Time to set the record straight

I admit that I have been letting myself go physically in the last couple of years, but it's not because I've lost the desire to be fit, far from it. I, like many, many other people my age have just found it hard to balance my time and priorities in a way that would allow me to keep healthy. How easy it would be to stay in shape if we could devote endless hours to playing basketball, baseball, or football on the street like we did in junior high and high school. Instead I spend most of my day sitting at a desk.

Just to be clear, I have no complaints about working in a desk job. But balancing work, school, and now married life has somehow translated to more fast-food and less basketball and working out. Its time to re-prioritize. Its time to get rid of my old bad habits and start managing myself to meet all my goals (not just some of them). Its time to set the record straight.

When Phil told me that he was doing P90X, I thought that this could be the perfect chance for me to get back into shape like I had been talking about for so long. At first he was pumped up about it, always talking about how in shape he was going to be in just 90 days. His enthusiasm was contagious, and I couldn't wait to get started on the program myself. Then it happened. Phil crashed. Actually, Phil crashed hard. This picture was taken of Phil on the night that he fell off. Drunk, tired, and willing to drink any alcohol you put in front of him.
I don't know exactly why. Maybe it was the strict diet plan, or maybe his body was just too beat up from the intense daily workouts. Whatever it was, one thing became clear, Phil couldn't finish P90X on his own. As you can see, he was in decent shape too. I'm pretty sure that he was following the plan to the T. Personally, I think he lost the mental battle, and that's the part that we all have to look out for. The mental games we play with ourselves can easily prove to be our demise. There are just too many times when we can cheat ourselves by over-eating and then conveniently forgetting to write in the extra calories, or just tell ourselves that we're doing what we have to do when we really know we're not. Sooner or later we'll just be right back where we started, or worse.

I know its a cliche, but the truth is that its our lifestyle that has to change. Take Phil for example. Only one month after his falling out, he took his "before" picture for his second attempt at P90X, and it became obvious to him and now to us all that not only will this program not be easy, but that all our situations are probably a lot worse than we previously expected.