I lost thirty pounds last year, and while it's taken me months to do this, I've now found 20 of those pounds and stuck them right on my belly. When I went over 215, I really scratched my head. I was still drinking lots of water, getting 7 hours of sleep most nights, and eating vegetables, chicken, etc (most of the time). You Don't Age Most of the Time - You Age a Little Every Day So I thought about my year when I lost weight, and I thought about the number of times I ate fast food. I would say less than once a month, and if I did skipped the fries and the coke and got a chicken sandwich with water. Now I probably get fast food twice a month, and it's the whole nine years. I've said it before when you do the wrong thing you are practicing at it. This practice started with getting an egg McMuffin with water. That lead to getting an Egg McMuffin with hash browns (and I'm not sure why as their hash browns are basically a deep-fried grease sponge). That lead to getting a coke with the meal. Each time, it was a baby step. When I first did this, it didn't affect my weight, but it nudged me in the wrong direction. Are You Lying to Yourself? I was still getting my 10,000 steps in, and sure that is exercise but I wasn't breaking a sweat. Decay or Grow Old I just listened to Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy—Until You're 80 and Beyond by Chris Crowley and Henry S Lodge. Chris is in his 70's and beings all sorts of real life examples, and Henry is the doctor who brings the science. They say your body is going to do one of two things on a daily basis. It's going to Decay, or it will receive information from the brain and body to grow new nerves, tissues, and rejuvenate the body. What makes it go into decay? Sitting on your butt. The only reason a man would sit on his butt thousands of years ago was if there was a ton of food, (or no food to hunt) and the idea was there was probably going into a famine. So you sit and you decay. If you had to go hunt, you got up and move around, your body actually uses up some of its resources and the brain triggers the body to grow new resources. So how do you trigger the body to think you're off to kill a saber tooth tiger? By exercising 6 days a week, and doing weight training three days a week. This will take approximately an hour a day. When I first heard this idea I was like, "Well that ain't going to happen." I truly do not like weight lifting. I've tried some things. I like the app " 7" which walks you through a seven-minute workout using just your body weight. I know I work during the day and do podcast consulting during the evening. That leaves early morning, or I could put me first, and schedule consulting around my schedule.   It's Time to be Selfish So many parents put their kids first and themselves last. You need to change your thinking on this. If you put yourself first by exercising, eating right, you are going to be around longer for your kids, so by putting yourself first, YOU ARE putting your kids first. Maling it In For me, I'm going to baby step this, and instead of starting off with six days of exercise (three of which contained weight lifting) I'm going to start with three days of exercising (more on that in a minute) and one day of strength training. I've actually put it on my calendar. The other thing that was different between me this year vs last year. Last year I would exercise (get 10,000 steps but part of those would be working up a sweat). This year I'm getting 10,000 steps in walking around the neighborhood. Now for some of you walking around the neighborhood would make you sweat. That's the point. I quit sweating. What is One Thing? Last week I talked about getting swept up by the tide and taken the wrong way. Don't get overwhelmed about how far off you are, instead think of one thing you can do to start swimming in the right direction. Garden of Life Chocolate Raw Fit Protein Powder - Review So I just completed my first order from Thrive Market. I purchased the