Much appreciation for this gift of health

There is no greater gift you can give someone than the gift of health. Really, if you think about it, outside of family, everything else is secondary to your physical and mental well-being.

This is a gift I have received, and like the rest of my fellow questers, I am eternally grateful to so many people for allowing me to be a part of the past ten weeks.

Thank you to The Switch and Mainetoday.com, for putting this promotion together. What a win-win-win program! I could probably add a few more "win's" there for all of the people and businesses that have or hopefully will benefit from this. For what I have gotten out of it, I'll remain a faithful reader and a loyal spokesperson for MaineToday.com, The Landing, and Head Games, as well as a subscriber and committed patron.

The relationships forged throughout this "Quest" transcend any other benefits that may be reaped from this experiment. They are real, and hopefully long-lasting. Deanna and Catherine from The Landing will forever be very special to me; without their willingness and guidance, I would not have experienced what I have over the past ten weeks. To all of the wonderful instructors, your guidance, acceptance, and patience reminds me to always strive to be a better person, to myself and to others.

To my fellow questers; it's been a very long time since I really felt part of a team. Of course, there are silly "teams" at work, recreational sports, and so on, but nothing with such a sense of true common goal as we have shared. We came together from individuals as about as diverse as your going to find in Maine to form a true team. Each with different backgrounds, interests, and motivations, by the time week four or five came around, we were all there to work, support, sweat, and celebrate each other together. You guys are awesome, and it's been my pleasure to experience this with all of you.

And to you readers, thanks for coming along for the ride. I hope our words have inspired and motivated you to start out on your own quest. If it has, please make The Landing part of your journey. Your first class is free, tell them I sent you. It may be called The Landing, but for me, it's been more of a springboard.

A BodyBugg shunned (and then unshunned)

With only about a week and a half left in my Quest, I've already started reflecting on the experience, and envisioning me and my post-Quest life.

A few weeks ago, a dread set in that I never wanted this experience to end, the support and accountability over the last two months has really been good for me. However, now that I can see the proverbial fork in the road, I'm ready to go my own way.

The experience has been amazing. I'm leaner, stronger, faster, and more flexible than I was when I started. Catherine has provided us a fitness base on which to grow on; Cardio, Strength, Stretching, Endurance, and Body Composition. Reminders to work on these areas are posted for me to remember to work all of these areas throughout the week.

Along the way, I've started to tire of some of the regimen.

I haven't logged food in a while. I didn't wear my Bodybugg most of the weekend. I've taken a break from our conference calls. Realistically, these things go away for me in a couple of weeks, so maybe I've started to shun them a bit early. That being said, I'm ready for one last push here.

The Bodybugg is firmly affixed to my bicep and I will be on our next call.

As I mentally prepare for the next phase of my personal journey, I look ahead with cautious optimism. With my interest waning in some of the aforementioned areas, I'm realizing that this is a critical time for me, as this is the same time frame (about two months) when I have lost interest in past efforts to get fit, lose weight, etc., etc. What's different this time? My broader goals of getting fit and being happy versus losing a certain amount of pounds or looking good for a particular event will be ever-present as I move ahead.

Which road will I take? The one posted "You # 26.2 miles"

I’ve got to stop eating

.I'm fairly certain at this point that there will always be the "next" component of personal betterment, but right now my big blaring omission in this ten week odyssey is definitely my eating habits. I'm disappointed in myself somewhat that I haven't taken all ten weeks to really work on my nutrition, but I've also been working my butt off (literally, my butt is a little smaller) in many other facets of my personal well-being, that I just have to look at it as the next thing to add to my to-do list.

In general, I don't think I eat that poorly. However, my diet is one that is made up of very good starts, sensible snacks, and ends up with a few diet-busting blunders along the way. For instance, I'll gladly start the day with egg whites and whole wheats, but as the day progresses, my cravings turn to my old friends pizza and hot dogs and ice cream and chocolates. Not all of them everyday, mind you, but enough of them throughout the week certainly to make a difference come Friday morning when we weigh in.

To add to this, my body is certainly changing and my metabolism is going crazy. There are days when I just can't stop eating. A handful of healthy almonds turn into four handfuls which turns into a rice crispy treat followed by sneaking a chicken nugget off my kids' plates when they aren't looking. You get the picture, many harmless little bite-sized snacks turning into a Katahdin-sized pile of calories.

To add insult to injury, at the beginning of this program, I decided to give up beer for the duration of my time at The Landing. I was certain that the pounds would melt away with the subtraction of suds from my diet. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked out that way. What a jip! Oh, sweet nectar of the gods at the back of my fridge, I'll see you in just a few short weeks and we'll catch up.

When explaining all of this to Catherine last week, her response was "its okay, it's just not important to you yet". She's right, although it's easier to pretend she's wrong. I had pizza for lunch, so I guess it's not that important to me yet, but I'm thinking about it. It's a start.