what voice?

watching last week's eoisde of Biggest Loser I realized that the've done it once again.  MIke, a contestant this season, shared a poem he wrote and I felt like he was speaking directly to myself and the women I help each week...

although it's tough to read, I believe he's speaking about the voices within each of us.  We have that voice that pushes us forward and the one that holds us back.  Unfortunately after listening to the women that I work with each week and reflecting on my own journey, that negative voice tends to speak loudly and dominate in our minds most frequently.  While many people around us TRY and tell us that we can do something, that negative voice-that "lesser man" wins each time...IF we allow it.  

I have realized over time that no matter how much support a person may have, the inner voice is always more powerful but knowing how to turn that voice off is SO important on this journey.  Once we STOP paying attention to it, that voice growns softer until ALMOST silent but the struggle is not only to stop listening to it, but to allow that former voice to make us stronger.  

Many of us make a decision each day to NOT listen to that voice but to hear the voice and understand that it is defeat trying to control us.  But we use it to make us stronger and it makes us fight harder.  I believe that if it weren't for that weaker person within myself, I wouldn't be where I am today.  I hear her sometimes, trying to distract me from my goals and bring me back to that dark place where I once lived inside myself but because I remember how that person felt all the time, I remember how lonely and afraid she was and that is ALL I NEED to shake that voice from my head and find that new, stronger voice and she takes over...BUT I am constantly thrown temptation and it is then that I find that inspiration in who I used to be and where I'm headed now...

Years have passed for me and that voice is STILL there.  I'm starting to think it will be there forever.  I think it's there for a reason.  It is there to allow me to help others who too, hear that voice.  Our minds are so powerful.  The mind will help us succeed or will constantly lead us to failure.  

After reading "the lesser man" on the episode, it helped me see just how many of us struggle EVERY day.  

Scary, isn't it?

That a lazy, depressed individual that is hurting both mentally and physcailly can be defeated by the mind.  

It can cause a person to forget who they are and leave them only remembering the bad, the defeat and the failure.  How sad is that? 

So as a person who helps others on their weight loss and health journey's, we are fighting so much more than simply lack of motivation but fighting weeks, months or years of THAT VOICE.  That person within that makes them feel worthless when in reality they are far more than worthless...their lives are SO important to their family, friends, and children and they may not even realize it and that is what keeps me awake at night.  It is what keeps me fighting for them...each of them.  The ones that can't find their strength and the ones who allow that voice to dominate their lives every day.  

Breakfast ideas that keep me on track:

1/2 NAAN whole wheat bread, PB and fresh blueberries.  This leaves NO excuses, it takes less than 2 minutes, is filling and tastes delicious.  

1/2 c cottage cheese, 1/2 clementine and some grapes!  Mmmmmm...and don't make me tell you how long this takes to prepare :)  it's EFFORTLESS.  

After spending the summer at boot camp with me, these boys sure learned a thing or two about exercises.  They came home from school the other day askng what we had been doing at our workouts, I showed them our decline push-ups and of course they gave it a try  They were so excited and thought it was so much fun to see who could hold it the longest.  Yay!  Our children are WATCHING...always WATCHING.  The good and the bad habits so pay close attention to what you are teaching them.  They SEE the priorities in our lives and it reflects onto the choices they make in their lives as they grow older.  My hope is that these boys cherish their health, that they take care of their bodies and put their health as a priority in their lives.