I just wanted to share something to many of you that need a little motivation to get healthy. Anyone who has had trouble losing weight. I had a personal trainer for about 2 years (when I was 31.) He trains NHL players. He's trained Brendan Morrison, Kyle Turris, Brad Winchester, Corey Abischer, Pavel Bure, etc. This guy is IT if you want to be fit, lean and strong as an Ox! So.... you know when you get overweight and you just have no idea where to start? I had a similar problem where I wanted to gain muscle and get to 10% body fat. It's not easy and takes a LOT of work to put on real, lean muscle and it was such a simple answer for my trainer. I said "what's it gonna take?" He says "about a year or more to gain that kind of mass." And I'm thinking are you F'n kidding me?! I said " Oh my God, forget it, that's forever." His response? "A year is gonna pass anyway." Wow!! It hit me and stuck with me forever and I trained hard with him and never quite got to the size I wanted but man did I get strong, ripped and fast. I felt amazing! BUT... I ended up hurting my neck one day doing simple curls. The doctor told me it really had nothing to do with the curls and that it was going to happen anyway. I didn't work out for years because of my neck. It was the worst pain I've ever experienced. I checked myself into the Eagle Ridge ER. I was down in the dumps for a long time. Anyway.... I'm finally back at it and am going to gain the muscle I want. I started yesterday. So the moral of the story is: TIME WILL PASS ANYWAY SO YOU MIDASWELL BE DOING SOMETHING WHILE IT PASSES! STICK WITH IT!!! 90 days! You will be hooked "when" you make a commitment to yourself to DO IT! So do it. Make yourself accountable for the things you eat and get to the gym. Write everything you eat down in a journal. If you can't get to the gym... who cares? Don't beat yourself up and give up. Keep eating great and get there the next day. A YEAR IS GONNA PASS ANYWAY. Do it for you. :-) People are so full of excuses but it really comes down to actually wanting something. "Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure." M.

I saw this post today on Facebook by a girl named Sarah. I loved it!

She wrote:
I may lose some friends over this post but here it goes: watching Kaden fall asleep earlier tonight I reflected on the disappointment I sometimes feel that I may never be the mom that makes cake pops for every holiday or hand crafts his Halloween costumes. . .. I can build a mean fort out of twine, sheets and 3m hooks and make an impressive Smurf city out of Legos but when he was a baby I did not feed him homemade organic baby food and sometimes wonder if he will be as healthy as the kids who's mothers did. I have a friend who feels like a "bad mom" because she didn't send out Christmas Cards this year and another who is opening a new profit center for her business venture and feels "guilty"that she had to buy cookies at the store instead of hand making them for her son's school Christmas party.

Here is my point: I'm Afraid that the pinterest era is turning us into wanna be Stepford freaks....I have friends who are pregnant with their first child and they are more overwhelmed with decisions like what kind of diapers the "best moms" buy than the things that will actually matter. As mothers, the measures I believe we should judge ourselves on are actually simple: its not the size or "pinterest-worthiness" of their first birthday cake. It's the amount of unconditional love and affection we give to our children, the values and confidence we instill in them, the quality of the time we spend with them, the examples we set for them in our actions as their role models.....this to me includes how we treat others, the way we treat ourselves, the appreciation we show for family AND our demonstrated work ethic (whether its cleaning the kitchen, volunteering, or working on your next business plan) and lastly AND MOST IMPORTANTLY the effort we put into developing their faith in GOD. If this post makes even one fb mom think twice about beating herself up because she bought the cheaper brand of diapers tonight at Walmart; then it was completely worth posting what has officially been the longest fb status I have ever written.

My response was....
That is why the world is in such turmoil. We have lost sight of the important thing: PARENTING. It's all that matters. No parent is perfect, we all make mistakes and we have to learn as we go. What brand you buy is not important. I do believe that MAKING the cookies "WITH" your kids is very important. I watch the amazing woman in my life be an incredible mother! She's not perfect and sometimes she bakes for them yes (and sometimes runs out of time and buys them), but more importantly, most of the time, she makes a night of doing it WITH them and that's what counts. Mothers need to spend less time on Facebook and worrying if their kids are wearing Gap clothes and spending more time taking them to the park, making crafts, baking and YES.... building forts! We wonder why that idiot shot those innocent children? I don't. He had a crappy upbringing and probably bad parents. It all starts with how we raise our kids as to how this world will be in 100 years. Parents just don't give a shit about anything anymore. They're focused on money and having the biggest house. Kids these days have no respect, dignity, integrity or even common sense! What the hell happened to calling elders "Mr. & Mrs.?" Start paying attention parents... our future is in OUR hands.

What's your view?