I remember the first time in my life when weight started to become an issue. I was just out of college and I was living an out-of-control life. Part of that out-of-control life included out-of-control eating. When I jumped on the scales and I was over 200 pounds I was shocked! For my frame, that was a lot of weight. I had never weighed that much in my life. It hit me that day that I needed to start doing something about my weight.

Shortly after, I went and I joined a gym. As the salesman was showing me around the gym I remembered him telling me that 13 laps around the track was a mile. The first day in the gym I remember running one lap and I thought I was going to die. I was breathing so hard my heart was pounding out of my chest. That was the day that I made a decision to get myself in shape!

Over the next six years I found myself being in the best shape of my life. There were not many restrictions physically for me when it came to running, lifting, playing sports, etc. I quickly turned my sedentary life into one of an active lifestyle.

Looking back on that time, a couple of things that stand out most to me was never visiting a doctor and my emotional and mental health continued to improve. Not only did I look the way that I wanted to look, but I felt the way that I wanted to feel.

Fast forward 10 years and as life started to get busy, I started to Fall back into old patterns concerning my weight. I jumped into school, jumped into marriage, jumped into parenting, and I found that the physical aspects of my life took a back seat To all of the other activities that were going on. The next thing I knew I was 30 pounds overweight again and feeling bad about myself.

There comes a time in everyone’s life where We start to hit the pain tolerance and we are ready to take some action. For me that was 90 days ago! I understand my body pretty well from all of the training that I had in the 90s, the problem was I wasn’t listening to my body. Emotionally and mentally I did not feel clear. I felt held back in many of the different things that I was doing. I was feeling sluggish pretty much every day, in all of the activities that I would do. The day that I found myself breathing hard when I walked up the stairs carrying my kids, I was ready to do something about it.

A long time friend of mine, GJ Reynolds, introduced to the 90 day challenge by Visalus. He had been talking to me about this challenge for about a year. But I was not ready to hear that I needed to take any action. I had finally reached the point, it was time to take action, again! He asked me what my 90 day health goal would be? I told him that I needed to drop 30 pounds or get back to a 32″ waist; whichever came first. I know that my body functions the best around 180 pounds. So if I dropped 30, I would get myself back to that place. So I committed to a 90 day challenge!

About two weeks into my 90 Day Challenge, I started to feel better emotionally and mentally. I also started to have more physical energy to do the things that I wanted to do. This quickly became a motivator for me in all the areas of my life. Whenever I feel better I perform better, in all areas. I had not realized how much my physical condition had impacted the other areas of my life.

For years I have believed that we need to take a close examination of the emotional, mental, physical, spiritual and financial areas of our lives if we want to be successful. Now more than ever I understand how they play off of each other! I cannot say that one is more important than the other, but when we get intentional in one of the four areas, our life starts to change in all areas.

So here I sit writing this blog post, nearing the end of my 90 Day Challenge this Friday, November 30th. I will be pretty close to my goal. I have dropped some major inches off my waist and I am around 25 pounds down. For me, this has been a huge success! I feel better than I have felt for the last 12 years. And this year for Christmas it’s going to be clothes shopping for me!

On Monday, August 13, 2012, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention releasedobesity statistics for the United States. According to the data gathered, more than one-third of adults (35.7%) are obese.

So my challenge for you is, start your challenge! Is it time to make today the first day of your 90 Day Challenge? Give yourself the gift of 90 days to get in better shape. No matter what that means for you. If it means to drop some weight, maintain your weight, reach a physical activity goal…GO after it! Make it reality! If you wait until tomorrow, you will be one more day behind of feeling better about yourself! Give yourself the gift…TODAY!