An amazing thing happened!

Hope this inspires others

Yesterday I was at a work dinner that was given to all of us that got promoted this last year. Yep, I was announced as someone with a promotion at the end of the year. What made this promotion so special? Let me tell you. You know you are valued as an employee of a company that you have been working for almost 5 years when the sign they put on your door spells your name wrong. Yep that is right, they did not spell my name correctly. Now this is not a new thing to me people spell my name wrong all the time but it is normally my last name. I totally get that, Bumpus is not the most common name around and I don't speak up all that much on the phone so I can give people that one a lot of the times. What made this one different was they spelled my first name wrong, yep, the first name Justin, J-U-S-T-I-N pretty hard I know. I can cut them a little bit of slack since it has ONLY been 4.5 years I have been here. Anyways, I digress, that is not the reason for the post I just wanted to get it off my chest.

Here is what you should read

While at the promotion dinner I got an email from Beachbody (the people I always talk about), makers of INSANITY, P90X, and all kinds of other great workout programs. The reason for the email, every time you finish a workout program you can send them before and after pictures so that you can get a free T-Shirt. Well the last program I did (you can find it by clicking the fitness programs tab) was Tai Cheng, I used it to let my body recover and work on balance and body control. Which on a side not saved my bottom from eating it yesterday when I slid on a bad patch of ice in the parking lot, but that is another story. They were so impressed by my results (I sent them my total transformation) that they named me the December Beachbody Challenge winner for my age group. What does this mean? It means that I get a check for $1000 dollars for being the winner (I got the email just a few minutes ago that it will be coming) and will be putting me in the quarterly voting for a trip to LA, $5000, and a chance to win the $100,000 dollar grand prize, can't ask for too much more than that. I will post the link here so you can go and vote for me!!

What to take from this

I am just a normal guy, nothing special or spectacular about me. I made a decision that I needed to make a change in my life for my family so that I could be around for a while and not on my way to the grave like I had been the way I was living. I stuck with my determination and 18 months later I was down over 120 lbs and 16 inches off my waist line. I think that most people to don't reach their goals because they have not found the real reason they want to lose. I should know I had tried several times before to lose the weight I had but had failed each time. What was the difference between this time and all the times before? I didn't just wake up and decide to get fit. I really thought about it, decided why I wanted to do it kept that thought in my mind when things got hard or when I didn't want to get up in the morning and workout. That thought, the thought of growing old with my family is what kept me going. I know the thought is going to be different for everyone I just want to make sure everyone knows to go ahead and find that reason make it a good one and hold on to it, before you know it you will reach your goal.

One last thing

You heard me say wake up early...that is right I choose to get up in the mornings and workout before I do anything else. I know it is hard for some people to comprehend because everyone loves their sleep but for me I know that if I had a crappy day at work or if something happens where I can't be home on time I know that I will skip workouts. I guess you have to ask yourself, what is more important another 30 to 60 minutes of sleep each morning or more years on this earth to enjoy the time with your loved ones.....just something to think about!

Back after a while

Yes, I know, I know it seems like I am picking this blog up right where I left off the last one. How is that you   ask, with good ideas to help but then no posts. I can assure you that is not the case here there has been a lot going on and I have been out of town for a little while for the passing of my grandfather but now things are back to normal and I can start posting some more again. This post is a little off the cuff and being written while on pain killers so I don't know where it is going to go but I hope you will follow me down the rabbit whole.

Cool app I found

First let me tell you about a cool new phone app I found while I was away. It is called Fooducate and it is a great little app. Here is how it works, it is pretty simple, when you are out shopping or at your house all you have to do is open the app and scan the bar code of the food you are about to buy or eat. The app will then give you the healthy grade of the item and if it is not all that high on the list it will offer you up some alternatives to the food you have selected. It is really eye opening you can even have it warn you if the food you are eating contains GMO Genetically Modified Organisms so you know what might not be all that good for you. When you download it be careful my wife and I ended up scanning almost everything in the house, most of it was good but a few things were quite a surprise. I look at it as knowledge, most of your weight loss results are going to happen in the kitchen and the more educated you are the better the chances you are going to make the right decisions. One of the coaches I work with in my home business just told me they even have a diabetic centered one for those that need it so it really is worth checking out. Check it out and comment on some of the more surprising foods you find. Trust me there is so much we will never figure it all out so why not help each other.

Workouts

Although I had to go to Boston for a few days last week I have been sticking with my workouts and all has been fine. Today I finished week 7 of Tai Cheng and will have a day off before starting the first set of combos that I am looking forward to. Now that I have finished week 7 I have learned all 18 moves, don't get me wrong I have forgotten some of them as well. The good news is after this phase we will be going through all the moves at once then I just have to decide if I want to get the upgrade DVD to do all 18 moves in a sequence. I am leaning toward that but my change my mind since I just picked up TurboFire while it was on sale but we will see. Once Tai Cheng is over I will be continuing forward with Les Mill's Combat. It is a 60 day MMA based workout and my wife and I are totally excited about it. Should be here in December. You can check out some info on it CLICKING HERE It looks awesome!!! If you want more info on either of these you can EMAIL ME and I will send you more info.

Well that is really it for now, when I get much less foggy and have some more time to come up with a post I will have more for you tomorrow.

Justin