The “Secret Sauce” for a Healthy Year

I’m beginning this post with a memory test.  See if you can identify the product (that’s a nice way of saying you are old enough to remember) …

“Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun.” (Extra points if you can sing the jingle).

“The Colonel’s special blend of eleven herbs and spices.” (Extra points if you can identify the Colonel.)

How ironic is it that I am beginning a post about health with two fast food references?

“You gotta have a gimmick.” (Double extra bonus points if you can identify the source of that one).

I wrote last time about getting healthy and some of my journey to get there (including two arterial stents for motivation).  I also promised to follow-up with my secret sauce for success in getting healthy. 

I recently posted photos on Facebook of me at around 240 pounds in the spring of 2015 and me at 207 pounds in mid-December 2018.  (Today I am at 202).  One of my friends asked how I did it.  My favorite daughter answered the question before I could.  She said, “Hard work. Diet and exercise.”

That is the correct short answer.  The fact is that there are no shortcuts. There are no magic pills. There are no easy buttons.  But there is a plethora of promises and gimmicks.  Some are based on good science and some are not.

I have no plan to enter the health product market, but I am going to share my secret sauce recipe.  There are four ingredients to this recipe and I have come to the conclusion that they are all equal in importance.  I’m not sure anyone can have real and lasting success if any of these ingredients are missing. 

4 ingredients:

1. The right motivation.  Health is a better motivation than vanity (youthfulness, strength, attractiveness).  How you feel and function is a better motivation than how you look.  Effective and purposeful living is a better motivation than efficient productivity.  The life you were created to live is a better motivation than the job you have to do.

2. The right tools. For me, that includes the right medications prescribed by doctors who understand me, the right health supplements (vitamins and essential oils), the right data collection instruments (for monitoring calorie intake and tracking goals), and the right life rhythms (work, rest, play, worship).  I am setting up a page on my website to list some of the tools I recommend.  You can check it out soon here.

3. The right support system.  Immediately after my stent procedure in November 2016, I began rehab.  With my doctor’s permission, I contracted with a fitness trainer rather than doing traditional cardiac rehab.  That went really well for six months until my cardiologist released me to annual visits.  At that point, I could not, in good conscience, continue to submit the cost of the trainer for medical reimbursement.  So, when the contract expired, I did not renew it. 

Without that accountability of someone expecting me to show up twice a week at the gym, I began to get “too busy.”  I also stopped watching my eating as closely.  Over several months, 10 of the 35 pounds I had lost showed back up.  My energy lagged. I began to get discouraged.

So, about two months ago, I enlisted a health accountability partner.  I did not want a workout buddy because I get in my own world at the gym (sunglasses and earbuds —I’m not there for conversation).  I just needed someone to whom I could report every week.  He knows my goals and is expecting an email from me every Friday.  In those two months (November/December—hello, holiday goodies!), I’m down 13 pounds, am tracking my calories every day (almost) and consistently fulfilling my workout goals.  He’ll call me out if necessary, but it is not likely that he will need to.  Pro tip (like I’m a pro!) – enlist an accountability partner that you care enough about that you don’t want to disappoint.

4. The right measures.  Health is not an objective target.  Healthy for me is what I’m going for.  Am I closer to my ideal weight?  Are my cholesterol/triglyceride numbers better than they were last year?  Do I feel better?  Do I have more energy?  Am I living with a sense of purpose and excited about what is ahead?  Do diet and exercise feel life-giving or stifling? Am I paying as much attention to my mental, emotional, and spiritual health as I am to my physical health?  Do I have an executable plan for all of those?  Am I developing keystone habits that keep my life on track?

I hope you noticed that I didn’t give specific amounts of those ingredients. Your life is not mine. What I hope is that my ingredients will help you develop your own secret sauce or, to use a different metaphor, my tools will help you build the life you want to live.

Your life really, really matters to God.  When you align your purposes with His purposes, you find new motivation to be your best. Let Him guide you in creating your sauce to make it amazing

Until next time, be amazing, my friend.