You look at yourself in the mirror and say to yourself ‘tomorrow’.  Tomorrow I’ll get up early and go to the gym. Tomorrow I’ll go for a walk around the block. Tomorrow I’ll eat better. And then in a squirrel moment your mind bursts into a rousing chorus of “tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow, you’re only a day awaaaay!” Well that was enough of a workout. Back to the couch; grab some chips and a beer along the way.

Such has been my life for the last twenty years until my wife discovered Healthy U. I mean there’s a reason they say the highway to hell is paved with good intentions. Our basement could be described as a cardio wonderland. We have a treadmill, an elliptical and a recumbent bike, each of which saw limited use until the newness wore off, or we got busy doing something else and just never went back to. We were however smart enough to keep them far enough from the laundry room to prevent them from being relegated to position of clothes rack that many a workout machine has become.

I won’t go into a great deal about the Healthy U program itself but you can check out the Facebook page here. I’ve known about the program since its inception, but my wife was the spark that ignited my desire to get back to good health. Well, her and my two boys. I know it’s not going to be easy and I know there will be days that I just don’t want to do the right thing. But I know the secret is to stick to it. When I mess up, get back on track and move forward.

Most diets fail because we look at them as something to do until you’ve lost some weight, and then we go right back to the things that got us in trouble in the first place. But this isn’t a diet. Success here means making a fundamental change in the way I look at things. Things like eating and physical activity. Notice I didn’t say exercise? No, this isn’t a diet but  a lifestyle change. I know a lot of people who were forced into lifestyle changes with the radical wakeup call of a heart attack or stroke. And some that suffered the event, but didn’t get to wake up. This is my chance to get a second chance without a life-altering medical event. I’m not looking ahead to crossing the finish line, I’m looking to today just to make the right food choices and get in a little exercise. I hope you'll join me as I embark on this journey and keep you posted in this space. My wife is also posting her thoughts and I'm sure at times they'll differ (greatly) from mine. Be sure to keep up with her at lovesweatjenkins.com.

But I know one thing for certain: nothing will happen if I don’t get up off the couch.

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