat better, don't gain.

But the bottom line for me...is it's all about timing. The time you decide to change...the time you decide to start your quest for a healthier life, the time you make that first tough decision about what you put in your body, and the time you see your first little triumph on the scale, or in the mirror. Or the first time someone tells you, "You look like you lost a little weight!" Because from now on, those moments will be define your commitment. And they keep coming...moment to moment to moment.