Posts Tagged ‘healthy for life’

Many times, we’re asked about what we”ve done to maintain our weight.  In the 1980′s my answer would have been primarily exercise.  You see, I knew from my family heritage, especially my father, that I would be prone to weight gain.  Thus, I was somewhat fanatical about my exercise program, including participation in seven full marathons.

Before

In the 1990′s I still used exercise as a “vehicle” to maintain healthy weight, but after remarriage in 1996 the weight began to steadily accumulate.  I am fortunate to be married to one of the best “personal” chefs on the planet, but this was a double-edged sword for me.  I gradually put on the pounds until unhappily arriving at approximately 215 lbs by decade end.  For some, this may seem normal, but according to the “charts,” I was “dangerously obese,” as is about 1/3 of the US population now.

Remarkably, this weight was about 50 lbs over my marathon weight of 165.  And I hadn’t stopped exercising!  But shedding this weight by exercise alone was not an option at this point, especially considering the toll that my usually 5-6 mile runs would take on the knees at this weight.    A friend introduced me to USANA in 2003, mainly because of the benefits of it’s award-winning anti-oxidants.  The USANA healthy foods, however, became some of my favorite products right away.

In 2004, USANA introduced it’s Reset product, which I used to lose about 10 lbs.  I was, however, somewhat stuck and unable to make further progress.  That was until I became a member of Dr. Ray Strand’s Healthy for Life self-directed 15 month program in 2005 (note that HFL is now a 12 week program, and by using my team leader code, BXG, you can get a 20% discount on prices listed on the website).  Within a few months, I had “shed” another 20 lbs to around 185, which has generally been my consistent weight since.  Oh, sure Christmas and the holidays can take their toll, but I can now easily drop a quick 5 lbs. any time using the Reset.  And my personal chef had similar results, since her cooking was now much more healthy.  Barb lost about 25 lbs and had “shrunk” from a size 10 to 4/6.

Last year, in 2009, we organized our first “Shrink-A-Thon,” which is the brainchild of Bob and Vicky Mihalyov from El Paso Texas.  They ran their first city-wide organized meeting the previous year in conjunction with their local Diabetes organization and achieved remarkable results, also basing this program on Healthy for Life.  Our local group of about 10 people had similar results to that experienced by the Mihalyovs in Texas.  I personally lost about 10 lbs (some of that Christmas weight gain) and about 8% of body fat in the 12 week program.

After

So that is our story, and we’re definitely sticking to it.  We’re starting another 12 program in the next week or two in our local community and will be posting our progress to this blog for those interested in following our progress.  Or if you’d like to join in, let me know and we can work with you either in person or remotely through Healthy for Life’s self-directed program, since by using my discount code, I can also review your daily journals for your own progress.  Although Healthy for Life isn’t an affiliate program, we can advise you in selecting the best USANA products (and get compensated that way) for your own needs.  Please visit our USANA products page for further information and your own personalized health assessment.