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Jerry's TIPS - What Worked For Me

Find Your Motivation

Whatever your motivation, you need to do what it takes to help you come back to your life again. To be more attractive, to play with your grandchildren, use what feels important to you...my motivation is many things. If you feel good about yourself, everything is good. If you feel bad, everything you do will always feel bad.

Don?t Make Big Sacrifices

I can?t say this enough - you don?t want to yo-yo. Now I like exercise so I?m going farther. I still treat myself, but now I enjoy things. Let me tell you, to get more fit you don?t have to sacrifice. Put water in your mug for a while instead of 4 coffees. When we first start in this business, we are active, but gradually over time we get lazy or get bad habits. I started with lots of small things. I parked my truck far away from the truck stops so I had a ways to walk. Things like that are easy.

Do It Your Own Way

It took you a long time to get out of shape (if you are). I knew that if I was going to make the change, I would have to do it my way and very slowly. I wanted to try to find my own way, not follow someone else?s diet or plans or exercises. So I looked at the things I did each day already, in my own life as the best place to start.

Make Small Goals for Yourself

Be realistic, if you?re a big guy, don?t ever expect to be a skinny, skinny person. Make small goals for yourself so you?re not always disappointed. If you normally eat 5 burgers when you start, don?t go right down to 1. First cut down to 3, and then 2 and later, down to 1. If you make smaller changes, you barely notice it, you don?t feel hungry and you don?t feel like its impossible.

When I got started, the first thing I did was weigh myself. I wanted to see results. Its disappointing, so don?t do that. Instead, measure results by how good you feel: new muscle, how you feel in your clothes, a new notch in your belt ? weight isn?t the only thing.

A little bit at a time, over the course of a year, or a year and a half, every day I felt a bit better. Before you know it, within a half a year or so, you feel so much better, so good about yourself and what? you?re doing.

Do What You Like to Do

If you can do something active (sport is the best thing) ? whatever you enjoy, do it. Don?t go to the gym and find out you don?t like it so then suddenly stop. Don?t do any super diets, you?ll lose about 10 lbs. then you?ll yo-yo. In another 2 weeks you?ll be back up and feeling bad again. I play sports now again, but when I started I could barely walk across a room to the wall.

Start With Your Own Life

When I started doing exercise after being so out of shape, it was just to be more active. When you?re driving, you always have to stop. So when you do, walk 2-3 times around the truck, do a few push-ups. Once you?re doing that and you start to feel better, try maybe doing some simple stretches while you?re loading the truck. Next, maybe spend 20 minutes in the truck working with a set of dumb-bells, instead of standing around chatting with your buddies for 20 minutes about nothing. There?s lots of little things you can do each day that add up to a lot over time.

You Always Have Choices

When you?re on the road a lot, you eat in diners, and I admit it, there are not a lot of food choices. But you always have some choice. I started by looking carefully at the menu to decide what to eat. I like to eat meat, so I started to order real cuts of meat ? real chicken or real steak, not processed ones. Okay, so you like fries, but drop them for a while and eat a baked potato or mashed potatoes instead. Like I said, you always have choices.

Substitution Is the Key

When I was big I used to only eat 1 or 2 times a day. BAD habit. Today I eat at least 6 times. If you don?t have time to stop, prepare something or pick up a few things from the store. Or even split your meal in half at the diner and eat the other half later.

Don?t Get Hungry

If you feel hungry ? you?re already too late.  Feed your body, not your hunger.  You?ll always have more energy too. I?m actually eating more than I used to, but eating much better. I take fruit, protein bars, things like that on the road. I still treat my self, sometimes I have fries, but I?m more active and I have more energy, so I can.

If Jerry?s Story helps you, or inspires you, please let us know, and share your Impact story with us all.